How Diet Can Affect Hormone Balance During the Holidays
For many, the holiday season is the perfect time for gathering with family, enjoying festive meals, and celebrating tradition. But even indulging in seasonal treats and drinks has the potential to disrupt one’s hormone balance, especially for individuals navigating menopause or managing pre-existing hormonal conditions. From eating more sugar to drinking extra alcohol and pushing through holiday stress, seasonal habits can throw hormone levels off balance. Fortunately, understanding how these choices impact hormones can help you enjoy the season while keeping your health in mind.
How Holiday Foods Can Disrupt Hormones
Sugar and Processed Foods
Holiday desserts, cookies, and treats often contain refined sugars and processed ingredients. Overindulgence in sugar can lead to spikes in blood sugar levels, which in turn pushes insulin production into overdrive. Insulin helps regulate blood sugar, but when its levels are frequently high, it can cause energy crashes, mood swings, and even weight gain. For those experiencing menopause, these shifts can also intensify symptoms like irritability and fatigue.
Alcohol
Holiday gatherings often feature cocktails, wine, and other alcoholic drinks. While alcohol can feel like part of the celebration, it may increase cortisol levels, the “stress hormone,” which can heighten symptoms like anxiety, fatigue, and even hot flashes for those in menopause. Excessive drinking can also interfere with sleep, further impacting energy and mood. Enjoying a drink or two is fine, but pacing yourself and staying hydrated can prevent some of alcohol’s effects on hormones.
High-Fat and Rich Foods
Many holiday favorites are high in unhealthy fats, such as fried appetizers and creamy casseroles. Foods high in unhealthy fats can lead to inflammation, which can trigger cortisol release, further disrupting hormone balance. Chronic inflammation affects not only cortisol but also insulin, both of which can contribute to weight gain, stress, and blood sugar imbalances. This holiday season, try incorporating healthier fats like those found in avocados, nuts, and olive oil to enjoy meals without impacting hormone health as much.
Recognizing and Managing Holiday Stress
With the additional stress of holiday planning, social gatherings, and gift shopping, your body’s primary stress hormone, cortisol, may rise and throw off the balance of other hormones like insulin and thyroid hormones. Elevated cortisol levels, especially if prolonged, can weaken the immune system, leaving you more susceptible to colds, illnesses, and holiday burnout. Being aware of these hormone-disrupting effects can help you recognize what’s causing holiday stress and minimize it through simple choices.
Practical Tips for Healthier Holiday Choices
Maintaining hormone balance doesn’t mean you have to miss out on your favorite holiday treats and traditions. With a few mindful adjustments, you can still enjoy the season while supporting your health.
One simple step is to limit sugary treats. Excess refined sugar can throw off hormone levels, so consider natural alternatives like honey or maple syrup. A festive fruit salad with pomegranate seeds, oranges, and a sprinkle of cinnamon offers sweetness along with nutritional benefits, making it a great seasonal swap.
Moderating alcohol is another helpful approach. Alcohol can interfere with hormone balance, especially with stress-related hormones like cortisol. Alternating your drinks with sparkling water or herbal teas can help, and you might try a mocktail made with cranberry juice, lime, and a hint of ginger to enjoy a festive drink without affecting your hormones.
Choosing healthy fats is also key to supporting hormone balance. Opt for olive oil or avocado-based options instead of creamy dips and buttery sides. These healthier fats aid in hormone production, especially for those managing menopause symptoms.
Hormone-Supporting Foods to Include
Incorporating nutrient-dense foods into your holiday menu can make a big difference in maintaining hormone health.
Leafy greens like kale, spinach, and Swiss chard are packed with antioxidants that help manage cortisol levels and reduce inflammation. Try adding a holiday salad featuring greens, roasted beets, and a light vinaigrette for a nutrient boost that also tastes great.
Lean proteins, such as turkey, chicken, and fish, are also beneficial for hormone balance. High-quality protein helps stabilize blood sugar and provides sustained energy. Roasted turkey or salmon makes an excellent, festive main dish.
Whole foods, including grains, quinoa, brown rice, and oats, are rich in fiber and B vitamins that support hormone production and blood sugar regulation. A quinoa salad with roasted vegetables or a warm bowl of oatmeal with berries can keep energy levels steady throughout the day.
Sample Holiday Menu for Hormone Health
Here’s an example of a balanced holiday meal that’s festive, nourishing, and easy on the hormones:
- Appetizer: Veggie platter with hummus or avocado spread
- Main Course: Roasted turkey or salmon with a side of green beans and a sprinkle of almonds
- Side Dish: Quinoa salad with roasted butternut squash and cranberries
- Dessert: Greek yogurt parfait with fresh berries and a drizzle of honey
These simple adjustments allow you to enjoy the best of the holiday season while staying mindful of your hormone health.
If holiday stress and indulgences are impacting your hormone balance, Renewed Vitality offers a range of therapies to support hormone health. From bioidentical hormone therapy to personalized wellness consultations, our team is here to help you feel your best year-round. By managing hormone balance effectively, you can enjoy the festivities without sacrificing well-being. Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can help you achieve a joyful and balanced holiday season!
According to the CDC, breast cancer is the second most common cancer in American women after skin cancer, and around 270,000 women in the U.S. are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. Medical research about this disease has progressed in leaps and bounds over the past few decades. Breast cancer is now a very treatable condition, but one thing remains the same– the earlier you catch it, the better.
Although younger women are still at risk, breast cancer primarily affects women who are over 50, or in their menopausal years. This means that as you age, it becomes more important than ever to perform self breast exams and get mammograms so that any unusual changes in your breasts can be noted and monitored. However, menopause comes with a host of changes to your breasts that are completely normal, so how do you know what’s a problem and what’s a typical sign of your body aging? This list will help you determine when to worry about the risk of breast cancer, so keep reading to learn more!
Normal Breasts
Lumps
Lumps in the breast are one of the most well-known signs of breast cancer, and feeling a lump can make any woman’s stomach drop. However, not all lumps in the breast are cancerous, or even abnormal! If you feel a lump that is not painful, that is smooth and regular in its shape and texture, and that moves freely under the skin and tissue instead of being fixed in one spot, it’s probably something benign like a cyst or a fibroadenoma. You should still tell your doctor about it, but it’s likely not a problem.
General Soreness
Pain can be a sign of serious problems in the breast, but it’s also a normal symptom of hormonal changes in the body. Sore, uncomfortable breasts can indicate PMS, pregnancy, or menopause. As a rule of thumb, if your breast pain is affecting both sides and can be felt across the majority of the breast instead of one specific spot, it isn’t worrisome, especially if it’s accompanied by other signs of hormonal fluctuations.
Inverted Nipples
Part of the reason regular self breast exams are so important is because recognizing signs of cancer involves learning what’s normal for you, and noticing if something changes. Inverted nipples are a major warning sign of cancer, but only if your nipples suddenly invert. If you’ve always had nipples that point in, that’s normal!
Discharge
Discharge can sometimes be a cause for concern, but many women experience perfectly normal and healthy nipple discharge in their lives. You should always make a note of any nipple discharge that isn’t breast milk and tell your doctor about it, but it’s most likely not something you need to worry about.
Size Change
Once you’re past puberty, it would certainly be convenient if your breasts stayed the same size, but in reality that’s often not the case! Many things can cause a woman’s breasts to fluctuate in size, from the menstrual cycle to pregnancy and breastfeeding. You may notice changes in how your breasts look as you enter menopause. Your falling estrogen levels can cause your breasts to lose volume and look smaller. However, if your change in breast size is affecting both sides equally, it can be considered normal!
Warning Signs of Breast Cancer
Abnormal Lumps
Cancerous lumps in the breast are sometimes painful and sometimes painless. They are often “fixed,” meaning they’re stuck to one spot in the breast and are not easy to move. Lumps that are a sign of cancer are also often irregular in the way they feel, being rough or bumpy instead of smooth. If you feel a lump like this in your breast or under your arm, make an appointment with your doctor right away.
Skin Changes
A common sign of breast cancer is “dimpling” of the skin in a specific area, sometimes called orange peeling because of the way it makes the skin’s texture look like an orange. Areas that are red, dry, or feel thicker than the areas around them can also be warning signs that should be checked out by a doctor.
Suddenly Inverted Nipples
Having inverted nipples is normal, but having your nipples become inverted suddenly after never being that way before is something that you should call your doctor about immediately.
Abnormal Discharge
While some nipple discharge is normal, it can also be a sign of cancer, so you should always tell a doctor about any nipple discharge you experience, especially if you notice that your discharge is bloody.
Abnormal Size or Shape Change
Changes in the size and shape of the breast that can’t be explained by a hormonal change like PMS or menopause are a definite cause for concern. This is especially true if you notice that a change is only affecting one breast and not the other, or if you’re noticing that one particular area of the breast is larger or looks like it’s bulging.
Taking Care of Your Health
Monthly Self-Exams
Even if you’ve never done them before, it’s never too late to make doing self breast examinations a part of your routine. Once a month, go through the steps of a self-exam and make note of anything that seems out of the ordinary to bring up to your doctor. This is important not just to look for lumps and other signs of cancer, but so that you can get familiar with your breasts and know when something is normal for you and when something is new!
Annual Exams and Mammograms
Mammograms aren’t fun, but they are vitally important to lowering your risk of breast cancer and allowing any problems in your breast to be caught early enough to be treatable. The American Cancer Society recommends that women get a mammogram every year from ages 45 to 54 (or even younger, especially if you have a family history of breast cancer) and every two years from age 55 onwards. You should also be getting a breast cancer screening from your doctor or gynecologist every year! These exams can not only allow you to catch breast cancer at a treatable stage, but they can make the treatment process far easier and more painless. Their importance can’t be overstated, so if you’ve been putting off your mammogram or screening, now is the time to schedule it!
Breast cancer risk is a part of life for women, especially as you enter menopause, but it doesn’t have to be something that scares you if you follow these steps and make sure you’re getting your regular exams. To learn more about menopause and women’s hormonal health, you can continue to read our blog here!
The jokes about women feeling moody and irritable on their periods have probably been around since there have been women and periods, but the evidence is clear– there is a strong link between hormones and mental health, not just in women, but in men as well. This fact is hardly a surprising one. Human hormones are powerful chemical messengers that can affect everything else in the body, so why wouldn’t they be able to affect the mind? Both hormonal health and mental health are rapidly evolving fields where not everything is well understood, even by scientists. Still, there’s no doubt that they are closely connected, and understanding and taking control of your hormones might be the key to helping boost your mental wellbeing!
This is especially important at this time of year, when many people struggle with their mental health due to stress in their life or seasonal depression. If you’re feeling less than your best these days, addressing your hormone levels might be just what you need!
How are Hormones and Mental Health Connected?
Hormones are the chemicals produced by your body’s endocrine system that control everything from how well you sleep to how you grow and age, not just your reproductive system! They’re very similar to (although not the exact same thing as) neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin, chemical messengers produced in your brain that control how you feel.
Each different hormone that your body produces affects multiple different things. Although experts aren’t entirely sure why, mood and mental state are often among the things that can go haywire when your hormones are unbalanced. This is so much the case that signs and symptoms of mental health disorders, like low mood, low energy, nervousness, or restlessness, are often looked for when doctors are determining if someone might have a hormonal imbalance, like thyroid issues. The closer your hormone levels are to balance, or homeostasis, the less likely you are to deal with any unpleasant symptoms, including mental health problems. However, no one’s body is in perfect balance at all times, and your hormone levels might be contributing to you feeling anxious or depressed!
Hormonally-Linked Mental Health Conditions
Additionally, there are some conditions where the body’s hormones and the mind’s health are so closely linked that they’re inseparable from each other. Postpartum depression is one of these, thought to be triggered partially by a new mother’s intense hormonal changes as well as the stress of having a newborn. Some women also experience premenstrual dysphoric disorder, or PMDD, which goes past the normal moodiness of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) into major mood swings, serious depression or anger, and other mental symptoms that fluctuate out of control based on the menstrual cycle. Menopause and perimenopause are also closely associated with mood disturbances.
The links between hormonal health and mental health with these conditions doesn’t erase the other potential roots of a mental health problem. You might be anxious and unhappy, for instance, because you’re dealing with a lot of stress at work or because anxiety runs in your family, not just because you’re dealing with menopausal mood swings. However, because hormones do play a role, even just a partial one, in these conditions, addressing your hormone levels can help to get you on the path to feeling better, especially in situations where you can’t easily change your other circumstances!
Hormonal Health for Your Mental Wellbeing
When you want to start regulating your hormone levels for the sake of your mental health, the first thing you need to address is your lifestyle. Making sure that you’re eating right, exercising enough, and getting plenty of sleep certainly won’t magically fix all of your problems, but it will give you the best chance of success and start the process of getting your hormones back in check.
It’s also important to look into treatments that will address your hormone levels more directly. Many women have experienced being put on a birth control pill to manage intense PMS, but this is far from the possibility! Hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, can be a transformative option in many cases, improving your mood as well as other symptoms of hormonal imbalance. You can learn more about HRT from our expert team here at Renewed Vitality. Contact us today if you’re curious about whether this might be the right treatment for you!
While going through the drastic changes of menopause is something that no woman enjoys, it’s not uncommon for women of all ages to look forward to one aspect of menopause with happiness– the end of their period. Perhaps no one in the world is more eager to no longer have to deal with menstruation than women who suffer from endometriosis. This condition, which causes the endometrium, or uterine lining, to grow in places other than the inside of the uterus, can be debilitating, causing heavy, painful periods, infertility, pain with activity in the pelvic area, including sex and bowel movements, and many other unpleasant symptoms.
For some women, menopause is the end of their story with endometriosis. However, this is not the case for everyone, and this condition makes life difficult during a woman’s younger years, it can also continue to affect her long after her period has ended. If you or someone you love has endometriosis, it’s important to know about the way it affects menopause going in, so that you can prepare with your doctor and be ready with treatment options as needed to help maintain your comfort and health!
Menopause and Endometriosis Remission
In some cases, the beginning of menopause marks the end of endometriosis, and a woman can be considered fully in remission once the process of perimenopause (the length of time before menstruation has officially ended) is over. The main contributing factor in both the start of menopause and the end of endometriosis is estrogen.
Estrogen is the main heavy lifter in terms of the female reproductive system, and most of the symptoms associated with menopause (hot flashes, night sweats, body changes, mood swings, etc.) are due to estrogen levels in the body falling as a woman ages. This drop in estrogen also causes a reduction in the presence of endometrium, which relies on this hormone to grow. Because of this, many women experience relief from their endometriosis symptoms once menopause sets in!
Postmenopausal Endometriosis
The role of estrogen in endometriosis as a condition means that how a woman manages menopause has to be different when she has had it. For many women, hormone replacement therapy that adds estrogen back into their system is a safe and effective way to relieve the unpleasant symptoms of menopause. For women with endometriosis, however, estrogen hormonal treatments carry the risk of “reactivating” the condition, stimulating the growth of endometrium again and bringing back the pain and other issues that go along with it. Women who are struggling with the symptoms of menopause that can’t undergo hormone treatment for this reason should discuss alternate ways of finding relief with their doctor.
Endometriosis that continues after menopause is referred to as postmenopausal endometriosis. In almost all cases, it’s found in women who had endometriosis before they entered menopause. While it’s extremely rare, it is possible for a woman to develop endometriosis for the first time after menopause. The most common symptoms are increased pelvic pain, especially during urination, bowel movements, or sex. If you develop these symptoms, discuss them with your doctor immediately. They can be signs of postmenopausal endometriosis, or signs of other conditions like pelvic cancers.
Endometriosis Treatment and Menopause
Sometimes, endometriosis has to be treated with radical options like a hysterectomy or removal of the ovaries. In these situations, a woman experiences what is known as medically induced menopause, or menopause that comes on as a result of a medical intervention, not natural hormonal changes. This treatment route can often (though not always) result in symptom relief for people with endometriosis, but it does come with the sudden onset of menopause symptoms, which can be difficult to manage, especially for younger women. While hormone replacement therapy is often an invaluable option for women who have had a hysterectomy, it’s best avoided for women with a history of endometriosis, as it can encourage the condition to continue even after medically induced menopause.
Endometriosis is a condition that can affect every aspect of your life, including how you experience menopause. While it’s not yet completely understood, the medical field is working hard to develop treatments and methods to help people cope with it, both in their youth and during menopause! If you are struggling with endometriosis, know that there are many options out there that can help you take back control of your life. If you have further questions, contact our team today! We’ll be happy to help you.
Menopause is something that every woman will go through at a certain point in her life, but how she gets there and what her experience of menopause is like is something that will vary greatly from person to person! Some women will naturally enter menopause at an earlier age than average, and some at a later age. For some women, their entrance into menopause won’t be natural at all, but will come as a result of some medical intervention.
Medically induced menopause is what happens when a surgery, medication, treatment, or other medical procedure permanently changes a woman’s hormones to cause her to enter menopause, often at an earlier age than she otherwise would have. This abrupt shift can be difficult for an individual to cope with on top of whatever condition caused them to need the medical treatment they have received, but with a good support system, some advance knowledge, and the right treatments like bioidentical hormone replacement therapy from Renewed Vitality, it’s possible to embrace this part of life! Here’s what you need to know about medically induced menopause.
What Causes Medically Induced Menopause?
Medically induced menopause can be caused either physically or chemically, but in both cases, it’s brought on by some medical treatment that stops the ovaries from producing estrogen and other sex hormones as they normally would. For example, if a woman were to get a partial hysterectomy where her uterus was removed but not her ovaries, she would likely deal with some hormone imbalances but not enter full medically induced menopause. A full hysterectomy that removes the ovaries would result in menopause because of the halt in hormone production.
There are also medications and treatments that can cause a woman to enter into menopause. Chemotherapy and radiation are some of the main ones. It’s also possible for hormone treatment, like the kind that’s sometimes used to treat specific types of breast cancer, to affect a woman’s ovaries and induce menopause. While these surgeries and treatments are difficult to deal with in their own right on top of how they affect fertility and hormonal health, their life-saving benefits outweigh their downsides, and there are ways to cope with medically induced menopause afterwards!
What are the Symptoms or Side Effects of Medically Induced Menopause?
While medically induced menopause is different from natural menopause in terms of its onset, they’re both relatively similar in their symptoms and how they affect someone’s daily life. Women who go through medically induced menopause can expect to experience hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, changes to weight and body, decreased libido, vaginal dryness, and other typical signs of menopause.
However, medically induced menopause does differ from natural menopause in that it comes on very abruptly. In most healthy women, their body slowly changes its hormone production over time as they age, allowing the symptoms of perimenopause to come on gradually. When a woman is experiencing medically induced menopause, she’ll begin to experience these side effects much more suddenly, which can be difficult to cope with both emotionally and physically.
How Can I Manage Medically Induced Menopause?
The most important thing to have in order to get through medically induced menopause is a good support system and a forgiving mindset that allows you to grieve and struggle while still accepting and adapting to this new phase of life. The second most important thing is the right treatment! Hormone replacement therapy can be a life-changing option for women who go through medically induced menopause, easing their symptoms, increasing their comfort, and making the entire process less difficult to get through.
Here at Renewed Vitality, helping women through all kinds of menopause with bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is just what we do, and our team of skilled nurse practitioners is ready to come up with a personalized plan that suits your individual needs. If you’re interested in learning more, make sure to contact us today so that we can help you to start feeling like yourself again!
Menopause is something that all women eventually deal with. We all know it’s coming, but whether or not you ever actually feel ready for it is a different story! Menopause can feel pretty similar to how it felt being a young girl entering puberty for the first time– it’s a whole new world of confusing changes and strange symptoms that you have to learn how to navigate. Luckily, this time you’re going through it as a much wiser adult, and you can find ways to make it easier!
Educating yourself is one thing you can do to take the stress out of entering menopause. There are a lot of unfamiliar terms that you’ll hear being thrown around at this stage in your life, and learning what they mean can be helpful! Here are some common ones to know the definitions of.
Menopause
First off, what is the actual definition of menopause itself? We often use this term in a slightly inaccurate or nonspecific way to refer to anything and everything that has to do with a woman’s hormonal health during middle age and her later years. In actuality, menopause very specifically refers to a period of time when you have gone a full twelve months without experiencing a period. It’s the permanent ending of your menstrual cycle. While you can refer to yourself as being “in menopause” when you’re starting to experience things like hot flashes and irregular periods, you actually haven’t hit the real deal yet.
Perimenopause
This next term refers to the process of your period stopping. It means something similar to “pre-menopause,” and it’s what we often refer to as just plain menopause in casual settings. This stage can last anywhere from a few months to a few years. The main engine behind it is that your ovaries are slowly reducing their production of estrogen, leading to common symptoms like mood swings, hot flashes, body changes, sleep issues, and of course, irregular periods.
Early Menopause
The average age to enter menopause is 52. This isn’t the age, of course, that everyone will enter menopause at. Some people stop their periods much earlier or much later; between the ages of 45 and 55 is typical. However, if you enter menopause earlier than age 45, you’re considered to be in “early menopause.” If you hit it at younger than 40, you’re considered to be in “premature menopause.” Sometimes there is a definitive medical reason for this– for example, if a person has their ovaries removed, they are considered to be in “surgical menopause” since the abrupt lack of hormones in their body kickstarts the side effects of menopause regardless of age. However, sometimes early or premature menopause just happen with no clear cause. If women in your family have a history of early menopause, it might be a good idea to discuss it with your doctor.
BHRT
The term HRT refers to hormone replacement therapy, or any treatment where a lack of a certain hormone in the body is supplemented through prescribed hormones from a doctor. BHRT refers specifically to bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. Bioidentical hormones are synthetic, or man-made, and the closest the hormones that your body naturally produces. They’re specially designed to be chemically identical to your natural hormones, so they’re easy for the body to absorb, recognize, and use. Here at Renewed Vitality, bioidentical hormones are the kind that we rely on for our life-changing treatments! You can learn more about our BHRT options here.
Summer is all about fun in the sun, spending time with your friends and loved ones, and enjoying delicious food and drink courtesy of the bountiful summer harvests. For many people, this means indulging in a few (or more than a few) cocktails and other drinks. However, this might not be the best for your health!
There are many reasons that people decide to go dry temporarily or permanently, or even just to cut back on their alcohol consumption. They might be trying to help their mental health, improve their energy levels, lose weight, or deal with a hormonal change like menopause. Regardless of reasoning, cutting back on alcohol can be extremely beneficial to one’s health. Still, that doesn’t mean that you have to cut back on the fun!
If you’re worried that you’ll feel left out avoiding the drink cooler or bar at your next summer get-together, learning how to whip up a good mocktail could be just the thing you need! These drinks are delicious, grown-up, and totally zero-proof. Don’t be surprised if you find you don’t miss the booze at all– and if everyone else is asking you to make one for them, too!
Cucumber Spritzer
If you like drinks that are light and refreshing without being too sweet, this one’s for you. Mix together cucumber juice (which you can find ready-made, or make yourself by blending together cucumber and water and then straining), lime juice, club soda, and a little simple syrup and serve it over ice. This drink is incredibly easy to personalize, too! Swap out the cucumber for any other kind of juice, switch club soda for ginger beer or nonalcoholic sparkling wine, try a different type of citrus, or use flavored cordials or syrups in place of simple syrup for sweetness. You can even add muddled herbs like mint or dill for more complex flavors.
Watermelon Agua Fresca
When you want something quenching and delicious to beat the summer heat, nothing can top the Mexican staple agua fresca. This drink is as simple as it gets– blend together water, sugar, lime juice (or any other citrus), and a fruit of your choice. Watermelon, pineapple, mango, and berries are popular options. You can strain out the pulp and seeds if you so desire, then serve chilled for some delicious hydration! Experiment with different combinations of fruit for different flavors, and try adding club soda if you like a little fizz. For a sophisticated flavor that’ll put you in mind of fancy cocktails, try watermelon and basil!
Virgin Margarita
Few things taste better than a margarita on a hot summer day, but if you’re skipping the alcohol, you can still enjoy this classic drink! Combine lime juice, orange juice, simple syrup or agave, and a little club soda or seltzer water and serve over ice. Don’t forget to rim your glass with lime and salt for the true margarita experience, and try to opt for fresh-squeezed juice if you can to give the best flavor! You can even try adding some zero-proof tequila if you can find it, but this mocktail is just as delicious without it.
Sunrise or Breeze Mocktails
Famous summer drinks like tequila sunrises, bay breezes, and sea breezes rely on juices and syrups to do a lot of their heavy lifting. When you leave out the alcohol, you’re left with a fruity and delicious mocktail that will have you wanting another glass! These drinks are easy to make and even easier to order at a bar. Simply mix orange, pineapple, or cranberry with grenadine as you see fit, and leave the alcohol to the side. Adding bitters or herbaceous flavored syrups can be a good way to make the drink feel a little more mature, or cut through the sweetness if that’s what you prefer!
Giving up alcohol this summer might be just what you need to take control of your health, and with delicious mocktails like these, you’ll never miss it! If you want to learn more about ways to boost your hormonal health, you can read more on our blog here.
Your overall health and wellbeing is greatly affected by your genetics, and looking at the medical history of your family can be a good way to predict certain things. Conditions like heart problems or certain cancers can have a genetic component, and you can even be particularly prone to certain mental health disorders if they tend to run in your family.
You may wonder if this means that your genetics will have an impact on your experience of menopause. Will you begin menopause at the same age as your mother, grandmothers, and other female relatives? If they have a difficult time and struggle with their symptoms, does that mean that the same will be true for you? The answer isn’t entirely cut and dry, so let’s take a closer look at the link between genetics and menopause!
Early Menopause
Early menopause is something that can potentially affect any woman, but that can be very tricky to predict. The only time you can ever really know when you’re going to hit menopause is when you’ve actually hit it. However, there are some indicators that can help you to predict when the onset of menopause will begin for you, and your genetics are one of them.
If close female relatives of yours have begun menopause early or prematurely (before 45 or 40), especially if multiple women in your family have experienced the same thing, there’s a chance that this will be the case for you as well. However, it’s not a guarantee. There is a correlation between genetics and the age of menopause onset, but not a clearly identifiable link, and scientists are still working on understanding how much of the way your body works is because of your genes, how much is due to external factors, and how much is simply random.
Menopause Symptoms
In a similar vein, genetics can be a factor in how you experience menopause itself, but not the end-all-be-all that decides what your menopausal years will be like. If your mother, sisters, aunts, and cousins all experienced brutal hot flashes or gained a great deal of weight, for example, there’s a good chance you will as well, but it’s just that– a chance, not a sure thing.
Think of the link between genetics and menopause like the link between genetics and pregnancy. Things like having big babies or carrying past your due date might be common in certain families, but that doesn’t mean it’s definitely going to happen for every woman of one genetic line in every pregnancy she has. Just because your mother had terrible morning sickness when she was pregnant with you doesn’t mean that you’ll go through the same thing. Genetics do play a factor in the experience of things like pregnancy and menopause, but there are many other factors at play– even ones you can control!
Other Contributing Factors
So, genetics are a factor in menopause, but not the only factor you have to consider. So what else determines when you will enter menopause, and what it will be like for you? The answer: a lot of things, and many of them are within your control!
Your lifestyle choices can play an important role in how menopause plays out for you. Women who are heavy smokers and drinkers, for example, tend to enter menopause earlier than women who aren’t, and these substances can exacerbate the symptoms of menopause like hot flashes, sleep problems, and low energy levels. Quitting or at least limiting your intake can help to make menopause easier to manage. Diets lacking in certain nutrients can also contribute to early menopause, so ensuring that you’re eating well-rounded meals on a regular basis can be helpful. Other contributing factors are more difficult to control, but identifying them can help you to prepare yourself for menopause better, like certain chromosomal conditions or autoimmune diseases. Your doctor can tell you if you might be at risk for these issues.
Understanding human genetics is something that scientists around the world are working tirelessly on every day, but we do know this– looking to your family members for guidance when it comes to your health can be a very good thing, even when the familial ties of things like menopause aren’t fully understood. If you want to learn more about menopause and women’s hormones, Renewed Vitality can help you! Keep reading our blog here for more information.
