You’d think that in your 40s you could rely on having a little stability in your life. But if you’ve started snapping at the dog, your kids or your partner, do not fear. You’re not losing your mind. But what is all this stress?
For Maria Cervantes, a 49-year-old sales rep from Yonkers, N.Y., the crunch came when she was traveling into work. “I’d taken the subway every day for years, and it never bothered me. But this particular morning, when it stopped
mid-stations, I broke out in a sweat and started to panic. At first I thought it was claustrophobia, but it happened about a week later in Central Park.”Eventually, Cervantes learned to manage her stress levels with relaxation techniques, and the panic attacks subsided. But her experience is common, say experts, who utilize such techniques to help women cope with midlife stresses.It’s not menopause itself that is the main stressor, but rather the fact that menopause occurs at a time when most women’s lives are incredibly full, juggling career, family and aging parents. Women are typically incredible multi-taskers, but they may need time to develop coping strategies for the new challenges that menopause brings.
Not only are some menopausal symp-toms unpleasant in themselves, but midlife stresses may aggravate the symptoms of menopause, according to research. But there is good news. Learning to better manage your stress can also help minimize your menopause symptoms.
Stressors EverywhereThe stressors that perimenopausal wo-men confront are as varied as women themselves. To begin with, the symptoms of perimenopause itself—hot flashes, menstrual irregularities and poor sleep from night sweats—can be tremendously stressful, says Leslee Kagan, NP, coauthor of Mind Over Menopause: The Complete Mind/Body Approach to Coping with Menopause and director of the meno-pause program at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Her program is designed to help women use stress management tools such as breathing techniques or meditation to manage
their symptoms.
Plus, perimenopausal women have to cope with growing older in a society that often views older women negatively, she says. Tack on aging parents, family changes as children leave home for college or adult children return home, late-in-life moms who are still raising kids, and the financial stress of trying to pay for college while saving for retirement, and it’s no wonder those stress hormones go a bit wild.
So What’s Menopause
Got to Do With It? OK, so midlife is a stressful time. Does menopause itself—that is, the petering out of your body’s production of estrogen and progesterone—actually add to that? To understand that question, you need to understand how stress and your health fit together in the first place.
Although stress has gotten a bad rap in recent years, it’s actually a valuable reaction designed to keep us alive when we’re in danger. Called the fight-or-flight response, danger triggers a hormonal cascade that releases chemicals (incl-uding adrenalin) designed to help you focus, speed your reaction time and increase your strength.
This is great if you’re facing an out-of-control car. Unfortunately, everyday situations like a nasty boss, grumpy teenager or overdue credit card bill can also trigger this response. Even your own thoughts and worries can initiate the release of adrenalin.
Such constant stress means your body doesn’t get a chance to rest and recuperate. Over time, that damages your health. Studies find such chronic stress also increases your risk of obesity, insomnia, heart disease, depression and digestive problems, while suppressing parts of your immune system, making you more susceptible to illness such as cancer.
Long-term or chronic stress is also biologically linked to your reproductive system, says Kagan, with the ongoing stress response exacerbating menopause symptoms such as hot flashes.
In the Women’s Health Across the
Nation (SWAN) study, which followed more than 3,300 women through their perimenopausal years, researchers found that women with higher levels of perceived stress were more likely to report hot flashes and night sweats than those who had more relaxed lives. Other clinical trials find that breathing techniques designed to reduce stress (taking slow, deep breaths when a hot flash is starting) can significantly reduce the frequency of hot flashes, while other stress reduction techniques such as yoga or meditation can also reduce their severity.
The body has an innate ability to calm itself through its relaxation response—a state of deep relaxation that lowers your heart and breathing rates while reducing muscle tension. If you elicit this response every day, research finds that, over time,your body becomes less responsive to stress hormones, says Kagan. This can both curtail symptoms such as hot flashes and help you cope better when stressful events occur, she says.
Eliciting the relaxation response is simple, says Kagan. Meditation, certain breathing and other relaxation exercises, yoga, various religious traditions and even knitting can bring it on. In fact, any soothing activity you enjoy can be turned into a relaxation therapy simply by focusing on repetition, be it a word, a prayer or a motion.
One way to do this is through tai chi, a gentle, low-intensity form of exercise that is often recommended in the transition to menopause. Indeed, a report by Natural Standard and the faculty of Harvard Medical School found that practicing tai chi regularly may not only reduce anxiety and depression, but may also increase bone mineral density after menopause.
You also need to cultivate a nonjudgmental awareness that allows you to gently dismiss any upsetting thoughts without getting drawn in to negative thinking, says Kagan.
Long-Term Benefits Last Beyond MenopauseLearning to bring about a state of relaxation certainly worked for Cervantes, who joined a yoga class that focused on breathing techniques. “After a while, I found I could use the techniques learned in class whenever I felt myself becoming anxious,” she recalls. “Not only did it help calm me down emotionally, I began to notice that when I wasn’t feeling so stressed, my hot flashes passed more quickly, which was amazing.”
That response is common, says Kagan. Just having a tool to use when a hot flash occurs reduces women’s anxiety. Kagan’s program takes a holistic approach to stress management, emphasizing nutrition, exercise and cognitive approaches that help women take a more positive approach toward menopause.
Plus, such an approach helps women learn to reframe their worries about symptoms so they focus on curtailing them rather than anticipating them, says Kagan. This can reduce the stress response when symptoms strike. It’s not a question of eliminating all stress from your life; it’s how you handle it that matters
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