HEALTH REPORT
plant-based menopause
H ot and bothered by menopause symptoms? Menopause is a natural stage of life for women, but nevertheless, is often associated with troublesome symptoms, ranging from hot flushes to mood swings. Luckily there are herbs that have traditionally been used to help relieve them in both Chinese and Western herbal medicine, says Erika Bass. Menopause is the end of a woman’s reproductive years and is said to have taken place when no menstrual bleeding has occurred for a period of 12 months. For most women, this occurs between the ages of 45 and 55. The symptoms of menopause About 85 per cent of menopausal women experience symptoms of some kind. Most common are hot flushes and night sweats (collectively referred to as ‘vasomotor symptoms’), which affect up to four in five menopausal women. Menopausal women who get hot flushes also often experience sleep disturbances and mood swings. The links between hot flushes, sleeping difficulties and moodiness are complex and may vary from one woman to the next. However, it’s hypothesised that for many (but not all) women, sleep disturbances during the menopausal transition are triggered or exacerbated by night-time hot flushes, and that the resulting poor sleep may contribute to moodiness. Vaginal dryness (decreased vaginal
lubrication) is another very common symptom. It’s experienced by one in three post-menopausal women and may be associated with discomfort during sexual intercourse. Menopause symptoms: the traditional Chinese perspective In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), normal healthy function in the human body is considered dependent on appropriate balance of Yin and Yang. The Kidney organ-meridian system is regarded as the source of all Yin and Yang in the body in TCM. It’s also traditionally believedtogovernall aspectsof reproductive function including menopause, and is regarded as the storehouse for Jing (also known as Kidney essence), a form of life force energy that’s associated with vitality but declines from mid-life onwards. In TCM, menopause is traditionally recognised as a time when Kidney Yin becomes deficient in comparison to Kidney Yang. Since Yin has cooling and moistening properties, a deficiency of Kidney Yin produces symptoms characterised by heat (like hot flushes and sweating) and lack of moisture (like vaginal dryness). Yang has heating and drying properties, so as Kidney Yin declines and Kidney Yang becomes relatively dominant or hyperactive, the severity of heat-related menopausal symptoms is exacerbated, and the body fluids start to dry up. In TCM this symptom pattern is known as ‘internal heat in Yin deficiency’ or ‘deficiency heat’.
Yoga for menopausal women
Research suggests that practising yoga might help women who are peri-menopausal or post-menopausal manage both vasomotor symptoms like hot flushes and night sweats, and psychological symptoms such as mood swings. In particular, regular yoga may lead to a small-to-moderate reduction in the severity of hot flushes – but you’ll need to develop a regular practice, as these effects don’t occur in the short-term, according to research published in the Journal Complementary Therapies in Medicine .
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ISSUE 59 • 2020
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