What is menopause?
It is natural stage in a women’s life when your menstruation stops. It means your fertile and reproductive years have come to an end. Menopause usually happens around a women’s late 40’s to early 50’s although it can happen earlier. It happens naturally when your period is absent for a whole year. However, some have it because of things like having their ovaries surgically removed. Other factors also can cause a woman to have early menopause.
How menopause can affect your mental health
Women that are going through menopause are at risk of experiencing mental health struggles this is because of the hormonal changes a woman goes through. As well has the hormonal changes women experience symptoms of menopause, these can also affect your mental health. Some symptoms include,
- Hot sweats
- Tiredness
- Night sweats
- Memory issues
- Tension
- Sleeping difficulties
Menopause can also affect your mood causing irritability, lack of motivation and aggressiveness. Not only this but it can affect your concentration also causing some to experience depression.
Some women say that menopause is like constantly battling PMS (premenstrual syndrome). PMS has symptoms of menopause, but women experience it once a month before their period. Not all people suffer from PMS so menopause can come as a shock, it can be an emotional struggle for some.
Depression
Menopause can put women at risk of experiencing depression from just the symptoms of menopause alone. Symptoms like tiredness can negatively affect your mood causing anger and sadness that can lead to depression over time. Symptoms of menopause like hot sweats cause sleep disruption, this then leads to poor sleep and lack of energy and therefore affecting your mood. This can then eventually lead to depression.
Hormones play a big part in depression in women going through menopause. Woman going through menopause have changes to their oestrogen levels and oestrogen is important in balancing out hypothalamus in the brain. Hypothalamus controls some physical as well as behaviour functions including controlling your hunger, thirst, regulating body temperature and sleep. With oestrogen levels dropping and affecting hypothalamus this can cause disruption to your mental health leading to depression. Also, serotonin levels drop during menopause, serotonin is a brain chemical that encourages feelings of happiness and feelings of self-worth. With serotonin levels dropping it can lead to feelings of hopelessness, sadness as well as overall mood changes.
Anxiety
Anxiety in menopause can be unexpected for some woman although woman that already suffer with anxiety may experience worsened symptoms. There are a few reasons why woman might develop anxiety during menopause, their symptoms are so bad it is causing them anxiety about leaving the house. Women who experience symptoms like hot flushes might not want to go out in public fearing this symptom might come on whilst being out. Some women find themselves suddenly feeling nervous about things they didn’t before. The same as depression, there are hormone changes that can be the cause of your anxiety.
Other factors that can affect mental health
As menopause can be a struggle for women it can affect normal day to day life and routines. Things like going to work can now be a struggle whilst going through menopause and the symptoms. Now this can be a problem for some as working is a source of income and not having this can cause financial difficulties. Financial difficulties can lead to women feeling stressed and overwhelmed. Therefore, leaving them at risk of mental health struggles.
Tiredness can be hard to deal with especially when you need to get things done like normal daily chores including cleaning the house and laundry. Tiredness can leave you with lack of motivation meaning you don’t want to get up and clean those dishes or wash those clothes. This is not good for your mental health as these things are a normal part of your life. Not getting these done can have a negative impact on your mental health.
Mood swings are common during menopause and can often lead to making irrational decisions whilst experiencing them. Mood swings can make you irritated and angry at things you wouldn’t normally be. As a result, it can affect things like your relationship with your partner, some women said that menopause had a big effect of their relationship. It caused a breakup; this can make you feel lonely and in despair.
Managing your mental health during menopause
Remember that menopause is a big hormonal change in your body. It can be a hard time for women to go through and you need to remember to go easy on yourself. It is normal for women to feel they are going slightly crazy with all the hormone changes going on. Here are some ideas on how to help your mental health when going through menopause.
- Speak to doctors/specialists
Speaking to them about your symptoms they may be able to help with these by giving you medication. They do medication that may help ease some of your symptoms making it that little bit easier to deal with.
- Improve lifestyle choices
Look after your physical health as this plays an important role in your mental health. Things like exercise for example going for walks or running. Also try getting into a good sleep routine to allow your body and mind to get the rest it needs. Other lifestyle choices like eating healthy can also be a big help in keeping your mental health balanced.
- Remind yourself it’s temporary
Keep in mind that menopause typically lasts 4-5 years, although it can be longer or shorter for some. Once menopause is over symptoms go with it. Some people still experience some symptoms when menopause is over but seek medical advice as they may be things they can do to help.
- Reach out to others
Speaking to family and friends about what you are going through can help you and them in understanding menopause. You don’t need to struggle alone and speaking about it can help you clear your mind and let out anything you are feeling.