Getting healthy involves more than eating well and exercising.  Physical health is one of 4 equally important parts.  The other three are your spiritual health, emotional health, and mental health.

Today, I’d like to concentrate on nurturing your emotional health.  This is about your moods as well as relationships; not usually easy things to control.  But, we aren’t talking about control, just improvement.

This includes stress management too.  Don’t skip this.  The goal isn’t to be completely stress-free.  That is impossible.  Stress comes in all forms, good and bad.  Getting a promotion, having a birthday, going on vacation; these are all stressful.  A dull life would be stress-free, and who wants that?

Being healthy in the emotional sense, requires dealing with your moods.  Keeping your moods managed, so that your emotions aren’t out of balance with the situation.  

Things happen every day that can knock us out of our happy mood.  Sometimes those things are awfully small.  When tragedy happens, it is healthy to feel sad, depressed, or furious.  But, in everyday issues, you need to keep it in perspective.  A good way to do that is with a regular daily emotional practice.

Heart disease is the number one killer of women.  In fact, more women die of heart disease than all forms of cancer combined.  The great news is that you have so much control of your heart health.  It is reported that 85% of heart disease is preventable through nutrition, and lifestyle choices, and medication if necessary.

This Friday, February 6th is National Wear Red Day in the US.

Even my eleven year old son knows about pink ribbons, and breast cancer.  But, most women don’t know about Wear Red Day.  Its not about the dress, although that truly does help open eyes and create awareness.  Its spreading the message that empowers women to stop or even reverse heart disease through simple and inexpensive diet and exercise.

Let me start by saying that anti-aging is over rated.  There is far too much emphasis on looking young in our culture.  Unfortunately, the messages go much further too.  We also are told to be thinner, have perfect skin, smooth curves in the right places, but without cellulite.  It is really out of hand, and if you aren’t careful it can make you feel like you don’t measure up.

Happy New Year!  Everyone is talking about resolutions.  It makes sense.  A new year feels like a fresh start, and who couldn’t make a few changes for the better?  No one.  Even us perimenopausal women are all works in progress.

But, as I’m sure you are aware, new year’s resolutions have a bad track record.  They remind me of diets.  We’ve talked about them before here.  

Maybe you think its just semantics, but I prefer to think of goal setting at the new year.  They are similar concepts, but the mindset is what makes the difference.

Hopefully by illustrating the differences, you will see the value in setting great goals for 2015!

It will be no surprise when I mention that for many women, December is the most stressful month.  Duh!  

Sure, I am stating the obvious, but is there another way?

Is it possible to have a memorable and special Christmas season without all the usual accompanying stress?  Take this time to read further, and imagine a better way.  If nothing else, the time spent with restful images in your mind can provide stress relief for these brief moments together.

Why does it matter?  

It is especially important for you to consider the exercise of introducing more self care during this busy season.  Excessive stress increases the adrenaline and cortisol response in the body.  The effects include sleep disturbances, irritability, depressed mood, and decreased immunity.  Considering the fact that perimenopause is a form of stress in itself, you really can’t afford to add to your stress if you are experiencing the hormonal imbalance of menopause.

What to do?

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Christmas?  Well, probably the first thing will be the twinkling lights, or busy shopping malls, or if you really have your mind in the right place it will be the sweet reminder of our Savior Jesus, as a baby in a manger.  

But after that, do any special foods come to mind?  Favorite treats that pop up at family gatherings, office parties, and as gifts from thoughtful and well meaning neighbors, perhaps?  

How will you handle those treats this year?  How do you usually embark on this festive season?  If you take the approach of, ‘no worries, that’s what resolutions are for’, then we really need to have a talk.

The thing is, resolutions aren’t very successful.  Have you noticed?  The word has gotten around that most people fail before February 1.  You may believe that you are better than that, and that is probably true, but there are easier ways to get even better results.  Besides, if you are experiencing menopausal symptoms, indulging in decadence is a sure bet for making those symptoms worse.

I have some suggestions for you to maintain your health goals this holiday.  Take what you think will make the biggest difference for you this year.

Perimenopause is a time when estrogen levels are unpredictable.  The regular monthly rhythm and interplay between estrogen and progesterone is thrown completely out of sync, and the cyclic periods also become more variable.

This erratic estrogen level, along with the fact that estrogen and progesterone aren’t communicating with each other anymore, is considered to be the reason for many of the uncomfortable symptoms perimenopausal women experience.  

Hormone replacement therapy went out of favor years ago (2002) when it was linked to heart disease, blood clots, and breast cancer.  When the symptoms outweigh the risks, HRT is provided on a short term basis, as opposed to the way hormones had previously been freely prescribed.

Bioidentical hormones have risks of their own, and most conventional doctors won’t touch them.  Those that are compounded are not regulated, so there is no insurance of exactly what and how much is in the compound.  With close practitioner supervision, and a trusted compounding pharmacy, they may be an option.  If you are interested, that can be a topic for a future post.

Another option for balancing the hormones during premenopause is to take in phytoestrogens.  There are supplements of these plant based estrogen mimicking substances, but they are found in many of the foods you take in every day.