This month, I’m diving into menopause—a topic that’s showing up more and more in my life. Many of my clients and friends are beginning to notice the signs and symptoms, I’m currently working towards a menopause coaching certification, and I’ve started experiencing some of these changes myself. So it feels like the right time to open the conversation.
Menopause is often treated as taboo and remains underrepresented in social conversations and research, showing how little attention is given to women’s health. That silence also feeds a common misconception, that menopause is single moment, rather than a gradual, years-long transition—much like puberty—that deserves more open discussion and understanding. (I use “women” here because that’s how the field is typically defined, not because only women experience menopause.)
This month’s blog focuses on the menopause transition—a natural part of aging for many people. Because aging, especially for women and AFAB folks, carries so much societal stigma, menopause is frequently framed as something negative, if talked about at all. That stigma leaves many people without the open dialogue and education they deserve about a completely natural life transition.
And I hope this month’s blog sheds a little light.
Let’s define some terms shall we.
Perimenopause
This is a period of time leading up to menopause, which can be up to 8-10 years. Everyone is different and it could be only a few months to many years. During this time as the ovaries produce less and less estrogen and progesterone, a person may experience:
- Irregular periods
- Mood swings
- Trouble sleeping
- Night sweats
- Hot flushes (A term used in my GGS Certification. Many of us have heard them referred to as hot flashes, but this implies that they are only instantaneous and not lasting several minutes or more.)
- Low libido
- Vaginal dryness
- Shifts in metabolism, new foods that bother you and/or other GI issues
- Urinary urgency
- Joint aches and pains
- Brain fog (this is not a complete list)
Menopause
Medically, menopause is defined as one full year without a period, typically alongside other signs and symptoms of the menopause transition. But this definition gets complicated for people who’ve had a hysterectomy—for gender, medical, or other reasons—because they no longer menstruate. Without periods to track, it’s much harder to pinpoint the shift from premenopause to perimenopause to postmenopause, especially since there’s no single test that can confirm menopause. For those without periods after a hysterectomy, identifying menopause is often an informed estimate, generally made with your health practitioner, rather than a clear milestone.
The average age, that most people who will experience menopause, is between 48-52, but there are people for whom this happens later or earlier.
Postmenopause
The time after a full year without a period until the end of life. Menopausal symptoms, such as hot flushes or night sweats, may still persist, but gradually get less intense or go away. Throughout the menopause transition, but especial postmenopause people do have an increased risk of osteoporosis, cardiac disease and other health risks that seeing a doctor for regular check ups is a good idea. (I also want to acknowledge that health care in the US can be very challenging for various reasons, and not everyone can see a doctor regularly.)
On a brighter side, many women report that postmenopause becomes a time of clarity, confidence, and personal growth. Research has found that women often associate this life stage with increased experience, freedom, and the ability to speak their minds more authentically.
What’s Next?
With menopause going to be part of many people’s lives, I want this blog to offer some hope in a sea of information that can sometime seem really sad and dismaying. But don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it’s all gonna be roses either-night sweats have not been fun!
I think it’s pretty easy to look up what are menopause symptoms and then see if you’re experiencing any of them. You can even read about talking to your health care provider, start exercising for it’s preventative measures and maybe there’s discussion about hormone replacement therapy. But I want to dive a little deeper than that and talk about how to create and envision this time in a positive light.
Hopeful outlook
During this internal transition, there could also be a lot of external transition happing in your life as well. Things like taking on more responsibility at work, or maybe stepping back from working full time. If you have kids maybe they’re more independent or no longer living with you and your house has become quiet. Or maybe you still have kids at home to care for and now you need to begin caring for your parents. All of which to say there’s probably a lot going on and how to navigate the internal and external transitions could be challenging.
A great way to work through change is to have a plan, or even a map, that can help guide you through this time. Below are some questions to ask yourself to help guide you through this transition time.
- What are my core values? The things you care about and prioritize in your life. Core values are things like accountability, creativity, kindness to name a few. See a whole list of values here. Using these core values can help you really plot the route along the map of this new journey.
- What are the thing you want to prioritize in this stage of life? Who are the people, the activities, or other things that are important to you?
- How do you want to spend your time? Who are the important people in your life? What leisure activities do you love and want to include?
- Who counts on you, that you enjoy providing support, friendship or mentorship to?
- How do your core values line up with other aspects of health and fitness: movement, nutrition, rest and mindfulness? (This question is kind of big and these items can have big impacts on how you feel during the menopause transition.)
Plot your points on the map
Using your core values and your answers to some (or all) of the questions above you can now use this to help guide you through the various ways you want to spend your time which can help mitigate or manage menopause symptoms or not.
Again, if you have done an internet search about what are signs of menopause; you also have probably seen a myriad of things you can do to help improve symptoms. Things like:
- Getting enough sleep
- Exercising
- Eating enough protein, veggies and whole grains
- Developing stress management skills
- Having a self care routing
- Maybe even pelvic floor health
All of these things are important, and I do want to talk about each of them briefly, but more importantly, I want to talk about how this fits into your vision of this next part of your life.
Sleep
We all know that getting enough sleep is important. As you enter perimenopause night sweats and hot flushes can be a symptom and they can happen while sleeping, which will disrupt sleep.
Strategies
Making sleep a priority can be hard, if it’s not currently something you are good at, but like all things it can be practiced. Even just starting with going to bed 5 minutes early for the next week or two and then keep adding by 5 minutes. Additionally, something that can help improve sleep, especially if night sweats or hot flushes while sleeping, keep some clean PJs close by to change into and even some fresh sheets to throw on the bed so you can get back to sleep as soon as possible.
Exercise
As we age, we naturally lose muscle and for those who will experience menopause, this will also mean we will lose bone density, so without some sort of movement or exercise that challenges our muscles and bones, our body naturally becomes weaker and more fragile. However, by adding some sort of movements or exercises that challenge our muscles and bones, we can help mitigate the risk of osteoporosis and muscle loss and keep up our strength for all the fun actives we want to do as we age.
Strategies
Going back to our core values and how you answered the questions above, this can inform us about what movements we might want to explore and whether we want to move in a group or solo. This might even change day to day, where one day you do a group fitness activity and another day you either walk with a friend for some exercise and having social connections or you go for a walk in nature to do some movement and also some self care and de-stressing activity.
Nutrition
Eating enough protein, veggies and whole grains as well as some fats is all part of a nutritious diet. (I use diet here as a way of eating, not in the toxic diet culture way.) Getting enough protein becomes even more important as you go through the menopause transition because of how hormone fluctuations can change hunger and satiety cues and for building and sustaining muscles. This is where filling our plate (or bowl) with lean protein, lots of vegges, whole grains and more heart healthy fats becomes important.
Strategies
We know there is a lot out there that can make getting a great variety of foods challenging. Maybe you feel unsure of what to eat or make, maybe you feel super pressed for time and capitalism is got you tired so you go for something easy and quick and that’s all valid. But look at your map from above, how is it guiding you? Maybe you want to prioritize building muscle, but you’re finding it hard to get enough protein because you also want to meet socially with friends and loved ones over meals out and the protein portions are on the small side. How might you strategize to work on meeting both needs that are important to you? Could you try ordering an additional side that includes protein? Could you have a high protein snack a few hours before going to help add to your overall daily protein intake?
Stress Management and Self Care
I think of these as very similar. Having some ways to care for yourself and destress can then help us be ready for sleep and that can make us feel less stress. Also having a self care routine can help us feel less stressed. They all play together!
Stress management could be talking with a therapist, talking through your troubles with your bestie, or it could also be taking a bubble bath. A bubble bath can also be a form of self care. Meditating can be both self care and stress management. Getting a mani/pedi or giving yourself one, going for a walk in nature, cuddling with your pet or doing some gentle stretching can also be self care. Many of these actives overlap and calm your system down.
Strategies
Revisiting your map of how you want to approach this new stage of your life, you might identify that currently you aren’t doing enough of these restful activities- and this is very normal for many of us. Using your values and your answers, where is that map pointing you? Would a gentle stretch session before bed be a great way to decompress from the day and also help aid sleep? How might you carve out 10 minutes before bed to do that? Does it mean asking a partner to put the kids to bed or asking them to walk the dog instead of you? Or does sit mean, not watching another show or video so you can begin this wind down routine?
Support
Support can come in many ways, from talking to your primary care doctor or seeking out a doctor who’s focus is menopause, to possibly a coach for fitness or nutrition, or even with your besties talking about your experiences.
Additionally I am thinking of offering a series where we can gather and do this work together. Discover our values, what’s meaningful for us in this stage of life, and plot our map to bring empowerment to this new stage in life. If this sounds cool to you, please let me know. Send us a quick email: info@reimagym.com
Reimagining
Part of reclaiming this transition is focusing on what strength and wellness look like you now. Movement, strength training, nutrition, sleep, and community all play powerful roles in navigating symptoms and building resilience. And it’s not about “anti-aging” — it’s about living fully in midlife and beyond, with the kind of vitality that comes not from denial and disconnectedness but from understanding, self-care, and support.
Most importantly, menopause doesn’t have to be something you go through alone or in silence. The more we talk about it — honestly and sharing our real experiences — the more we discover that this transition is not only a natural one but also an opportunity to reframe what aging means, redefine how we care for ourselves, and build confidence on our own terms.
If you want to find support within a group I am thinking of putting a series together on building your map and vision for the future. I am gauging interest. If you would like to be part of this, email me, Theresa, at info@reimagym.com. I’ll let you know when something comes together.
