Learning how to manage stress during menopause is a challenge. In addition to the normal job, family, life stress, menopause adds unseen and often unknown burdens that amplify the intensity.

Stress is something that no one wants it but everybody has. It presents itself every day in our lives and we have become masters at pushing it aside. Adapting daily to just cope with the nonstop pressure brought about by daily life.

Stress is also known as the silent killer. It has an insidious ability to overburden our body by flooding it with cortisol. Elevated cortisol levels interfere with learning and memory, increase anxiety and make it harder to fall asleep. 

It also created other medical conditions like lower immune function and bone density loss. It increases blood pressure, cholesterol and heart disease. It elevates the heart rate and pushes the adrenal glands to produce more cortisol. This puts you at increases risk for heart disease or stroke.

A healthy diet, exercise and sleep play an important role in improving your quality of life and reducing stress. If your stress is out of control, it can be working against all your efforts at good health. Doing everything right with exercise and diet isn’t enough to reduce the risks.

Menopause itself can greatly elevate cortisol levels that could trigger a cascade of health issues. Adding stress on top of that can accelerate diseases and issues like high blood pressure and weight gain.

To make things even more challenging, stress can become harder to manage when hormone levels decline. Your body and mind are processing the changes of menopause.  Stress on top of that can begin to feel totally unmanageable.

AND it can also worsen any menopause symptoms you already have. Hot flashes, anxiety, and memory loss, are all made worse with stress.

Addressing stress is a challenge. We are masters at ignoring it. The thought of being able to enact some control can seem out of reach. Exercise, a healthy diet and 7-8 hours of sleep a night are all good ways to support the stressed body.

During menopause, there is a wide range of treatment options to keep the harmful effects of stress at bay. Below are a few that I find most helpful for dealing directly with the impacts of stress.

How to Modify Your Stressors 

I know that it can seem insurmountable to suddenly be able to just wipe away your stress. But working on it over time, from multiple angles (diet, exercise, sleep, etc.) can create big changes in stress levels. 

Hormone Replacement Therapy can help relieve the impacts of stress by bringing down cortisol levels and anxiety.  Adding estrogen and progesterone can make you feel calm, upbeat and able to deal with unexpected stress more easily.

Once our menstrual cycle ends our bodies become more vulnerable to anxiety, fear and depression. Stress is toxic to our health. Adding HRT AND using the techniques suggested here can cut out a lot of damage to your mind and body.

Talking with a Therapist can be incredibly beneficial in helping you to manage and relieve your stress. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is gaining a lot of traction for dealing with menopausal stress. CBT is a form of time-limited talk therapy.  It teaches you how to reframe negative thoughts and change behaviors that may contribute to ongoing anxiety or depression.

Cut back on caffeine or alcohol both can overstimulate your body and exacerbate the feelings of stress. Elevated and prolonged levels of cortisol in the bloodstream are a few of the side effects of high amounts of caffeine.

Find a hobby, meditation or movement practice, or a project.  Spending time doing things that feel good releases endorphins and dopamine.  They help promote feelings of happiness and pleasure and reduce feelings of stress.

It gets your mind off stress and into the present moment. Any relief you can give yourself from stress is beneficial.

The health risks caused by stress are one of the biggest threats to our health as we age. Protect yourself and your body during the vulnerable time of menopause.  Add mindfulness and therapy to your life if you need it. Don’t neglect yourself, you deserve to feel good!