Healing Food And Herbs for Menopause

Menopause is a process that occurs later in a woman’s life and is determined when her regular menstruation stops continuously for a full year. Natural menopause is a normal part of the ageing course of being a woman. A woman Menopause can be natural or induced. A woman is born with all the eggs she will need for possible conception which is between 1 and 3 million eggs. These eggs are stored in the ovaries which sit on each side of the uterus. When a girl reaches puberty and starts her period, she releases one or more eggs from the ovaries that sit in the fallopian tubes waiting for fertilization by sperm from a man. If that does not happen, the egg disintegrates and is expelled along with the uterine lining that has been building up waiting for a fertilized egg. This monthly shedding of uterine lining is known as a menstrual period. In the course of a woman’s childbearing period, she will release about 400,000 eggs of which only a tiny fraction of them will end up being children. Anytime after the age of 40, several changes occur around the fact that the ovaries stop releasing eggs, ending menstruation permanently. The average age of reaching menopause worldwide is 51 years of age however, some women may experience menopause much earlier due to other reasons such as surgical menopause and hormonal problems. Surgical menopause occurs when a women goes through an operation to remove her ovaries. This usually happens with a diagnosis of ovarian, uterine, colon or cervical cancer. Certain treatments for cancer can also cause a woman to go into early menopause such as radiation and chemotherapy. Finally there is premature ovarian failure. This is due to hormonal imbalance and while it does cause early menopause, it is not always permanent.

The ovaries produce estrogen, a sex hormone that is responsible for menstruation, pregnancy, ovulation and the development of secondary sexual characteristics. This sex hormone is also in charge of other parts of the body including the bones, the cardiovascular system, the skin and the brain. During menopause (including the years leading up to menopause) a sharp drop in estrogen may cause women to have some bothersome side effects. This includes the world famous hot flashes, night sweats, a bone thinning disease known as ‘osteoporosis’, vaginal dryness, a loss of interest in sexual intercourse , skin changes and more. These problems can last for up to several years until the period of menopause is well established and the body can adjust to its new normal.