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The Ayurveda Approach to Healthy Menopause
by Nancy Lonsdorf M.D.
http://www.ayurveda-ayurvedic.com
The medical community is quickly evolving its
understanding of menopause. Following the abrupt, early
halt to the HRT portion of the Women's Health Initiative
last July, due to findings that Hormone Replacement
Therapy's risks outweighed its benefits, headlines now
read "Menopause is not a disease, but a normal part of
life." Hormone "replacement" therapy (HRT) has become
simply hormone "therapy" (HT) in recognition of the fact
that replacing estrogen is not natural and brings
dangerous side-effects, rather than the fountain of youth
once touted.
Shocking and novel as these concepts may be to today's
medical community, they are nothing new to Maharishi
Ayurveda, a consciousness-based natural medical system
from ancient India. For over 5000 years, Ayurveda has
acknowledged menopause as a natural transition, not a
mistake of Mother Nature's that requires hormone
replacement therapy. Maharishi Ayurveda reassures us that
menopause can be health-promoting, spiritually-
transforming and free of troublesome symptoms.
Experts today are affirming this positive view of
menopause, stating that it is not natural to get weak
bones, heart disease and rapid aging after menopause.
Rather, osteoporosis, heart disease and other chronic
health problems develop over a lifetime, resulting largely
from poor diet, stress and lack of physical exercise. And
hormone replacement therapy (HRT,) once heavily promoted
as the medical solution to these problems, is no longer
recommended for their treatment or prevention.
Menopause: A "Balance Deficiency"
What is recommended for the prevention of major health
problems after menopause is a healthy lifestyle. And,
according to Ayurveda, healthy living is also the best way
to ease symptoms of the menopause transition itself. How
balanced, or overall healthy you and your lifestyle are
when you reach menopause largely determines how smooth
your transition will be. If you are "burning the candle at
both ends" in your 30's and early 40's, you are more
likely to have mood swings, sleep problems and troublesome
hot flashes when your hormones start to change. Whereas if
you are have healthy lifestyle habits and are managing
your stress effectively, you are likely to breeze through
menopause without any major problems.
Health problems at menopause represent imbalances in the
body that were already growing in the body and are
unmasked by the stress of shifting hormones. Menopause
symptoms are Nature's wake-up call to let you know you
need to start paying more attention to your health. Age
forty-five to fifty-five is a critical decade, according
to Ayurveda. It provides the foundation on which your
later health is laid. Just like putting money in your IRA,
timely investing in your health can dramatically increase
your "yield" of healthy years at midlife and beyond.
Particularly if you have not been taking care of yourself
in your 30's and 40's, making lifestyle changes now is
critical to ensuring that you age gracefully without the
burden of chronic health problems.
What You Can Do Now to Get "In Balance"
While eating a healthy diet and getting enough exercise
provides the foundation of good health for everyone, each
woman's menopause experience is unique. Symptoms vary from
woman to woman. Knowing precisely how your body is out of
balance can guide you in selecting the key lifestyle
changes you should make to relieve your symptoms. Ayurveda
describes that the type of symptoms you have depends upon
which bodily principle or dosha is "out of balance" in
your mind/body system.
There are three bodily principles: movement and flow (vata
or airy), heat and metabolism (pitta or firey), and bodily
substance (kapha or earthy.) And there are three basic
types of imbalances relating to each of the three doshas.
Easing your menopause transition can be as simple
as "reading" your dosha symptoms and taking measures to
get your doshas back in balance. The following symptoms
and lifestyle prescriptions are indicated for each of the
three dosha imbalances:
V-Type- Prone To Nervousness: anxiety, panic, mood swings,
vaginal dryness, loss of skin tone, feeling cold,
irregular periods, insomnia, mild or variable hot flashes,
constipation, palpitations, bloating and joints aches and
pains.
Ayurvedic Tips: Increase warm food and drinks, regular
meals, early bedtime, oil massage, meditation, yoga,
walking and spices such as fennel and cumin. Decrease
caffeine and other stimulants, refined sugar, cold drinks,
salads.
P-Type- Prone to Hot Temper: anger, irritability, feeling
hot, hot flashes, night sweats, heavy periods, excessive
bleeding, urinary tract infections, skin rashes and acne.
Ayurvedic Tips: Increase cooling foods, water intake,
sweet juicy fruits (grapes, pears, plums, mango, melons,
apples,) zucchini, yellow squash, cucumber, organic foods.
Go to bed before 10 PM and try to wind down earlier in the
evening. Decrease excessive sun and overheating, hot spicy
foods, hot drinks and alcohol.
K-Type- Prone to Weight Gain: sluggishness, lethargy,
weight gain for no reason, fluid retention, yeast
infections, lazy, depressed, lacking motivation, slow
digestion.
Ayurvedic Tips: Increase exercise, fruits, whole grains,
legumes, vegetables, spices such as black pepper, turmeric
and ginger. Get up early (by 6AM). Decrease meat, cheese,
sugar, cold foods and drinks.
Your Hormonal "Backup System"
Ayurveda describes that your hormonal changes at menopause
will be smooth and easy if three factors are in place.
Your mind/body system (consisting of three doshas) is
in "balance."
Your diet is wholesome and rich in phytoestrogens.
Your body is "clean" and uncluttered inside so your
hormones and body can "talk" effectively.
Did you know that your ovaries and adrenal glands continue
to produce estrogens and "pre-estrogens" after menopause,
providing your body with its own hormonal backup system?
Ayurveda describes that this hormonal production after
menopause will be optimal if your mind and body are "in
balance," providing just the right amount of estrogen to
prevent hot flashes and keep your bones, skin, brain,
colon and arteries healthy without increasing the risk of
breast or uterine cancer.
Balancing your doshas, as discussed above, is the first
approach to ensuring optimal hormone production after
menopause, but Ayurvedic herbs can also help. Indian
asparagus root (shatavari; asparagus racemosus), thick-
leaved lavender (chorak; angelica glauca- related to the
Chinese female tonic Dong Quai,) licorice root,
sandalwood, pearl, red coral, rose and others are used by
skilled practitioners in balanced, synergistic
combinations to help relieve hot flashes, libido problems,
irritability, mood swings and other menopausal symptoms.
Hormonal Help from Plants--It's Not Just Soy!
Diet also plays a key role in balancing hormones during
and after menopause. It is well known that Japanese women
rarely experience hot flashes, probably because their diet
contains large amounts of soy, a food rich in certain
plant estrogens called "isoflavones." Soy products are not
the only source of plant estrogens, however. Another
equally healthful source of phytoestrogens are "lignans,"
compounds found in a variety of whole foods including
grains and cereals, dried beans and lentils, flaxseed,
sunflower seeds and peanuts, vegetables such as asparagus,
sweet potatoes, carrots, garlic and broccoli and fruits
such as pears, plums and strawberries.
Common herbs and spices such as thyme oregano, nutmeg,
turmeric and licorice also have estrogenic properties.
It turns out that if you simply eat a varied diet high in
fruits, vegetables, whole grains and dried beans you will
be ingesting a rich phytoestrogen feast in your daily
cuisine! Variety and moderation are important because just
as too much estrogen is unhealthy after menopause, too
much phytoestrogen may also be dangerous. This danger can
be avoided by getting your phytoestrogens naturally from a
variety of whole foods, rather than from supplements or
concentrated tablets.
When You Can't Stop Flashing, Get The "Lead" Out!
More serious symptoms, such as frequent hot flashes,
continual sleep disturbance, and moderate to severe mood
swings, are signs of deeper imbalances that, if left
untreated, will persist to set the stage for later
disease. For these more troublesome symptoms to manifest,
the tissues of your body~your bones, muscles, fat, organs,
skin, and blood~must be disturbed in some way. Ayurveda
describes that stubborn symptoms are usually due to the
buildup of wastes and toxins, referred to as "ama," in
your body's tissues.
For example, hot flashes that won't go away despite herbs,
diet, exercise, and perhaps even HRT usually represent a
problem with ama. One of my Ayurvedic mentors explained it
this way: When your body's channels are clogged with
wastes, the heat from metabolism builds up in your
tissues. Hot flashes result from sudden surges in blood
flow as the body tries to clear the channels and dissipate
the heat buildup quickly. A similar phenomenon occurs when
you have a heater set on high in an overheated room with
all the windows and doors closed. To cool down the room,
first you must turn down the heater (see Tips for P-Type
above) but you also need to throw open the windows and
doors (as in removing the ama) so the heat can flow out.
We can understand this analogy medically in terms of
hormone receptors. No matter how much estrogen or
phytoestrogen you have floating through your bloodstream,
it does you no good unless it connects with your body's
estrogen receptors, the tiny "keyholes" on your cells.
Estrogen and phytoestrogens fit these keyholes like
minuscule keys and through them gain entry into your
cells. When the receptors are clogged with debris
or "ama," your hormones cannot get into your cells to do
their work. Then bothersome menopause symptoms may
persist despite a variety of attempted therapies.
In this case, a traditional Ayurvedic detoxification
program referred to as Maharishi Rejuvenation Therapy
(MRT), or "panchakarma," may be needed to clear the body's
channels and gain relief. This internal cleansing approach
is also the treatment of choice for more serious problems
such as osteoporosis and high cholesterol. A study
published in a recent issue of Alternative Therapies in
Health and Medicine confirmed that this ancient technology
of herbalized oil massage, heat treatments and mild
internal cleansing therapies does indeed reduce toxins in
the body. Hormone disrupting PCB's and pesticides such as
DDT were reduced by approximately 50% after just 5 days of
treatment. Other studies have shown overall reduction in
health symptoms, a rise in "good cholesterol," and
reduction in free radicals from MRT.
In my clinical experience, MRT can be very transforming,
eliminating symptoms while at the same time dramatically
reducing stress and fatigue. After a week of treatment,
my patients not only report feeling much better, they
radiate health and youthfulness and many experience a
profound sense of well-being and inner peace.
It's Not Too Late
The important point to remember at midlife is that health
problems don't pop out of nowhere when your estrogen
levels start to fluctuate and fall off. Rather it is the
cumulative effects of damaging lifestyle habits--late
nights, fast food, eating on the run, lots of stress, too
little exercise--over decades that set in motion chronic
disease and aging well before menopause. Your symptoms are
simply telling you just how out of balance you are. The
good news is that with a few basic lifestyle changes, and
the healing power of Maharishi Ayurveda when needed,
underlying imbalances can be resolved, paving the way for
a smooth menopause transition and great health in the
years to come.
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