Mindfulness: A Natural Way to Manage Menopause Symptoms

Are you looking to decrease your stress improve your memory and attention, reduce pain and get better sleep? How about lessening the impact of menopause-related hot flashes, brain fog, anxiety, and depression?

Mindfulness is a proven strategy to address these and other symptoms. Developing a mindfulness practice can help you build the tools to better cope with the range of challenges you’ll encounter throughout your life.

What is Mindfulness?

Although rooted in Buddhism, mindfulness has gained considerable popularity among people of all backgrounds looking to improve their wellbeing.

Mindfulness is not so much a thing to do but a way of being. As described by the Buddhist monk Tich Nhat Hanh, mindfulness is present-focused awareness. It involves using all of your senses to focus only on the current moment without paying attention to the past or future.

Mindfulness and Mental Health

Research on mindfulness and mental health has increased tremendously in the last three decades. It is arguably one of the fastest-growing areas of research in the field.

Today, mindfulness-based therapies are used to treat depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), borderline personality disorder, and more.

The strongest evidence for use exists in treating anxiety and depression. Meditation, a pillar of mindfulness, strengthens your mind so that the constant worries or ruminating thoughts can float by instead of sticking to you. In mindfulness practice, you learn to prioritize different types of thoughts. Banishing those that create anxiety and focusing on positive thoughts.

Mindfulness and Physical Pain

The impacts of mindfulness are not limited to mental health. Pain—and especially chronic pain—is a complex and multifactorial experience in which the mind is just as involved as the physical body in influencing your sensations. Since the 1970s, clinicians and researchers have been learning about the impact of mindfulness practices in treating pain.

Research shows that mindfulness can significantly improve pain tolerance and decrease the psychological symptoms related to pain. Mindfulness interventions are now a well-accepted, evidence-supported therapy for chronic pain, as a complement or alternative to prescription medications. Especially as the number of people with chronic pain grows, non-pharmaceutical treatments are a critical part of the future of pain management.

Mindfulness and Menopausal Symptoms

Mindfulness has been used as a natural approach to treat both the physical and psychological symptoms of menopause. A 2018 study found that mindfulness-focused therapy significantly reduced hot flashes and lessened other menopausal symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and insomnia.

While menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) is an effective tool for managing many symptoms of menopause, not all people choose or are appropriate for MHT.

For those seeking an alternative or complement to MHT, mindfulness-based interventions offer a nonhormonal, natural approach to treating menopause symptoms like anxiety, depression, irritability, and sleep disturbance.

5 Mindfulness Techniques for Menopause Symptoms

1. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MSBR) has been effective in improving physical and psychological outcomes, including menopause symptoms, in various clinical and non-clinical settings.

MBSR is a technique developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979 that uses mindfulness meditation. Although initially developed for stress management, it has evolved to encompass the treatment of a variety of health-related concerns like anxiety, depression, skin diseases, pain, immune disorders, hypertension, and diabetes.

2. Meditation

Meditation is all about awareness. You can meditate while lying down or sitting, in any comfortable position. You can start small with just a few minutes of meditation, and explore longer sessions as you become more comfortable.

5. Body Scan

A body scan is a mindfulness practices that focuses attention on your physical body. Your intention is to scan each area of your body in your mind, noticing your various sensations without an emotional response. You’ll find a guided body scan meditation in the Wellness library to help you learn this valuable practice.

6. Paced Respiration

Paced respiration is a simple technique of controlling your breathing that has been shown to reduce the impact of hot flashes and manage stress and anxiety. Start in any comfortable position. Breath in through your nose, hold your breath for four counts, and slowly exhale through your mouth.

Paced respiration can be practiced daily as a part of a mindfulness routine for up to about 15 minutes. You can also use it at the onset of a hot flash or to help you manage acute anxiety or stress. Feeling nervous about a big event or important meeting? Try paced respiration to calm your nerves and get focused.

5. Yoga

Even if you are an experienced yogi, mindful yoga may feel new. It isn’t about getting a workout or becoming more flexible, nor about the types of poses you can master. The focus is one connecting the body and mind, and noticing how different postures make you feel.

Everyday Mindfulness

Although you may assume that a mindfulness practice requires meditation, you don’t have to sit in silence for long periods to cultivate it. Mindfulness is about being fully present when doing everyday activities like things like exercising, cooking, cleaning, or driving. Start with bringing mindfulness to these activities in addition to learning the skill of meditation.

Mindlessness – the Opposite of Mindfulness

To create more mindfulness in your life, it can be helpful to identify mindless behaviors. Endless scrolling, eating while watching TV, and other “multitasking” can split your attention so you’re not fully present in either experience.

Cut out distractions like music, podcasts or TV background noise so you can notice what you see, smell, hear, taste and feel. Even your internal dialogue, including ruminations on thoughts and anxieties, can pull you away.

Mindfulness is not a destination or goal to be achieved. It is the practice itself—including times that you struggle to achieve mindfulness—that bring the benefits. It is an ongoing journey, but one that is worth the effort.