When you think about peri/menopause, you probably think about hormones first, and for good reason. The shifts in estrogen and progesterone that happen during the peri/menopause transition can affect many aspects of how you feel, from your periods and sleep to your mood, energy, memory, temperature regulation, and sexual health.
But those hormones aren’t changing in isolation. This transition is happening within your whole body, and your overall health can influence how you experience it. Sleep, stress, metabolic and cardiovascular health, nutrition, movement, bone and muscle health, and your personal and family history can all be part of the picture.
This is what makes peri/menopause such a valuable time to step back and look at your health more broadly. The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) peri/menopause Hub identifies the peri/menopause transition as an important time to begin screening for long-term health risks and implementing preventive health strategies.
Your Whole Body Is Part of the Menopausal Transition
During the peri/menopause transition, estrogen and progesterone begin to fluctuate before eventually declining. These hormones are best known for their role in reproduction, but their effects extend well beyond the menstrual cycle. Hormonal changes during this transition can affect the brain, bones, muscles, blood vessels, metabolism, sleep, and genitourinary health. At the same time, everything else happening in your body doesn’t pause just because you’ve entered this stage of life. Your health history, family history, sleep patterns, nutrition, stress levels, medications, and existing health conditions continue to matter.
Your hormonal changes are happening within the context of your overall health. Why Peri/Menopause Symptoms Can Feel Complicated
One of the challenges of the peri/menopause transition is that symptoms don’t always fit neatly into a single category. Take fatigue, for example. Hormonal changes may be part of the picture, but fatigue can also be influenced by poor sleep, iron deficiency, thyroid conditions, blood sugar changes, stress, sleep apnea, medications, or other health concerns. The same layered picture
can apply to brain fog, mood changes, headaches, sleep problems, and weight changes. That doesn’t mean these symptoms are unrelated to peri/menopause. It means more than one factor may be contributing at the same time. Rather than asking only, “Is this my hormones?” it can sometimes be more helpful to ask:
“What is happening with my overall health during this hormonal transition?” That question opens the door to a more complete conversation about your health. You may not know the answer to this question, and it can feel overwhelming to try to figure it out on your own. That’s where naturopathic care comes in.
What Comprehensive Naturopathic Peri/Menopause Care Looks Like
No two women experience the peri/menopause transition in exactly the same way. One woman’s main concern may be hot flashes and disrupted sleep. Another may be noticing
changes in cholesterol or blood sugar. Someone else may simply want to get ahead of a family history of heart disease or osteoporosis.
There isn’t one peri/peri/menopause plan that fits everyone. Depending on your age, symptoms, stage of peri/peri/menopause, medical history, family history, and individual risk factors, a comprehensive assessment may consider:
- Menstrual and hormonal changes
- Sleep and energy
- Mood, stress, and cognitive health
- Blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and metabolic health
- Bone and muscle health
- Nutrition and nutrient status
- Movement and physical activity
- Sexual, vaginal, and urinary health
- Personal and family medical history
- Age-appropriate health screening
Not everyone needs every test or intervention. The goal is to understand your individual health picture and identify the areas that deserve the most attention. Cardiovascular health is one example. The peri/menopause transition is a time when cardiovascular risk can increase, according to research from the American Heart Association. But what that means for you depends on your own health picture. Your blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, smoking history, activity level, and personal and family history of cardiovascular disease can all help determine what deserves closer attention.
For another woman, bone health may be a greater priority because of her family history, previous fractures, low body weight, medications, or other risk factors. Someone else may need more attention to sleep, metabolic health, or mental health.
This is the value of comprehensive peri/menopause care. It considers the changes that come with peri/menopause within the context of your individual health, rather than looking at either one in isolation.
Is Hormone Therapy Right For Me?
Menopausal hormone therapy is an important treatment option for appropriate candidates, particularly for symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats. North American Menopause Society identifies hormone therapy as the most effective treatment for these symptoms and notes that it has also been shown to prevent bone loss and fracture. Current Canadian peri/menopause guidance also emphasizes that peri/menopause management should take into account factors such as your symptoms, stage of peri/menopause, medical conditions, health risks, treatment goals, and personal preferences.
But deciding whether hormone therapy is right for you doesn’t have to be a separate conversation from everything else. You can explore hormone therapy while also addressing sleep, nutrition, cardiovascular and metabolic health, bone health, movement, stress, and other areas that are important for your health.
Good peri/menopause care isn’t a choice between hormones and everything else. It’s about understanding how the hormonal transition fits within the larger picture of your health.
How Naturopathic Care Supports Your Peri/Menopause Journey
Naturopathic doctors are trained to take a broad view of health, which fits naturally with comprehensive peri/menopause care. This means considering your hormonal transition alongside your symptoms, personal and family history, nutrition, sleep, stress, movement, cardiovascular and metabolic health, and other relevant areas rather than looking at each concern in isolation.
At Sage, this can also mean working alongside prescribing practitioners when hormone therapy is being considered, while continuing to look at the broader picture of your health. The goal isn’t to label every symptom as “peri/menopause.” It’s to understand what may be contributing to how you feel, identify areas of your health that deserve further attention, and develop a plan around your individual needs and goals.
Menopause As A Health Checkpoint, Not Just a Transition to Get Through
It’s easy to think of peri/menopause as something you simply need to get through. But midlife can also be an important health checkpoint. It is a time to ask:
- How is my cardiovascular health?
- How are my bones and muscles?
- How am I sleeping?
- How is my metabolic health changing?
- Am I getting the nutrition and movement my body needs at this stage of life? ● Are my health screenings up to date?
- What does my personal and family history tell me about the areas of health I should pay particular attention to?
These questions matter because women may live many decades beyond peri/menopause. Good care during this transition isn’t only about addressing the symptoms you are experiencing today. It can also be an opportunity to understand your health more clearly and build a strong foundation for the years ahead.
The Bigger Picture
Peri/menopause is a hormonal transition, but it is happening within your whole body. Your symptoms, health history, lifestyle, risk factors, and hormonal changes are all part of the same health picture.
That is what makes this stage such a meaningful window of opportunity: a chance to understand what is changing, assess your health more comprehensively, address what matters now, and think about the health you want to support in the decades ahead.
If you’re navigating the peri/menopause transition and would like a more comprehensive look at your health, the team at Sage Naturopathic Clinic can help you explore your symptoms, health history, risk factors, and treatment options and develop an individualized plan for this stage of life.
Book a discovery call or initial consultation with Dr. Hyun to learn more.
References
- Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada and Canadian peri/menopause Society. peri/menopause Hub.
- El Khoudary SR, Aggarwal B, Beckie TM, et al. peri/menopause Transition and Cardiovascular Disease Risk: Implications for Timing of Early Prevention. Circulation. 2020;142(25):e506-e532. 3. The 2022 Hormone Therapy Position Statement of The North American peri/menopause Society. peri/menopause. 2022;29(7):767-794.
- Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada. Guideline No. 422a: peri/menopause: Vasomotor Symptoms, Prescription Therapeutic Agents, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Nutrition, and Lifestyle. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada. 2021.
