The climate change of Women

from COVERED. Issue 22: Summer Earth

Scopes WITH JOSEPH SMITH

words by: jill healy-quintard

“I am so hot,” said Angie K. “In fact, so hot I feel like ripping my clothes off at any given moment, and it is not even summer yet.” This is Menopause the ‘Climate Change of Women,’ it is real and happens to all women

Some earlier than others, but extreme heat conditions will make it happen sooner. The good news is, we can do much to help relieve it by recognising it, talking about it, and understanding that it does, and will, happen to all women from as young as 37 up to 55 and beyond.

I know that many of you reading this will not even have considered this happening yet, but the fact is, warmer conditions generally can trigger earlier menopause.

This actually happened to me. Arriving in an early spring/summer heatwave in France, to visit family, I suffered severely with the heat. Apart from normal heat related sweating, I was swinging between burning to shivering. When we returned to Australia, it was winter, and I was still going between ripping the doona off the bed to shivering underneath it in a few minutes. I knew I needed to ﬁnd out what was going on.

My GP said straight away, “It sounds like that heatwave triggered perimenopausal symptoms.”

I thought, “Oh no, I’m not ready for that,” and sure enough, a blood test indicated this was exactly what happened. Yes, I panicked at ﬁrst, and thought all the things I have discovered most women do, such as “I’m not a real woman anymore, I’ll get fat, I feel depressed,” and desperate feelings that it’s “too late” to do anything and so on. But once over that, most women ﬁnd that life post-menopause is one of nature’s best-kept secrets.

According to a survey commissioned for Health Plus magazine, 72 percent of women think they are “just as attractive as before”, 82 percent feel “as feminine as before”, eight out of 10 say they now have an overwhelming “sense of hot I feel like ment, and it is se the ‘Climate ns to all women freedom” and six out of 10 women say they feel “better than ever before”. They also feel an average of 10 years younger than their real age. It is a fabulous release, a new found freedom after years of those monthly ups and downs. There is so much you can do to relieve symptoms, and feel energised and sassy, and look the part too. I know it, understand it and I can help.

I am a positive Pro-age Woman and I would love you to join my Body and Balance programs in Manly and Manly Vale as I address all these issues, and run classes for all ages, sex and ﬁtness levels. I am passionate about Mind Body exercise in order to keep a balanced outlook on life and living. I have recently released an APP A45PLUS PROAGE EMPOWERMENT PLAN that will keep you moving with a fusion of Pilates, Yoga, HIIT for Women and BodyBarre at different levels. My face to face programs are a Fusion of YogaPilates and I have added HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) throughout my classes to balance hormone levels. Breath and mindful meditation is also a big part of my programs. A 10 minute FREE Yoga Nidra is on my website www. bodyandbalance.com.au and Yoga Nidra is practised in every class as well as on the App.

Regular exercise releases serotonin and endorphins into the body. These feel good hormones help ﬁght off depression, making you look and feel fabulous. The bottom line? Exercise, eat well, sleep well, love life and have fun. •

Move your body, increase your heart rate, lengthen and strengthen muscles, tone the skin, oxygenate the blood, relax, breath and focus from the simplicity of your smart phone

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