Menopause: Good Health Can Minimize Symptoms

By Jody Smith HERWriter

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Dr. Andrew Weil is very reassuring about menopause and its possible impact on women's lives. He advocates protecting your health, ideally beginning before menopause, so that the transition is an easier one.

He specifies an anti-inflammatory diet, dietary supplements, multivitamins, minerals and antioxidants. If you are able to deal with your stress, and make a point of getting enough rest and sleep, he says your chances of having milder symptoms of menopause are very good.

(Transcribed from video interview)

Dr. Weil:
First of all for many women menopause is not a big deal. There’s a lot of variation. I know many women who go through menopause without difficulty.

I think that being in good physical and mental health as you approach menopause is very important, especially in midlife, maintaining good habits of regular physical activity to keep bone density high.

Eating well, really learning the facts about an anti-inflammatory diet, proper use of dietary supplements, multivitamins and minerals and antioxidants and so forth, having some skill with stress reduction, getting adequate rest and sleep – all of these things are very important.

The symptoms of menopause, if they begin, can be managed in most cases by simple methods.

No, it is not necessary for women to take hormone replacement at menopause. Some women may have to do that for a period of time if they have intractable symptoms, but even then that should be used only for a limited period, maybe for one year.

So I think the best advice is just to work on optimum general health as you approach midlife and the change of life.

About Dr. Weil, M.D.:
Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D., was born in Philadelphia in 1942, received an A.B. degree in biology (botany) from Harvard in 1964 and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1968. After completing a medical internship at Mt. Zion Hospital in San Francisco, he worked a year with the National Institute of Mental Health before writing his first book, The Natural Mind. From 1971-75, as a Fellow of the Institute of Current World Affairs, Dr. Weil traveled widely in North and South America and Africa collecting information on drug use in other cultures, medicinal plants, and alternative methods of treating disease. From 1971-84 he was on the research staff of the Harvard Botanical Museum and conducted investigations of medicinal and psychoactive plants.

Visit Dr. Weil at http://www.drweil.com

Video:
https://www.empowher.com/menopause/content/menopause-how-can-i-reduce-symptoms-naturally-dr-weil

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We value and respect our HERWriters' experiences, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice, although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.