Perimenopause and Weight Gain

Perimenopause refers to the period when women are approaching menopause. It usually occurs when women are in their early or mid forties. Some women may however, experience it as early as in their thirties or as late as in their fifties. Lots of changes take place inside a woman's body during this time as her capability to reproduce almost comes to an end. Some of the common symptoms of menopause are tiredness, mood swings, fluid retention, tender breasts, pain while indulging in sex, migraine, disturbed sleep, headaches, indigestion, irritable bowel syndrome, food allergies and weight gain. These symptoms not only make a woman uncomfortable, but can also have a negative impact on her body. So understanding why this occurs, and taking steps to control it is very important for a woman's self-esteem.

Causes

Stress and Anxiety
Weight gain during perimenopause, could be due to the stress or anxiety that a woman is going through in this phase of her life. As a woman approaches mid-life, she might develop some complex about the way she looks. On top of that, dealing with all the symptoms can stress her even more. When the woman is under so much stress and also has mood swings, so often associated with menopause, she might turn to food for comfort, resulting in weight gain.

Hormonal Imbalance
Sudden weight gain can be attributed to the various hormonal imbalances that are created in a woman's body when she approaches menopause. Usually during this time, the estrogen levels inside her body fall. Estrogen hormone is stored in the fat cells of the body, so when its levels diminish, the natural body reflex to maintain the estrogen levels is to hold on to these fat cells. This attempt of the body to maintain the estrogen levels, makes it very difficult to get rid of the body fat, resulting in weight gain.

Remedies

Diet
It is very important that the woman pays special attention to her diet. Cutting fats from the diet is not the right solution. Instead, including such foods in the diet, which boost the estrogen levels, thereby making it easier for the body to lose fat, is a more practical and useful option. Examples of foods that help in increasing the estrogen levels in the body are potatoes, wheat, apples, soy, cherries and rice.

Exercise
For stress relief and also to get rid of the accumulated fats in the body, the woman should exercise everyday. Yoga, breathing exercises, meditation, massage and aromatherapy, are especially beneficial in bringing down the stress levels, and thus, controlling weight gain.

Herbal Supplements
Herbs such as phytoestrogenic herbs, which contain estrogenic components, are an effective remedy to increase the estrogen levels in the menopausal woman's body. They help in treating the hormonal imbalances created in the body due to low estrogen levels. One drawback of using these phytoestrogenic herbs is that they make the body dependent on them, and if they are stopped suddenly, the body will not be able to produce estrogen on its own, thus aggravating the situation even more. So a better alternative medicine would be to take non-estrogenic herbs, which nourishes the endocrine and pituitary glands. This aids in making these glands produce hormones naturally. A course of non-estrogenic herbs helps in balancing the body hormones, such as estrogen, progesterone and testosterone.

Most symptoms will get minimized or cured by incorporating the above mentioned lifestyle changes or by taking alternative medicines. However, if none of these remedies work, and if the symptoms are getting severe by the day, the last resort for any woman in such a scenario, would be hormone replacement therapy.