A celebratory year… Guest post by Laura Bowman
I’ve run across two ponds to get away from turning 50. But evidently, you can run but you can’t hide. At least according to my friend Laura, who’s agreed to guest post while I’m gone.
Enjoy and thanks Laura!
It’s been a big year for celebrations; mostly 50th birthday celebrations. Yup, the big five-oh. Fifty, freakin’ fifty. I’m a bit of a curmudgeon when it comes to celebrations, so it’s also been an uncomfortable year. Discomfort has found me wondering why we have to make such a big deal about birthdays and other milestones. Much to my surprise, my pondering has landed me on the favorable side of the whole celebration issue. Here’s why. Forget year, it’s been a whole decade for disappointments – Disappointments in career, disappointing health news, disappointments in relationships. If it really is true that negative emotions impact our health, shorten our life span, etc., then I need a big ole load of counteractive medicine.
I don’t think I’m in the minority here. As we grow older, the stakes are higher. We become parents, bosses, and caretakers. Our knees fail. Our memory goes. We’re passed over for a promotion. By someone younger. The calls come in. Someone is very sick, and it’s not a cold. Some days, there aren’t enough cupcakes in the world to make us feel better.
So on those occasions when we mark an important event, be it a birthday or just making it through a work week, it seems important to form some sort of ceremony that lifts our hearts and makes us smile, or better yet, laugh.
It shouldn’t be news to you that laughter appears to really be the best medicine. If the Mayo Clinic is to be believed laughter not only reduces stress, long term laughter may improve immune systems and ease pain! (There, that’s my little health plug, since this is, after all, a health related blog.)
However, the health angle isn’t enough to get me psyched about a celebration. For me, the attraction of the celebration is to focus on something positive and to create a memory that will get me through hard times. I want reasons to laugh hard, from my belly, until tears are rolling down my eyes. I want the intangible comfort that comes from being with people who really know you and still want to be with you. I want, if only for a fleeting moment of time, to believe that it really is all about me and the people I love. That’s gotta be good for me – right?
Of course, planning a celebration can be a stressor all in itself. At least, that’s my favorite reason for avoiding the whole party. So, I’m starting a list of very simple tried and true ideas that I’ve picked up from my friends–most of who have fearlessly faced down fifty:
- There is always the dinner party – cater or reserve at a restaurant if you can.
- Organize a kayaking, hiking, biking, or other activity adventure
- Participate in a community event (one friend got a bunch of girlfriends together to walk the Cooper River Bridge in Charleston – over 6 miles one way)
- Learn something you new – I’ve tried cross country skiing and one year plan to take a cooking class.
- Go someplace you’ve always wanted to go (now who do we know that’s going to Spain?)
- Play miniature golf!! Or go to a batting cage!!! Or both!!
- One friend wants to dress up in thrift store evening gowns and go sing at a karaoke bar; we haven’t indulged her yet. Maybe you will.
- Remember slumber parties??
- And, of course, there’s everyone’s favorite – the spa…
Feel free to add to the list. What do you do to celebrate? And Liz, Happy Fifty – Fifty, fantabulous fifty!!! May your celebrations last all year long.
About the author…
Laura Bowman is a health policy analyst with the Department of Veterans Affairs and, like so many of us, trying to figure out how fifty came so fast and how best to approach the next third of her life.
Read MoreWednesday Bubble: Be You Again
Want to beat the ‘menopause misery?’ Now you can with BeYouAgain.
Not only do I hate the name but I hate the concept that you ever stopped ‘being you’ and instead, became another ‘you’ because of menopause. And while I certainly don’t fault any woman for feeling differently when those damn mood swings, hot flashes, night sweats, headaches, bloating, insomnia or depression hits, I believe that the concept of losing ones soul in the depths of menopause hell is a bunch of hogwash. Trust me; I’ve seen the menopause devil and although she isn’t very pretty, she hasn’t yet robbed me of me.
According to the manufacturer, BetterYou™, BeYouAgain is a “premium sourced food supplement” that contains an “invigorating blend of herbal adaptogens, minerals and vitamins to nourish and revive a tired body.” Not only does it help to “encourage mood maintenance and reduce” axiety, but it also “promotes mental clarity and concentration, alleviates short-term fatigue and helps to maintain a healthy heart and normal blood pressure.” Wow! All these benefits in only two capsules daily.
BeYouAgain contains:
- maca, to enhance energy, stamina and libido
- magnesium, to help relax the body
- milk thistle to protect the liver
- agnus castus to balance hormones
- Siberian ginseng to maintain energy
- Cayenne pepper to enhance circulation and digestion
And, a host of other vitamins and minerals to boost these processes.
Stop. Really. Stop and think.
Two pills, one size fits all, menopause hype.
You’re not you but you can be you if you simply take “BeYouAgain” daily.
I don’t know what part of this story is more insulting. The fact that the manufacturers want you to believe that you’ve lost a part of you that can be regained with supplements. Or the story that menopause steals your soul in the first place.
The She Devil? I’d take a guess that she’s residing in Better You.
Bursting this one.
Read MoreTo everything, there is a season
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We know that certain aspects of the menopause, in particular hot flashes can be influenced by weather. But did you know that menopause onset may also be seasonal?
In my weekly scan of the news, I ran across an older but interesting study that had been published in Maturitas in 2005. In it, researchers discuss how human reproduction is seasonal in order to optimize fertility and tends to correlate to the most favourable environmental conditions, including light and temperature. This fact led them to evaluate the medical records of over 2,400 white women who had attended outpatient menopause services in order to determine if entering menopause is also a seasonal phenomenon. The following were taken into account:
- Age
- Race
- Education
- Weight/BMI
- Smoking history
- Major illnesses that may have required surgery or chemo
- Number of pregnancies
- Type of menopause, last menstrual period, years since menopause
- Use of hormones
- Occupation
On average, the majority of women were 52, had been in menopause for 2 years, weighed about 143 pounds and were right on the BMI cut off of normal and overweight. Amongst this group of women, onset of menopause occurred significantly more often in winter than in spring, summer or autumn, respectively (although a minor peak in onset of menopause was also observed in smaller numbers of women during summer). When the researchers compared this timing to reproduction, they found that it was concentrated between the highest and lowest points of reproduction. Moreover, none of the other factors appeared to influence this seasonal variance of menopause onset.
However, like all studies, there are limitations, such as the fact that the women were of one race and were evaluated retrospectively. Or, that only two other studies have had similar findings and both of these were in monkeys. Still, it is rather interesting and I’d love to take a poll with those of you readers who have fully entered menopause and whose period has stopped for at least 12 months. If you are willing, leave a comment as to which season your menopause started. Meanwhile, the intrigue remains: is menopause a seasonal phenomenon and are there factors other than environment that influence its start?
Read MoreThe alternative alternative: physician-prescribed alternative medicine
In addition to exploring mid-life emotional, physical and social issues, Flashfree is about effective alternatives to hormone replacement therapy for menopausal symptoms. A huge challenge in this arena is that alternatives are often automatically dismissed as “woo woo” medicine, with naysayers claiming that there is little scientific evidence to support their use. Nevertheless, I have long believed that with the proper considerations and adjustments to the way that medical studies are conducted, findings might prove to be very different than they are. That’s why I’m heartened to read that mind-body medicine, which includes yoga, tai chi, qi gong, meditation, guided imagery, progressive muscle relaxation and deep breathing, comprises a large portion of the types of practices that are being incorporated into everyday life (and medicine).
Is the tide turning?
It may be, at least when it comes to mind-body strategies.
According to a study in this week’s Archives of Internal Medicine, over 41 million Americans report trying some sort mind-body strategy. More importantly? About 1/8th, or 6.36 million of these individuals are using these strategies on the recommendation of their healthcare providers, most of which involves deep breathing, meditation and yoga or a combination thereof. Moreover, complementary strategies are apparently suggested mostly in people who have chronic illness, such as pulmonary disease or anxiety. On a broader level, physicians are increasingly recommending mind-body therapy to individuals with neurological deficiencies including headaches, migraines, back pain with sciatica, strokes, dementia, seizures or memory loss. Meanwhile, in so far as menopausally-related symptoms, there is evidence that mind-body medicine may ease hot flashes and promote overall wellbeing (which in turn, eases symptom severity).
For something that is as easy and safe as mind-body medicine, one has to wonder why it’s taking so long to catch on. And yet, the question remains: are physicians starting to turn to alternative or complementary strategies because conventional medicine isn’t working or has been just about exhausted for a particular condition or patient? Is it possible that physician recommended alternative strategies lead to better outcomes or declines in use of the healthcare system? Only time will tell.
Stay tuned.
Read MoreWednesday Bubble: 10 is the loneliest number…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTO4hvLEH4Q]
I’m using this Bubble to burst a few illusions, such as hot flashes during menopause don’t actually last very long.
How about 10 years?!
Right now, one year for hot flashes to come and then go sounds pretty tempting, doesn’t it?
A few years ago, I wrote about a study in the journal Menopause that alluded to the fact that hot flashes were likely to last for five years or more. Just this week, I ran across another study in Obstetrics & Gynecology that adds another 5 years to the evidence. Yikes!
How long is long enough?
Clinical Guidelines suggest that hot flashes peak one year into menopause and for most women, last anywhere from six months to two years. So, why is popular opinion, if you will, being challenged in research circles?
Using data from the Penn Ovarian Aging Study, which followed and monitored women over a 13-year period, researchers evaluated moderate-to-severe hot flashes on average, every 9 months. The women did not report having hot flashes at the study’s start, but developed them between the first year and near the study’s end. During each assessment, interviews were conducted on overall health, height, weight, hip and waist measures were taken and blood samples collected (to evaluate hormone levels). Menopausal status was also delineated by five stages:
- premenopausal (regular menstrual periods)
- late premenopausal (cycle change of 7 days or more in either direction observed one time)
- early transition (change of 7 days or more observed at least twice in a row)
- late transition (three to 11 months without a menstrual cycle)
- postmenopausal
More than 90% of women in the study were pre or late premenopausal at the study’s start.
Unfortunately, the results of the study are not very promising. On average, the median duration of moderate to severe hot flashes was 10.2 years, with only 37% of women reporting that their hot flashes stopped during the study. However, researchers found a relationship between length of time and when hot flashes began. For example. hot flashes tended to last longer (i.e. more than 11 years) in women who reported their hot flashes started in the premenopausal or late premenopausal stage compared to women whose hot flashes began in the early transition (average 7 years) and late transition (average 4 years).
Age was also a factor as the median duration of hot flashes tended to be longest in women who started flashing before the age of 40. Most commonly, however, more than a third of women tended to have the worst flashes when they were between the ages of 45 and 49. Other factors such as African American race and a body mass index less than 30 were also associated with having hot flashes for longer periods of time.
If you are wondering about the silver lining in this story, there actually is one. The researchers say that it may be a good idea to start addressing vasomotor symptoms like hot flashes in younger women who are starting to have irregular menstrual periods. Because “traditional hormonal therapy may not be the ideal choice for this population, given, for example, the problems with breakthrough bleeding and the need for contraception,” other treatments need to be evaluated.
I’ve long espoused the value of taking steps to shut symptoms down sooner rather than later, which is why alternative strategies may be so useful. If duration of hot flashes last longer when they start a younger age, and it is recommended that hormonal therapy be used for the shortest period of time possible, it’s not a bad idea to speak to a health practitioner about incorporating things like black cohosh into a daily routine. As always, there’s no time like the present to start taking charge of your health and get ahead of the change.
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