Lifestyle factors like obesity and diet impact menopausal symptoms, says epidemiologist

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Eating healthy, exercising, and maintaining a healthy weight and body mass index (BMI), can impact menopausal symptoms, as well as women’s future health, says Dr. Gita Mishra, professor, life course epidemiology and deputy head, School of Public Health, The University of Queensland. She says leading a healthy lifestyle can help minimise the impact of menopausal transition in some women.

According to a study, high BMI and cigarette smoking substantially increased women’s risk of severe vasomotor symptoms. “Maintaining a normal weight before the menopausal transition and quitting smoking before 40 years of age may mitigate the excess risk of vasomotor symptoms in midlife,” the study said.

We spoke to Dr. Mishra about menopause, it’s symptoms and how women can manage them. Edited excerpts:

Read the first part of the interview here.

Watch the interview here.

How does our lifestyle impact the symptoms of menopause?

There are things we can’t change, like our genetics, but we can try and change our environment. In terms of lifestyle factors, what studies have shown is that being overweight or obesity is associated with a higher prevalence of menopausal symptoms. Even though there isn’t conclusive evidence, being physically active, maintaining a healthy body weight, adopting a healthy diet all impact menopause symptoms.

One of the works that was done using an international pool consortium data found that women who consumed a fair amount of soy products, like tofu and that sort of textured vegetable soy protein, they reported lower complaints of vasomotor symptoms. We know that soy products have estrogen compounds in them. Right now, it is all the more important, during Covid all of us are piling on the pounds, not exercising. It’s extremely important to be a lot more mindful right now, because not only will it help you alleviate some of the vasomotor symptoms now but also it is extremely important for future health.

Are there natural ways to alleviate the symptoms? Should women choose hormone replacement therapy?

If you look at the Menopause Society guidelines, whether it is India or the UK, they’re not recommending using hormone therapy in the long term, because it increases the risk of all those diseases and breast cancer. What they recommend is that you can take hormone therapy but take it for the shortest possible time to alleviate the symptoms. If the symptoms are really bad and women can’t manage it, they have this option.

The other thing recommended for women who experience surgical menopause, when the ovary is removed at a younger age or women who have had premature menopause or early menopause, is that they can go on hormone therapy until the average age of menopause. So if a woman experienced premature menopause at the age of 38, she could be encouraged to go on hormone therapy until the average age of menopause in India, maybe up to the age of 47.

For menopausal symptoms, I think it is important to really see what can be done in the natural way. There’s some studies that have found, for example, doing yoga helps with sleep if a woman is experiencing vasomotor symptoms. 

What is also important is maintaining a healthy body weight and making sure that your BMI is between 20 to 25. Exercise is important. These are the lifestyle factors that can help both current health and future health. And that’s a good start to getting yourself into that routine of looking after yourself.

Do women need to see a doctor when they start experiencing menopausal symptoms?

Personally, I’m very careful not to medicalise menopause. This is a natural process, we all go through it. For instance, if the woman hasn’t had her period for the last three months, but she’s had her periods in the last 12 months, and her flow is changing and she’s in mid age, we can say she’s in the perimenopause stage. But if she hasn’t had a period for a year, that means she’s postmenopausal. If a woman’s symptoms are really bothering her or they are getting worse, she can’t sleep, she can’t do anything, or she has excessive bleeding, then she should definitely get help from the doctor.

If a woman has had a bloated stomach for a long time or indigestion problems, then I think it’s important to know that it’s not menopausal symptoms, and it’s good to get it checked out. Menopausal symptoms are irregular periods, hot flashes and night sweats, some women may experience vaginal dryness, sleep problems, mood changes, these are the signs that a woman’s body is losing estrogen. I think we need to be so careful, not everything is menopause; if during that age women are experiencing anxiety, depression, bloated stomach etc, they really need to go to a doctor to check it out.

Read the first part of the interview here.

Watch the interview here.

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