[Music] major funding for this program is brought to you in part by during menopause a woman can lose significant bone mass in fact over 50 half of all women will likely experience an osteoporotic fracture osteostrong is a unique system for developing your skeletal strength that uses bone building exercises for osteoporosis getting older doesn't mean getting weaker osteostrong a proud supporter of public television we were told about the change but we were never told it would feel like this at the touch of a button Ember wave provides a cooling sensation Ember Labs is a proud supporter of public [Music] television I'm menopausal but pause me you're joking right I'm just getting started it's the start of my new life this is me no pause Neo vadal by vishi committed to skin Health [Music] Science do you sometimes feel like you've lost control of your thermostat do you feel like you're melting well you're not alone because it's estimated that over 80% of women experience hot flushes at some point in their lives and it can occur even before our periods end and it can persist for years after menopause um I think the hot fles has affected me in the way that um I used to feel very anxious um when the hot flushes were coming coming along I didn't have any pre warning when they were going to happen it Disturbed The Sleep Disturbed the husband's sleep and just very frustrating was really prickly heat and sweating um I'd have to take frequent bathroom breaks as an excuse just to get out of the meeting cuz I just to put some cold water on my face hello I'm Marian Stewart I'm often referred to as the pioneer of the natural menopause movement because my team and I have helped hundreds of thousands of women manage their menopause naturally I'd like to welcome you to menopause Solutions in today's show we're going to delve into the mystery of hot flashes and find Solutions and treatments without using drugs or hormones to help you reclaim your well-being so stay with us let's face it hot flushes are miserable overwhelming heat a Hot face night sweats and more and they come on without any warning and women feel drained and exhausted I'm going to explain some of the tried and tested ways that you can manage them naturally based on published medical research I also have some other experts joining me to help you get a better understanding about what's going on in your body and before we wrap up I'm going to leave you with some of my top tried and tested tips like the right foods to eat exercise and even meditation to help you get back into control of your thermostat hot flushes are not only embarrassing some women feel completely overwhelmed by the Heat and they find it impossible to function let's begin by meeting four women who are finding their menopause a huge challenge hot flushes for me was was a very anxious time I would have probably up to 10 hot flushes a day I never knew when they were going to come I could be in the middle of a meeting I could be out with friends I could be just enjoying myself and all of a sudden this hot flush would come would come over me I never knew how long it was going to last for but it was just a very anxious time for me I just wanted to get through it before anyone noticed what was happening previously I would wake up in the middle of the night I'd be absolutely soaking wet from the hot flashes and it was just awful I couldn't sleep during the night it was terrible so every night the night sweats were really challenging for me I would wake up absolutely wet through my hair went through the beding went through would often have to get up and actually change the beding sometimes just couldn't make it stop the hot fles is were really debilitating they made me feel really uncomfortable I was sweating a hell of a lot I would sit in a meeting and I'd have to fan myself cuz I was so hot and really couldn't take in what the meeting was all about because all I could think about is my symptoms as we've seen hot flushes can be both embarrassing and overwhelming it can leave us feeling like we're melting in a pool of sweat the hot flush comes on we feel like we're on fire and there's no way [Music] back I'm delighted to be able to introduce you to Dr Tessa CR who's an experienced Euro gynecologist and she's going to be sharing her knowledge and informing us about what's going on in the body so thank you Tessa for joining me tell us what is happening because it's so overwhelming most women really feel totally out of control that's a great question during Menopause the ovaries no longer produce estrogen so this area of the brain starts to not be able to function properly and what happens is that very small temperature ranges the body's temperature will send signals out that are ordinarily sent at much higher body temperatures so what happens is at very small changes symptoms that we know of as a hot flash will occur and some of these symptoms include dilation of blood vessels and this typically occurs during the surface and this will cause warmth throughout the body as well as redness to the cheeks and necks as well as perspiration that will occur to cool down the body as well as palpitations and this is typically all followed by a cool chill don't lose sleep overnight sweats tips and tricks are coming [Music] up before a hot flush some women experience an aura which is a term doctors used to describe the sensation preceding a migraine for these women the hot flush is preceded by this weird panicky feeling and once you feel it you know the tidal wave of heat is on its way the question is how do we fix these uncomfortable Sensations I spoke to Dr Mona fum who is a naturopathic family practitioner focusing on women's health so Mona thank you for joining me uh let's look at how these amazing phytoestrogen mother nature's gift can help us at the time of the menopause tell us more about that yeah absolutely well I'm sure we've been talking about estrogen affects so many different systems in the body and there are receptors for estrogen on almost every cell in the body all different kinds of tissues the brain the muscle you know digestive tra you name it and so the way estrogen works is like basically a lock in a key so estrogen is floating around in the bloodstream and the receptor on the cell is the lock and they put to hook together and you're going to Signal things in the cell then to go up or down make more of this protein slow down that process and phytoestrogens the naturally occurring estrogen like compounds in our foods and herbs and things like that look a lot like estrogen so they're not an exact fit but they still fit in that same Loof mechanism that same receptor site and they may not turn it on all the way but they're still going to stimulate that receptor in some way so when we're talking about hot flashes we're talking about bone health metabolism because we can turn that mechanism ever so slightly we can start seeing an improvement in our bodies and reduction of symptoms during midlife and menopausal years and feel better all the way across the board while also supporting our bodies our brains our bone health we can do that through our da as well can't we it's not just a question of taking magic supplements Mother Nature really has given us a great gift yes absolutely there's a number of plants that and herbs that look like estrogen they're called phytoestrogen soy and flax there's a number of compounds out in nature that help provide some of those natural phytoestrogens something I really want to highlight at this point we're talking about phytoestrogens and every single week of my life I'm asked are they safe because for some reason they seem have bad press so I'd like to pin you down Mona and ask you about the research that shows that they are actually safe w't they yes there are so many mixed messages out there on every aspect of hormone balance and support but I like to like just pick on one common phytoestrogen soy there's been a lot of data and research on that around the world and most data on soy shows that it's either neutral meaning it has no impact or it's been positive in showing impact on menopausal symptoms and overall health for women as we get older so in the medical field it we fear anything that we don't entirely understand or or have read about or studied but I have to say looking at the data that's coming out of Europe and here there are a lot of studies showing the safety of estradi and phytoestrogens in protecting our bodies as we age and supporting our systems in all those menopausal symptoms so if people read the actual research I really don't think there's a fear that we need to be worried about I'm sure this comes as a big surprise to many women as we never learn about any of this coming up I'm going to show you how we can use some of those foods to fold our brain into thinking that we still have normal circulating estrogen but first let's talk about the kind of hot flushes that visit us in the middle of the night and can be one of our biggest nightmares that's the dreaded night sweats [Music] are you sick and tired of waking up in the night feeling overpowered by heat are you dripping with sweat and not because you're having hot sex hot sex are there nights you wish you could sleep in a bath of ice because you've completely lost control of your thermostat you're not alone night sweats disturb more than 80% of women during midlife and Beyond but did you know you can get back to having cool nights again within a matter of weeks without taking drugs or hormones consume soy and flax seeds foods rich in Mother Nature's estrogen to keep the estrogen recepto sites for ditch caffeinated drinks and use Herbal Alternatives in the short term as caffeine is a [Music] trigger keep alcohol to a minimum and avoid big meals and spicy food do a session of relaxation meditation and breathing exercises each day as it's been shown to reduce thermal surges by 50 to 60% take a moment with me to manage your menopause naturally revive an exercise coming up welcome to the kitchen today my mission is to show you how to use phytoestrogens Mother Nature's estrogen in your D so first thing I'm going to do is make a 1 minute shake so I'm going to use some soy milk and put that in the blender and I've chosen my flavors today I'm having banana and I've got some berries I've got blueberries and Roses today but you can use any fruit you like now you've got phytoestrin in the soy milk but in addition to that the other secret weapon is our is of flavones or ligand that come from flax seed and so I'm using ground flax seeds in here today and I'm going to put one spoon of ground flx seeds in there you'll hardly taste it but you're going to get loads more naturally occurring estrogen here we go let's see what this looks like there you go so you can have this as a snack or you can have it with breakfast or instead of your breakfast I wanted to show you a really quick breakfast so you can use milk or I've chosen yogurt today and I'm going to have some strawberries again you can use any fruit you like and lots of flax seeds these are so rich in Mother Nature's estrogen you can use we use the M flax seeds I like the crunch so I'm going to go for these but you can use the mil ones if you prefer so lots of flax seeds on there and then you can have some extra nuts I like wallnuts so I'm going to put some of that in there and if you really feel like having something else on top of that you could just take some granola this is corn Bas granola to just give it a little bit of crunch and there you go that didn't take very long and they that is such a tasty nutritious and phytoestrogen Rich breakfast during the day if you don't want to cook and you can't be bothered to do anything terribly fancy just get yourself some edamami beans you can get the edamami beans in the Pod which are really rich sauce get some Kus and just dip the pods in and enjoy that or you can get the shelled edamami beans which you can put on your salads you can have with your dinner or you just have a handful as a snack so that will help you get through the day the estren recepto sites Don't Stay full for very long probably only four to 6 hours so you need to make sure you've got something for breakfast lunch maybe dinner or in between and we're aiming for about 100 Mig of isce ofl vones a day it isn't difficult gentle exercise helps to burn the calories and keep us toned but when we have hot flushes the last thing we feel like doing is exercising to make ourselves feel even hotter mitso our wonderful resident ballet rock expert joins me again to help us create an exercise routine that won't make us feel like we're absolutely melting hi I'm meuk also known as ballerina rock girl when we're experiencing those hot flashes that nobody really likes I'm here to tell you the last thing you want to do is sit down and do nothing when women are experiencing hot flushes the last thing they want to do is exercise because it makes them even hotter so apart from jumping in a pool of cold water what can we do to keep ourselves toned up and feeling good without making the flushes worse show me absolutely let's do this because if you're sweating anyway why not actually move so join me at the bar so let's start with flexing the feet very nice and light you're going to do a demi Point you're going to rise and do another Demi Point rise Demi point and then a little paa so we're going to do that one 2 3 ple now we're going to do a little Demi straight re there you go making sure everything is pulled up your back is straight there you go perfect we're going to step out of the bar you're going to put your hands on the bar and you're going to do a flat back you want to make sure that you stretch go all the way turn right there hold it there for a couple of seconds and then step in first position up first and then back back back back back perfect you are a dancer you are a ballerina I'm sure I feel amazing I feel like I've exercised but I don't feel hot exactly except I it it's going to help you if you're sweating anyway why not move while you sweat exactly it's going to help you in the long run yeah fantastic thank you yay cool down the heat with meditation coming up Dr Dian minck is an internationally recognized health expert with more than 20 years of experience in nutrition and functional medicine she is very knowledgeable about well researched supplements that help alleviate hot flushes and she's here to share her wisdom every woman is different and I would say that there are many different mechanisms for why she has hot flushes so we do need to take a personalized approach now for everybody I would say we need to nourish the endocrine system there are many different ways to nourish that system first and foremost starting with Maca phenotypes in order to help us with the hypothalamus and the pituitary to better signal the rest of the endocrine system I also think about phytoestrogens like red clover which can help us within the brain within the ovary throughout the body to reestablish that signal of estrogen and then omega-3 fatty acids such as with fish oil are classically known with great research behind them to help to quell inflammation and of course we want to be thinking about a foundational Bedrock of nutrients minerals and vitamins to serve as co-factors for the many different neurotransmitters and metabolic cycles that are going to be really important for women during this time of life [Music] not many women or even their doctors know that you can trigger hot flushes so easily and once they're triggered our thermometer surges and there's absolutely nothing we can do about it so we need to be armed with knowledge so that we can feel cool again hot drinks can bring on a flash so let your drinks cool down before consuming them anything that contains caffeine including coffee tea Cola drinks and chocolate can trigger a hot flush spicy foods can also trigger hot flushes stress will bring on flushes so develop a coping strategy to help counter your stress including formal relaxation take a moment with me to manage your menopause naturally I bet you never thought that meditation could tame the fire of hot flushes let's face it the flip side of exercise is rest and relaxation and that has huge benefits at this time of life especially for women who are feeling stressed and it costs absolutely nothing as I mentioned doing a formal session of relaxation every day reduces our hot flushes by a massive 50% Tony major is a personal trainer and well-being coach with 25 years experience many of his clients are manop pausal and he uses relaxation techniques to help women reduce their hot flashes he's here today to show us how it's done Tony thanks for joining us I know you see lots of menopausal women in your PR practice and so I want to ask you how do you teach them to still their mind and cool down thank you thanks for having me you know what over 60 80,000 thoughts a day now you're dealing with this something else to think about how does one really come to a feel-good point because that's why we're doing this right we want to feel good I would say breath work breathing breathing exercises it doesn't have to be meditation could just be breathing exercises such as box breathing is one of those um coming to a complete still breathing in for 4 seconds holding for 4 seconds releasing for 4 seconds breathing work like that or just simple breathing without moving Stillness but sometimes it's very hard when women are feeling completely rubbish to still their mind they have a thousand thoughts going through how do you get them to get to a calm point the more you practice the better you become and you would be amazed so you can go from 1 minute to 30 minutes of just breathing and that's a whole different world and when you're in that space you most of the time you're going to come out of that feeling good can you show us can you give us a demonstration of what to do to get started yes absolutely absolutely so um just relax your body okay just relax your body don't move not even a finger or a toe relax your facial muscles your eyelids your cheekbones your lips and if you find yourself moving it's okay just stop moving and just breathe in through your nose as deep as you can and breathe out of your mouth slowly and as you do this relax your lips a little bit a couple more seconds and even if you did it for 30 seconds you'll see autumn right away you would see how it works absolutely yeah and that's presumably a good practice to do anytime even because sometimes women feel anxious as well as hot so doing these breathing exercises can help to calm the anxiety as well yes you could do it anywhere that's the beauty behind this said even when you're lying in bed you know sometimes we find ourselves not being still you can practice it in bed as as well excellent thank you so much absolutely thank you so if you're feeling completely overwhelmed by your hot flushes and you don't want to wait for the dietry and lifestyle changes to kick in I've got some great news for you there are tons of AIDS available that can keep you cool by day and by night there are a number of interesting AIDS we can use to cool ourselves quickly portable fans and cooling sprays help us to cool ourselves during the day chill cloths bedding and chill pillows help us to rest more peacefully at night underwear and other garments made from intelligent anti flashing fabric are designed to absorb perspiration and temperature and wearable devices very cold so let's recap some of my tips so that you can create a daily routine to help you reclaim control of your thermostat do a daily session of formal relaxation or guided meditation for at least 20 minutes every day when you feel a hot flush coming on drink a glass of cold water and breathe calmly until it subsides consume small frequent meals instead of large ones eat plenty of fighter estrogens in your D including soy and flax seeds to fool the brain into believing we have normal circulating estrogen wear layered clothing with natural fibers and intelligent anti flush fabric that can be easily removed consider using scientifically based supplements that contain MAA go or red clover which have been shown to reduce hot flushes and night sweats and consider using FDA prooved devices shown in clinical trials to provide relief from hot flushes now let's check in with our women to see how they're doing with their hot flushes after making some dietary and lifestyle changes following Marin Stewart's recommendations and eliminated things for my diet and it made an enormous difference to bringing my hot flushes down and today I can finally say that I am hot flush free the difference that learning how to manage my diet combined with my lifestyle had on the night sweats that I'd been living with for so long and being able to control my body temperature again was massive I pretty quick started sleeping through the night and not having the hot flashes and that was just wonderful I was waking up nice and dry and it was a great experience it made a huge difference in in my life and being confident in going to bed and and working up refreshed I joined Marian's six-week menopause course and following the recommendations that she gave me the hot flushes actually went within 4 weeks it was like I was reborn it was amazing no more more embarrassment no more anxiety and yeah it it changed my life if you can't remember when you slept through the night or wake up several times in the night and find it hard to get back to sleep you won't want to miss the next episode of my menopause Solutions I'm going to be joined by Dr Michael Bruce the sleep doctor as well as other experts who will be sharing their knowledge about how to put peaceful sleep back on the menu I hope you found the show inspiring and look forward to sharing more wisdom with you in the next show thank you for joining me on Maran Stewart's menopause Solutions this education initiative continues on Marion Stewart's natural menopause.

TV website where you can watch more interviews attend live sessions with Marion and other experts and view video extras and more [Music] major funding for this program was brought to you in part by as we get older our bones can begin to change osteoporosis the loss of bone density is a real concern for older adults Osteo strong uses bone building exercises for osteoporosis and developing your skele Al strength getting older doesn't mean getting weaker Osteo strong a proud supporter of public television I'm menopausal but pause me you're joking right I'm just getting started it's the start of my new life this is me no pause Neo vadal Bishi committed to skin Health Science we were told about the change but we were never told it would feel like this at the touch of a button Ember wave provides a cooling sensation Ember Labs is a proud supporter of public television [Music]