We hear a lot about nurturing ourselves during the menopausal transition but what does it really mean? For some women, it means focusing on their mental and emotional health. For others, it means relieving the physical symptoms of menopause. Yet for a third group of women, it will mean nurturing all of the different parts of themselves – mental, emotional and physical – to promote relaxation and relieve menopause symptoms. For these women, massage can be a uniquely satisfying experience for calming their nerves and providing therapeutic benefits to their physical menopause symptoms such as hot flushes and headaches.
The Healing Power of Massage
Many women may underestimate the power of touch, but it can provide significant benefits, particularly during the menopausal transition. Not only can massage help with menopause symptoms directly, but it can also relax you and leave you feeling better equipped to handle your menopause symptoms, especially mood swings and exhaustion.Aromatherapy/Essential Oils for Menopause
Menopause is a natural part of aging that begins for women between their mid- to late-thirties and their late fifties. Menopause is triggered when the ovaries produce less estrogen and progesterone, the hormones that regulate the menstrual cycle. As the levels of estrogen and progesterone decrease, other hormones produced by endocrine glands are altered as well. Accordingly, menstruation slows and eventually ceases altogether.
Although the timing and path of menopause varies, many women have similar symptoms. These can include: hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, irritability, disrupted sleep patterns, memory loss, increased urinary tract infections, weight gain, and osteoporosis. Standard Western medical treatment focuses on the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to alleviate menopausal symptoms. Aromatherapy and essential oils provide a natural way to address imbalances and relieve menopausal symptoms without the side effects seen in synthetic hormone treatment.
How Can Aromatherapy and Essential Oils Help Menopause?
Aromatherapy is the use of plant essential oils for healing purposes. Menopause symptoms are caused by alterations in the endocrine system’s production of hormones. Aromatherapy acts by stimulating the activity of specific brain cells that naturally influence a woman’s endocrine system. Aromatherapy directed changes in the endocrine system then lead to relief of menopausal symptoms.
When a woman seeks treatment from an aromatherapist, the therapist will design a topical or inhaled aromatherapy treatment plan that takes into account past medical history and current menopause symptoms.
Aromatherapy treatments for menopause can include:
- Inhaling essential oils directly from a piece of cloth or indirectly through steam inhalations, vaporizers, or sprays
- Massage using diluted essential oils
- Application of essential oils to key areas such as the breasts, hips, lowers back and kidney areas.
Different essential oils are suggested for relief of menopausal symptoms. These may include the following treatments for specific symptoms:
- Anxiety - Use soothing essential oils such as ylang-ylang or lavender.
- Hot flashes - Use stimulating essential oils such as grapefruit, lemon, lime, orange, and peppermint.
- Fatigue - Use energizing essential oils like ginger or other stimulating oils such as peppermint or nutmeg.
- Menopausal fear - Use the essential oil of lavender, which has a calming effect.
- Hormonal imbalance - Use essential oils that have properties similar to estrogen to achieve hormonal balance including Spanish sage, Clary sage, and fennel.
- Hot flashes - Use stimulating essential oils in massage including clary sage, geranium, lemon, and sage.
- Irritability - Treat with a grounding and balancing essential oil such as patchouli, or a sedative oil such as cardamom.
- Poor Memory - Enhance memory with an energizing stimulate essential oil such as coriander or ginger.
- Mood swings - Treat with a grounding and balancing essential oil such as patchouli or soothing essential oils like lavender.
- Osteoporosis - Treat with a stimulating bath or massage including essential oils such as ginger and lemon.
Why Use Aromatherapy and Essential Oils to Treat Symptoms of Menopause?
The symptoms of menopause can significantly impact a woman’s physical and emotional health and lead to a decreased quality of life. Thus, it is understandable that women would seek to moderate their naturally occurring menopause symptoms. Conventional medicine’s standard treatment for menopause is hormone replacement therapy (HRT) by using synthetic hormones. In some woman, HRT has been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer, stroke, and blood clots. Given these risks, many women are seeking a natural and safer treatment to manage menopause symptoms such as aromatherapy. Aromatherapy treatment stimulates the activity of specific brain cells in a natural sensory feedback loop. These brain cells will then gently influence a woman’s endocrine system to produce deficient hormones and relieve menopausal symptoms.The use of essential oils in massage
Therapists who perform massage often choose to specialise in a certain area of women’s health such as massage for menopause. These therapists will pay attention to the lower back areas of menopausal women as well as their abdomen. They may add in aromatherapy treatments with oils that are known to provide benefits to women’s health during menopause.
A massage therapist might also recommend other relaxing and strengthening treatments that you can perform outside of the massage session. These include yoga, acupuncture or deep breathing exercises. Your massage therapist will be concerned with helping you to relieve stress experienced during the menopausal transition while providing immediate relief from physical tension and menopause symptoms.
Some massage therapists might combine massage with aromatherapy which can lift your mood if you suffer from depression due to hormones. Massage may also incorporate reflexology to target pressure points and provide a natural alternative to prescription relief that uses hormones. Massage is considered extremely safe and any side-effects are very rare, although you should still take care to choose a qualified massage practitioner.
Positive Encouragement and Massage
The caring nature of a person who provides massage is another beneficial aspect of this kind of menopause treatment. Massage therapists not only help to ease menopause symptoms and equip a woman with the emotional strength to handle her symptoms, but they also encourage women to appreciate themselves and focus on their needs during menopause. A massage therapist can provide the much needed reassurance to a woman that she is capable and strong to handle her menopause. For some women, this allows them to appreciate their beauty and confidence during the changing time of menopause.
Massage can really offer a time for women to evaluate themselves and their lives. The massage session may leave you feeling sleepy, invigorated or very introspective as you consider your life and your needs. It helps a woman to take back control over her life and choices, which is very important when a woman feels such a loss of control due to changing hormones.
Choosing Massage Therapy for Menopause
Referrals from friends and family are generally an excellent route when choosing a massage therapist. You should also check the massage therapist’s credentials to ensure they are trained and qualified in massage, especially for the unique women’s needs during menopause. You can usually have a tour of the spa or massage facilities before choosing a massage. You should look for stringently clean facilities that look comfortable and relaxing.
Whether you are looking for a replacement therapy to hormone treatments for menopause or you simply want to add another treatment to your menopause repertoire, then consider massage therapy for relief. Not only can you ease physical menopause symptoms but you can also reduce stress, regain confidence and reclaim your power over your emotions and health.