Try yoga to manage menopause symptoms

Don't let menopause derail your life. Try these easy yoga poses.

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Menopause symptoms are different for different women.For some, it is an explosion of mood swings and hot flashes while some have mild symptoms. The good news is that yoga can help you walk through your menopause with comfort and ease. It fills you with positivity, elevates your mood and makes your body healthy, helping it to cope with the changes it's going through. Well-known yoga expert Ankita Sood tells you how it contributes to beat the symptoms of menopause.

Memory

You may find yourself unable to organise thoughts due to the significant hormonal fluctuations in menopause. Postures such as uttanasana and adho mukha svanasana will improve blood flow to your brain and encourage deep breathing that in turn will improve mental alertness.

Hot flashes

Hot flashes are on of the most common symptoms of menopause. You may experience a rapid heart rate coupled with a rise in core body temperature. Asanas such as salambha sarvangasana and pawanmuktasana will cool your body down, bringing your body temperature to normal.

Anxiety and irritability

In menopause, the estrogen levels spike causing nervousness and anxiety. Forward bending asanas such as pashchimottanasana and prasarita padottanasana will help reduce mental tension and irritability. These forward bending asanas will improve blood flow to the brain, reducing stress levels.

Fatigue

During menopause, you can also feel inexplicably weary for days. Blame the fluctuating progesterone levels for all the fatigue. Gentle supported backbends such as supta baddha konasana and setubandhasana will open up the chest and improve respiration and circulation, energising the body.

Depression

You may feel menopause is the time to mourn the end of your youth. This feeling can trigger bouts of depression leading to too much release or a drastic drop in the progesterone levels. Yoga is known to help lighten a dark mood. Yoga asanas such as sukhasana and gomukhasana improve respiration countering depression. Inversions such as sarvangasana will also help elevate a depressed mood.

Insomnia

The overtaxed adrenal glands during menopause can give you sleepless nights. Asanas such as apanasana and shavasana will relax the tensed muscles of the body and calm you down. These poses stretch out the muscles in the legs and back.

Do not worry if you have never practised yoga before. Performing it now can be a tremendous aid when your body feels out of control.

You may also like to read:

• 9 natural remedies for menopause
• Menopause: Dealing with its signs and symptoms

Image source: Getty Images

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