Menopause: Why Western Women Have So Much Trouble

Unlike Far Eastern women, Western women are plagued with menopause problem such as hot flashes, mood swings, weight gain, insomnia and depression.

One reason this is the case is the false views western women download about what midlife and menopause are really all about. But that’s changing, thankfully. These false views have led to a counterproductive “mindset”, an outlook that has burdened western women with misinformation and false assumptions.

Menopause has long been shrouded in mystery and misunderstanding. But it’s now understood as a natural part of aging. It’s the gateway to the second half of a woman’s life, a time when a woman can actually be free from worry about pregnancy and free from menstrual periods.

Most importantly, midlife is a time inner change, not just bodily change. It’s actually a time of change involving deepening and discovery. But Western culture fails to offer women a clear, accurate mindset that could serve as a map for understanding and negotiating these inner changes, changes that come naturally at midlife.

Far Eastern women expect and believe that the second half of their lives will be rich and rewarding and their culture supports those expectations and beliefs. Not so in the West.

Midlife involves powerful inner change. It’s not just about your body. But in the West “inner change” is barely recognized and understood. And the focus and often times the obsession is on looking young.

Our culture’s biases and misconceptions about women, and about aging, leave most women with the wrong outlook, one that that views aging as decline, a view that makes growing older a burden.

The idea that life is all downhill after midlife and menopause is like a cultural virus that infects many women’s minds. It’s a bogus and harmful idea. In truth, midlife opens up new possibilities for powerful growth within a woman’s personality, possibilities informed by her soul, by her deeper inner life.  Midlife awakens the soul to make a grab for the steering wheel.

If you don’t buy into the false negative views about menopause and midlife, and if you can recognize and honor your soul, then the second half of your life can be a powerful adventure. It can be an adventure filled with discovery, meaning and satisfaction.

But only if you recognize midlife and menopause for what they truly are. Instead of making the mistake of viewing menopause as a medical problem and midlife as an indication that you’re already half dead.

“Body-Only” assumptions about menopause are like flat earth theory-in error and obsolete. Unfortunately, the medical and drug industries remain committed to the idea that a woman’s menopause is a body-only medical condition. This view grants them power, control and profit.

Well if menopause isn’t a medical condition, then why do so many women think it is? Why is this wrong view so widespread in the media and in the medical community? There’s a few important reasons why, reasons you should know about. Let’s consider some of them.

One is that hormone imbalance in menopause can trigger problems that can be easily be placed in the wrong context to look like symptoms of a medical condition. For example, problems such as hot flashes, insomnia, weight gain, loss of sexual desire, vaginal dryness, moodiness, stress, depression-among others. But these are not typically indications of a medical condition.

They’re problems that get triggered by a natural stage of woman’s life. Hormone changes are a natural part of a woman’s aging. But for most Western women-these hormone changes create long-term hormone imbalance, whereas they don’t for Far Eastern women.

And stress and a chronic flow of stress hormones are the main reasons why Western women fail to regain their hormone balance. Not only does this lead to great discomfort, but it also puts Western women at risk for heart disease. Heart disease is the #1 killer of women in the West.

Did you know that while menopause is a natural part of aging and an important life stage, long-term hormone imbalance is NOT. Nor are the hot flashes, insomnia, weight gain and other menopause problems that travel with continuing hormone imbalance.

Long-term hormone imbalance is the culprit that drives menopause problems. Women can empower themselves considerably if they learn how to regain hormone balance and how to revision their obsolete ideas about midlife, menopause and about what the second half of life is really all about.

Grab the “Little Black Book of Stress Relief Secrets” while it’s still free. It will give you the real skinny on stress hormones as well as some tools to help restore your hormone balance. You’ll feel the difference.

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 Dr. Jim Manganiello is an award winning clinical health psychologist, teacher and author. He’s a longtime innovator in the areas of stress, well-being, personal growth and “inner fitness”.

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