Menopause - Midlife Made Manageable

Written By Cheryl Ferris

At the time of this writing —  roughly a week after the FDA announced the removal of black-box warnings on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for menopause treatment, and a few weeks after attending a seminar on menopause — I’d like to share some thoughts and a summary for all the ovary and uterus owners ahead of me, alongside me, and behind me.

I’m thrilled that science is correcting course on this topic. Science should be questioned, tested, and refined over time — and menopause deserves the attention it’s now receiving. But there’s still work to do. Many medical professionals lack solid menopause training, which leaves countless women navigating this transition and beyond without the support they deserve.

Here’s the good news:

Getting up to pee three times a night, living with a prolapse, or sweating profusely during hot flashes can be helped!


First, A Thank-You to the Women Who Came Before

To every woman who endured menopause mostly alone — because of cultural silence, societal pressure, or simply a lack of information — thank you for your strength and perseverance.

To the women walking this journey with me (and those who will soon), this is for you. May you educate yourself, move from surviving to thriving, and pass knowledge along.

A great place to start is the book How to Menopause, a delightful blend of personal story and education with many resources. (I’ve also included more resources at the end of this blog.)

Why This Matters

There are 75 million women in perimenopause (4–10 years before your last period), menopause (day 366 after your last period, typically around age 51), and post-menopause (every day afterward — over 40% of your life!). It’s about time women, with the medical community, take an all-encompassing look at what this transition entails.

Menopause is universal, yet profoundly individual. You never realize how much estrogen and other hormones do for you until they rapidly decline making you feel like a stranger in your own body.

There are 100+ possible symptoms. Beyond hot flashes and brain fog, you might experience weight changes, sleep disruptions, anxiety, fatigue, incontinence, or even the infamous chin hairs.

You are the most beautiful and most valuable thing you will ever own.

〰️

You are the most beautiful and most valuable thing you will ever own. 〰️


Lifestyle, genetics, stress, and cultural attitudes all play a role in how menopause feels and unfolds.

Now, it’s time to care for you. Self-care isn’t a spa day (but it can be part of over all self-care), rather it’s the daily habits that support your present and future self. New physiology means new habits. You are only 3–4 habits away from feeling better.


Lifestyle Practices to Support Menopause

☀️Circadian Rhythm (aka Your Body Clock)

If you ever had jet lag or felt off after changing the clocks, you’ve experienced how funky you feel from circadian disruption. The sun regulates hormones —cortisol, melatonin, and many others. Modern life with its bombarding blue light can throw off this rhythm even more, and menopause can add another layer of feeling the funk.

What to do:

  • See sunrise through naked eyes daily for 10-20 minutes.  This means no glasses, contacts, or windows to view nature.  You can also walk the dog, meditate, ground, drink tea, or do yoga  - make it your moment!

  • Take sun breaks outdoors several times a day to re-sync your natural clock.

  • Mitigate and block blue light when it is dark. When the sun goes down, you wind down. If you rise pre-dawn, keep it dark-ish.


🍏 Nutrition

How you nurture yourself matters, even more so during this time when women tend to experience insulin-resistant and other metabolic challenges. Food can move you toward healing or slowly pull you backward.

What to do:

  • Hydrate. Aim for 50% of your body weight in ounces.

  • Sit while eating. No more “eat on the go” stuff — it is not beneficial for digestion.

  • Eat protein.  Aim for about 30g of protein per meal.

  • Eat the rainbow. Load up on fiber-rich veggies and fruits of every color.

  • Say no (or less often) to sugar, caffeine, alcohol, and soda. These can worsen symptoms.

  • Eat in this order: veggies → protein → healthy fats → carbs last.
    Pair naked carbs with hummus, peanut butter, or other fiber/fat/protein.

  • Walk 5–10 minutes after meals for better blood sugar control.

  • Avoid eating 3 hours before bedtime.

    If you’re curious how food affects your blood sugar, check out The Glucose Goddess. Jessie is a French biochemist on a mission to share simple ways to control glucose for better health based on scientific information.


    Also, Stelo offers a continuous glucose monitor without a prescription and you can use HSA/FSA:
    https://www.stelo.com/

Congrats Mel! Outstanding 2025! And thank you!!!!

https://www.melrobbins.com/episode/episode-275/



💪🏽🦴 Musculoskeletal Health

Muscle mass and bone density decline with age. Sadly, 50% of women over 50 years old will experience a fracture due to osteoporosis, and 30% of those women will die within a year of that fracture. Frozen shoulder, decreased mobility due to stiffer tendons/ligaments, and decreased collagen are also associated with menopause. Healthy muscles and bones support everything — metabolism, fall risk, longevity, and quality of life.

Check out Dr. Vonda Wright’s article & book Unbreakable:

Article: Musculoskeletal Syndrome of Menopause

Book: Unbreakable

What to do:

  • Move your body. Any amount matters.

  • Add resistance/challenge: bands, weights, rope jumping.

  • Prioritize weight-bearing exercise like walking and hiking.

  • Jump 20 times a day (or more) to stimulate bone density.

  • Get a DXA scan. Ideally before menopause (mid-to-late 40s) so you have a baseline.

  • Eat prunes! They are surprisingly supportive for bone health.



😴 Sleep

According to the Sleep Foundation, up to 97 million women experience sleep disturbances during menopause due to night sweats/hot flashes and hormonal shifts. When we can’t sleep, we are not ourselves — and barely functional.
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/women-sleep/menopause-and-sleep

What to do:

  • Make a bedtime routine. Start at least 20 minutes before bed: bath, skincare, breathwork, meditation, low lights.

  • Create a sleep environment: dark, quiet, and cool. Reserve the bedroom for sleep, not TV.

  • Avoid these 3 hours before bed:

    • heavy meals

    • sugar

    • alcohol

    • caffeine

    • nicotine

    • chocolate

👥 👥 👥 Social Connections

The menopause transition often overlaps with big life changes — career shifts, aging parents, or an empty nest. Emotional well-being matters.

What to do:

  • Build a support network — friends, healthcare providers, online communities.
    It makes a tremendous difference.


⚕️ Hormones

Modern, bioidentical hormone options are safer than in the past and, with medical guidance and monitoring, can significantly relieve symptoms, prevent conditions from worsening, and protect the heart and brain for many women. It is never too late — or too early — to explore hormone therapy.

There are also prescription, over the counter, and holistic options for those who cannot or prefer not to use hormones.

What to do:


🌿 Holistic Help

Complementary approaches can ease this transition by helping regulate stress, supporting the parasympathetic nervous system, and using plant-based tools to support physiology.

What to do:

Explore:

🤲🏼 Massage, Bodywork, & Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy

For aches, pains, stress, and changing body tissues, bodywork can play a powerful role. Massage and therapeutic bodywork can improve circulation and lymph flow, support the liver, ease joint and muscle discomfort, support relaxation and sleep, and help you reconnect with your body and emotions.

Pelvic floor physical therapy supports muscles that assist the urogenital organs and torso — helpful for urinary incontinence, bowel control, prolapse, pelvic pain, sexual dysfunction, and more.

What to do:

Find a massage therapist:

https://www.amtamassage.org/find-massage-therapist/
https://www.abmpmembers.com/

Helpful techniques:

Find a pelvic floor PT:
 https://pelvicrehab.com/


👀⏰ What This All Looks Like

This can be overwhelming to implement.

Remind yourself you’re human.

For this week, add 1–2 habits into your routine. Next week, add one more. Repeat.

You’ve got this.

An example day in your new menopause life:

Morning routine:
 Sunrise exposure → Hydrate → Breathwork/meditation → Protein-rich breakfast (30g + veggies) → Jump rope 20 times → movement/exercise of your choice

Mid-day routine:
 Lunch with 30g protein + veggies → Hydrate → 5–10 min walk → Jump rope 20 times → Sun break

Mid-afternoon:
 Sun break → Jump rope 20 times

Evening:
 Dinner (30g protein + veggies) 3 hours before bedtime → Hydrate → 5–10 min walk → Block blue light → Jump rope 20 times

Bedtime routine:
 Skincare → Brush teeth → Breathwork → Dim lighting → Jump rope 20 times

Weekly: Journal every Friday.
Monthly/quarterly: Schedule bodywork.

Wha-la!

Menopause can mark a new era of freedom, wisdom, humor, and self-awareness. I hope you found this blog helpful and if you did, please share it with the sisterhood!

All the best!


To find a menopause educated practitioner:

https://portal.menopause.org/NAMS/NAMS/Directory/Menopause-Practitioner.aspx 

Additional Resources:

Dr. Mary Clair Haver : thepauselife.com 

Dr. Vonda Wright: drvondawright.com 

Tamsen Fadel: https:/ /www.tamsenfadal.com/ 

How to Menopause book

The Menopause Society: menopause.org 

The International Menopause Society: imsociety.org 

The British Menopause Society: thebms.org/uk 

The Australian Menopause Society: menopause.org.au

Dr. Mark Hyman & Cindy Geyer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKJFbieEHks 

Lifestyle Medicine - https://lifestylemedicine.org/ 


Are you local to Pittsburgh? https://www.familymedicine.pitt.edu/upmc-lifestyle-medicine 


Cheryl Ferris
Next

Visceral Manipulation: Organs Do More Than Organ Related Functions