Anxiety and Menopause

I recently posted on my instagram account asking women to ask questions about what they were struggling with when it came to menopause, anxiety came a up a few times. On this episode of Wise Women Conversations I decided to talk about anxiety, what it is, what causes it and what you can do to manage your anxiety without having to take pharmaceutical drugs. Anxiety is different for everyone, some women feel over-excited, others have a racing heart, other women will simply shut down and freeze. It is often accompanied by a shortness of breath which can cause pains in the chest, dizziness or a sense of doom. Lowered levels of progesterone can play a role in the increase in anxiety attacks as women move through menopause but anxiety can also be caused by an imbalance in brain neurotransmitters, GABA and Glutamate. There is a difference between stress and anxiety. Stress is the body's physical response to a physical or emotional threat, this threat can be real or perceived. Stress is about the past, a remembering of a previous situation that caused trauma or an emotional response (this is all sub-conscious and you don't know it is happening) Anxiety is an emotional response to something that might or might not happen that can leave you feel like things are out of control. Anxiety is a fear of the future, of something that doesn't exist anywhere except your own mind. Whilst anxiety is an emotional response you can have a very physical response to the anxiety e.g. panic attacks, addictions, cravings and more. There are many ways that you can control your anxiety and it starts with self- care. In this episode I share with you many tools that you can use to manage your anxiety. These tools include diet, exercise, herbs, nutrients, essential oils plus more.