To Supplement or not to Supplement with Menopausal Symptoms

I recently found myself decreasing the amount of supplements I was taking and purchasing regularly because I realized several of them I simply just did not need. 

If you are on social media for 30 seconds you will be offered just about every snake oil that's on the market. This can be really confusing when you are experiencing symptoms related to menopause that you are desperate to get relief from. Making it hard to ignore people claiming they have been cured from everything because of a powder, pill or diet that can be sold to you with free shipping available. 

So how do you actually know if a supplement is for you? Well the first place to start is check in with your Doctor. Routine lab work can hold a lot of answers and your Doctor can help you sort through the results of that. What exactly are your symptoms and what are you experiencing. It's always good to make sure that whatever symptoms you are feeling are not linked to more.

After that again be clear about what symptoms are effecting you the most. Is it lack of sleep. Is it brain fog or low energy. Is it hot flashes. Menopausal symptoms can be very draining and overwhelming causing us to make changes to our lifestyle that we may not have noticed. I know for myself when I experienced a drop in my energy and I looked at my lifestyle I noticed my steps per day had decreased and my nutrition could definitely be better and I was not prioritizing my sleep at all. 

I decided to make a some lifestyle changes. I prioritized sleep and made sure I was getting enough which also meant a decrease in caffeine and watching my screen time. I decided to meal prep so that I could be sure I wasn't flaking out on eating a good dinner and hitting my protein requirements. I also kept on hand easy choices for breakfast and lunch so no thought was required. I made sure I was drinking enough water and hitting more steps through out my day. And guess what happened just like that I started to have more energy. 

It was at this point that I realized some times the answer we are looking for is in what we are will doing to do for ourselves to support our health. There are no shortcuts when it comes to our health. Exercise, nutrition and sleep will alway be a great place to start.