Key News in Family Medicine January 17, 2019 (11 of 11)

According to a Mayo Clinic study recently published in Climacteric: The Journal of the International Menopausal Society. The researchers found that being attentive could be especially helpful for postmenopausal women experiencing irritability, anxiety and depression.

"In this study, we found that middle-aged women with high awareness scores had fewer menopausal symptoms," says Mayo Clinic's general internist and women's health specialist. , Richa Sood, MD, the lead author of the study. "These findings suggest that mindfulness can be a promising tool to help women reduce menopausal symptoms and stress in general."

Mindfulness is about focusing attention on the present moment and observing thoughts and feelings without judgment. Previous research has shown that mindfulness can reduce stress and improve the quality of life.

Every day, about 6,000 women in the United States reach menopause. By 2020, the number of women aged 55 and over is expected to exceed 46 million. A woman is considered postmenopausal if she has spent one year without a menstrual cycle. Common symptoms of menopause may include hot flashes, night sweats, badl dryness, and mood changes.

The study involved 1,744 women aged 40 to 65 who received care at the Mayo Clinic Women's Clinic Clinic in Rochester between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2016. Participants completed questionnaires about their menopausal symptoms, their perceived level of stress and their full awareness. The researchers found that women with higher awareness scores had fewer symptoms of menopause. The higher a woman's perceived level of stress, the greater the link between increased alertness and reduced menopausal symptoms.

A surprising finding from the study is that higher mindfulness scores are not badociated with lower scores of hot flashes and night sweats, Dr. Sood explains. According to one theory, the amount of distress felt by night sweats and hot flashes may have more to do with individual personality traits than with the symptoms themselves. According to Dr. Sood, one of the most interesting results of the study is the badociation of higher consciousness scores and lower symptom scores for irritability, depression, and anxiety in postmenopausal women. 'middle age.

"While further studies are needed, doctors may consider discussing mindfulness as a potential treatment option for postmenopausal women," says Dr. Sood.

Fortunately, mindfulness is a skill that can be learned. "The first step in awareness is to realize that most of the time, our mind is on autopilot," says Dr. Sood. "The purpose of moments of consciousness is not to clear the mind, but to become an observer of the activity of the mind while being kind to oneself. The second step is to take a break, take a deep breath and observe your own space, your thoughts, and the emotions without judgment.The resulting calm helps reduce stress. "