Before we get into the topic of perimenopause, we must learn what this actually means which will clear why some of the symptoms do occur. “Peri”- means around the time of. Meaning that it is a period of time or an episode of time before periods stop (aka: menopause). There are numerous symptoms of perimenopause, one of them includes body aches and pains in localized areas of the body.
Types of Body Aches in Perimenopause
Hormonal fluctuations caused by estrogen and progesterone cause musculoskeletal pain, hence causing pain in the joints. More commonly, women undergoing perimenopause will feel pain around their knees, shoulders, elbows, chest and back. Some women also report experiencing constant back pain, which can be attributed to lower levels of vitamin D and dehydration. Lastly, chest pain is also a common complain, a tightness in the chest can be felt due to low estrogen levels.
How to Improve Body Aches
Now that you know about the most common complaints related to body aches and perimenopause, we can switch to learning techniques to improve symptoms and body aches. Here are some lifestyle changes you can adopt immediately to help ease body aches:
- Regular exercise and stretching sessions can help soothe and relax your muscles. Exercise can help strengthen your body to deal with these ongoing muscle aches.
- Drinking less alcohol and stopping smoking completely can be highly helpful in cardiac health and relax chest muscles which can aid in overall less damage to our body organs.
- Try to add more fiber to your diet by consuming more greens and fruits to your diet.
- Try adding natural anti-inflammatory foods like garlic, and turmeric to your diet.
It’sFetch is a community that provides a safe space for members to discuss health and wellness topics. We provide access to archived health related content, note the date of last review or update on all articles. No content shared, regardless of date should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.
-Written by Sushmita Majumdar
Comments +