Yes!
The latest research provides more evidence that it can help with non-physical symptoms…
Hot off the Press
University College of London news on February 28th 2024 reported that Mindfulness could be one of the ways to help alleviate menopause-related mood symptoms, memory and concentration problems.
This new study was led by Aimee Spector, Professor of Clinical Psychology of Ageing and Director of the International Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) centre at University College London. As part of her work she directs the UCL ‘Menopause Mind Lab’, a team of researchers and clinicians dedicated to understanding more about the impact of menopause transition on cognition and mental health. If you are interested, see www.ucl.ac.uk/pals/menopause-mind-lab
How extensive was the study?
In fact, there were 30 studies, involving 3,501 women in 14 different countries. Each of the 30 studies was divided into three groups with the aim to look at how therapies might impact on “mood, cognition and quality of life”. (Mindfulness and cognitive behavioural therapy could help menopause symptoms (openaccessgovernment.org) )
- 10 studies examined the effect of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)-based interventions on menopausal symptoms.
- 9 studies assessed Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBI)
- And 11 studies explored the impact of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), group counselling, marital support, health promotion coaching, and emotional freedom techniques.
The Results
It came as no surprise to me that all of these therapies were shown to have some beneficial impact on non-physical symptoms associated with the menopause, with Mindfulness Based Interventions (MBI) and CBT helping to improve levels of anxiety and depression the most. For some time now the beneficial impact of Mindfulness on the psychology of menopausal women has been studied and documented. Here’s a short article from 2019: Menopause: Mindfulness may reduce symptoms (medicalnewstoday.com.) Studies also show that MBCT (Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy) is more effective than CBT on its own.
My journey – briefly!
This latest article* made me reflect on how I got so interested in Mindfulness after years of dabbling with/reading about meditation. Was there a link to my own experience of the menopause? Of course there was – I just hadn’t realised it!
I had just taken on more responsibility at work and was regularly working 12 hour days plus weekends. On top of that I was getting an “interesting” array of physical symptoms: non-stop periods, night-sweats, aches and pains (in particular a frozen shoulder – horrible). Luckily, I wasn’t experiencing the brain fog that afflicts many but, because my sleep was disturbed, and I was working too hard in a very pressured environment, I was definitely burning out. At the time HRT was still getting something of a bad press so I didn’t feel like it was an option for me. I was scared of side effects. I felt exhausted and anxious. In addition, I didn’t have a friend I could talk to who was going through the menopause at the same time – they were either younger or older. In fact, some people seemed irritated that I wasn’t available for socialising in the same way but I really had nothing left when I wasn’t working. So there wasn’t an opportunity to vent and explore symptoms with anyone except my husband, who was an absolute rock, and my lovely sister - whose experience was completely different to mine.
It was about that time that I turned to Mindfulness, starting with a distance learning 8 week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction 
course through Bangor University. And I’ve never looked back. I learned ways of looking after myself better which gave me more balance in my life and a clearer perspective. I have no doubt that Mindfulness helped me get through the menopause in one piece!
I want to state here that using Mindfulness can, of course, be used in conjunction with other treatments for your physical symptoms. For many women HRT can be a life saver so I’m not advocating you go cold turkey and meditate your way through this, often, challenging period! But if you're interested in discussing how Mindfulness can help, get in touch...
