Ease Symptoms of Perimenopause and Menopause With a Sauna

The physical, emotional, and mental discomforts associated with menopause affect women in a variety of different intensities and ways. It is important to remember that life goes on through and after menopause. Ideally this transformative time will enable women to enter into a new and rewarding phase of life.

It is imperative to remember that menopause is NOT a disease, it is a natural transition in life and it can be managed with the help of a few external treatment forms.

Through a cloud of wide ranging, unpredictable emotions and brain fog it can sometimes be difficult to joyfully navigate perimenopause and menopause with confidence. There are many treatments to help ease the transitory period of menopause from pharmaceuticals, such as hormone replacement, antidepressants, as well as a plethora of stress reducing modalities. In addition, it may be well worthwhile considering thermotherapy to help reduce the symptoms associated with menopause, namely sauna bathing.

If your symptoms primarily include weight gain, or hot flashes then you can skip to those articles right away! However, if you are also concerned about emotional volatility, sleeplessness, or skin health, continue to read this article to find out if regular sauna therapy may help in the treatment of these particular symptoms of perimenopause, and menopause.

Perimenopausal and Menopausal Symptoms:

Mood Changes
Sleeplessness
Skin Health (1)

The first thing most people think about when they hear of menopause is hot flashes. While this may be the most obvious symptom it is certainly not the most detrimental one. For some women their mental and emotional challenges during menopause can be extremely scary. Hormonal changes have a strong effect on mood and mental clarity. Beyond this, if getting a full night’s sleep is also difficult, then maintaining an elevated mood can become almost impossible. To top it off, some women notice a dramatic change in the quality of their skin. (1)

The combination of extreme drops in both estrogen and progesterone can wreak havoc on mood stability, and sleep. Many women may remember well entering their adolescence and having similar mood swings when they first began menstruating, and as the menstruating phase of their life begins to cease, mood swings may return once again. (2)

Mood is impacted dramatically by how well a person has slept the night before. If sleeplessness or disturbance in sleep is also a symptom that is being experienced by the menopausal woman it may feel nearly impossible to feel comfortable in your own skin.

Skin changes may occur during menopause as a result of lower estrogen levels. This may affect the tautness, or plumpness of skin due to less collagen availability. Some women may experience acne breakouts as they once did during their teenage years. Just as skin may be affected before menstruation begins, it may also be affected during the perimenopausal stage of life, as well as during menopause. (1)

Gratefully, there are a variety of treatments available to ease the above mentioned symptoms. If you cannot afford or simply do not want to use pharmaceuticals, then you may be looking for alternative treatments for your menopausal symptoms. Even if you have elected to use hormone replacement therapy or other pharmacological treatments you may also want to add in some alternative treatment therapies as well. Regular sauna use may be one such therapy that you choose.

A significant body of research tells us that saunas may help to stabilize mood by mitigating the body’s stress response, improve sleep, and even produce a plump and clear appearance of the skin. Sauna use is not a fix-all for menopausal symptoms, however there is enough data to suggest that it may ease symptoms enough to make this stage in life more tolerable for many women.

Why is Sauna Bathing a Potential Treatment For Mood Stability, Sleeplessness, and Skin Health in the Menopausal Woman?

It seems a tall order to imagine that regular sauna use could treat such a wide stretching array of menopausal symptoms. Although sauna use cannot make menopause suddenly stop or disappear it is able to treat the body as an entire network, rather than small fractured off symptoms. Sauna immersion encapsulates the whole body to create a cascade of biochemical changes that can affect nearly every portion of a person’s being.

Intentional heat therapy induces a hormetic effect on the body, which just means positive stress for a short period of time to create certain desired results. When the body is able to reach higher temperatures for specific periods of time, many biochemical reactions occur in an effort to cool the body off. In so doing many illnesses, or discomforts can be treated with proper sauna use. For thousands of years humans have used a variety of forms of heat therapy to treat disturbances in the body. This can be found across cultures and times, for instance the indigenous sweat lodges, Japanese hot springs, and East African dugouts. (3) Although there is no known specific use of heat therapy in the treatment of menopause historically, we do have today the scientific research to support its use during this phase of life.

Mood Swings & Sauna Use

Mood Swings before and during menopause are very common as estrogen levels drop. Saunas will not stop estrogen levels from dropping, but they may enhance and stabilize mood by regulating the nervous system, and by providing a surge in dopamine as well as endorphins.

When an individual is feeling on edge from too much stress on their body, it is very common to ‘snap’ at the slightest disappointments or mishaps. On the contrary, when the nervous system is relaxed, small disappointments or annoyances just don’t feel like such a big deal, and there is a sense that these events can just roll off the shoulders. If a perimenopausal or menopausal woman can encourage her nervous system to transfer from states of sympathetic dominance (high stress), back to states of parasympathetic dominance (relaxation), then there will be a natural stabilization of ‘mood’. (4)

For some women depression of a clinical level is associated with menopause. If this is the case for you, then it is imperative you get the help that you need from a medical professional as soon as possible.

If mood swings are moderate to mild you may find that a daily dose of sauna therapy helps to keep your mood elevated and stable.

Sleep and Sauna Use

Fundamental to a sound night sleep is the ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. The physical mechanism behind this is a drop in body temperature and this brings us back to the body’s temperature regulatory capacity. (5) In addition to keeping your bedroom cool and dark, if you can also take a hot bath, shower, or ideally sauna before bed, then dropping the temperature will aid immensely in the falling asleep portion of your night’s rest.

Additionally, a relaxed body can stay asleep free from anxiety and roaming thoughts more easily than a hyperstressed body. The combination of relaxation found after a sauna and temperature elevation, followed by drop as experienced after the sauna, may set the menopausal woman up for a truly wonderful night’s sleep.

Skin Health and Sauna Use

With all of the changes that occur during menopause, the last thing someone wants to deal with is skin issues. Saunas are an excellent way to augment skin health and appearance. The sweating that occurs during a sauna can help open pores, detoxify the body, and bring more blood flow to the surface of the skin.(6) One of the first things most new sauna users notice is how radiant their skin looks directly after a sauna.

If you are using an infrared sauna, then you will also have the opportunity to boost collagen production to create a plumper look to your skin. Acne typically clears up quickly under the influence of infrared light, as the skin is cleaned from the inside out through perspiration. It is seldom that acne lingers on with regular sauna use and proper post sauna cleansing.

Feeling good in your own skin is so important for anyone, but especially for someone who is already dealing with immense physical changes such as is experienced before and during menopause.

Perimenopausal and Menopausal Women May Experience Positive Life Changing Effects From Incorporating Sauna Bathing Into Their Regular Routine

Nothing, including saunas, can stop the clock, and menopause will eventually occur. The goal is to find ways to move through these years with ease and grace with as little discomfort as possible. Most women will likely lean into a variety of treatment modalities, and some of these may include the regular use of saunas.

Saunas are known by the scientific community to ease the body out of states of stress response that can be responsible for mood instability, encourage deeper and longer night’s sleep, as well as dramatically improve the overall quality of skin.

As is the case with all sauna users, maintaining positive hydration is extremely important at all times. If your mood is very low or extremely unstable, then medical counsel should be sought immediately particularly is suicidal ideation is present.

Talk to your medical advisor to find out if sauna use could be a portion of your perimenopausal and menopausal treatment protocol.

**** If suicidal ideation is present for the perimenopausal or menopausal woman then please seek help immediately. If you are in the USA, here is a free access to help:

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline : The Lifeline provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, across the United States. Call or text 988 to connect with a trained crisis counselor.

Sources Cited: