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My Menopause Transformation™ Survey Reveals Unexpected Symptoms Of Menopause

Never before has the menopause-solutions market been so visible, but New Zealand Women’s Health and Ageing Practitioner, Dr. Wendy Sweet (PhD), has devoted nearly a decade to understanding the health challenges faced by midlife and older women during menopause. The MyMT™ Symptoms Quiz, available on the website, has provided her with valuable insights from women all around the world.

With over 500,000 women having taken the signs of menopause quiz, it is evident that hot flushes and brain fog are not always their primary concerns. The survey results paint a different picture of menopause:

- The most pressing issue for 83% of women is fatigue.

- 81% struggle with sleep, which is closely linked to their fatigue.

- 80% experience sore joints that significantly impact their quality of life and activity levels.

- 76% perceive themselves as overweight.

- And 73% report having been diagnosed with high blood pressure.

Dr Sweet (PhD) wants mid-life women to know that menopause symptoms do not have to be endured. “As you enter your menopausal and post-menopausal years, there are powerful lifestyle changes you can make to reduce your symptoms, lose weight, and set yourself up to age healthily”, she says.

In her doctoral research on midlife women navigating lifestyle-changes, Dr Sweet discovered that not all women experience the same symptoms. Which is why she has tailored her menopause support programs to focus on specific needs.

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Her scientifically-evidenced Transform Me programme, is a groundbreaking menopause-specific weight loss and symptom reduction program. “Positioning the science of menopause in women’s longevity science changed my health and I can’t reiterate enough to women, that when weight loss is their goal, then the first focus is turning around sleep, along with a condition called ‘oestrogen dominance’. Whilst the emphasis in menopause is primarily driven by pharmaceuticals and supplements, weight gain during menopause is not targeted by these therapies. I teach mid-life women how to stop gaining and then start losing menopause weight without exhausting exercise, or calorie restriction diets”, says Wendy. “This requires dealing with stress and our workloads too. Afterall, health behaviour scientists know that stress is at the heart of much of the symptoms and metabolic chaos that women experience in their midlife years.”

Dr Sweet has identified that thinner women tend to experience poor sleep, increased anxiety, palpitations, hot flashes, night sweats and low energy. For them she has developed Circuit Breaker. Coaching is included in both programmes.

“Everyday women tell me that they feel back in control of their symptoms and weight-gain” mentions Wendy. “The weight loss programme (Transform Me) is the most popular programme, because women typically have concerns about their changing metabolic and cardiovascular health, even for those already on Menopause HRT.”

Dr Sweet says it’s vital that we adjust to our changing hormonal environment as we age. "Menopause is also the gateway to biological ageing. If we don’t break the circuit of our symptoms and/or our weight gain during our menopause transition, then the inflammation that builds up may lead to worsening health problems as we enter our post-menopause years. To help their body adjust to its new hormonal environment, I teach women how to get to the heart of their improved health through reducing cellular stress”, says Dr Sweet. “This includes dietary changes that specifically target inflammatory changes during peri-menopause and menopause - both stages which are now known to be an inflammatory event in a woman’s life-course.

In her courses, she helps midlife women understand what is happening to their bodies (the why) and what simple strategies to adopt to manage their symptoms (the how). Initially, they take the menopause symptoms quiz to learn more about their symptoms and how they compare to other women. They then watch the 2-hour self-paced Masterclass to find out what's causing their symptoms. Finally, they can choose the program that best fits their symptoms and learn how to manage them.

You can learn more about Dr Wendy Sweet’s Online Lifestyle-Change Programs for Peri- to Post-Menopause Symptom Reduction, Weight Loss and Fitness on her website MyMT™. You can also access her free Menopause Symptoms Quiz here as well.

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