Explore how embracing natural remedies and reconnecting with nature can ease the transition through menopause and enhance midlife health.
This Earth Day, I’ve been reflecting deeply on our disconnection from the natural cycles and rhythms that govern life on Earth. A quote by Lao Tzu has particularly resonated with me: “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” This unhurried wisdom, which lets things unfold in their own time, stands in stark contrast to our modern life’s pace, where we often find ourselves forcing and rushing through transitions.
As a society, we have insulated ourselves from the very elements that we evolved with over millennia—the rise and fall of the seasons, fluctuations in temperature and light, and the natural world’s cadences. Inside our climate-controlled homes and office buildings, we lose touch with nature’s metronome. Bombarded with artificial light, our circadian clocks are disrupted. Processed foods strip away the vital nutrients and phytocompounds that help keep our bodies in sync. Even our physical movement and sleep/wake patterns are dysregulated by sedentary habits and screens.
The Health Impacts of Nature-Deprivation
Numerous studies illustrate how chronic disconnection from nature’s rhythms can throw our finely-tuned biology out of balance, leading to imbalanced hormones, sluggish metabolism, disrupted sleep, and increased inflammation. These are all linked with heightened risks for chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular issues, neurological disorders, and fertility problems.
And for us women, one of the most profound areas impacted is our ability to gracefully transition through our distinctive reproductive stages—menstruation, pregnancy, postpartum recovery, and ultimately, the monumental shift into menopause.
Honoring Your Natural Cycles
As a physician, I’ve seen firsthand how incorporating lifestyle strategies aligned with nature’s model can ease and even prevent many of the unwanted effects associated with perimenopause and menopause.
Instead of pathologizing this phase, we need to reframe menopause as a natural, purposeful transition hardwired into the female biological blueprint. This hormonal shift represents the body’s intelligence at work, redirecting a woman’s energies inward after decades prioritized toward reproductive functions. It’s analogous to how trees conserve energy into their root systems after the fertile summer months, preparing for their next blooming cycle.
Flowing With Nature’s Rhythms
When we attune our lifestyle habits to the natural cadences modeled by our environment across the seasons, our bodies and minds recalibrate. Here are some simple adjustments to consider:
- Align your exercise routine with nature’s cues: Engage in gentle renewal activities in spring, vigorous growth exercises in summer, grounding and introspection in fall, and restoration in winter.
- Eat foods appropriate for the season: Leverage nature’s therapeutic benefits, such as cooling herbs and fruits in summer or warming spices and roots in winter.
- Prioritize daily light exposure: Get outside, ideally at sunrise, to help regulate your hormone cycles.
- Allow your sleep patterns to shift with the seasons: Adapt to the natural lengthening and shortening of days rather than sticking to a rigid schedule year-round.
These types of lifestyle “doses” from Mother Nature’s medicine cabinet can help rebalance your hormones, circadian rhythms, neurotransmitters, and more as you navigate significant transitions like menopause. It’s preventative self-care rooted in our ancestral biological blueprints.
As Earth Month comes to a close, I encourage you to reclaim your connection with the outdoor environment your body innately craves and respects. Notice the earth coming alive; sprouting up all around you and harness the energy of spring for your own revitalization. What simple changes could you make to live more harmoniously with nature’s perfect cadence?
I’d love to hear your own experiences: In what ways have you reconnected with nature’s rhythms? How have these adjustments impacted your health, especially around major life transitions? Share your insights so we can learn from one another!
