Menopause Anxiety & Overwhelm: 3 Ways to Feel More in Control

Feeling anxious, overwhelmed or emotionally unlike yourself during perimenopause or menopause? You are not alone. In fact, I see this regularly in my coaching practice and also in my friend’s circle.

I was recently asked by Women’s Fitness magazine to share some of the advice and practical tools I use as a life coach to help women experiencing menopause anxiety, overwhelm, emotional changes and disrupted sleep.

Women’s Fitness introduced me in the article as “one of London and the UK’s top Life and Manifestation Coaches”, which was lovely recognition, and asked me to focus on three areas that may help women navigate this period of change.

1. Understand Menopause Anxiety and What’s Happening to You

The first thing I get my clients to do is to do some reading up about the menopause and the symptoms it can create.  Whilst many have read a little or heard stories about the menopause most of them still find that this fills in a lot of gaps in their understanding.

As you may know menopause isn’t simply a physical transition.

Hormonal fluctuations during perimenopause and menopause can be accompanied by changes in mood and emotional wellbeing. For some women, this can include increased anxiety, irritability, anger or emotional volatility.

Understanding that there may be a physiological component to a sudden change in how you feel can sometimes make the experience less frightening.

But that doesn’t mean dismissing every emotion as “just hormones”.

Instead, become curious about what you’re experiencing.

Has your anxiety suddenly increased? Is it worse after a poor night’s sleep? Are particular situations, stresses or people triggering a stronger emotional response than they did previously?

Understanding what is happening is often the first step towards feeling more in control.

2. Protect Your Sleep During Perimenopause and Menopause

Sleep and anxiety can easily feed each other. Indeed, some of my female clients come to me at breaking point largely because of lack of sleep.

You feel anxious, so you struggle to sleep. Then you wake up exhausted, which can make stress, anxiety and overwhelm feel even harder to manage.

One simple tool I recommend to all my clients is journalling before bed.

Write down what you’re thinking and feeling, including your fears, doubts and anxieties and anything you need to do the following day. Getting worries and unfinished tasks out of your head and onto paper can help reduce some of the mental clutter you’re carrying into bed. There is a growing body of scientific evidence that attests to the power of this exercise.

In 2018, the Kaluli tribe of Papau New Guinea were observed by researchers from the University of Helsinki. Their practice with their children every night before bed is to get them to speak out loud about their fears, painful experiences and losses. Their parents sat and listened without interruption or attempting to make them feel better. They call this ‘night clearing’ and it’s a process that western science can only now confirm the efficacy of for calming the nervous system.

If you haven’t ever tried even the written equivalent of this, give it a go!

Meditation, mindfulness and learning how to sit with and process difficult emotions can also help quieten a busy mind and that’s something I teach to all of my clients but there’s a lot of information available online too.

3. Look at Your Boundaries and What Needs to Change

This is where menopause can become about more than hormones.

Midlife can already bring a considerable mental load involving careers, relationships, children, ageing parents, finances and responsibilities.

Add hormonal changes and disrupted sleep and you may find that situations you previously tolerated suddenly feel much harder to accept.

Rather than automatically suppressing those feelings, listen to what they might be telling you.

Are your boundaries working?

Are you giving too much of yourself away?

Is there something in your career, relationship or life that has needed attention for a long time?

Menopause may not necessarily be making you angry for no reason. It could sometimes be making it harder to continue swallowing things you were already unhappy about.

That doesn’t mean making major life decisions in the middle of a hot flush!

It means giving yourself the space to consider what you want the next chapter of your life to look like, talking things through and making measured decisions from a clearer place.

Menopause Can Also Be an Opportunity for Change

Periods of transition can be uncomfortable, but they can also prompt some of the most important questions we ever ask ourselves:

What do I actually want now?

What needs to change?

Who do I want to be in this next stage of my life?

For some women, that becomes a much bigger conversation about happiness, fulfilment, identity and life purpose.

And that is where life coaching can be particularly valuable.

I was delighted to contribute to the Women’s Fitness article and grateful to Women’s Fitness and writer Lucy Miller for inviting me to share my perspective.

You can read the full Women’s Fitness article here:

Read “Feeling anxious and completely overwhelmed? A life coach shares 3 tips to help ease menopause anxiety” on Women’s Fitness

Life Coaching for Life Changes and Your Next Chapter

If you’re going through menopause, midlife or another significant period of change and find yourself wondering “What now?”, “What do I really want?” or “What is the next chapter of my life?”, this is exactly the kind of work I help my clients explore.

As a Life and Life Purpose Coach in London working with clients worldwide, I help people understand what they really want, overcome the internal blocks holding them back and create a life with greater purpose, happiness and fulfilment.

Ready to work out what comes next? Book a free 20-minute discovery call with me.