Menopause

So-called hot flashes are the most frequent menopausal symptom, as well the period stopping immediately before menopause. Around 60 percent of all women experience these, which usually occur at night and can last up to several minutes. A hot flash is best described as a sudden and often intense feeling of heat, often accompanied by reddening skin and sweating.

Intense hot flashes at night are known as night sweats and around 75 percent of women going through menopause experience them. Night sweats can actually occur up to ten years before menopause itself and can be so intense as to seriously disrupt sleep. The symptoms include the intense feeling of heat, often accompanied by nausea, headaches, chills and a flushing sensation.

The onset of menopause also brings mood swings; many women feel irritable, moody or depressed – a feeling which can be worse if you were anxious or depressed anyway. This can often be accompanied by occasional or regular insomnia, as well as a decreased sexual desire; and some women can find it difficult to concentrate, or even suffer from slight but disturbing memory lapses.

There are various other menopausal symptoms. You may experience headaches for no apparent reason, or heart palpitations. Some women feel tired; others find that their hair is thinning, even falling out. A frequently experienced symptom is a feeling of vaginal dryness, which is caused by a drop in the body’s estrogen level and can be both physically and emotionally upsetting.

Pain around the breasts or aching and sore joints are also common symptoms, as are feelings of light-headedness or dizziness. Weight gain during menopause is also an unfortunate sign, as are various digestive problems or bouts of flatulence. Of course, many of these symptoms can be somewhat vague and by themselves are not necessarily signs that you have finally reached menopause.

Unfortunately, there is no telling how long the symptoms of menopause will last; it could be anywhere from a year to five years after the menopause itself. Almost all of the symptoms associated with menopause can be treated in some way. And if you can at least recognize and understand the symptoms you are experiencing, menopause is perhaps easier to deal with.

This is probably one of the most researched areas regarding the safety of caffeine on the body.

Most research shows that drinking coffee when pregnant has no harmful effect if you stick to less than three cups or the equivalent of 300 milligrams of caffeine in a day. That said how big your cups are makes a difference as it is easy to have more than is safe if your cups are holding more than 8 ounces of liquid. As the average cup holds 12 ounces which is actually one & a half cups,drinking 3 of those would put you at a higher risk of drinking too much without you even realising it.

Studies have also shown that more than 300 milligrams of caffeine a day can decrease fertility & increase miscarriages & produce low weight births. It is generally accepted by the medical professions that no more than one or two cups of coffee should be drunk in a day if you are pregnant of attempting to get pregnant.

The only problem with having all your caffeine from a daily coffee allowance is that caffeine is found in many other beverages including colas,drinking chocolate and of course in chocolate itself.

So to sum up,while some doctors may recommend cutting out caffeine altogether while pregnant or trying to get pregnant, coffee is safe to drink in pregnancy so long as you stick to 300 milligrams or less of caffeine a day and allow for any other products that has caffeine in and you measure your cup sizes.