Menopause in Eastern Countries: A Positive Look at a New Chapter in Women’s Lives

Meno­pause is a natu­ral stage in eve­ry woman’s life, a time of tran­si­tion that gene­ral­ly occurs bet­ween her late for­ties and ear­ly fif­ties. Howe­ver, the way she is per­cei­ved varies consi­de­ra­bly from one culture to another. 

In Wes­tern coun­tries, women are often confron­ted with stig­ma and pres­sure regar­ding this natu­ral pro­cess, with the mis­con­cep­tion that it is an expi­ra­tion date for the female body. On the other hand, in many Eas­tern coun­tries, such as Japan, this stage is per­cei­ved in a much more posi­tive light and inte­gra­ted into women’s lives. 

In this article, we’ll explore how meno­pause is vie­wed in Eas­tern coun­tries, high­ligh­ting the posi­tive aspects of this per­iod and chal­len­ging Wes­tern prejudices.

● Menopause in the West: Myths and Stigma

As they approach 50, many women anti­ci­pate meno­pause with appre­hen­sion, drea­ding symp­toms such as vagi­nal dry­ness and weight gain. The WHO stresses the impor­tance of decons­truc­ting the myths sur­roun­ding meno­pause, for a more enligh­te­ned and less stig­ma­ti­zing approach.

Meno­pause has long been sur­roun­ded by myth and pre­ju­dice in the West. It was seen as the end of youth, fer­ti­li­ty and beau­ty. Women often face social and media pres­sure to stay young at all costs. Entire indus­tries have deve­lo­ped around the fight against the signs of aging, from hor­mone treat­ments to cos­me­tic sur­ge­ry, rein­for­cing the idea that meno­pause is some­thing to be feared.

This Wes­tern view has also fuel­led the myth that this phase signi­fies the end of women’s sex lives, crea­ting unne­ces­sa­ry pres­sure on women at this alrea­dy deli­cate time in their lives. These ste­reo­types also have impli­ca­tions for women’s men­tal health, with increa­sed rates of depres­sion and anxie­ty lin­ked to menopause.

● Menopause in Japan: A different approach

In com­pa­ri­son, many Eas­tern coun­tries, inclu­ding Japan, have a more posi­tive out­look. Meno­pause is not seen as the end of youth, but rather as the begin­ning of a new stage in life. Japa­nese women see this as a natu­ral and neces­sa­ry tran­si­tion to wis­dom and maturity.

One of the rea­sons for this posi­tive approach lies in the way Japa­nese culture per­ceives aging in gene­ral. Japa­nese culture places great impor­tance on wis­dom and res­pect for elders, so meno­pause is often seen as a step towards a new level of res­pect and admi­ra­tion. Mature women are valued for their life expe­rience and knowledge.

In Eas­tern coun­tries, the meno­pau­sal woman is often seen as a source of wis­dom, not as a vic­tim of sleep disor­ders or other symp­toms of this chap­ter of life.

● Positive aspects of menopause: liberation and autonomy

Meno­pause can be a time of libe­ra­tion for many women. With the end of month­ly per­iods and contra­cep­tion, many women find a sense of free­dom they haven’t expe­rien­ced for decades. This per­iod allows women to focus on them­selves, pur­sue pas­sions long put aside and explore new opportunities.

After the meno­pause, many women report an impro­ve­ment in the qua­li­ty of their sexual rela­tions, freed from wor­ries about fertility.

Finan­cial inde­pen­dence is also a posi­tive aspect of meno­pause. Women no lon­ger have to spend money and ener­gy on contra­cep­tion or pre­gnan­cy-rela­ted health care. This can mean grea­ter inde­pen­dence and the abi­li­ty to pur­sue per­so­nal and pro­fes­sio­nal goals with grea­ter freedom.

Regu­lar phy­si­cal acti­vi­ty is encou­ra­ged to improve the health of meno­pau­sal women, redu­cing the risk of stroke and chro­nic disease.

● Community and family support

Eas­tern coun­tries, inclu­ding Japan, often attach great impor­tance to inter­ge­ne­ra­tio­nal soli­da­ri­ty. Meno­pau­sal women bene­fit from ongoing sup­port from their fami­lies and com­mu­ni­ties. Ins­tead of being mar­gi­na­li­zed, they are seen as pillars of wis­dom and experience.

Fami­ly sup­port is essen­tial to help women through this stage of life. Mothers, daugh­ters and friends play an active role in the lives of meno­pau­sal women, sha­ring their expe­riences and offe­ring a lis­te­ning ear. This social struc­ture pro­vides an emo­tio­nal safe­ty net that enables women to get through this stage with confi­dence and positivity.

Mens­trual cycles come to an end, but the sup­port of a heal­th­care pro­fes­sio­nal becomes cru­cial to mana­ging meno­pau­sal symp­toms and main­tai­ning opti­mal long-term qua­li­ty of life.

● Challenging the Western stigma of Menopause

It’s high time we chal­len­ged the stig­ma atta­ched to meno­pause in the West. Rather than seeing this stage as the end of youth, we should cele­brate it as the begin­ning of a new stage in life. Women shouldn’t feel com­pel­led to fight aging arti­fi­cial­ly, but rather embrace their matu­ri­ty with pride.

Cli­mac­te­ric should not be seen as the end of sexual life, but as an oppor­tu­ni­ty to rede­fine and enrich sexua­li­ty. Many women report grea­ter sexual satis­fac­tion after meno­pause, free from the wor­ries asso­cia­ted with contraception.

● Education and awareness

Imple­men­ting glo­bal health edu­ca­tion on meno­pause could trans­form the per­cep­tion of this natu­ral tran­si­tion and pro­mote heal­thy aging.

Edu­ca­tion plays a key role in how the female cycle is per­cei­ved. It’s essen­tial to inform women about the hor­mo­nal changes that accom­pa­ny meno­pause and encou­rage them to talk open­ly about their expe­riences. Heal­th­care pro­fes­sio­nals must also play an active role in rai­sing awa­re­ness, pro­vi­ding accu­rate infor­ma­tion and hel­ping women to manage symp­toms if necessary.

● Natural supplementation

So yes, it’s true that a woman’s body is chan­ging and needs to be pro­tec­ted during this tran­si­tion phase to prevent osteo­po­ro­sis, vas­cu­lar disor­ders, skin aging and reduce fatigue. 

Morin­ga leaf is increa­sin­gly reco­gni­zed as a poten­tial­ly anti-inflam­ma­to­ry die­ta­ry sup­ple­ment, hel­ping to alle­viate symp­toms such as vagi­nal dry­ness. Used as a die­ta­ry sup­ple­ment, it can help improve the health of meno­pau­sal women, nota­bly by pre­ven­ting chro­nic diseases.

That’s why the Morin­ga­Boost brand has deve­lo­ped a die­ta­ry sup­ple­ment based on morin­ga, ace­ro­la, ange­li­ca and lemon balm, spe­ci­fi­cal­ly desi­gned for women in meno­pause and post-menopause.

The Vita­mins B6, B12, C, D and K1, as well as Magne­sium, Iron and Cal­cium found in Morin­ga­Boost MENOPAUSE gel sticks are the ele­ments a woman’s body needs during this new phase of life.

On the other hand, Morin­ga­Boost VITALITY her­bal tea with morin­ga, guayu­sa and tur­me­ric pro­vides a heal­thy dose of natu­ral antioxi­dants and ener­gy. The bene­fits of morin­ga have been com­bi­ned with the ener­gi­zing power of guayu­sa, rich in slow-release caf­feine, and the anti-inflam­ma­to­ry power of tur­me­ric, all scen­ted with lemon­grass and lemon zest.

● Conclusion

It is essen­tial that heal­th­care pro­fes­sio­nals imple­ment stra­te­gies to sup­port meno­pau­sal women, pro­mo­ting a heal­thy and posi­tive transition.

Meno­pause should not be seen as the end, but as the begin­ning of an exci­ting new stage in a woman’s life. Eas­tern coun­tries such as Japan have adop­ted a posi­tive approach to this stage of life, valuing the wis­dom and expe­rience of meno­pau­sal women. 

It’s time for the West to ques­tion its pre­ju­dices and its capa­ci­ty to stig­ma­tize, to enable women to expe­rience this per­iod in a more ful­filling way. Meno­pause is a natu­ral stage, and it’s time we embra­ced it as such, cele­bra­ting the life, wis­dom and matu­ri­ty of women.

● References

• Per­cep­tion cultu­relle de la méno­pause au Japon : Cultu­ral construc­tion of the meno­pau­sal syn­drome: the Japa­nese case — ScienceDirect.com
• Expe­rien­cingmeno­pause in a cultu­ral context: Meno­pause in cultu­ral context — ScienceDirect.com
• A Posi­tive Approach to Meno­pause: Meno­pause and Mid­life Aging in Cross-Cultu­ral Pers­pec­tive: Fin­dings from Eth­no­gra­phic Research in Chi­na — PubMed