Like all major turning points in women’s lives, reaching menopause can be challenging and even a little frightening. Like puberty, menstruation, pregnancy and childbirth, menopause carries with it a whole host of natural, but nonetheless challenging and sometimes uncomfortable, physical changes. Moreover, it also carries with it a plethora of normal emotional and spiritual reactions, ranging from denial, confusion and even grief. After all, menopause marks a completely new phase in a woman’s life. It heralds the end of our childbearing bearing years and ushers in a different phase of deep female maturity. And, since unfortunately we still live in a culture that equates femininity with sexual fertility, it’s no wonder that many women regard menopause as a negative thing. Sadly some regard it as a nullification of their worth as women, something that couldn’t be further from the truth. Menopause also reminds us we are getting older and our are bodies are naturally aging. That fact in itself can be a difficult to accept.
But what is menopause exactly? Menopause is an intermediary stage that takes place when a woman’s reproductive organs fail to produce eggs, causing her menstrual cycle to stop. Typically menopause begins after or around the age of 50, however there are exceptions with some women commencing menopause earlier or later in life. And, more often than not the symptoms of menopause begin some time before onset.
There are a whole host of symptoms that can accompany menopause. Some of the more common signs are hot or cold flushes; weight gain; mood swings and irritability; emotionality; decrease in libido; muscle and joint soreness; depression; rapid or irregular heart rate; disordered sleeping patterns and irregular periods as well as lighter or heavier menstrual bleeding. In fact, the symptoms of menopause are so many and so individual that it is almost a case of “expect the unexpected”. Some women even say they feel as if their skin is crawling!
The truth is that menopause should not be feared. Instead we should embrace and celebrate it as a normal stage in our cycle of health and wellness. That said, the symptoms and signs of menopause can be difficult to live with, and women should not face it alone. Think about it this way. If men had to go through menopause, just imagine the level of support, public awareness and caring workplace practices that would be established to help them through it! As it is, women have to muddle through menopause as best they can, dealing with it day-by-day, with their friends and sense of humor as their best allies.
Like all health matters, being well-informed about the sorts of symptoms you might experience allows you to physically and mentally prepare. Indeed, some women do not even realize they are going through menopause because they simply lack the information to explain what they are feeling! It’s not until they research and explore the signs that they make the connection. And it’s no wonder, given that the list of potential symptoms is so long and diverse.
There are many ways of classifying the human mind and its ability to retain information. One of the most often used classifications are based on the duration of memory retention, specifically the sensory, short term and long term memory. Short term memory refers to the recent memory, and is usually only held for a very short period of time. A common example would be when you meet many new people, cursorily introduced at a party. Long term memory, on the other hand, can be thought of as a database where all the information that you have learnt is kept. Sensory memory is conveyed through your senses of sight and sound, where you keep these ?images? in your mind.
Sleep
Having sufficient sleep is a necessity to improving your memory. Studies have shown that the sensory memory is able to be more firmly embedded in the long term memory when there is adequate sleep. Research has also shown that facts and other information are also able to be retained and recalled with greater ease when paired with sleep. This has been attributed to the fact that sleep strengthens the memories and causes them to be less vulnerable to environmental interference.
Emotions
Emotions also play a big part in memory retention. The emotional impact that an image, word or event has on the individual has a huge impact on it being stored in the long term memory. This is as the amygdale, the portion of the mind that is related to emotion, is an important factor in adapting memories according to importance, based on the intensity of the emotions. This is regardless of the nature of the emotion. The stronger the emotion towards something, the more likely your brain is going to store the particular information into your long term memory.
Memory Retention Tools
The human mind is a complex element of our cognitive abilities, and memories can be categorized into either verbal or non-verbal. There are many different kinds of techniques for retaining information. These include organization of information through meaning, where associations between new information is received and linked with information already stored in the long term memory. Other forms of such memory retention techniques include visual organization, by linking information to visual images, and organizing through similarities, where similar concepts or objects are grouped together based on certain characteristics. This, way we are able to break down the information we are trying to remember into simpler portions which our minds can easily remember.
Mnemonic devices are another often employed tool in memory retention. The use of acronyms is common, especially in branding, where a sequence of words is easily recalled based on the first letter of each word in the list being used to form a single, new word. Acrostics are commonly used as well, when the list of words is required to be learnt in a specific order. Rhymes or songs that are catchy are used, putting new words into a familiar jingle in order to better capture and retain information. In such a way, it would be much more easier for our minds to be able to remember what we are suppose to remember.
Both Kathryn Whittaker & Gregory Frost are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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