TOTALLY TROPICAL
CALMING THE HORMONE STORM!
I received this cute little soap Buddha from a dear friend and simply cannot bear to use it, so he sits in my bathroom and every time I look at him, he makes me smile from ear to ear! But imagine to my surprise when I found him perspiring recently!! Was he coming out in sympathy for me??
At the best of times life can feel totally tropical whether it’s winter or summer! I wish some clever boffin would identify exactly what is going haywire with our hormones and thermostat during the menopause years to cause these irksome ’power surges’, and why they seem to affect some women worse than others and some not at all!! From my research it seems they honestly don’t really know for sure right now, but it has something to do with our feedback loops! More on those another time!
These last weeks of the heatwave have been challenging to say the least, especially because in this part of the world we are not used to them and houses are not built with airco as standard. As a result, my naughty side has been secretly smiling smugly as I’ve been imagining rather wickedly how now everyone will be getting to experience first-hand what it’s like to be in the body of a woman who is getting to grips with her own personal hormone storm. My compassionate side though hopes that they’ll start to have a little more empathy, instead of eye-rolling when they see a friend, colleague or relative start frantically peeling away layers of clothes, even on a winter’s day, and seeking out cold, hard surfaces for skin-to-skin contact!!
This heatwave has caused me to move downstairs to sleep, to be more of a hot, wet mess than usual and to seriously consider popping over the road and jumping into the fountain outside our house to cool off!
While I would not wish you to get arrested for indecent exposure, I can suggest that you try out this recipe for making your own cooling spray! In fact, make lots of it; keep 1 in your handbag, put 1 by your bed and 1 in your working zone/office so that when you feel the heat rising, you’re never far away from an SOS remedy to calm the flames!! You can also share the love and give some to those around you who are also suffering with the heat…….
Cooling Face & Body Spray:
- Combine the following essential oils in a dark glass spray bottle (either a 120 or 200 ml), using 20 drops of clary sage, 10 drops of peppermint, and 20 drops of geranium oil. Fill the bottle the rest of the way with witch hazel. (Witch hazel has cooling and astringent properties, which makes it a perfect addition to the essential oils for treating hot flashes.) Replace the cap on the bottle and give it a good shake to mix. Keep it in the fridge for extra cool factor!
Bonus - Bedtime Massage Oil:
- Blend 2 parts clary sage oil, 1-part peppermint oil, and 2 parts geranium oil and add this to a carrier oil like sweet almond oil, so you can massage over your abdomen. You could also have it made by an aromatherapist and ask them to put it in a roller bottle (10 ml) so it is really handy to keep in your bag
PS: Menopause is not an illness, it’s a perfectly normal life stage through which women transition; however, sometimes this transition can be extremely challenging both physically and emotionally and this is where diet and lifestyle can be of enormous support. If you’d like to find out more about how this works in taming the hormone storm, please feel free to message me I’d love to be of help.
