Women Using Cannabis To Ease Menopause Symptoms: A Promising Trend

Does cannabis really help with menopause Symptoms? In a bid to provide self solutions to menopause symptoms in women, many women are turning to cannabis for help. Despite limited proof that this drug helps relieve symptoms associated with menopause, it is definitely worth the try for most women just to ameliorate the situation.

Approximately 1.3 million women undergo menopause annually in the United States.

About 5% of women experience early menopause between the age of 40 and 45 years, medically, menopause in women begins between the age of 51 and 52. Only 1% of women experience premature menopause less than 40 years of age.

How Might Cannabis Help Menopause Symptoms

Research has traced the implication of cannabis reaction on the brain to possible reasons many women might prefer this type of drug to decrease the effect of menopause Symptoms.

Many women reported cannabis improved their mood, anxiety and sleep, this in actual sense makes perfect connection with the function of the prefrontal cortex of the brain.

Few of the functions of the prefrontal cortex of the brain is to regulate how an individual focuses attention, planning for the future, predicting the consequences of one’s actions, impulse control, managing emotional reaction, coordinating and adjusting complex behavior.

Most of these functions are well connected to menopause Symptoms in women, hence the use of cannabis for this purpose in women.

Menopause Symptoms

Several years before menopause starts, body hormonal changes and other factors may lead to mood change, hot flashes, and other Symptoms.

Menopause occurs when a person has not had a period for twelve months.

Each person will experience menopause differently, some have full life throughout the transition, some are even more relieved that they would no longer have to deal with monthly cycles or birth control, either ways, it is necessary to prepare for some of these menopause Symptoms like: 

• Irregular menstruation

• Vaginal dryness and discomfort

• Hot flashes like sweating, red patches on the skin

• Sleep disturbance like anxiety, night sweat, increased need to urinate

• Emotional changes like mood change, depression, anxiety, tiredness.

Various physical changes can come up during menopause like weight gain, build up of fat around the abdomen, changes in hair color, texture and volume, breast reduction and tenderness.

However, the relationship between these changes and menopause is not always clear, some might be as a result of genetic makeup, age related cases, lifestyle and some may occur independently.

Must Read:- Houston Researchers Develop Implant Device With The Potential To Treat Cancer In Just Sixty Days

Why Are Women Using Cannabis For Menopause Symptoms?

Why is it that despite there is no reliable evidence to suggest that cannabis could help cure menopause related Symptoms, why are more women turning to cannabis?

This may be as a result of cannabis legalization and normalization becoming more widespread.

There are over 30 Symptoms traceable to menopause in women, as stated earlier cannabis might possibly be having effects on few of these Symptoms by acting on the prefrontal cortex of the brain, however this does not medically suggest the use of the drug for such purpose, cannabis might be creating additional negative medical implications like addiction or bad smoke effect from women that smoke the weed.

Carolyn Gibson, a health services researcher at the University of California, San Francisco carried out a study among over 5100 midlife women, the study reflected 40% that said they had ever used cannabis for recreational and therapeutic reasons. About 28% said it was to treat chronic pain, while 22%  said it was used to treat sleep problems and stress.

Among those who used cannabis in the past 30 days, 31% smoked it daily or near daily basis, 19% said they used edible cannabis daily or near daily.

There are hormonal therapeutic methods of treating menopause Symptoms, it is advisable for midlife women to talk with their Doctors about these issues.

Read More: Are Fish Oil Supplements As Beneficial As Consuming Fish?