Everybody knows the story of Rip Van Winkle, the guy who had slept for twenty years. He went away from home to escape his wife who nagged at him on a daily basis. It is basically a good story about laziness and the hate for profitable labor; it could even be the best vacation story ever! But how would the story go if Rip Van Winkle were a woman?

Assuming you are in your twenties and you sleep for two decades. As a woman, when you wake up, you will already be in your forties. It may sound good for you because by then you will have most likely avoided all the travails of the world and thereby retain good health. But have you thought about menopause?

If you do not want to be Rip Van Winkle, then you can think about his wife who tormented him day in and day out. She was the main reason why Rip went away and left everything in his life. Instead of being a loving amiable wife, she was a quarrelsome old woman. So who can blame Rip?

But today, readers of the story can contend that if Rip Van Winkle had been a woman, she would be in a menopausal stage; and even if she had slept for twenty years, she would still be under a fit of mood swings and a lot of pain. Alternately, if you put yourself in the wife's shoes, you can infer that all the nagging was caused by some hormonal changes that women experience later in life.

Indeed, things get a little more complicated when you are a woman; particularly if you are in your late thirties or fifties. True, you have heard all the comments referring to the age of fifty as the new thirty. For one, the modern woman of today who belongs to the age bracket of around forty to fifty experience better health and greater wealth than women in the past fifty years. But one thing remains: menopause!

If you are in the pre-menopausal or menopausal stage, you are experiencing big changes in the body. And more often than not, these changes can be very uncomfortable. As your body's reproductive capacity permanently elapses during this stage, you can encounter a lot of mood swings, weight gain, pelvic pains and even osteoporosis.

These changes are brought about by the shifts in your hormones. Although the menopausal stage is a natural phase that every woman has to go through, the symptoms that accompany this hormonal change can bring about problems emotionally and physically. So, you must prepare yourself for when menopause finally arrives.

Any preparation for the occurrence of menopause must start with learning all the important facts about this episode in your life. You can do this by consulting with your doctor and reading articles and books about menopause. Since there is nothing you can do to stop menopause from happening, you can focus your defenses on the symptoms.

You will have a better chance to bear up against all the manifestations of menopause if you live a healthy lifestyle. So as you approach the age in which menopause will set in, try to eat good nutritious food, avoid smoking, and do a lot of exercise.

To fight off the symptoms brought about by menopause, you can take various relief formulas available in the market today. You can choose from a wide variety of natural or synthetic remedies so that you can maintain physical activity and overall health even if you are well into the menopausal stage.

And to retain the hormonal balance in your body, you can try Zalestra. This product is specifically formulated for women who are in their pre-menopausal or menopausal stages. For more information about this product, check out www.Zalestra.com.

Author's Bio: 

Sharon Bell is an avid health and fitness enthusiast and published author. Many of her insightful articles can be found at the premiere online news magazine www.healthnfitnesszone.com.