In the case of menopausal symptoms, natural treatment methods are increasingly being used. As an alternative to synthetically produced hormones, herbal remedies are therapeutically effective and at the same time have few side effects. In the meantime, there are convincing scientific studies on many natural remedies.

Menopause and its symptoms

During menopause, the woman’s hormonal balance changes. The fertile phase of life ends and from now on women no longer have to worry about contraception. That sounds much easier than it often is. This is because the majority of women experience symptoms of various kinds during menopause due to hormonal changes. The main symptoms of menopause include:

• Flushing
• sudden weight gain or weight loss is no longer as easy as it used to be
• Vaginal dryness (and associated pain during sex)
• Sleep disorders (with or without sweating)
• Mood swings to depression and even cognitive disorders
• increased susceptibility to bladder infections
• Joint pain
• Increased aging of the skin
• Tiredness and faster exhaustion

Since estrogens protect the bones as well as the heart and vessels, women during and after menopause also have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis, and even nerve diseases such as carpal tunnel syndrome.

The stages of menopause

The phase of life known as menopause can be divided into three periods: perimenopause, menopause and post-menopause.

Perimenopause is the time before the menstrual period stops, i.e. the period of time when the bleeding becomes more irregular and sometimes there can be a few months between two bleedings. This period begins around the age of 47.

Menopause is exactly the time when the last menstrual period takes place. Of course, at the time of menopause, you don’t know that it’s menopause, because no one knows whether this is the last bleeding or not. Only when there is no further bleeding for 12 months can you retrospectively determine the time of menopause (if you still remember or if you kept a record). On average, women have left menopause behind by the age of 52.

Post-menopause refers to the entire period after menopause until the end of menopause, which is completed at the age of 60 or 65.

Sometimes there is also talk of pre-menopause. This is the phase before perimenopause and before the actual menopause. There, the progesterone level begins to fall first, and then the estrogen level begins to fall as well. The drop in progesterone levels while estrogen levels are still relatively high can lead to symptoms of so-called estrogen dominance (e.g. premenstrual syndrome (PMS), menstrual disorders, headaches, dizziness, fibroids, endometriosis and basically all symptoms that can also occur during menopause, since estrogen dominance is also present here).

It is only later, at the end of perimenopause, that testosterone levels also drop, but not as much as the two female hormones progesterone and estrogen. Some menopausal women can therefore experience hair loss, strong body odor and a lady’s beard, i.e. increased hair growth on the body.

Herbal remedies during menopause

To help the hormonal balance during menopause find a healthy new balance, there are herbal remedies that can be used with very good effects, as well as natural bioidentical hormones. So nowadays you hardly have to think about classic hormone replacement therapy – especially since the long-term use of synthetic hormones (over many years) is now advised against even by many conventional physicians.

Long-term studies have shown that synthetic hormone therapies in the treatment of menopausal symptoms can carry an increased risk of breast and uterine cancer. In addition, thromboembolism is one of the most important side effects of conventional hormone replacement therapies, as the results of the Women’s Health Initiative confirm. (5)

It is therefore extremely useful to look for tolerable alternatives in the case of menopausal symptoms. In the following, we present the most common natural remedies for menopausal symptoms – namely those whose medical effects have now been scientifically proven.

Before you take anything…

Before you take anything for your symptoms, simply wait a few weeks. Use this time and

• optimize your diet (vegan diet helps with menopausal symptoms; choose plant-based protein sources instead of animal proteins; and note that dairy products do not provide bone protection during menopause),
• provide yourself with vital substances (especially those that you may have lacked so far),
• exercise regularly (20-minute interval training helps with weight loss during menopause)
• ensure just as regular relaxation (yoga, meditation, reading, walks in nature, time just for yourself).

Hot flashes protect against breast cancer

Hot flashes, for example, often disappear as quickly as they occurred, even if you didn’t expect them because the heat flare-ups were already occurring. So give your body time to find a new balance on its own. Think of the changes and symptoms as something normal and good, and not something negative. For example, studies have shown that those women who had the most severe hot flashes were best protected against breast cancer.

Hot flashes occur particularly often in connection with stress. When the stress subsides, the hot flashes also become fewer.

If the symptoms are very distressing, then the following natural remedies will help you. Of course, you don’t take them all at the same time, but choose one or two of them – together with your practitioner of course.

Black cohosh for hot flashes

Black cohosh (Actaea racemosa L., syn.: Cimicifuga racemosa (L.) Nutt) is native to North America and has long been revered by indigenous peoples as a medicinal plant. To this day, the areas of application include menopausal conditions and gynecological diseases. European settlers quickly learned to appreciate black cohosh and used it to treat pneumonia, birth pains and even snake bites. The term “Black Snakeroot” is still a reminder of this today.

Since black cohosh has a long tradition, it has been considered promising by the pharmaceutical industry in terms of drug development. But some studies were not really satisfactory. For example, in a study conducted between 2011 and 2013 with 54 subjects, researchers concluded that 40 mg of black cohosh extract per day was not superior to placebo in relieving moderate to severe menopausal symptoms or improving quality of life ( 1 ).

However, results like these contradict the fact that black cohosh has been considered a helpful medicinal plant by women around the world for thousands of years. How can that be? According to the latest findings, it is not black cohosh that has failed, but research. For example, studies have used unclearly identified black cohosh species or preparations that are not at all suitable for the treatment of menopausal symptoms ( 8 ).

This also explains why the Committee for Herbal Medicines of the European Medicines Agency (HMPC), the umbrella organisation of national European societies for phytotherapy (ESCOP), and Commission E (independent scientific expert commission for herbal medicines) have classified black cohosh as effective and safe. In modern herbal medicine, extracts from the rhizome (Cimicifugae racemosae rhizoma) and the root (Cimicifugae racemosae radix) are used in particular to alleviate menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes.

It is crucial that approved preparations are used. This ensures that the plant material is of the best quality. In studies, almost only preparations without market approval have performed poorly. The special extract iCR (which is used, for example, for the Remifemin products) has proven to be the best. The dosage can be found in the respective package leaflet. It is also important to know that it can take two to four weeks for symptoms to improve. The effectiveness can increase even further within six months ( 9 ).

The active ingredient mechanism has not yet been comprehensively clarified. For a long time, it was assumed that black cohosh must have an estrogen-like effect. However, studies have shown that estrogenic activity is very limited. In the meantime, it has been proven that black cohosh acts in the central nervous system or can regulate the hormones in the brain that “go crazy” during menopause ( 7 ).

St. John’s wort for insomnia and depression

Extracts of St. John’s wort or St. John’s wort oil are used in naturopathy. Extracts are suitable for mood enhancement as well as mild to moderate depression.

Mood swings often occur during menopause, so that St. John’s wort can also be used as an effective remedy here.

In a clinical study conducted by the Isfahan Health Center in Iran, the effectiveness of St. John’s wort for menopausal symptoms was investigated. The International Journal of Biomedical Science published the results of the said study in 2010 (2).

A treatment group of 30 women received a St. John’s wort preparation over a period of three to six weeks. After just three weeks, a significant decrease in insomnia, depression, anger and headaches could be observed, which had previously occurred frequently in the test subjects during their menopause.

St. John’s wort is therefore considered a good alternative to synthetically produced hormone replacement therapy when it comes to the more mental and psychological problems mentioned.

Chasteberry raises progesterone levels

During menopause, it is not only the estrogen level that drops. Progesterone levels also continue to drop.

In order to raise the latter and alleviate the associated symptoms, monk’s pepper (Vitex Agnus Castus) or also known as chaste tree is suitable ( 3 )

It lowers the prolactin level, raises the progesterone level and thus also boosts the body’s own estrogen production somewhat. Thus, the plant has a regulating effect on the irritated hormone balance – apparently even in the form of its essential oils, as a study from 2003 published in the International Journal of Aromatherapy showed.

23 women took part in the study and reported a significant reduction in their menopausal symptoms ( 6 ).

Usually, however, monk’s pepper is not taken as an essential oil, but in the form of standardized extracts, e.g. monk’s pepper capsules with 20 mg of monk’s pepper extract per capsule.

Maca leads to more well-being

Especially during the period of hormonal change, women feel underperforming and lacking energy. The maca root is considered a power tuber, which is said to increase general resilience and provide strength and endurance.

As early as 2000 years ago, the miracle cure was cultivated in the Peruvian Andes and valued as a strengthening food. The superfood of the South American Incas is used in naturopathy for potency and libido weakness and is also used for menopausal symptoms.

In 2005, the International Journal of Biomedical Science published a clinical placebo-controlled study that was conducted with 20 women over a period of nine months ( 4 ).

At the beginning of the study, the women’s hormone levels in the blood were determined. A further hormone level determination was carried out after a month in which the participants had taken a placebo preparation. After two to eight months, 2 g of maca root powder was taken in the form of two capsules of 500 mg twice a day. Here, too, the women’s hormone level in the blood was determined.

Compared to the placebo preparations, a significant change in the hormonal balance was observed when taking the maca powder and contributed to the improvement of well-being during menopause.

Clary sage

A study by De Leo et al. (1998) in “Minerva Ginecologica” showed that clary sage is effective against menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats (10)

Wild Yam for strong bones

Wild Yam is a root that has been used by the indigenous peoples of Central and North America for many centuries, especially for women’s ailments. Wild Yam contains an active ingredient (diosgenin), which is even considered the forerunner of some birth control pills, as it can be used to produce the hormone progesterone.

During menopause, wild yam could be a gentle solution for two reasons. Firstly, the plant has a bone-strengthening effect – it increases bone activity and therefore inhibits bone resorption – which could be used in terms of osteoporosis prevention; secondly, Wild Yam works to avoid estrogen dominance, which can also be involved in the typical symptoms during menopause, as progesterone levels usually drop much earlier than estrogen levels and therefore there can be a relative estrogen overhang (5).

Wild Yam is also used for the preparation of most bioidentical hormones – but you want to see a specialist before embarking on this journey as your hormones need to be closely monitored.

Fennel helps with menopausal symptoms

Extracts from the seeds of fennel can also be used for menopausal symptoms. In one study, the first improvements were seen after just two weeks of taking corresponding capsules.

Herbal remedies during menopause

Even though herbal medicines have fewer side effects than synthetically produced medicines, they should of course not be taken arbitrarily. This is because overdoses or interactions with other preparations can also occur here. For this reason, a herbal treatment method for menopausal symptoms should always be discussed with a holistically oriented doctor or a therapist with naturopathy experience.