62: Life After Menopause with Dr. Nancy Eriksen

This is such a valuable lecture that I wanted to share it with our listeners. This is with Dr. Eriksen's permission. Dr. Nancy Eriksen speaks on the impact of nutrition/lifestyle factors on: *hormonal health *osteoporosis *breast cancer risk You will learn about lifestyle strategies you can implement to optimize your health during menopause. As well as the impact of a whole food plant based diet and how it can enhance your hormonal health, prevent osteoporosis and breast cancer.

"Nutrition can impact the symptoms of menopause, which are vasomotor symptoms including hot flashes and night sweats. There are central symptoms including insomnia, mood changes, brain fog, and urogenital symptoms such as vaginal dryness and painful intercourse. Vasomotor symptoms are common in women with hot flashes occurring in nearly 80% of women in the West in the US and Europe, as compared to relatively few of Asian women. In fact, in the Japanese language, there isn't even a word for hot flashes because they rarely get them. And the median duration of symptoms is about 10 years. Vasomotor symptoms happen to be the most common reason for sleep irregularities, which is why women are so motivated to not have them."

"Heart disease is still the number one killer of women followed by cancer. So that means nearly 40% of all deaths in women are one of these two. Menopause represents an opportune time then to think about lifestyle changes, not only to help you during menopause, but also in the bigger picture to reduce the risk or reverse multiple chronic diseases."

Dr. Nancy Louise Eriksen graduated with a B.S. in Biology from The University of Miami in Miami, Florida in 1981, and an M.D degree from Wright State University School of Medicine in 1985. Dr. Eriksen completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Wright State University affiliated hospital in 1989 and then a fellowship in maternal Fetal Medicine at The University of Houston Health Sciences Center in 1991. She is currently an Associate Professor in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. In the last few years she has developed an interest in Lifestyle Medicine and just passed her board exam in lifestyle medicine.

nancy.eriksen@bcm.edu