OUR SKIN DURING MENOPAUSE

The arrival of menopause represents a hormonal change for women that manifests itself in many ways in our physiology. It does not have to be a negative stage and always be medicalized, but it can be a new stage as full and beautiful as any other in our life . We just need to know ourselves and adapt to our new organic balance.

Specifically in relation to the skin, the hormonal decrease has consequences for the formation of collagen, especially. Estrogens motivate its endogenous formation and its decrease causes this protein to be formed in smaller quantities. Collagen is like a mesh that acts by “trapping” the skin's hydration and giving it smoothness and flexibility. This is why many women may feel that at this stage their skin is more flaccid, that the mucous membranes are more dehydrated and more rigid. This decrease in collagen can be felt in the skin and also in all the mucous membranes of the skin, such as the eyes or vagina.

The other aspect that changes during menopause is that the amount of androgens can increase and that the main estrogen of this stage, estrone, behaves similarly to an androgen. Which can cause us to have more sebum production, leading to the appearance of cystic acne or oilier skin.

But the good news is that with our lifestyle and eating habits we can help maintain good skin and mucous membrane health:

• Taking foods rich in vitamin C to help collagen formation: citrus fruits, red pepper, sprouts.
• Avoiding foods that further increase androgens such as dairy or free sugars.
• Taking quality fats to increase the hydration of our mucous membranes such as avocado, seeds, quality oils, olives.
• Seasonally add a good omega 7 supplement that helps increase the hydration of the mucous membranes.
• Taking foods rich in resistant starch (potato, sweet potato or rice cooked and left to cool) will “feed” Akkermansia, an inhabitant of our microbiota with mucoprotective properties.
• Give ourselves a good self-massage that stimulates the formation of collagen and elastin.

I hope all these tips are useful to you to have wonderful skin during menopause. I'll wait for you here to continue talking about health and skin.

Article written by Marta Marcè