In this Weekly Wisdom I am focusing on achy joints at menopause because so many of you have been asking about it and how you can find relief. These pains can have you feeling 90 before your time, when you absolutely do not need to!  You should be feeling great and if you know how to meet your needs you can alleviate the pain from your aches and get on with enjoying yourself.

Why do we feel achy?

We feel achy in our joints because of a lack of lubrication which at menopause tends to dry up over time. This is caused by the fall in oestrogen levels during menopause. It is not just physical changes that have an effect on your aches and pains, a lack of particular nutrients may also contribute to your pain, particularly vitamin D, essential fatty acids and magnesium; these are at short supply during menopause. You are not alone, over half of the population have got low levels of vitamin D and in all the studies that we’ve done, we’ve found that women have low levels of these amongst a whole of host of nutrients at the time of menopause.

Top tips for tackling aches and pains

You can get back to feeling supple, energetic and less achy but you have to do it gradually. Here’s my advice on how:

1. Get your nutrient levels into an optimum range - This will take around 2-3 months to achieve this and you will feel much more comfortable.
2. Take a fish oil supplement - As well as eating a diet rich in oily fish like sardines, mackerel, salmon and herring, I always suggest that my patients take a fish oil supplement; a good standardised one like the Pharma Nord Bio-Fish Oil is best. Take fish oil everyday and you should find that helps lubricate your joints and helps you feel more supple. In a survey we conducted of 1200 people we found that those including fish oil has less aches and pains and as a bonus a improved libido.
3. Add supplements Glucosamine and Chondroitin - this will ease the pain.  You may only have to take these for a few months until you are better shape and out of pain.
4. Do some gentle exercise - it’s really important to keep active. I recommend regular stretching, yoga and pilates for all my patients. These exercises that help get your joints back into shape and improve your mobility

If you follow my advice above which is part of my science-based programme, getting the right nutrients and doing regular exercises, you can expect to feel so much better in a relatively short space of time. In fact, in my six week bootcamp, most of my patients overcome aches and pains in the first four weeks! If you would like to try any of the supplements I’ve mentioned in this blog post, you can visit my online shop.