Sally Garozzo | Clinical Hypnotherapist Brighton & Online

Recently, on a trip to Milan, I let myself “go there”… like really “go there.”

The gelato, the pasta, the shopping.

I see myself as an N of 1 experiment and before the trip, I’d been fairly restrained as I was in “body engineering” mode, so I made an intentional decision to get swept up in it all. Just for the sheer pleasure of playing with life (and also exploring my emerging — stronger — Italian identity).

By the third day of this cultural experiment, my digestive tract felt like burning embers and my brain kept grabbing at the thought of “what’s next” like a Duracell bunny.

It was the morning of our departure as I sat waiting for my husband to finish his text, belly and suitcase bloated, when a curiosity popped into my head.

I asked myself the question…

“Now that I’m no longer driven by my reproductive hormones (oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone), am I now driven by my brain hormones (dopamine, serotonin etc.) instead?”

A very clunky question I know, but nevertheless, ...

I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that I believe your mind has the power to affect your experience of your menopause (including your symptom severity). 

Unless you’ve been under a rock for the last few years (and I wouldn’t blame you if you had) you’ve probably heard about the power of the imagination.  When it comes to our immune system, our nervous system and our endocrine system (ok, ALL our systems actually) the imagination can have an impact(directly and indirectly). 

Remember nothing happens in isolation in the body.

Don’t take my word for it, look at the science. 

In a study done in 2004 by scientists at The Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Lerner Research Institute in Cleveland they found that by simply imagining repeating an exercise over and over again, you can an increase in muscle strength by 35% Ref: Pg: 77 ‘How Your Mind Heals Your Body’ by David R Hamilton. 

My instinct tells me that we can affect our menopause symptom severity too by tapp...