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Here's a Hot Flash

How to Manage Menopause Naturally

By Kelly Burgess

It's only after a woman hasn't had a period for at least a year that she is considered to have reached menopause.

It was after she began experiencing symptoms of perimenopause that Spataro founded HotFlash! "At the time, there was very little information about perimenopause, what it is, what it does to a woman short and long term and how women can feel well despite the lack of sleep, hot flashes and other disruptive signs of perimenopause," Spataro says. "This lack of information inspired me to create a place where women could find all the information they needed to get up to speed about this big health change."

Spataro takes a healthy lifestyle approach to perimenopause and thinks this preparation should start in a woman's 20s. "I strongly feel women should prepare for perimenopause and menopause during their 20s and 30s," she says. "Preparing for these hormonal changes means taking care of ourselves, which we all should be doing throughout our lives. This includes staying fit through working out regularly, eatinga well-balanced diet, learning effective stress-management techniques like yoga and getting plenty of good sleep."

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