The midlife crisis is lying in wait for us all, and though it is more often regarded as a predominantly male problem, women feel its impact as well. However, the midlife depression crisis for women is fraught with a number of important changes – physiological, hormonal, psychological, changes in relationships, and/or shifting family roles.
What are common midlife crisis symptoms in women?
Reaching the age of 40 to 55, women become more vulnerable to depressive bouts. It partially occurs owing to the advent of perimenopause and menopause which causes due hormonal alterations. Still, not only hormone changes happen during this period: life can be burdened with career and personal problems, losses, aging and ailing parents, crumbling down of friendships and partnerships, the uprise of the empty-nest syndrome, as well as other issues. Moreover, after 40 women commonly demonstrate a greater vulnerability to pain, their physical condition worsens.
If women seeking comfort resort to drinking more alcohol, overeating, taking painkillers, at the same time becoming more inactive and even socially withdrawing, it can aggravate depression, overall physical condition and related pains. Psychologically, mature women are apt to feel that their sex appeal is waning and their childbearing abilities. All this makes it essential for women approaching their midlife period to discover new meanings, take up new activities, and pursue a healthy lifestyle.
Ways to cope with midlife crisis in women
Begin with talking to an expert. Address means like life coaching, cognitive therapy, or group therapy which might alleviate the feeling of grief, and anxiety, maintain social activity and commendable performance.
Keep up socializing, and go out with friends. Your health and happiness are in strong relation to your social activity. The support of long-time friends who know you and understand you can be a great help during midlife transitions. Women who have good friends are more comfortable with life and generally more content. Strangely, family members don’t produce such a strong influence.
Connect with similar-minded people. Some so many people habitually socialize or have to socialize with people they neither like nor find like-minded: colleagues, neighbors, and all sorts of people who are around and who are not congenial. But we deserve to be surrounded by those who are dependable, supportive and interested in the same things as we are.
Find comfort in nature. Psychologists say that daily spells outdoors brighten your mood – quality time in the open, even a short one, can do wonders to the general outlook on life. You won’t feel anxious walking about a forest, bathing in a pond or warming yourself in the sun.
Find your creative side. Oftentimes, we have to neglect our creativity due to living in the fast lane or mistrusting our talents. When you feel you are losing touch with yourself, you cannot do better than to delve into your creative abilities. Your life can be regarded as a long artistic project which you should provide with strings of artistic solutions. As you go along, you will learn how delightful it can be; also, this will be helpful for your brain since a creative approach staff off dementia.
Switch on to a healthy diet. You are not so youthfully careless already as to stuff yourself with boxed pasta with lots of cheese. Treat yourself to something better and healthier like all kinds of fruits and vegetables, leafy greens, and lean proteins. With such a diet, you will certainly feel full of energy and might ensure yourself a longer life. If you need extra help for anxiety and, incidentally, a better sleep, invest in melatonin and magnesium supplements. By the by, don’t forget about home remedies.
Mindfulness and meditation. Regular devotion to meditation can bring not only peace of mind but also a deeper connection with your heart of heart. Meditative practices are known to deal effectively with depression and anxiety, strengthen overall health, sharpen the ability to concentrate and provide psychological insights. If you perform it mindfully, self-reflection can reveal you your subconscious thoughts and feelings and help come to better terms with yourself. Having mastered meditation, you can practice it when and where it is convenient, from several minutes to whatever time you have at your disposal.
It is better to move away from social sites. Spending too much time on social media often incites feelings of envy and unworthiness, leading to depression. Generally, time spent following people on the Internet is time wasted. Isn’t meeting a friend face to face better than scrolling down their profile on a social site? Remember when after watching other people’s lives, you felt inspired and excited about your own opportunities. Now turn over in your mind the things you could have accomplished during the hour of watching other people’s faces.
Make a journal of everything happening to you, registering all your successes, awards, and achievements. But alongside them also good people you know, your worst moments, the instants when you helped and supported your friends, concerts you have attended, books that impressed you, places you have been to. Pay homage to your life at its every moment, appreciating what you have done.
Be selfish and make some changes. Changes lead to accomplishments, and these are inspiring. When you have redecorated a room, joined a sports club, completed a significant work project, or even turned down a suggestion that could have burdened your life, you will feel an upsurge of optimism and energy. Being selfish in this context means you will begin making decisions with only your own life goals in mind, disregarding others’ opinions. It may be difficult for some people who believe that being selfish is wrong. They can generate a feeling of guilt. But if you have problems with focusing on yourself, you are in need of self-reevaluation. As you start concentrating on your life and feel that some other person close to you has problems with it, it looks like they weren’t thinking of your well-being in the first place.
Think about the future. You still have time to become someone else, to realize your neglected dreams. Your start-up, your book, your new skills you haven’t mastered yet are there waiting for the time you attend to them. It may turn out that you won’t need to resort to radical changes in your routine to embark on a new journey through life.
Be grateful. You can lift your spirit significantly by introducing everyday gratitude to your life. As you are having the last cup of tea before going to bed, run over four things you can be grateful for during your day. Express your gratitude to somebody who deserves it. The introduction of gratitude to your mainframe has made a profound change in your life.
Find a silver lining. At some moment you may feel as if you were submerged in the sea of self-doubt where you are a failure, completely spent out and lost. Instead of wallowing in these feelings, try to concentrate on your current life period and identify your present-day values and priorities. It may be that you are not addressing some of them, making you feel bad. Consider what changes you can initiate to make your life more meaningful.
