Blog 2

According to the New Dimensions in Women’s Health book, menopause is the “cessation of regular menstrual periods by surgical or natural means.” (Alexander, Alexander, Bader, Garfield & LaRosa, 2010)  There are different symptoms that come with menopause, “insomnia, fuzzy thinking, anxiety, hot flashes, loss of libido and more,” according to Women to Women. (Mills, 2011)  But for Japanese women, menopause is “a time when the body loses its balance, [and] don’t worry about menopause much at all.” (Mills, 2011)  To the Japanese women, menopause is a “period of regeneration or renewal.” (Mills, 2011) They respect their elders a lot and believe that “experience is fundamental to learning.” (Mills, 2011) Japanese women don’t experience the same symptoms as western women, for example hot flashes.  “Only about 25% of Japanese women reportedly experience hot flashes.” (Mills, 2011)  In fact, they recently came up with new words, “hotto furasshur (hot flash) and horumon baransu (hormone balance), for menopausal symptoms.” (Mills, 2011) Even though there’s not a clean answer to explain for the lack of symptoms, “most research tends to point to diet as the main reason.” (Mills, 2011)

 Alexander, L. L., Alexander, W. J., Bader, H., Garfield, S., LaRosa, J. H. (2010). Sexual Health. New Dimensions in Women’s Health (pp. 63-88). Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Mills, D. (2011) Women to women. A look at menopause across cultures. Retrieved from http://www.womentowomen.com/menopause/menopauseacrosscultures.aspx