Nadine Dilong Why your spa should be offering a special treatment menu for menopausal women.
Even though millions of women are affected by it, we don’t talk about it enough: menopause. Menopause occurs when a woman has not had their period for 12 months due to hormonal changes in the ageing body. Globally, there are 47 million new menopausal women each year. By 2030 it is estimated that 1.2 billion women will be menopausal, which begs the questions: Why is our industry not offering more wellness treatments targeted at women with menopausal symptoms?
“Menopause can potentially be the most empowered and healthy time of a woman’s life,” says nutritionist, naturopath and wholefood chef, Janella Purcell. “More often than not though, it’s anything but. Hot flushes, weight gain, especially around the middle, anxiety, dryness, insomnia and the inevitable irritability from these symptoms can be reduced, or even eliminated with the right natural therapies.
“One of the best things women can do for themselves to reduce all types of stress is to nurture themselves, without the guilt. Going to the spa or health clinic is not an indulgence but a necessary part of the self-care needed at this major transition in a woman’s life,” Purcell explains.
Reproductive physiologist Hayley Dickinson agrees. “Taking time out for regular massage, for example, will reduce stress and induce relaxation. Aromatherapy may be beneficial to women as an adjunct to other treatment strategies and may be beneficial in helping women achieve quality sleep. Yoga shows benefits for women by providing some relief from psychological symptoms experienced during menopause”
“There is limited empirical evidence for spa and wellness treatments being beneficial for women going through menopause. I think the reason for that is probably not that they don’t provide benefit and relief to women during this remarkable physiological transformation, but rather that we simply don’t ask the right questions, nor effectively generate quality data around this aspect of women’s lives,” says Dickinson.
I think for spas and wellness spaces to really serve women during this time of their lives, they have to start being a little bit brave and doing quality research to answer the question ‘Does this treatment really benefit our clients?’ Until there is robust evidence for an alternative, the status quo will remain.”
As women age and oestrogen levels decline, their skin can lose up to 30% of dermal collagen in the first five years of menopause. This can be visible as increased dryness and wrinkling, which is why many women’s skincare regime needs to change pre and post menopause. Dermocosmetica have released Emepelle, a serum and night cream specifically formulated for menopausal women. Emepelle includes ‘MEP technology’, a non-hormonal molecule that helps address collagen loss in Oestrogen deficient skin. The rich formulations have shown to increase hydration and luminosity as well as firm skin in 8-week clinical trials.
In a QoL Questionnaire, 93% of study participants responded that “the products helped alleviate some or all of the skin issues developed since entering menopause.” Lead Investigator Joel Cohen, MD, concludes: “Up until now, we haven’t had a non- hormonal method to improve dryness, dullness, and laxity in oestrogen deficient skin in menopausal […] women. In my 20- week open-label study, photos document the very impressive daily patient diary records of major improvement in parameters associated with oestrogen deficient skin.”
As a spa, why not include a menopause massage to your treatment that deeply relaxes women? It could include a hydrating facial to combat any dryness experienced as a symptom, or aromatherapy that helps balance the body. With Emepelle, you could even continue this specialised service down to your skincare products.
To learn more about Emepelle, head to dermocosmetica.com.au
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