Can An App Manage Menopause?
In collaboration with Evia.
Brain fog, weight gain, mood swings, hot flashes…these are just some of the symptoms of peri/menopause. It’s a confusing, testing and emotional time - you can’t really be sure when it starts, how long it will last and what your symptoms will be.
But when you’re in it, you KNOW you’re in it.
A new app called Evia is helping us re-think how we manage our menopause and take control, naturally. It’s the first evidence based digital therapeutic hypnotherapy app program that works to help to self-manage the symptoms of hot flashes, night sweats and insomnia.
Clinical trial patients reported a reduction in the severity of their hot flashes by 70% to 80% – along with improving the quality of your sleep.
And that’s what got me interested. Improving sleep.
There’s no magic pill for menopause. Different combinations will work for different women but I like that Evia sits easily alongside other options and - it’s natural and portable.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
For the past 20 years, Dr. Gary Elkins has been researching ways to improve health through mind-body interventions. It was through research for pain management in cancer patients that the idea for EVIA was formed. Initial studies on breast cancer survivors experiencing moderate to severe hot flashes as a result of treatment decreased their flashes by 70 per cent. Dr Elkins took these learnings and has applied it to menopause.
Hot flashes occur when the hypothalamus (the part of the brain that regulates your body temperature) becomes overly sensitive to small temperature changes. Your hypothalamus wrongly assumes your body is overheating. It triggers your body’s cooling response: a racing heart, flushed skin, and sweating.
A little similar to the physical reaction in a fight or flight situation. In menopause the decline of estrogen sends the hypothalamus into overdrive and the hot flashes can last up to a decade for some women until the hypothalamus adapts to new hormone levels.
Evia is based on evidence-supported hypnotherapy and established clinical guidelines for the management of hot flushes, as recommended by The North American Menopause Society and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
Hypnotherapy works by targeting both the cause and the trigger of a hot flash. So, for example anxiety may trigger a hot flash but the flash is caused by estrogen depletion.
By combining cooling mental imagery, relaxation techniques, and evidenced-based hypnosis, Evia helps you learn how to manage your hot flashes by giving you the tools you need to self-regulate how your brain perceives temperature changes during menopause.
In this way, hypnotherapy is thought to help the brain recalibrate its temperature responses. It also works on the nervous system by decreasing stress and dialling up calm.
In a recent study by Dr. Elkins, published in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, women who completed a similar hypnotherapy program reduced their hot flushes by 70-80% after five weeks with continued practice.
What Are The Benefits?
The Evia app offers a five-week programme of evidence-based hypnotherapy which includes:
- Relaxing 15 minute daily sessions and a sleep session that fit easily into your schedule
- A supportive Maintenance Program to help you maintain results after five weeks
- Daily educational readings about menopause and hot flashes
- In-app chat support from real people
- Learning how to self-manage hot flushes effectively without medication
- How to self-regulate increased anxiety during menopause
- Best ways to soothe menopausal sleep problems and night sweats
- How to track and evaluate your symptoms
My Experience With Evia
Calmer. Less Anxious.
My hormone levels are still quite high and I haven’t had hot flashes yet – but up to 75% of women do! I’ve noticing yo-yo’s in anxiety, mood and insomnia. These are my traditional demons exacerbated by the hormonal rollercoaster.
That’s the thing. You can’t be sure when it starts, how long it will last and what your symptoms will be.
Before I agreed to work with Evia I tested the program for two weeks to see how it worked on both my sleep and anxiousness. I predominately used it in the middle of the night when I woke up to help me calm down and get back to sleep.
It didn’t always put me back to sleep but the 17 minute sleep hypo cycle was deeply relaxing. Not in a mediation way. Or ASMR way. Different. It had a sustainable impact on my level of calmness and therefore rest. It uses cool imagery – air-conditioned room, deep cold water, snow – to calm your mind, breathing and your anxiety.
I can therefore see how how Evia would also work to regulate temperature and improve hot flash management - essentially training your mind to better reduce the severity and frequency.
Mind over matter.