Menopause is a natural transition in life yet the term sends a shiver up the spine of the strongest-willed woman. Why? Maybe because it has been promoted as a necessary "evil" that all women, and in some cases men, have to battle at some stage during mid-life. But is battle the right word?

One of the most common comments I hear amongst health physicians is that many women just simply don't prepare for menopause. But how do you prepare for something that seems to sneak up on you from nowhere? Sure a woman's body goes through physical changes during this life changing phase but is it the physical symptoms of menopause that are the concern?

Preparing for menopause can start at anytime during the early thirties. No, you don't have to book yourself into some clinic or buy a passage on a spacecraft to some far away destination set up for menopausal women. It's been suggested that rather than the physical presence, it may be the mental challenges a woman faces during it's onset. A woman needs to recognise the symptoms early in order to cope with it mentally. The problem it seems is that many women will "sail" through the first four decades of their lives without doing some research on the effects of menopause and when it comes "knocking at the door" they're not conditioned mentally to handle it. Does this sound a familiar story.

My friend Cathy is an ideal case in point. We would often make short passing comments on menopause and when I would suggest that she should prepare herself for it the answer was..."I don't want to think about it. It only happens to older women. I'm not old!" Then she would block it out of her mind. And you know that this seems to be the standard answer in pre-menopausal days.

Preparing for menopause is simply understanding it and realising why it happens and what it is. What is it? Well, to put it mildly, it is just a passing phase in a woman's life. Sure there are some extreme cases but in many instances, it will pass without too much incidence. And no it doesn't mean you're old and "over the hill." Thinking like this is total garbage. But understanding that during the menopausal phase a woman can and will endure moments of low spirits, mood swings and other physical symptoms such as hot flushes before it arrives is all part of the mental conditioning in preparation for it.

If it scares the "hell out of you" don't just suffer in silence. Make an appointment to visit your health physician and find out what processes can be put into place to deal with the onset of menopause. Believe it or not, there are both natural and medical treatments that will help get you through this often difficult time. It's like anything else in life; the better prepared you are for an event the better you are likely to perform and handle whatever pressures are thrown at you.