Menopause in TCM: Second Spring For Women in Leadership

Editorial Team
Sep 22
4 min read

For women in leadership and female entrepreneurs, menopause rarely comes quietly. It often coincides with peak career moments, scaling a business, leading a team, or navigating investors.

Sleepless nights, hot flushes, and brain fog can collide with boardroom pressures, deadlines, and high-stakes decisions.

Western medicine focuses largely on hormones. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), in contrast, sees menopause as a natural life transition: a Second Spring, an opportunity to align body, mind, and leadership energy for lasting vitality and Calmfidence.

Why Female Leaders Feel It More

Running a business demands sustained energy, mental clarity, and emotional resilience. Menopause can challenge all three:

Energy fluctuations affect productivity and client delivery.
Cognitive fog reduces confidence in decisions and negotiations.
Mood swings strain relationships with teams, partners, and investors.
Sleep disruption diminishes creativity, focus, and strategic thinking.

TCM identifies the source as Kidney imbalance—the organs responsible for vitality, reproduction, and ageing.

For women in leadership, addressing the root cause, not just the symptom, is essential to sustain long-term leadership performance.

Patterns of Menopause through TCM’s Lens

TCM doesn’t diagnose “menopause” as a single problem—it identifies patterns of imbalance that overlap with entrepreneurial stressors:

1. Kidney Yin Deficiency

Symptoms: hot flushes, night sweats, irritability.
In business: feeling constantly “overheated,” reactive in meetings, unable to stay calm under pressure.

2. Kidney Yang Deficiency

Symptoms: fatigue, cold limbs, low motivation.
In business: struggling to maintain energy for long workdays or strategic planning.

3. Liver Qi Stagnation

Symptoms: mood swings, frustration, headaches.
In business: difficulty managing teams, tension with partners, decision fatigue.

4. Heart–Kidney Disharmony

Symptoms: anxiety, insomnia, palpitations.
In business: compromised focus, reduced creativity, emotional burnout.

“While a healthy body is generally able to regulate itself and gradually adjusts [to this decline], some women are more easily affected by internal and external influences so that the yin and yang of the kidneys lose their balance. As a result, they become either kidney yin deficient, kidney yang deficient, or kidney yin and yang deficient …”

— Liu Minru & Tan Wanxin, TCM Physicians

TCM Tools for Female Resilience

Acupuncture

Restores Yin–Yang balance, reducing hot flushes, insomnia, and anxiety.
Supports mental clarity and calm focus—essential for leadership decisions.

Herbal Formulas

Liu Wei Di Huang Wan for Yin deficiency.
You Gui Wan for Yang deficiency.

(Individually prescribed by a qualified practitioner.)

Nutrition & Lifestyle

Yin-nourishing foods (black sesame, tofu, goji berries, bone broth) sustain energy through demanding workdays.
Avoid alcohol, caffeine, and spicy foods that exacerbate heat symptoms.
Gentle practices like Qi Gong, Tai Chi, or yoga regulate stress, improve sleep, and boost decision-making capacity.

“The hormonal fluctuations during menopause cause many women enormous suffering. But this natural process also means the transition to a new phase of life. According to the Chinese view, it is more of an energetic imbalance that can only be understood holistically.”

— Prof. Li Wu & Dr Natalie Lauer

The Second Spring: Menopause as Leadership Reset

Menopause for female leaders is not a setback; it is a strategic reset. By recognising patterns of imbalance, women can:

Conserve energy instead of burning out.
Sharpen focus for complex decision-making.
Lead with calmfidence and clarity, not just sheer output.

“From elemental energy perspective, the menopause brings a natural decline in your water energy. Water is most yin of all elements. … Water energy is to balance fire energy and accumulation of heat in the body. Heat that can be observed in most common symptom of menopause ‒ hot flashes …”

— TCM Practice Acupuncture, UK

With TCM guidance, menopause becomes a pivot point: a time to optimise energy, prioritise high-impact work, and step into the next phase of business leadership with both vitality and wisdom.

Menopause Checklist

1. Monitor Your Energy Patterns

Track highs and lows across the day; schedule high-focus work when energy is strongest.

2. Sleep & Recovery

Prioritise 7–8 hours; consider short restorative breaks or naps to maintain clarity.

3. Balanced Nutrition

Focus on Yin-nourishing foods and hydration; reduce stimulants that exacerbate hot flushes or anxiety.

4. Movement & Breath

Incorporate daily Qi Gong, Tai Chi, yoga, or mindful stretching to regulate energy and relieve tension.

5. Acupuncture & Herbal Support

Consult a licensed TCM practitioner for tailored therapies addressing Kidney Yin/Yang balance.

6. Emotional Alignment

Journal or reflect daily; identify stress triggers and implement conscious response strategies.

7. Strategic Prioritisation

Delegate or postpone non-essential tasks; focus on high-impact business decisions.

8. Community & Mentorship

Engage with other midlife women entrepreneurs; share challenges, strategies, and support.

Calmclusion Thought

For women entrepreneurs, menopause is not an obstacle but a leadership evolution. TCM provides a framework for sustaining energy, clarity, and emotional balance, transforming this natural transition into a Second Spring, where business success and personal wellbeing align.

A TCM View of Burnout

Burnout is not a fixed diagnosis in Chinese medicine, but a pattern of energetic collapse. Recognising your stage can help you respond early — not just to “bounce back,” but to rebuild in a more sustainable and embodied way.