Menopause is usually never a woman’s first thought when she’s under 40. While it’s true that in most cases menopause becomes a concern after the age of 40, it’s not always that way. Some women can start going through the transition earlier than expected. In rare cases, it can start in your 30s and we’re certain that you know a friend, a colleague, or a family member who’s going through menopause, or is likely to go through it soon. It’s a natural process that affects half of the world’s population, but some women aren’t prepared for the changes it brings.
One study found that almost half of all women were completely uninformed about menopause, and almost all of them (95%) said that they were never taught about menopause while they were in school. This clearly indicates that a lot of women don’t know what to do when it comes to transitioning through this tricky phase of life, and they also don’t understand what’s happening to the women around them. Despite the fact that it has a profound effect for several years on every woman’s life. Here are some of the most important things you should know about menopause that you haven’t (probably) been taught before while you were in school.
What is menopause?
Menopause is when a woman’s reproductive years come to an end. This happens when your hormone levels start to decline and your ovaries stop releasing eggs. So quite simply, menopause is when your periods stop happening. But it’s easy to get confused when you don’t get your period for 3 or 4 months and think you’ve started the transition. That’s why, menopause is diagnosed when you’ve gone a whole year without getting your period. You can also get phantom periods, which are a common symptom of perimenopause. This is when you experience all the symptoms of a menstrual cycle such as mood shifts, bloating, and cramps but there is no bleeding.
Menopause typically happens between the ages of 45 and 55 though this can vary slightly based on the region you reside in. For instance, the average age in the UK for menopause is 50. Why does this happen? We don’t clearly understand why, but it may be due to differing factors like health, diet and lifestyle.
How is perimenopause different from menopause?
Sometimes people refer to menopause as “menopausal transition” since it has three different stages:
1. Perimenopause
2. Menopause
3. Postmenopause
These different stages reflect the varying hormone levels and reproductive changes over time. Menopause refers to your final menstrual cycle, and perimenopause is the transition you go through leading up to this. Perimenopause usually begins when a woman is in her 40s, though is some cases it can happen later or earlier. Some women start reporting symptoms of perimenopause in their 30s. When you’re going through perimenopause, your menstrual cycles start to become irregular and your hormone levels fluctuate, too. Other symptoms such as mood swings and hot flashes start around this time, too.
It’s hard to put a time limit on perimenopause since its duration can vary for every individual. It can either be a few months or over a decade. Several factors can affect how long you go through perimenopause. Factors like:
· Socioeconomic factors
· Your BMI
· Ethnic background
Once your periods stop completely, you’ve entered the postmenopause stage. For several women, symptoms of menopause can persist into this stage.
What are those symptoms?
The symptoms of menopause can vary greatly for every woman. The most commonly known symptoms are:
· Vaginal dryness
· Fatigue
· Mood swings
· Night sweats
· Hot flashes
Women start to experience these symptoms in the perimenopause stage but they can persist into menopause and last for an average of two to eight years. When your symptoms start and how long they last can depend on a lot of factors, but there are ways to manage these symptoms. For several women, lifestyle changes can be impactful. Lifestyle changes like:
· Following a regular workout regimen
· Following a balanced diet
· Cold water swimming
· Avoiding alcohol and swimming
· Managing stress
All of these lifestyle changes are useful in reducing and managing the uncomfortable symptoms of menopause. If making these changes isn’t possible for you, you may also consider opting for prescription treatments like hormone replacement therapy (HRT). This treatment restores your body’s estrogen and progesterone levels to their “normal” levels as they were before you started going through menopause. There are also medications for certain symptoms, like vaginal estrogen that can help ease vaginal dryness, clonidine which helps treat hot flashes, and antidepressants that can help with mood swings.
What changes can you expect during menopause?
Weight gain is a common concern for women going through menopause. That said, research has shown that any weigh that you put on after you’ve gone through menopause is usually a by-product of age. People often attribute this to a slower metabolism. As you start to age, your body’s muscle mass starts to decline, which means you burn fewer calories than in your younger years. Our muscles burn more calories than the fat stores in our bodies.
We also feel that we’ve gained weight because of the way menopause affects the way fat is stored in the body. Before menopause, fat in a woman’s body is typically stored around their hips and thighs. After it, fat is stored around your waist, because of which you may think you’ve gained weight.
Making healthy choices every day and staying active can help with the weight gain that comes with menopause. HRT can be a common solution, too since it eases the negative symptoms associated with menopause which act as a hurdle to you following a healthy lifestyle. Moreover, since it helps mimic pre-menopause bodily conditions, it can also redistribute fat around the thighs and the hips.
Even though menopause may feel like a scary transition, it doesn’t have to be. There are several proven ways of coping with it and all of them can make your life easier to navigate when you’re going through it.
