What is (peri)menopause and which changes occur?
Menopause leads to changes in women’s bodies and marks the end of the childbearing years. It involves hormonal changes that can lead to both physical and mental symptoms that are better known as menopause symptoms. Because menopause does not occur overnight, a distinction is made between the period called perimenopause and the period that comes after, namely (post)menopause. Each of these periods comes with its issues and symptoms.
What is menopause?
Menopause is marked by the moment that no menstruation has occurred for at least 12 months. This occurs on average when women are between 45 to 55 years of age. However, this varies from woman to woman and depends on multiple factors.
Entering menopause is not an immediate process and does not happen overnight: it is a process that can last for years (1). For this reason, we make a distinction between menopause and perimenopause.
What is perimenopause?
The explicit sign that menopause has started is the definitive cessation of menstruation. This does not occur suddenly, but after a long period of irregularity, which begins to manifest itself during perimenopause.
Perimenopause is the phase in which the first bodily changes related to menopause occur. These changes are evident signs of decreasing levels of estrogen and progesterone (2).
During perimenopause, estrogen deficiency occurs that can no longer be compensated by changes in ovarian hormone production. This decline in ovarian function is a characteristic trigger of natural menopause and because of it circulating estradiol levels will go down. This reduction in estradiol levels will prevent ovulation from happening, which is thought to be the reason for irregular menstruation.
Postmenopause is the period that begins after 12 consecutive months without menstruation. From this moment on the discomforts related to (peri)menopause will become lighter.
What are the symptoms of perimenopause?
The hormonal changes associated with menopause can affect physical, emotional, mental, and social well-being. The symptoms that are experienced during and after menopause vary greatly from one person to another.
While some women suffer few to no symptoms, others may experience severe symptoms affecting their daily activities and quality of life. In some cases, the symptoms may last for various years (3).
Symptoms of perimenopause
Symptoms that can occur during perimenopause include, but are not limited to:
• Irregular menstruation cycle, this is a clear sign that hormones are starting to act up.
• Menstruation that is heavier or lighter than normal, which indicates a change in hormonal balance
• Weight gain and a general accentuation of roundness can become a very delicate aspect to manage, also from an emotional point of view.
• Changes in hair quality, most women find that their hair loses volume and length around menopause.
• Headaches, the hormone changes that happen as women approach menopause mean that all types of headaches, including migraines, become more common.
• Muscle aches, estrogen affects your cartilage (which is the connective tissue in joints) as well as the replacement of bone, this plays a part in inflammation and pain.
• Bone issues, though it is less noticeable, bone health diminishes during menopause. For this reason, a lot of products exist to improve bone health during (peri)menopause.
Symptoms of (post)menopause
As stated before, after perimenopause starts the actual menopause, which brings its own types of symptoms. These symptoms include:
• Night sweats and hot flashes are one of the most typical effects of hormonal imbalance. Many women experience such a sudden rush of feeling hot.
• Anxiety or irritability. There are a lot of physical changes during menopause, but emotional changes often occur as well. This happens because the drop in estrogen and progesterone leads to a decrease in the expression of several brain chemicals that make you feel calm, happy or energetic. This can cause women to feel anxious or irritable.
• Mood swings also occur due to hormonal changes. Fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone lead to fluctuations in other brain chemicals as well, leading to these mood swings.
• Depression is a symptom that can occur during both perimenopause and menopause and is more severe compared to anxiety, irritability or mood swings. Changes in hormones might put women more at risk for depression and this also falls under the emotional changes during menopause.
• Insomnia. Overall studies show that women in menopause have more trouble with sleeping. These disturbances include difficulty getting to sleep, staying asleep, early morning wakenings and problems with the overall quality of sleep.
• Fatigue and low energy are common effects that many women experience before, during, and after this transition time. This often is a result of the sleeping problems described before, but has to do with the previously mentioned ‘energetic’ chemicals in your brain as well.
• Dry skin due to decreasing estrogen levels can become less supple, smooth, and soft. Fine wrinkles, dark spots, and less elasticity are usually not far behind.
Relieving symptoms of perimenopause and (post)menopause
Menopause is a period of hormonal changes marked by physical and emotional changes. A lot of people worry about this and it can be hard to experience these symptoms. For this reason, there are several ways to alleviate these symptoms. Of course, medicinal products are available, but natural ways to relieve symptoms exist as well. Changes in diet and physical activity could be a way to relieve symptoms associated with menopause.
You can read more about Bonolive®, a product that proves to relieve post-menopausal symptoms, and women’s health on this page.
