Can someone please tell me what the average of menopause is?
Your face is heating up.
Your periods are going haywire.
And you’ve just cried in the line at the post office.
And here you are searching up questions like Is 47 too early for menopause?
Weird that for all the billions of women on this planet who have gone through menopause, we still don’t seem to feel like it’s something we can talk about.
The result is that we end up stumbling through it alone without the support we need.
We think it’s time that changed — so let’s have the conversation.
In this article: 📝
- When does menopause start (on average)?
- How do you know when menopause starts?
- What are the top 10 signs of menopause?
When does menopause start (on average)?
Currently, the average age of menopause is 51.
But there are so many different experiences of this life phase that even the idea of a “normal age for menopause” feels like it leaves a lot of the story out.
The reality is, there’s no one “menopause age”, just as there’s no truly accurate way to predict when it’ll happen, like a menopause age calculator.
🔎 Read more: When Does Menopause Start?
How do you know when menopause starts?
Menopause marks the time in your life 12 months after you have your last period.
Your period stops because your ovaries stop releasing eggs.
While menopause is technically a moment in time, it’s better understood as a phase where your body goes through a transition from one life stage to another.
Before you hit menopause, you go through what’s called perimenopause.
Over this period, your body goes through a major hormonal shift.
Hence all those crazy symptoms we love to hate.
Because you no longer need estrogen and progesterone to help out with your menstrual cycle, your ovaries stop producing these hormones — and this change can have all sorts of interesting effects on your body.
But the fascinating thing is, while some women go through a whole lot over this time, others don’t really experience anything at all.
Perimenopause often begins in your 40s, a year or two before you stop having your period for good.
But it can start much earlier and/or go on for much longer.
About 1% of women go through menopause before they hit 40.
This is early menopause and it can put you at greater risk for health complications like osteoporosis.
(Basically, you spend more time without the benefits that estrogen brings.)
While we don’t always know for sure what causes early menopause, there some risk factors may make it more likely to happen sooner:
- Genetic factors. If your mama went through early menopause, you might, too
- Undergoing chemotherapy
- Having ovarian surgery
- Autoimmune diseases
- Epilepsy
- Smoking — various studies have revealed a link between exposure to smoke and menopause.
If you think you’re going through early menopause, talk to your doctor to see if treatments like Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) are right for you.
What are the top 10 signs of menopause?
While different women have different experiences, here are the more common menopause symptoms:
- Hot flashes. This is the poster child for menopause symptoms
- Periods that are irregular, heavy, and/or longer than usual
- Bone density loss
- Quick changes in mood
- Vaginal dryness
- Loss of libido
- Fatigue
- Night sweats
- Thinning hair (and hair that grows in new places)
- Tender or sore breasts. They may also start morphing into a new shape (or even getting bigger).
But there’s a whole host of weird and wonderful menopause symptoms — this isn’t an extensive list!
Symptoms may last until after you have hit menopause (recap: 12 months after your last period) but some women continue to experience them for a few years, sometimes well into their 60s, 70s, and 80s.
There’s just no one way to have this experience.
The more we talk about menopause, the less isolating the experience is for all of us.
Chat to your Peanut community for hints and tips on dealing with symptoms.
Talk to your friends and family about what you’re experiencing.
Book a session with a counselor.
You just don’t have to go through this alone.