Postmenopause is the time after you've been without a menstrual period for 12 months. During this stage, menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes, get milder or go away. People in postmenopause are at increased risk for osteoporosis and heart disease.
Commons Indicators for the End of Menopause
Women may find that they are sleeping better and feeling healthier overall as their hormone levels even out. This can also lead to improvements in mood, energy levels, and cognitive function.
The duration of menopause symptoms may only be a few months for some women, but for others, symptoms can persist for up to 10 years, continuing with varying degrees of intensity for several years after menstruation has stopped. Postmenopause symptoms may linger for around four to five years with intermittent intensity.
Generally speaking, though, experts know perimenopause as being the most symptomatic phase of menopause. This may mean a person's symptoms improve after menopause. Certain symptoms, such as vaginal dryness and hot flashes, may continue into postmenopause for some people.
Do menopause symptoms get worse? Having said that, a lot of women find that, at some point during the menopause, their symptoms start to get worse, and it's almost as if they want to know the reason why.
Your body goes through a lot of changes during menopause. There are extreme shifts in your hormone levels, you may not sleep well because of hot flashes and you may experience mood swings. Anxiety and fear could also be at play during this time.
"If post-menopausal women cut back on calories and up the intensity of their exercise, they lose weight and tone up, just like younger women. It may be a bit slower, but it happens. It requires long-term adherence as well." Pinkerton suggests aiming for a 400- to 600-calorie daily deficit.
The menopause connection to speed of aging
“We discovered that menopause speeds up cellular aging by an average of 6 percent,” said Horvath, who is also a professor in the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. “That doesn't sound like much but it adds up over a woman's lifespan.”
Start with a mix of moderate and vigorous exercise to burn off menopausal weight gain. Your routine should include aerobic exercises like swimming, walking, bicycling, and running, as well as resistance or strength training. “What you want to employ now is high-intensity interval training (HIIT),” Dr. Peeke says.
On average, women gain 5-8% of their baseline body weight during this time,” she says. For the sake of simple math, this means if you weigh 100 pounds, on average you will gain five pounds in the two years after your final period.
After menopause, the tissues of the labia minora (which surround the opening of the vagina and urethra), clitoris, vagina, and urethra become thin (atrophy). This thinning can result in chronic irritation and dryness of the vagina. Vaginal discharge and urinary tract infections are more likely to develop.
Bleeding can occur in women over 50 after they experience menopause as well. Studies show that this postmenopausal bleeding is usually caused by conditions like uterine fibroids or polyps. It can also be a sign of endometrial cancer, which affects 2 to 3% of women and is most common among postmenopausal women.
There can be several causes of postmenopausal bleeding. The most common causes are: inflammation and thinning of the vaginal lining (atrophic vaginitis) or womb lining (endometrial atrophy) – caused by lower oestrogen levels. cervical or womb polyps – growths that are usually non-cancerous.
Estrogen insufficiency decreases defense against oxidative stress; skin becomes thinner with less collagen, decreased elasticity, increased wrinkling, increased dryness and reduced vascularity.
Menopause-related hair loss can occur in other parts of the body as well. Many women notice hair growth slows or stops on their legs, arms, and armpits. Pubic hair can also begin to thin leaving bald spots. Even your eyelashes and eyebrows may thin out during menopause.
However, a Mayo Clinic study found that many women experience hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, mood changes and other menopause symptoms beyond mid-life and into their 60s, 70s and even their 80s.
It's common for those entering this natural stage of life to gain weight and belly fat (sometimes called “menopause belly”) and experience other bothersome symptoms — sleep-interrupting night sweats, hot flashes, vaginal dryness that causes pain during sex, urinary tract infections, irregular periods, depression, ...
High levels of leptin tell the brain that there is plenty of fat stored, while low levels tell the brain that fat stores are low and appetite increases. An indication of leptin resistance may be an accumulation of body fat, especially in the belly area. Accumulation of belly fat is a characteristic of menopause.
Reduced levels of oestrogen after menopause can cause fat to be stored around your waist rather than on your hips and thighs. In postmenopausal women, belly fat accounts for 15 to 20% of their total body weight, compared with 5 to 8% in premenopausal women.
Compared to males of the same age, women undergoing the menopausal transition have significant alterations in brain biomarkers. The neurological changes occurring around this time cause symptoms that in turn trigger depression and anxiety, as well as AD, in a fraction of women.
Many women (and medical practitioners) don't realise that women who are going through the menopause are at a higher-than-normal risk of developing gluteal tendinopathy, which is one of the typical causes of greater trochanteric pain syndrome, also known as outside hip pain or lateral hip pain.
While most women reach menopause by 51 or 52, this is an average and varies. Late menopause can occur in a woman's upper 50s or early 60s. Genetics, lifestyle, menstrual cycle patterns, and medications are factors that affect timing.
There is no set age when menopause should start, but according to the Australasian Menopause Society the average age is 51. If a woman is 55 or older and still hasn't begun menopause, it is considered late-onset menopause.