Let’s Talk Menopause
The first thought many of us have when hearing the word ‘menopause’ is the stage of life when a woman stops menstruating. In reality, menopause is a decades-long event that is characterized by many inconvenient symptoms and side effects — but despite it being an event in every woman’s life, most menopausal women are rarely informed of methods that could preserve and improve their quality of life after this life-changing hormonal crash.
What is Menopause?
What Is Menopause?
Menopause is the natural end to a woman’s monthly period, which occurs in response to the ovaries halting the production of reproductive hormones [1]. Typically, menopause occurs around age 52 and is characterized by a full year without experiencing the menstrual cycle. Menopause can be broken down into three stages:
Perimenopause
Menopause
Postmenopause
Perimenopause is the transition state between regular period cycles and menopause, beginning around 8 to 10 years before menopause sets in [1]. Most women begin to experience symptoms of perimenopause in their 40s as the ovaries gradually produce less estrogen. Some common symptoms of perimenopause include irregular periods, mood swings, and hot flashes [1]. There are many other symptoms that are possible due to the hormone crash that women experience during this time, and it is important to bring any concerns to a medical professional. Menopause is the stage in which a woman is no longer experiencing periods at all due to a drastic drop in the production of estrogen within the body. The symptoms of menopause mirror those of perimenopause, with hot flashes, insomnia, mood swings, and worsening PMS being just a few of the symptoms that women can experience during this time [1]. The stage after menopause is recognized as postmenopause, which is the stage a woman remains in for the rest of her life. The distinction can be confusing, but menopause is the period of time when a woman has gone 12 consecutive months without her period, and postmenopause describes her lifetime after that 12-month period. Mild symptoms of menopause can still occur for some time into this phase, and women in this stage of life are often at risk for other complications such as heart disease, osteoporosis, vaginal atrophy, and UTIs [1, 2].
Common Myths and Misconceptions
One common misconception surrounding menopause is that it is a result of the female body becoming weaker with age. This is not true. Though an aging woman’s body can be more frail on average, this disparity is often due to a lack of consistent exercise to increase bone and muscle density earlier in her life. The inherent weakness that many people associate with the bodies of older women often fades with a combination of regular exercise and oral supplements, with the added benefit of preventing the onset of osteoporosis, a condition that many post-menopausal women are susceptible to [3, 4]. In fact, the prevalence of osteoporosis in older women is due to the fact that decreasing levels of estrogen during menopause disrupt the regulation of bone formation and breakdown within our bodies [6]. Menopause does not need to be a sign that our bodies are diminishing — instead, it is simply a marker for a new stage in every woman’s life.
Another common misconception is that hormone therapy to reduce symptoms of menopause is risky. This claim is false and actually an extremely harmful misconception to perpetuate. As mentioned before, menopause is the body’s reaction to a halt in estrogen production. The sudden shift in estrogen levels results in symptoms such as hot flashes, vaginal dryness, mood changes, and more. Hormone therapies are one of the best-known ways to reduce the prevalence of these symptoms in menopausal women, with the added benefit of an increased lifespan [4]. Estrogen production assists the growth of good bacteria in the vagina, and its sudden absence leads to pH imbalances that result in a higher incidence of UTIs in aging women [2, 4]. One therapy that is being increasingly recommended by medical professionals is the application of topical estradiol creams. Estradiol is an estrogen hormone that acts in these creams to reduce the incidence of vaginal dryness, irritation, and pain during sex that are associated with menopause [7]. As with any medication, it is important to consult with a medical professional before using this therapy, but it has been shown to reduce the prevalence of UTIs within postmenopausal women, increasing the bar for average quality and length of life.
Though these two myths are the most commonly heard misconceptions surrounding menopause, there are several others that exist because of the lack of research in this area of women’s reproductive health. Remember that even though your discomfort might be considered a normal part of menopause, there are ways to alter your lifestyle in order to prevent menopause from becoming an overtly negative influence on your quality of life. If you are consulting with a medical professional and feel that you have any questions, concerns, or general knowledge gaps on this topic, never hesitate to communicate with your provider. The first step to getting the healthcare you deserve is staying as informed as you can and advocating for your needs.
Change Starts With Us
As the average lifespan for people increases around the globe, so does the average amount of time a woman spends in the post-menopausal period of her life [5]. However, the existing methods for easing the transition from menstruation to menopause are limited — and even when they do exist, many women have no idea that any such method exists to alleviate their recurring hot flashes or mood swings. If 50% of the world’s population experiences this severe hormone crash in their lifespan, why doesn’t more research exist to improve their quality of life during this transition? It is unfair that our rights to comprehensive healthcare often rely not only on our abilities to present detailed transcripts of our medical grievances, but also on our abilities to defend ourselves when the system deems our debilitating symptoms as ‘normal’. The health differences in this completely unique community of people deserve to be met with equally robust paths of study and treatment. This is where the importance of reproductive education plays an important role — as more people with robust knowledge of the female reproductive system enter the healthcare space, the push for research, accessible care, and better treatment strategies gets stronger. Even now, menopause is receiving more attention in both academic and social spheres due to the efforts of doctors who noticed the gap in healthcare for aging women. If menopause research is prioritized in the future, women would no longer have to fight for their struggles to be recognized, and the quality of life for aging women everywhere would significantly increase. However, until the system is reformed, being as educated as you can be on the topic of reproductive health, as well as recognizing when your body is undergoing changes, is the best way to ensure you can argue for the care you deserve when you feel unheard.
References
Cleveland Clinic [Internet]. [cited 2026 Aug 17]. What Is Menopause? Available from: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21841-menopause
PA-C JF MMSc. Harvard Health [Internet]. 2025 [cited 2026 Aug 17]. UTI in older women: Why postmenopausal women are susceptible to urinary tract infection, and what to do about it. Available from: https://www.health.harvard.edu/womens-health/uti-in-older-women-why-postmenopausal-women-are-susceptible-to-urinary-tract-infection-and-what-to-do-about-it
Menopause is having a moment: Debunking common myths | Aging | Women’s Health | UT Southwestern Medical Center [Internet]. [cited 2026 Aug 18]. Available from: https://utswmed.org/medblog/menopause-myths/
Yale Medicine [Internet]. [cited 2026 Aug 18]. Worried About Osteoporosis? 4 Ways to Help Prevent the Disease. Available from: https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/osteoporosis-prevention
Menopause [Internet]. [cited 2026 Aug 18]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/menopause
Cleveland Clinic [Internet]. [cited 2026 Aug 30]. What Is Osteoporosis? Available from: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/4443-osteoporosis
Cleveland Clinic [Internet]. [cited 2026 Aug 30]. Estradiol Vaginal Cream: How to Use & Side Effects. Available from: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/drugs/19770-estradiol-vaginal-cream
Comments