You might ask what menopause and a period have in common. The truth is that there are many similarities. Menopause is the term used for the last menstrual period a woman will ever have, which is commonly known as the "change of life". This is the phase of a woman’s life that typically occurs at the average age of 51, give or take a few years. There are two kinds of menopause – perimenopause and premature menopause. Perimenopause is the period of years in a woman’s life leading up to menopause when the body produces lesser amounts of hormones sometimes resulting in physical and emotional symptoms. Premature menopause usually happens prior to the age of 40 for reasons such as surgical removal of the ovaries or damaged ovaries as a result of cancer treatments, causing an immediate onset.
See Also: Bleeding After Menopause
A period, also known as menstruation, is just one of the physical signs that every young woman experiences, which typically begins between the ages of 8 and 13. Hormones are stimulated that cause her ovaries to start producing estrogen and progesterone, resulting in physical changes such as growth, physical maturation, and breast development. About two years after a young girl's breasts begin to develop; she usually gets her first menstrual period. Then there is another term so often used called Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS), which is a group of symptoms related to the menstrual cycle or period. These symptoms usually occur within a week before a woman’s period and go away after her period starts. PMS symptoms can occur anytime during a woman’s reproductive years, most commonly during the perimenopause phase.
Menopause and the period are natural processes that every woman goes through in life and yet every woman’s experience is different. If you were to compare a menstrual period, PMS, and menopause in a woman's life, you would see that many of the symptoms are the same. The symptoms include a combination of psychological, emotional, and physical changes, including mood swings, depression, oversensitivity, memory problems, migraine headaches, muscle aches, hot flashes, heart palpitations, and lack of concentration.
Estrogen and progesterone control a woman’s menopause and period, preparing the body for pregnancy every month. When pregnancy does not occur, her body releases an egg and she has a period. This reduced level of those hormones is what produces the symptoms of menopause. Again, menopause is simply a stage of life of lowering the hormone levels in a woman’s body. These are some of the common factors of menopause and period.
A woman’s lifestyle changes and other treatments can have an impact during both phases of her life. For instance, she should include regular exercise, eat healthy foods, avoid excessive salt, sugar, caffeine, and alcohol, and make sure the body gets enough vitamins and minerals to maintain a healthy lifestyle. A clear understanding of menopause and a period is so important for both stages in life. There are many changes that occur in a woman’s body. Because of this, it is a time of life that can be confusing or seem mysterious yet for some women, these changes in life can bring a sense of freedom by just being knowledgeable.
