Menopause Explained

Throughout life our bodies go through many changes. For women and people with a uterus, life changes like puberty, menstruation, and menopause are signs that your body is maturing and going through the life cycle. For people who menstruate, menopause signals the point when a body is no longer able to become pregnant and stops its monthly menstrual cycle permanently. This typically happens when a person is between 45-58 years old. One way people estimate when they might experience menopause is by asking a parent or a trusted adult when they went through it.

Many young people have questions about menopause. They may hear it from their mom, aunt, grandmother, or other people with uteruses in your life talking about it. Even though menopause happens to adult bodies, it’s great for young people to be curious about how their body will change as they grow up.

Menopause has three stages, perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause. Perimenopause typically starts in the mid to late 40s and the body begins to decrease production of estrogen and people may begin to feel symptoms of menopause. Menopause symptoms are often called being ‘menopausal’. The most common symptoms include irregular periods, trouble sleeping, mood swings, and hot flashes and chills. Hot flashes are when suddenly the body temperature rises and a person begins to feel super hot and very sweaty. Their skin might turn red and their heartbeat will increase. Hot flashes come out of nowhere, and can be very unpleasant, but they aren’t painful. Usually a person having a hot flash might need to cool down immediately with cold water, a wet towel, or a fan. Hot flashes usually last 2-5 minutes, and can come any time day or night.

The drop in estrogen production during menopause causes some people to experience less desire to be intimate or participate in sexual behaviors, and people that are sexually active might experience pain due to dryness in the vagina. There may also be weight gain due to a change in metabolism (how fast your body uses the energy in food), and hair loss or thinning. Menopause is considered to be complete when a person has gone through 12 full months without a period or spotting. Postmenopause is the time after menopause has occurred. Once a person is in postmenopause, they will no longer have a period and will not be able to get pregnant.

Menopause is something that happens on its own, it is part of the natural process of one’s body. People that have gone through menopause live happy and healthy lives, they can still be physically active, participate in sexual activity, and do all the things that they enjoy doing.

Conversation Starters
It’s essential to have conversations about topics like menopause with your young person so that they know they can come to you with questions. The easiest way to start these conversations is to talk about issues as they come up in everyday life, like while watching TV together.
Some topics, like menopause, may not come up in regular conversation, but it’s important to bring them up anyway.