Menopause and perimenopause symptoms may affect both the mind and body

How menopause affects mental health

Menopause, a natural biological process, occurs in three stages: perimenopause (hormone fluctuations), menopause (end of menstrual cycles), and postmenopause (12 months without menstruation). Hormonal shifts during this time can affect neurotransmitters, increasing the risk of mood disorders.

Perimenopause, which typically occurs in a woman's mid-40s, precedes menopause

Sometimes referred to as the menopausal transition, this time period often lasts around 4 years as the ovaries' production of the reproductive hormones progesterone and estrogen decline. It may be accompanied by mental and physical symptoms including irregular periods, hot flashes, sleep issues, mood swings, and alterations to a woman's sex drive.

Menopause can exacerbate anxiety

Some research shows that menopause can fuel anxiety and also that pre-existing anxiety can boost the chances of experiencing other menopause symptoms, including hot flashes, insomnia, and brain fog. But treatments including hormone replacement therapy, breathing exercises, and other forms of exercise can alleviate some of these symptoms.

This is what happens to your body during menopause

The menopause transition may begin in one's mid-40s with erratic periods and a decrease in estrogen. It can trigger health complications, including hot flashes, palpitations, and elevated risks of osteoporosis.

Common hormone therapies to treat menopausal symptoms

While there is no cure for menopause, there are ways to treat some of the intense symptoms women experience during perimenopause. There are two main hormone therapies used, one in the form of a pill, gel, or patch to treat symptoms like hot flashes, and another in the form of a cream or ring to treat symptoms like vaginal dryness. Read this article to learn more about the different hormone therapies available for menopausal women.

There are multiple HRT options to treat menopause and perimenopause symptoms

This lengthy video features a board-certified OB/GYN based in Texas who provides a thorough overview of the different formulations for HRT, used to treat symptoms including hot flashes, vaginal dryness, and mood swings, and the pros and cons of each. She also discusses modern synthetic options versus the older formulation extracted from the urine of confined pregnant horses.

Health problems are being misdiagnosed as perimenopause symptoms

Symptoms of menopause and perimenopause (the premenopause period) can be varied enough that clinicians dismiss them in patients in their mid-30s and onward as just a symptom of hormone level change. In this story, a woman's itching was dismissed as a hormonal change, but after two years and 11 separate doctor consultations, was diagnosed as cancer. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Menopause affects the brain in complex ways

Lisa Mosconi, a neuroscientist studying the impact of menopause on the brain, explains in this video how menopause directly impacts a woman's brain health and explores why this is an important and often overlooked area in menopause and women's aging healthcare discussions.

By 2030, roughly 6% of the world's population will be in menopause

An estimated 25 million women pass through menopause annually, with a projected increase in the number of women in menopause in both lower-resource and higher-income populations in the years ahead, highlighting the social and economic value of focusing on menopause care.

Women experience heightened bone loss after menopause

Both women and men begin to lose some bone density after age 35, on average, but for the first decade after menopause women lose bone more rapidly due to the significantly decreased levels of estrogen, putting women at heightened risk of osteoporosis and related bone fractures.

'Menobelly' is real, with more fat stored around the abdomen as estrogen levels drop

The way fat is carried in the body shifts with menopause, with those pounds increasingly settling around the abdomen instead of the hips and thighs. Exacerbating this phenomenon, muscle mass also begins to decline, so calories stick around longer than usual. Resistance training, including push-ups and planks, alongside a heavier protein diet can help.

Menopause, once not discussed in polite company, is now a plot point in some television shows

Menopause has long been a topic left out of film and TV. But some shows, like "The Change," and celebrities, like Jennie Garth, are now openly talking about it. This article breaks down how Hollywood is starting to come around to the menopause conversation and how celebrities are talking about their own personal experiences, as well as advocating on Capitol Hill.

Menopause may become a $600B industry

Companies marketing products and supplements to alleviate menopause symptoms and make life easier during this life stage have become a gold mine. This 2022 article explores how and why companies have swooped into this space, and whether you should trust them or not.

MS Drugs reduce inflammation, helping reduce relapses and slow disease progression

Disease-Modifying Drugs calm the body's inflammatory response to help stave off relapses—when new or existing MS symptoms show up for a day or longer. Avoiding smoking, exercising, reducing stress via mindfulness, checking for vitamin D deficiencies, drinking more water and eating well, all can slow disease progression. [The jury's still out on if HRT around the time of menopause may reduce dementia risk](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanhl/article/PIIS2666-7568(25)00122-9/fulltext) Estrogen can reduce inflammation and support neural growth in the brain, and some research has suggested that beginning hormone replacement therapy around menopause—versus later in life—reduces Alzheimer's disease risk. Still, a recent systematic review concluded that taking HRT didn't affect dementia risk, regardless of when women started taking it, so the science remains unsettled.

Menstruation, which occurs monthly, is the release of an unfertilized egg

This routine vaginal bleeding is part of a woman's hormonal cycle and occurs after an egg is released by an ovary during ovulation and isn't fertilized. Also known as periods, this monthly occurrence can cause symptoms including cramping, fatigue, and mood changes.

Key symptoms of burnout can be both mental and physical

Burnout can be accompanied by several symptoms, including low energy and chronic fatigue, trouble concentrating, difficulty sleeping, and depression. It may even manifest physically as musculoskeletal pain, headaches, stomach and intestinal pain, and more. More intense cases have been linked to cardiovascular and mental health disorders.

Changes in vision or eye pain can be early MS symptoms

This occurs due to myelin degradation around the optic nerve, impairing its ability to transmit visual information to the brain. Individuals may especially experience eye symptoms after exercising or taking a hot shower because boosted body temperatures slow down nerve function in nerves already damaged by MS.

1 in 15 adults over age 40 experience phantom odors

This phenomenon was measured in a 2018 study that examined the prevalence and risk factors for phantom odor perception. Older adults were less likely to experience these phantom odors as they age, just as their overall sense of smell declines. Women are more likely than men to perceive phantom odors.

Vertigo is two to three times more common in women than men

Dizziness, including vertigo, occurs among 15% to 20% of adults. Vertigo can have numerous causes, but generally it's more common with age. It's also much more common among women than in men—occuring roughly two to three times more frequently, sometimes potentially related to the hormonal fluctuations of menopause or to migraines.

Learn the differences between mild cognitive impairment and age-associated memory loss

Mild cognitive impairment is a condition in which people experience more thinking and memory problems than expected for their age. It's often associated with depression and anxiety. Daily routines, writing things down, and healthy lifestyle choices can help cope with the condition, but there's no cure. The condition elevates the risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer's.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

Every organ in a mother's body changes during pregnancy

There's limited real estate inside a mother's body; as the uterus grows both up and out, it shifts other organs to make space. A pregnant woman's body produces hormones to loosen muscles to allow for this expansion. Pregnancy also triggers other changes, including faster breathing to compensate for decreased diaphragm range.

How frontotemporal dementia changes your personality

Significant changes in personality later in life are often attributed to psychological factors. But Dr. Bruce Miller, long-time researcher of FTD, argues this shift is most often attributable to changes in the brain.

Love and heartbreak trigger powerful, neurochemical-driven changes in the body

The feeling of falling in love floods the brain with dopamine, oxytocin and serotonin, which collectively dull pain and boost immunity. However, the loss of these chemicals during a break-up produces withdrawal-like symptoms and heart issues, such as high blood pressure.

When common sounds become disturbing

Misophonia causes certain sounds to feel violating, triggering a "very visceral kind of experience" filled with extremely unpleasant emotions, including annoyance, anger, and disgust. A 2017 study found that people with misophonia have elevated activity in the brain's anterior insula—a region associated with interoception, emotional processing, and behavioral responses—when exposed to trigger sounds. Ongoing research suggests trigger sound context affects the severity and manifestation of the condition.

Feels-like temperature indicates how our skin will feel

When the wind is moving faster, we tend to feel colder due to the so-called "wind chill," which cools our bodies by moving heat away from them and making water evaporate faster. On the other hand, high levels of humidity can make us feel 10 degrees warmer at times.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

Doctors differentiate between a phobia and fear by asking patients whether their fear interferes with their day-to-day activities.

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Use this calculator to find the dollar value of your mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care for your children.

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Brandi Chastain, the star of the 1999 US victory over China in the 1999 Women's World Cup, was a last-second choice to take the penalty kick that sealed the victory.

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