Three-quarters of women experience hot flashes in the months or years leading up to menopause. A hot flash is a sudden intense feeling of heat, sweating and discomfort coming from within, like an internal furnace has been turned on. It typically lasts one to five minutes and usually is felt most strongly over the face,…
The loss of the hormone estrogen during menopause can cause your vagina to lose its elasticity and cause other changes in the vaginal tissue, resulting in vaginal atrophy. Vaginal atrophy also means your vagina has less natural lubrication and can result in vaginal bleeding or spotting during sex, while sex itself can become painful. “Vaginal…
Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep can be an issue during menopause and in the months or years leading up to menopause. Complaints of poor sleep quality, waking up during the night, not enough sleep and night sweats are common. So are mood changes, including depression and anxiety, which can contribute to poor sleep. “If…
As you approach menopause, your body starts producing less estrogen. This affects not only your body, but also your behavior, and potentially could lead to anxiety and other changes. These behavioral changes happen because estrogen is not just a sex hormone. It also plays a role in the brain, and the transition to menopause can…
Weight gain often happens as people age, and for many, it becomes especially noticeable around the time of menopause. “Even though menopause weight gain is common, it can still be prevented,” said Rosemary C. Sousa, M.D., OB/GYN with Norton Women’s Care. “For example, implementing healthy lifestyle habits, such as diet and exercise, can go a…
Menopause can cause an increase in sex drive or a decrease as hormone levels fluctuate, but very often it’s the symptoms of menopause — mood swings, weight gain, hot flashes and vaginal dryness — that can leave you uninterested in sex. Lower estrogen levels can lead to vaginal dryness as blood supply to the vagina…
Hormonal changes after menopause can cause women’s bones to weaken so much that they can break easily, but there are several ways to increase bone density and overall health while aging. Estrogen levels drop significantly during menopause, causing bone loss that can lead to osteoporosis. “Even though it is impossible to recover the bone density…
With your health provider as your co-pilot, you can navigate perimenopause and menopause. Perimenopause, also called the menopausal transition, describes the months or years leading up to menopause, when the body goes through vast changes. This transition can be more difficult for some than menopause due to dramatic fluctuations in reproductive hormone levels. During perimenopause,…
Menopause is a time of major hormonal, physical and psychological changes for women, and those changes can have an impact on sleep. During the time before menopause, called perimenopause, the ovaries decrease production of estrogen and progesterone. Sleep issues can start during this phase, but generally ramp up after menopause, when a woman has gone…