Five things you should know about menopause

🩸Menopause is the moment 12 months after we haven't had a period. Perimenopause, meanwhile, is the time when our body is making the transition to menopause, often accompanied by physical and emotional symptoms. 

🩸There are up to 36 symptoms of perimenopause, and they last 3 to 7 years on average. The most common include: hot flushes, brain fog, sleep troubles, anxiety, memory loss, joint aches, weight gain, vaginal dryness, and low libido.

🩸Menopause usually happens in your 40s and 50s, but the average age in the U.S. is 51 years old. 1 in 100 women reach menopause before they're 40; 1 in 1,000 before they're 30.

🩸Don't worry: you can manage these symptoms with changes in diet, vitamin supplements, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), pelvic floor exercises (for vaginal dryness and bladder control struggles), and other more specific things depending on the symptoms.

🩸Only one in 10 women who could benefit from Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), when you replenish the reproductive hormones that are diminishing, actually take it. This is because HRT has had a bad rep over the years, due to certain studies. More recent research shows that unless you have a high risk of breast cancer, the potential benefits outweigh the potential disadvantages.  

I'll admit it: I didn't know most of this before I started working on menopause products. It made it feel far away, blurry, and scary. As I've learnt more about menopause, I've felt more equipped to handle it when perimenopause eventually comes. 

100% of people born female go through menopause. How were we not taught more about it?!