Let's talk menopause - HOW TO MANAGE THE CHANGE

Simple lifestyle choices and changes can help ensure that the symptoms and phases don't end up ruling your daily routine

How much do you really know about menopause? Most New Zealand women reach menopause – defined as 12 consecutive months since your last period – between 45 and 55 years of age, and the average is around 51.

Before that, your body’s production of the hormones oestrogen and progesterone slows down, and your periods become irregular. These hormonal changes that are part of menopause (primarily the fall in oestrogen) cause physical and psychological effects that can last for five to 10 years.

“At the time when they experience menopause, women are often the meat in the sandwich,” explains endocrinologist Dr Sonia Davison. “They might have ageing parents with care needs, they might be working and at the peak of their career, and they may still have children living at home.

“So, women are often caring for everyone else and their care for themselves diminishes. But this is a time in their life when women should find some balance, and prioritise themselves and their health.”

Although some women “breeze through menopause”, other women are mentally and physically exhausted by this phase, according to specialist GP and “The Menopause Doctor” Dr Linda Dear.

“It can be such a stressful time for women. When you get into your forties, you think, ‘I’m not old yet. I’m a bit more sorted with my life, job and kids’… then your biology can come and sweep it all out from under you.”

In a survey of 4288 New Zealand women on their experience of menopause, while some woman did not experience any symptoms at all, 58 percent of respondents described their symptoms as “severe” or “very severe”.