It's hard to believe our society is so rife with misinformation and unanswered questions about a routine stage of life that half the planet moves through, but this is pretty much the case with menopause.
Luckily, things are starting to shift: Women are talking more and more about this natural process, which has been brought into the open in part by the proliferation of books on the topic, free-speaking celebrities and "femtech" apps, along with diets and remedies pitched to menopausal women. "But it's still not something every woman hears about from her mother or sister," says Jackie Thielen, M.D., director of the women's health specialty clinic at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL.
The term "menopause" can be confusing even for doctors, says Stephanie Faubion, M.D., medical director of the North American Menopause Society (NAMS) and director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Women's Health in Rochester, MN. People use the word to mean everything from a first skipped period to the decades after bleeding has stopped. But most of those definitions aren't exactly accurate.
Menopause, stage by stage
A big piece of the confusion is that women tend to say they’re “in menopause.” But that phrase actually has little scientific meaning. Perimenopause is the stage when your ovaries start producing fewer hormones and your periods become less regular. The term “menopause” refers to one year after your last menstrual flow — which you can’t know you’ve hit until those 12 months have passed. Menopause itself is really more of a line in the sand, something you’ve passed as opposed to a phase you can be “in.” Everything else, the months and years following the one-year mark? That’s postmenopause.
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Denne historien er fra November 2022-utgaven av Good House Keeping - US.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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The Mental Health Benefits of Cats - How our feline friends keep our minds purring
A recent survey on pets and mental health by the American Psychiatric Association and the American Veterinary Medical Association found that 84% of pet owners reported that their pets had a positive impact on their mental health. For twothirds of survey participants, the companionship pets offered was key to a positive mindset. Howard Liu, M.D., M.B.A., chair of the American Psychiatric Association's Council on Communications, an adult and child psychiatrist and chair of the UNMC Department of Psychiatry, says feline companionship may be especially beneficial and meaningful for people struggling with anxiety, depression and autism spectrum disorder as well as people who have a history of trauma. Of course, cats aren't a magic pill, Dr. Liu says: "Every person and every cat is unique, so owning a pet is not a guarantee of better mental health." However, people who live with chronic mental health conditions often list spending time with their cats as a coping strategy for when they are sad, anxious or frightened.
Can Anything Really Firm Your Face? - Countless complexion brands tout skin-tightening solutions like firming skincare products, at-home devices and professional treatments
Countless complexion brands tout skin-tightening solutions like firming skincare products, at-home devices and professional treatments. Here, our experts get real about whether these techniques can actually help skin bounce back once it starts to go lax. Sagging skin is caused primarily by the loss of collagen and elastin (proteins that give skin structural support and elasticity) with age, says Mamina Turegano, M.D., a dermatologist at Sanova Dermatology in New Orleans. And there's no shortage of potions proclaiming to counteract it with firming and lifting effects. Most commonly in serum and moisturizer form, these products contain ingredients like peptides, retinol, vitamin C, growth factors and niacinamide that purport to stimulate collagen production or ones that plump skin, such as hyaluronic acid.
The Stress-Busting Hack That's Right Under Your Nose- Breathwork is more than the wellness trend du jour- it's a science-backed route to relief from multiple modern ailments.
“OK, OK, just take a breath.” If that’s what a friend advises after you panic-share about a major-anxiety-inducing situation — your teen taking his maiden solo voyage behind the wheel, work instability, another high-stakes world crisis dinging your phone every few minutes — it’s probably because they hate seeing you so on edge. But also, your friend is offering an effective means of slowing your spin. “The way you breathe affects anxiety, and anxiety affects how you breathe,” says James Nestor, author of Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art. “It’s a two-way street, and while anxiety isn’t a conscious choice, our breathing is.”
Do Men Really Not See The Mess? - The answer might surprise you. Journalist and author Gemma Hartley pulls back the curtain to reveal the invisible forces that drive this all-too-common cause of marital strife.
There was a time, earlier in my marriage, when every morning as I walked into the kitchen I braced myself for the rage and resentment that would well up in me.Cupboards left open. Dirty dishes in the sink. Coffee cups strewn around the house. And usually a pair of slippers or shoes, with inside-out socks, on the floor somewhere nearby. Even when I had left the house spotless the night before, I’d wake to a scene of disarray — the mess my husband had left behind on his way out the door for work.I didn’t know which scenario seemed worse, my husband’s consciously expecting me to clean up these messes or his truly not noticing them at all. I found myself silently tallying these small resentments, furious and flummoxed in turn that he seemed oblivious to things that needed to be tidied up around the house. It seemed as if he was always waiting for me to tell him what had to be done, as if he was incapable of noticing the mess himself even when he was creating it.
BLISTERED BITES
Shishitos are delicious all yearand creepy on Halloween!
DRINK if you DARE
Welcome, vampires, skeletons and zombies: This spiritforward duo may be strong enough to wake the dead.
Have a scary-good HALLOWEN
The spookiest day of the year calls for tricks and treats!
More Than a Walk in the Park
Agility training can be a fun and engaging way to get moving and bond with your pet.
Get More From Your Garage
Expert advice on three common conversions
At-Home Devices
In this burgeoning category of DIY skin tools, technologies like microcurrent (low-level electrical current), radiofrequency (lowfrequency electromagnetic waves), lasers (pulsating light) and LED light aim to stimulate muscles or collagen production to firm and tighten.
