The transition of women from middle age to old age is called menopause. During this period, due to the gradual decline of ovarian function, the synthesis and secretion of estrogen and progesterone are decreasing, the autonomic nerve regulation function is gradually unbalanced, and the aging of various organs and nervous system causes a series of physiological and psychological changes in the human body. The average age of menopausal women in China is about 50.4 years old. About five years before and after menopause, some women gradually transition to menopause, with irregular menstruation and frequent menstrual bleeding, and other symptoms are also mild, and they unconsciously pass the menopause safely. Women who exceed 1/3 will have more obvious or serious symptoms, and some will even linger for more than ten years, which will bring pain and trouble to these women.
"Menopause" is a natural transition period of women's sexual life, not morbid or a health problem. As a normal biotransformation process, female menopause begins in her thirties. At this time, the secretion of estrogen and progesterone in women began to decrease slowly. Generally speaking, women don't feel much change at this time. After the age of 40, this process is accelerated. But for most women, they realize that menopause comes because of irregular menstruation and gradually stops completely. But some women will have some menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes, sweating, vaginal dryness, stress urinary incontinence, mood swings, depression, poor sleep and so on. However, at present, the medical community still has different views on whether mood swings, depression and poor sleep are caused by menopause.
Generally speaking, women stop menstruating completely around the age of 50. Some people stop menstruating in their forties. Some people don't stop menstruating until they are nearly 60 years old. If a woman has stopped menstruating for one year, it can be considered that menopause is over.
The most common symptom of menopause is hot flashes. In the United States, a quarter of women will have menopausal hot flashes. There are also many hot flashes in women's menopause in China. About two-thirds of women will have different degrees of hot flashes and sweating during menopause. There is a feeling of heavy pressure in the head during the attack, and then there will be a hot roast on the face, which will spread to the neck and the whole body and gradually subside after about half an hour, especially when sleeping at night. With the appearance of hot flashes, sweat also seeps from the head and neck to the upper chest and back. This phenomenon is caused by the fluctuation of estrogen secretion. During the day, sudden hot flashes will make you feel embarrassed and make your clothes sweat. Hot flashes at night can cause night sweats and make you sleep badly. If you have night sweats several times at night and can't sleep well all night, it will affect your work the next day. The frequency, intensity and duration of hot flashes will fluctuate. Some people last for a month and then disappear. Some people disappeared for months and then reappeared a few months later. However, only 20% of women have hot flashes for four years.
Emotional instability is also a prominent symptom, sometimes irritable, sometimes depressed and indifferent, but also suspicious and worried. When hot flashes occur, autonomic nerve dysfunction may be accompanied by palpitations and precordial discomfort. In addition, dizziness, tinnitus, insomnia, dreaminess, loss of appetite, dry skin, bone pain, fracture and so on may occur.
With the gradual disappearance of estrogen, vaginal mucosa becomes smooth and dry. Vaginal dryness is common in menopause. Mainly because of the decrease of vaginal discharge. The main reason for the decrease of vaginal discharge is the decrease of sexual desire, not the decrease of estrogen level. The decrease of female testosterone level is also a reason.
The decrease of estrogen level in menopause will also cause the decrease of urethral cells and weaken the muscles that control urethra. As a result, some menopausal women have stress urinary incontinence. Some women are prone to urinary tract infections.
If hot flashes, vaginal dryness and other menopausal symptoms seriously interfere with your normal life, you should see a doctor. Estrogen replacement therapy can help you solve the problem. However, estrogen replacement therapy is not suitable for everyone.
To get through menopause safely, we must first realize that all the symptoms of menopause are physiological phenomena, so there is no need to panic and worry. Most women will gradually disappear in 1 ~ 2 years. Other family members, colleagues and neighbors should also be fully considerate and give sincere comfort, and don't nag because of the emotional changes of menopausal women. Menopausal women should take part in more group activities and increase interpersonal communication. In addition, menopausal sexual life helps to delay sexual aging, maintain a good state of mind, and also has the effect of relieving symptoms.
Here are some self-care measures that can help you get through menopause safely. Just try it.
1. Wear more layers of clothes, preferably cotton products inside. If there is hot flashes, undress outside. In addition, at the beginning of hot flashes, drink a glass of cold water or iced juice.
2. Wear cotton pajamas to keep the bedroom cool. Put more sheets on the bed. Wet the sheets in hot flashes and you can take them off.
Pay attention to diet, don't drink, don't eat spicy food.
4. Keep exercising. Some women find that keeping exercising can reduce the influence of hot flashes and help them sleep.
5. Eat more tofu. Beans contain a substance that belongs to estrogen, which may help relieve symptoms such as hot flashes. You can also drink cold soybean milk at the beginning of hot flashes.
6. Be patient. The symptom of menopause is "rabbit tail-it can't grow". It will gradually disappear in 3-5 years at most.
7. Deal with vaginal dryness. Decreased libido seems to be related to vaginal dryness. Because vaginal dryness can cause sexual pain. There are vaginal lubricating creams on the market, some containing estrogen and some water-soluble ones without estrogen, which can lubricate the vagina and solve the problem of vaginal dryness during sexual intercourse.
From a health point of view, some symptoms of menopause are not a big problem. More important is the long-term health effects after menopause. Today, women have at least 30 years after menopause. These 30 years can be very healthy and happy. However, due to the obvious decrease of estrogen level in the body, the risk of two health-threatening diseases has increased significantly. One of them is heart disease. Before menopause, few women died of heart disease. After menopause, the number of women who died of heart disease began to increase. By the age of 75, the probability of heart disease for men and women is basically the same. At the age of 65, almost the same number of women died of heart disease and cancer. By the age of 75, heart disease has become the main killer of women. Another major health threat after menopause is osteoporosis. Osteoporosis can lead to fractures and seriously affect the quality of life of women in their later years. Women's bone mineral density is not as high as that of men from birth, and the rate of bone loss after menopause is also faster than that of men. This is why many women will get osteoporosis after the age of 65. Therefore, it is important for women to recognize these risks and start prevention before menopause. Good hygiene habits are the best way to prevent heart disease and osteoporosis.