Is menopause a health problem? 

It is important to know that menopause is a normal biological process that happens to every woman and not a disease. The hormonal changes during this natural life development are caused by a drop in estrogen levels, which has specific impacts on your body and can affect the likelihood of you experiencing a number of conditions. 

This stage of life is an opportunity to understand more about your changing health risks and to make changes that can improve your lifespan and your healthspan (the length of time you are healthy, not just alive). This is why at NiaHealth we have specific recommendations for women around the perimenopause, which are the years leading up to menopause, so that we can help you understand your health in more depth during this time. Here we look at different aspects of menopause and how they relate to overall health.

What is the relationship between menopause, health and longevity?

Menopause is a process that is different for everyone. However, we do know that it is linked to changing health risks, and during this time it is helpful to give extra thought to health monitoring and management. 

There is research evidence that having the menopause later in life is associated with longer life expectancy, mainly due to the reduced risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), which includes heart attacks and strokes. We also know that women who experience menopause later in life have stronger bones and are at less risk of fractures. With this in mind, we can take action during the perimenopausal years to potentially increase overall health and lifespan.

What are the effects of menopause on health?

The most significant changes to health that can occur due to falling estrogen levels in menopause are an increase in CVD risk and a reduction in bone strength. We know that estrogen is protective against CVD, and for this reason women before menopause have a lower risk of CVD than men. As estrogen falls, there is an increased CVD risk in women which can have serious health implications. 

Similarly, we know that estrogen protects bone strength, and as estrogen levels fall bones can become more prone to fractures. 

Vasomotor symptoms during menopause such as hot flashes and night sweats are unpleasant and have the potential to affect your quality of life.  They can also impact the quality of your sleep and mood which can have indirect consequences for your long-term health risks. 

Another common symptom of menopause is joint pain, which can stop you from performing or enjoying physical activity. These symptoms are often highly treatable and should be taken seriously in order to optimize your health and wellbeing. 

Other impacts of menopause on health include reducing muscle mass and changing body composition, and there is good evidence that resistance training during this time can help to counteract these changes. Maintaining a good muscle mass during this time will help reduce your future risk of frailty, falls and fractures. 

How much does the menopause have to do with it really? 

The risk of health conditions such as CVD and osteoporosis increase with age in both women and men. It can therefore be difficult to separate which increasing risks are due to the process of aging and which are due to the hormonal changes associated with menopause. 

Studies in this field have concluded that changes in some indicators of greater health risk (for example, an increase in serum lipid levels) are more closely linked to menopause, whereas others (for example, hypertension) are more linked to the general aging process. Because research on the inter-linkage between these complex hormonal processes and normal aging is still developing, the best approach is to use this time in your life to identify, monitor and act on any risk factors that may be emerging or evolving. 

Staying on top of your health during perimenopause is crucial. To understand how we at NIA use a range of markers to make personalized recommendations that can help optimize health and wellbeing during perimenopause and improve long term risk profiles, have a look at our sample dashboard here. 

Sources

• National Institute on Aging: https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/research-explores-impact-menopause-womens-health-and-aging
• American Heart Association: https://www.heart.org/en/news/2023/02/20/the-connection-between-menopause-and-cardiovascular-disease-risks
• Ossewaarde ME, Bots ML, Verbeek AL, et al. (2005). Age at menopause, cause-specific mortality and total life expectancy. Epidemiology, 16(4):556-562. doi:10.1097/01.ede.0000165392.35273.d4
• Bittner V. (2009). Menopause, age, and cardiovascular risk: a complex relationship. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 54(25), 2374–2375. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2009.10.008
• Matthews, K. A., Crawford, S. L., Chae, C. U., Everson-Rose, S. A., Sowers, M. F., Sternfeld, B., & Sutton-Tyrrell, K. (2009). Are changes in cardiovascular disease risk factors in midlife women due to chronological aging or to the menopausal transition?. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 54(25), 2366–2373. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2009.10.009

All the views expressed here are based on careful research conducted by the research team at Niahealth. However, in some places we have omitted certain details for the sake of clarity and simplicity. If you have any questions about our research or the content of this blog email our head of research Dr Robin Brown at: robin@niahealth.co