Menopause

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Trigger warning – post discusses menopause, references death by suicide.

Today is World Menopause Day. Held every year on 18 October the first World Menopause Day took place in 2009. Initiated by the International Menopause Society (IMS), the day is designed to raise awareness of menopause, and work to improve women’s experience of this stage of life.

Education

Each year is themed differently, to share information, celebrate developments in managing menopause, and press for further research and education. At middle school in the 1970s/80s, we were taught basic human biology, including reproductive systems. As teenagers our secondary school learning focussed on how not to have children. Nowhere was there mention of menopause, or its precursor – perimenopause. In fact, it wasn’t until 2020, following years of campaigning, that menopause education became a mandatory part of the Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) Curriculum.

A generation of women are reaching their 40s and 50s* underprepared for the huge health and lifestyle implications of menopause. Medical support remains patchy, subject to local budgets and individual expertise. Improving menopause education among GPs is one of the aims set out by Menopause Support, who were behind the campaign to introduce menopause education to the national curriculum.

World Menopause Day 2025

This year’s World Menopause Day theme is lifestyle medicine in menopausal health.

Menopause is not a disease, but it can bring symptoms and health risks that need personalised care. This year’s White Paper shows strong evidence that lifestyle medicine – healthy eating, regular activity, good sleep, emotional wellbeing and supportive relationships – can make a real difference. Together with other evidence-based treatments when needed, these approaches give women the tools to make informed choices and feel strong and well through this stage of life.

Prof. Rossella Nappi, IMS President

Lived Experience

As part of Generation X, I am in the cohort which generally learn as we go in respect of perimenopause and what comes next. The internet offers access to significantly more information than our mothers had. Some GP surgeries have menopause practitioners who offer support, albeit often in some form of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). I didn’t know until after the event that HRT can interfere with the efficacy of anti-depressants. Having been burnt badly by combining incompatible chemicals I am reluctant to try again, which leaves limited options.

Previous posts have discussed my own mental health and in fact this post from 2023 spoke of a period during which HRT was impacting my state of mind. At the time, I didn’t know that the two were linked. The menopause contact at my GP surgery didn’t connect the two either. It wasn’t until I attended an online seminar with Dr Louise Newson that I was advised of the incompatibility.

Carrying The Load

Studies show that women in heterosexual relationships often carry a heavier load than their partners. This includes:

  • Cognitive labour – practical elements of managing the household, which might include arranging playdates, shopping for everybody, planning activities
  • Emotional labour – working to maintain household peace, worrying about how children are doing at school
  • Mental load – when cognitive and emotional converge, and women plan, anticipate, organise, and prepare what’s needed to make things run smoothly

A 2021 survey following Covid lockdown found that women were concerned gender equality had stalled, and feared it might be at risk of reverting to 1970s levels. Key findings were published in the Guardian newspaper in March 2021:

A UN Women report published in 2023 found the inequality might be slowing, but the trajectory suggested that by 2050 women in heterosexual relationships would still complete 2.3 hours per day more care work than men. The split was closer to 50:50 in same sex relationships, and tended to be based on individual strengths as opposed to societal expectations of roles.

Research into leisure time in 2015 found an increase (since 2000) in the gap between the amount of down time men take versus time taken by women. Men managed on average 43 hours of leisure time a week, compared to women’s average of 38 hours. The discrepancy was explained, in part, by women spending their down time on house management such as chores and childcare.

Talk About Menopause

So women already carry a significant burden. Then they reach a stage of life where things change dramatically – mentally and physically – but society expects them to carry on as usual. It is a life-altering time and for some, it’s too much to bear. The suicide rate for women is highest between the ages of 45 and 55. Over the last twenty years this rate has increased. And as noted in the footnote, this is the average age range for women reaching menopause. Surely not a coincidence.

The age range also accounts for women in the sandwich generation. That is to say those women between 45 and 65 who have caring responsibilities for parents and children, and are juggling these alongside career and household demands. This leaves very little time for self care. Something, or rather, someone has to give. The account here by Pete, of losing his wife to suicide, is a hard read. It is not an isolated incident.

By 2030 estimates suggest that 1.2 billion women worldwide will be experiencing perimenopause, menopause, or post-menopause. The former can last several years in the lead up to menopause. Symptoms are similar, but a woman’s monthly cycle continues. When 12 months have passed with no cycle, menopause is reached. After this, women are considered post-menopausal.

At some point we will all interact with somebody who is going through the stage of life. Society needs to be better educated about this transitional time of life for women. This must start at school and extend to the medical profession, workplaces, and the home.

The menopause is a significant change in a woman’s life. But it should not be the end. Society owes women so much more than that.

Help

It’s not easy to ask for help, especially when it can be hard to describe a state of mind, or explain daily experiences. Support is available though, and a few key numbers are listed below:

 

*Taking the typical range for women to reach menopause as being 45-55 years, with an average age of 51.