What is perimenopause?
Perimenopause is the period when a woman goes from a period of high fertility to a period of decline, which is commonly known as “menopause”. A woman, after 30-40 years of cyclical menstruation since puberty, enters perimenopause as her ovarian function begins to decline and her body’s original endocrine system becomes disrupted. Perimenopause can be generally divided into three stages: premenopause, menopause and postmenopause. The World Health Organization Study Group on Menopause has made the following comments on the definition of perimenopause and late menopause: 1. Perimenopause refers to the period before menopause when the endocrine activity of the ovaries decreases, fertility decreases, and the menstrual cycle changes and various symptoms begin to appear. 2. Menopause refers to the permanent cessation of menstruation caused by the loss of follicular activity in the ovaries. 3. The postmenopausal period is the period after the complete cessation of menstruation. Generally speaking, premenopause begins around age 45 and lasts for 2-4 years before entering menopause. Natural menopause lasts for 1 year before it is called menopause. Late menopause lasts 6-8 years. Therefore, the entire perimenopausal period is 8-12 years.
Perimenopausal syndrome refers to a series of syndromes caused by the gradual decline or loss of ovarian function during or after perimenopause, resulting in a decrease in estrogen levels, mainly due to metabolic disorders of phytochemical dysfunction.
Perimenopausal syndrome mostly occurs between the ages of 45-55. Generally, when menstrual disorders occur during the over-menopause, these symptoms already begin to appear and can last until 2-3 years after menopause, and only a few people can have their symptoms reduced or disappear only 5-10 years after menopause.
Perimenopause is a stage that every woman must go through, but the symptoms vary in severity and duration for each person, from mild to severe, which can affect work and life, and even develop into perimenopausal disease. It can last from a few months to several years. Although perimenopausal syndrome is characterized by many symptoms, it is essentially a process of endocrine changes that women must go through during their lifetime. What are the physical and psychological changes that occur during perimenopause? Due to the unstable vasodilator function during perimenopause, symptoms such as paroxysmal hot flashes, redness, sweating, etc.; and due to the decrease of estrogen during perimenopause: atrophy of reproductive organs, low vaginal discharge, local dryness and discomfort during intercourse, osteoporosis symptoms such as soreness of the back, limbs and joints, as well as dyslipidemia, hypertension, coronary heart disease and other diseases. The chances of malignant tumors occurring in perimenopausal women increase, and the common ones are cervical cancer, endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, etc. Changes involving mental and psychological aspects include emotional instability, irritability and suspiciousness, and significant recent memory loss.
In recent years, a condition known as occult menopause has emerged among working women. What is occult menopause?
What is occult menopause? Occult menopause occurs before the real menopause and is characterized by dysfunction of the plant nervous system, with symptoms such as physical and mental fatigue, weight gain, irritability and insomnia, dry skin, yellowing hair color, and menstrual disorders. The so-called vegetative nerves, both central and peripheral, cover the whole body, and their greatest characteristic is that they are not governed by the will, such as the speed of the human heartbeat, the up and down fluctuation of blood pressure, and the high and low body temperature, all of which are regulated independently without the control of the human will. This regulation is controlled by the vegetative nerve center, which can be affected by the internal and external environment and become dysregulated. Within recessive menopause, changes in the internal environment mainly refer to the decline in ovarian function and the decrease or sudden disappearance of hormone secretion levels, while changes in the external environment involve a range of issues such as work, life, study, and family. As a result of the internal and external environment, women in this age group will show various symptoms, such as skin loss and wrinkling, breast sagging, and body fatness. These phenomena can cause them psychological anxiety. Some women may have a sudden flush in public, followed by sweating all over the body. Some may feel tightness in the heart and have a fast heartbeat, thus suspecting that they have a heart attack.
There are several possible reasons for the appearance of occult menopause.
1. The age of menarche has advanced in modern women, averaging 12.5 years, whereas in primitive societies the average age of menarche for women is 19 years.
2. Fertility has decreased because the ovaries are not ovulating during the years of pregnancy and breastfeeding, which saves many follicles.
3. The accelerated pace of life, extreme mental stress, vitamin and trace element deficiency, reduced physical activity, together with obesity and chronic diseases, reduce the sensitivity of the primordial follicles to pituitary hormones, increase the number of atretic follicles and decrease the number of mature follicles, therefore, the age of menopause is advanced.
According to information from a questionnaire survey, 27% of working women in their 30s have varying degrees of occult menopause. This disease in which women experience ovarian decline and amenorrhea with low estrogen and high gonadotropin status before the age of 40 is called premature ovarian failure. The incidence of this disease in the general population is 1%-3%, but in the last decade the incidence has been increasing year by year and the trend is toward lower age.
Perimenopausal health care should focus on the following four aspects.
1, the correct understanding of perimenopause discomfort symptoms. The arrival of perimenopause is an irreversible natural law, we should take it in stride and maintain a good attitude, so as to reduce the symptoms of perimenopause, but also to facilitate family harmony.
2, adjust the diet structure, appropriate to increase the amount of activity.
Control the intake of high fat and sugar, while maintaining good exercise habits, which can help reduce the occurrence of cardiovascular disease. The protein contained in fish and shrimp is high quality protein, and protein is related to the repair of our body tissues and the maintenance of immune function. Beans contain isoflavones, a substance that acts as an estrogen-like hormone and can relieve perimenopausal discomfort. Many fiber-rich vegetables, such as bean sprouts, radishes, taro, seaweed, leafy vegetables, potatoes, cucumbers, and green peppers, help secrete digestive juices, increase gastrointestinal motility, and promote cholesterol excretion. Onion and garlic have good fat-lowering and food-assisting effects. Wood fungus and shiitake mushroom can strengthen the body and benefit the qi to help food. In addition, staple foods should be coarse and fine grains, to ensure the intake of B vitamins. Drink less coffee, caffeine can cause hot flashes because it dilates blood vessels. In addition, long-term coffee drinking is also a predisposing factor for osteoporosis. Perimenopausal women may develop edema and hypertension due to endocrine changes, so it is even more important to strictly limit salt intake, which should ideally be controlled at 3-5 grams per day. Due to low hormone levels, the calcium component of bone is lost in large quantities, so perimenopausal women are prone to osteoporosis, increasing the incidence of fractures. So you should eat more calcium-rich foods such as fish and milk, which not only contain high quality protein, but also rich in calcium. In addition, if you have a flushed face, panic and insomnia, you can eat some mulberry, lotus seeds, red dates and other calming food.
3, under the diagnosis and guidance of a professional doctor according to the need for appropriate and reasonable supplementation of estrogen. Because the ovaries exist in the middle of the pelvis and are only the size of a chestnut. Even professional gynecologists have difficulty touching the ovaries during gynecological examinations, and it is even more difficult to find its exact location on the body surface. There is no scientific basis for the massage methods used in beauty salons to maintain the ovaries.
4, correct view of perimenopausal depression, to do.
Know the essence, be prepared psychologically Correctly understand the causes of the disease, understand its clinical manifestations, be prepared psychologically in advance, even if early clinical symptoms appear, do not worry about it.
Women who are entering menopause should try to restrain their bad temper, keep their mind in balance, and arrange their personal life regularly.
The right amount of work and rest will help to smooth out the meridians, harmonize the blood and qi, and restore the balance of yin and yang.
Widen friendship, enrich personal life Appropriate participation in social activities, more social contact, more communication with others, more happy thoughts, can cultivate temperament, maintain a good state of mind.
Diet, pay attention to dietary conditioning Diet should not be partial, it is appropriate to eat easily digestible food rich in nutrients, and should be regular and quantitative.
In summary, due to the decline of ovarian function in perimenopausal women, there will be some uncomfortable symptoms and diseases, as long as the correct understanding, maintain optimism, pay attention to diet and exercise, and regular medical check-ups, will be relatively easy to pass the perimenopause, to prevent disease, the purpose of a long and healthy life.
Health is the most valuable wealth, I wish all women friends pay more attention to their health status, away from perimenopausal symptoms, so that youth and beauty permanent. The Chinese tradition has the saying of “not treating the sick to cure the sick” and “preventing the rainy day”, and prevention is the concept of modern preventive medicine. In order to raise the awareness of women’s health and optimize the quality of life, we need to ensure that women are in good physical and mental condition to study, work and live, so as to better serve the society and benefit mankind.