What are the physical and psychological characteristics of menopausal women?

  The physiological and psychological changes of menopause are closely related to the aging of the ovaries, which is mainly manifested by the decrease of follicles and changes in ovarian morphology and functional decline.  In women, there are about 700-2 million follicles at birth. Ovulation and atresia of follicles lead to a decrease in the number of follicles to only a few thousand by the age of 45, and by the time of menopause there are very few follicles left.  Both the reproductive and endocrine functions of the ovaries decline as the ovaries age. Reproductive function declines early, with women’s fertility beginning to decline between 30 and 35 years of age and declining significantly as they approach 45 years of age. Fertility, expressed as live birth rate, has been reported to decline by 50% at age 35 and 95% at age 45 in a natural population not using contraception compared to age 25.  The main endocrine changes are the changes in both estrogen and progesterone. The main estrogen in fertile women is estradiol, which decreases sharply until 1 year after menopause and then decreases slowly until 4 years after menopause, after which it remains at a very low level. The level of progesterone further decreases after menopause to about 1/3 of that of young women, and the level of androstenediol in the blood after menopause is only half that of women of childbearing age. The ovarian sex hormones decline significantly during perimenopause and do not form negative feedback to the hypothalamus and pituitary gland, so gonadotropin follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) are elevated. The decline in ovarian function, especially the decrease in estrogen levels, causes a series of physiological changes in menopausal women, mainly in the form of changes in the menstrual cycle until menopause, atrophy of the reproductive organs and the loss of secondary sexual characteristics.  The psychological changes of menopausal women are mainly as follows: 1. Psychological fatigue: Menopausal women are overburdened with long-term mental burden, which leads to psychological fatigue. They are always under the pressure of thinking, anxiety, fear, depression, and seem to be suffering from a kind of mental pain, and feel tired of living in work, career creation, interpersonal relationships and family roles, as well as the constant trade-off between career and family.  2, anxiety: This is a common emotional reaction to menopause. Lifelong or intermittent anxiety and tension for no reason, restlessness, or objectless and unexplained panic. There are a variety of autonomic nervous system dysfunction and somatic discomfort. Fidgeting, rubbing hands and stamping feet are common distinctive features of anxiety disorders.  3.Pessimism: depression and pessimism, emotional depression. There is a lot of concern about some of the symptoms that often follow menopause, and suspicion that their illness is very serious. Negative speech and behavior, sluggish thinking or a preference for gray memories, i.e., recalling some unpleasant events in life.  4. Changes in personality and behavior: These changes may include sensitivity, suspiciousness, selfishness, nagging, impatience and even insensitivity. Unexplained distractions, sometimes easily excited, sometimes sad, interpersonal relationships in the unit and social interactions are often inconsistent.  5, sexual psychological disorders: many menopausal women in menopause encountered menstrual disorders, vaginitis, painful intercourse and other performance, the negative psychology of sexual life, mistakenly believe that women’s menopause is the termination of sexual ability and sexual life. Some women mistakenly equate “menopause” with “menopausal desire”. This sexual psychological disorder suppresses their sexual physiological needs and aggravates sexual dysfunction, which not only prematurely terminates sexual life, but also easily causes mutual indifference and alienation between husband and wife, and deteriorates women’s mood.  Most of these symptoms and problems of menopausal women will disappear naturally with the gradual adaptation of the body and the re-establishment of balance in the internal environment. However, if we don’t pay attention to it and give vent to it in time, it will not only affect our physical and mental health, but also lead to psychological disorders and induce physical and mental diseases.