How do women face midlife ?

Coinciding with menopause, for many women, midlife is considered a complicated period of life in which several changes occur:

• Psycho-social and physiological changes [1].
• Menopausal related weight gain [2].
• Women are less likely to comply with physical activity recommendations, and when potentially deleterious effects of earlier health and lifestyle behaviours become apparent and chronic disease risk increases [3].

Some women face this phase with relief but many others face it with lots of negative emotions. The reason of this duality can be that the expectation and anticipation of these symptoms would make it easier for the first group [4].

So, taking this into account, we recommend knowing in advance the possible effects menopause could provoke in the organism so that women get mentally and physically prepared to face midlife.

Many thanks to Debra Anderson and Charlotte Seib [5] for their article published online on January, 2015. You can check it out by clicking here.

Photo taken by Marina Guimaraes

[1] Lawlor DA, Ebrahim S, Smith GD. The association of socio-economic position across the life course and age at menopause: the British Women’s Heart and Health Study. BJOG 2003;110(12):1078–87.

[2] Nejat EJ, Polotsky AJ, Pal L. Predictors of chronic disease at midlife and beyond the health risks of obesity. Maturitas 2010;65(2):106–11.

[3] Mishra GD, Cooper R, Kuh D. A life course approach to reproductive health: theory and methods. Maturitas 2010;65(2):92–7.

[4] Melby MK, Sievert LL, Anderson D, Obermeyer CM. Overview of methods used in cross-cultural comparisons of menopausal symptoms and their determinants: Guidelines for Strengthening the Reporting of Menopause and Aging (STROMA) studies. Maturitas 2011;70(2):99–109.

[5] Anderson D, Seib C. Does exercise alleviate menopausal symptoms in women? Maturitas 2015;80(1):1-2.