Post-menopause: an evidence-based, silver-lined outcome

IPause committee member Susan Bradley (Marks & Clerk) writes:

Articles and studies covering negative aspects of menopause are everywhere. From hot flushes to brain fog, from vaginal dryness to mood swings, the long list of symptoms a woman may have to suffer during peri- and post-menopause is enough to keep anyone up at night (sleep problems are of course another potential symptom).

While it is of course helpful to be prepared, and to seek support and relief for symptoms when they occur, I believe it would be equally helpful to hear more said about the more positive aspects of menopause.

What might these positive aspects be? For a start, there are certain things which will disappear from your life. No more periods, for example; no more PMT, or associated headaches and tiredness; no further need for contraception, with its potential health risks for some. Some health conditions, such as dysmenorrhoea, and uterine fibroids, can improve.

And of course there is the possibility of a generally more spontaneous life: sex without risk of pregnancy; holidays and events with no worries about “time of the month”; wearing what you like, when you like; no more carrying period products and  painkillers around.

But perhaps more importantly, post-menopausal working women are likely to have other advantages. Greater financial security, reduced child-care responsibilities, and more “me time”; increased confidence, a deeper understanding of what you want from life, and generally being more comfortable in your own skin, are all positive aspects reported by women who have “transitioned” through menopause.

A 2017 report produced for the UK’s Department of Education (1) on “The effects of menopause transition on women’s economic participation in the UK” went as far as to argue that there are “Few studies acknowledging that transition might be positive. The evidence base pays a lot of attention to the symptoms of transition and their problematic effects on work … This could perpetuate negative stereotypes about mid-life women and their economic participation. Only [a handful of studies] recognise the potentially positive effects of transition on women’s careers.”

Studies which accentuate the positive are out there, and some have been out there for a while. A 2001 paper from Lotte Hvas (2), at the Panum Institute, University of Copenhagen, is entitled “Positive aspects of menopause – A qualitative study”. This report was undertaken as part of a larger study, ‘‘Menopause described from the woman’s perspective’’, and aimed to explore “whether women have any positive experiences in relation to menopause, and if so, the nature of these experiences.”

Three hundred and ninety-three 51-year-old Danish women were asked an open-ended question about their experience of “menopause and change of life”. Hvas, as a female researcher, then in her mid-forties, was interested in their views because she was curious about the disparity between her impression of the lived experience of peri-menopausal women, and that described in medical literature and advertisements.

“In fact”, said Hvas, “the myth about the suffering, oestrogen-depleted menopausal women does not seem to be in agreement with the women I often see in general practice as well-being, good looking, healthy women often in the prime of life, even if some of the women, of course, do have symptoms.”

Some of these “good looking, healthy women often in the prime of life”, provided answers to the open-ended question about menopause which some might find surprising (and bear in mind this was pre-Davina), including my personal favourite: “‘I really experience some wonderful years just now’’.

Hvas ends her report with a warning: “As doctors involved in the counselling of menopausal women, we should be more aware of the images we create. If we always focus on severe symptoms and diseases later in life, we are taking part in creating a negative picture of the middle-aged woman, a picture that seldom corresponds to women’s own experiences. Instead of a traditional negative approach to this part of a woman’s life, and instead of focusing on risks, we should see this period from a broader perspective. By including positive aspects and women’s own resources, it might be possible to avoid medicalization dis-empowerment in this period of life.”

So how do we become more aware of the images we create? Perhaps we need to start looking for more positive representations of “transition” – but that’s easier said than done.

One example is artist Nicky Riding’s work (3), which seeks to challenge common perceptions of menopause; her sculpture “Gazebo” includes derogatory terms often used to characterise menopausal women, but also incorporates the wonderful phrase “Do you see me now?”

Another is Women in Sport and Getty Images Menopause curation (4), which challenges the way women going through the menopause are portrayed in society. “Women in midlife feel largely ignored, invisible and unimportant” says the website, “and this is particularly true when it comes to sport and exercise. They are rarely portrayed in the marketing and the delivery of sport and exercise, and this needs to change allowing women to see relatable and inspiring imagery that showcases the endless possibilities that sport can bring”.

More positive images of menopause, of women in the prime of their life, would certainly be nice. But there is at least some evidence to show that the images we create really do matter. For example, a 2017 study (5) of Turkish women by Nülüfer Erbil actually found that “Women with positive attitudes towards menopause had a more positive body image and they experienced lower depressive symptoms”.

If this is true, then we really need to stop thinking of menopause as about being “over the hill”, and start thinking about those confident, powerful and free women who are finally “at the top of the mountain”.

 

References

 

1. https://menopauseintheworkplace.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/menopause_report.pdf
2. https://lottehvas.dk/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/positive-aspects.pdf
3. https://www.dundee.ac.uk/stories/very-little-has-changed-student-using-art-challenge-perceptions-menopause
4. https://womeninsport.org/women-in-sport-x-getty-images-menopause-curation/
5. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2090506817300726

 

Page published on 8th July 2025
Page last modified on 18th July 2025