From Menstruation to Menopause: A Guide to Understanding and Support

At Adaptive, diversity, equity, and inclusion are about truly understanding and valuing the unique experiences of everyone in our community. That is why in this blog post, we’re diving into a topic that impacts many yet often goes unspoken: the journey from menstruation to menopause.

Inspired by insights from Kate Rowe-Ham and Dr. Nighat Arif shared at our 2023 DEI festival, we will explore the physical, emotional, and social impacts of these life stages. By drawing on their expertise, we aim to bring greater attention to this important topic, broaden understanding, foster open conversations, and offer practical ways to support those navigating these transitions.

Why This Matters to Everyone

Menstruation and menopause affect more than just women. They are human experiences that impact partners, families, friends, and workplaces. Whether you’re looking to better support a colleague, friend, loved one, or even yourself, understanding these transitions is key to fostering a compassionate and inclusive environment.

This guide aims to break down the process, outline common symptoms, and provide tips on how to offer meaningful support during each stage of this journey.

1. Menstruation: What You Should Know

Menstruation is a natural and recurring part of life for many individuals. It typically begins during puberty and continues until menopause, marking the end of a person’s reproductive years. This cycle involves the monthly release of an egg and the shedding of the uterine lining if pregnancy doesn’t occur. The duration and intensity of periods can vary for each person, typically lasting between five to ten days.

Symptoms

Symptoms of menstruation can vary widely, including:

• Physical Symptoms: Cramps, bloating, fatigue, sore breasts, acne, and headaches
• Emotional Symptoms: Mood swings, irritability, and difficulty concentrating

Tips to manage the symptoms

• Stay Hydrated: Drinking plenty of water helps reduce bloating, supports digestion, and can alleviate headaches and fatigue during your period.
• Eat a Balanced Diet: Consume iron-rich foods like spinach, beans, and lean meats to replace Iron that is lost during menstruation. Magnesium-rich foods such as bananas and nuts can help ease cramps and boost your mood. Did you know that dark chocolate can help too? Is it not a good excuse to eat some?
• Exercise Regularly: Engage in light to moderate activities like walking, yoga, or stretching to relieve cramps and boost endorphins. Gentle movement can also reduce bloating and overall discomfort.
• Track Your Cycle: Use a period-tracking app or calendar to monitor your cycle. This helps you prepare for symptoms and plan activities around your period. It’s also useful for tracking irregularities or patterns, providing valuable information for your gynaecologist if needed.
• Prioritize Rest: Fatigue is common, so aim for 7-9 hours of sleep to allow your body to recover during your period. Don’t hesitate to take breaks when needed.
• Manage Pain Effectively: If you experience severe cramps or headaches, over-the-counter pain relievers like ibuprofen can help. However, consult a healthcare provider if the pain is persistent or unusually severe, which may indicate an underlying issue. Remember, severe pain is not normal.

How to offer support

• Acknowledge the experience: Be open to conversations about menstruation. Normalizing these discussions helps break down the stigma and makes individuals feel seen and heard.
• Offer practical help: If a loved one or colleague is having a particularly tough period, offering small gestures such as bringing them a hot water bottle or giving them space to rest can go a long way.
• Respect individual needs: Some may want to discuss their symptoms, while others may not. Respect each person’s comfort level when discussing their cycle.
• Support your staff: Establish policies as a company that allows menstruating employees to take time off during particularly tough days. Menstruation can be physically taxing—whether due to pain, heavy flow, or discomfort—so it’s important to give people the space and support they need to recover.

Also, remember that menstruation isn’t limited to cisgender women. Trans men, nonbinary individuals, and genderqueer people may also experience it, making inclusive language and understanding crucial.

As individuals move through their fertility years, they navigate choices around reproduction, with hormones like estrogen and progesterone playing a vital role in regulating the menstrual cycle. However, as they approach their 40s, these hormone levels start to decrease, leading to significant changes.

2. Perimenopause: The Transition to Menopause

Perimenopause is the transitional phase before menopause, often beginning in the 40s, though it can start earlier.

Symptoms

During this time, hormone levels fluctuate, leading to symptoms such as:

• Physical Symptoms: Hot flashes, night sweats, weight gain, irregular periods
• Emotional Symptoms: Mood swings, anxiety, irritability, and brain fog.

Tips to manage the symptoms

• Prioritize Lifestyle Changes: Lifestyle adjustments such as a healthy diet, regular exercise, and self-care are essential for managing symptoms.
• Move for physical health: Exercise is critical for keeping the heart, muscles and bones strong. Engage in both cardiovascular and weight-bearing exercises to decrease the risk of heart disease and maintain bone density.
• Move for Mental Health: Exercise and movement can also help with mental health, reducing feelings of anxiety and depression. Encouraging movement every day, even small efforts, makes a big difference.
• Reduce Alcohol and Stress: Alcohol can exacerbate symptoms like anxiety and night sweats. Reducing alcohol intake, managing stress, and practising mindfulness are recommended.
• Have a Balanced Diet: Ensure your meals are protein-rich, diverse, and nutritious. Avoid extreme diets or cutting out entire food groups.
• Set Realistic, Small Goals: Rather than attempting large lifestyle overhauls, make small, achievable changes. Tiny tweaks, like walking more or setting reasonable exercise goals, can lead to sustainable improvements.

How to offer support

• Foster open communication: Ask how the person feels and how you can help. Avoid unsolicited advice and focus on being a supportive listener.
• Understand mood changes: Recognize that mood swings or irritability may be linked to hormonal fluctuations. Approach these situations with patience and empathy.
• Create a comfortable environment: If you’re in a workplace or social setting, ensure there are quiet spaces where someone experiencing hot flashes or fatigue can rest. Again, offering flexibility around schedules and policies, allowing them to take time off to recover when their symptoms are severe, is another great way to offer support.

It’s important to understand that these experiences can vary widely across different cultural contexts, for example, in some cultures, certain symptoms might be openly talked about and supported, while in others, they may be stigmatized or ignored. This variation can affect not only the individual’s experience of perimenopause but also how they seek help or manage their symptoms.

3. Menopause: A Life Stage, Not an Ending

Menopause is officially diagnosed after 12 consecutive months without a period and typically occurs in the late 40s to early 50s. However, the symptoms associated with menopause can last for several years.

Symptoms

• Physical Symptoms: Hot flashes, vaginal dryness, insomnia, migraines, hair thinning
• Emotional Symptoms: Memory issues, mood swings, feelings of low confidence

How to offer support

• Be patient and empathetic: Some people may experience significant changes in their emotional well-being. Offering a listening ear and avoiding judgment can make all the difference.
• Encourage self-care: Regular exercise, a balanced diet, and stress management techniques like meditation or yoga can help ease symptoms. You might suggest joining in on activities to make it a collaborative effort.
• Respect their needs at work: In a workplace setting, consider accommodations like flexible work hours or providing access to cool, comfortable environments to help those managing symptoms like hot flashes or fatigue.

For intimate relationships, addressing vaginal dryness or discomfort with compassion is crucial. Suggest products such as vaginal moisturizers or lubricants without shame or embarrassment.

Navigating Healthcare and Expert Help

These changes at all life stages can significantly impact one’s quality of life, making understanding and support from loved ones and colleagues all the more important.

When the symptoms of menopause or perimenopause become overwhelming, professional support may be necessary. Encouraging your loved one or colleague to seek medical advice is crucial, though navigating the healthcare system can be challenging:

• Encourage symptom documentation: Help them keep a record of symptoms and how they’ve managed them, which can be key when discussing treatment options with a doctor.
• Assist with appointment preparation: Offer help in booking appointments and suggest requesting a longer consultation to thoroughly address menopause-related concerns.
• Advocate for better care: If they visit a healthcare professional and receive responses like “this pain is normal” or “it’s part of being a woman,” encourage them to seek second or third opinions. Many symptoms of endometriosis are often dismissed as normal menstrual discomfort. On average, it takes about 7 to 10 years for women to receive a diagnosis after the onset of symptoms.
• Stay informed: Help them research reliable information and stay informed yourself to provide better support.

Conclusion: Fostering Empathy and Support

Understanding each of these stages in a woman’s life is essential for fostering a compassionate, inclusive community. Whether it’s supporting someone through the challenges of perimenopause or creating an environment where menstruation is openly discussed, we can all play a role in ensuring those around us feel supported.

At Adaptive, we are committed to encouraging important conversations and finding ways to improve everyone’s well-being. This includes, for example, openly offering time off for those going through a tough period or menopause. By creating supportive environments, we help ensure that everyone feels valued, understood, and empowered to thrive at every stage of life.

Speaker bio

Kate Rowe-Ham is a personal trainer and founder of Owning Your Menopause app, an online community created to help women navigate their way positively and confidently through this midlife stage.Having experienced her own debilitating symptoms and finding out how making lifestyle changes became the key to thriving, she’s passionate about educating women on the benefits of movement and diet and how they play a fundamental role in managing many of the symptoms associated with menopause.

Kate has also written the book “Owning Your Menopause: Fitter, Calmer, Stronger in 30 Days,” which is due for publication on 28th December.

Check out Kate’s website

Dr. Nighat Arif is a GP specializing in women’s health and an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Obstetrics & Gynaecology. With 17 years of NHS experience, she also runs her own private practice. Dr Nighat is also a medical broadcaster, and a content creator with YouTube Health and the WHO Fides network.In 2023, she received a Points of Light award from the Prime Minister for her work raising awareness of women’s health issues.

In 2024, she was awarded ‘Woman of the Year’ at the National Asian Achievers Award for her work around equity in healthcare. Dr. Nighat is the bestselling author of The Knowledge, your guide to female health from menstruation to menopause.

Check out Dr. Nighat Arif’s Youtube Channel