Adventures at Midlife

WARNING! POSSIBLE TMI ALERT! Musings on starting a period yesterday, at age 56, after six months of no-shows and actually getting my HOPES UP:

• A study from Norway shows that the older a woman stops menstruating permanently, the longer she lives. Women who go into menopause later than age 52 live longer than those who go into menopause earlier.

• For unknown reasons, having a first period at a young age and going through menopause at a late age seem to put women at a slightly higher risk for developing endometrial cancer.

• Nulliparous (childless) women and women who went through menopause later in life had significantly less cognitive decline. These results suggest that greater lifetime exposure to endogenous estrogen may be associated with less age-related cognitive decline.

• Having a late menopause usually runs in families, but it can also happen if you are overweight.

• Unfortunately late menopause can raise new health concerns or still cause menopause symptoms, resulting from the body’s decreasing production of hormones. Osteoporosis and heart disease are the most serious potential health concerns of the late menopause years.

Kill me now.