You may not have a period one month or for a few months. The amount of bleeding may be lighter or heavier or the number of days of bleeding changes. Eventually, the ovary produces no more estrogen and progesterone and menstrual bleeding stops completely. Hot flashes may last a few minutes to half an hour. They may happen once a week or several times a day.
Night sweats are hot flashes that occur at night and are sometimes severe enough to disrupt sleep.
Not all changes associated with menopause are apparent. Heart disease, osteoporosis and similar health problems are silent diseases that don't happen overnight. This is why it is important to help prevent these changes. In fact, heart disease kills many more women over age 50 than breast cancer and all other cancers combined. Before menopause, when estrogen levels are normal, women experience a lower heart attack rate than men.