When menopause occurs before thirty-five, it is technically considered premature menopause, but just as menarche is genetically predetermined, so is menopause. For an average woman with an unremarkable medical history, what she eats or does in terms of activity will not influence the timing of her menopause. In any event, the average age of menopause is fifty.
Smokers also tend to have earlier menopause.
The Stages of Natural Menopause Socially, the word menopause refers to a process, not a precise moment in the life of your menstrual cycle. The events preceding and following menopause amount to a huge change for women both physically and socially. The term premenopause ideally refers to women on the cusp of menopause. Their periods have just started to get irregular, but they do not yet experience any classic menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes or vaginal dryness. If your doctor tells you that you're premenopausal, you might want to ask him or her how he or she is using this term.