To send a link and summary of this article to a friend, click here . Others barely notice that it s happening. Either way, as the century turns, more women all over the world will go through the change than at any other time in history. Menopause is not really a single event but rather a process that can last a decade or longer. The average woman has her last period between the ages of 48 and 52, but menopausal changes actually begin much earlier.
Women often notice changes in their cycles when they re in their early forties or even before then.
It s during this time, known as perimenopause, that the ovaries gradually slow their production of the female hormone estrogen and that a woman begins to notice the effects this has on her body. It may be because some women experience more drastic drops in their estrogen levels than others do, says Margo Woods, D.Sc., associate professor of community health at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. Dr. Woods is doing research on the effects of soy on menopausal symptoms. Asian women, who have lower estrogen levels before menopause than Western women, experience less drastic drops in estrogen, which may be one reason that they report fewer menopausal symptoms, says Dr. Woods. Many researchers feel that diet may influence menopausal symptoms.