It’s never too late: how to live better with menopause

‘It’s important to recognise what the body needs long term and not ignore the changes if they occur.’ Illustration: Lilian Darmono/The Guardian

As sure as the sun sets each day, every woman who enters her fifth decade will experience menopause, if she hasn’t hit it already. For this new life stage, the ovaries run out of eggs and no longer need to produce the hormones that prepare our bodies for making babies. But the effects reach far beyond reproduction.

“We call them sex hormones: our oestrogen, our testosterone and progesterone,” says Dr Peta Wright, a gynaecologist, “but it’s kind of crazy that we call them that because they actually have an effect everywhere in the body, which every woman who has gone through menopause, or in fact has a menstrual cycle, will be able to tell you about”.