Judy Blume’s novel about early female puberty, Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, depicts a group of 12-year-old girls eagerly willing their first periods to arrive, impatient to be in on the unfathomable mystery of monthly bleeds. Little do they know that the mysteries surrounding their ovaries and wombs will only ever deepen, in ways unique to each of them. The mood swings, the cramps, the headaches, the pimples, the energy dips, the secretions, the libidinous peaks and troughs – right up to the perimenopause. Doctors won’t be much help, because there is scant precise science on much of this.
And then, at about 50, when the ovaries have run out of eggs, it all goes quiet. I have heard middle-aged women express profound relief at reaching this moment. But what if the ovaries didn’t go quiet for another decade, or ever? Making this happen is being hailed as the next frontier in women’s health: to delay or avoid menopause and, in doing so, curtail the increased health risks associated with it.
