SOCIETY takes a keen interest in womenās bodies, especially during their fertile years. Yet when the menopause comes around, the conversation goes quiet. Aside from trivial quips about hot flushes and āthe changeā, menopause remains taboo.
This isnāt simply men skirting around the issue. A recent found that half of UK women go through the menopause without consulting a doctor. Why? Over a third of them believed it was something they just had to put up with. If women suffer in silence, itās unsurprising that many are blindsided by the severity of their symptoms, especially problems with memory and concentration.
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New research into these symptoms provides a wake-up call that menopause amounts to a lot more than hot flushes. The changes echo some of those seen later in life, in both men and women, as the brain succumbs to Alzheimerās (see āHow menopause and Alzheimerās change the brain in similar waysā).
Rather than being depressing news, the findings should lead to menopause and its attendant health problems being taken more seriously. They may even be a cue for more grown-up conversations about a phase of life that affects us all, one way or another.
This article appeared in print under the headline āWelcome changeā
