Understanding your body, stage by stage.
A general guide to how hormones tend to change across a woman’s life. Not a diagnosis, and not a universal timeline.
Every Stage
Explained by stage.
Every woman’s experience is different, and this is not a diagnosis or a universal timeline. But hormonal changes across adult life tend to follow some broad, well documented patterns. Understanding what is common at each stage can make it easier to notice when something is worth a closer look.
Early hormonal shifts
Oestrogen and progesterone can begin fluctuating years before any obvious signs of menopause. For some women this shows up as subtly disrupted sleep, changes in mood, or a cycle that becomes shorter or less predictable. Energy levels and skin can also shift gradually during this stage, often without one obvious cause.
General hormonal health→Perimenopause
Perimenopause may begin. Perimenopause is the lead-up to menopause, and when it starts varies widely from woman to woman. Cycles may become more irregular, and some notice changes in focus and memory often described as brain fog, alongside fatigue, shifts in weight distribution, disrupted sleep or changes in libido. These changes can be gradual and easy to put down to stress or a busy season of life.
Perimenopause→The menopause transition
Metabolism and bone health shift. As hormone levels continue to change, metabolic rate, cardiovascular risk factors and bone density can all be affected. Weight may become harder to manage through diet and exercise alone, and some women notice changes in cholesterol or blood pressure for the first time. Preventative checks tend to matter more from this stage, not because something is necessarily wrong, but because early patterns are easier to act on.
Metabolic health and weight→Post-menopause and beyond
Menopause and preventative care. Menopause is defined as twelve months without a period, and when it happens varies from woman to woman. Ongoing attention to heart, bone and metabolic health becomes especially important from this point, as the protective effects of oestrogen on these systems reduce.
Post-menopause→
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