What World Menopause Day Might Mean For You

Today, at time of writing, it’s World Menopause Day, and here are two things that are both true:

• We at 10almonds are aware that our readership skews firmly into the “menopausal women” demographic (and indeed, your writer here is a middle-aged woman on HRT), and so we generally write with that in mind, writing content that is going to be most relevant to our core audience, while hopefully also having something for everyone.
• However, it’s easy to lose sight of the wood for the trees if we’re not careful. Let’s say for example: we write about osteoporosis, we write about heart health, we write about avoiding cognitive decline, we write about many things that menopause can make more relevant, without necessarily always coming back to how or why that is so. And without that attention, sometimes it can be possible to become complacent. So let’s not do that.

So, what was that about menopause and heart health?

Not nearly so well-known as the association between untreated menopause and osteoporosis, untreated menopause also has a big influence on heart disease risk.

And, to be clear, not a good influence.

This is important, as cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke, is the leading cause of death in women, yet (per a recent US survey) only 4 in 10 recognize it as their greatest health threat, and the years around menopause are an important time to identify and address risk factors.

There are several ways that untreated menopause affects the risk, and here are some of the top ones:

• Changes in cardiovascular health: LDL cholesterol tends to rise and blood vessels can stiffen during the menopause transition, making it important to monitor blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and kidney health, even without a previous history of heart problems. Yet, many simply do not do these things, or don’t until it’s a lot later than they really could have done with knowing about them.
  • See for example: Menopause modulates the circulating metabolome: evidence from a prospective cohort study
• Sleep and heart rhythm in menopause: an estimated 1 in 4 women may develop atrial fibrillation during their lifetime after menopause, while stressful life events and insomnia are contributing factors, and depression and sleep disturbances have also been linked to increased heart disease risk, but untreated menopause is definitely a strong and very common factor.
  • See for example: Association Between Insomnia, Stress Events, and Other Psychosocial Factors and Incident Atrial Fibrillation in Postmenopausal Women
• Kidney health and long-term cardiac risk: menopause and aging can accelerate chronic kidney disease, which contributes to heart disease and stroke risk, making kidney health an important part of cardiovascular prevention.
  • See for example: Women’s kidney health may be overlooked in menopause, delaying critical prevention and treatment opportunities

Nor is it necessarily a good thing to which to turn a blind eye, for example:

• Earlier Menopause Linked To Faster Biological Aging
• Earlier Menopause Linked to Faster Cognitive Decline

Ok, but what can be done about it?

Well, that’s all about untreated menopause, so treating it can be an option worthy of consideration for many.

We’ve written about that quite a bit before, but here are some pointers by way of a “primer” for anyone who is just “tuning in” and/or otherwise missed them:

• How Old Is Too Old For HRT?
• What HRT Starting Age Means For Alzheimer’s Risk
• The HRT That Prevents Osteoporosis Without Side Effects
• What Menopausal HRT Does To Your Brain
• New Evidence: HRT Doesn’t Increase Cancer Risk Even If You Have The Genes For It
• Progesterone Menopausal HRT: When, Why, And How To Benefit
• Is It Worth Taking Testosterone In Menopause?
• Menopause, & When Not To Let Your Guard Down

Beyond that? It’s rarely a bad idea to keep on top of things in terms of getting your regular check-ups, and making sure that your vitals remain full of vitality. Ignoring them will not help!

Want to learn more?

For a much more in-depth treatment of the topic than we have room for here, consider this excellent book by an expert in the field—if you read just one menopause-related health book, we’d recommend that this be it:

Next Level – by Dr. Stacy Sims

Take care!