The Millenopause has begun. Are you ready?
The first wave of millennial women are hitting middle age.
And in between trying to grow our careers, raise young children, support aging parents, foster healthy relationships, manage a cost of living crisis, sustain some level of physical and mental health, juggle the mental load (and that’s just the start of it), we’re now about to get slapped in the face with perimenopause which can upend it all. WTAF!?
Welcome to “the Millenopause”.
It’s a wild ride
We’ve all heard of menopause, which literally just means the pausing of menses. The end of periods (hurray!).
The average age of menopause is 51. But did you know “the menopause” is actually just one day?? One day of your life, when it’s been 12 months since your last period.
For most women, no one - not a doctor, a relative, a friend - has spoken of perimenopause, the period of anywhere from a few months to 15 years (!!!) before menopause, when oestrogen and progesterone production declines erratically and rockets some lives into complete chaos. Followed by post-menopause, when
85% of women will experience symptoms of menopause
15% have no symptoms
60% experience mild to moderate symptoms
25% have severe symptoms that interfere with daily life
“But so many in the menopause transition are blindsided by their experiences — finding themselves confused and lonely. Why?”
We can’t treat what we don’t discuss
GPs dismiss the symptoms (you’re too young!), a mother may have never shared her story (keep calm and carry on!) and it feels too intimate (sometimes even shameful) to talk to a friend about it. For something that effects 50% of the population, peri/menopause is still taboo.
This is not an “older woman” problem - if you take the average age of menopause at 51, and minus the 15 years before during which perimenopause symptoms can arise, it is perfectly reasonable for a 35 year old woman to be impacted by perimenopause.
And yet, this comes as a huge shock for so many of us. Or worse, it goes unrecognised as women see the signs of perimenopause but don’t yet understand the reason for our anxiety, depression, fatigue, weight changes, insomnia and over 30 other symptoms.
Yes, the menopause transition is a natural aging process, but that doesn’t mean we have to suffer. It shouldn’t be dismissed as something people should just endure without help because it’s ‘natural’. Osteoporosis is age-related bone loss, but we still treat it. And no one bats an eye when men seek treatment for hair loss and erectile dysfunction.
It’s time to talk about peri/menopause. It’s time to get the treatment we deserve.
Menopause, the millennial way
And now, it’s our turn. Today, there are 2.7million millennial women in Australia, currently aged between 28 and 43. Over the next 10 years, 85% of these women will experience symptoms of perimenopause.
But millennial women are not willing to settle when it comes to our health. We are the #wellness generation of green smoothies, HIIT classes, strong not skinny, ice baths. And we’ve demanded more when it comes to our uteruses, hormones and mental health, whether that’s better awareness and treatment for PCOS, endometriosis, freezing eggs, fertility testing, and reducing the stigma around post natal anxiety and depression.
The next frontier is peri/menopause. But as the first wave of millennial women enter peri - we are not ready.
So what now?
We believe the millennial generation of women will have a completely different experience of menopause - where the focus is on wellbeing and longevity. We’re engaged, actively managing, monitoring, discussing and learning about our health. We want more, demand more, deserve more. To have a better experience of menopause than our mothers did.
But it’s not going to happen by accident. That’s why we’re building Celestial Health.
We believe that every woman should feel informed and empowered about peri/menopause, and have easy and affordable access to the care and treatment that is right for them.
