10 Symptoms of Menopause and Perimenopause
All women experience menopause differently; you may have all or some of these issues to varying degrees.
Menopause can arrive with a host of symptoms. Most women experience at least some of these menopausal symptoms — typically when they are in their late forties or in their fifties, although it can occur earlier or later.
There is help available, so reach out to your doctor if any of these symptoms are causing problems for you.
1. Hot Flashes and Night Sweats
Hot flashes are the sudden feeling of intense warmth, usually around the face and upper body. Your face and chest may also turn red, and you can perspire heavily. Some women also experience a rapid heartbeat. When it ends, you might feel chilled.
Causes
Recognizing Symptoms of Perimenopause
2. Slowed Metabolism and Weight Gain
Causes
RELATED: 12 Ways to Beat Menopausal Belly Fat
3. Depression, Anxiety, and Mood Swings
Causes
- Estrogen fluctuation can bring on changes to your brain and nervous system that can affect mood. It can also interfere with sleep — lack of sleep can cause mood disturbances.
- This stage of life is a time of great change for women — they are winding down their childbearing and child-rearing years, facing midlife, a new body, and a new identity. Some may mourn what can now never be; others are anxious about the new stage to come.
- Stigmas against menopause and mental illness prevent many from getting help.
RELATED: Does Perimenopause Cause Depression in Midlife Women?
4. Insomnia and Sleep Disruptions
Menopause can wreak havoc on your ability to get some solid z’s — either you can’t fall asleep or you are waking up several times during the night.
Causes
- Levels of estrogen and progesterone, sleep-promoting hormones, are dropping.
- Night sweats; the sudden flash of heat and soaking sweat wakes you up. It may take a while to get back to sleep, especially if you have to change clothes and strip the bed.
- Depression and anxiety can both affect your sleep (see above).
5. Hair Loss and Brittle Nails
Many women experience thinning hair during menopause; some encounter an extreme form known as female pattern hair loss. Your nails may become ridged and brittle.
Cause
12 Ways to Beat Menopausal Belly Fat
6. Sexual Dysfunction, Desire Issues
Cause
The hormone drop causes vaginal walls to become thin, dry, fragile, and less flexible, a situation known as vulvovaginal atrophy. If the vagina also becomes inflamed (vagina becomes red and produces discharge), it is atrophic vaginitis. Along with the estrogen decrease, libido can be squashed by stress, depression, poor body image, and frustration over how long it takes to reach orgasm.
7. Bone Loss and Osteoporosis Risk
Cause
One of estrogen’s jobs is to protect bone health. When it depletes, so goes that benefit, leaving bones vulnerable to deterioration.
RELATED: Best Exercises When You Have Osteoporosis
8. Dry Skin and Other Skin Problems
If you are noticing that your skin is getting dry, slack, easily irritated, and thin, leading to the development of jowls and easy bruising, you are not imagining it. You may also develop acne and rashes, and find that wounds heal much more slowly.
Cause
9. Dry Eyes and Dry Mouth
Causes
10. Memory Issues and Problems With Concentration
Your cognitive function may go a little screwy. Words are harder to retrieve, you forget why you walked into a room, and darned if you know where your keys ended up. A Baylor University study confirmed that trouble with working memory and complex attention and vigilance is completely normal, and it isn’t permanent.
Cause
Resources We Trust
- Mayo Clinic: Menopause
- Cleveland Clinic: Postmenopause
- North American Menopause Society: Menopause & Me
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists: The Menopause Years
- National Women's Health Network: Aging Women
Editorial Sources and Fact-Checking
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Sources
- Menopause FAQs: Hot Flashes. The North American Menopause Society.
- Hot Flashes. Mayo Clinic. December 12, 2023.
- The Reality of Menopause Weight Gain. Mayo Clinic. July 8, 2023.
- Midlife Weight Gain….Sound Familiar? Ward Nutrition.
- Santosa S et al. Adipocyte Fatty Acid Storage Factors Enhance Subcutaneous Fat Storage in Postmenopausal Women. Diabetes. March 2013.
- Depression, Mood Swings, Anxiety. The North American Menopause Society.
- How to Protect Your Brain Health During Menopause. NewYork-Presbyterian.
- Han Y et al. Sleep Disorders and Menopause. Journal of Menopausal Medicine. December 2019.
- Rinaldi F et al. The Menopausal Transition: Is the Hair Follicle ‘Going through Menopause’? Biomedicines. November 14, 2023.
- Bravo B et al. Dermatological Changes During Menopause and HRT: What to Expect? Cosmetics. January 15, 2024.
- Caring for Your Skin in Menopause. American Academy of Dermatology Association. November 20, 2023.
- Pain With Penetration. The North American Menopause Society.
- West S et al. Prevalence of Low Sexual Desire and Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder in a Nationally Representative Sample of US Women. Archives of Internal Medicine. July 14, 2008.
- Postmenopause. Cleveland Clinic. October 5, 2021.
- Suri V et al. Menopause and Oral Health. Journal of Mid-Life Health. July-September 2014.
- Gorimanipalli B et al. Hormones and Dry Eye Disease. Indian Journal of Ophthalmology. April 5, 2023.
- Sliwinski J et al. Memory Decline in Peri- and Post-menopausal Women: The Potential of Mind–Body Medicine to Improve Cognitive Performance. Integrative Medicine Insights. August 3, 2014.