What is menopause?

Everyone knows that women will have menstruation during puberty and will face menopause when they reach menopause. So what exactly is menopause? Do all women go through menopause at a certain period of time?

Menopause refers to the last menstruation in a woman's normal physiological process. Menopause refers to the period when the ovarian function further declines and finally disappears. The ovaries stop ovulating every four weeks. Menopause usually occurs when women are 45-55 years old, and at this time, the ovaries can be permanently removed by surgery. According to foreign statistics, the risk of death for women who menopause before the age of 40 is 39% higher than that of women who menopause at 40-44 years old, 60% higher than that of women who menopause at 45-49 years old, and 95% higher than that of women who menopause at 50-54 years old. Therefore, understanding the various factors that affect menopause and delaying the age of menopause are issues that cannot be ignored in the health care of middle-aged and elderly women.

The most important factor that determines the age of menopause in women is the number of oocytes. When a baby is born, each ovary has about one million oocytes, and the number of oocytes continues to decrease after birth. When the number of oocytes decreases to a critical number, menopause will occur. So far, the mechanism that controls or regulates the rate of oocyte reduction has not been fully understood, but the following factors are obviously related to the early or late menopause.

It is generally believed that chronic wasting diseases, metabolic and endocrine diseases, tumors, mumps complicated with oophoritis, etc. can all cause ovarian dysfunction, abnormal secretion of hormones such as adrenal cortex, thyroid gland, pituitary gland, etc., leading to early menopause. In addition, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and some autoimmune diseases can also cause ovarian dysfunction and menopause prematurely. It has a lot to do with nutrition and age.