If someone asked you what stage of life you are in, what would you say?
Many of us simply think of life stages as childhood and adulthood. Some women might think of menopause. But can our lives really be summed up in these two or three basic categories?
Throughout our lives, we experience dramatic changes and important milestones. From the day we are born, we are constantly learning, growing, and developing, and this also applies to our bodies and their hormonal balance.
Similarities and differences in hormonal cycles
Men and women have relatively the same basic hormones in their bodies - but the levels differ, often enormously, and the way in which the levels change is also very different.
Although men and women both have a hormonal cycle, the male cycle lasts 24 hours, while the female cycle lasts an average of 28 days - the menstrual cycle.
Due to the normal fluctuations during the menstrual cycle, women often experience physical symptoms that are much less common in men, such as mood swings, breast tenderness, migraines, and water retention.
The female cycle is much more complex than the male, meaning that a woman is likely to feel differently week to week depending on where she is in the cycle, compared to men who feel differently at different times of the day.
In this article, we want to explore the phases of a woman's life and describe them beyond the 28-day cycle.
Infancy and childhood
Infancy and childhood are considered the first two stages of a girl's life. While important milestones such as walking and talking are achieved, hormonal influences are minimal.
Puberty and adolescence
Puberty is the time when most children and their parents notice changes in their bodies and brains. In girls, it is often associated with the first period. On average, periods start around age 12-13, but this varies greatly when factors such as ethnicity, social class, and diet are taken into account. 200 years ago, the average age was 16.5 years. This is still the case in Senegal and Nepal. Regardless of the age at which periods start, it usually takes a few years for the body to get regular periods. Early periods are often light and irregular, rarely causing cramps. In the middle teens, moodiness, cramps, and migraines begin to appear. Bleeding becomes heavier and more regular. In general, the length of the cycle changes with age.
Interesting fact:
Did you know that most women menstruate for about 40 years of their lives? (That's about four times the average length of a marriage, by the way.)
adulthood
Many women pay attention to their habits, such as a healthy diet, when they are pregnant. This is good and right. However, lifestyle is important for women's health, regardless of their desire to have children.
Good advice is to follow general recommendations, such as being active and choosing complex carbohydrates, high-quality fats, and lean protein. However, it's even better if women receive personalized recommendations and additional guidance, such as with the Hello Inside app for blood glucose monitoring.
As women approach their forties, they may find that their cycle starts doing its own thing: 28 days, 40 days, 21 days, 75 days, etc.
Bleeding may become heavier or almost stop completely during the first two days.
Welcome to perimenopause!
(Peri-)menopause or menopause:
Menopause is an experience that all women go through at some point in their lives. Menopause occurs when a woman stops having a period for 12 months.
After this time, women are considered postmenopausal, which can last up to a third of their lives. Before menopause, there is peri-menopause.
This can last from a few months to many years, but is usually 7-8 years.
Unlike menopause, it is not always obvious when a woman is going through perimenopause, and the symptoms can be attributed to something else.
During perimenopause, women increasingly experience periods in which they do not ovulate. These are called anovulatory cycles.
During perimenopause, sex hormones don't decline gradually and linearly, allowing women to prepare for it. Rather, they fluctuate during their decline. This ups and downs contributes to the often unpredictable physiological symptoms women experience during this time: hot flashes, headaches, sleep disturbances, low libido, and low mood.
However, not all women suffer from these symptoms, and some women cope well with menopause. Until menopause, however, women are relatively well protected against heart disease—similar to men of the same age. After menopause, however, the risk of heart disease increases. This is also the point at which the traditional risk factors for heart disease in women begin to trend in the wrong direction:
- Women exercise less after menopause.
- Women often gain weight.
- The distribution of body fat shifts from the hips and buttocks to the abdominal area.
- Blood pressure increases more in women after menopause than in men.
Now you know how the female body changes and the cornerstones of female health and fertility. A woman can influence much of this through her lifestyle, and controlling her blood sugar is beneficial at every stage of life. This is also a good reason for you to check your blood sugar levels regularly, as your hormones, microbiome, and lifestyle factors and influences change over time—and with them, your health and what your body actually needs. We recommend checking your body and conducting a few blood sugar experiments about once every quarter.
