Menopause: How care and hot flashes affect each other

People with ovaries experience menopause sooner or later. Your body produces less of the sex hormone progesterone, while estrogen levels fluctuate greatly. Around 85 percent of them experience more or less intense symptoms: from hot flashes to sleep and concentration problems to depression and massive exhaustion.

These symptoms often intensify in the years surrounding menopause, which falls on average around the age of 51. This is also an age at which many of them are looking after relatives.

A Japanese cross-sectional study examined how social environment, work behavior and lifestyle affect menopausal symptoms. To do this, the researchers selected 1,980 biological women between the ages of 45 and 56 who were in perimenopause - this is the time when hormones change until one year after the last menstrual period. In addition to various data such as body mass index (BMI) and occupation, the severity of menopausal symptoms was also recorded.

Since the measured symptom severity is based on a subjective assessment of the participants, middle-class office workers are overrepresented and it is only a snapshot, the study is only representative to a limited extent and no causality can be derived.

Nevertheless, the result is striking: responsibility for care goes hand in hand with greater discomfort. Those study participants who cared for older relatives outside their own household were around two and a half times as likely to have moderate to severe symptoms as women without care responsibilities.

For comparison: an increased BMI was associated with a 75 percent higher frequency of such symptoms, and unemployment with a 58 percent higher frequency. Only 1.5 percent of those surveyed interrupted their work for an hour or took sick leave because of their complaints. In a previous British study, the figure was 30 percent - but three quarters of them felt uncomfortable telling their bosses the cause of their symptoms.

The results are also interesting given that an estimated 75,000 women* in Japan give up their jobs for care work every year. According to the scientists, this number could be reduced if there was a greater understanding of menopause in the workplace and adequate support was provided.

Their suggestions: employer-sponsored health programs, flexible work arrangements and widespread education of society and managers about menopause.