Hormones rule human life, especially the life of a woman. As inevitable as puberty menopause will come at some point in your life and you will go through the hormonal changes once again. Menopause means that your body does not produce hormones estrogen and progesterone which are hormones responsible for your reproductive system to function. It means that your child bearing years are behind you. Menopause can occur at different ages (from 30 to 60) and it is mostly determined by hereditary factors.

Menopause consists of 4 stages:

*Premenopause: you periods are getting irregular but no more symptoms are present.

*Perimenopause: you have highly irregular periods and the whole array of other symptoms.

*Menopause: you don't have your periods anymore but general symptoms of menopause are there. Usually menopause is declared if you did not have your periods for one year period. After that any vaginal bleeding is considered abnormal and needs doctor's attention.

*Postmenopause: you are free of symptoms and for the rest of your life.

Symptoms associated with menopause are plenty but not every woman will experience all of them. Most of them are caused by decrease in estrogen which influences hypothalamus, brain part responsible for temperature regulation, sex drive, sleeping patterns and appetite control. Let's look at the most common symptoms of menopause.

*Hot (cold) flashes.

The feeling of burning all over and flushing face is a symptom almost every woman (up to 85%) will experience during menopause. Decreasing levels of estrogen mistakenly signal to hypothalamus that body is overheating so command to get rid of heat is given and, in turn, results in a "hot flash". Sometimes though it is an opposite reaction and you experience a "cold flash" when you feel clammy and chilling.

*Night sweats and insomnia.

Up to 40% of menopausal women experience trouble sleeping and about 75% have night sweats. The cause is the decline in estrogen levels causing adverse reaction from hypothalamus. Night sweats are usually more profound than hot flashes and younger women are more likely to have them than older ones. Night sweats can be so profound that they cause sleep interruption but insomnia may not be connected to night sweats and manifest in inability to fall asleep or waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to fall asleep anymore for few hours.

*Loss of sexual drive (libido) and vaginal dryness.

About 40 to 60% of menopausal women experience those symptoms

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