Age-related health changes in women

Aging is inevitable. It’s a natural process we all go through, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t come with challenges! For women, these challenges are many and can impact overall quality of life. Understanding the health changes women face as they age and taking steps to mitigate their impact can make a huge difference.

Significant Health Changes in Women as They Age

The primary health change women face as they age is menopause which comes with significant hormonal shifts and a variety of symptoms. Menopause is the last big hormonal change over a lifetime of hormonal changes in women. From the menstrual cycle to, for some women, pregnancy and lactation, menopause is one last hormonal shift. Menopause is defined as when menstruation has ceased, usually defined as one year without a period. Before menopause, women go through perimenopause, a transitional period that lasts anywhere from a few months to a decade. Over this time, there are a variety of hormonal shifts and other changes.

Menopause and Hormonal Shifts

The production of estrogen and progesterone decreases: Most menopausal symptoms can be attributed to the decrease in estrogen. Hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, is a medication option that replaces the hormones estrogen and progesterone that women lose in menopause. HRT can minimize many of the symptoms of menopause.
Hot flashes: Caused by the hormonal shifts of this time of life, a hot flash is a sudden rush of warmth to the upper body. This often leads to a flushed look to the skin of the face and chest as well as sweating and a rapid pulse. Skin may be red and blotchy. Following a hot flash, many women feel chills due to the large temperature change. In some women, anxiety often accompanies a hot flash.
Night sweats: When hot flashes occur during sleep, night sweats can occur. Night sweats can be a significant sleep disrupter. The chills that often follow a hot flash may be more pronounced after night sweats.
Mood changes: The hormonal shifts of menopause can cause mood swings, with depression and anxiety being common even among women who have never struggled with mood before. Another common mood change of menopause is irritability. Difficulty concentrating and forgetfulness are also common.
Bone density loss: Because estrogen slows down the natural process of bone breakdown, its lack during menopause accelerates bone loss.

Menopause and Skin and Hair Changes.

Collagen production slows down: Collagen has a major impact on the health of skin, nails, and hair. Less collagen means our skin can become less supple and our nails and hair more brittle. Collagen supplementation can help mitigate this.
Wrinkles and fine lines: Due to the lack of adequate collagen, the structure and elasticity of skin suffers which leads to more wrinkles and fine lines.
Thinning hair: Thinning hair and hair loss in menopause is due to the hormonal fluctuations, the changes to collagen, and even the changes in metabolism and rates of blood flow to the hair follicle. For many women, the changes to hair on the scalp are often accompanied by an increase in unwanted hair on the face.

Menopause and Metabolism and Weight Management

Besides estrogen and progesterone, HGH is declining: Human growth hormone, or HGH, is another hormone that declines during menopause. HGH plays a significant role in metabolism, bone health, skin health, and weight management. Find out more details about HGH for women. To start HGH therapy, you need to have blood tests and get a prescription.
Metabolism naturally slows down: Aging slows down metabolism for everyone. But for women, the hormonal fluctuations make the slowdown of metabolism even more pronounced. Slow metabolism can make weight management difficult.
Muscle mass decline: Like with metabolism, a decline in muscle mass with aging is universal. Muscle atrophy is caused by the body’s inability to produce the same amount of proteins.
Increased abdominal fat: Abdominal fat tends to increase in menopausal women due the hormonal changes compounded with slower metabolism and the effects of many menopausal symptoms.

Menopause and Bone Health

Women are more susceptible to osteoporosis: Estrogen has a huge impact on bone health. When estrogen levels decrease, bones become more fragile and less dense.
Reduced estrogen levels accelerate bone density loss: Estrogen drives bone metabolism. With less estrogen,bone density loss happens because there is less bone growth.
Lower nutrient absorption: Menopause lowers the efficiency of nutrient absorption in the gut. This means that eating the same foods doesn’t result in the same nutrition. This is especially problematic and concerning for menopausal women as nutrients also impact bone health, weight management, muscle growth, and more.

As women age, they face a number of health changes. While many of these changes are cause for concern, they can generally be well-managed. Whether through medication, supplementation, diet, or exercise, aging women have a great deal of control over how aging impacts overall health. Fill out the form for more details about HGH.