Know Your Health: Menopause

Menopause is a natural event in a woman's life and happens because a woman's ovaries start to run out of eggs. A woman has reached menopause when she has not had a menstrual period for one year. For most women in Australia, menopause happens between the ages of 45 and 55.

Menopause symptoms are different for all women. Most women will experience some symptoms before their menstrual periods permanently stop and these happen because of a drop in the female hormone oestrogen.

For every 10 women:

2 of these women will not have any symptoms,

6 will have some symptoms and

2 will have very bad symptoms which could interfere with their life.

Menopause can be a positive time in life. This short factsheet talks about what menopause is, the symptoms that women can experience and ways to manage the symptoms.