Menopause happens when the menstrual cycle disappears due to the disappearance of estrogen and progesterone. It is usually the body’s way of maintaining equilibrium. It is also the body’s way of ending the woman’s fertility. Progesterone is the hormone that aids the most in a woman getting pregnant. Menopause has four different stages to it: premenopause, perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause. Premenopause is the majority of a woman’s life, this is when she is fertile and able to become pregnant. Perimenopause is the transitional stage into menopause. It lasts anywhere from two to ten years and women are usually around 35-50 years old. Hormone fluctuation happens a lot during this phase. Menopause is when estrogen and progesterone completely diminish and the female is no longer able to become pregnant. Postmenopause is just that, after menopause has completely ended. It is thought to happen when there are twelve consecutive months without a cycle. Some symptoms of menopause are hot flashes, weight gain, hair growth, mood swings, and an increased risk in heart disease. There’s not an actual “treatment” for menopause, but there are ways to treat the symptoms and ways to treat the health symptoms. Diet, exercise, medication or hormone replacement therapy are all ways of helping to subside the symptoms of menopause. They are all not full proof ways to help though. Hormone replacement therapy can increase the risk for heart attack, stroke and cancer. Lastly, andropause is aging male syndrome. One thing to remember is that just because men reach this phase in their lives, they never actually lose fertility. Some symptoms include loss of sex drive, irritability, loss of energy, bone and hair loss, and erectile dysfunction. Menopause is a part of life and everyone should, men included, should remember the different symptoms and what can go wrong in that phase of a woman’s life. What menopause basically boils down to is a lack of two different hormones, estrogen and progesterone. It is during this third phase (menopause) that the woman becomes unfertile. Premenopause is the entire life cycle in the woman’s life when she can have children. Perimenopause is simply the transitional stage between premenopause and menopause. This is when the hormone levels begin to dip. Lastly, there is postmenopause. This is simply once the woman can no longer have children, and about 12 cycles have come and gone. I remember watching my mom go through an early menopause and I remember how moody she was and how uncomfortable the whole thing seemed. Menopause is simply a stage in life that, unfortunately, we all have to go through. Hopefully when I reach that stage I have a better understanding of what my body is going through and hopefully my symptoms will not be so bad.