Menopause can be a hard time for a lot of women, but there are a lot of factors that are at play when it comes to menopause. There is a little dash of luck involved with genetics but lifestyle choices and even cultural expectations play a role in menopause. Only 50% of women in the US get menopause symptoms but I think most women think that it’s an inevitable part of the process, but this is simply not the case.

Certain lifestyle choices like smoking and being overweight can both have an impact on menopause. Smokers usually enter into menopause a few years earlier than non-smokers. Women who are obese tend to have worse menopause symptoms; this is especially true when it comes to hot flashes. In some cultures like Asian cultures there is a very low incidence of hot flashes. Although it’s not exactly known if this due to genetics or diet, it’s sometimes attributed to their soy rich diets. Soy is thought to reduce hot flashes but it hasn’t been 100% scientifically proven.

Culture and attitude also seem to play a small role in the signs of menopause. If women tend to have a more positive view on aging, this seems to result in fewer symptoms, both physical and psychological. In the US, aging isn’t prized like it is in some other cultures; it is fought at every turn. Not surprisingly, US women experience a wider range of psychological symptoms such as depression and anxiety which are much rarer in other cultures.

There is no “normal” when it comes to menopause because so many things are at play – culture, genetics, attitude and lifestyle choices. Each woman will experience menopause in their own unique way but this goes to show that we are in partial control of our own menopause experience; maybe we as women need to reassess our own views of aging.