what is perimenopause and the impact on the workplace
Perimenopause is a natural phase of life that every woman goes through, but the impact varies from person to person. Complaints can be mild but also so intense that they affect health, work and daily life. The latter happens to 80% of women over the age of around 40 years. Scientific knowledge and good care help you better understand what is happening and what you can do to reduce symptoms. You can read more about this below.
Menopause, perimenopause...
what is it?
Menopause literally means the last menstruation. You often only recognize them afterwards. The period before menopause is called perimenopause. This may take a few years. During the perimenopause, the first symptoms often start and your menstrual pattern changes. Postmenopause is the period after the last menstrual period. Together, we refer to perimenopause, menopause, and early postmenopause as menopause. The transition is a natural phase of life, just like puberty. This marks the end of the fertile period: after that, it is no longer possible to have children.
For your hormones, the transition is a tipping point. After menopause, your body produces virtually no estrogen. In the longer term, this drop in estrogen may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, bone decalcification (osteoporosis) and even dementia.
During perimenopause, your menstrual pattern often changes first: the cycle may become shorter or longer and the loss of blood may be more or less. This is due to fluctuations in the production of hormones. In addition, various complaints can occur, such as hot flashes and night sweats. These often affect your sleep and can lead to tiredness, mood swings, concentration problems and memory problems. Heart palpitations, muscle and joint problems and changes in your figure (such as an increase in belly fat) are also common. These are just a few of the many symptoms that can occur during menopause; the experience is different for each woman.
What can you do?
Many women with perimenopausal symptoms need guidance and treatment. Ensuring a healthy lifestyle is the basis.
Think of having a healty diet, not smoking, no or moderately drinking alcohol. Exercise on a regular basis, and relaxing your mind and body. These habits have been proven effective. If this does not help enough forms of treatment may be helpful.
Menopausal symptoms occur because your body produces less estrogen. Hormone therapy is the most effective treatment: it reduces symptoms such as hot flashes, poor sleep and mood swings and can also protect your bones and heart and blood vessels. This does not increase or decrease the risk of breast cancer if not used for a long time and depends on your age and the type of medicine you use. Safe variants are used in the Netherlands. If hormones are not an option or not desirable, it is important to get a good explanation about other treatments without hormones. This may also be necessary if a woman wants to stop taking hormones after a number of years.
Impact on the workplace
Every woman has the right to good quality of life, work and care during perimenopause. The perimenopause is a natural phase of life, but the complaints can significantly affect daily functioning. Sometimes symptoms are mild and sometimes there are serious complaints that can also lead to physical health problems, such as anemia due to heavy blood loss.
Women make up half of the working population and of them, around 80 percent over 40 say that perimenopausal symptoms make her work difficult. Less than half of them discuss this at work. Complaints can lead to more frequent illness, slower recovery and lower productivity. At the same time, both employers and women themselves often have little knowledge and awareness about perimenopause. Healthcare providers do not always recognize menopausal symptoms, because they sometimes look like stress or burnout symptoms.
That is why it is important that employers pay attention to perimenopause. Work is valuable for women and for society. By making perimenopause negotiable and providing appropriate support, we keep women employable and motivated. This is valuable for them and for the organization.
What do I offer?
Workshops for employees
information session for employees
information session for managers
About Doctor Marel
My name is Jacolien van der Marel, gynecologist, and I help women and organizations better deal with the impact of female-specific complaints such as menstrual complaints, PMS and perimenopause.
Every day, I see how complaints influence women's functioning, well-being and job satisfaction. With reliable, scientifically based knowledge and practical tools, I make women's health open to discussion. This gives women more control over their well-being and organizations gain more insight into sustainable employability.
My mission: breaking taboos and working together on vitality and understanding, at home and in the workplace.