Hot flushes that strike without warning, nights broken up by sudden wake-ups, cycles that lose their rhythm: menopause symptoms usually build up gradually, often starting years before periods stop for good. According to Inserm, the French public health research institute, 87% of women experience at least one symptom beyond the end of their periods, and for 20 to 25% of them, daily life is genuinely affected. Recognising these signs early makes it easier to plan ahead, talk to a doctor, and put the right support in place, including the natural solutions for feminine wellbeing that come from gemmotherapy. This article reviews the most common symptoms, the three stages of this hormonal transition, and practical ways to live through it more comfortably.
What is menopause and at what age does it start?
Menopause marks the point where the ovaries stop working: production of oestrogen and progesterone drops, then stops, ending the menstrual cycles for good. Diagnosis is confirmed retrospectively, after 12 consecutive months without periods.
It happens on average around age 51, most often between 45 and 55. In about 1% of women, it occurs before 40: this is known as premature ovarian insufficiency, which calls for specific medical follow-up.
Oestrogen does far more than regulate the menstrual cycle. It plays a part in sleep, body temperature regulation, mood, mucous membrane hydration, and the health of bones and skin. Its decline can therefore bring changes across many areas of daily life, well beyond the gynaecological sphere.
What are the symptoms of menopause?
Every woman experiences this stage differently, in both intensity and duration. Some feel only occasional discomfort, while others describe pronounced symptoms for 5 to 10 years. Here are the most common signs.
Hot flushes and night sweats
These are the most common symptoms: around 75% of women experience them. An intense feeling of heat spreads across the upper body and face for 30 seconds to 2 minutes, sometimes with flushing and a faster heartbeat. Certain triggers make them worse: spicy food, hot drinks, alcohol, caffeine, stress. At night, they take the form of night sweats that disrupt sleep. They can last from 7 to 11 years after they first appear, with frequency and intensity easing over time for most women.
Changes in the menstrual cycle
Before periods stop completely, cycles become irregular: they shorten, lengthen, and alternate between heavy flow and lighter periods. One point of caution: bleeding between periods, after intercourse, or very heavy and frequent periods should prompt a visit to the doctor.
Disrupted sleep and lingering fatigue
Hormonal changes, combined with night sweats, break up sleep: difficulty falling asleep, frequent waking, and nights that no longer feel restful. This sleep debt feeds a diffuse fatigue that weighs on alertness, memory, and energy through the day.
Mood swings and brain fog
Irritability, mood swings, heightened emotional sensitivity: these shifts come from both hormonal changes and lack of sleep. Many women also describe "brain fog", the sense of being less focused, searching for words, or feeling overwhelmed at work and at home. This very real feeling usually eases with time.
Intimate dryness and urinary discomfort
Falling oestrogen levels reduce lubrication and the elasticity of mucous membranes. Intimate dryness can make intercourse uncomfortable and may come with a lower sex drive. On the urinary side, urges can become more pressing and urinary infections more frequent. Solutions exist to restore comfort: it is worth discussing them with a doctor or gynaecologist.
Weight gain and joint pain
Hormonal shifts change how fat is stored, with more building up around the abdomen, and slow down the metabolism. Stiffness and joint pain often follow, along with drier skin, thinner hair, or headaches. Other, quieter signs sometimes complete the picture: palpitations, dizziness, brittle nails, breast tenderness, or digestive discomfort.
Perimenopause, menopause, postmenopause: the 3 stages
This hormonal transition unfolds over several years and splits into three distinct stages. Understanding this breakdown helps place your own symptoms and adapt support to each step.
Perimenopause begins on average around age 47. Hormone production becomes irregular: cycles lose their rhythm, the first hot flushes appear, sleep and mood fluctuate. In the last years before periods stop, short cycles alternate with long ones, and premenstrual symptoms can become more pronounced. Pregnancy is still possible during this stage, so contraception is often maintained.
Menopause itself corresponds to the point of the last period. It is the shortest stage, confirmed after 12 consecutive months without periods. It concentrates the most intense symptoms: sharper hot flushes, night sweats, fatigue, disrupted sleep.
Postmenopause covers the whole period that follows. Oestrogen levels stay low for good. Hot flushes and sleep difficulties gradually fade, and some discomforts from the fertile years, like cycle-related migraines, also tend to ease off. Other, quieter effects settle in over the long term instead.
What are the long-term effects on the body?
After menopause, the lasting drop in oestrogen gradually weakens certain functions. Bone density decreases, raising the risk of osteoporosis and fractures after a fall. The cardiovascular system loses part of its hormonal protection: ten years after menopause, women's cardiovascular risk catches up with that of men the same age.
Skin and mucous membranes become drier and lose elasticity. Regular medical follow-up matters here: an annual health check, monitoring cholesterol and blood sugar, and a bone density scan if the doctor considers it useful. A diet rich in calcium and vitamin D, combined with regular physical activity, helps preserve bone strength.
Gemmotherapy to support menopause
Faced with these imbalances, gemmotherapy offers a natural approach that works on the underlying terrain, in depth, not only on surface symptoms. Within the family of food supplements, it extends the logic of herbal medicine: where herbal medicine uses the mature plant and mostly acts on symptoms, gemmotherapy works with the plant's embryonic tissue and rebalances the body over time. It uses the Bud, the part of the plant where everything begins: it concentrates all the future plant's richness in active compounds, its plant stem cells, before it has even developed. Harvested fresh and then macerated, it produces a concentrated extract taken orally, at a rate of 5 to 15 drops a day, pure or diluted in a glass of water, typically over 3 weeks followed by a week's break.
Three Buds are traditionally associated with this stage of a woman's life. Cranberry Bud is seen as an ally for women after 50: it supports the body through this transition and helps restore natural hormonal balance. Apple Tree Bud is used to help ease hot flushes. Hawthorn Bud, for its part, helps bring a return to calm, useful when palpitations and nervous tension accompany this period.
These extracts are available on their own, in single Bud concentrates, or combined in synergies within food supplements dedicated to menopause, formulated for each stage, from perimenopause to postmenopause. The expected day-to-day benefit: hot flushes that feel more manageable, steadier nights, and a hormonal shift crossed more calmly, day after day. Gemmotherapy is part of a broader support approach: it helps the body's natural functions and complements, without replacing, the follow-up provided by a healthcare professional.
Lifestyle: good daily habits
Simple lifestyle adjustments can noticeably ease menopause symptoms.
On the food side, favour sources of calcium (dairy, almonds, green vegetables) and vitamin D (oily fish, reasonable sun exposure), and cut back on refined sugar, alcohol and spicy food, which encourage hot flushes. Drinking 1.5 to 2 litres of water a day also supports skin and mucous membranes.
Physical activity remains one of the most effective levers: 30 minutes a day of brisk walking, swimming or strength training helps preserve bone density, limit weight gain and regulate mood.
Managing stress matters just as much: cardiac coherence breathing, deep breathing, walking in nature, or simply time set aside for yourself. Stress intensifies hot flushes and disrupts sleep, two symptoms that are already sensitive during this period.
For sleep, a cool bedroom between 16 and 18°C, regular bedtimes, and switching off screens in the evening all help steadier nights. The natural support for sleep and relaxation can complement these habits when nights stay restless.
Finally, see a doctor without delay if symptoms weigh on daily life: very heavy periods or unexpected bleeding, lasting poor sleep, repeated intimate or urinary discomfort, a mood that stays low for a long time. A quarter of women go through severe symptoms, and solutions exist at every stage. Menopause lasts a few years on average, but a well-identified symptom can be managed from the very first weeks: the best reason to talk about it early, from the first irregular cycles.
