Post-Menopausal Health Concerns
After you haven’t had a period for a year, you’re considered post-menopausal. While many of the menopausal symptoms you’ve been having, like hot flashes and night sweats, may get milder or even go away completely, being post-menopausal brings other health concerns, such as being at higher risk for heart disease, osteoporosis, and ostopenia (low bone density).
You also may find you have post-menopausal weight gain, urinary symptoms, or vaginal changes that affect your sexual health.
Post-menopausal weight gain
The lower estrogen levels that come with menopause makes you more likely to gain weight. But low estrogen levels alone don’t cause the weight gain. Aging, lifestyle factors, and genetics also play a role. Most women lose muscle mass and gain fat as they age. When you lose muscle, your body is slower to burn calories, which can make it harder to stay at a healthy weight. At the same time, some people are less active as they get older.
Learn more about menopausal weight gain.
Urinary and vaginal changes
Lower estrogen levels can lead to pain during urination, urinary tract infections, peeing more often than usual, and incontinence (the inability to hold your urine). Lower estrogen levels also can lead to vaginal changes, including thinning of the vaginal walls, and vaginal dryness and irritation.
Together, these urinary and vaginal symptoms are called genitourinary syndrome of menopause.
Listen to The Breastcancer.org Podcast episode featuring Dr. Kristin Rojas discussing genitourinary syndrome of menopause.
Cardiovascular health
Estrogen helps protect you against cardiovascular diseases like heart attacks and stroke. So, the drop in estrogen that comes with being post-menopausal increases your risk for heart disease. Being less active as you age can contribute to high blood pressure and high cholesterol. These conditions also can increase the risk of heart disease.
If you’ve received breast cancer treatments such as Herceptin (chemical name: trastuzumab), Adriamycin (chemical name: doxorubicin), or other chemotherapies, you may have an even higher risk of heart problems and should talk to your doctor about monitoring your heart health.
Besides menopause and breast cancer treatments, other risk factors have a major effect on cardiovascular disease, including diabetes and a family history of heart disease. Lifestyle choices such as smoking, lack of exercise, and your diet also are important factors. These habits can be hard to change, but menopause is the perfect time to do something about them.
The best way to keep your heart and blood vessels healthy is through lifestyle changes. You can work with your doctor to get help with these:
If you smoke, get help to quit.
Exercise regularly; do something every day, if possible.
Learn relaxation techniques such as meditation, deep breathing, or yoga, to name a few.
Eat a healthy diet that is rich in unprocessed foods, vegetables, fruit, lean protein, and fiber, and low in saturated fats, sodium, and sugar.
Maintain a healthy weight.
All of these changes can help with blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and your sense of well-being. Work with your doctor to make sure your blood pressure and cholesterol are being checked regularly. These results, along with any other risk factors you have for cardiovascular disease, will be used to determine whether you need medicine in addition to lifestyle changes. Taking a baby aspirin every day — if your doctor recommends it — may also help your heart health.
The important thing is to form a partnership with your doctor around cardiovascular health that will last for the rest of your life. The American Heart Association Healthy Lifestyle pages are a great starting point.
Post-menopausal osteoporosis and bone health
Even though your bones feel hard, they are living tissue that constantly rebuilds itself throughout your life. During your childhood and teenage years, your body adds new bone faster than it gets rid of old bone. After about age 30, you can start to lose bone faster than your body makes it, which can weaken the bones and increase the risk of breaking them..
Because estrogen helps maintain bone density, when you’re post-menopausal you have a higher risk of bone loss and low bone density. According to the Cleveland Clinic, women may lose up to 25% of their bone density after menopause at the rate of about 1% to 2% per year.
Doctors use two words to talk about low bone density: osteoporosis and osteopenia.
Osteoporosis develops when your body loses too much bone, doesn’t make enough bone, or both.
Osteopenia means you have low bone density, but it’s not as severe as osteoporosis. Osteopenia can lead to osteoporosis if it’s not treated.
Learn more about osteoporosis and osteopenia, including symptoms and treatments.
— Last updated on January 22, 2025 at 2:52 PM