Dr. Robin Austin
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And I think it can also be influenced by if you are on birth control or you are on an IUD, for example, you might not be getting a period, but how do you know you're going into menopause?
And so there's lots of other factors than just that one
it's one kind of time point, but there's other things associated with it that your healthcare provider can really help you to walk through to really understand if you are in menopause, if you're still on menopause transition, or if you're now considered potentially post-menopause.
It's just a, it's a timeframe and it's a guideline and it doesn't mean it's an absolute for sure.
And I think we just we are just on the cusp of really understanding some of this research and being able to then fully research this specific topic and environmental factors or the psychosocial factors that go into menopause.
But I would say even, you know, women when they're younger, like your stress can impact your cycle normally.
And so it would it would make make sense that it would also then impact potentially menopause.
Maybe you're going into transition earlier because it's of stress and or other environmental factors.
So absolutely, I think that we know that stress is a huge factor.
And I would say that there's other factors that women deal with potentially looking at stress.
There was a study that was done by a colleague at the VA that looked at military women and sexual trauma.
They had more pronounced menopause signs and symptoms, but also potentially earlier signs and symptoms than other women that did not have that potential trauma.
So I think there's lots of, of areas to further research and hopefully be able to guide women that have experienced more trauma or, or
stressors in their lives to be on the lookout for.
And I think it's just, it's precursors to understanding what might be coming for those individuals.