Dr. Vonda Wright

Well, I think that there's a tendency in medicine to want to have definitions.

Yes.

So I personally, and I know a lot of us who talk all the time, think that this random 366 days after your last period, that's your menopause day.

I think that's pretty random, and I don't know who made that up.

But...

Because I'm not an OB, but when I have patients come in to me for their musculoskeletal things, and they're of a certain age, and I don't just focus on whatever the musculoskeletal body part is, but we start talking about their whole health, and they start talking about these things, I am often the first one to say to them,

You know what?

You are probably in perimenopause.

And they're like, but my cycles are regular.

I'm like, but you are beginning this transition, which I call menolescence.

But it's this, right?

I would propose that most people don't seek out a lot of help earlier.

But they should just assume that they're perimenopausal any time after 35 they don't feel like themselves and start down a road of learning or investigating or let's feel better and what do I need to do about it.

What is the point of starving our brains, our hearts, our bones, our muscles for a year?

They didn't think they were doing that.

It's the delta that we were talking about post-pregnancy.

What I like to call it is the highs and lows.

So I think what Stacey just said in framing where we're going with this conversation is, so now we're perimenopausal.

It's a new physiology.

What used to work for all of our exercising, if we even did, because we know it at least in this country that 60% to 80% of people aren't intentional with their lifestyle.