At what age does menopause start?

It varies from woman to woman, just as the start of menses do. And it doesn’t exactly start but creep up on you. Periods become less regular, either further apart or closer together, sometimes more uncomfortable, and gradually peter out, at least in my case. I stopped entirely rather late…just after my 57th birthday. My doctor said that I held the record among his patients.

It’s not so bad; I used to go out in the snow in my underwear when I got really warm and sweaty. It was fun. And getting rid of all the mess and paraphenalia was a great relief, for me at least. And NO more worries about pregnancy.

Here’s what the Mayo clinic has to say.

Menopause

googling ‘menopause’ or ‘average age menopause’ will bring up many relevant sites. apparently the average age is now 51 (for the technical definition of one year without a period), with a wide range from the 30s to the 60s for the whole process for different women with different circumstances (genetics, exercise, smoking, environment, hormone imbalances, etc). for most women the process seems to start from a few to several years before age 51 – similar to how puberty lasts a few/several years surrounding the actual date of the first period.

from wikipedia: The average age of menopause is 51 years, and the normal age range for last period ever is somewhere between age 45 to 55. Age 55 to 60 for last period ever is described as a “late menopause”. An “early menopause” is defined as last period ever between the age of 40 to 45.