What is premenopause?

'Premenopause' sounds like it could encompass a pretty long time period, like anything from your first period until your last. In reality, it’s a much shorter, more specific phase that’s clinically referred to as your 'late reproductive stage' because women still have regular periods and could become pregnant. So while you may not feel much change during this brief prelude, it’s a good time to act and get educated about the full menopause process. Let’s take a closer look.

Remember puberty? It’s not like your body flipped a switch overnight. It’s the same slow process for our bodies to gear up for menopause. In premenopause, estrogen levels are just starting to fluctuate. This will continue until the fluctuations are great enough to disrupt your menstrual cycle by more than seven days.

Prememopause is the time when you’re still having regular periods. That said, 'regular' periods is a tricky term, because one clue that you’re entering this time is the variation in the length of your cycle. “Your cycle length could vary month to month, but if it's less than a seven-day variation, it’s considered regular,” says Dr. Stephanie Faubion, M.D., the director for the Centre for Women's Health at the Mayo Clinic, medical director for The Menopause Society, and member of the WeightWatchers Scientific Advisory Board. “That means you could have a 26-day cycle one month and a 32-day cycle the next month and it’s still considered regular, even if they’re not happening on the exact same day in your cycle month after month. You’re still in premenopause.”

The average age for this is 47, but of course it can vary - and if you have certain autoimmune disorders or surgery to remove your ovaries, you’re thrown into menopause earlier. Also, if you’re on hormonal birth control (including the ring, oral pills, or hormonal IUDs), your period won’t be an indicator of your stage. “You can’t use the marker of bleeding or not to tell. All bets are off because of the hormonal manipulation,” says Faubion.

The possible change to your cycle length is a sign of premenopause. But even if you do have regular periods, “women in premenopause may have the same symptoms as women in the menopause transition - hot flushes, night sweats, sleep disturbances, mood disturbances, and joint aches,” says Faubion, “and it can be more surprising because they're not expecting to have those yet.”

Keep an eye on your cycle: Once you reach a variation in your period lengths that’s greater than seven days, you’ve officially entered perimenopause.

Learn more about perimenopause