Health
Women experience menopause due to the fact that men prefer younger partners, scientists have found.
Professor Rama Singh from McMaster University in Canada believes that menopause is an evolutionary way of recognizing that older women no longer need to have children because men stop wanting them.
The scientist also argues that if countless generations of men did not prefer younger partners, women would be able to bear children until death.
In other words, menopause is the result of natural selection and an unintended consequence of this process.
The phenomenon of menopause is not common in the animal world. On the contrary, some experts claim that only humans experience menopause at a certain age.
It used to be believed that women become infertile later in life to be able to raise grandchildren. However, the computer model showed that it was men's preferences that led to the accumulation of mutations that have a detrimental effect on female fertility.
Moreover, the scientist believes that if women were able to choose younger men, men would also become infertile with age.
Age of menopause
The average age of menopause is 51 years. However, it is impossible to predict the age of menopause in an individual woman.
Most women enter menopause between 45 and 55 years of age, sometimes after 60, but most often at the same age as their mothers.
There are also cases of premature menopause before the age of 40.
Menopause symptoms in women
A few months or years before menopause, women may experience the following symptoms and signs:
– irregular menstruation
– vaginal dryness
– tides
– night sweats
– sleep problems
– mood swings
– weight gain and slow metabolism
– thinning hair and dry skin
– breast volume reduction