What Can Cause Early Menopause?

Menopause is a phase when a woman’s periods stop and she can no longer get pregnant. It involves a range of hormonal changes in women between the ages of 45 and 55. However, there are many factors that can disrupt the female reproductive system. Early menopause is one of them.

This condition begins to manifest itself before the age of 40 years. It is characterized by irregular periods until they stop altogether.

Because of the changes that occur here, it is related to, for example:

• an increased risk of some chronic diseases
• emotional disturbances 
• other symptoms that can affect your quality of life.

While it can also be caused by a genetic condition, many of the cases result from the influence some factors have on hormones.

Read more about this in this article.

Influences on early menopause

1. Tobacco use

For example, women who smoke or are exposed to tobacco smoke are more likely to have early menopause compared to women who are not exposed to it.

Cigarettes contain chemical compounds that allow you to produce poor-quality eggs and embryos and increase the risk of chromosomal abnormalities.

This can alter estrogen and progesterone activity. For example, tobacco influences the earlier onset of menopause.

2. Thyroid Diseases

The thyroid gland plays an important role in many vital processes of the body. This gland is also very important for optimal utilization and distribution of hormones.

For this reason, when something is wrong with this gland, there is an increased risk of early menopause or reproductive health problems.

Diseases such as hypothyroidism can cause early menopausal symptoms. For example, think of:

• Absence of menstruation.
• mood swings.
• hot flashes.

3. Certain operations

Women who undergo certain surgeries are also more likely to experience early menopause. For example, removing an ovary or the uterus lowers estrogen and progesterone levels. This then speeds up the end of the fertile phase.

In fact, removing both ovaries immediately triggers the onset of menopausal symptoms. It can also be a side effect of cervical or pelvic cancer surgery.

4. Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy

These two treatments used to fight cancer may also be responsible for early menopause.

They prevent harmful cell growth. However, they can also destroy healthy cells, causing early loss of functioning ovaries in some cases.

5. Eating ultra-processed meats

In addition to the many side effects of eating processed meats, it could also cause premature menopause.

They always look delicious and taste very good too. However, processed meats contain many substances that could cause hormonal problems such as:

• chemicals
• nitrates
• nitrites

Eating them has also been found to affect metabolic health. This can also affect the early onset of menopause.

6. Autoimmune Diseases

Autoimmune diseases are characterized by the abnormal production and functioning of antibodies. This then leads to an ‘automatic attack’ on healthy tissues.

In general, these diseases negatively affect the health of the ovaries, among other things, and interfere with estrogen receptors. 

This causes many reproductive health problems and often leads to early menopause.

For example, some autoimmune diseases are:

• Vitiligo
• Anemia
• Lupus
• Sjogren’s syndrome
• Chronic hepatitis
• Rheumatoid arthritis

7. Use of certain beauty and hygiene products

Many regulators try to prevent some harmful components from being used in the production of beauty and hygiene products. However, some products containing these substances are still on the shelves.

The absorption or constant inhalation of these substances could thus influence the onset of thyroid abnormalities and hormonal disorders.

Shampoos, perfumed soaps and certain beauty products, for example, contain substances known as phthalates, which could cause early menopause.

Unfortunately, these substances also occur in, for example:

• sprays for the body
• hair gels
• fabric softeners

Are you concerned about the consequences of early menopause? While you don’t have to worry about menopause when you’re still young, it can manifest sooner than you expect. Therefore, to reduce the risks, you should maintain a healthy lifestyle and get regular checkups.