EXCLUSIVE Exiting menopause is like gaining a superpower - I am no longer a slave to my hormones, SARAH VINE tells PETER HITCHENS on provocative Mail podcast
Exiting menopause is like entering 'sunlit uplands', with your moods no longer governed by hormones, Mail columnist Sarah Vine described on the latest episode of the Mail's Alas Vine & Hitchens podcast.
Vine, 58, admitted to co-host and broadcaster Peter Hitchens, that she now realises most of the 'stupid decisions' made in her life were 'hormone-related'.
She added that the 'awful' symptoms of perimenopause and menopause were worth it for the sense of 'liberation' that comes afterwards.
Menopause is when a woman's menstrual periods permanently stop, typically occurring in her late 40s to early 50s, marking the end of her reproductive years due to declining hormone levels.
'I have this theory that menopause is like a superpower', Vine told Hitchens.
'Everybody thinks that the menopause is awful, and it is quite awful to go through. I certainly had a rough time with it, but once it happens, it's like entering sunlit uplands.
'You enter a hormone-free existence. You're not full of estrogen and progesterone anymore - you don't have these uncontrollable feelings about nurturing people and small babies.
'You're just a normal human being – you have things like logic; you're not trying to eat chocolate all the time because your hormones are annoying you; you don't get mood swings or PMS. It's just lovely!'
She added that too much attention is paid to the uncomfortable symptoms of the transition and not enough to the joys of life afterwards.
'People write books about the menopause and perimenopause – they're doing TV shows about it. It's really a hot topic', the columnist said.
'But no one ever talks about life after the menopause. I can't tell you what a slave to my hormones I was – I realise that most of the things that I have probably done wrong, most of the stupid decisions I made, have been hormone related.
'I realise now that if I didn't have this crazed cocktail of chemicals running around my body, I would have been much more efficient.'
The average age for a woman to begin the menopause is 51. The transition period, perimenopause, usually starts sometime in a woman's early forties.
Symptoms of the menopause range wildly from woman to woman. Some report difficulty sleeping, hot flashes, dry skin and eyes, and decreased libido.
These unpleasant changes may go on for years but can be mitigated with HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy).
Vine told listeners not to fear menopause, describing life afterwards as 'a pretty zen place to be'.
'That like the idea of being that older woman who is sort of a sage figure', the journalist told the podcast.
'That is so much easier when you're post-menopausal. People should stop being so worried about it – it is quite a zen place to be.'
'I don't like the sound of that – sounds pretty pagan to me', Hitchens joked.
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