Due to estrogen and progesterone levels shifting, the body experiences a lot of different symptoms. With any luck, you may have little or no difficulty with menopause. Some women get lucky and have a very easy menopause and others have a bit more trouble with much more severe symptoms.

Common signs of menopause are:

A change in the menstruation cycle is reported frequently. Regular periods becomes irregular with more or less bleeding. During menopause, periods become more irregular, sometimes periods come more frequently with break through bleeding in between actual periods.

Hot flashes are by far one of the most common symptoms of menopause. Hot flashes demonstrate with a sudden heat flushing over the torso and redness in the face and neck. You may also have hot flashes while trying to sleep and these are called night sweats. Both hot flashes and night sweats vary in severity from woman to woman, they usually disappear a few years after menopause.

Many women also have urinary tract infections, trouble holding urine and a more frequent need to go to the rest room.

Vaginal dryness is also quite common, as the tissues of the vagina become thin and less elastic, and sex can feel unpleasant. Menopause symptoms also include changes in sexual drive and desire; many women experience a sudden loss of sex drive.  For many women, losing their fertility is actually a liberating feeling and they have more sex since they don’t have to deal with the possibility of getting pregnant. One of the joys of menopause is not having a period or having to worry about getting pregnant anymore, but if you are sexually active, you should still use a condom to protect yourself against sexually transmitted diseases.

A lot of women experience general mood swings and exhaustion. Some women feel a lot more additional stress and anxiety. Women in menopause also tend to get easily tired, sometimes having major fatigue. A full eight hours of sleep many be tough to get because of night sweats and a lot of women report feeling tired.

Another symptom of menopause is changes in weight; in some cases the midsection may become thicker, while fat levels tend to increase. Skin begins to lose some of its elasticity. You will have to work a little harder at staying fit as the body’s metabolism changes a little, it becomes harder to lose weight.

During menopause, many women get heart palpitations or irregular beating, this is commonly a short term symptom. In some cases though these symptoms may mimic symptoms of other diseases, therefore you should consult with an expert to avoid complications and additional problems.

Each woman will experience menopause differently. One thing to keep in mind is that menopause has been experienced by millions of women throughout history and, if you can control your symptoms, you too will survive if you can maintain a sense of humor about it. The best thing to do for yourself during menopause is to just take extra good care of yourself. Sometimes it’s the easiest things that work the best. Things like reducing your stress levels, getting sleep, and exercising, all these will make your transition through menopause much easier.