46% of women believe the menopause will improve their sex life

Workout App niix fit has conducted research to investigate how women really feel about the menopause in order to raise awareness about the problems and the benefits that exist

The research from niix fit has revealed that the majority (46%) of women pre-menopause believe their sex lives will improve in menopause compared to 38% of those who don’t. Speaking from experience, however, 80% of woman in the menopause said that exercising and feeling fitter is the number one impact on libido, followed by eating healthily (48%) and being on holiday (46%).

Mental Health

However, the mental health impact of the menopause remains something that needs addressing. An alarming 71% of those in pre-menopause are worried about its effects on mental health, and 60% of them already feel anxious about it. The top concerns include mood swings (74%) weight gain (71%) and hot flushes (65%).

This is reinforced by women further along the journey too, with those in menopause declaring that a huge 74% of women suffer negative mental health relating directly to the symptoms.

Just a third (29%) of these women in menopause state the experience is better than they’d expected. The number one issue stems from sleep problems (60%), ahead of anxiety (55%), weight gain (50%) and mood swings (47%).

GP support

To make things worse, it seems GPs aren’t offering much support on the topic and women are either left feeling isolated and unprepared or being forced to turn elsewhere. An alarmingly low 18% of women in menopause feel as though they received adequate support from their GP, with a dominating 46% of women not even bothering to see their local practice for support at all throughout the menopause.

With women feeling a distinct lack of support, it’s no wonder that women feel the top things that would help are more content and information about symptoms (59%), better access to specialists (58%), and the support of a community of women to talk to (36%).