For decades, mystery has surrounded perimenopause and menopause, with the topic discussed in hushed voices and via euphemism. In recent years, it has thankfully become more openly spoken about, but it can still feel like a guessing game - are our symptoms down to this stage of life or something entirely different? What we do know, thanks to pioneering work by groups such as the Menopause Mandate, is that blood tests and hormone checks capturing one moment in our cycle just isn't enough to give us the full picture.
We need reliable monitoring of our constantly changing hormone levels to figure out what is going on in our bodies – but this can take months, and realistically, this is time that our GPs don't have to give us, and so often we are misdiagnosed or HRT is provided on a 'try it and see' basis. However, times are changing and a new menopause revolution is on its way in the form of new wearable technology to monitor your cycle, giving you more information and more power to take action.
Monitoring perimenopause and beyond
Natural Cycles (AKA NC°) is leading the way - and it's likely you're already familiar with their tracking abilities; they have been providing tools to naturally manage period cycles and fertility windows for over a decade, before realising the same tracking tools could also help decode the different stages of menopause. I wanted to find out more, so I spoke with physicist and Head of Product at NC°, Magda Armbruster, to discover how it works and she handed me a burgundy band to try out for myself. They are keen to stress this isn't a fad - there is a lot of science-backed research that has been going on in the background to get to this point, which is comforting, as it seems, up to recent years, there has been zero.
How does menopause tech work?
The idea behind the tech is to hand women back control of their bodies by providing them with bespoke information relevant to their own bodies. By analysing cycle patterns, symptom changes, and temperature data, it can help you understand where you are in your journey, what's likely to come next, and how you can manage the transition.
"It's based on how the menstrual cycle works. It is tracking period dates and measuring temperatures on a daily basis, trying to see when women ovulate," explains Magda. "It's important to measure the temperature on a daily basis because the temperature is a proxy for the hormonal changes that happen within the body. We can notice a shift that happens from being slightly colder temperatures, to slightly higher and this is a signal to us that hormones manage to rise, which means that ovulation happens. So, the product works based on trying to identify the hormonal shifts through temperatures."
Understanding science
Now comes the science. In the years prior to perimenopause, our cycles are mostly regular, and our hormones fluctuate in a way we know; in the first stage of the cycle, our oestrogen is slightly higher, then after we ovulate, our progesterone rises and this happens in the same way pretty much every month. But when a woman enters menopause, it all starts to go haywire. As the progesterone starts to decline, we can end up with too much oestrogen, which can cause heavier bleeding, spotting in the middle of a cycle, and our cycles start to become shorter. In mid and late perimenopause, oestrogen starts to go down and fluctuates quite a bit, which then also causes longer cycles. Other symptoms, such as hot flushes, insomnia, anxiety, and night sweats, the app asks you to log in on a daily basis to build a fuller picture.
"One of the most important [signs] is cycles getting longer because the hormones are quite low, but there can be an occasional spiking which means that occasionally we can have an ovulation later on, but it's very infrequent. Because we know how hormones change before and during menopause, we can measure that based on the tracking of the temperatures and based on the symptoms and the period dates that women log in our app. Then we can tell them which stage of the perimenopause they are in."
Celebrity approval
NC° Perimenopause comes with Kim Cattrall's seal of approval. The Sex and the City icon raved about the huge advances in science and technology that she wished had been around when she was going through menopause, which saw the actress suffer with chronic insomnia, hot flashes and night sweats - yet at the time had no idea what was causing it.
"To me, going through menopause was about educating myself," the 69-year-old said. "There are no two menopause situations that are the same, even [if] it's your mother or your sister or aunt, it's all going to be different — and it's how you deal with it. When science and innovation come together to make you smarter about what's going on inside of you, that's the place you want to be. It's in your hands."
My experience with menopause tech
Being in my late 40s and having experienced some of the usual red flag perimenopause symptoms myself for some time, I was keen to try it out for myself. I had no idea if my grouchiness, anxiety, change in skin and insomnia were part in parcel of being a busy working mum or the perimenopause creeping in - and this app claimed to be able to make things clearer for me. I was concerned whether the band would work for me as I have been on the coil for years without any periods. But Magda assured me that the information I input and the temperature my burgundy band tracked every night while I was asleep was enough to provide data on where I was in my journey.
What I found useful about the app was the informational messages that come with it. Before tracking, I realised I still feel uneducated about the different stages of my cycle and how we can predict our emotions and energy levels based on how our hormones fluctuate each month, so this has been eye-opening for me.
The band was comfortable, and you can also link up to the Oura ring or an Apple Watch to record data. It flagged how my moods were affected by being more mindful or exercising - or on the flipside, the days I was stressed and ate my feelings in chocolate - and encouraged me to make some shifts. It also taught me to give myself some grace on the days when the hormones rush in and I can't function on all cylinders.
While tech can’t take away the symptoms of the perimenopause, it can give us knowledge to take to our GPs, who can use it when prescribing treatment or just help us take our own power back to manage how we embrace this transition positively. And that, in my eyes, can only be a good thing.
Start your journey on NC° Perimenopause now. There are two subscription plans; annually and monthly.