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Every symptom here has a fuller guide: see hot flashes, night sweats, sleep problems, and vaginal dryness — or browse all menopause guides. To measure how much symptoms are affecting you, try the menopause symptom score.
8 common menopause symptoms, illustrated
A quick visual tour of eight of the most common menopause symptoms. Swipe or use the arrows — each one is explained and sourced, with links to go deeper.
1 / 8Hot flashes
Sudden waves of heat, flushing, and sweating are the best-known menopause symptom, and most women experience them during the transition. They can last from seconds to minutes.
Source: National Institute on Aging
- 1
Hot flashes
Sudden waves of heat, flushing, and sweating are the best-known menopause symptom, and most women experience them during the transition. They can last from seconds to minutes.
- 2
Night sweats
Hot flashes at night can soak nightclothes and bedding and fragment sleep. On average, hot flashes and night sweats last around seven years, and longer for some.
- 3
Sleep problems
Trouble falling or staying asleep is common in perimenopause — sometimes driven by night sweats, sometimes on its own — and it feeds daytime fatigue and low mood.
- 4
Mood changes
Irritability, low mood, and anxiety often rise during the transition, linked to fluctuating estrogen as well as poor sleep. Persistent low mood is worth raising with a clinician.
- 5
Brain fog
Forgetfulness and trouble concentrating — 'brain fog' — are common and usually improve after the menopause transition rather than signalling a lasting decline.
- 6
Joint aches
Aches and stiffness in the joints and muscles are common as estrogen falls, and are one of the more under-recognised parts of the transition.
- 7
Vaginal dryness
Falling estrogen thins and dries vaginal tissue, causing dryness or discomfort. Unlike hot flashes, it tends to persist — but it responds well to treatment such as low-dose vaginal estrogen.
- 8
Irregular periods
In perimenopause, cycles become unpredictable — closer together or further apart, lighter or heavier — before they stop. Bleeding after 12 months with no period always needs checking.