Fascinating article about a topic we need to know and talk more about!
What an interesting article!
It’s enormously encouraging that this research is taking place, but not so much that they’ve run out of funding.
Also, as someone who started HRT a couple of years ago, this really resonated:
But I’m not just talking about enduring, I’m talking about living. These are two different concepts. Living, quality of life, diseases and the response to these are determined by the function of estrogen.
exactly, I was super excited to see that science is digging deeper into estrogen’s effects. We are seeing more proof that estrogen is necessary for so many of our bodily systems and for those of us in menopause, the proof is already there!
I agree completely. Thriving instead of surviving is where we need to be focused across the board. Most people are hanging on by a thread in at least one area of their lives…medically, mentally, in terms of balance/workload, in their relationships, financially. For many women, Menopause becomes a foundational health crisis for this reason.
It wouldn’t be SO bad if you could….stop working, had the money to drastically change your diet and eat what you need to, could easily get the help of professionals dedicated to women’s health issues, weren’t struggling with the cultural phenomenon of “Women’s Guilt” and all the ways that effects how we asses and address our medical experiences, had the support you need to focus on your health without your home and family management machine (you, in many cases) breaking down…and on and on.
It’s a societal issue rooted just as much in culture/patriarchy/etc as it is in a lack of medical research. A more holistic approach to understanding this phase of life is going to be so critical…and, I fear, is very far away.
I think this is another one of those things where, if you chase the reasons “why not?” back to the root, the actual reason we can’t have more funded studies into women’s health issues (holistically or otherwise) is the same reason, increasingly, that we can’t have anything nice.
Shareholder capitalism has a stranglehold on our culture and systems (of governance, scientific discovery, etc). Until we move past this way of living, humanity will continue to struggle with things like funding important research, the masses not having the support and medical interventions they need, etc.
When we eventually move beyond a system that is built to satisfy shareholders, and start prioritizing the human experience and putting everything we’ve got behind improving it, we’ll be able to take a more holistic look at what could become a truly incredible phase of life for all women: beyond child bearing years, turned more to self, wiser, ready to create in a new way.
I don’t know that I will see this future, but I am happy to think about it existing at some point. Humanity is ready to move past our biological imperative “produce more people until you’re old, then die.” With the right methodology and incentives in place, our medical and technological advances could be put to the service of human kind to such delightful ends.
