World Menopause Day: Why 18 October Matters for Every Woman

Maybe it popped up on your phone this morning while the kettle was on: World Menopause Day. And maybe a small voice asked, is that about me? Am I there yet? Am I even allowed to care about this when I am not sure what is happening to my body?

You are allowed. And you are far from the only one asking.

In short: World Menopause Day is held every year on 18 October and is led by the International Menopause Society. It is a day for saying out loud what so many women carry quietly. An estimated 1.2 billion women worldwide will be menopausal or postmenopausal by 2030, so this day belongs to every woman, and to everyone who loves her.

What is World Menopause Day?

World Menopause Day takes place on 18 October every year. It is led by the International Menopause Society, which sets the focus for each year. If you want to know this year's official theme, their website is the place to look.

You don't need to know the theme to take part, though. You only need to know what the day is for: making sure no woman goes through menopause alone, in silence, or without words for what is happening to her.

So, quickly, the words. Menopause is 12 months in a row without a period. Most women reach it between 45 and 55, and the average is about 51 in the UK and US, according to the NHS. Studies in India often report an earlier average, around 46 to 47.

Before that comes perimenopause, the years when hormones start to shift and periods begin to change. It lasts about 4 years on average, though it can be a few months or as long as 10 years. After menopause comes postmenopause, which is simply the rest of your life. A long, full rest of your life.

Why does World Menopause Day matter so much?

Because the silence is so loud.

Think about how you learnt about periods. Maybe a whispered talk, a packet of pads left on your bed, a teacher who rushed through a chapter while everyone stared at their desks. Now think about how you learnt about menopause. For many women, the honest answer is: we didn't. We found out from our own bodies, one strange night at a time.

Nandita, founder of MySakhi, describes exactly this in the first episode of the Permission to Breathe podcast. She remembers lying awake in the early hours with her heart racing, wondering if she was burnt out, or depressed, or simply bad at being a person. Nobody had said the word perimenopause to her. Not her mother, not her doctor, not a single friend. She ended up searching her symptoms in the middle of the night, and a stranger's post online named it before her gynaecologist did.

She also talks about her mother's generation, who called it "the change" and asked no further questions. You just dealt with it. You did not complain.

That is what World Menopause Day pushes against. Not menopause itself. The silence around it.

Why 18 October matters for every woman, not just women over 50

It is easy to think World Menopause Day is for someone else. Someone older. Someone with a fan in her handbag. But look at what we do know.

• Hot flushes and night sweats affect around 3 in 4 women.
• In the long-running US SWAN study, hot flushes lasted a median of about 7 years.
• The same study found the risk of depressive symptoms is 2 to 4 times higher during perimenopause.
• Early menopause, before 45, happens too. Before 40 it is called premature ovarian insufficiency, and it affects about 1 in 100 women.

So this day is for the 42-year-old who cannot work out why she lies awake at 3am. For the 48-year-old having her third hot flush before lunch. For the 65-year-old who went through all of it in silence and never got to talk about it. And it is for the daughters who will get there one day, and the partners, sons and friends who want to understand.

What if the most powerful thing you do today is not big at all?

What if you're not sure where you are?

Maybe you are reading this thinking, I don't even know if this is perimenopause. My periods are a bit odd. I'm tired. I'm snappy. I cry at adverts. Is that it, or is that just life?

It is okay not to know. It is okay to be in the middle of figuring it out. You don't need a diagnosis to mark World Menopause Day. You need one moment of honesty with yourself: something is changing, and I am allowed to pay attention to it.

If you want somewhere to start, the full list of menopause symptoms can help you put words to what you are feeling. Many women are surprised by how much is on it, and relieved to find their own strange symptom sitting there with a name.

Three ways to mark World Menopause Day (pick just one)

You don't need a ribbon or a hashtag. You need one small act that makes the silence a little smaller. Choose whichever feels possible today, and let that be enough.

1. Have one conversation

Pick one person. A sister, a friend, your partner, your daughter, a colleague you trust. You don't need a speech. One sentence will do.

"Something is changing in my body, and I want someone to know."

Or, if you want to start more gently: "Did your mum ever talk to you about menopause?" That question alone opens doors. If your own mother never talked about it, you can be the one who changes that.

2. Book one doctor appointment

If something has been bothering you for months, today is a good day to book the appointment you keep postponing. Write down your three biggest symptoms, how long they have lasted, and what your periods are doing. This checklist for talking to your doctor makes it easier.

Some things should not wait for a calmer week. Any bleeding after menopause, very heavy bleeding, or bleeding between periods means seeing a doctor. Chest pain, fainting, breathlessness, or palpitations that do not settle need urgent care. And if you ever have thoughts of harming yourself, please contact local emergency services or a crisis helpline now.

3. Give yourself 5 minutes

This one sounds the smallest. It might matter the most. Five minutes where nobody needs anything from you. In the car before you go in. On the edge of the bed. Locked in the bathroom with the tap running. That counts.

Try this now: a 5-minute breath for World Menopause Day

This is cyclic sighing. In a 2023 Stanford study published in Cell Reports Medicine, 5 minutes a day of this breath for a month improved mood and lowered breathing rate, and in that study it helped more than mindfulness meditation. No mat. No special posture. You can't do this wrong.

1. Sit or lie wherever you are. Let your shoulders drop, and rest one hand on your belly if you like.
2. Breathe in through your nose, then take a second, shorter sip of air on top of the first.
3. Let it all go in one long, slow exhale through your mouth, like a tired sigh at the end of a long day.
4. Repeat at your own pace. If you feel dizzy, pause and breathe normally for a moment.
5. Keep going for up to 5 minutes, then rest for a few breaths and notice one thing that feels even slightly softer.

If you would rather have a voice guide you, press play on this short grounding practice. It takes about 4 minutes.

Meditation

I Am Here — Grounding Meditation

4 min

How is MySakhi breaking the silence?

MySakhi exists because so many women go through menopause mostly alone and in silence. MySakhi is a free app for women in perimenopause and menopause, with short guided breathing practices, sleep stories, calming 432Hz music and Sakhi, an AI companion who suggests what might help tonight.

Here is what that looks like in real life:

• Permission to Breathe, the MySakhi podcast, where Nandita and Sakhi talk honestly about menopause. Start with Episode 1, "Nobody Told Me", or Episode 2, "The 3 AM Club", on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
• Sakhi, who you can talk to for free on the website or in the app. Tell her how you feel and she suggests a practice, a story or some music for that moment. She is not a doctor, and she will never pretend to be.
• Hindi guided practices, free on the website at mysakhi.life/hi, because some feelings land better in the language you grew up with.
• Circles in the app, small topic groups such as Restful Nights and Cool Down, where you can talk to women who get it.

"MySakhi: Menopause Companion" is free to download on the App Store, and on any phone you can listen free at mysakhi.life. If you are curious about the podcast first, our guide to Permission to Breathe tells you where to begin.

What do you wish someone had told you?

Here is a question to sit with today. What do you wish someone had told you five years ago? About your sleep, your moods, your body, your mind?

Now picture saying that to one woman who is five years behind you. Not a lecture. Just: "This happened to me too. You are not going mad. It has a name."

On the podcast, Nandita says she should have had this conversation years earlier, with her mother, with her friends, with anyone. She also says that whenever she tells another woman it happened to her too, she sees relief on that woman's face. That is the heart of World Menopause Day. Not awareness as a poster on a wall. Awareness as one woman saying to another, "मैं भी" (me too), and watching her shoulders drop.

Not this: getting through it quietly and hoping nobody notices. This instead: letting one person in.

A gentle note if today feels heavy

Awareness days can stir things up. Grief for the support your mother never had. Frustration at years of being told it was "just stress". Tiredness at having to explain yourself, again, to people who should already understand.

That is allowed too. You don't need to turn any of it into a campaign. You can simply notice it, breathe, and let the day be what it is. Some days, अपना ख्याल रखना (take care of yourself) is the whole plan.

And if all you manage today is reading this, that counts. You now know more than many of us were ever told.

So, which one will you choose today: one conversation, one appointment, or 5 minutes for yourself? If it is the third, talk to Sakhi tonight and tell her how today felt. Or share this post with one woman who needs to hear it. That is how the silence ends, one person at a time.

5 minutes. No mat. No mantra. Just you.