Reading your cycle in your 40s
In your 20s and 30s, your cycle is mostly a calendar exercise. In your 40s, it becomes one of the clearest windows into where you are in the menopause transition. The numbers below are how clinicians stage perimenopause — well before any blood test.
STRAW staging at a glance
The STRAW+10 system is the gold standard for staging the menopause transition:
- Late reproductive: cycles still regular but flow may change.
- Early perimenopause: persistent 7+ day variation in cycle length.
- Late perimenopause: 60+ day gaps between periods.
- Postmenopause: 12 consecutive months without a period.
When predictions stop working
Calendar calculators assume cycle length is stable. In perimenopause, anovulatory cycles, shorter follicular phases, and skipped periods make calendar math unreliable. Track symptoms and basal body temperature alongside dates for a fuller picture.
Yes, you can still get pregnant
Until you've gone 12 months without a period, perimenopause does not equal infertility. Use proper contraception if pregnancy isn't the goal.
Track cycle, symptoms, and food in one place.
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