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Women whose jobs require shift work may experience delayed menopause, according to a new study, and it could be bad for their health.

Whether it's working the overnight shift or different hours from day to day, shift work has been linked to higher risks for a variety of health problems, in...

Sleep apnea may be linked with joint pain and fatigue in postmenopausal women, a new study suggests.

"This study highlights an opportunity to increase identification of women with OSA [obstructive sleep apnea], which is underdiagnosed in women who often present with vague symptoms such as insomnia, fatigue and morning h...

Women who enter menopause early may be more likely to develop dementia later in life, new research indicates.

During menopause, production of the female sex hormone estrogen drops dramatically and a woman's periods come to an end. While women typically enter menopause in their early 50s, many do so earlier - eithe...

Hot flashes. Night sweats. Waking up at all hours throughout the night. Millions of women battle these stereotypical menopause symptoms for years.

Now, a small study suggests that a drug used for both men and women who have sleep disorders might o...

Women struggling with the change of life often head to the supplements section of their pharmacy to deal with menopause symptoms like hot flashes and sleeplessness.

But experts say they'd be better off going to their doctor and asking for clinically proven treatments rather than relying on an herbal remedy.

There's scant clinical evidence that supplements like black cohosh, soy isof...

Millions of people are at increased risk of type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure and don't even know it, due to a hidden hormone problem in their bodies.

As many as 1 in 10 people have a non-cancerous tumor on one or both of their adrenal glands that could cause the gland to produce excess amounts of the stress hormone cortisol.

Up to now, doctors have thought that these tumors h...

A new study confirms what many older women already know: Bladder problems in women worsen with age.

The researchers found that postmenopausal women between 45 and 54 years of age are more likely to have overactive bladder syndrome, and that obesity and multiple ...

New research on hysterectomies among women who don't have cancer determined there is an age at which it is safer to also remove the ovaries and fallopian tubes and an age at which it isn't.

Canadian scientists studied the cases of more than 200,500 women who had a hysterectomy for noncancerous reasons. They found an increased risk of death in women under 50 when the ovaries and fallopian ...

When a woman's periods begin to slow down and finally stop, digestive problems often pick up -- and new research suggests race and ethnicity play a role.

With menopause, levels of estrogen decrease, while cortisol levels increase, triggering an adrenaline boost that changes digestive function. It can set off symptoms such as bloating, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain, indige...

Older women with muscle loss are less likely to have menopause-related hot flashes, a new study finds.

The loss of muscle mass and function (sarcopenia) is one of the most significant changes that occurs with age, and older women are at increased risk due to sex hormone changes after menopause.

Other risk factors for sarcopenia include inactivity, lower protein intake, changes in gr...

A key to reduced Alzheimer's disease risk in women could be how much of the hormone estrogen they're able to stockpile over the years, new research suggests.

Certain lifetime choices -- such as having more children, taking hormonal birth control or taking hormone therapy during menopause -- mean that a woman has greater cumulative exposure to estrogen during her lifetime. A longer nu...

Eating alone may be a recipe for heart trouble if you're an older woman, Korean researchers suggest.

Those who eat by themselves are likely to eat faster and less healthily, which can lead to weight gain, higher blood pressure and cholesterol levels, increasing the risk for heart disease, the new study found.

"Women who live alone, who aren't cooking for a family or their husband, t...

Midlife vision problems could increase women's risk of depression, new research suggests.

Rates of eye problems and depression rise during midlife, but knowledge about how vision affects depression at that time has been limited. The new study identified a significant link between impaired vision and development of depression.

"Given that the combination of visual impairment and depr...

Laser-based vaginal "rejuvenation" is all the rage among women concerned about vaginal dryness and other "down there" symptoms of menopause, but it's buyer beware when it comes to these procedures, new research warns.

It turns out that laser-based vaginal rejuvenation may not be any better than placebo (dummy) treatment when it comes to relieving vaginal dryness, itching, burning, irritat...

The number of Americans diagnosed with "broken heart" syndrome has steadily risen in the past 15 years -- with the vast majority being women, a new study finds.

The condition, which doctors call stress cardiomyopathy, appears similar to a heart attack -- with symptoms such as chest pain and breathlessness. But its cause is entirely different: Experts believe it reflects a temporary weakne...

The length of a woman's menstrual cycle as she nears menopause could reflect her future risk of heart disease, researchers report.

Some women's menstrual cycles become longer as they approach menopause, while others' cycles remain stable. This new study found that the women whose cycle increased in length two years before menopause had better measures of vascular health than those who had...

Sleeplessness. Night sweats. Anxiety. Irritability. Aches and pains.

Would smoking a little pot help women deal with these common symptoms of menopause?

A good number of middle-aged women apparently think so, because they've been turning to marijuana to help handle the change of life, a new study reports.

"Midlife women within the menopause transition period of their life are ...

Women with a history of migraine headaches may suffer severe hot flashes during menopause, and this combo may boost their risk for heart disease, researchers say.

Migraine doesn't cause more or worse hot flashes -- or vice versa. But both are believed to be related to changes in blood vessels known as neurovascular dysregulation, according to Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director of the...

Emotional changes in the run-up to menopause can sometimes lead to depression.

It can be important to see a doctor to help determine whether you're just feeling stressed or "blue" -- or whether you might have clinical or major depression, a condition associated with a chemical imbalance in the brain.

Changing hormones during perimenopause -- the time when a woman's body is preparing...

Everyone knows that your metabolism peaks in your teenage years, when you're fit and active and feeling your oats.

And everyone knows that a person's metabolism slows down in middle age, as bodies start to expand and sag, and become less energetic.

But that's all wrong, it now appears -- fake news about how humans age that's gained the currency of truth over the years.

Your me...

Better health and self-image might just be a samba or some funky moves away.

That's true for postmenopausal women who, a new study says, can dance their way to better physical and emotional health.

"In addition to the positive effects on physical, metabolic and mental health aspects, dance promotes a moment of leisure, fun, socialization, self-knowledge and many other b...

Millions of women who take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to ease their transition through menopause may be unknowingly upping their risk for asthma.

The concern follows a study that spent more than two decades tracking a potential link between HRT and late-onset asthma among roughly 380,000 Danish women.

Two New York City physicians who were not involved in the study said the fi...

Women on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for menopause go on to have a 58% lower risk of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions, a new study finds.

Although the study wasn't designed to prove cause and effect, the findings could point the way to new treatments for such diseases, according to the researchers.

"This is not the first study on the impact of hormone...

Older women with low levels of vitamin D may have more pain after total knee replacement than those with adequate levels of the nutrient, a new study suggests.

Vitamin D is an important part of a healthy diet, and its benefits include protecting against bone disease and maintaining soft tissue health.

Estrogen deficiency, inactivity and a lack of sun exposure have been linked w...

Could your genes be to blame for your hot flashes?

New research suggests that's so, with genetics playing a role in both the severity and frequency of those hallmarks of menopause.

While hot flashes are common, they don't affect all women to the same degree and the reasons for those differences are unclear.

Genetics have been been suspected, because Black women tend to have gr...

If you suffered migraine headaches before menopause, you're at higher risk for high blood pressure once your periods stop, a new study warns.

Migraines occur more often in women than men, and are most common in the years before menopause, according to study author Gianluca Severi of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research in Paris.

"Doctors may want to consider ...

An experimental treatment may restore fertility during early menopause, a small new study claims.

Typically, menopause ends a woman's ability to get pregnant. But researchers report that administering platelet-rich plasma and hormones, called gonadotropins, might stimulate ovulation to make pregnancy possible.

"The most surprising finding in this work is awakening the s...

Heart disease is gaining on cancer as the leading cause of death among American women under 65.

"Young women in the United States are becoming less healthy, which is now reversing prior improvements seen in heart disease deaths for the gender," said Dr. Erin Michos, associate professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. She's the co-author of a new study that inv...

Black American women are more likely to gain weight after menopause than white women, and a number of factors may underlie the difference, researchers say.

They analyzed data from nearly 71,000 American women who had gone through menopause and were enrolled in a long-term health study.

The analysis found that Black women were more than 50% more likely to have a weight gain of 10% af...

If you are approaching menopause and you have some extra belly fat, new research suggests you might want to shed some inches now.

Women who carry weight around their midsection during menopause may be more likely to develop heart disease even if their overall weight remains the same, researchers report.

For every 20% increase in belly fat, the thickness of the carotid artery lining ...