Let’s Talk Menopause

WHEN SHAILI CHOPRA, journalist and founder of SheThePeople.TV, turned 40 some years ago, she visited her gynaecologist who told her to prepare for the “worst decade of your life”. Chopra guessed rightly that her doctor was talking about perimeno­pause, but the medical expert said that awareness was the first step to prevention. “It was the worst meeting with my doctor, but the best advice because she showed me the mirror,” Chopra recalls. “When you prep for something, you get ready to deal with it.”

Chopra did not just prepare for herself but laid the ground­work for greater impact. In 2022, she founded Gytree—a full stack platform for women’s health led by AI. “I always learn from my consumer,” Chopra says. “When we got our first 1,000 customers, we crunched the data and it showed us very clearly that the customers, who were buying again and again from us, were essentially people who had identified fatigue as the biggest pain point. They were clearly impacted by hormonal imbalance and were looking for solutions that went beyond talk.” Today, the platform has thousands more customers and offers multi-pronged solutions with coaching and products. Gytree has also hosted ‘Fabulous Over 40’ ticketed events, where women discuss and learn about menopause, in Ben­galuru, Delhi NCR, Jaipur, Hyderabad and Mumbai where it hosted a menopause summit in September 2025. On the cards: a documentary film on menopause.

Conversations around menopause are on the rise, and it is long overdue. Marking the end of menstrual periods and repro­ductive years, menopause is officially diagnosed after 12 con­secutive months without a period. “Menopause is often seen as a women’s issue but that is being challenged and broader health implications are being recognised,” says Dr Sudhaa Sharma, who serves as the president of the Indian Menopause Society (IMS). She recognised a gap in menopause care early in her practice and is now observing a visible shift. “Menopause is entering the public health space. The awareness may not be adequate but it is improving and there is an institutional recognition.”

In a paper published in the Indian Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology Research, N Hephzibah Kirubamani noted that In­dian women reach menopause at an average age of 46.2 years; studies conclude that Indian women reach menopause earlier than their counterparts in the UK or US. Menopause sparks a variety of physical, cognitive and emotional changes. Think hot flushes and night sweats, sleep disturbances, vaginal dry­ness, weight gain and slow metabolism, changes in skin and hair, mood swings, anxiety, body aches, declining oestrogen and bone density. These symptoms and effects are subjective so there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Despite its major impact on women’s health, menopause has long been a taboo subject.

“We haven’t prioritised women looking after themselves,” says Mini Mathur. Among the country’s most popular TV presenters, Mathur is now also known for her work on meno­pause awareness and creating Pauseitive, a platform to dissemi­nate evidence-backed information to support women on their journeys through this transition. Few celebrities in India have spoken about menopause and Mathur stands out not only for candidly sharing her experience with perimenopause but also going the extra mile to receive a health coach certification to learn more about what began as a personal experience—low mood, disturbed sleep and occasionally, losing her train of thought while speaking on stage. The medical solutions proved inadequate (she recalls being recommended medica­tion for sleep or anxiety) and so did online resources. “If some­body with my access, knowledge and curiosity is so blindsided, what must be happening to everyone else?” she wondered.

There was an obvious need for bigger conversations but Mathur wanted to do her due diligence. “I thought if I am to talk to others, I must come from a place of knowledge. Everyone has these experiences but what works for you may not work for me,” she says. Mathur has trained for the past two years and

received her certification as a health coach from the US-based Inte­grative Women’s Health Institute (IWHI); now she has signed up for yet another course that will enable her to read lab reports and explore the intersections between women’s menopause experi­ence and their other health concerns.

Conflating her learning as a health coach with her flair as a TV presenter, Mathur creates engaging content for Pauseitive, now followed by more than 55,000 users on Instagram. “I didn’t expect it to become so big, but it’s a representation of the need and the number of women who are suffering. I created the page to start conversations but it’s taken on a life of its own,” she says. “I don’t do collaborations because I don’t want to jump in on people’s fears and anxieties. I’ve kept it as a genuinely credible space and people appreciate that.” Mathur coaches women, offering lifestyle advice and recommending menopause-educated doctors, pro bono; she clarifies that she isn’t trying to become a professional health coach. “Coaching is about listening. We don’t fix you—we help you fix yourself.”

T A TIME when life expectancy is increasing and womenpursueprofessionalcareers—stayinginthework­force for longer periods—the need for menopause care is greater than ever before. Women in their 40s and 50s are increasing­ly acknowledging the impact of menopause on their lives. Famous names include Naomi Watts, Halle Berry, Padma Lakshmi, Lisa Ray and, closer home, actors such as Lara Dutta and Soha Ali Khan or Twinkle Khanna who once described her experience as “a phone with a faulty charger”. And as more women—from all walks of life, and not only celebrities—speak about their individual experi­ences and demand better solutions, a variety of new initiatives and platforms are emerging in response. Earlier this year, Maharashtra became the first state in the country to launch menopause clinics at government hospitals and urban healthcare centres. Kerala too earmarked a budget to set up menopause clinics, prompting ques­tions on whether other states will soon follow. In 2025, the National Commission for Women (NCW) and Rising India Research Foun­dation (RIRF) launched the MENO-MIND: Menopause Matters, So Does Mind programme to raise awareness about the impact on mental and physical health of women.

In 2023, healthcare company Abbott launched ‘Real, Made up, or Mine?’, a starter kit to enable and encourage open dialogues. It followed the 2022 launch of The Next Chapter, a compilation of stories about women experiencing menopause in various countries including India. A survey by Abbott and Ipsos that year revealed that 87 per cent of respondents felt menopause im­pacted women’s well-being. Physician and menopause health advocate Dr Sukhpreet Patel has founded Menopause Wize, a Mumbai-headquartered “multidisciplinary ecosystem” which offers science-backed health solutions as well as lifestyle and community support for women.

Most women turn to general practitioners and gynaecologists when they face the symptoms. However, treating menopause requires specialised knowledge and the number of qualified menopause specialists are still limited. Menopause management remains a small component in conventional medical training and women often find their doctors dismissing symptoms or attrib­uting them to stress and ageing. However, some doctors are now centring their practice around menopause care and undertaking certifications and training.

IMS offers a credentialed menopause practitioner (CIMP) com­petency examination for its members who are eligible to qualify for menopause care. The certification must be renewed every five years and there are now around 1,500 CIMP-qualified doctors. “The exam has become very popular especially after Covid, when it became online. More young doctors are opting for it and it is heartening to see their numbers growing at IMS,” says Dr Sharma.

“The physiological transition has various short-term symp­toms and long-term consequences,” she adds. “Women need to know about changes and anticipate them. They should talk to their doctors and healthcare professionals, get appropriate treatments if needed, and it has to be individualised.” She notes that the symptoms are different in every stage—hot flushes, va­somotor symptoms, anxiety, and menstrual irregularity mark perimenopause; vaginal and urinary issues, sexual issues, brain fog and forgetfulness appear later. Post-menopause health checks should include screenings and checks for bone health issues, car­diovascular and musculoskeletal problems, and in some cases, conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease too.

Among treatments applied during menopause, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), now called Menopausal Hormone Therapy (MHT), is the most well-known. Once commonly avail­able, perceptions about hormone therapy changed due to medical evidence, conflicting public messaging and the challenges of risk assessment. In 2002, US-based Women’s Health Initiative’s study suggested that the treatment increased risks of breast cancer, blood clots, cardiovascular disease and strokes, causing such global panic that women stopped their treatment and doctors became reluctant to prescribe it. Later studies have countered these conclusions, not­ing that both risks and outcomes vary according to age, timing and type of therapy. Fresh guidelines have emerged across the world and doctors are creating awareness about its benefits. Not every woman needs MHT. But Dr Sharma urges, “If a woman needs hormonal therapy, don’t deprive her of it.”

Beyond medical treatments, all the interviewees for this article agree that coping with menopause requires a holistic approach.

“A lot of how you can control your symptoms is lifestyle-driven. There is HRT and supplements, but exercise, nutrition, sleep and stress management make a difference. Unless you know what to fix and how, you can’t do it,” says Mathur, who is now in the early stages of developing a tech innovation which she hopes will offer a strategic solution for women in today’s world.

Gayathri Sreedharan, an applied anthropologist based in Delhi who helms the research design and consulting collective Anthropie, also runs Izaar, a platform that spotlights sexual health and solutions at the intersections of gender, sexuality and men­tal health. The organisation’s monthly discussion circles, hosted in collaboration with Hank Nunn Institute, recently featured a session on menopause and andropause (the gradual decline in testosterone levels among men as they age). An upcoming ses­sion at the end of May will bring together doctors, mental health experts and functional movement specialists to lead a conversa­tion titled ‘Rethinking Menopause’. “Last year, we reached out to the community to ask what they would like to talk about,” says Sreedharan. “One thing that came to us was that people wanted to talk about ageing and health for people who are growing older.”

REEDHARAN, WHO IS facing symptoms and effects of perimenopause, notes the importance of growing the conversation. “At our recent session, we had men talk­ing about menopause because their mothers, sisters and friends are experiencing it.” She emphasises the need for “intersectional thinking” that explores the impact of menopause on women from the perspectives of mental well-being, physical health, fit­ness and strength training among other areas.

Chopra observes that some gaps in menopause care will take a long time to fill. “The only thing that we have moved the needle marginally on is talking about the word, perimenopause,” she says. It does not imply that everyone understands what it means or that “there is a method to this madness”. There is also a need to prepare for menopause without being overwhelmed by fear of the symptoms. “We have been conditioned and fed on a diet of physi­cal beauty attributes as well as a sense of control. In menopause, both start to shake,” she says. “Before others judge you, you judge yourself. It’s a very hard phase for women and there is no better way than managing it better.” At Gytree, Chopra and her team are strengthening the connections between menopause “aware­ness, coaching and products”. Emerging directly out of consumer feedback, the products have found a wide consumer base. Chopra says that her users are not only confined to metropolitan regions like Delhi-NCR or Mumbai but also from Siliguri, Ernakulam, Chabua, Salem and other small cities and towns.

As urban women are taking advantage of benefits, there is a large rural and working-class population to cover as well. A 2025 study published in Climacteric, journal of the International Menopause Society, surveyed 32,518 women from underprivi­leged communities, of whom 50 per cent were unaware of the effects of menopause and 62 per cent were unaware of available treatment. However, 48 per cent were willing to take treatment if recommended by their healthcare providers.

Dr Sharma verifies that awareness among women in rural areas is low, citing severe symptoms. “But they do not know what is hap­pening. As healthcare professionals, we also sometimes tell them to live with it and bear with it. So, women suffer in silence.” Serving rural areas and underprivileged communities is among the objec­tives at IMS, with more than 50 sub-societies working in villages and, since March, have been conducting awareness workshops as well as setting up Bone Mineral Density (BMD) camps.

Watching the conversation evolve, Sreedharan hopes that it will make menopause care available to everyone—such as Mamta Didi, her 41-year-old housekeeper who has evolved into a staff member at Izaar. Sreedharan is also a member of Menopausal Mates, a popular community-led WhatsApp group which func­tions as a support network for women in peri/menopause; when she joined the group, she was pleasantly surprised to see the large number of members. “There are a lot of people already talking about menopause. It’s growing at this point and it is an oppor­tunity for different types of stakeholders,” she says, adding that government bodies, corporates and institutions should access these platforms to understand “what women need”.

The movement to bring menopause into public consciousness has been led by women—medical practitioners and health experts, entrepreneurs, researchers and community-leaders. As Sreedharan says, “We will create opportunities and solutions for ourselves. Dr Sharma says she has seen the change in her own practice. “When I started, in and around Jammu, people would ask what I was even doing. Now, women come by themselves asking about treatments, supplements or controlling weight gain,” she says. “We have moved from silence to acceptance and open conversations.”