Do early periods lead to early menopause?

Women are born with a set number of eggs.Credit: sxc.hu/alex27, sxc.hu

I started my period at 10 years old. At the time, I was not thinking about fertility, but I was thinking about how long this terrible "disease" would last. When I asked my mother how long I would have to live through a monthly period she said, "As far into the future as you can imagine." At 10, all I could think about was bleeding the rest of my life. By 20, I started thinking about the effect of starting my period so early on menopause. If a woman has a set number of eggs and one or more eggs are released every month, wouldn't a woman who started her period at 10 enter menopause before a woman starting her period at 15?

Science says there is no connection between early period and early menopause. One study of 3,756 women reported no connection between early period and early menopause. The study involved women born before 1926. Nearly a century later, women have evolved and changes in lifestyle, diet and parenting habits have affected when women fist start having a menstrual cycle. In 1901, the median age of first menses was 14 years old. By 1965, that age had dropped to 13 years old. With such changes, I find it difficult to believe there is no connection between early period and early menopause.

Early menses may increase risk of breast cancer. Despite no connection between early menses and early menopause, there are health issues linked to starting your period early. Every two years menses is delayed, reduces the risk of breast cancer by 10 percent. Thus a young woman starting her period at 10 is 20 percent more likely to get breast cancer than a young woman starting her period at 12. Age at menopause, height and weight also played an important role in breast cancer risk.

The definition of early menopause contradicts medical science. Early menopause occurs when the egg supply is depleted. Without eggs, the female does not need to shed the lining of the uterus (endometrial lining) every month. This lining provides a warm, blood-rich bed for a fertilized egg. When the body detects minimal egg supplies, the process of menopause begins. This is called peri-menopause. Peri-menopause can last years, but theoretically, women who start releasing eggs early will run out of eggs faster; leading to early menopause.

The question of a potential link between early periods and early menopause is still up in the air. With the average age of first menses slowly declining, it is difficult not to connect the two. Theoretically, early periods would lead to early menopause if eggs are released with each menstrual cycle. Scientifically, there is no connection between early menses and early menopause, but that could soon change.