Their clock found that post-menopausal women and people with gynae organs on combined HRT (with progesterone and oestrogen) had slower cell ageing than those not on HRT, which could explain why HRT has previously been linked to lower risk of some age-related diseases.
HRT is also known to help women maintain softer, smoother skin, resulting in a younger look. In addition to—and, often, as a result of—these physical changes, HRT often changes how you see yourself.
It can also help improve your muscle mass and bone density, which can help you stay active and independent as you age. While HRT cannot reverse the ageing process, it can help you to age gracefully and maintain your health as you get older.
New research suggests that women on HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) are likely to live longer. Not only does the treatment help to relieve the symptoms of menopause, it can also protect against longer-term health risks such as osteoporosis and heart disease, which rise significantly in women over the age of 50.
Your skin also becomes thinner, because the levels of collagen and elastin also dip along with estrogen. The hormone estrogen is responsible for making skin look younger due to the hyaluronic acid it produces. Estrogen not only affects your skin but also your muscle mass, metabolism, and energy levels.
Menopause has long been known to reduce estrogen levels in women. This hormone is important for keeping your skin hydrated and elastic. So, when your body stops producing estrogen, your skin will lose its thickness, become dry, and develop wrinkles, which leads to making you appear older.
While estrogen likely won't reverse or erase signs of aging, it may offer some protection against wrinkles and other common skin concerns in menopausal women.
Breast cancer: combined HRT slightly increases the risk of breast cancer. This increased risk gets bigger the longer HRT is used. When HRT is stopped, the increased risk goes down over time. This takes longer, the longer that HRT was used.
For women who start HRT more than 10 or 20 years after menopause starts or when they're age 60 or older, the risks of HRT are greater than the benefits because HRT is linked to a higher risk of heart disease, stroke, blood clots, and dementia.
And how do you go about it? If you are healthy, most experts agree that HRT is safe to use at the lowest dose that helps for the shortest time needed. If you're 59 or older, or have been on hormones for 5 years, you should talk to your doctor about quitting.
HRT appears to boast dermal collagen levels and thereby improves skin health.
One of the common treatment options for menopausal symptoms is hormone replacement therapy (HRT), supplementing your hormone levels to rebalance your system. However, you may prefer to move through menopause without using hormone treatments. And, women with previous hormone-dependent cancer shouldn't use HRT.
Starting HRT after the age of 60 does not lower the risk of heart disease but it is not thought that it increases it either. Starting HRT over the age of 70 may have more risks than benefits. When to Stop HRT? There is no arbitrary age to stop HRT.
But there's hope for relief from the increased belly fat and weight gain that comes along with menopause. A recent study of postmenopausal women, ages 50 to 80, found that those who took hormones had significantly lower levels of belly fat than women who did not take hormones.
Many women believe that taking HRT will make them put on weight, but there's no evidence to support this claim. You may gain some weight during the menopause, but this often happens regardless of whether you take HRT. Exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet should help you to lose any unwanted weight.
Combined HRT can be associated with a small increase in the risk of breast cancer. The increased risk is related to how long you take HRT, and it falls after you stop taking it. Because of the risk of breast cancer, it's especially important to attend all your breast cancer screening appointments if you're taking HRT.
Are there risks to stopping HRT? The most likely risk is that your menopausal symptoms return. Some research also suggests a rise in blood pressure and a slight increase in risk of heart attack or stroke in the year after stopping HRT.
Long-term effects can include bone loss, risk of fractures, and cardiovascular disease.
'Too old', 'too young', 'you have migraines', 'you've had a clot' – these are just some of the reason women are given by their doctor as justification for not prescribing hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to treat menopause symptoms.
A Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center study involving postmenopausal, overweight, and obese women who took 2,000 IUs of vitamin D daily for a year found that those whose vitamin D blood levels increased the most had the greatest reductions in blood estrogens, which are a known risk factor for breast cancer.
There is no specific age cut-off for starting HRT.
Menopausal estrogen deficiency and aging-related changes to the skin are directly connected. As it turns out, one of the effects of taking estrogen via topical estriol creams or MHT is that it can increase your collagen levels even after menopause.
Does HRT really work? Many men and women enjoy life-changing results with hormone replacement therapy, with some of the most compelling improvements being better energy levels, enhanced sexual performance and pleasure, and the ability to once again lose and maintain weight.
The first changes you will probably notice are that your skin will become a bit drier and thinner. Your pores will become smaller and there will be less oil production. You may become more prone to bruising or cuts and in the first few weeks you'll notice that the odors of your sweat and urine will change.