Perimenopause: what changes in the body before we even have a name for it

There is often a moment when you think: “hang on, something is changing”.

You are not sleeping as well. Your cycle is doing its own thing. Your skin feels tighter. Your hair seems different. You recover less quickly from a bad night and sometimes, let’s admit it, from a slightly overenthusiastic dinner.

You can spend months calling it “stress”.

Sometimes it is stress.

And sometimes perimenopause has already entered the conversation.

Perimenopause begins before menopause

Menopause is defined after 12 consecutive months without a period.

Perimenopause is the transition that comes before it. It can last several years, with cycles becoming irregular and symptoms appearing gradually.

French public health guidance from Assurance Maladie lists hot flushes, sleep problems, fatigue, irritability and other possible changes.

The important word is possible.

There is no single “typical perimenopausal woman”. Some go through this period almost without thinking about it. Others feel as if someone has changed their body’s settings without sending the instruction manual.

Why everything can seem to happen at once

Because sex hormones do more than regulate the menstrual cycle.

Oestrogens act in many tissues. Skin, in particular, has oestrogen receptors.

During the menopausal transition, hormonal fluctuations can also overlap with everything else: mental load, sleep, physical activity, diet, age and life events.

Sleep is often one of the first signals

Sleep disturbance is among the most common and bothersome symptoms of the menopausal transition.

A review published in 2025 describes insomnia, sleep-disordered breathing and movement disorders, with a possible role for fluctuations in oestrogen and progesterone, but also hot flushes and other factors.

The subject is subtler than it seems: some women report clearly worse sleep even when objective measurements do not always change to the same extent.

What matters in real life is that if you wake up exhausted, the problem deserves to be taken seriously even if your smartwatch congratulates you.

Skin can change in texture and comfort too

Dermatology publications link the fall in oestrogen around menopause with changes in skin collagen, elasticity, thickness and hydration.

A meta-analysis of menopausal hormone therapy included 15 studies and 1,589 women. It found favourable effects on elasticity, skin thickness and collagen content.

Again, this is not an argument for taking hormone therapy for cosmetic reasons.

It is simply fairly concrete evidence that hormones are part of skin biology.

And it helps explain why a routine that felt perfectly adequate at 35 can suddenly seem less suitable at 45 or 50.

Body shape can change, but not for just one reason

Many women describe changes in body shape around this period.

Recent literature describes a tendency towards increased and redistributed adipose tissue, with more abdominal fat, as well as a gradual age-related decline in muscle mass and strength.

But researchers themselves point out that it is difficult to perfectly separate the effects of menopause, ageing, physical activity, sleep and energy balance.

In other words: your body has not suddenly become “lazy”.

It is going through several changes at the same time.

Strength training becomes particularly interesting

Not only for body shape.

Resistance training helps preserve muscle mass and strength, two important issues as we age.

And, as an unexpected bonus, a small 2023 study in 61 middle-aged Japanese women observed improvements in certain skin parameters after 16 weeks of exercise, with increased dermal thickness in the resistance-training group.

We are not going to turn the leg press into a serum.

But if you wanted one more reason to rebuild some strength, there it is.

So what should actually change?

Not everything.

That is probably the most important part.

And where do supplements fit?

They can have a place in a nutritional routine, but they are not treatments for perimenopause.

At Eclo, we therefore prefer to start with the composition and the level of complexity of the formula.

Ressource™ includes ExceptionHYAL® Star, Céramosides™, magnesium bisglycinate, saffron and active B vitamins, among other ingredients.

Régénère™ is a multi-active formula including Reggenerate™, SkinAx²™, CoQ10, magnesium bisglycinate and saffron.

If you prefer a shorter composition, Collagen combines Reggenerate™ and vitamin C, while Hyaluronic Acid 200 mg provides 200 mg of hyaluronic acid via ExceptionHYAL® Star with vitamin C.

Choosing a supplement does not replace medical assessment of a symptom and should not be presented as management of perimenopause.

What if the real point is simply to change the rules of the game?

There is a lot of talk about “ageing well”, sometimes as if it were an exam to pass.

Perimenopause is more like a period in which the body changes a few parameters.

What worked before may need adjusting. Not a revolution.

A more comfortable moisturiser. Sleep that you protect a little better. A bit more resistance training. A nutritional formula if it makes sense. A medical appointment when something becomes genuinely troublesome.

Taking care of yourself at this stage is not about trying to stay exactly the same. It is about understanding what works now.