Reproductive Organs Age Differently—Now Science Can Track It
Key takeaways
- Author: Sela Breen May 02, 2026Assistant Health Editor By Sela Breen Assistant Health Editor Sela Breen is the Assistant Health Editor at mindbodygreen.
- New research1 reveals menopause is more like a turning point that ripples through your entire reproductive system, with some organs changing years before menopause and others shifting abruptly around it.
- Researchers in Barcelona set out to map how the entire female reproductive system ages, not just the ovaries.
Why this matters: practical guidance grounded in recent research or expert insight.
Author: Sela Breen May 02, 2026Assistant Health Editor By Sela Breen Assistant Health Editor Sela Breen is the Assistant Health Editor at mindbodygreen. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied journalism, international studies, and theatre.Image by Kelly Brown / Stocksy May 02, 2026We've long treated menopause as a singular biological event, marked by the moment the ovaries stop working. But any women who has gone through menopause could tell you that it is much more than that, with effects across physical and mental health.
New research1 reveals menopause is more like a turning point that ripples through your entire reproductive system, with some organs changing years before menopause and others shifting abruptly around it.
Researchers in Barcelona set out to map how the entire female reproductive system ages, not just the ovaries. The study analyzed over 1,100 tissue images, collected from 304 women between the ages of 20 and 70.