Once again, upon signing online this morning, my opening page had a link to the following website and article, which lead to the next article as the cycle goes. And now, I pass them along to you.

Here is the introduction from www.thatsfit.com:

Menopausal changes due to a woman's relationships, not hormones
Posted: Oct 26th 2006 1:23PM by Brian White
Filed under: Women's Health

As many women approach menopause, it's long been thought that hormonal changes start affecting sex lives at roughly the same time. But, according to a new set of studies by the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, a woman's actual relationships near menopause may affect her sex life just as much as physical, hormonal changes.

In the studies, it was found that greater sexual desire was "very strongly associated" when correlated with factors like the woman's satisfaction with their current relationship and the availability of a sexual partner.

In addition, lower BMI (body mass index), high self-rated health and being premenopausal were also linked to sexual desire -- and these are all chosen relationship traits as opposed to physical changes that are biological in nature.

To read the full article on webmd check here

"The first study comes from researchers including John F. Randolph Jr., MD, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Michigan."

"The second study comes from researchers who included Clarisa Gracia, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania" (from the webmd article)

I'm always on the lookout for reasons for self care and checking in with yourself and this could surely be filed under those category. Keeping a check out for your age, your health and now your relationships could provide the key to those irritating symptoms of menopause. And if only healthy relationships could cause a relief of symptoms, then we would really be on to something.