These changes in the body indicate that the ovaries are "retiring" early.

Like weight loss, maintenance is a woman's life's work. However, many women only pay attention to the "superficial" work, patronizing the maintenance of appearance and figure. As a woman's "source of life", the ovaries have always played a vital role, but they have been ignored by many women.

The ovaries will affect the health of women throughout their lives, on the one hand, the ovaries can store eggs and ovulate, playing a function of nurturing life; on the other hand, the ovaries can secrete hormones needed by women, which is an important basis for maintaining women's normal physiological functions.

In general, when a woman is around the age of 40 to 50, the function of the ovaries will decline. However, many young people today have developed ovarian insufficiency, or even premature ovarian failure.

Chen Cairong, chief physician of the Reproductive Center of Qingyuan People's Hospital, reminded that the decline of ovarian function is clinically irreversible, and there is no accurate and effective way to restore ovarian function. Once the ovaries fail, it means that early menopause has entered.

The ovaries and aging are inextricably linked

Chen Cairong introduced that the ovaries are female gonads and organs that maintain female sexual and reproductive functions. It mainly has two major functions, one is to produce and release eggs, to prepare for the reproductive function of life; the other is the endocrine function of producing a variety of hormones during the maturation of egg cells, to ensure the hormone balance in the female body, is an important organ for menstrual regularity, normal pregnancy and maintenance of female youth.

The ovaries, like other organs, undergo a process of development, maturation, and aging. Under normal circumstances, a woman's ovaries are the most active from the beginning of menstruation to before the age of 30, after the age of 35, the ovarian function will have a cliff-like decline, after the age of 40, the ovarian function slowly declines until it enters menopause.

If ovarian hypofunction occurs before the age of 40, it is early-onset ovarian insufficiency (POI). If the degree of decline is further aggravated, amenorrhea, elevated gonadotropin levels and decreased estrogen levels, accompanied by varying degrees of perimenopausal symptoms, is premature ovarian failure (POF), which is the terminal stage of POI.

"Women's eggs are fixed and innate, and premature ovarian failure can also occur if ovarian reserve function declines." Chen Cairong said that the ovaries are egg production plants, but women do not have the physiological function of producing primitive follicles, primitive follicles are innate, basically the number of eggs that can be released in each woman's lifetime is more than 400. Decreased ovarian reserve function refers to the weakening of the ability of the ovaries to produce eggs and the decline in the quality of follicles, resulting in decreased female fertility and reproductive endocrine dysfunction, which can further develop into premature ovarian failure.

Chen Cairong introduced that the ovarian function is reduced, the body's various functions will change, and menopausal symptoms will appear in advance, mainly abnormal menstrual cycles, estrogen deficiency symptoms, infertility.

Abnormal menstrual cycles are mainly reflected in the shortening of the menstrual cycle, the reduction of menstrual volume, irregular cycles, rare or frequent menstruation, amenorrhea, infertility, etc. A small number of girls can have a sudden termination of menstruation without obvious triggers.

The ovaries can secrete some of the hormones that a woman's body needs, mainly progesterone and estrogen. Estrogen can keep the skin hydrated, promote skin metabolism and blood circulation, make the skin soft and delicate, and play an irreplaceable role in the nervous system, cardiovascular system, bone, urinary system and other tissues. When ovarian function is reduced and estrogen levels in the body are reduced, symptoms such as sleep problems, night sweating, decreased libido, osteoporosis, bone pain, fractures, mood and cognitive changes, cardiovascular symptoms, and heart rhythm disturbances occur.

Never have the idea of "wait a minute"

If a woman has a shortened menstrual cycle or poor sleep, mood changes, is it a decline in ovarian function? Chen Cairong introduced that the diagnosis also needs to be combined with the patient's physical examination and auxiliary examination, and the differential diagnosis can be excluded to be determined.

Hormone levels are first checked by blood draw, and if the level of basal follicular estrogen FSH (gonadotropin) is elevated, that is, the FSH level on the second day of menstruation is greater than 10 to 25 U/L, indicating decreased ovarian reserve function. Premature ovarian failure is diagnosed if the age is less than 40 years and FSH is greater than 40 U/L twice in a row.

Ultrasound is also needed to understand bilateral ovarian size, number of sinus follicles, etc., and if ultrasound B suggests ovarian atrophy, no follicles present, or very few, it may be a decline in ovarian function.

Chen Cairong mentioned that it is not uncommon for patients with premature ovarian failure today. In addition to genetic factors and iatrogenic factors, the high incidence of premature ovarian failure is inseparable from the change of modern lifestyle and pace of life. Staying up late, emotional stress, irregular diet, excessive dieting, lack of exercise, food safety problems, environmental pollution, radiation, etc. are all causes of decreased ovarian function.

Some women will choose extreme dieting methods to lose weight, so that their weight drops rapidly, which will make the fat drop rapidly, once the fat ratio in the body is too low, it is easy to affect the level of estrogen. Because of insufficient fat in the body, it is impossible to synthesize enough estrogen, which leads to menstrual disorders and even amenorrhea, which in turn inhibits the ovulation function of the ovaries and eventually causes premature ovarian failure.

"Premature ovarian failure is irreversible, and if there is a need for fertility, it should be done well before the ovarian failure." Chen Cairong said that although the fertility of patients with early-onset ovarian insufficiency is significantly reduced compared with normal women, and the ovarian function is irreversible, fortunately, there are still a small number of residual follicles in the ovaries of patients with early-onset ovarian insufficiency, and there is a possibility of rare ovulation and pregnancy. Therefore, various methods should be actively used to assist fertility and maximize the use of residual follicles.

She reminded that menstrual abnormalities, infertility for one year or more may be a signal of early-onset ovarian insufficiency, must be diagnosed as early as possible, do not have the idea of "waiting", especially for women with fertility needs, wait more, will affect the success rate of conception.

If ovarian function has begun to decline, it is necessary to receive systematic and standardized hormone supplementation treatment under the guidance of a specialist, but also to adjust the mentality, correct the bad lifestyle, and learn to self-relax and relieve psychological pressure.

Ovarian maintenance has no practical effect

"Be careful with ovarian maintenance of this pit." Chen Cairong said that many women want to try it when they hear that beauty salons have "ovarian maintenance" projects. It is said to delay aging, regulate dysmenorrhea, healthy eggs and other effects, and is very attractive to women.

However, in fact, there is no effect, and there is even a certain risk, for physiologically normal women, the ovaries can not be massaged, because it is deep in the human pelvis, if it can be touched, it means that there is a problem with the body structure.

The ovaries do not remain youthful forever, and women cannot prevent the period of natural aging of the ovaries, but they can prevent it from aging prematurely. Chen Cairong said that a positive and healthy attitude to life and a scientific lifestyle are effective ways to prevent premature ovarian failure.

Get enough sleep. Long-term lack of sleep is not easy to bring a variety of negative effects to the body, not only will it be easy to damage the liver, but also affect the endocrine, resulting in ovarian problems. Therefore, if you want to maintain your ovaries, you should sleep reasonably, and you must sleep more than 7 hours a day.

Adjust your diet. Usually you can eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh fruits and vegetables contain a lot of the best anti-aging elements vitamins C, E and carotene. Also pay attention to a light diet, do not often eat some high-sugar, high-fat, spicy, irritating, raw and cold foods.

Adhere to the appropriate amount of physical exercise to enhance physical fitness. Develop good exercise habits, usually appropriate exercise can effectively promote blood circulation throughout the body, but also to protect the ovaries, improve the effect of immunity. Avoid sitting for a long time every day, and sitting for a long time can easily affect the blood microcirculation of pelvic reproductive organs, ovaries, uterus, etc., making the nutritional supply of the ovaries problematic.

Stay away from radiation and chemoradiotherapy drugs to avoid the occurrence of iatrogenic premature ovarian failure. Avoid exposure to environmental poisons such as pesticides, plastic products, inferior cosmetics, hair dyes, etc.

Sex hormones, mammary glands, and endometrium are checked regularly. When premature ovarian failure occurs, under the guidance of a specialist, hormone replacement therapy is used in time to delay the decline of ovarian function as much as possible.

[Reporter] Liu Qiuyi

[Media Assistant] Chen Zhiyu

[Correspondent] Peng Keming

【Author】 Liu Qiuyi

【Source】 Southern Press Media Group South + client