Low mood, irritability, night sweats… What if it was a hormonal imbalance? Getty Images:
With a detailed questionnaire and personalized advice, the HerCare app helps you better identify and experience symptoms related to hormonal imbalances, be it premenopause or polycystic ovary syndrome.
While the word is slowly getting around menopause, the same cannot be said for perimenopause, also known as perimenopause. This phase precedes the cessation of ovarian function, cessation of menstruation and fertility, and occurs after about forty years of progressive hormonal imbalance. It comes with symptoms that can affect women’s daily lives, from irregular periods to sleep or mood disorders. To try to anticipate this shock and improve the experience for some women, Swedish startup HerCare can be an ally. The application, developed by a Swedish private clinic of the same name and available from March 8 in the Apple Store, allows menstruating women of all ages to identify hormonal imbalances and their underlying causes through a detailed questionnaire. be it premenopause or premenstrual syndrome. The app then aims to relieve women of symptoms.
Menopause trailer in video
Understand your body and its cycles
How does it work? In practice, the app suggests you regularly record your menstrual cycle and rate potential symptoms from “none” to “high” such as anxiety, irritability, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, feeling overwhelmed, sugar cravings, night sweats, headaches, breast tenderness, low mood or hot flashes.
The information provided is then displayed as a graph and offers a better understanding of the evolution of symptoms over time according to their menstrual cycle.
This first set of data allows you to receive advice to apply according to the stage of the cycle and, if necessary, organize work or daily activities according to how you feel, explains Patricia Richter, head of the workshop at HerCare.
The app provides a graph to better understand the evolution of symptoms over time. Apple Store screenshot
Hormonal balance
In addition to this consistency, HerCare offers a hormonal balance every month based on the answers to various questions about the previous month’s periods, their duration and flow. The platform then questions the overall well-being of the moment, rated from 1 to 10, and then looks at symptoms experienced during this period, such as sugar cravings, difficulty sleeping or demotivation.
After this assessment, a preliminary assessment of her hormonal status is indicated. In particular, the application may, in certain situations, suspect fluctuations in sex hormones (estrogens or progesterone) and/or neurotransmitters important to the body (serotonin, GABA or even dopamine).
Information obtained through the app can also be used as a starting point for conversations with a healthcare professional.
Zeinab Daugaard, CEO of HerCare
A small bonus for owners of the Apple Watch Series 8 or Apple Watch Ultra, the app can improve its diagnostics by analyzing variations in wrist temperature provided by the connected watch during sleep. “Many women today suffer from symptoms such as fatigue, restlessness and anxiety without really understanding the cause. By combining temperature changes, menstrual tracking mapping and symptoms, we can find out at an early stage if, for example, progesterone levels (a hormone produced by the ovaries, editor’s note) to fall, and thus make it easier for women to take the necessary measures,” summarizes Zeinab Daugaard, CEO of HerCare.
After the completed report on the application, a preliminary assessment of your hormonal status is indicated. Apple Store screenshot
Personalized advice
Depending on the diagnosis and recurring symptoms, the app provides the user with keys to feeling better physically and psychologically. This advice is based on rigorous scientific recommendations from the British Menopause Society, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the International Menopause Society and the World Health Organization (WHO). “Every person is different, the information obtained through the app can also serve as a starting point for conversations with a healthcare professional,” adds Zeinab Daugaard from HerCare.
In the “content” category of the app, all the tips and recommendations are listed according to the cycle and hormonal status of the user. Apple Store screenshot
The app is free, but with a premium version available from €6.99/month, it allows users to receive more personalized suggestions to reduce symptoms and thus return to proper hormonal balance. It could be recipe ideas for meals, drinks to make up for nutritional deficiencies, or even exercise to boost serotonin, the happy hormone, to combat depression.
A valuable tool in the face of overwhelming current data on the suffering of women victims of hormonal imbalance. Last May, a report by the Fawcett Society, an association fighting gender inequality, said that 44% of women confirm that their workplace is affected by menopause-related disorders; and that, without the support or accompaniment of their hierarchy, for most of them (78%).
In the video, Naomi Watts is positive about the benefits of menopause
Source: Le Figaro
