Background: Menopause is one of the most important stages in women's lives. Today, menopause is an important phenomenon due to the increase in life expectancy, the number of postmenopausal women is expected to reach 1.2 billion by 2030. It is important for women to live healthy in these years as in the reproductive years. One of the main psychological needs of humans is happiness. According to studies, happiness decreases during menopause. As a result, considering the importance of the topic, this study was conducted with the aim of determining the factors affecting happiness in menopausal women. Methods: In order to compile this review article, searching for articles using the keywords happiness, menopause, middle-aged women, alone and in combination with AND and OR operators in databases ,such as PubMed, Scopus, Science direct, ProQuest, SID, Magiran and Google Scholar search engine without time limit. At first, 125 articles were found. The inclusion criteria were all studies that had investigated the factors affecting happiness. The reviewed studies included clinical trials, cohort and cross-sectional, and finally the data of 29 articles were used.
Results: The results of this study led to the classification of factors affecting the happiness of postmenopausal women into five general categories. The first category includes physical factors (including the absence of: vasomotor symptoms, cardiovascular diseases, arthritis, osteoporosis, psychosomatic disorders and having a favorable condition. health). The second category includes psychological factors (including the absence of depression and anxiety, having a positive attitude towards menopause, optimism, self-esteem and resilience). The third category includes social factors such as (social support of family and friends, effective communication with colleagues). The fourth category is economic factors (including job changes, favorable income level and the absence of financial crises). The fifth category includes lifestyle (being non-smoker, having physical activity and regular exercise, marital satisfaction, stress management skills and herbal drugs) of menopausal women. Conclusion: In order to improve the happiness of menopausal women, all physical, psychological, social, economic and lifestyle factors are important and should be considered in national planning and policies to improve the health of menopausal women.