I'm still reading up on menopause, and I've learned some interesting things.  
American women suffer far worse symptoms at menopause than non-Western women. 
 It's believed that this is because American women have an unnaturally high 
estrogen level during childbearing years, so when the estrogen abruptly stops 
at menopause, the symptoms are severe.  

<<I have often read that heavier women do better after menopause.  But if this
is true, why do Japanese women suffer less than American women during
menopause (they do not even have a word for hot flash) even though they are
MUCH slimmer on average than American women?>>

There is a good reason for this.  Estrogen is stored in body fat, and 
post-menopause, body fat is the only source of estrogen (except for the 
adrenals).  American women have too-high levels of estrogen mainly because 
they are too fat.  It's been found that women who have maintained lower body 
fat levels throughout their childbearing years do not suffer as much at 
menopause because they are used to lower levels of estrogen. This much have 
applied to paleolithic women.

Still researching...

     - Sheryl