Here’s an interesting fact, 52% of the UK population are female – and every single one will go through the menopause.
We want to make the topic of menopause less taboo – why should we shy away from talking about it when 52% people will be going through it? It’s a great milestone; freedom from monthly cycles, and a time when many describe as the beginning of a new chapter.
Insomnia around 3-4am is a very common menopausal symptom. We often think about hot flushes, but often the symptoms are there years before and we just didn’t realise, blaming insomnia on young children waking, stress, overactive mind etc…
Here’s an interesting article from the Guardian on the topic.
An interesting article here too from HR Magazine, 59% said menopause negatively effects them at work, and 30% have taken sick days as they’re too embarrassed to talk about it to their employer.
Just this week we ran menopause seminars for Chartered Accountants at ICAEW in Milton Keynes and London offices. Originally the seminar was commissioned by a senior female in a large construction company – she felt unsupported in a male environment, and wanted to know what they could do to build awareness and explain what work colleagues could to do make symptoms a little easier.
We also facilitated our Managing Menopause seminar as a webinar at CGI – fantastically over one hundred of their employees dialled-in and 52% were male! This is great, guys realise that it’s not just work colleagues but partners, mothers, sisters etc will all go through menopause. They wanted to find out how best to support them.
So here’s a preview from our 1 hour Managing Menopause seminar:
- Average age of menopause in UK is 51, yet symptoms can start as early as 41 years old and even earlier following reproductive surgery
- Symptoms often start with insomnia, irritability, anger, weight gain around tummy. Hot flushes normally comes later
- Consider cutting down stimulants (caffeine, alcohol) – these are over stimulating adrenal glands which are already over worked producing hormones to help assist with menopause
- HRT is not the only answer. Early symptoms do well with phyto-oestrogens, and also research or ask your GP about bio-identical hormones.
If you’d like to find out more about our Managing Menopause seminar and how we can make it less of a taboo subject in your workplace, you can email us. To find out more about our other seminar/webinar topics click here.
You may also be interested in our podcast Bitesize Nutrition which you can listen to free without registration on your phone or PC by clicking here, or you can also find it on iTunes & Spotify.
A reminder:
- The information in this article is for educational purposes and should not replace medical advice.
- The information is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition.
- If you have a diagnosed medical condition, you should consult a doctor before making any major changes to your diet, and;
- Some supplements may interact with medications and you should check with your GP before commencing any supplement programme.
