Middling Along

In this episode we catch up with Dr Beth Thomas - who works with me at Managing the Menopause as our clinical lead, is a GP, and a menopause specialist seeing private clients with Everything Menopause.   We are covering - only a little belatedly - the latest research and developments that were presented this summer at the British Menopause Society conference. So if you’d like to find out more about what an expert in menopause is excited about, listen on to hear about: Fezolinetant (Veozah) - and when we might expect to hear more about this new class of drug for vasomotor symptoms being available for those who can’t take HRT  Why rates of endometrial cancer have greatly increased over the last decade The ‘Rule of 20’ for addressing weight gain in menopause Some fascinating facts about our gut microbiome and why this is the next big thing Ethnic differences in menopause symptoms, onset, and access to care Female-specific risk factors for increased risk of cardiovascular disease How to deal with sleep disturbance - and why you should care about ‘WASO’ And last, but by no means least, tune in to find out about ‘Beth’s Rule’ and why we might all want to Be More Beth!    You can find Beth at https://www.instagram.com/dr.beththomas/ and both of us at www.managingthemenopause.com   

My guest this time is Lou Featherstone - aka Luinluland: fashion legend and accidental midlife influencer who is proud to be growing old disgracefully! Lou’s story of midlife reinvention is simultaneously hilarious and heart wrenching. Tune in to find out how and why a vicar’s daughter ended up leaving behind her marriage of 20 years and driving from one side of the USA to the other in a bus with over 400 vibrators on board! Lou and I talk about: how moving to America was the catalyst for the breakdown of her marriage the dramatic event that sparked her mission to drive 6,000 miles from one coast of the USA to the other in a converted school bus… the story of how Lou came to own Susie the 32 foot long converted schoolbus and create the Self Love Revolution Tour the most defining - and hairiest - moments of her US trip what she misses about living in the US and what she definitely doesn’t and much, much more besides! You can find Lou at: https://luinluland.com/pages/about-me  https://www.instagram.com/luinluland You can also find us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and you can listen to past episodes at https://middlingalong.com   Join our newsletter, The Messy Middle, for fortnightly goodness into your Inbox: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/323784/90772270045202190/share  We’re delighted to be listed as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause here: https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/ It would mean so much if you’d subscribe, rate, and review us to share the love and help others find the podcast too!  You can also find me at https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause  or at www.managingthemenopause.com where we offer 1-1 coaching and workplace training.  Get our free 'Guide to your GP appointment' at https://www.managingthemenopause.com/free-resources 

My guest this time is Tanith Carey: Tanith is an award-winning writer and author of 12 books on psychology, parenting and social history, her writing has been featured in the Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Times, The Spectator and the Sydney Morning Herald. Her latest book is called ‘Feeling ‘Blah’?: Why anhedonia has left you joyless and how to recapture life’s highs.’   In this interview we cover: How she noticed a ‘lack of joy’ in her own day to day life and subsequently discovered the term “anhedonia” for the first time whilst late-night Googling the clash between our 'cave-dweller brain' and our 'always-on/more, more, more' modern world of comparison culture and how this hijacks our dopamine reward circuits to create a perfect breeding ground for anhedonia  what dopamine is actually ‘for’ - it may not be what you think… our inbuilt ‘negativity bias’ and how to combat it “glimmers” - little moments of joy that can help reduce cortisol levels how oestrogen and our other hormones impact the 'feel good chemicals' in us as cyclical beings and especially in peri/menopause how stress is the greatest enemy of joy there is…and how anticipation of ‘planned in’ activities that bring rest, enjoyment, or feed our ‘spark’ can make such a big difference to how we feel how joy is actually made up of three different components, rather than being just one thing how behavioural activation works  how we 'get our mojo back' - the ‘water pump’ analogy the impact of exercise and gratitude on our mood the difference between anhedonia and depression   And much, much more! You can find Tanith at https://www.instagram.com/tanithcarey and https://www.instagram.com/no_more_blah_book and you can buy Feeling Blah fromhttps://www.waterstones.com/book/feeling-blah/tanith-carey/9781801292375 or wherever you buy your books!   You can also find us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and you can listen to past episodes at https://middlingalong.com     Join our newsletter, The Messy Middle, for fortnightly goodness into your Inbox: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/323784/90772270045202190/share    We’re delighted to be listed as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause here: https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/   It would mean so much if you’d subscribe, rate, and review us to share the love and help others find the podcast too!  You can also find me at https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause  or at www.managingthemenopause.com where we offer 1-1 coaching and workplace training.  Get our free 'Guide to your GP appointment' at https://www.managingthemenopause.com/free-resources 

My guest this time is Katie Windle: Katie is a qualified hypnotherapist and psychotherapist and uses solution focused methods to help those who are being held back in life by anxiety and limiting beliefs to get control back and live a life of joy and ease. Katie’s own experiences with anxiety, brain fog, overthinking and sleep problems, combined with a stressful teaching career caused her to seek both a solution to her symptoms, and ultimately a change of career.  In this episode we cover: How our brains work under stress and why living in constant ‘survival mode’ with a full ‘stress bucket’ creates so many problems How getting back into the intellectual part of our brains makes us calmer, more motivated, happier and can cope more easily (sounds good right?!) How our brains work whilst we sleep to empty our ‘stress bucket’ and how hypnotherapy can help us to do the same – and create new patterns of responding How long it generally takes to create new neural pathways in the brain The range of issues that hypnotherapy may be able to help with   Fascinating stuff! You can find Katie at https://www.thehypnotherapyden.co.uk/ and https://www.instagram.com/thehypnotherapyden You can also find us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and you can listen to past episodes at https://middlingalong.com     Join our newsletter, The Messy Middle, for fortnightly goodness into your Inbox: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/323784/90772270045202190/share    We’re delighted to be listed as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause here: https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/   It would mean so much if you’d subscribe, rate, and review us to share the love and help others find the podcast too!  You can also find me at https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause  or at www.managingthemenopause.com where we offer 1-1 coaching and workplace training.  Get our free 'Guide to your GP appointment' at https://www.managingthemenopause.com/free-resources   

My guest this time is Steve Rawlings, founder of Cool Embrace. Steve and his wife Lisa moved from London to leafy, rural Shropshire after Lisa suffered a brain tumour, to get away from their hectic business life and adopt a slower and more tranquil way of life. They were both involved with the fabric industry, Steve in a career spanning 50 years, mainly in specialist textiles relating to military, police, aerospace and temperature-controlling applications. When Lisa started having night sweats, Steve harnessed his knowledge of the use of these types of fabrics to invent the Cool Embrace intra-blanket, as he couldn’t bear to see her suffer any longer. After Lisa tried the intra-blanket for the first night and slept through for 8 hours straight, she was determined that he should share this revolutionary invention with other women who could benefit from it’s permanent cooling properties.  Steve talks us through how the blanket works - which is a combination of heat dissipation and moisture control - fascinating if you’re a science geek like me! The blanket has five different layers which in combination help to move water and heat away from the body and spread heat throughout the blanket to ensure the user stays at an optimal and comfortable temperature all night.  I’ve road-tested the blanket myself over several months, and whilst I don’t suffer from severe night sweats, I can definitely see a difference in how well I sleep and, let’s say, ‘comfort levels’ especially on hotter nights. Cool Embrace has a couple of versions of the blanket in different fabrics and sizes, as well as a silk pillow case that incorporates the cooling technology.  They have kindly offered listeners a 10% discount code - just enter MTM23 at checkout. They also have a full money back guarantee if you find that the blanket does not work for you - that’s how confident they are that you will love yours too!    https://coolembrace.com/   You can also find us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and you can listen to past episodes at https://middlingalong.com     Join our newsletter, The Messy Middle, for fortnightly goodness into your Inbox: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/323784/90772270045202190/share    We’re delighted to be listed as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause here: https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/   It would mean so much if you’d subscribe, rate, and review us to share the love and help others find the podcast too!  You can also find me at https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause  or at www.managingthemenopause.com where we offer 1-1 coaching and workplace training.  Get our free 'Guide to your GP appointment' at https://www.managingthemenopause.com/free-resources 

My guest today is Clare Bourne - Clare is a specialist pelvic health physiotherapist and author, based in London, with a passion for supporting women and men throughout their lives. She believes in talking openly about taboo topics and ensuring everyone feels comfortable to get support for problems that may feel embarrassing to talk about. She worked extensively in the NHS before starting up her own private practice she’s the co-founder of the Pelvic Health Practice, a specialist team of pelvic health physios providing home visits across London and the founder of All About Mum which provides postnatal education cards, webinars and ebooks to support women with all the information they deserve. Clare is also the author of Strong Foundations: Why pelvic health matters, an empowering guide to your body, which aims to support women to understand their bodies better.    In our chat we’ll cover: Why our full life story - from childhood onwards - it critical in getting a full picture of our pelvic floor health Why the first part of her book looks at basic biology and unpicking the lack of understanding we have around our own anatomy Constipation in childhood and later in life and why this is so important to address The importance of oestrogen for our pelvic floor health Why kegels are just one tool in the toolkit and what is the bare minimum she recommends we do daily… Clare’s three part strategy: Fluids, Fibre, and Movement Prolapse - it’s more common than you think, and how to advocate for yourself with your GP You can find Clare at https://www.clare-bourne.com/ and her new book at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Strong-Foundations-Clare-Bourne/dp/0008604223 You can also find us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and you can listen to past episodes at https://middlingalong.com     Join our newsletter, The Messy Middle, for fortnightly goodness into your Inbox: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/323784/90772270045202190/share    We’re delighted to be listed as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause here: https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/   It would mean so much if you’d subscribe, rate, and review us to share the love and help others find the podcast too!  You can also find me at https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause  or at www.managingthemenopause.com where we offer 1-1 coaching and workplace training.  Get our free 'Guide to your GP appointment' at https://www.managingthemenopause.com/free-resources  

Jackie Jarvis is a Walking Business Coach and author of Transform Your Life by Walking which documents her time walking the various pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela. She runs Netwalking events, and helps business owners and professionals use ‘walking and talking’ as a transformational tool to stimulate clarity, change, strategy and greater wellbeing.  After the breakdown of her relationship, Jackie took the decision to go solo to walk the rest of the Camino routes, and we talk in this episode about all the life (and business!) lessons that her solo travels to date have provided. We cover: lessons in letting go of the things get attached to (ie too much stuff, people, a plan); solo travelling as a woman, learning to love the silence, and getting out of your comfort zone; trusting the process, and trusting ourselves; advice for anyone considering a solo walk like this (including the Buen Camino app which Jackie used to navigate); what was her one non-negotiable travel ‘luxury’;  the liberating joy of less. You can find Jackie at https://www.walkingbusinesscoach.com/about-jackie-jarvis and buy a copy of her book here https://theendlessbookcase.com/books/transform-your-life-by-walking/   You can also find us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and you can listen to past episodes at https://middlingalong.com     Join our newsletter, The Messy Middle, for fortnightly goodness into your Inbox: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/323784/90772270045202190/share    We’re delighted to be listed as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause here: https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/   It would mean so much if you’d subscribe, rate, and review us to share the love and help others find the podcast too!  You can also find me at https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause  or at www.managingthemenopause.com where we offer 1-1 coaching and workplace training.  Get our free 'Guide to your GP appointment' at https://www.managingthemenopause.com/free-resources

My guest this time is psychotherapist Paula Rastrick, creator of The Brain-Body Method - an integrated trauma informed approach to menopause for Highly Sensitive Women.   Paula’s story has a good many twists and turns - from a career in HR to moving into sports science and medicine working with a Premier League football team, to then setting up her own physio, yoga and pilates business…in her own words “a high-functioning stress-head”, she started to unravel as she unwittingly hit perimenopause.    An ad for a private menopause clinic in 2017 led her down the path of believing HRT would be the answer to her prayers, but unfortunately for her, the high dose of oestrogen that she was started on only led to further ‘unravelling’ - including leaving her husband and young son for a time.   Persistent heavy bleeding combined with the psychological symptoms that were worsening eventually led to the realisation that the prescription she had been given was out of balance - with high oestrogen unopposed with sufficient progesterone. Her subsequent research, delving into her own history of complex childhood trauma, and how this, combined with being a Highly Sensitive Person, made her more susceptible to the impacts of oestrogen have formed the body of her current work on the interplay between trauma, SPS (Sensory Processing Sensitivity) and perimenopause.    In this conversation we dig into: What it actually means to be a Highly Sensitive Person (aka someone with Sensory Processing Sensitivity) - how many of us may be HSPs and how that impacts on the brain and nervous system How unsafe environments, particularly in childhood, prime our nervous system to be hypervigiliant, and trauma rewires the developing brain How HSPs may be more sensitive to medication - including hormone therapy How repressed trauma often pops us in perimenopause How “shoving the sh*t back in the cupboard” tends to backfire eventually…   If, like me, you’re fascinated by the interplay between trauma and menopause symptoms, then you won’t want to miss this one!   You can find out more about Paula’s work at https://thebrainbodymethod.com and find her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/mrspaularastrick/    You can also find us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and you can listen to past episodes at https://middlingalong.com     Join our newsletter, The Messy Middle, for fortnightly goodness into your Inbox: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/323784/90772270045202190/share    We’re delighted to be listed as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause here: https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/ It would mean so much if you’d subscribe, rate, and review us to share the love and help others find the podcast too!  You can also find me at https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause  or at www.managingthemenopause.com where we offer 1-1 coaching and workplace training.  Get our free 'Guide to your GP appointment' at https://www.managingthemenopause.com/free-resources 

What more fitting way to end this week - which included World Menopause Day - than to release this interview with Fiona Clark, Founder of the Menopause Research and Education Fund.   Fiona is an Australian journalist who previously worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and was a correspondent in the Soviet Union at the time it collapsed. She returned to Australia and worked as a reporter on and then supervising producer of its equivalent of Newsnight before leaving the ABC to move to medical publishing in the early 2000s. She then moved with her family back to Russia for what was supposed to be a year, but ended up being around 10 years. She then moved to London where she set up Harley Street Emporium with the aim of delivering evidence-based information about skincare to women, but which quickly evolved to cover menopausal health and for the last 5 years she has carried out thousands of interviews with menopause experts and many amazing women about their experiences. Most recently she has launched the Menopause Research and Education Fund and that’s why I asked her to come and tell us more about why such a charity is needed and what their plans are for the future.   MREF is fundraising to obtain charity status and its mission is to: - fund independent research into menopause (including topics such as migraine, HRT post-cancer, mental health, joint pain, impact of longer term HRT usage and more) - make sure all healthcare professionals have the education they need to help women adequately and appropriately and, - that all those who go through menopause have the evidence-based information they need so they can make informed decisions.   With so many of us likely to live over a third of our lives in a post-menopausal state, it’s critical for our understanding of long-term health and wellbeing that all aspects of menopause and perimenopause get the independent research that we are crying out for.  To find out more about MREF and donate to their work visit https://mref.uk/ If you enjoyed this epside it would mean so much if you’d subscribe, rate, and review us to share the love and help others find the podcast too!  You can also find us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and you can listen to past episodes at https://middlingalong.com   Join our newsletter, The Messy Middle, for fortnightly goodness into your Inbox: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/323784/90772270045202190/share  We’re delighted to be listed as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause here: https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/     You can also find me at https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause  or at www.managingthemenopause.com where we offer 1-1 coaching and workplace training.  Get our free 'Guide to your GP appointment' at https://www.managingthemenopause.com/free-resources

My guest this time is Dr Lucy Ryan, Lucy is a leadership coach, consultant, author, and a passionate advocate for women’s professional development. She has a Masters in Positive Psychology, lectures in Positive Leadership at the University of East London and is an honorary research fellow at the University of Liverpool.  Her doctoral research project explored the phenomenon of midlife for professional women and resulted in the publication of her latest book gloriously entitled Revolting Women: Why midlife women are walking out and what to do about it  In our conversation we talk about: How Lucy struggled to get a University to accept the topic of her PhD The ‘tsunami of stuff’ that converges for many of us in midlife forcing many to a point where they feel they have no choice but to step out of their role How elder care is ‘flying under the radar’ in terms of workplace policies How the ‘Career Clock’ typically looks different for men and women How women are ‘revolting' against the insistence on full time work Lucy’s Ten Provocations for Change in organisations (including normalising conversations around menopause, adding gendered ageism to their diversity data, finding out why women are actually leaving, and conducting midlife check-ins for all employees)  The need for conversation around creative solutions for job flexibility, squiggly careers and the 50 year career Why sponsorship (as opposed to mentorship) matters so much Can't waitr for you to listen! You can find more about Lucy and her work at : https://www.lucyryan.co.uk and find her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlucyryan/    You can also find us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and you can listen to past episodes at https://middlingalong.com     Join our newsletter, The Messy Middle, for fortnightly(ish) goodness into your Inbox: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/323784/90772270045202190/share  We’re delighted to be listed as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause here: https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/ It would mean so much if you’d subscribe, rate, and review us to share the love and help others find the podcast too!  You can also find me at https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause  or at www.managingthemenopause.com where we offer 1-1 coaching and workplace training.  Get our free 'Guide to your GP appointment' at https://www.managingthemenopause.com/free-resources 

Joining me this time is Karina Antram - registered nutritionist and executive coach, and author of Fix your Fatigue. Karina is hugely passionate about health and wellbeing after her own health struggles led her to seek out naturopathic practices. After being diagnosed with IBS, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Lyme Disease, Karina tried out a multitude of tests, diets, health practices, different foods and herbs to try and combat her debilitating symptoms which, at times, led her to being hospitalised. Karina is now recovered, having made numerous changes to her diet and lifestyle, but is fully aware that consistency and continuity is key. Fix Your Fatigue is designed to be easily accessible, helping the reader identify what is draining their energy and begin to take action. In this episode we cover:  the difference between ‘normal’ levels of tiredness and fatigue energy leaks - what they are and how to address them - including some that might not be obvious the impact of stress and exposure to toxins on our mitochondria and how well they function to provide us with energy micronutrients in our food, why they are so critical for our energy production process, why we might not be absorbing them well, and when we might think about supplementation using nudge theory to help ourselves with healthier habits and making changes Karina’s tips for making water more palatable, making your own healthy ‘nutrient toppers’ and other health hacks What to do first if you’re really struggling with fatigue… Fix Your Fatigue is published by Penguin https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/454007/fix-your-fatigue-by-antram-karina/9781405954693   You can find Karina at https://nocohealth.co.uk/    You can also find us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and you can listen to past episodes at https://middlingalong.com     Join our newsletter, The Messy Middle, for fortnightly goodness into your Inbox: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/323784/90772270045202190/share    We’re delighted to be listed as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause here: https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/   It would mean so much if you’d subscribe, rate, and review us to share the love and help others find the podcast too!  You can also find me at https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause  or at www.managingthemenopause.com where we offer 1-1 coaching and workplace training.  Take our quiz: www.managingthemenopause.com/quiz  Get our free 'Guide to your GP appointment' at https://www.managingthemenopause.com/free-resources

In this episode I welcome Jill Ross and Sarah Garton, both of whom are Managing Directors at Accenture in the UK. Jill and Sarah are the driving force behind Accenture’s MenoWarriors affinity group, and take us through how the group was established, and what Accenture has done to become accredited as a Menopause Friendly Employer here in the UK.   Sarah shares her personal story of ‘outing’ herself as menopausal in a room full of colleagues in dramatic style - far from putting the kibosh on her career trajectory at Accenture, she feels the opposite has happened - despite, or perhaps because of, her willingness to be vulnerable and open about her struggles. Jill also candidly shares her experiences of anxiety and loss of confidence at work - and what has helped her.    We also cover: the importance of male allies and how Accenture support male allies to confidently have those conversations in the workplace; how companies can support the emotional symptoms of menopause as well as the physical ones; the business case for making menopause an integral part of inclusion strategies; that businesses don’t necessarily need blockbuster budgets to make a big difference*; geographical differences in opening up conversations in the workplace and how the UK is leading from the front; the impressive results of their survey that clearly demonstrate the impact of their work around menopause support on employee retention   * the BSI has some great free resources you can share with your HR team or senior management here: https://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/our-services/events/events/2023/menstrual-and-menopausal-health-in-the-workplace/  You can also find us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and you can listen to past episodes at https://middlingalong.com     Join our newsletter, The Messy Middle, for fortnightly goodness into your Inbox: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/323784/90772270045202190/share    We’re delighted to be listed as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause here: https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/   It would mean so much if you’d subscribe, rate, and review us to share the love and help others find the podcast too!  You can also find me at https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause  or at www.managingthemenopause.com where we offer 1-1 coaching and workplace training.  Get our free 'Guide to your GP appointment' at https://www.managingthemenopause.com/free-resources

My guest this time is Sara Gregory - a contemporary portrait painter based in London. She belongs to a collection of artists called ‘Studio Fridays’ who have a studio space in Whetstone, Barnet. Having originally studied Fine Art in Stourbridge College of Art she became a teacher of Art which she did for 25 years before leaving to pursue her own practice. She is also an art tutor for children which she does in schools around Hertfordshire.  In 2022 she was a contestant on the popular ‘Portrait Artist of the Year’ competition. Her series of self portraits documenting her seven year struggle with the menopause before starting HRT cover such subjects as hot flushes, insomnia, anxiety and rage.   We talk about: Why she decided to begin her series of menopause self-portraits How perimenopause symptoms impacted her and how little help she was offered to help with her insomnia How showing the paintings to friends and fellow artists, as well as on social media, has opened up conversations and created permission for others to talk about their symptoms  Her creative process - the role of ‘acting out’ a self-portrait and how as an artists you convey a feeling   Since we recorded the episode Sara has been shortlisted as a Finalist for the Women in Art Prize - https://www.instagram.com/womeninartprize_/ - congratulations and good luck Sara!    You can find Sara on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/saragregoryart/    You can also find us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and you can listen to past episodes at https://middlingalong.com     Join our newsletter, The Messy Middle, for fortnightly goodness into your Inbox: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/323784/90772270045202190/share    We’re delighted to be listed as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause here: https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/   It would mean so much if you’d subscribe, rate, and review us to share the love and help others find the podcast too!  You can also find me at https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause  or at www.managingthemenopause.com where we offer 1-1 coaching and workplace training.  Get our free 'Guide to your GP appointment' at https://www.managingthemenopause.com/free-resources

My guest this time is Skylar Liberty Rose, a writer and coach who helps introvert women embrace their 40s and 50s with joy and confidence.  Born in London, Skylar moved to New York City when she was 40, and reaching her mid-40s, she found herself feeling despondent about aging and struggling with her appearance. It was this experience that prompted her to disentangle herself from the clutches of an anti-aging culture. She now helps other women do the same through her Visible course and You to Bloom membership.   We cover a raft of topics including: How it felt to change her birth name post-divorce and why it was the best decision she’s ever made for herself - though we don’t recommend doing it three weeks into a new job!  How midlife and menopause hits a little differently for introverts - we may feel the urge to spend a lot of time alone, but this is a time when we need to connect and find our community Trading NYC life for the countryside The societal pressures to keep our looks and age gracefully (whatever that means!) we are so used to it we rarely recognise or question it any more… Her brain tumour diagnosis, surgery, and recovery Comparing notes on starting HRT - and Skylar’s struggles with anxiety ADHD - masking, coping, and overwhelm…perimenopause can be a time when the cracks start to show You can find Skylar at https://www.skylarlibertyrose.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/skylarlibertyrose/   You can also find us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and you can listen to past episodes at https://middlingalong.com     Join our newsletter, The Messy Middle, for fortnightly goodness into your Inbox: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/323784/90772270045202190/share    We’re delighted to be listed as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause here: https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/   It would mean so much if you’d subscribe, rate, and review us to share the love and help others find the podcast too!  You can also find me at https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause  or at www.managingthemenopause.com where we offer 1-1 coaching and workplace training.  Get our free 'Guide to your GP appointment' at https://www.managingthemenopause.com/free-resources 

Join us this time for something a little different: earlier this year I sat down with my husband Stephen, to get a partner's view of peri/menopause...we weren't even sure whether or not to release it, but hopefully it makes for helpful listening for other partners out there...we talk about how his fears of menopause have been (mostly) unfounded, how the male urge to fix things isn't always the most helpful approach to perimenopause, and some tips for how to actually support someone in your life if they are struggling in peri/menopause.  Hope you enjoy it! You can also find us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and you can listen to past episodes at https://middlingalong.com     Join our newsletter, The Messy Middle, for fortnightly goodness into your Inbox: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/323784/90772270045202190/share    We’re delighted to be listed as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause here: https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/   It would mean so much if you’d subscribe, rate, and review us to share the love and help others find the podcast too!  You can also find me at https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause  or at www.managingthemenopause.com where we offer 1-1 coaching and workplace training.  Get our free 'Guide to your GP appointment' at https://www.managingthemenopause.com/free-resources   

My guest this time is registered nutritional therapist Thalia Pellegrini. After a decade as a broadcast journalist for the BBC, presenting programs including Newsround and The Travel Show and reporting for Holiday, she followed her passion and retrained at the Institute of Optimum Nutrition in London. Her specialist interest is women’s health with a focus on perimenopause. In our discussion we cover: living with chronic fatigue syndrome/ME in her twenties and how working with a nutritional therapist allowed her to go back to living a normal life; the role of permission and self-compassion as an antidote to guilt and overwhelm; Midlife as a powerful opportunity to invest in our longer term wellbeing stress management - how stress trumps everything. It impacts digestion, hormonal balance, weight gain, sleep... the list goes on.  How losing two good friends in just three years brought her own midlife health into sharper focus Tips for dealing with bloating and constipation   One thing that will stick with me from this interview is Thalia’s invitation to ‘Hold your own wellbeing sacred’ - midlife is definitely a time where we need to recognise that prioritizing our health and happiness is not selfish - quite the opposite. Thalia has a list of breakfast ideas available from her website https://discover.thaliapellegrini.com/5-minute-breakfasts-for-mums-in-a-hurry/ You can also find her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/thaliapellegrini_nutrition/ You can also find us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and you can listen to past episodes at https://middlingalong.com     Join our newsletter, The Messy Middle, for fortnightly goodness into your Inbox: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/323784/90772270045202190/share    We’re delighted to be listed as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause here: https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/   It would mean so much if you’d subscribe, rate, and review us to share the love and help others find the podcast too!  You can also find me at https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause  or at www.managingthemenopause.com where we offer 1-1 coaching and workplace training.  Get our free 'Guide to your GP appointment and Symptom Checker' at https://www.managingthemenopause.com/free-resources   

I’m delighted to welcome today’s guest, journalist and author Rosamund Dean. Former Deputy Editor of Grazia magazine, she’s the author of Mindful Drinking: How Cutting Down can Change Your Life, and her latest book, Reconstruction (How to rebuild your body. Mind, and life after a breast cancer diagnosis) which is a pragmatic but positive handbook for anyone navigating a diagnosis of primary breast cancer.    Rosamund’s book is not only an exploration of her own personal experiences of breast cancer, but a warm, relatable, practical guide to what to expect at each stage, even down to what to pack in your hospital bag…   In this episode we’ll cover: How it feels to receive a breast cancer diagnosis (in the middle of a pandemic! The crushing fatigue of cancer treatment and being forced to stop and rest - and how this impacts on someone’s identity Dealing with early menopause symptoms when HRT isn’t an option - and the reality of how poor the provision of information is for cancer patients That treatment can induce a second menopause in post-menopausal women who undergo treatment for BC Menopausal symptoms and their similarity to the side effects of chemotherapy - disentangling which is which The treatment that Rosamund is now taking to strengthen her bones The strain of looking out for symptoms of recurrence of the cancer The important of exercise not just for multiple facets of physical and mental wellbeing but for reducing risk of recurrence by between 30-60% Life - and living well - after breast cancer treatment   You can find Rosamund on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/rosamunddean/ and Reconstruction (https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Reconstruction-by-Rosamund-Dean/9780008585204) is available wherever you like to buy your books! Rosamund also has a regular newsletter, Well Well Well, which you can subscribe to here: https://rosamunddean.substack.com/    You can also find us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and you can listen to past episodes at https://middlingalong.com     Join our newsletter, The Messy Middle, for fortnightly goodness into your Inbox: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/323784/90772270045202190/share    We’re delighted to be listed as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause here: https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/   It would mean so much if you’d subscribe, rate, and review us to share the love and help others find the podcast too!  You can also find me at https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause  or at www.managingthemenopause.com where we offer 1-1 coaching and workplace training.  Get our free 'Guide to your GP appointment' at https://www.managingthemenopause.com/free-resources 

My guest this time is Helen Tomlinson - Head of Talent Development at The Adecco Group and the UK government’s first ever Menopause Employment Champion.   In this voluntary role, Helen’s focus is on encouraging employers to create more supportive environments to help women experiencing menopause to stay and progress in work.  We discuss some of the changes that Helen is hoping to enable over the next few years, to help organizations of all sizes support menopausal employees. There are exciting developments on the horizon, including a new hub for sharing and disseminating best practice, and a national allyship program, to provide support for those who are working in SMEs that simply don’t have the same resources available as larger companies. We also talk about the free support already out there, including the new BSI free standard on menstrual health and menopause in the workplace (available at https://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/standards/understanding-menopause-and-menstrual-health/)  We cover the ‘less visible’ symptoms - loss of confidence, brain fog, not sleeping, anxiety - which can have more far-reaching impact than physical symptoms on those in more senior roles. Symptoms which are not only harder to articulate, but harder for employers to practically support with reasonable adjustments  - which makes it even more important for employers to find individualized solutions to allow them to remain in their role. Helen gives us a great personal example of how a manager leaping into solution mode and making assumptions can actually be counter-productive.   We also delve into the many ways companies can help create cultural change: senior people sharing their experiences top-down support vulnerable leadership modelling openness to others within the organization  allyship    You can also find us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and you can listen to past episodes at https://middlingalong.com     Join our newsletter, The Messy Middle, for fortnightly goodness into your Inbox: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/323784/90772270045202190/share  We’re delighted to be listed as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause here: https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/ It would mean so much if you’d subscribe, rate, and review us to share the love and help others find the podcast too!  You can also find me at https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause  or at www.managingthemenopause.com where we offer 1-1 coaching and workplace training.   Get our free 'Guide to your GP appointment' at https://www.managingthemenopause.com/free-resources

My guest on the podcast this time is coach and speaker Madeline McQueen. In a career which spans 35 years, she’s inspired the workforces of brands ranging from Saatchi & Saatchi and Ogilvy to Google, Sky and Nike. If the hormone rollercoaster of midlife and perimenopause is messing with your confidence levels, buckle up - Madeline has some great advice for you!    So often when we start a new job or move on to a new challenge we feel like we’re starting over (when of course, we’re generally starting from experience!). Madeline is a big proponent of ‘evidence-based confidence’ - keeping track of what we have done, skills and learnings we have gathered along the way, as a way to damp down the anxiety we often encounter when we start over. Tune in to find out more about the ‘pink envelope’ and how it can help us.    We also talk about the four stages of competency that we move through each time we do something new: unconscious incompetence > conscious incompetence > conscious competence > unconscious competence - again, helpful grounding to remember, we’ve done it once, we can do it again!    We’re very much on the same page too when it comes to the need for us in midlife to put ourselves at the top of the To Do List - and learn to say no more often - something else we can lean in to more and more in midlife.    One of my favourite quotes of our interview is her insistence that we not “Own the Problem in the Room” - too often, as women in the workplace, we are quick to jump in to fill an awkward silence and offer our services up for the ‘emotional labour’ of the workplace that does us no favours when it comes to progression.    Last but by no means least, I ask Madeline about her advice for raising strong, capable daughters - her answers will resonate with you whether you have daughters, sons, nieces or nephews!    You can find Madeline at https://www.madelinemcqueen.com/ and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/themadelinemcqueen/    You can also find us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and you can listen to past episodes at https://middlingalong.com     Join our newsletter, The Messy Middle, for fortnightly goodness into your Inbox: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/323784/90772270045202190/share    We’re delighted to be listed as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause here: https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/   It would mean so much if you’d subscribe, rate, and review us to share the love and help others find the podcast too!  You can also find me at https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause  or at www.managingthemenopause.com where we offer 1-1 coaching and workplace training.  Get our free 'Guide to your GP appointment' at https://www.managingthemenopause.com/free-resources

Join me this time as I chat to ‘recovering people pleaser’ Natalie Lue - author of The Joy of Saying No, and founder of Baggage Reclaim, one of the longest-running self-help blogs in the world.    Most of us (as with our own parents) will have been raised during The Age of Obedience - socialized (especially if we identify as women) to be good and compliant - little wonder then that so many of us exhibit people-pleasing behaviours.    Perhaps it hasn’t been a huge issue for us before, but perimenopause impacts on our ability to ‘multitask’ in the way we might have managed before now and for many of us holding up our people-pleasing tendencies can become exhausting, even debilitating.    Natalie talks us through the five different styles of people-pleasing: gooding, efforting, avoiding, saving, and suffering - how these tendencies might have arisen in the first place, and helps us to identify which style we most identify with. The chapters that focus on the five styles also highlight ‘things to watch out for’ and some ‘quick shifts’ to help the reader start changing their behaviours.    The later parts of the book provide a framework for instituting healthier boundaries and troubleshooting when we might get pushback from others or indeed from ourselves! Natalie also suggests invoking ‘the power of the pause’, and explains the difference between a ‘hard no’ and a ‘soft no’ - and when we might want to use each of them.    Last of all we discuss why saying ‘No’ to some things opens up space for us to say ‘Yes’ to the things we truly value and find joyful.    I’ll leave you with this little nugget of wisdom from the book:  “Every time you do something from a place of guilt, fear, or obligation, it always leads to resentment. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon.”   The Joy of Saying No is out now, published by Harper Horizon, and you can find Natalie at www.baggagereclaim.com and https://www.instagram.com/natlue    You can also find us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and you can listen to past episodes at www.middlingalong.com   It would mean so much if you’d subscribe, rate, and review us to share the love and help others find the podcast too!  You can also find me at https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause  or at www.managingthemenopause.com where we offer 1-1 coaching and workplace training.  Get your free 'Guide to your GP appointment' at https://www.managingthemenopause.com/free-resources