Menopause

Now if you ask any herbalist what their go to herb is for hot flushes they will tell you sage. Yup, that common-a-garden plant is a miracle for the hottest of women.

The Geeky Stuff

Sage has been used traditionally for menopausal hot flushes and night sweats for many years. It’s not really known how it works. Research studies have shown that it does improve symptoms, particularly excessive sweating but we don’t know how. It was thought that it affected hormone levels but the showed only change…

Menopause and stress don't mix. I mean, our lives are stressful enough right? We have problems at work, unruly children and tetchy parents all demanding our attention. Our lives have become more and more stretched and we just can’t find space to think, let alone relax. And them, wham! Our hormone levels start to change. We’ve been riding the oestrogen dragon successfully for the best part of 30, sometimes 40 years, and suddenly it’s doing crazy things. Our mood fluctuates, we can’t sleep and we …

“Hot flushes are bad enough in the day time but I also had them at night which meant I had very disturbed sleep. I used to wake up from these night sweats literally dripping wet.”

It can be normal to wake up feeling a little damp if your bedroom is too hot or you have a fever. But the kind of night sweats that many of us feel as we transition into menopause can be debilitating. We can wake with our pyjamas feeling like we’ve just stepped out of swimming pool and our bed so wet it’s like a n…

What to wear when your hot flushes take over

"I felt an overwhelming heat that spreads through my whole body.  I remember stripping off layers of clothing and being desperate to open the window during my hot flushes.  Of course, you end up having to apologise to those around you who are all freezing!" 

Many women who are approaching menopause suffer with hot flushes. For some they are mild and infrequent. For others they are intense and embarrassing – particularly when we are at work. Ther…

As we get older we notice our bodies start to change.

From greying hair and sagging boobs to not being able to read our phone any more without the help of glasses, getting older takes its toll. But aside from “where are my glasses?” one of the questions I am asked most frequently is “how do I know I’m in menopause?”

What is Menopause?

Let’s start with the basics....

Technically, we are classed as ‘in menopause’ exactly 12 months after the date of our last menstrual period. At this point our …