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Middling Along is the podcast for ‘midults‘ who want to spend their middle years thriving, not just surviving. Voted as one of the Top 25 podcasts for midlife and menopause at https://www.lattelounge.co.uk/podcasts-about-the-menopause/ - Emma speaks to a wide range of guests who entertain, inform, and inspire in equal measure!
Episodes
Thursday Oct 26, 2023
Thursday Oct 26, 2023
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
Friday Oct 20, 2023
Friday Oct 20, 2023
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
Thursday Oct 12, 2023
Thursday Oct 12, 2023
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
Friday Sep 22, 2023
Friday Sep 22, 2023
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
Wednesday Sep 13, 2023
Wednesday Sep 13, 2023
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
Sunday Aug 20, 2023
Sunday Aug 20, 2023
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
Wednesday Aug 16, 2023
Wednesday Aug 16, 2023
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
Monday Aug 14, 2023
Monday Aug 14, 2023
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
Wednesday Aug 09, 2023
Wednesday Aug 09, 2023
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
Friday Jul 28, 2023
Friday Jul 28, 2023
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