How to eat well during menopause
Women Positively Ageing
Brief summary of episode: Menopause is a period of transition that can affect women in a range of different ways. The way in which we respond to the changes can have a lasting impact on the quality of our health. In today’s episode we discuss how the food we eat can help us to live well through menopause and beyond. Laura is an award-winning Freelance Registered Nutritionist who specialises in nutrition writing, workplace wellness and nutrition communications. Laura studied public health and nutrition at the University of Aberdeen. Now, with...
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Depression, anxiety and ageing well
Women Positively Ageing
Depression is one of the leading causes of disease related disability in women and they are nearly twice as likely as men to suffer from an episode of depression. The prevalence has been reported to be particularly high during the menopause transition. Women with a history of anxiety and depression report worse quality of life during their mid-years. My guest today is Dr Charlotte Marriot is a Consultant NHS Psychiatrist, a Certified Lifestyle Medicine Physician and a nature-based coach. She likes to inspire and empower people to make small changes to their lifestyles to...
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How to sleep better
Women Positively Ageing
Sleep is crucial for our overall health and well-being, affecting both our physical and mental health. This is why a lack of it impairs a range of functions from task performance and post-physical activity recovery to cognitive performance and mood. Poor sleep quality also impairs decision-making. What can we do to manage episodes of poor sleep? Is it just sleep that’s an issue and where does tiredness come into it? What impact can menopause have on our sleep? In today’s episode, I’ll be asking these questions to Dr Jonny Bloomfield, health and performance coach and I’ll also be...
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Letting go of wanting to lose weight
Women Positively Ageing
Welcome to today’s episode “Letting go of wanting to lose weight” with non-diet counsellor Mel Wakeman and guest Amy Wilkinson sharing her lived experience. Mel is a highly experienced and neurodivergent registered nutritionist specialising in intuitive eating, non-diet nutrition and counselling for eating disorders, disordered eating and body image issues. She developed an eating disorder herself at 16 (now recovered) which fed her interest in nutrition, before beginning a long lecturing career in 1997. Since launching Wakeman Nutrition in 2017 Mel is on a mission to...
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How good is your bone health?
Women Positively Ageing
As we age from mid-life we lose muscle mass and our bone strength gradually declines. Keeping our bone health for as long as possible is important to prevent us from becoming frail. What does ‘bone health’ mean? ● Bone health is about keeping your bones healthy for life, so you can live well for longer. ● Good bone health can prevent fractures and the health consequences of this - pain, disability, loss of independence, poor quality of life. How do we maintain good bone health as we age? Is it...
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Heart health and menopause
Women Positively Ageing
Heart disease tends to be considered a man’s problem and high blood pressure, cholesterol, stress and too much drinking and smoking are common problems for men. The reality is that the risk of coronary heart disease increases for women after menopause. The good news is that there are changes that we can make in our daily lives that can reduce the risk factors for coronary heart disease and stroke. We’ll hear about how changes to the diet can help reduce cholesterol levels, disease risk and manage other menopausal symptoms. Join me in this episode to hear from our researcher Dr Laura...
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How to protect your brain health
Women Positively Ageing
Brief summary of episode: The brain is a complex organ that controls our movement, our emotions and stores our precious memories. When we talk about brain health, there are a few definitions and the one I have chosen is from World Health Organisation (WHO) due to its inclusive language. “Brain health is the state of brain functioning across cognitive, sensory, social-emotional, behavioural and motor domains, allowing a person to realize their full potential over the life course, irrespective of the presence or absence of disorders.” How do we...
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Social Isolation and Loneliness
Women Positively Ageing
Brief summary of episode: The topic today is social isolation and loneliness and you may have heard this well known quote about the impact on our health. “research by Prof Julianne Holt-Lundstat about the impact of social connection on health outcomes indicates that a lack of social connection is comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes per day” We may be living longer lives than our parents, but social isolation and loneliness shortens our healthspan, the number of healthy years of our lives. In this episode we’ll talk about the risk that loneliness poses to...
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How to deal with belly fat
Women Positively Ageing
Brief summary of episode: Belly fat, middle-aged spread, apple-shape, central adiposity.... Call it what you will, as we age it seems to creep up on us. Over 43% of menopausal women have obesity and in today’s show I discuss with nutritionist, researcher and inventor of the Shape Chart Dr Margaret Ashwell OBE about why having fat around your middle has different consequences to having it elsewhere. Margaret has spent several years researching weight gain and fat and she will tell us about apple and pear shapes, and which is a better predictor of health risk. We...
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Move More, Age Well
Women Positively Ageing
Brief summary of episode: The average healthspan, the number of years that people spend healthy in the UK is about 10 years shorter than the average lifespan. Increasing the number of years that we spend in good health is a priority not just for us as individuals but for our wider society. Health is determined by a range of different things in our environment and physical activity is just one of those. As we age our muscle mass and strength decreases and our body fat increases. Physical activity, particularly strengthening exercises are recommended to maintain fitness. There are added benefits...
info_outlineBrief summary of episode:
The average healthspan, the number of years that people spend healthy in the UK is about 10 years shorter than the average lifespan. Increasing the number of years that we spend in good health is a priority not just for us as individuals but for our wider society.
Health is determined by a range of different things in our environment and physical activity is just one of those.
As we age our muscle mass and strength decreases and our body fat increases. Physical activity, particularly strengthening exercises are recommended to maintain fitness.
There are added benefits too such as balance, flexibility and endurance which means that we are less likely to fall as we age.
My guests today are Sheni Ravji-Smith, Head of System Organisational Development, Leadership & Wellbeing working across the whole public service system in Greater Manchester and Hayley Lever Greater Manchester Moving Exec Lead & CEO, GreaterSport
Welcome to the show Sheni and Hayley and thank you so much for your time. I’m sure if anyone can get us moving more it will be the two of you.
Bullet points of key topics + chapter markers
Topic #1 Hayley explains benefits immediate e.g., mental health benefits as well as long-term benefits of health protection, faster recovery from injuries and long-term conditions as we age. Physical activity and movement is an important part of our lives.
Topic #2 Hayley explains the difference between physical activity and exercise and talks about the small changes that make an impact and Sheni tells us about her journey to strength training.
Topic #3 Identity driven habits – building a lifestyle that brings joy and movement into life. The importance of your WHY.
Topic #4 Hayley talks about the barriers that people face in doing exercise The fear of judgement and lack of identity as a. Sheni tells us what impact exercise had on her in perimenopause.
Topic #5 Menopause and physical activity and the protective benefits as you age such as maintaining both health. Hayley’s talks about the blog she has written on menopause and exercise.
Topic #6 Motivation – Hayley says to find your thing, design it to fit into your life. Sheni shares her experience of breathing and meditation exercises.
List of resources, suggested materials, affiliate links, and social media:
#1 Hayley’s blog from her TEDx talk https://hayleyleverblog.wordpress.com/2019/07/20/the-power-of-active-soles-to-change-the-world/
#2 Hayley’s Blog on menopause hayleyleverblog – Hayley Lever (wordpress.com)
#3 Atomic Habits James Clear Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results by James Clear
GUEST DETAILS
HAYLEY LEVER
As the Exec lead for GM Moving, her work is located in the devolved and integrated system. Greater Manchester is Doing things Differently. It’s an exciting place to be. Together, leaders from across sectors wrote and launched the GM Moving Plan in 2017. As CEO of GreaterSport, Hayley leads this amazing charity, enabling it to play its full part in the leadership and delivery of the system wide GM Moving Plan.
SHENI RAVJI-SMITH
Sheni is the Head of System OD, Leadership & Wellbeing working across the whole public service system in Greater Manchester, based at NHS GM Integrated Care. She is leading on the Wellbeing and Inclusion system developments across Greater Manchester, including author of the GM Wellbeing Toolkit, as well as a coach and mentor. During the pandemic, Sheni was the Strategic OD & Wellbeing lead at NHS Nightingale NW field hospital, based in Manchester.
Sheni sits on various boards and advisory groups, has a parallel career in cultural and creative production, and is a Short Clore Leadership, and a Creative Leadership Programme alumni.
TAKE HOME MESSAGE
Do what you can to move more
Small meaningful changes are best
Choose to focus on what you care about rather than outcomes that are not so important
A helpful App is - Balance App https://www.balance-menopause.com/
SPREAD THE WORD
I would love you to share this podcast with people in your circles who will find it useful. If you could leave a review and rating on Apple podcast, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts from, that would be fantastic.
Thanks for listening,
Barbara