by Dr Lucy

Menopause is still too often treated as a private inconvenience. Something to be managed quietly. Something involving hot flushes, night sweats and perhaps a little irritability.

But for many women, menopause arrives at the exact point in life when they are carrying the most responsibility. They may be leading teams, building businesses, managing clients, supporting partners, caring for parents, guiding teenagers, holding families together and still trying to remain physically and emotionally steady themselves.

Then sleep changes. Confidence changes. Body composition changes. Concentration changes. Words disappear. Tolerance narrows. Recovery slows.

This is not weakness – it is our biology.

Oestrogen receptors are found across the body, including the brain, cardiovascular system, urogenital tissues, bone, skin, gut and our mitochondria. So when oestrogen fluctuates and then falls, the effects are not confined to periods or temperature control.

Women describe brain fog, poor concentration, reduced verbal fluency, anxiety, loss of confidence and the unnerving sense that they are no longer operating at their usual level.

The genitourinary system is significantly affected with vaginal dryness, urinary symptoms, recurrent urinary tract infections and sexual discomfort. All of these can affect wellbeing, relationships and confidence, yet many women do not volunteer these symptoms unless they are asked directly.

The metabolic system changes too: Weight gain, altered fat distribution, rising insulin resistance, muscle loss and changing cardiovascular risk are not vanity issues. They are part of long term health.

Women in their forties and fifties are often at the height of their professional value. They have judgement, experience, relationships and authority that took decades to build.  Losing that confidence or stepping back because symptoms have been poorly understood or poorly managed is a failure of recognition and support.

In the FTSE 350, women now hold 43% of board roles and 36% of leadership roles, yet CIPD data show that 67% of working women aged 40 to 60 with menopausal symptoms say those symptoms have had a mostly negative effect at work, 53% can recall being unable to attend work because of symptoms, 17% have considered leaving because of lack of support and 6% have already left. The Fawcett Society estimate is starker still: one in ten women working through menopause have left a job because of symptoms. This is not simply a health issue. It is a retention, leadership and organisational competence issue.

At LONGEVITY, I see menopause as a major biological transition, not a lifestyle inconvenience. Managed properly, it can become a point of reassessment, prevention and renewal. Helping women preserve clarity, confidence, strength and health for the decades ahead.