My guest this time is Elizabeth Dalziel - a photographer with an illustrious string of assignments under her belt. She’s lived and worked in more countries than most of us will visit in our lifetimes! She has won awards for her work covering the Iraq war, the 2004 Tsunami in Asia, and - closer to home - documenting the homeschooling of her children during the pandemic.

After being diagnosed with breast cancer aged 48, she was put into a chemically-induced menopause and plunged immediately into a maelstrom of hot flashes, mood swings, brain fog, depression and more. 

She felt like she was falling apart….but Elizabeth has used her experience to fuel her creativity and created a brilliant photojournalism project that includes self-portraits, images of friends (depicting their own symptoms and struggles), images from different cultures around the world, and images of prominent activists and medics working in the menopause space. 

Tune in to find out more about Elizabeth’s personal experience of menopause, her creative processes, and the insights she has gained from her work with women in other cultures and countries. 

You can find the series at https://www.elizabethdalziel.com/index  

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

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My guest today is Christine Armstrong, a keynote speaker, researcher, and author focused on the world of work. Over the past four and a half years, she has produced more than 200 videos in her weekly vlog, addressing major work-related topics such as hybrid working models and the role of AI in productivity. Each Friday morning, over 6,000 viewers from more than 20 countries tune in to gain insights into the future of work. Christine is also the author of The Mother of All Jobs: How to Have Children and a Career and Stay Sane(ish), published in 2018. This book is based on six years of interviews with working parents, employers, leadership experts, and caregivers.

We begin our discussion by exploring the recent trend of larger companies implementing Return to Office (RTO) policies and the public’s reactions to these changes. Christine references U.S. research indicating that 43% of Americans would prefer to divorce their partner rather than return to the office full-time! She highlights that flexibility is often sacrificed for what she terms “endless contactability,” where employees feel compelled to check emails late into the evening. Unfortunately, many older male leaders, who have benefited from traditional work models, struggle to understand this shift. Christine also cites research by Nick Bloom, which shows that since the pandemic, companies have begun hiring from broader geographical areas, resulting in doubled commute times and making full-time office work less appealing. She predicts that we will see a variety of working arrangements tailored to each company's brand and talent pool.

In terms of making the most of time spent in the office, Chistine’s advice is to be strategic about using that time: use it to build strong networks, figure out ‘who do I want a relationship with?’, ‘how do I build that?’ 

We hear a lot now about the importance of personal branding and I ask Christine for her advice on how to do this when we have been socialised not to brag about our achievements and doing it gives us the ick? First of all, she suggests we initially have to accept and get comfortable with the fact that some people just won’t be ‘our people.’  Her second piece of advice is to imagine talking about ourselves to our friends - if what we’re saying feels uncomfortable it’s probably too showy, but if you talk about what you’re good at and it’s objectively true, then go for it! If you can, use humour, and vulnerability always tends to endear your audience to you. 

I ask Christine about AI in the workplace and where she sees this having the most impact on the workplace in the next 5 years. 

Her response was that some jobs will require people who can manage the AI in combination with very strong technical skills (using AI to enhance what they are doing already), many other roles will require strong communication skills, ability to make ethical decisions, and to be able to strategize.

I was interested late last year when I saw Christine talking about how she and her husband use an adapted version of the ‘Workshop your life’ methodology to plan out their year ahead. As Christine advises, we need to stop seeing work and life as separate and start to view it as one system and think about the whole and how it all fits together.  Doing this exercise once a year helps them to tackle tricky issues but not in the heat of the moment and get aligned so that they are not constantly bumping up against negotiating those difficult conversations when flashpoints occur. I’ve included a few links below in case you feel like giving it a try yourself! 

We conclude by discussing the current trends Christine and her team are exploring, particularly the rising unpredictability, polarization, and stress levels in today’s world. In uncertain times, people tend to adopt black-and-white thinking, become more anxious, and prioritize immediate concerns. Therefore, the role of leaders is crucial; they must provide reassurance, clarity, and effective communication.

You can find more on Christine and her work at https://www.armstrongpartners.co.uk/ and if you fancy watching her weekly vlogs, sign up to her newsletter, or watch via her LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thechristinearmstrong/ 

Find out more about how to Workshop your Life here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/relationships-are-the-source-of-results_workshop-your-life-9-exercises-for-high-quality-activity-7271839576732712960-LkXo/  

The Year Compass (https://yearcompass.com/) is another good option. 

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

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This time I’m joined by author Cathy Kelly - Cathy is a former journalist whose debut novel, Woman To Woman, became an instant number one bestseller. Since then, she has published 22 novels, which have sold millions of copies globally. She has been a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF Ireland since 2005 and has visited many countries to report on UNICEF's work. When not writing with a small dog nestled at her back, she reads voraciously, dances round the kitchen, travels pillion on a motorbike, has a variety of textile art projects on the go and pretends to Marie Kondo the house.

Cathy’s latest novel Sisterhood is - of course - about two sisters - Lou and Toni. Lou is someone who habitually puts herself last…until the events that unfold at her 50th birthday party push her to stop pleasing other people and decide to finally put herself first.

This prompts us to discuss how commonly those of us coming up to 50 are prompted to examine our lives, sometimes interrogating what we have been putting up with and questioning, asking ourselves… “What am I for?”

Cathy also talks about her own treatment for cancer - another life inflection point that makes you question everything…

We move on to talk about the appeal of historical novels and Cathy is kind enough to share a few recommendations for books that she has loved recently: the Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard (https://www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/fiction/cazalet-chronicles-books-in-order) and A Discovery of Witches https://deborahharkness.com/all-souls-world-home/the-all-souls-world-books/  (and I mention one of my all time favourite historical novels: https://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/the-needle-in-the-blood/) 

Cathy calls out the misogyny and snobbishness around fiction written ‘by women, for women, about women’s lives’ and we touch on the evolution of the so-called ‘chick lit’ writers now hitting their 50s and writing about this new age and stage of their lives.

We also head off on a few tangents, reminiscing about carefree pre-Internet times and 80s fashion!

Find out more about Sisterhood at https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/sisterhood-cathy-kelly?variant=40276782973006 

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

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My guest this time is Cindy Gallop - consultant, coach, keynote speaker, and founder of MakeLoveNotPorn. I’ve been a fan of Cindy’s since I first watched the interview on the Style Like U channel that saw her become an older female role model not just to me, but to thousands of women of all ages (and apparently a few men too!). I was also lucky enough to finally meet her in person at the Upfront conference earlier this year where she gave the brilliant closing keynote - I had my own ‘Upfront’ moment asking her to come on the podcast and she graciously agreed. 

We talk about the genesis of her sex-tech business MakeLoveNotPorn.tv: a place for ‘socialising, normalising and destigmatising real-world sex’ and Cindy reminds us that when we don’t talk about sex ‘porn becomes sex education by default’... I was fascinated to learn more about MLNP - from the rigorous checking and vetting processes that all content and comments pass through to create safe spaces for all concerned, how empowering and healing many of the ‘stars’ find the process of sharing their videos, to hearing about how hard it is for sex-tech businesses to attract funding (prompting their current round of equity crowdfunding: see https://wefunder.com/makelovenotporn/ if you want to find out more). 

For those of us who do have kids, particularly younger children, the ready availability of pornographic content online is a huge concern - Cindy’s next goal is to fund https://www.makelovenotporn.academy/ to create a platform for age-appropriate sex-education for individuals of all ages that will also serve as a way for sex educators to make a living from providing their content (currently most struggle against platforms that censor even educational content). (This: https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/may/27/more-than-300m-children-victims-of-online-sexual-abuse-every-year is the article I refer to in the course of this episode - shocking statistics and a stark reminder that we can’t afford to be complacent in talking to our children about sex, no matter how tricky we may find those conversations. Cindy shares with us her two tips for how to navigate those conversations - advice that I know I’ll definitely find hugely useful. 

Last of all we cover ageism in the advertising industry and Cindy’s determination to change societal attitudes towards ageing - creating a culture where ‘living older’ is aspirational and ads are created by and for older audiences and as a result. Music to my ears!

You can find Cindy at https://www.instagram.com/cindygallop and MLNP at https://makelovenotporn.tv/ 

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

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This time on the podcast my guest is Tina Backhouse, General Manager at Theramex. Tina joined Theramex in 2020 to lead the UK Women’s Health business, helping to establish them as the largest supplier of HRT & Menopause Products in the UK. She is passionate about ensuring equality of care for all women regarding their health in the UK, and that women have choice in their healthcare options.

She joins us to discuss the recent research the company funded to investigate disparities in access to menopause support: for example, just 5% of black women are on HRT vs 20% of white women, and individuals in areas of social deprivation are significantly less likely to be prescribed the newer, safer forms of HRT. 

We also cover some of Tina’s ongoing frustrations at the lack of prioritization and funding available for women’s healthcare - such as the fact that NHS England developed a public health campaign for menopause that was never launched due to lack of funding.

Would it surprise you to know that the UK currently has the largest gender health gap in the G20? We also have a staggering 35% gender pension gap.

The report, published in April 2024 interviewed a range of clinicians and allied healthcare professionals, and is available to download at:  https://www.theramex.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Theramex_Tackling-Unequal-Access-to-Menopause-Care.pdf - we discuss the five recommendations that the report concludes with, including better training for GPs and other allied healthcare professionals, and the creation of a national formulary to end the current postcode lottery whereby some newer HRT is available in some areas but not others.

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

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In this episode I welcome Dr Angela Wright from Spiced Pear Health. Angela is a GP, Menopause Specialist and Clinical Sexologist. She is particularly interested in improving sexual function and menopausal symptoms in women who have undergone cancer treatment. Angela is passionate about women’s health and sexology and is frequently asked to teach or talk about this subject. She is a registered trainer for the BMS & FSRH, involved in training future menopause specialists and is an active committee member of the British Society of Sexual Medicine, and the education committee of the Primary Care Women's Health Forum.

We covered so much in such a short space of time!  We started by talking about the impact of localised (vaginal) oestrogen vs what systemic HRT does - both for GSM (genito-urinary syndrome of menopause) and for sexual dysfunction.  For anyone wanting to know more about GSM, or pass information on to their GP, Angela recommends the British Society of Sexual Medicine consensus statement on GSM that’s available on their website (linked below). 

She goes on to explain that there is no increase in recurrence risk for oestrogen receptor positive breast cancers when using localized oestrogen to treat symptoms (and that it can be used alongside letrozole and tamoxifen). We discuss the need for patients to be able to make an informed choice about risks vs benefits, which can be challenging when healthcare professionals are not taught to understand the impact that GSM and sexual dysfunction can have on quality of life - certainly male sexual dysfunction gets a lot more attention and usually pretty rapid treatment! 

We move on to discuss ‘sex tech’ and the burgeoning menopause ‘market’ in this area, including laser therapy (TLDR: more research needed, long term effects not known, it’s expensive, and vaginal oestrogen would be more effective in the majority of cases).

Angela gives an overview of what self-care practices can be helpful for someone struggling with GSM - listen in to find out some very little known information about the clitoris (and how to keep it healthy) that was totally news to me! She also explains that a range of prescription medicines (in particular antidepressants, but also antihistamines, and blood pressure medication) can mess with our sexual responsiveness, so could be something to discuss with our healthcare provider. 

For anyone struggling that wants to find out more, or support them in advocating for better care, Angela recommended a wide range of resources listed here: 

Mind The Gap, by Karen Gurney

Better Sex Through Mindfulness, by Lori Brotto

Becoming Clitorate, by Laurie Mintz ​​

Institute for Psychosexual Medicine website directory of practitioners https://www.ipm.org.uk/patients/specialists/ 

COSRT https://www.cosrt.org.uk/ - list of therapists 

British Society for  Sexual Medicine (email admin@bssm.org.uk and ask for a local practitioner) 

Menopause-ull webinars ​​ https://www.mnetwork.org.uk/resources/recorded-webinars/ 

You might also be interested in our testosterone episode with Dr Katie Barber: https://middlingalong.com/episodes/middling-along-dr-katie-barber-helps-us-get-to-grips-with-testosterone-dos-and-donts/ 

You can find Angela online at  ​https://spicedpearhealth.co.uk/ and https://www.instagram.com/spicedpearhealth/

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

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This time I welcome Simona Stokes, Counselling Psychologist and the Founder of Menopause CBT Clinic, an independent psychology practice which aims to support the psychological wellbeing of women going through the perimenopause and menopause. Based on her extensive clinical experience in this area, Simona has developed EMBERS® Menopause CBT Model which is centered around the psychological principles supported by the best evidence-based research and interventions in the field of mental and emotional wellbeing. She holds professional registration and accreditation with several bodies including the BPS, BABCP, and BACP and has been working in the mental health field for over 20 years. 

We begin with an explanation of what CBT is and how it works for anyone who is not familiar with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.  Simona explains little more on the different types of CBT, and her experience is that ‘third wave’ CBT approaches seem to work best with those experiencing perimenopause symptoms.

The draft NICE guidelines issues at the end of 2023 caused quite a media stir with the increased focus on CBT as a treatment for menopause. We discuss why the headlines were misleading and how CBT can help with hot flushes and sleep disturbances, as well as psychological and emotional symptoms. As Simona outlines, even individuals who are taking HRT sometimes struggle with their mental health and access to CBT can be helpful. Medication alone cannot address struggles with confidence, self esteem, self-worth, and identity.

We delve deeper into menopause as a psychological developmental stage - just as pregnancy and puberty (see Lisa Mosconi’s book The Menopause Brain for more on this). In all these life stages our brains are remodelling themselves - we are updating who we are and our perspective on the world…a process some of us will navigate on our own or with support of our own networks of support, and some of us may need a little extra help and support from professional - space where we can safely explore these topics.

Simona explains that the way we think about physical symptoms can amplify the symptoms themselves…CBT helps us look at the kinds of stories we tell ourselves and write new ones. It can support us to make meaningful change in areas that help us regulate our bodies and thereby mitigate symptom severity. 

Unfortunately as Simona highlights, the types of CBT available on the NHS are not always tailored to the needs of women going through the menopause and that can lead to sub-optimal experiences when people do choose to pursue CBT as an option. We end by agreeing that there is certainly scope for more practitioners to be trained in menopause-informed CBT practices. 

You can find Simona at https://www.menopausecbtclinic.co.uk/ and https://www.instagram.com/menopausecbtclinic 

If you enjoy the podcast and would like to help me keep it running (on a shoestring!) please consider buying me a ‘virtual coffee’ at Ko-fi.com/middlingalong - or you can support me in a non-monetary way by sharing this episode, or writing a short review online! 

If your workplace wants to become more ‘menopause friendly’ then please let them know about the work I do at http://www.managingthemenopause.com 

You can also find me over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/ and https://www.instagram.com/managingthemenopause  

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

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In this episode of the podcast I welcome back author and health coach Susan Saunders - Susan’s first appearance on the podcast back in November 2022 focused on preventing Alzheimer’s disease and has been one of our most popular episodes.

Susan’s latest book The Power Decade  takes us through how to thrive after menopause, and focuses on the ‘window of opportunity’ we have in, and soon after, menopause to take action to prevent the chronic diseases of aging – such as osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease and dementia. 

In countries where the average age of menopause is 51, and the average life expectancy is 83, we’re potentially living half our adult lives in a post-menopausal state. The Power Decade explains the impacts of the menopause transition on our metabolic health, heart health, bone health, and brain health. 

Susan talks about the ‘protective cloak’ that our reproductive hormones wrap us in pre-menopause, and how the drop in those hormones impacts all areas of our health, helping us understand the changes that happen in the body and what we need to do to remain healthy. She quotes The Lancet as calling menopause “a cardiometabolic turning point for women” - so I ask her to explain more about cardiometabolic health and why it becomes so important to keep top of mind post-menopause.

Her book is peppered with interviews with postmenopausal women who are thriving, explaining what they have done to get there, providing a sense of hope and renewal, and showing us that post-menopause can be a positive time where we experience a ‘rebound’ and renewed energy. 

You can find Susan at www.susansaundershealth.com  and on Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/susansaundershealth/ 

The Power Decade: 

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-power-decade-how-to-thrive-after-menopause-susan-saunders/7644592?ean=9781472291615 

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

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This time on Middling Along I chat to novelist Tracy Bloom about her latest book The Time of Her Life, which follows midlife heroine Kim through the disintegration of her marriage and her subsequent reinvention. 

We discuss the increase in midlife female protagonists - that TV is doing so well with the likes of Sarah Lancashire in Happy Valley. Fiction has been somewhat catching up over the last five years, showcasing the issues facing women in midlife for Gen X who have grown up on Bridget Jones novels. Midlife as a time of re-evaluation and reinvention, opportunities and change, is fertile pasture for novelists…

Tracy talks through her process of learning to become an author, and gives us some tips for anyone listening who is thinking about writing a book. We also discuss Tracy's recent favourite reads and what she is looking forward to delving into next.

The Time of Her Life is out now in paperback (https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-time-of-her-life/tracy-bloom/9780008619114) if you’re looking for your next holiday read, and Tracy’s next book, The Secret Santa Project will be out later in 2024 (available to preorder at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Santa-Project-heartwarming-friendship/dp/000861914X)

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

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My guest today is Leila Ainge - an accredited psychologist with 20 years of cross industry business consulting experience. Leila’s research focuses on how entrepreneurs experience imposter phenomenon - but is relevant for all of us! She’s also the host of the Psychologically Speaking podcast which is currently exploring various experiences of imposter phenomenon.

We start by delving into why Leila prefers to talk about imposter phenomenon or imposter feelings, rather than imposter syndrome and review the origins of the term ‘imposter’ in this context.  We move on to how Leila approaches and interrogates her own imposter feelings, when they arise - beginning with her first imposter experience with a small baby in the NICU and then fairly soon after, the arrival of anxiety in perimenopause.

Leila’s advice on managing imposter feelings includes: interrogate your current surroundings and context - who are you around at that moment? What’s different? What is this environment giving or not giving you? What else is going on for you? 

It’s easy to feel like you’ll always feel like this, but actually imposter is a transient feeling…it comes and goes. 

We talk about social comparison and context collapse, particularly in the technology and online sphere, and the problems that stem from the speed at which we adopt technology - we don’t have the ground rules!  We also touch on navigating online spaces with the myriad individuals and relationships to factor in - and how a lack of objectivity can cause us to struggle.

Often in online spaces there is a bit of ‘shiny new thing’ syndrome! 

We discuss the importance of establishing boundaries around how we use online spaces and compare the experiences of using LinkedIn and Instagram - should we be putting more responsibility back on to platform providers?

We move on to the positive side of comparison for women in business - finding ‘pockets of belonging’ where we can be authentic and gain objectivity. 

We wrap up by looking at the topic of Leila’s PhD: ‘what do we get out of being online?’ - and I ask Leila what it’s like to start a PhD in later life! 

I do hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed chatting to Leila - who is a friend as well as an interviewee! You can find Leila and her brilliant podcast at https://www.leilaainge.co.uk/

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

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In this episode we meet Emerald May - an international Embodied Sex, Intimacy & Breathwork Coach. Her passion and mission is to support women and parents to live a more authentic, connected and pleasure-filled life, whilst raising the next generation. I had the pleasure of working with Emerald as a client a few years ago (to be fully transparent), and I can honestly say it was quite an unexpectedly transformative experience. 

If you’ve ever wondered what an ‘intimacy coach’ actually does - well now’s your chance to find out! In this warm and wide-ranging interview we cover topics including:

• patterns of disconnect and waning of desire in longer term relationships;
• how little we are taught when we are growing up around expressing our desires (especially if socialized as female), and how Emerald works to provide the skills, tools, and language for us to manage our emotions and express those desires - and boundaries;
• new relationships in midlife are a chance to avoid repeating same patterns and mistakes and learn about our needs (and see the link below to the work of Dr. Evelin Molina Dacker and the STARS Talk Emerald refers to here);
• sex and intimacy doesn’t happen in a vacuum - all relationships take work, even the one we have with ourselves, and it’s easy to fall into not prioritizing intimacy, especially if we happen to have children around the house!;
• different tools and techniques that Emerald uses, including the Wheel of Consent, the Three Minute Game, the Yes/No/Maybe Game, and Waking the Hands (and listen to this part to learn the term ‘desire smuggling’ and what it means!);
• spontaneous desire - and why scheduling time for intimacy is essential.

I hope you enjoy this episode, if you want to find out more about working with Emerald you can find her at  http://www.rootedpleasure.com

Here are some of the resources mentioned in this episode:

Wheel of Consent: https://bettymartin.org/category/wheel-of-consent/

STARS Talk: https://www.maketimeforthetalk.com/

Emily Nagosaki - Come Together https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/712001/come-together-by-emily-nagoski-phd/

Cyndi Darnell - Sex When you Don’t Feel Like It - https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538161708/Sex-When-You-Don%27t-Feel-Like-It-The-Truth-about-Mismatched-Libido-and-Rediscovering-Desire

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

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The biology nerd in me is so happy about this one! Joining me this time is Professor Jack Gilbert from the University of California San Diego: in 2023 he gave the Annual Lecture at the British Menopause Society conference, which is how his work came to my attention (via our Managing the Menopause Clinical Lead - also my sister-in-law - Dr Beth Thomas). 

In the course of this wide-ranging conversation that focuses on our gut microbiome we cover:

• why understanding the interaction of our sex hormones with the microbiome is a burgeoning area of science and how everything in the body is connected in series of complex feedback cycles; 
• The key role of decreasing oestrogen in inflammation: leading to depression, anxiety, aches and pains, and gastrointestinal issues;
• How our microbiome changes pre- to post-menopause (post-menopause the female microbiome tends to look much more like it would in men);
• The important of butyrate and why a healthy gut barrier is so important;
• Why we should consider ‘priming’ the body to consume fibre with fermented foods;
• The long-term chronic health implications of not getting enough dietary fibre, which are often not felt immediately but accumulate over decades;
• How fecal transplants are being used to repopulate the gut microbiome - early studies have shown promise in menopause symptom treatment but more research is needed;
• That HRT appears to ‘rescue’ gut dysbiosis (reduce inflammatory bacteria, more balanced microbiome);
• The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis (aka how your body senses stress): - cortisol keeps you alert and anxious, but the system can be hijacked by inflammatory bacteria, neuroinflammation triggers the HPA axis causing elevated anxiety, i.e. there is no reason to be anxious but the body is on high alert;
• Why acetominophen (paracetamol) can cause liver cirrhosis with excessive consumption in certain people;
• How antibiotics wipe out other useful bugs that keep resistant strains under check, and how ‘problem’ strains thrive on high sugar and high saturated fat (and why your diet in the run up to an operation could make a huge difference);
• Exposure to microbes in nature and the potential impacts of bacteria in soil that have an antidepressant effect;
• ‘Gut feelings’: how the state of our gut can impact our decision-making abilities, and that changes in microbiome can impact how hungry we are, our propensity to snack, and even our choice choice of snacks…eg sugar cravings;
• How 80% of serotonin is made in gut, but that it is actually a  serotonin precursor that can pass out of the gut into the body to then be made into serotonin by other cells - although the relationships between levels of serotonin in the gut and the brain is not currently understood. 

Listen to the end to find out about the research study that Professor Gilbert would  most like to run if he had no constraints! 

You can find our more about Professor Jack Gilbert’s work at:

https://gilbertlab.ucsd.edu/ 

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

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or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

My guest this time is Dr Nicky Keay: Nicky is a medical doctor with expertise in the field of exercise endocrinology and a lecturer at University College London. Her clinical and research work is focused on women experiencing peri/menopause and with exercisers, dancers and athletes.

Her book Myths of Menopause was published at the end of 2024 and Nicky has taken a novel approach to the subject, using the theme of Greek mythology, with Athena, goddess of wisdom as the cover star!  

The book itself brings together chapters from a wide range of experts in their individual fields, from brain health to bone health to exercise. Nicky and I discuss some of the most prevalent myths of menopause in this episode, not least the negativity around menopause and the ‘narrative of decline’ that links in to the pervasive gendered ageism in society (or Western society at least!). We discuss lifestyle changes and the temptation to believe in (and spend money on) ‘quick fixes’ that are out there. 

We also touch on myths around HRT, risks relating to breast cancer, and the under-emphasis on cardiovascular disease, which ultimately causes the deaths of many more women each year.  Nicky also offers advice for those who are under 45 and struggling with symptoms but not being listened to by their doctor. 

You can find out more about Nicky at https://nickykeayfitness.com/ and Myths of Menopause is available at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Myths-Menopause-Increasing-Wisdom-Sequoia/dp/1914110404 

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

Joining me on the podcast this time is Petra Coveney - founder of Menopause Yoga™ - an international teacher, trainer, author and guest speaker specializing in supporting people through the stages of perimenopause to post menopause 

Petra has trained over 700 Menopause Yoga teachers in 40+ countries and is the author of the book ‘Menopause Yoga - a holistic guide to supporting women on their menopause journey,’ which brings together modern western medical science with ancient eastern wellbeing. She positively reframes the menopause as a Second Spring awakening with an opportunity for long-term health and happiness.

What a lovely and wide-ranging conversation this was! We start with a little time-travel, back to 2013 when Menopause Yoga first launched, and the conversation around menopause was vastly different than it is today! 

I was fascinated to learn that Petra and the teachers she trains use subtly different types and combinations of yoga for perimenopause, menopause and post-menopause… Petra describes how in perimenopause - a  time of turbulence, instability, rewiring of the brain they use a combination of yin-yang yoga (stretching), breathwork, meditation and restorative yoga…helping support acceptance of changes.  (We also talk about the similarity to teenagers - who also get very tired as their bodies and brains are changing - just as ours do in perimenopause…!)

I loved her analogy of  us “ladling out the soup to everyone else all our lives, and in perimenopause, really scraping the bottom of the soup pot”…such that if we don’t make time for rest and recharge, our bodies will find a way to make us stop, whether through illness, fatigue or something else.

The in menopause (our ‘wintering’ phase) there is potentially more anxiety, overwhelm, insomnia, fatigue, joint pain, and muscle tightness - so the combination shift to provide more flowing, somatically releasing joint and muscle pain, toning the vagus nerve, together with meditation, and restorative practice.

Then in the post-menopause stage there is another subtle shift to prioritize balance, muscle and bone strengthening, and even some weightlifting.

We talk about the therapeutic approach to yoga practice and the importance of community, before moving on to look at reframing menopause and choosing to see this as a ‘second spring’ awakening - how our voices change not only physically, but how we commonly ‘find’ our voice in this life stage. 

You can find Petra online at: https://www.menopause-yoga.com/ and on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/menopause_yoga/?hl=en

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

In this episode of the podcast I chat to Professor Joyce Harper - an award-winning educator, author, podcaster, academic, and scientist. She is Professor of Reproductive Science at University College London in the Institute for Women’s Health where she is Head of the Reproductive Science and Society Group. I’m very grateful that Joyce agreed to come and chat to me about her work leading the development of a UK Menopause Education and Support Programme.

Joyce and her team are already well into the discovery phase of researching what the programme should include - and here’s the fun part - if you’re listening to this close to the release date in 2024, you can participate in their research by completing this survey: https://ifwh.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8CVKG2I1RZzHGXI or by joining one of the focus groups: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/global-health/uk-national-menopause-education-and-support-programme 

The team is very keen to get feedback and input from as broad a range of participants as possible - so if you have things to say, please get in touch with them! 

We also talk about Joyce’s podcast - Why Didn’t Anyone Tell Me This? - and her love of cold water swimming - she's even co-authored a scientific paper all about the impact of cold water swimming on menstrual and perimenopausal symptoms: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38271095/ (free to read)

You can also find her at www.joyceharper.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok and Linkedin

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

My guest this time is Tate Smith - an award-winning trans activist, consultant, and speaker. Tate's accolades include being named one of Attitude Magazine's 10 LGBTQ+ Trailblazers To Watch Out For In The Future, and in 2022 he was selected as a LinkedIn Top Voice, and nominated for PinkNews' Community Role Model.

He speaks on topics including the effects of testosterone, intersectionality, family and workplace acceptance, toxic masculinity, men’s mental health, trans male menopause, male privilege and more.

I confess, before this interview my understanding of trans lived experiences was fairly minimal. Tate shares with us his transitioning journey - starting aged 16 when he first realised his discomfort living in a female-presenting body was something that he could do something about, through coming out to friends and family, going back into the closet for two years, and then undergoing surgery and testosterone therapy. 

Tate explains gender dysphoria, and a little of the physical, mental, and financial toll of waiting to transition (opting to do so privately instead of waiting many years to be seen on the NHS).

He also explains how hormone therapy propelled him headlong into an early menopause, something that neither he, nor the medical professionals he saw were prepared for, and a topic that is not really spoken about in the trans community. Tate is now working with NHS researchers to develop practical guidance for GPs, to help others who go through this in future.

We discuss the steps that workplaces can take to be more inclusive and how we as individuals can be trans allies (see some of the resources he mentions, listed below). We also talk about how parents and carers can best support young people in their lives that come out as trans or express curiosity about transitioning.

You can find Tate at https://www.tatesmith.uk/ and at the links below

Resources:

https://www.wecreatespace.co/glossary 

https://www.stonewall.org.uk/list-lgbtq-terms 

Disclosure on Netflix 

Tate on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tate-smith-6331b2152/ 

Tate on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tatemichaelsmith/ 

Charities: Gendered Intelligence and Mermaids - both offer support for families and children, residential camps etc

Find out more about the annual trans day of visibility here https://www.stonewall.org.uk/about-us/blog/trans-day-visibility-global-perspective 

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

My guest this time is Anna Allerton…a former journalist and TV producer who spent 17 years at Sky where she was an industry leader in women’s sports journalism and was listed in Management Today’s ‘35 Under 35’.

She’s the founder of Allerton Coaching and is a business coach and consultant specializing in perimenopause. 

Anna started to experience crippling anxiety at the end of her maternity leave with her second child, at just 38 years old, compounded by horrendous brain fog whilst dealing with sleep deprivation, and a stressful job. 

Like so many others, Anna was fobbed off with anti-depressants multiple times, and only her dogged journalistic skills and refusal to take no for an answer led her to an eventual perimenopause diagnosis… Her experiences led her to change career and retrain as an executive coach - listen in to find out more about what an exec coach actually is (and does - or doesn’t do), as well as hearing more about why Anna is passionate about sharing her story to help others who might be dealing with outbursts of rage, raging insomnia, or a whole host of other symptoms, whilst juggling the demands of toddler tantrums, potty-training and weaning feel less alone!

We also cover:

• the most common issues that her clients tend to struggle with in the workplace;
• some of the practical strategies that Anna has seen work really well to overcome some of these
• why she is a huge fan of symptom logging to help us work smarter
• what parallels she sees to recent developments in women’s sport that she has applied in her work

You can find Anna at https://www.allertoncoaching.com and on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/allertoncoaching/

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

In this episode I am joined by Leigh Walters-James who is a Managing Director with Accenture in the UK. Leigh is an advocate for inclusion and diversity and sponsor of the Accenture Accent on Gender and MenoWarriors initiatives within the UK. Leigh’s colleagues Jill Ross and Sarah Garton were interviewed here on the podcast last year to talk about what Accenture has been doing to move the needle on menopause in the workplace, and having met Leigh in person, I’m delighted that he agreed to come on and talk to me about the role of male allyship.

Given that Accenture has been so proactive on the topic of menopause for many years now, Leigh has lots of learning to share, including:

• how important it is for men to learn about menopause so they can recognise if and when it impacts someone in their team;
• discuss it openly and often to help normalize it as a topic of conversation;
• share progress and best practice across office locations, and with customers where appropriate; 
• don’t overthink it too much - just start somewhere - where that is will be different for each organization so do it in a way that works where you are;
• culture may not be as much of a barrier as you think it will;
• get comfortable being uncomfortable - listen for more on Leigh’s tips for involving male colleagues in the conversations;
• the critical role of male sponsors and top-down support;
• don’t ‘segregate’ sessions into those for just women or just men;
• breaking down the taboo also opens the door for men to be open and honest about their own health/mental health challenges, and their vulnerabilities: it’s a win-win;
• becoming a ‘go to guy’ for menopause can get you a lot of attention at parties! 

Most, if not all, of these apply whatever the size of the organization - or available budget.

If you'd like to catch up with the earlier episode with Sarah and Jill, you can find it at https://middlingalong.com/episodes/middling-along-jill-ross-and-sarah-garton-on-developing-a-community-of-menowarriors-at-accenture/

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

My guest this time is Abby Langer - Abby has been a Registered Dietitian since 1999 - she has worked extensively both in clinical nutrition, and nutrition media and consulting, has won awards for her teaching and has served for three years on her regulatory college’s council. She’s passionate about all aspects of nutrition, from physiology to teaching to cooking. Her approach to nutrition is permissive and relaxed, and she is a true believer in living your best life without dieting. She has written in depth about debunking fad diets and nutrition myths - some of which we’ll be covering in this interview!

We kick off talking about the ‘firehose’ of nutrition information available on social media that can be either overwhelming, misleading, or both. Abby recommends some dependable accounts to follow over on Instagram (other than her own of course - and these are listed out below).

We also cover:

• Why she doesn’t recommend intermittent fasting or ‘no carb’ diets
• The cultural pressures to stay slim and not age visibly
• Why alcohol may be sabotaging our efforts to improve nutrition, and the uptick she has seen in women’s alcohol consumption over her career 
• Inflammation - what is, and isn’t ‘inflammatory’ and why the internet loves to demonize specific ingredients
• Eggs are great (happily for me, because I’m a huge egg fan)
• Why dietary fibre is the unsung hero that needs a better PR team, and how to get more of it
• Why she doesn’t feed her family organic food 
• ‘Red Flags’ to look out for when consuming content online about nutrition
• Her ‘pet peeve’ nutritional nonsense
• And finally her top three tips for midlife 

You can find Abby at https://abbylangernutrition.com/ and on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/langernutrition 

The other accounts Abby recommends are:

https://www.instagram.com/bdccarpenter/

https://www.instagram.com/soheefit/

https://www.instagram.com/drjengunter/

https://www.instagram.com/amanda.thebe/ (you can listen to my interview with Amanda here: https://middlingalong.com/episodes/middling-along-4-amanda-thebe-on-why-strength-training-is-so-critical-for-midlife-women/) 

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

I know you’re going to love this interview with Anna Kilpatrick, blogger and Instagram ‘outfluencer’ @not.needing.new

Anna spent 23 years as a teacher, but when her children’s father had a catastrophic stroke in 2012, it utterly changed all their lives.

Anna talks candidly about how the huge change in personal circumstances impacted her (and the family) and how ultimately she came to realise that living with less, gave her more freedom to be there for her children when they needed her.

Anna is a passionate advocate for both preloved fashion, the main topic of her Instagram account, but also ‘the joy of enough’ - living with only what we truly need, and not being sucked into the constant feeding frenzy of ‘needing new’ things to make us happy.

We also talk ‘comparisonitis’ and how we face that down, the shame and stigma that can still attach to preloved clothing and why she is so passionate about proving you can still be stylish on a seriously tiny budget, and her ‘lifeboat analogy’ which really did make me stop in my tracks, perhaps it will resonate with you too…

You can find Anna at https://www.notneedingnew.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/not.needing.new/

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

This time I welcome Mari Williams - author, leadership coach, podcaster, therapist and mediator. I connected with Mari online about three years ago, and when we caught up recently she mentioned that she really wanted to share her experiences of perimenopause, HRT, progesterone sensitivity, and how deeply the psychological symptoms of perimenopause had impacted her - even as someone with her background in therapy and coaching…

As someone who, in her words, was used to ‘good mental health’, Mari was taken aback by the extent of her psychological and emotional symptoms - so much so that her life was turned upside down by them and she experienced suicidal thoughts. The imposter thoughts, lack of confidence, and social anxiety also led to her seriously considering scaling back her successful business. As someone who had previously suffered with PMDD, it took this crisis in her mental health for a specialist to diagnose that she was reacting badly to the progesterone element of her HRT - once her oestrogen had been increased and the progesterone was changed to being taken vaginally, her mood lifted dramatically in just five days. 

We also talk a little about how childhood trauma can impact on severity of perimenopause symptoms, the importance of listening to our own bodies, and how important it is to look into family histories and patterns. 

You can find Mari online at https://www.mari-williams.com/

If you think you may be sensitive to progesterone you can find out more at https://www.balance-menopause.com/menopause-library/prgesterone-intolerance-factsheet/ 

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

In this slightly shorter than usual episode we welcome back to the podcast Dr Katie Barber, GP and menopause specialist. Our topic is the draft NICE guidelines for menopause, which caused quite a lot of attention in the media when the draft was released for consultation earlier in 2023 - particularly with reference to the focus on CBT for symptom management.

The consultation process closes in early January 2024, and no doubt the final version of the guidelines will be significantly different to this draft version. That said, I’m really grateful to Katie for giving us the benefit of her measured and nuanced take on this emotive topic, including:

• What the NICE guidelines actually are, for anyone who isn’t familiar with them;
• That CBT isn’t a ‘new’ addition to the guidelines, and can be a part of a ‘toolkit’ of options, including for those who can’t take HRT;
• The need for more research in several areas, including those on gender-affirming hormone treatment and HRT, breast cancer patients, and outcomes for ethnic minority groups;
• The overarching need for informed choice - as always - with both the benefits of HRT being clearly articulated as well as the risks. 

You can find Katie at https://www.oxfordmenopause.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/oxford_menopause/ and previously on the podcast at https://middlingalong.com/episodes/middling-along-dr-katie-barber-helps-us-get-to-grips-with-testosterone-dos-and-donts/ and https://middlingalong.com/episodes/middling-along-23-dr-katie-barber-on-menopause-myths-and-misconceptions/

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

My guest this time is Erica Davies - a former fashion editor who has worked with some of the UK’s biggest newspapers, magazines and brands…She founded the hugely popular blog the-edited.com and now has an audience of more than 200,000 followers on Instagram. She’s passionate about encouraging women to make bold, confident and happiness-inducing choices through their clothing and interiors, and her most recent book, Style Chapters, was published earlier this year…and would make a fab Christmas present if you still have any friends or family members to buy for!

We talk about 

• where the inspiration for the book came from
• Erica’s advice for changing body shapes in midlife and rethinking what might have worked for us before but doesn't now
• Insider fashion editor tips for figuring out what is flattering - for example for anyone feeling ‘tummy-self-conscious’ 
• Her advice for getting out of a 'style funk'
• Getting the best out of second hand/preloved shopping
• Tips for staying chic whilst dressing to cope with menopause symptoms 
• Dopamine dressing and being more playful with our fashion choices for increasing our confidence 
• And just for fun, Erica’s three ‘Desert Island Dresses’ that she’d pick if she could only keep three…

You can find Erica at www.the-edited.com  or https://www.instagram.com/erica_davies

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

This week I delve into ‘the Big O’ - aka Overwhelm, with Carla Miller.  Carla is a leadership coach and best-selling author of ‘Closing The Influence Gap: A practical guide for women leaders who want to be heard’ which reached #1 in the Amazon charts for Business Leadership Skills and was a finalist in the 2023 Business Book Awards.  Carla was CEO of Tiny Tickers and then Managing Director of Charity People, a leading charity recruitment consultancy alongside founding her own coaching business. She is also the host of the chart-topping podcast – Influence & Impact for Female Leaders 

We start with chatting about Carla’s own brushes with overwhelm, and move on to examine how overwhelm and burnout are linked, plus Carla’s experience of early menopause and why menopause can often contribute to feelings of overwhelm. 

Carla tells us a few of her strategies for managing overwhelm including:

• Normalising that most people feel overwhelm at some point in their lives. No one is giving 100% all the time.
• Figuring out what we might be able to ‘care less’ about at times we might be struggling.
• Coping with company cultures that have a tendency to keep overloading employees: I love Carla’s suggested wording “that sounds amazing, we are fully committed at the moment, so if we are going to start doing that what are we going to stop, to make the space for that?”
• How to avoid over committing - how many ‘shoulds’ are real and how many are our own expectations of ourselves or perceived expectations of others.
• Unless it’s a ‘hell yes!” don’t commit to things on the spot - buy yourself some time to think about it before saying yes and then regretting it (or worse, resenting them!).

We also cover ‘non-promotable tasks’ in the workplace (aka office housework), as well as the differences in the types of feedback that men and women get in the workplace. Coincidentally, the same day I wrote these shownotes, I came across these stats from a recent report: About 76% of top-performing working women received negative feedback from their bosses compared to just 2% of high-achieving men (according to a new report from management software company Textio, which analysed stats performance reviews for more than 23,000 workers across over 250 organisations). About 88% of these outstanding women workers receive feedback on their personalities, while the same is true for only 12% of their male counterparts, according to the report.

As Carla rightly points out, prioritizing our own needs is not selfish. Many of us feel uncomfortable advocating for ourselves (in and out fo work), but the only person that’s going to be the best advocate for you, is YOU! (I wish I had understood this better in my 20s and 30s…and 40s!).

You can find Carla at https://carlamiller.co.uk/ and if you want to work on ‘how to say no’ then why not sign up for her free 5 day “how to say No” challenge at carlamillertraining.com/sayno 

And if you struggle with people-pleasing behaviours, you might also find this episode with Nat Lue helpful: https://middlingalong.com/episodes/middling-along-natalie-lue-helps-us-discover-the-joy-of-saying-no/

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

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/ 

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

My guest this time is Lu Featherstone - aka Luinluland: fashion legend and accidental midlife influencer who is proud to be growing old disgracefully!

Lu’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!

Lu 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 Lu at:

https://luinluland.com/pages/about-me 

https://www.instagram.com/luinluland

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

My guest this time is Tanith Carey - 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!

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

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

You can find Katie at https://www.thehypnotherapyden.co.uk/ and https://www.instagram.com/thehypnotherapyden

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

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/

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

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 book at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Strong-Foundations-Clare-Bourne/dp/0008604223

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

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/

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

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/ 

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

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 enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

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/ 

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

My guest this time is Lyndsey Simpson: founder & CEO of 55/Redefined. Recognising a gap in the market for a brand that answers the call of the ‘bet-your-ass-I-can’ over-50s, Lyndsey set up 55/Redefined to fly the flag for those who may be getting older but have no intention of slowing down (inspired - not retired!). 

Just five years ago, Lyndsey was planning to retire early from her role as CEO of an HR firm when a special assignment lit a fire in her imagination. She was shocked that the hundreds of retired bankers she recruited for that assignment almost all agreed that retiring had been a huge mistake…

The statistics are quite stark: by 2030 50% of the UK workforce will be 50 and over (and in places like Spain, Italy, and Germany they are already almost hitting that marker). 

Over 50s now are healthier and wealthier than previous generations: we don’t dress or think like our parents did and mostly don’t want the same things - but society (and the world of work) has not caught up with this…

Listen in to our fascinating chat to find out more about:

• 100 year lives and how many of us will want or need a more harmonious and blended life phase of work and life in our Third Quarter (50-75) and potentially even into our Fourth Quarter;
• How the over 50s are the only growth talent pool and the only growth consumer pool;
• How, despite the extent to which advertising is skewed to youth (at present), 75% of all wealth is held by 50-70 year olds and by 2040 62p of every pound spent online in the UK, will be spent by an over-50 consumer (brands take note!);
• Why companies who ‘get it’ are seeing great results from mirroring demographics across customer service roles, product design, marketing, and advertising, and focusing on multigenerational teams;
• The work 55/Redefined is doing to smash inaccurate stereotypes around older workers: for example, the data shows that over 50s are 200% less likely to take a day off sick and five times less likely to leave for another job within their first 18 months in a company than employees under 30;
• Why we are all underestimating our own longevity by decades: a 40 year old now will have a life life expectancy of 98!
• The massive benefits that come from creating blended intergenerational teams;
• The need for a radical shift in working patterns, since flexibility is THE number one thing that would keep people in work for longer (whether that is in order for them to balance caring responsibilities, change careers, find better work life balance or spend time travelling) - and that mindset shift will need to come from both companies and individuals;
• How mindset shifts around salaries, prestige and self-worth will also open up opportunities for change and growth in our Third (and Fourth) Quarter;
• Lyndsey also shares the example of her own brother, who, after 30 years working in supermarket retail, has retrained as an audiologist in his late 40s and started an entirely new career 

If you want further inspiration and examples of people who have pivoted and careers check out https://life-redefined.co/ 

If you’d like to check out roles from employers that are actively hiring over 50s take a look at https://jobs-redefined.co/ 

If your organization wants to read the research and reports created by Lyndsey’s team (or work with them), check out https://work-redefined.co/ 

You can follow Lyndsey herself on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyndsey-simpson-045b034/?originalSubdomain=uk

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

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/ 

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

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/ 

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

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

You can find Sara on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/saragregoryart/ 

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

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/

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

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!

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

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/

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

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/ 

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

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 

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

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/ 

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

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 published by Harper Horizon, and you can find Natalie at www.baggagereclaim.com and https://www.instagram.com/natlue 

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

This is the 100th episode of the Middling Along podcast! 

In a week of overwhelming world political developments, this podcast feels particularly timely...

This time I welcome Nahid de Belgeonne: Nahid has had a varied career having previously worked fashion, publishing, technology and wellness.  During her perimenopause, she swapped bricks and mortar studios in central London for her online clinic and now lives by the sea.

Her Soothe Programme helps women recover from Burnout, anxiety and trauma and she has translated all her expertise into a book called ‘Soothe, the book your nervous system has been longing for.’  

Nahid talks to me about her own struggles with chronic anxiety, stress-related skin conditions, neuralgia, and almost dying from gangrenous appendicitis because she refused to listen to her own body - and subsequently learning how to ‘rewire’ the brain through movement.  Her in-depth research into why certain things work and why they are good for you led her to write ‘Soothe’ and the programme it is based on. 

Listen to our chat to find out more about:

• How we are conditioned to do more, and more, and more…putting ourselves at the bottom of the priority list;
• How if you regulate yourself you also non-verbally regulate those around you - a win-win;
• How important it is to carve out time when your brain is not being constantly stimulated;
• How, if you are wholly engaged with what you are doing, your levels of contentment go up;
• That you feed information to your brain through your senses, interoception - listening in to the signals your body is sending you;
• Why we need to internalize our comfort instead of externalizing it;
• Why we need to be dealing with microstressors as they happen throughout the day instead of saving them all up and trying to ‘deal’ with them at the end of the day. 
• What the seemingly simple act of rocking can do for our bodies and brains.

As Nahid says in the book: “The brain’s job is to keep us alive by budgeting our resources…Your brain is constantly predicting what will happen to you next…”

Our brains are working so incredibly hard in the modern world aren’t they? Did you know that our visual distance gets fixed if sitting all day looking at a screen, which sends alarm signals to the brain. Walking in green spaces is a great antidote, even just for a short period of time - but walking in general is also helpful, the way our eyes move when we walk is also calming for our brains!  

Nahid also suggests that we treat your phones as a rare and precious commodity rather than an appendage! The importance of social connections and interactions for a healthy nervous system cannot be underestimated...there's so much more in this episode I'd love you to discover.  

For now, I’ll leave you with my favourite quote from the book:

“...what if ambition, speed and acquisition were not the only human goals? What if we also valued sensing, exploring, learning, the beauty of the process, resting, creating, pausing, resetting, repairing, calibrating, or even compassionately being?” 

You can find more about Nahid’s work on her website:

www.thehumanmethod.co.uk 

Buy the book at https://www.waterstones.com/book/soothe/nahid-de-belgeonne/9781800817104 

You can find her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehumanmethoduk/ 

You can also find her on Substack: https://nahiddebelgeonne.substack.com/ 

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

Joining me this time on the podcast  is Sarah Williamson, co-founder of Women Wise. Sarah is a nutritional therapist and researcher: with first hand experience of the limitations of current menopause support and after getting increasingly frustrated and worried about friends' difficult menopause experiences, she was determined to do something about it.

She carried out two and half years of research in the process of designing the Women Wise product from the ground up - motivated by her fascination with why people experience menopause symptoms in such different ways, and determined to create a solution that would also include those who could not use HRT, chose not to, or found that it provided no significant benefit when they tried it.

As part of my research for this episode I trialled the full Women Wise service, which includes a comprehensive symptoms questionnaire, testing for cortisol levels, insulin sensitivity, Vitamin D levels, thyroid function (TSH, T3 and T4) and iron/ferritin levels, plus the (optional) genetic tests which offer additional insights including an assessment of how well we metabolise and clear oestrogen from our bodies (tune in to find out exactly why that part is so important!). 

I found the whole process fascinating and insightful - not least because I was lucky enough to go through all my results with Sarah herself and got a detailed understanding of what my test results meant and what I could do to improve my health outcomes. 

The results include a detailed action plan - which I’m gradually starting to implement - and ongoing support for 12 months afterwards. 

To find out more about what Women Wise offers go to 

https://womenwise.health/ 

https://www.instagram.com/womenwise_health/ 

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

Join me this time as we chat to Dr Zoe Schaedel: Zoe is a GP and an accredited British Menopause Society Menopause Specialist.  She is currently a member of the British Menopause Society’s Medical Advisory Council, the Primary Care Women Health Foundation’s Education Committee and NHS England’s Menopause Improvement Programme Clinical Reference Group. She has developed a special interest in sleep and sits on the British Sleep Society Education Committee, is the co-founder of The Good Sleep Clinic, and has published articles on Menopause in The Lancet and Post Reproductive Health.

What a great, informative episode this is: did you know that sleep disturbances are one of the most common symptoms of the perimenopause? 40-60% of women report difficulties staying asleep, and waking more during the night! 

We’ll cover:

• How our bodies need to stay at a low and stable temperature to stay asleep
• The impact of our symptoms (such as anxiety, needing to wee more, and hot/cold flushes and night sweats) on sleep and getting back to sleep between our 90 minute sleep cycles
• Sleep hygiene tips (including light, temperature, and bedtime routines - bath, book and bed isn’t just for the kids!)
• Why alcohol (yet again) is not our friend and leads to less REM sleep and more ‘micro-wakings’
• What is sleep drive and why is it important? 
• The role of adenosine in sleep drive, how to increase it, and how caffeine acts on adenosine levels
• How ‘putting the day to rest’ can help stop our busy brains keeping us awake and running through the mental load list at 4am!
• How HRT can help with sleep in perimenopause
• How CBTi works even on chronic insomnia

You can find Zoe at https://goodsleep.clinic/ and www.mylahealth.co.uk and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/zoemenopausedr/ 

The CBTi based sleep apps we discuss in this episode are Sleepio and Sleep Station.

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  

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

In this episode I chat to Tracy Acock, founder of The Wellbeing Wisdom Club. Tracy retired from a career in breast cancer nursing and retrained as a women’s life coach with a focus on health and wellbeing. Whilst maybe not an obvious career pivot, she uses many of the same tools to work with her coaching clients - such as mindfulness, meditation and EFT (emotional freedom technique, or tapping).

We cover such a wide range of topics including:

• the benefits of cold water swimming
• how we are often disconnected from ourselves in midlife and how to get back to who we are and what we want
• changing our mindset to break free of negative self-talk and our cosy comfort zones
• looking for the things that light us up
• building more movement into our lives 
• Tracy’s own menopause experience ten years ago and why the conversation is so different now…

You can find Tracy at  https://wellbeingwisdomclub.com and on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thewellbeingwisdomclub/ - but be warned, all those beautiful photos of Cornish beaches will make you want to move there if you don’t already!

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/ 

This time on the podcast I’m joined by Victoria Hardy (otherwise known as @GingeUnhinged on Instagram) as she talks us through her experience of medical and surgical menopause aged just 33, the breakdown that followed, and how she has used her experiences to help others going through the same situation feel less alone. 

She has now gone one further and written a book ‘My Menopause, My Journal, My Rules’ to be the friendly guide and confidante that she would so dearly have loved 7 years ago…  

We cover:

• The process of going through first medical, and then surgical menopause in her early 30s, and how ill-prepared she was by the medical establishment
• How the lack of support led her to a breakdown, then to therapy, where she turned her creative flair and a way with words into an outlet for processing her grief and trauma, that ultimately became a source of support for others on social media
• Why connection to community on social media is so important
• How and why she decided to write her book and why it’s different from most other menopause books out there already…not least because it’s partly a book you write yourself (40% of the books is journaling space - you’re even encouraged to rip out certain pages if you feel the urge!)
• What was the hardest chapter to write - it might not be what you’d expect

You can find Victoria on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ginge_unhinged and the book is now available to preorder from gingeunhinged.com 

If you enjoy the podcast please help us grow by sharing this episode, or writing a review.

You can also find me at www.thetripleshift.org 

connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacthomas/ 

follow along on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/middlingalong_podcast/

or subscribe to my Substack at https://middlingalong.substack.com/