You have genetic results, lab reports, practitioner advice, saved articles, conversations on health forums, and several ideas about what you could try. You keep researching because you want to make the right choice, but you still are not sure what deserves your attention now.
Often it is one of these:
One of the most common questions women ask during perimenopause and menopause is, "Why has my stomach suddenly changed when my diet hasn't?"
If this sounds familiar, you are far from alone.
Many women notice that fat begins to accumulate around the abdomen during midlife. While changing hormone levels, particularly declining oestrogen, play a role in where the body stores fat, they are only part of the story. Ageing, reduced muscle mass, poorer sleep, higher stress levels, medications and everyday lifestyle habits can all influence body composition.
For women over 40, the biological clock ticks louder, but for Black and South Asian women in the UK and US, systemic barriers, cultural stigma and lack of tailored support turn a challenging journey into an isolating battle.
Black women experience infertility at nearly twice the rate of White women, often linked to higher rates of fibroids, tubal issues and other conditions. Yet they wait 12–18 months longer to seek care due to medical mistrust, dismissal of symptoms, cost barriers and implicit bias. In the UK, Black patients start IVF later (average age ~36) and have lower birth
If you are hit with sudden dread, heart palpitations mimicking panic attacks, 3 a.m. racing thoughts, overwhelming unease over minor things, intense irritability, new social anxiety or that wired-but-exhausted state, you are not “losing it.”
This is a common, biologically driven experience in perimenopause, amplified by modern work demands and it hits differently across cultures and generations.
People will suffer with symptoms and blame themselves for it when it’s just their biology working against them. If you know that it’s a gene mutation causing a deficiency in certain hormones or feel good brain chemicals, then you’re less likely to blame yourself and more likely to make the lifestyle change it takes to feel better. Test your genes and arm yourself with this valuable information. This was my result on Livewello and my anxiety has reduced because I’m eating more of these foods and taking these supplements. Everyone is different but it’s good to know where you stand.
Ladies, that sudden 3 a.m. dread, racing thoughts, heart palpitations that feel like panic or the “wired but tired” fog, many of us in perimenopause know these experiences all too well.
If you are in our menopause group and suddenly dealing with waves of dread, racing heart, 3am panic spirals or feeling "wired but exhausted" while everything that used to roll off your back now feels overwhelming... you are not "crazy," losing it or imagining things.
What if the exhaustion, brain fog and quiet self-doubt creeping in are not signs of burnout or waning ambition, but perimenopause at work in the background?
That question quietly sat underneath one of the most honest and emotionally powerful conversations we have hosted inside Menopause Mindset & Me: The Second Spring.
Let us be clear. This is not just a health conversation. It is a leadership, equity and economic issue hiding in plain sight.
The narrative around menopause, perimenopause and Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) has long been presented as a universal female experience. It is not.
Much of what is discussed, researched and normalised reflects a narrow lens, one that has historically centred white women, leaving Black and women of colour navigating one of the most complex biological transitions of their lives without culturally competent care, without workplace understanding and often without language to articulate what is happening to them.
So women are told to “manage it.” To “push through.” To “get on with it.”
Something is not adding up.
At a time when menopause is finally being talked about, more women are finding themselves not clearer… but more overwhelmed. The rise of accessible advice has created a new challenge, knowing what actually works, and what simply sounds convincing.
Research from University College London and Fawcett Society shows that nearly 1 in 10 women leave their jobs due to menopause symptoms, while many more reduce their hours or step back from leadership opportunities.
At the same time, studies on digital health behaviour indicate that people are more likely to trust and act on health advice that is accessible and relatable, even when it is not evidence-based.
The conversation has opened up and that is powerful.
Women are speaking more honestly about menopause than ever before. Symptoms are being recognised. Experiences are being shared. Silence is slowly being replaced with visibility.
But here is what is not changing fast enough.
The music is loud. The lights are flashing. Someone has just brushed past me for the third time. Not only that, out of nowhere, my internal thermostat has declared an emergency.
Hot flush. Activated.
Ten years ago, this was carefree fun. Now the bass feels amplified. The crowd feels closer. The air feels thicker. It is not just the club, it is my nervous system responding differently.
Ladies, this Valentine’s Day, we are sending love to all the incredible women riding the peri/menopause rollercoaster, a ride none of us queued up for, but here we are, gripping the safety bar, sweating through our 'favourite' blouse and wondering why our emotions are doing parkour.
Whether you are single, married, a corporate powerhouse, a founder or a carer, here is your Valentine’s card from the universe.
Menopause is often spoken about as if it arrives at the same time, in the same way, for every woman.
For many Black women and women of colour, that assumption does real harm. Early and surgical menopause are not rare outliers, they are lived realities shaped by stress, health inequalities and systems that were never designed with our bodies in mind.
When menopause is framed as the end, this is often the picture people are handed. Chaos, exhaustion, irritability, sleepless nights and a woman who feels like she has lost herself overnight.
That narrative is everywhere. It reduces a profound biological transition into something to be mocked, minimised or feared. When we accept that story without question, menopause becomes something to dread rather than understand, something to endure rather than navigate with agency.
For too long, menopause has been reduced to a punchline about hot flushes and mood swings. That framing is not only inaccurate, it is dangerous.
From a neuroscience, public health and lived-experience perspective, menopause represents a profound biological, psychological and social transition.
For Black women and women of colour, the impact is often intensified by systemic bias, delayed diagnosis and cultural silence. As an advisory community committed to leadership, wellbeing and equity, we must tell the fuller truth.
Say goodbye to menopause mayhem because what you are feeling is not madness, weakness or “losing it.”
It is biology. It is hormones. It is your brain and body recalibrating.small changes in systems create big shifts in behaviour. Menopause is one of those systems. An internal reboot that shakes every circuit.
Here are five evidence-backed ways to move from chaos to calm:
There is a moment in every woman’s menopause journey when the symptoms feel louder than your voice, your confidence or your clarity.
You are not imagining it.
You are not “too emotional.”
You are not losing your edge.
There is a quiet revolution happening in the menopause conversation, led by Black women who refuse to let our experiences remain invisible.
At the forefront is Nina Kuypers, founder of Black Women in Menopause (BWIM), a voice who has carved out space for a demographic routinely ignored in research, under-represented in policy and too often dismissed in healthcare.
Nina’s work begins with a truth many Black women know but rarely name. Our menopause journey is distinct. Symptoms often start earlier, hit harder and are more likely to be minimised by clinicians who have not been trained to recognise the cultural, hormonal and stress-related realities of Black women’s lives.
She dismantles the myth that “we just cope.”
Every major shift in women’s health has a tipping point. A moment when what we thought we understood turns out to be incomplete. Hair loss in menopause is one of those tipping points.
Most women are told it is “just aging.” The NHS describes menopausal hair thinning as common, often offering reassurance, lifestyle tweaks or Minoxidil. It is well-intentioned, but the explanation is incomplete.
The evidence tells a more intricate story grounded in endocrinology, follicular biology and crucially, cultural experience.
Hormones and brain chemistry are inseparable. As women enter perimenopause and menopause, fluctuating oestrogen and progesterone levels don’t just change the body, they recalibrate the brain. Understanding Dopamine, Serotonin, Oxytocin and Endorphins for emotional balance becomes very important.
These hormonal shifts alter the balance of key neuro chemicals that regulate mood, motivation, focus and connection. That’s why you might feel less like yourself, not just physically, but emotionally and cognitively too.
Let us break down what happens to the brain’s “happy chemicals” during this stage and how women across cultures can rebuild emotional balance from the inside out.
We often talk about menopause as if it is an ending. But in truth, it is a turning point, a recalibration of the body’s chemistry, rhythm and sense of identity.
One of the most visible and misunderstood signs of this transition is hair loss. By age 50, over 40% of women experience noticeable thinning, yet most are told it is “just part of aging.” Science tells a different story.
What is really happening is a hormonal imbalance, not a slow decay. During menopause, estrogen and progesterone, the two hormones that nurture, protect and sustain hair follicles, begin to fall. Their decline leaves hair unprotected from a more dominant hormone called DHT (dihydrotestosterone), which miniaturises follicles and slows growth. In other words, it is not time that is taking your hair. It is chemistry.
Struggling with getting your menopause skin looking smooth and radiant?
You are not alone.
For so many women, this season of life feels like a mystery of shifting hormones and unexpected changes. Yet, our skin, this outer reflection of our inner vitality, often gets overlooked in the conversation.
The truth is, as estrogen levels shift, our skin naturally loses elasticity, hydration and that glow we once took for granted. But here is what I want you to remember. Your skin is not betraying you, it is inviting you to pay closer attention, to slow down and to honour it as part of your sacred vessel.
Black feminist scholar Bell Hooks reminds us, “Honesty and openness is always the foundation of insightful dialogue.” Menopause policy must embody that truth.
Policymakers can no longer rely on one-size-fits-all workplace protections. Psychological research on stereotype threat, pioneered by Dr. Claude Steele, shows that when women of colour sense bias or dismissal, stress hormones rise and cognitive performance drops.
Add the midlife surge of hormonal fluctuation and the effect is compounded. Higher anxiety, disrupted sleep and impaired decision-making.
A truly responsive legislative agenda would integrate this science into practice. That means funding intersectional mental-health programs, requiring culturally competent clinical training and creating corporate guidelines that address the psychological as well as physical demands of menopause.
Proud Sista!
Proud Sista!
Proud Sista!
Proud Sista!
Proud Sista!
A lot of people do not realise this but there are gene mutations that affect people’s fertility and they can be mitigated with simple lifestyle changes. For instance an MTHFR gene mutation means that you cannot process standard Folic acid and need a different type that will bypass this deficiency and ensure that you get the proper nutrient to sustain your pregnancy. It’s only about £12 but you need to do a gene test to know. Livewello.com tests for most of these genes and you can use Gene chat to interact with your dna test on the site to get this info in plain language and share with your doctor. There are examples of these scenarios here: https://livewello.com/scenarios/hormones-mood/infertility-elena
This example mentions how PCOS is heavily implicated in infertility https://livewello.com/scenarios/hormones-mood/pcos-nina
Never give up. There are answers out there.