5 things we learned from our WH Collective World Menopause Day event
Last night, we held a panel talk exclusively for Women’s Health Collective members to celebrate World Menopause Day 2024, sponsored by Revive Active – and trust us, we all learned *a lot*.
Hosted by our Editor-in-Chief Claire Sanderson here at Women’s Health’s London HQ (aka House of Hearst), the panel talk featured author, PT and Women’s Health Collective expert trainer, Kate Rowe-Ham. Kate is also the founder of Owning Your Menopause, an online community dedicated to helping women navigate the menopause.
Kate was joined by Emma Bardwell, a registered nutritionist, health writer and author of The Perimenopause Solution. She also runs Menopause in the Workplace sessions, designed to help companies implement policies to better support women.
Together, the three of them discussed the best ways to navigate menopause and manage its symptoms through nutrition and fitness, and gave tangible, takeaway tips for women to implement into their daily lives the next day. Here were five of our favourites:
You need to strength train at least 3 x a week
As we age, hormonal changes mean we need to build more muscle, explained Kate Rowe-Ham. ‘Oestrogen – essential for muscle growth – declines, so muscle mass decreases. Strength training offsets this by promoting hypertrophy.'
This doesn't mean you need to pumping iron for hours, though. Kate was very clear that sessions don’t need to be long to reap the benefits, they just need to be done consistently. After all, any movement is better than no movement at all.
You should be increasing your protein intake
Protein is key to helping to build muscle mass, but it'll also keep you feeling full for longer, which can help with weight loss if you're looking to reverse perimenopausal weight gain.
Confused about how much to eat? 'If you're a numbers person, aim to eat 1.2g - 1.6g per kilo of body weight a day', says Emma. ‘Otherwise, portion sizes should be roughly the same size as the palm of your hand.'
0% fat Greek yoghurt is your protein MVP
According to Emma Bardwell, Greek yoghurt is a great way of adding a healthy dose of protein into your breakfast, but a lot of women worry about the calorific value of its fat content.
So Emma recommended buying 0% fat Greek yoghurt as it doesn’t contain the same sweeteners that other low-fat yoghurts are often loaded with, and actually includes more protein than the full-fat version. Yep, you read that correctly. Great if you’re looking to load up on protein but still eat in a calorie deficit.
Pick your training to suit your symptoms
If HIIT (a.k.a high intensity interval training) is still working wonders for you, then it's all good. But Kate Rowe-Ham told us that once she hit perimenopause, HIIT classes began to leave her exhausted, so she needed to start training to suit her symptoms and respect her changing body.
For her, that meant strength training and walking workouts which increased her energy levels and helped manage her anxiety. Her message? Just because you are doing something that isn't high intensity doesn't mean you won't get results. It's about exercising differently, not exercising less.
You can alter your gut health in just 48 hours
While it might take months to effect long-term benefits, research has shown that you can actually improve your gut microbiome in just 48 hours. According to Emma Bardwell, if you implement changes to your diet today, the positive effects could come into play as quickly as the weekend. No time like the present…
But as well as learning a lot from the talk, the event also raised money for charity, too. All proceeds from ticket sales for the event were donated to Wellbeing of Women, a UK charity committed to funding research, education and advocacy within the field of women’s reproductive and gynaecological health.
Its work helps women from menstruation to menopause and beyond, changing and saving lives. In its sixty years since inception, it has helped millions of babies survive and thrive, been at the forefront of gynaecological cancer prevention and treatment, and campaigned to transform the understanding and treatment of heavy periods.
At the end of the event, audience members left with a goodie bag including a copy of Kate’s book, Owning Your Menopause: Fitter, Calmer, Stronger in 30 Days and supplements from the new menopause range from our sponsors, Revive Active.
These included Meno Active, a supplement with 31 active ingredients to help support hormonal activity, bone health, intimate health and brain function, and Meno Botanicals, a single dose blend of botanicals, which supports the nervous system as well as hormonal and cognitive health.
More resources for navigating menopause...
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