Dr. Sarah Berry
speaker
566 appearances
3 recordings
3 series
first heard Nov 2024
last heard 18 Dec
Dr. Sarah Berry’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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To be aware of regarding the perimenopause and postmenopause phase is the symptoms that women experience. And we've done some research in 70,000 individuals where we've looked at how prevalent these symptoms are. we see that 99% of perimenopausal women experience at least one menopausal symptom. We see that 66% of perimenopausal women have 12 symptoms or more. And this has a huge burden.
We know from other surveys, 10% of women leave the workforce during the perimenopause and postmenopausal phase because of the burden that these symptoms have on their quality of life.
So typically people become menopausal, as in postmenopausal stop their menstrual cycles at 51. The menopausal transition period can be anything from two to 10 years. Typically people would say maybe around the ages of 47, many women start to experience perimenopausal symptoms. And these include symptoms like brain fog, anxiety, memory loss, irritability, low libido, change in metabolism.
And now I'm in that perimenopausal phase and I've forgotten all of the others, but there's about 50 symptoms that are recognised. And we see in our own research that the amount of women experiencing symptoms is really high. So we see that 85% of women are saying they have brain fog, they have anxiety, they have memory loss. It's really high, the amount of women experiencing these symptoms.
And what's really interesting is we know, yes, HRT, so hormone replacement therapy, or MHT, can help reduce many of these symptoms. But we also know that diet can help as well. And I think actually, Stephen, one of the most interesting things from our research looking at menopause and symptoms is that typically when we think of menopausal symptoms, we think about hot flushes.
And if I was to ask you, actually I wish I'd have asked you before I said that, but if I was to ask you, if you were to think of a menopause symptom, what would come to your mind first?
Yep. And what's really interesting is hot flushes are one of the least common symptoms. About 40% of women in our research have hot flushes. 85% have brain fog. 85% have all of the other brain-related symptoms. And yet typically we always think about hot flushes. And this is because there just hasn't been loads of research on menopause.
And so I think what's really exciting is there is now a lot more research on menopause. So I think the future is really exciting. But I think what comes with this is yet more Nutribullocks. And that's because I think there's this whole area of what we call menowashing. I don't know if you've heard of menowashing.
Stick menow for menopause in front of any product. You can charge 10 times as much. I could call this a menopause tea. It's actually Yorkshire tea and it's a very good cup of tea. I could call this Menno tea and charge 10 times as much for that tea bag without any evidence because women are desperate. 45% of women say their symptoms are so burdensome they'll try anything.
10% leaving the workforce because of their symptoms. And so we have to be really careful that we are only selling evidence-based supplements for which there isn't much evidence at the moment. And I think that the evidence that an overall healthier dietary pattern can reduce symptoms is the best way forward for now, alongside for those who choose to hormone replacement therapy.
Yeah, I think, you know, fortunately, I think it's changing. But historically, we didn't talk about it. You know, I vaguely remember my mum saying, I'm really hot, I'm having hot flush. But we didn't talk about menopause. We didn't talk about periods. We just didn't talk about it in that, you know, when I was growing up.
And unfortunately, my mother's no longer alive, so I don't really know what she did go through. And I want to talk about it. People are talking about it. We have people like Davina McCall who are amazing because they're getting women talking about it. So we're no longer ashamed. So I think the tide is really turning.
But menopause is this perfect storm because you have these burdensome symptoms and then you have alongside it, which I don't think we talk about enough, is these health effects that I talked about. So women going through the menopause aren't sleeping. I mean, my sleep is all over the place. Honestly, when I get a good night's sleep, Stephen, I feel like superwoman.
It reminds me of the state I'm in at the moment is like how I was when I had kids where, you know, I'm getting four or five hours sleep. Then I wake up. If I'm lucky, I might get back to sleep. So you've got women, they're not getting enough sleep.
You've got women who often are feeling a bit depressed or anxious or, you know, are losing their confidence because of their brain fog, because of their memory loss, because of, you know, their anxiety. You've got the hormones changing your body composition. Suddenly you're eating and doing everything the same, but all the fat's being directed to your tummy.
your hunger signals are mucked up, your desire to eat different food changes. And we see this again in our own research that postmenopausal women tend to eat a lot more sugary foods than premenopausal women. So you've got this perfect storm of things going on. And then in amongst that, do you really want to do some physical activity? Are you really motivated to start eating healthier?
And, you know, when you're exhausted, and it goes back again to that importance of sleep and that interaction of sleep with our food choices and how we respond to food, there's so many things to think about. And I think it's really tough in that peri- and postmenopausal phase, when your body's changing, when you're tired, when you're feeling a bit rubbish, to also take control of your diet.
But it's the most important time because it's when your cholesterol increases. It's when your blood pressure increases. It's when all of this fat tissue around your belly is releasing harmful inflammatory chemicals, etc. So it's when, unfortunately, we really do need to take stock of our physical activity, of what we're eating and our stress levels.
But it's probably one of the most challenging times to do it as well.
But I think, Stephen, if we raise awareness so that men are aware and they can support their partners. And, you know, libido, you know, it's an example we see in our own research. Whilst it might not be the most common, women rate it as the most burdensome.
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