Fearne Cotton

Happy Place is researched by me, Fern Cotton.

The producer is Anushka Tate at Happy Place Studios with studio engineering by Basil Oxtoby.

Hello and massive welcome to Happy Place with me Fern Cotton.

This is the show that empowers you with knowledge so you can make the decisions that are right for you.

Today I'm chatting to Louise Newson.

Hey, how are you all?

I hope you are well.

Look, this is a chat that I've needed to have for a very long time.

Hands up any women that are listening right now that are of a certain age that have got their heads buried firmly in the sand when it comes to perimenopause and menopause, because that is me.

I am in complete denial.

Whenever anyone mentions the menopause or perimenopause, I just think, oh my God, stop talking about it.

I can't think about it.

I don't want to think about it.

And mainly that's because I've been so confused as to what the solutions are.

And it shouldn't even be a solution.

It should be like, how do I cope with this?

What can I marry with everything else I'm doing in my life to feel okay?

So I needed to...

face up to this whole subject head on and get stuck into it and what better person to do that with than the brilliant Louise.

So Louise is a GP, author, campaigner and the menopause specialist in the UK.