Menopause- Not just a women’s problem

As Health & Her research reveals one in ten women have suicidal thoughts during menopause, Kate Bache says menopause is a problem for both society and economy.

In the UK, 370,000 women aged between 50 and 64 have left or considered leaving their career due to the intensity of their menopause symptoms and another quarter had to reduce their hours or change their working pattern entirely.

Such figures suggest a huge need for support, says Kate Bache, co-founder of Health & Her – a platform offering expert advice and products for women experiencing perimenopause and menopause.

Her company’s research has shown that one in ten women have suicidal thoughts during perimenopause and nine in ten are struggling with their mental health while also having the highest rate of divorce.

“These are just the facts,” Bache explains. “But they don’t tell you about the impacts on perhaps women’s children or their elderly parents. With many women being the nucleus of their family and community, menopause is definitely having a big societal effect.

“It is a problem for both society and economy,” she continues. “That’s why it’s really important to make progress and start talking about it.

“It’s unfortunate that there are still people out there who don’t take menopause seriously. I don’t think women are being self-centred with regards to menopause. In fact, if anything, they’re being selfless by making sure that they are healthy and feeling good about themselves so that they can continue to do everything they do every day.”

To help employers, Health & Her has launched a personalised employer menopause support plan that allows companies to empower their workers with specialist advice and training,  along with an app that helps women track their symptoms, learn about their body and build new habits.

“A lot of the psychology around tracking your perimenopause and menopause symptoms is about taking control and understanding your own self and the app helps women do exactly that,” Bache tells me. “We knew this was a really important part of what we should do and we’ve always taken a very holistic approach. We wanted to empower women to make the right decision for them, their symptoms and their journey.”

Different lifestyle factors and daily habits can have a great impact on women’s symptoms. Studies have suggested that cognitive behavioural therapy is a non-medical approach that can be helpful for symptoms such as hot flashes, anxiety, low mood and even low libido.

The co-founder says that: “It’s not as easy as just taking a pill. Unfortunately, to improve your symptoms, you have to look at other health aspects in your life alongside that.

“So, we looked at evidence and we tried to bring that to women in the best accessible way,” she adds. “One of the reasons why many users think our app is different is because of the daily reminders and tools that help them make small changes in their life.

“Our pelvic floor exercise did very well and other sleep, meditation and breathing exercises help women enormously with all sorts of symptoms like anxiety, mental health and insomnia.”

             Between 70 and 80 per cent of the women who used the Health & Her app noticed improvement in their symptoms

Although women’s life stages have been historically neglected, Bache says that things are starting to change. “I think there is a rightly so more conversation opening up,” she points out.

“Women are now having the opportunity to be in positions of power that can really drive that forward. But menopause awareness is more needed than ever because it’s having an even bigger impact on society.”

Recent studies have shown that women are more at risk of osteoporosis and heart disease post-menopause and the way they manage their menopause symptoms has been seen as an important factor in determining their health in later life.

“Women start to understand that it is something bigger here and that there are many ways they can take care of themselves,” Kate Bache says.

“Data is critical in this entire sector, because it will create better products, better technology and will inform and help healthcare professionals and health systems to provide better care,” she continues.

“Our team are unearthing insights all the time and we will be looking to make all that information available to healthcare professionals. That’s going to take a few years, but we absolutely see ourselves as being that thought leader.

“Fundamentally, our focus is on menopause, perimenopause and post-menopause, but there are still a lot of gaps everywhere [in the sector] in terms of insights and understanding. There is so much more that can be done.”

The co-founder is excited about improving and expanding Health & Her geographically. “What’s really important to us now is to expand our services and continue to innovate as rapidly as we have been doing.”

Download the free Health & Her app on App Store and Google Play.

For more info, visit healthandher.com.