Hair loss in Peri/Menopause It's well recognised how reduction in estrogen and progesterone can cause hair to  thin and reduce new growth.  Hormonal imbalance at any stage of life can cause hair loss. For instance, with each of my 3 pregnancies, my hair thinned every time. In all honesty, it never really fully re-grew. It did of course grow back a little but remained very fine. My hairdressers used to always state I had thin hair but a lot of it!!  That's not the case now. Since going through perimenopause, the little bit of regrowth I had after each pregnancy has vanished. There's certain patches on my head that really struggle to grow. These are mainly the top sides of my forehead area and more recently noticed it feels very thin on the back of my head (midway).  The thought of losing my hair is very distressing and with each handful coming out after each wash...that stress just heightens. What a vicious circle....ironic that stress also increases risk of hair loss...

  Dietary Changes in Midlife Over the last 4 years, I’ve made significant changes to my diet. There have been varied reasons for this. 1)      I felt I was becoming more conscious of ‘food’ production and did not like what I was learning 2)      I was becoming more ‘in-tune’ with what my body did and did not like (we all have unique chemical make up and what 1 person tolerates well, another may not)!! 3)      My personal ethics and values, shifted in relation to animal welfare 4)       I am trying to live more economically 5)      I am learning more and more about the impact that our ‘food fuel’ has on the way our brain and body functions So what were the changes I made…… Meat Free I stopped eating meat. Once my decision was made, that was it….done!! My decision was based purely around appalling animal welfare….bred for slaughter and often living in disgraceful and ...

  Empty Nest, or… Full Inhabitant of Life? I’ve been a mother for nearly 32 years now. I have 3 grown up children and 3 grandchildren. Although my youngest son is still at home, he has 1 foot out the door and to be honest, even though we share a house, I barely see him. The concept of ‘empty nest’ previously had me filled with absolute dread and with each child leaving the family home, that ‘fear’ seemed to get even more profound. Being a mum, is all I’ve ever known and although filled with the expected strains and stresses of parenting, I love being a mum (….actually, I should say ‘mam’, being from the north east of England)!! However, my mindset on this has altered dramatically over the past year or so. What I was not expecting with my children leaving, was the new lease of life that I have embraced. This has not been by conscious design nor by accident. As my children became less dependent on me, I gradually filled my time with new hobbies, making time for friends and sp...

Daily Niggles Lets get straight to it…..every day, there’s a new ache or pain. Often in the most random places. Sometimes, these little joys just suddenly appear at anytime of the day, with no rhyme or reason to why! Some of these niggles can be explained away by my perimenopausal symptoms. For instance joint pain, which I seem to predominantly experience in my fingers and toes (weird I know)! The generalised pain Then there’s the more unusual pains!! In the past year, I’ve had random pains in my, neck, collar bones, ribs and in my sternum…I can only associate these pains with previous fractures but that was 25 years ago and I’ve never had any issues with these areas until now! The Cyst There’s also been the sudden development of a ganglion cyst on the outside of my knee. I know this is not directly related to middle age but it does feel like just another deteriorating aspect of general wear and tear on my body. I must admit, this cyst is giving me the most awful pains and discomfort a...

My midlife journey to the wonderful tribe of grey My hair is one of the most significant changes I've experienced to date (amongst the multitude of other CHANGES that is going on in my midlife). Around 3 years ago, I decided I was no longer going to dye my hair and just embrace my au natural, grey fox vibes. Let me tell you this decision was met with some fierce objections that I don’t think I was prepared for. Less than supportive….many people tried to talk me out of it, telling me it would age me and ‘you will look like an OLD lady’ and ‘you're making a mistake…don’t do it’. Well….anyone who knows me well, will know that these type of comments just add fuel to my fiery feminist values and would result in the total opposite to their “friendly” advice. I had started to see grey in my hair in my 20s but had always dyed it, so wasn’t sure how it would look coming through…but I felt confident, that by now….it would be totally grey. I was not wrong. Although, there's stil...

Midlife skin care Ohh were to start…. Dryness, redness, wrinkles, jowls, sagging, age spots, eye bags. Fun, fun fun!!  It’s all going on. Today, I want to share with you, what I have experienced in regards to changes with my skin and what I’ve done about it. Some of it standard and what you’d expect….and some a bit more ‘out there’! We are all uniquely different and what I have experienced and found works for me, does not necessarily mean, it will be the same for you. What I will say though, is that you’ve got to experiment a little until you find what’s best for you…..and then be prepared to experiment again, as new changes start to appear! It's well recognised that diet, lifestyle and hydration can impact on our skin health. I will be covering these topics in other posts. Effects of alcohol in midlife Rosacea I’ve had redness and facial flushing for many years. What I now know, is that I have rosacea. This started in my 30’s and has progressively got worse as I aged. It’s o...

If you have landed on this page, then welcome and hello. As the blog title suggests, this is a shared space for navigating the murky avenue of ‘midlife’.   I created this blog, so that I can share with you, all the weird and wonderful things I have trialled, adopted and dabbled in, during this strange transitioning time of life. My life now, looks 100% opposite, to how it was 5-10 years ago. There was a significant period of change for me and in all honesty, my transforming is still evolving. I’m now in a place where I accept that life is a continuous journey and we all have a story to tell, so that we can share, learn and support each other. Let me get straight to it – my roles have changed, my body (internal and external) have changed, my outlook of life has changed, what I place importance on has changed, my relationships have changed, my relationship with myself has changed and my priorities have changed. Please use this platform to recognise that you are not alone and we...