A recent headline “Menopause is forcing women to retire early” written in an article by Caitlin Powell on 7 December, got me thinking about this statement.
Firstly, no one forces you to retire irrelevant of the symptoms you might be suffering whether menopause related or otherwise. In fact, no one forces you to do anything as there is always an element of personal choice. Retirement might be a choice that is arrived at through discussion with an employer, due to some work-related issues, but at the end of the day, each one of us decides our own journey.
Andy Briggs, the government’s champion for older workers, told the Mail on Sunday, “To leave the workplace in your fifties – when we know that you’re far less likely than someone younger to return to work – has a huge impact on your retirement income.” This comment further highlights the fact, that women can make their own choice about when they retire and can seek help for the natural body changes that menopause brings to all women at some stage in their life.
It is common knowledge that nearly 4 million women who are in employment in the UK are aged between 45 and 55. Women over the age of 50 are the fastest growing workforce segment. As the average age to experience menopause is 51-52 in the Western world, it is expected that peri-menopause starts around the age of 45-46, with changes to their menstruation cycle. Transitioning through menopause can take up to 10 years. This is a long time to be suffering from symptoms such as brain fogginess, lack of concentration, hot flushes, poor sleep, irritability and lethargy, all of which often contribute to poor performance. Therefore, one could say “quite rightly that organisations encourage women to retire when performance is greatly reduced.”
This workforce segment is important to the labour market, it is important to companies and to women themselves. Social programming might want us to believe that menopause is the end of life for women. This is not true. Menopause is a natural change in the female body, male body also during andropause, and can be extremely liberating, with minimal interruptions to work-life integration and overall wellbeing.
Why is it that some women sail through menopause and others suffer from many of the symptoms mentioned above?
Most of us prepare for our older age and our retirement, menopause can be considered a part of that and women can prepare for this in order to limit the negative impact of these natural body changes. Taking a brief look at a 1987 study conducted with 13,996 Japanese women the results concluded that:
- “Studies and anecdotal evidence show that after their last menstrual period and the onset of menopause, American women and other ethnicities have a worse experience than Japanese women.
- Japanese women have less severe hot flashes/flushes, insomnia, night sweats, joint pain, urine leakage, and increased heart rate. They generally also have fewer symptoms.
- Plus, they have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and brain cancer.”
This study pointed out that this is not about genetics, it is about the differences in diet and the main differences are lack of or no wheat and dairy in the Japanese diet, as well as the inclusion of soy and soy products. As the average menopausal woman produces less estrogen, soy helps to balance the body during the changes. As soy contains isoflavones, they work like estrogen, albeit in a much weaker manner. With a healthy portion of soy in your diet, you can effectively prevent the worst that menopause presents.
5 Key points for limiting the negative impact on personal performance during menopause
These points can be implemented not only to transition smoothly through this period, but also will help with overall health.
1. Nutrition and Hydration
Limit the amount of wheat or remove wheat from your diet.
Eat the rainbow every day in fruit and vegetables and include a minimum of 10 per day to increase fibre, vitamins and mineral intake.
Include soy and soy products in your diet on a daily basis (with caution if you are suffering thyroid issues). Protect bone density with Vitamin D3.
Limit convenience foods which are full of preservatives, “E’s” and other additives as they exacerbate hot flushes, brain fog and poor sleep by choking up the liver. Instead cook from fresh ingredients and choose a salad or soup over a sandwich and fizzy drink at lunch time.
Keep hydrated. Many of our body systems require water to function including the blood, removal of waste from the cells, digestion, brain function and so on. Providing water stations in the office can go a long way to helping employees keep hydrated.
2. Movement
The lymphatic system which is responsible for removal of toxins from the body relies on natural body movement. Lack of exercise, whether walking, tennis, football, cycling or any other sport decreases lymphatic drainage, therefore the level of toxicity within the body increases. Help your body and mind to function well with gentle movement on a daily basis.
3. Fresh Air
Getting outside, irrelevant of the weather is so important to wellbeing overall. Oxygenating the blood and boosting endorphins, the feel-good factor, fresh air helps to calm the central nervous system, de-stress the mind and aid performance. As a leader, encourage your female and male team members to go outside in their lunch break as this is one of the best gifts you can give them. It clears the head, helps with de-stressing mind and body and aids performance, increasing productivity on return to your work place.
4. Resilience and Stress Management
We assume that stress is something that comes from an external source. That is mostly true. However, each one of us has a choice on how we manage external stressors and therefore how they impact internally, including being assertive to voice our opinions, being assertive to say “No” when the system is already on “overload”, taking time out when things become overwhelming. Cutting out “me” time on a regular basis, eating mindfully as opposed to grabbing something quickly, as well as sharing issues and worries and asking for help when we need it, all impact whether we internalise stresses.
Stressors are not only things that we see and experience such as conflict, lack of openness and trust, financial issues etc, but toxins in the air, water and foods that we breathe eat and drink, all add stress. Electromagnetic frequencies that we all live in due to our wifi driven world affects the signalling in both body and mind and has direct impact on how we sleep. When menopausal the body is more sensitive to these frequencies, further contributing to poor sleep. Create EMF down time and switch off wifi at night.
5. Sleep
Sleep is essential and due to hormonal changes, it tends to suffer creating a vicious cycle of not sleeping, waking exhausted, then dealing with a stressful lifestyle and work life, gorging on foods that give a quick energy boost just to get through the day. Each time the boost wears off it leads to a lower low, and so the cycle goes on creating in its wake poor memory, brain fogginess, adrenal stress and headaches. Improving sleep quality goes a long way to supporting women going through perimenopause and menopause. The practice of a regular sleep-wake cycle is very beneficial for most of us, perhaps more so for women who are menopausal. Getting to bed at a regular time and waking at the same regular time is important and using the natural rhythm of nature to be in bed before 11pm and up eight hours later, will help improve sleep. That in turn tones down how we react to stressful situations and work demands, limiting any negative impact on performance.
Educating your male and female workforce in the topic of menopause and providing supportive leadership and direction, will ensure you keep your female workforce through the transition and out the other side. That to me looks like a win-win for everyone!
For more information on our course “The Impact of Menopause on Performance,” contact on 01235 639 430 or rachel@greenkeypersonaldevelopment.com