I was lucky enough to be invited to the BBC at Media City in Manchester a few weeks ago. They had a whole week of talking about and therefore raising awareness about menopause.

About time I hear you say!

It seems madness to me that its taken so long for people to start using the word menopause and I still think there is a long way to go.

The programme covered all themes around the menopause including pelvic floor and exercise through to workplace and the menopause and what organisations should be doing to support the millions of women who will struggle through menopause while working. I am so pleased the BBC decided to make such a statement.

I was invited to go down by a fantastic lady Angela who runs a campaign on twitter called #changethefaceofmenopause, a brilliant campaign that she started after a piece in the press portraying a menopausal woman with grey hair waving a fan! She is @behindthewoman1 and I have a huge amount of respect for all the work she is doing to raise awareness about how women really look when going through perimenopause and beyond. We can still be glamorous, vibrant and joyful. The other women were @Karen_Kenning @hotandmoody and @sophieelkan. All of them great advocates and doing wonderful things through podcasts and forums.

Behind The Woman - changing the face of menopause

It was brilliant meeting all the other women who are all putting themselves out there and raising awareness about this stage in every women’s life. It was fascinating finding out about other women’s experiences and how different we all are .

In Japan they call this time of a women’s life the ‘Second Spring’ . I love this , to me it epitomises hope and positive connotations of how this part of our lives will pan out. There is an acknowledgement of the wisdom that women have acquired during their earlier years and a feeling that their life experience can be used in many ways including helping and advising others.

We in the western world seem to have been brought up thinking the menopause is something that happens when we get old and that it is all down hill from here on.

This links to our ageist western society too . Maybe if we had more respect for ageing and all that we can learn from all stages of our lives instead of our nauseating obsession with youth and perfection we would be better prepared for our midlife phase and menopause.

Watch a short clip of - “What we wish we’d known about the menopause“

BBC Breakfast - Waking Up to Menopause