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Don’t let your menopause interfere with your ability to perform well at work. Food Scientist and Nutritionist Susie Debice suggests some workplace wellness tips to help you overcome escalating menopause symptoms that could be affecting your ability to concentration and focus at work.
Women in business face many challenges when the menopause hits and symptoms of extreme fatigue, mood swings, insomnia, lack of drive and hot sweats could leave your boardroom performance less than average. Although women are talking much more openly about their menopause to partners and friends, the menopause is still very much a taboo subject in the workplace. It’s natural to want to hide your symptoms from your boss and colleagues so as not to be passed over for promotion or excluded from the next event. Surely, it’s time that workplaces had better strategies in place for supporting women through this hormonal transition.
Boardroom Dramas
One thing we know about the menopause is that the dramatic hormonal fluctuations often make it much harder for women to keep their cool in stressful situations. The pandemic has left many industries needing to make cutbacks, restructure their organisation and financially forecast for a predicted recession. Now is not the time to feel off your game or let escalating symptoms of the menopause perceive you as being hard to work with.
Some of your menopausal symptoms could rise when you feel under pressure regardless of how professional, prepared, qualified, experienced, quick thinking or capable you normally are. Instead of maintaining your composure you may now find that frustrating boardroom debates leave you flustered by hot flushes. You could unusually become overwhelmed and anxious when faced with losing valued members of your team or experience an outburst of outrage when having to justify every penny of your budget. Emotions and behaviours that you’ve been keeping under wraps for decades could now uncontrollably spill out into your corporate arena.
Taking steps to support your body through this hormonal transition could help soothe emotions and settle physical symptoms.
- Smart thinking
Menopausal tiredness and fatigue might mean that you experience more brain fog than mental agility, not great news if you need impress new clients or deliver impactful presentations. Omega 3 fats are phenomenally important for hormone balance and cognitive function. Increasing oily fish (salmon, mackerel, tuna, trout), walnuts, hemp seeds, chia seeds and flax seeds into your daily diet helps top up on these healthy fats that are so important for the brain. But if eating oily fish 3-4 times a week isn’t to your taste, then it’s worth supplementing with Cleanmarine MenoMin which contains a highly absorbable form of omega 3 sourced from krill oil.
- Maintain your composure
One common symptom of the menopause is anxiety and if you couple this with newfound bouts of menopausal insomnia it’s understandable that your ability to cope it certain situations is going to be altered. The mineral magnesium helps the nervous relax and unwind and eases some sleep issues. This mineral is found in green leafy vegetables but you could find that supplementing with this mineral in the day and before bedtime may help you feel able to stay cool, calm and composed during the most stressful boardroom debates.
- Set a realistic pace
The trick to easing stress in the workplace is to set a more realistic pace. Don’t over commit yourself to deadlines that you know are too tight to handle. Ditch the habit of running meetings back to back and learn to create space in your schedule so that you can work at a more realistic pace. These breathing spaces help accommodate for the times when you could be feeling less productive due to lack of sleep, headaches or days when menopausal fatigue is more prominent.
