Five pillars of lifestyle medicine for midlife women
You do not need a crisis to change your life. You need a handful of small, repeatable actions that help you feel like yourself again. That is the heart of lifestyle medicine, and the focus of this year’s World Menopause Day and awareness month.
The quiet friction of midlife
You have always coped. Lately it feels like coping is coping with you. Your sleep is patchy, your energy dips in the afternoon (or maybe right after lunch!), and your brain fogs when you need it clear. You’re struggling to juggle those balls you’ve always been the expert at keeping up in the air. You worry how much longer you can only just about keep managing to make it all work.
You are not broken. Your life has shifted. And lifestyle medicine offers a steadier way back to yourself.
What lifestyle medicine really means
Lifestyle medicine is the daily set of behaviours that send better signals to your body and brain. It’s essentially your habits. It includes how you move, what and when you eat, how you sleep, how you respond to and manage stress, and how you connect with others and the world around you. It is evidence-informed and liveable. Not fancy. Not perfect. Just consistent choices that nudge you towards balance now and protect your long-term health span.
Is it time for you to stop reacting and trying to fight the symptoms and shifts you’re struggling with?
From firefighting to foundations
Many of the women I work with and speak to are stuck in what I call “Firefighting mode.” They’e reacting to what they need to when it hits them. Waiting for the flames to put them out, and when it comes to menopause, these flames come in an array of physical, mental, and emotional symptoms. Along with the symptoms themselves, many women feel a shift in who they are, their confidence dipping, and self-esteem often bottoming out. This firefighting approach drains your willpower and steals focus.
On the flip-side, foundations hold. When you build foundations you stop negotiating with yourself every day. You act from identity: I am a woman who protects her energy. These foundations are your starting point to not only putting out the flames and ditching the juggling act you’d perfected for so many years, they also shift you to taking back control of your life and proactively leading it to feel the way you want to feel.
For my coaching and programmes I created what I call my RESET Framework which stands for reclaiming energy, strength, empowerment and trust. It sits on five pillars that work together like the foundations of a house. When the pillars are in place, everything above feels steadier. You feel strong, secure, clear, energised, and able to thrive through menopause and beyond.
The five pillars for your foundations
Mindset: Think of this as the soundtrack you choose. It matters because your thoughts drive choices. Choices become habits and your habits shape your identity — the woman you are. During perimenopause and menopause, a kinder inner voice helps you act consistently.
Nutrition: What you eat is information to your mind and body. Steady blood sugar supports calmer energy, mood and focus. Protein, healthy fats and fibre help you feel satisfied and stable. In menopause it shifts from focusing on how much you eat to the quality and diversity of what you eat.
Movement: Ditch the old exercise and “beasting yourself” mentality (If you were an aerobics queen or HIIT geek like me!) to moving for the life you want Strength protects muscle, bone, balance and confidence. Movement also sharpens your brain and lifts mood.
Sleep: Sleep touches everything. Mood, cravings, memory, patience, recovery and how you process what you eat. This can be challenging for so many women navigating menopause so be compassionate with yourself and shift your habits around preparing for sleep to the top of your list.
Stress: A busy nervous system keeps you in fight or flight mode and this kind of chronic stress is disruptive for your hormones. You need pockets of calm to digest, repair and think clearly.
HRT and lifestyle: stronger together
HRT can be powerful and appropriate for many women. Taking HRT is a personal choice and should always be an ‘informed’ choice, so make sure you’ve done your research using up-to-date and accurate information. Whether you take HRT or not, lifestyle is always relevant and for women who do go onto HRT, lifestyle must be the ground it stands on. Your daily habits still decide your energy, mood, sleep and long-term health. It is not either or. It can be both.
Your 7-day reset
I’m all about helping you to take action so I’m sharing below a few suggestions to get started building foundational habits that can be your lifestyle medicine. Pick one minimum from one of my five pillars. Repeat it every day for seven days. If you want a bigger challenge, choose one minimum per pillar and keep them tiny. Track your wins. Notice how you feel.
Example plan:
Day 1 to 7: Five mindful breaths before you pick up your phone on a morning
Day 1 to 7: Protein at your first meal
Day 1 to 7: Ten squats or a stretch before meetings
Day 1 to 7: Tech down five minutes earlier at bedtime
Day 1 to 7: One 60-second downshift before opening email
Make a one-sentence pledge
World Menopause Day can be your nudge, rather than a lecture. This year’s focus is a powerful one that is a shift towards empowering women like you to know that it is possible to change your habits and improve how you feel through your daily choices. It is putting the power into your hands, showing you that it’s possible to feel like yourself again. Like all change, it begins with one small step and then another, and another, until you gain the momentum.
Get started today with this small step: Write a one-sentence pledge to yourself and keep it visible this week. It’s going to support and encourage (and remind you!) to keep taking your small steps each day towards building new, healthier habits.
“This week I will… [your minimum].”
Here’s mine: “This week I will visualise how I want to feel that day before I get up from bed.”
Share it on Instagram or LinkedIn and tag me so I can cheer you on.
Gentle next steps
Take the Midlife Reset Quiz for a personalised starting plan - see the info below.
Share this blog with a friend who needs a kind, practical approach.
Favourite this page and use the 7-day plan whenever you feel off-centre.
Listen to the podcast episode for more on lifestyle medicine and building your foundations:
Interested in this topic? Find out more with these additional FREE resources:
Get my free perimenopause guide to help you get clear on the right new habits to support you feeling like yourself again (or even better!).
Take a listen to this episode on how hormones and lifestyle shape healthy ageing with Dr Louise Newson and Dr Tash Mirando.
Listen to my episode where I share Why menopause doesn't have to feel like the end of the road
Feel a bit unlike yourself lately?
Lifestyle medicine starts with one small minimum. Five mindful breaths. Protein at your first meal. A 60-second downshift before email.
Take the Midlife Reset Quiz to:
💛 Spot the pillar that needs attention first
💛 Choose one simple minimum to start today
💛 Get a 7-day reset you can actually follow
It takes 2 minutes and gives you one clear next step.
✨ Take the Midlife Reset Quiz today to match the right small step to where you are.
