Tamsen Fadal's Top 10 Tips to MenoWell in 2024

Tamsen Fadal is an award winning journalist, author and woman's health and menopause advocate. Tamsen joined us on the MenoLounge to give us her top tips for feeling great in peri-menopause and menopause.

1. Strength Training

“I've really been working on this, this strength training. Yeah. I don't know about you, but I feel like that has come to the top of my list. And I don't remember what was on my list last time, but strength training was, has become very huge for me. So, I'm trying to yeah, I'm trying to really do that and make a difference because I've noticed, it's just aches and pains and different things in different areas. And I just feel like I've got to get into the strength training a little bit more. I've always done it, but not like I am now.”

“Before I was like, got to do my cardio first and then my weights will be secondary and I'll get those done and I'll get out of the gym. And now I go there just for a, you know, just for strength training day. That's what I do. So I'll do legs, I'll do shoulders I'll do arms, you know, biceps, tris. And I really, like, that's what I do first and then the cardio goes second.”

2. Community

“I think my second tip would be community. I've really made a conscious effort. To make sure that community is a large part of my life, not an afterthought. I think it's all the women that, you know, you and I talk to on a daily basis. I also think it's about reaching out to people that we, you know, are part of our lives and that we sometimes take for granted that are going to be there. And I think that it's important to me anyway to, to proactively reach out to them and make sure they're doing okay and see how they are. Because I think as I've gotten older, communities have become really, really important.”

“I think it's like one of the most important things. If you look at like the blue zones, the people that, you know, are the healthiest are the ones that are with each other, not just, you know, not isolated, not feeling alone, not feeling that there's a sense of a purpose in somebody in their lives.”

3. Nutrition

“You know, nutrition, not diet. Nutrition has played a big part of it and trying to avoid some of the trigger foods. Like, I'm addicted to caffeine, but I've really tried to lower you know, when I drink and stuff, it's like very few and far between. Now, I kind of don't even really have an interest in it. So I found that that has made a big difference in my mind. shift. I'm not sure why, but it has. Maca, I have it in my meno bar, but I also have it in my protein smoothie, and I think it's just I mean, it's just important to me, like, I, I love my coffee, but I also want to make sure that there's stuff that goes into my body that It cuts down on the inflammation and cuts down on, you know, just the other junk that goes in there on a daily basis. I know I'm not perfect, but I try to, I try whatever I'm inputting in there for it to be as good as possible. Yeah.”

“About six months ago I got sent a, a big tub of fiber and I started incorporating that too. And I, I actually. It doesn't, I was worried it was gonna make me feel bloated and not feel comfortable, but it actually has been a nice addition to my diet, it went a little bit in time, but it's been a really nice addition.”

4. Sleep

“I have refocused sleep. I was the girl that was bragging about how little sleep I got. I was really proud of the fact that I could get up early, work really late, you know, work till 11 o'clock, get off the air, come home, start the day. You know what I mean? I had like two days in one. So I'm no longer embarrassed by the amount of sleep that I get. I get a lot of, I'm like proud of it. I'm a, I'm a proud of the sleep.”

“I stopped thinking like early bedtime is uncool. And I started going into the bedroom. Now here's where I will differ from like every expert that tells me to do this. I tried to do it, but I can't always, I do have to bring some stuff into the bedroom with me. To do like, I have my phone. Sometimes I have my computer. I know you're not supposed to do anything in your bedroom except sleep and sex, but sometimes it helps me unwind a little bit in my bed. Yeah, and then I leave all that stuff outside and then I come back and go to sleep.”

“I said to my husband like what happened to us, but I kind of like it, you know, I feel really good about that.”

5. Stress Reduction

“I think some of that comes with the change in job. However, I will say in this new role, I do find that I have added on my own stress, you know, like sometimes it's even, you give yourself even more. So I'm trying to give myself a little bit of grace.”

“I think I had this when I left my job, I was like, I have to do this and this and this and this and this. And I felt myself in the first little bit overwhelmed. And so I said, it's all going to get done when it has to get done. It's not the end of the world. You're going to figure it out. And I think that that's really helped. Because I think if you have extra stress. Well look, we already have stress, I've had a sick father recently. I've had a number of different stressful events in my life. Those are already enough to handle. To add things on top of it is just…”

6. Natural Light

“I have a lot of quiet time in the morning. I've been for the past six months or so, you know, in the course of writing this book, trying to implement some of the things that I've been talking about and one is getting outside at the top of every day and just seeing light. And so whether it's like overcast and awful like it is outside right now in New York or it's a beautiful sunny day. I just, that's the first thing I do is I get outside. I just, I don't even think about it. Put my sneakers on, put my coat on or whatever and walk outside.”

“Going out and getting light first thing in the morning. I had interviewed this this doctor about like, like therapy and like working things. She said, if you just do one thing, she was talking about how you can change different parts of your home and just how it increases your mood and helps you throughout the day and helps your serotonin. And she said, if you can get outside the beginning of every single day, that will be the healthiest thing that you can do in the morning. So I started.”

7. Health Maintenance

 “I've just really been taking extra time to pay attention to what's going on with my body. Instead of going, I can kind of get through it all. So, I made sure this year was a big part of like making sure my mammogram was on point, making sure my dental care, my eye care, like just kind of being a little more proactive in my health and my maintenance. I think that's really important right now. So I've paid attention to that.”

8. Skincare

“Skincare has become huge for me. I was the person who swapped it all on and I was like, it'll get somewhere. And now I'm very aware of what I'm doing and how I'm doing it. And so I have it. My routine, you know, my routine went, I'm sure yours did too. My routine went from like. I don't know, a five minute bedroom routine of like brushing my teeth really fast now. Oils in, on, over, up, down, every, everywhere. I have every crevice I can find, but I'm paying special attention to skin.

9. Say Yes More

“I've tried to like say, you know, you talked about it earlier, but I've tried to say yes to more things that I wouldn't usually say yes to, whether it's like a hobby or an event or going to a place going somewhere. Like, I keep living by that motto, live your someday today. And I think that this is my today. I have to live at the best I can. So that's what I'm doing.”

10. Minimize Sugars

“If I have one more, it’s minimizing sugars. I feel the difference with it.”