Thriving - not just surviving

I am prepping for my three-part series on navigating all the life changes we women face as we get older. The Perennials series will address these aspects and offer opportunities to find out about cutting edge medical research in aging, how best to combat physical and mental stress, and manage our journey through ‘middle girth’.

The focus of the series is finding ways to thrive, not just survive the tumult of midlife. The changes in our bodies, minds, our lives, our family structures and dynamics, and beyond to our work, our society and our planet. How well we are managing in each of these spheres. Or not. Are we having a crisis? Or experiencing our most creative time? I hope you can join me next Saturday at 2pm at the Burlington County Library in Westampton for an interactive session.

And, I got to thinking about the men in our lives. Maybe because Father’s Day is next weekend. Maybe because I believe my husband, Sean, is going through his own private Idaho at times.

It is a thing, you know - male menopause. The correct term is andropause. I looked it up.

Just like menopause, andropause causes hormonal changes that affect not only sexual drive and erectile dysfunction, but also can cause weight gain, lack of energy and focus, difficulty sleeping, decreased bone density, even hot flashes. Wait a minute – sounds like menopause!

So, we are not so different after all. However, there is a significant difference and that is andropause is not a complete shutdown and end of reproductive life, as it is in women.

But the reduction of testosterone can be as debilitating for men as it is for women when our estrogen level drops drastically. And it can also mess with a man’s self-confidence, not unlike a woman of a certain age who suddenly feels irrelevant.

Good news is the prescribed treatment is often the same, for both men and women:

1. Eat well – healthy, whole foods

2. Get plenty of sleep

3. Exercise regularly

4. Reduce your daily stress

There is no magic bullet and people who have worked with me know I will help you make the small, incremental lifestyle changes needed to impact long-term health and wellness.

I hope you will join me for one, two, or all three of the one- hour sessions to find out more about what is a challenging, yet exhilarating time in your life, and how best to maintain your equilibrium to get through it, intact.

Feeling creative?