Vanessa Ford: Do You Know Much About Menopause, and, Man-O-Pause?

[First Name], This week on the WW Podcast I spoke with Vanessa Ford,  cofounder of Menolabs. Vanessa’s life mission revolves around menopause! Vanessa discovered menopause for herself at age 44. The word wasn’t really in her vocabulary and certainly not on her radar but when she realized that menopause was the source of some challenging changes in body and emotions, she soon discovered that there was very little information available on the subject. She found that shocking! That every woman will experience menopause in their life yet it wasn’t something that women talked about nor was it very understood. So, Vanessa turned that into a challenge -- to make menopause a conversation that could be had at the dinner table and all women understand it, or at least can easily find support and help when going through this transition. I don't know about you, but I didn’t grow up talking about this kind of thing-- and by that I mean periods, pregnancy, menopause-- let alone perimenopause! Vanessa is the voice we all need in today’s world. For starters, I learned that menopause is 12 whole months without a period. The ~average age of menopause is 51. Whereas the ~average age of perimenopause is around 45-46 years old, even as early as 35 years old. Vanessa reminds us: “It’s something you need to be aware of in your mid-30s.”