World Menopause Day 2025: How lifestyle medicine can support menopausal health
World Menopause Day takes place on 18th October, raising awareness and understanding of menopause around the world. This year’s theme, ‘Lifestyle Medicine’, highlights how healthy habits – such as balanced nutrition, exercise, sleep, and stress management – can ease menopausal symptoms and support long-term wellbeing.
In this guest blog, our Lead Disability Training and Consultancy Specialist, Kath Wood, explores what lifestyle medicine means and how employers can use it to create a more supportive, menopause-friendly workplace.
Why is it so important that businesses prioritise menopause support?
Any business employing women over the age of 40 is very likely to feel the impact of menopause. For example, the CIPD report Menopause in the Workplace: Employee Experiences in 2023 found that most working women (aged 40 to 60) have experienced symptoms related to the menopause transition, and over half have been unable to go into work at some point due to these symptoms.
They also found that 17% have considered leaving work due to a lack of support for their menopause symptoms, and a further 6% have already left work. When you consider that this demographic often includes your most experienced and talented employees, you can see why this is a critical issue for any employer.
What exactly is lifestyle medicine?
Lifestyle medicine focuses on healthy habits — such as balanced nutrition, regular exercise, quality sleep, and effective stress management — to help prevent and treat long-term health conditions. In addition to the global review mentioned above, a systematic review published in the journal Climacteric (September 2025) found a ‘growing body of evidence supporting lifestyle medicine as a strategy to improve menopause symptoms.’
Of course, this isn’t entirely new insight. The NHS has long provided guidance on lifestyle changes to help manage menopause and perimenopause symptoms, and NHS England has also developed a self-care factsheet offering practical advice for women navigating this stage of life.
How can employers use lifestyle medicine to better support employees through menopause?
Nutrition
A healthy diet during menopause supports hormone balance, helps manage weight gain and improves energy levels — all of which benefit both physical and mental health.
Employers can help by:
- Providing information and resources through a wellbeing section on your intranet
- Sharing links to recognised specialist advice and guidance
- Encouraging healthy food choices, e.g. providing healthy options in canteens or fruit in the staff kitchen
Physical activity
Regular physical activity boosts mood, sleep and energy and can also improve cardiovascular health, bone health and mobility — all of which may be impacted during menopause.
Employers can help by:
- Encouraging employees to take a proper break at lunchtime to move around
- Promoting initiatives that increase activity, such as walking groups or a cycle-to-work scheme
- Providing gentle exercise, yoga or Pilates classes on site
- Offering discounted gym membership as one of your employee benefits
- Setting activity challenges, e.g. step challenges or fundraising walks
Sleep
Fluctuating and falling hormone levels during menopause can affect sleep in different ways. They can disrupt the circadian rhythm, reduce sleep-promoting neurotransmitters and trigger night sweats and hot flushes. Anxiety linked to menopause can also impact sleep.
Employers can help by:
- Providing access to advice and guidance relating to sleep
- Offering flexible working to allow women to manage their workload, work when energy levels are good, and take more rest when needed
Caffeine and alcohol
Substances such as caffeine and alcohol can worsen menopause symptoms. For example, caffeine can trigger hot flushes and night sweats, as well as disrupt sleep. Alcohol can also impact sleep and worsen hot flushes, and it can increase anxiety and lower mood.
Employers can help by:
- Raising awareness and educating employees about healthy levels of alcohol and caffeine consumption
- Providing access to professional help if alcohol use is becoming problematic
Mental wellbeing
Supporting mental wellbeing is important, as hormonal changes associated with menopause can cause mood swings, anxiety, low mood and depression.
Employers can help by:
- Offering emotional support or counselling through an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
- Providing access to stress management strategies and tools, such as a Stress Risk Assessment or Wellbeing Action Plan
- Ensuring managers understand how to support mental health
Relationships and communication
Menopause symptoms that affect emotions, cognitive functioning and overall health can make it harder for women to maintain healthy relationships at home and at work.
Employers can help by:
- Offering flexible working to help women manage the demands of work and home
- Raising awareness of menopause across the business and ensuring managers understand how to support women experiencing adverse symptoms
- Encouraging women to talk about their experiences
- Creating an employee representative group for menopause or for women in general, providing a space for discussion
- Providing access to relationship support through an EAP
Building a supportive workplace
You may notice that many, if not all, of these actions could also form part of a wider health and wellbeing strategy that benefits the whole workforce. You may even have many of these approaches, resources, and services in place already – so linking them to your plan to support women going through menopause could be straightforward.
Many people, including younger women, are often unaware of the wide-reaching impact of menopause. A business-wide awareness campaign can be a powerful way to close that gap. When your team is informed, they’re much better placed to support colleagues experiencing symptoms.
Managers play a particularly important role in supporting menopause, so more targeted manager training would be a valuable addition to your approach.
After all, as a business, can you really afford not to take seriously a condition that could impact up to 50% or more of your workforce?
Ready to build a more menopause-supportive workplace?
Our Menopause Awareness Training helps managers and teams understand the impact of menopause, recognise the signs, and offer the right support, so all your employees can thrive.
Learn more in our menopause brochure here.
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World Menopause Day 2025: How lifestyle medicine can support menopausal health
World Menopause Day takes place on 18th October, raising awareness and understanding of menopause around the world. This year’s theme, ‘Lifestyle Medicine’, highlights how healthy habits – such as balanced nutrition, exercise, sleep, and stress management – can ease menopausal symptoms and support long-term wellbeing. In this guest blog, our[...]
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