Free programme to unravel mysteries of menopause

There is a lot of information bombarding women of a certain age around menopause that can be hard to take it. Given that women from late 30s into their 70s can experience “a lengthy and problematic time of hormonal change” that’s a lot of us who need to better understand it.

And learn how to better manage the symptoms.

A new free six-week course funded by Galway Sports Partnership via Sport Ireland’s Women in Sport programmes aims to address this.

MenoWell is open to all women in Galway city and county and is being run online to be flexible enough to appeal to busy mums and those doing shiftwork, with all classes recorded so they can be downloaded later at a time that suits.

The programme consists of two 40-minute live online menopause-specific exercise classes per week – Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8pm. There is one 30-minute live online health education masterclass per week focusing on one particular aspect of menopause on Mondays at 1pm.

After the masterclasses participants are emailed infographics summarising the main points to help better absorb the information as well as nutrition recipes.

MenoWell was designed by EduFIT, which has been working for 20 years in the field lifestyle medicine. The team includes experienced health researchers, including clinical exercise physiologist Dr Diane Cooper, exercise physiologist and sports scientist Dr Kiera Ward and nutritionist Ruth Kavanagh. Anne Kavanagh is their strength and conditioning specialist.

Kiera explains that after working with women all around the country, it became evident that the vast majority did not feel prepared for menopause.

“So many were unaware of how the associated adverse health changes would affect their physical health, mental health, functional independence and quality of life as they grew older. Women were not fully aware of the power of lifestyle medicine in preventing, treating and managing clinical conditions such as osteopenia and osteoporosis, which have a high prevalence in post-

Pictured: The team bringing MenoWell to Galway women for the first time: Ruth Kavanagh (Registered Associate Nutritionist), Dr Kiera Ward (Sports Scientist and Exercise Physiologist), Dr Diane Cooper (Founder and CEO of EduFIT, Clinical Exercise Physiologist), Anne Kavanagh (Exercise Instructor, Ultra Endurance Athlete)