How lucky am I that as part of my blogging journey I get to meet so many lovely, inspiring women and hear their stories too!  One of the reasons for having my blog is to learn and keep my brain active as well as help others.  And I do learn so much from so many ... but this last year I have taken my blogging up a level and with that comes a much busier schedule.  I was feeling all the overwhelm.  Then Siân got in touch - and you just know something was meant to be!  Siân Winslade is a Life Coach and Mindset Coach with an impressive list of qualifications but above all she has an inspiring personal story, no stranger to adversity, she is fully qualified both academically but also in life to really understand the daily challenges we face as women.

Siân offered to coach me and I offered to write a series of blog posts telling my readers how I got on and to give an insight into what a life coach does and how a life coach can help you.

This blog post is part of a collaboration.

Saint and Sofia are a fairly new fashion brand, they started in January 2020, currently just online, but offering some really stylish mix and match capsule pieces and I am excited to have been given the opportunity to try them out and share my outfits with you! 

I enjoyed browsing the Saint and Sofia website, it is so classy and vibrant and I love their photography - take a look under campaigns 'All Dressed Up, But Nowhere To Go' the photographer has really caught the mood of the empty London streets, it is a unique emptiness and something (I hope) we will never witness again but there is a certain poignancy in the photographs.

As I browsed the Saint and Sofia website to choose two items that would be gifted to me to feature on my blog, I noticed how every item can be used across the seasons, it didn't feel like they were limiting to winter or summer.  Seasonless fashion is becoming much more of a thing where we see summer dresses being 'winterised' with layers like leggings, tights, boots and a cosy knit and then ready for spring and summer as the layers come off and we can move first to trainers then to sandals.  We are moving away from fast fashion and back to timeless, classic styles where we embrace sustainability and get the best value cost per wear. 

This is a gifted post and contains affiliate links.

Menopause and women's health generally is only just beginning to be discussed openly but it is long overdue, we need to understand more and champion for better health care to support us as we go through midlife.  I decided a couple of years ago to be more open about my own menopause journey on my blog in the hope that my experience could help others.  So often women just don't know where to start when they need help with a myriad of strange and new symptoms.  When they just don't feel like them any more.  And the obvious place to start is often their GP - but sadly this often results in even more confusion.  I am sure there are some really well trained GP's out there but unfortunately they are in the minority, the menopause training given to our GP's is woefully inadequate and the advice they can offer is limited or simply incorrect.  And so women give up, have to fight to get help or go privately.  It is a shocking situation. 

​But what if there was a way to educate yourself and know how to get the right help and make informed choices for you?!  I am a big believer in education and taking responsibility for our health.  So when I was approached by Bia Care, offering to educate women in an affordable way on menopause health and to connect them with the right specialists, I was really keen to find out more.

Fernanda from Bia Care gave me a call, we had a really interesting chat and we agreed I would join one of their first pilot menopause courses (kindly gifted to me).   The purpose of the pilot course was to assess whether women experiencing menopausal symptoms would find expert-led group sessions a helpful way to have their menopause questions answered, develop a better understanding of treatment options and to devise a personal menopause treatment plan.

Night sweats and menopause related sleep problems are really common and although I am much better than I was in the early stages of peri menopause, I am still keen to understand 'how can I sleep better during menopause' both in terms of quality and quantity of sleep.  And do we really understand the huge benefits of sleep?  Other than sleep simply makes us feel better?!  So what to do when you can't sleep, when you suffer with the can't sleep anxiety?

Dr. Marilyn Glenville PhD is the UK's leading nutritionist and a best-selling author specialising in women's health.  She is also the former President of the Food and Health Forum at the Royal Society of Medicine, psychologist and popular broadcaster who obtained her doctorate from Cambridge University.

On Tuesday 22nd June from 7 pm to 9 pm Marilyn is hosting a webinar entitled 'Sleep - why is it so important and how to improve sleep quality and quantity' to show us how to get a good nights sleep including recommendations on what to eat, what to avoid, lifestyle changes and specific nutrients and botanicals to support your best sleep!  And readers of Fifty & Fab can get a huge 50% off the ticket price - making this webinar really affordable at just £13.50.

This is a sponsored blog post.