I was recently sent a book to review, Just Passing Through - Interactions with the World 1938-2021 by Daniel Snowman, interested me because of the poignancy of the title - we are all 'just passing through' and sometimes everyday history, from the man on the street, normal people like you and me, can be the most fascinating.  

Did you know that urinary infections are very common and affect most women at least once in their lifetime, and that menopause is often a time when UTIs become even more frequent?  Up to one in five women will have repeated urinary infections, they can happen at any time but are most likely in women who are sexually active, pregnant or post menopausal.  UTIs are always uncomfortable and often debilitating with symptoms including:

A need to frequently pass urine, an inability to hold urine and needing to go urgently, burning, stinging or pain and sometimes cloudy, smelly urine possibly stained with blood.

So not only are frequent urinary infections uncomfortable, painful and annoying, they often need repeated treatment with antibiotics.  And we know that taking too many antibiotics isn't a good idea, especially for our gut health and general wellbeing.

On my blog, I am keen to open up more conversations about things that are considered 'embarrassing' my hope is that by talking more honestly and openly we can find solutions, support each other and make our lives easier and healthier!

My blog post about urinary infections is to give you some background on why they become more common in menopause, to share lifestyle tips that can help in preventing bladder infections as well as introduce you to a fabulous new herbal supplement called Uralix that is hugely successful at prevention of UTI's inthe first place!
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This is a sponsored blog post.

I've spoken about insomnia in menopause and my own difficult relationship with a good nights sleep on my blog before and one of the things I always recommend is limiting screen time (and blue light) at least an hour before bedtime.  But I find that listening to sleep meditations, music for sleep or a sleep story really help me drift off to sleep, and that means using my phone and Apple EarPods.  However, there is now an alternative in the form of this clever little non-digital, screen-free device from Morphée which contains 210 sessions of meditation and sophrology to promote falling asleep as well as encouraging a deep and restorative sleep.  

Morphée was created in France and has enjoyed huge popularity and success there and it has now arrived in the UK. 

Read on to see how I got on with Morphée...
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This is a gifted blog review.

When Emma from the ERA Skin & Laser Clinic in Thame got in touch with me earlier this year, I had never heard of a HydraFacial, Emma really generously offered to gift me a course of six HydraFacials, one a month for six months.  Emma was keen to educate on the benefits of good skincare and how a HydraFacial can help support and improve the condition of our skin.  Well last week I had my sixth HydraFacial and my skin feels and looks amazing!  I am delighted to be sharing my experience and my results of HydraFacial with you on my blog.

We all love a facial!  But do the results last beyond that hour of relaxation in the salon?  A regular facial carried out in the traditional way is indeed very relaxing and our skin feels fantastic afterwards, soft and hydrated.  But the results aren't long term.  To really see changes to our skin we need to go much deeper.  A regular facial will treat the outer surface of our skin but cannot penetrate and benefit the layers of new growth below.  
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This post is part of gifted collaboration.