Michelle Bridges: What I’ve Learned About Menopause

“Why am I in this room? Where are my keys? What's this email that I'm typing?” That’s how trainer and fitness warrior Michelle Bridges felt when she experienced perimenopause – classic brain fog hitting her hard. And it’s a feeling many women are familiar with.

We recently spoke to Bridges for our popular Thriving in Menopause podcast ahead of the launch of her Menopause Method program. Her episode will be live from 4 March.

A key motivation for creating the program for Bridges is to open up the conversation about menopause so it’s not a taboo subject. “I'm trying to lift the curtain on it and make it so that it's not overwhelming. It should be something that we're all talking about and learning along the way.”

She admits she also had some selfish motivations for creating the program, having been ‘smack dab in the middle of [menopause]’ herself and dealing with her own host of symptoms, including night sweats, sleep disturbances and even weight gain.

“I thought to myself, man, if I'm stumbling in this area, then what's going on for every other lady out there?”

At the same time, in typical tough-love form, she is determined that she and the rest of us don’t blame menopause for everything that’s going on in our lives.

“Menopause is tough. However, I feel like menopause gets a bit of a bad rap and a lot of stuff gets pinned on menopause. So, I want to try to reframe menopause through information and education, and also maybe turning the way in which we look at it.”

Here are three of the lessons she has learned through perimenopause.

1. It’s a good opportunity to take a life audit

Bridges has talked to some of Australia’s top health experts to shape her program. Whether it’s discussing sex issues with psychosexual therapist Dr Margaret Redelman, food and nutrition with renowned nutrition scientist Dr Joanna McMillan or sleep with menopause expert Dr Kelly Teagle, she says the conversations she’s had with these specialists in their field has been “groundbreaking” and changed her outlook on how to approach menopause.

“I want to see it as an opportunity, as opposed to some kind of jail sentence,” she says. “Now we’re at this age bracket, we can't continue living and eating and having a lifestyle we used to have in our 30s or even early 40s. This milestone turns up and it's a real opportunity. It's a fork in the road.

“The idea of going, ‘Okay, let's have a really honest audit on what's happening in my life right now. As far as my health, wellness, my nutrition, my exercise or lack thereof… It's an opportunity to go, ‘Alright, if I want to continue having a wonderful life, it’s time to throw down the gauntlet and take stock.’”

2. Women have a lot to offer as they get older

Bridges says she has already seen the transformative effect in herself and women who have embraced the challenge to re-think their health.

“Often the way in which you think about things can shift a lot internally,” she says. “We’re inspiring women. We’ve got this far in our lives and achieved what we’ve achieved… we’re tough! We’ve earned our scars. And we deserve to go into the next chapter with some really good tools in our belt and our mojo. I don’t want to wave the white flag here!”

Bridges admits she came close to falling down that rabbit hole herself when she started experiencing symptoms, before she took herself in check and said, ‘hang on, what are you doing here?’

“That feeling of losing your confidence, that you're at that stage in your life where you're in the background… No way! Not on my watch, ladies. You've got so much depth, you've got so much that you've learned. You've got so much to offer younger ladies and your family members and your friends. And you should be able to offer that at your absolute max best.”

3. We need to look at our health holistically to treat menopause symptoms

The Menopause Method offers an holistic program for women grappling with perimenopausal symptoms. Available through her 12WBT program, Bridges explains that the 12 week program “covers the three key pillars that I've always talked about – nutrition, the right kind of nutrition for this group; exercise, the correct form of exercise for ladies going through these transitions; and of course, the mindset.”

Bridges says it’s the mindset component that she has found the most fascinating. “I've enlisted the help of some of Australia's finest experts in their field around menopause, and I've learned so much from them.”

The world holistic turned up with almost every health specialist she spoke to about menopause.

“Holistic, this is an all-rounding thing. From exercise, nutrition, sleep, potentially using HRT (MHT)… they're all interconnected. You’ve got to do a bit of trial and error and approach it from all different angles.”

Hear from Michelle Bridges and other experts at our World Menopause Day breakfast on 18 October 2024 in Sydney.

And you can hear Michelle Bridges talking about menopause in season 9 of the Thriving in Menopause podcast.