Power Decade

Menopause can be a disorienting stretch, bringing unexpected health problems and emotional swings that arrive without warning. Women who come through it often find they know themselves better than before and are tougher than they expected.

The years after menopause can bring further upheaval, such as children leaving home, careers being rethought, and a mix of losses and new opportunities that differ for each woman. The roughly ten years between the early fifties and early sixties are presented as a chance to pause, take stock, and choose who you want to be and how you want to live. Physical and mental health form the base for those choices. The author stresses that the years right after menopause matter most, because the choices made in them will shape the rest of a woman's life. Meanwhile, hormone levels fall and other bodily changes follow, and many women also feel they have lost their sense of identity or that the culture around ageing works against them. The book urges readers to reject the familiar story of declining abilities and approaching illness and to take an active part in how they age.

The author speaks with experts about the many areas of a woman's life after menopause. Topics include what happens in the body during this period, what good nutrition looks like, how to exercise, how to build a mindset for this decade, and how to find the motivation needed for the best possible health.

The book also offers a practical plan of small daily habits covering meals, movement, mindset and motivation. These habits are meant to add up to a significant difference across the post-menopausal decade.