It doesn't just happen overnight, the perimenopause can occur over a decade and women can often feel bewildered as to the change in them into the fact they can't sleep, they get agitated, their memory can fail, can't concentrate.

We talk about changes in the menstrual cycle and we talk about changes in skin and we talk about these other physical changes, but actually women have estrogen receptors in the brain and so when estrogen becomes depleted it can affect mental functions, psychological symptoms.

That's Dr Hillary Jones, he's a GP familiar face on British daytime TV as well as perhaps less well known as a newbie novelist weaving much of his medical knowledge into storytelling.

This is the Lizzo Wellbeing Show, the podcast helping us all live a better second half of life. I'm Lizzo and I'm on a bit of a mission to find ways for us all to thrive in later life by investing in our health and our wellbeing today.

I first met Dr Hillary Jones on the well-worn sofa of daytime television where he was already the established TV doctor and I covered the slightly fluffiest side of life, my bag being much more about beauty, natural remedies and even fashion back in those days.

And we were often pitched against each other as my approach was seen as a bit quirkier, a bit less conventional, but what we do share is a common thread of highlighting many of the health care issues that we're all facing regardless of how we choose to treat them.

In fact, I was heartened that we recently bumped into each other at an event hosted by the Swiss naturopathic health care company, the brand A Vogel and they were investigating the clinically proven powers of the plant remedy echinacea when it comes to combating coughs, colds and the many flu viruses.

Flu viruses are all kinds that surround us at the moment, so perhaps we are not so far apart at all and we will be chatting a little bit more on that later.

Well, it was at this event that I discovered even more about this familiar face on our TV screens, not knowing that he has just published his second riveting novel, set around the time of the First World War that naturally draws on his own medical background as well as his family's own experience during those dreadful times.

Hillary's actually written a number of nonfiction medical books over the years, and as I say, he is now embarking on a literary foray into the world he knows well that of medicine.

But set in and around World War I, I am fascinated by his fascination with the story of medicine, past and present, and so I'm keen for this chat to cover both the current state of medical play as well as how we got here.

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