The Evidence: The science of the menopause

Discovery

BBC

Science, Technology

4.3 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 March 2024

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Millions of women around the world experience the menopause each year; it’s an important milestone, which marks the end of their reproductive years.

But every individual's experience of it is personal and unique. In some cultures, there's a stigma about this life stage – it's viewed with trepidation and as something to be dreaded. In other cultures, it's considered to be a fresh start - a time of greater freedom when women no longer have to worry about their menstrual cycles.

In this edition, recorded at Northern Ireland Science Festival in Belfast, Claudia Hammond and her expert panel take a global look at the science of the menopause and debunk some myths along the way.

As Claudia and her guests navigate their way through the menopause maze, they look at the most recent academic research in this area. They also discuss the physical and psychological symptoms, the lifestyle changes women can make and the different treatments available, including Hormone Replacement Therapy.

Claudia also speaks to the American biological anthropologist who has dedicated an impressive 35 years of her life to studying the average age of the menopause in different countries - and finds out how hot flushes vary in different cultures. She also speaks to a doctor who is working hard to make women’s health less of a taboo subject in the community where she works. And she hears from a Professor of Reproductive Science who is setting up the UK's first menopause school.

Producer: Sarah Parfitt Co-ordinator: Siobhan Maguire Editor: Holly Squire Sound engineers: Andrew Saunderson and Bill Maul Mix engineer: Bob Nettles

Image used with permission of the Northern Ireland Science Festival

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're about to listen to a BBC podcast and trust me you'll get there in a moment but if you're a comedy fan
0:05.2	I'd really like to tell you a bit about what we do. I'm Julie Mackenzie and I commission comedy
0:10.1	podcast at the BBC. It's a bit of a dream job really. Comedy is a bit of a dream job really.
0:13.0	Comedy is a fantastic joyous thing to do because really you're making people laugh,
0:18.0	making people's days a bit better, helping them process, all manner of things.
0:22.0	But you know, I also know that comedy is really
0:24.3	subjective and everyone has different tastes. So we've got a huge range of comedy on offer from
0:29.8	satire to silly, shocking to soothing, profound to just general pratting about.
0:35.0	So if you fancy a laugh, find your next comedy at BBC Sounds. Hello, I'm Claudia Hammond.
0:45.0	Welcome to the evidence from the BBC World Service.
0:51.0	Now in each episode of the evidence, we take a health issue and we unpick
0:54.4	the science to work out what to believe and what not to. And today we're going to be
0:59.0	taking a global look at the menopause and debunking a few myths along the way.
1:04.8	Now today I'm with a live audience in Belfast at the Metropolitan Arts Center for the
1:09.6	Northern Ireland Science Festival where thousands of visitors are exploring the
1:13.9	wonders of science and technology. Now around the world millions of women go
1:18.5	through the menopause each year. If you're listening to us in Japan you'll know this phase of a woman's life as Conenki,
1:25.6	which translates as renewal, which sounds positive,
1:28.6	but if you're tuning in from Sudan, you might know it as Sin Alias, which translates as age of despair.
1:36.4	Maybe not quite so positive.
1:38.7	But maybe that's not surprising when some women sail through it and others have symptoms which can make life and work very
1:44.7	difficult. Now in some cultures there isn't even a word for menopause and it's barely discussed.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.