Menopause Blogs

The Dr Ben Blog

Blogs by Dr Ben

November 2025.

Dr Ben writes a new Blog at the start of every month for our Man Shed section.

Use November To Plan for Beating the Winter Blues

Increasingly, November seems to be the crazy month when Christmas is already upon us.

Shops are full of cards and tinsel, mince pies are piled high in supermarkets. November’s just begun, but Christmas parties are already in full swing.

Here in my Man Shed, over there in the corner behind my Bill and Ben terracotta pots, I’ve just spotted our family Christmas lights box. This is a time of joy for many; but for some, all this may prompt tinges of dread and overwhelm, so I’m wondering how to help the perimenopausal people in my life over the coming weeks.

If you’re planning to treat your partner this Christmas, you might want to consider both of you cutting back now on alcohol and processed food. Weight management in menopause is already an issue and I expect you could both probably do with not gaining those extra five pounds over the holiday!

Go ‘high quality, small amounts’
In menopause, gaining weight is easy and shedding those pounds or kilos is harder. Try to ensure you both enjoy a healthy festive and New Year season and avoid weight-gain.

Through November, it’s important to maintain good habits unchanged by the seasons. Think early about healthier choices, eating less sugar and junk food, grazing less, and choosing higher quality, but smaller amounts of treats.

Be supportive by helping order Christmas food – although if you’re like me, you wouldn’t have a clue how to cook a turkey! Buy healthier, less processed and sugary snacks. Buy a small amount of high-quality chocolate, not a 400-kilo bar of the cheap stuff.

We’ll often gain weight treating ourselves in the holidays, then crash-diet to shed the weight again – not helpful for anyone’s body.

Be picky about parties
Work Christmas parties are held earlier nowadays with deals increasingly on offer to secure a better venue for the office lunch.

It’s tempting to binge on alcohol and rich food here. In menopause, women already suffer from disrupted sleep and things will get worse if your food and drink diets go haywire.

In November, many invitations from neighbours, friends, family and work colleagues may arrive. Be selective. Go for quality not quantity. Spend time with the people you love.

Your partner will appreciate you being considerate about socialising. She may feel obliged to attend your office party, but that may not be vital. It may be more important for you to spend quality time with her sisters.

Take your daily walk earlier
In my Man Shed, it’s already twilight at 3pm, so, longer nights ahead. For people suffering from sleep disruption, this can play on anxiety and mental health problems in the darker months.

Try to get out more, soak in sunlight, walk at lunchtimes or in the morning to promote good mood and wellbeing. Get more steps in to beat those Winter Blues.

Practise good sleep hygiene because if your menopausal partner is lying awake, this’ll have a negative impact on her.

During summer, you’d stroll after dinner enjoying a balmy evening. But in wintertime, share a sunny walk with your partner earlier in the day.

Seek the sunshine!
It’s proven that sunshine and various wavelengths of light benefit mental stability and mood, also improving your gut biome and sleep patterns. Ideally, try to expose yourselves to sunlight up to three times a day, in the morning, at noon and in the afternoon or evening.

This is hard to do in the Northern Hemisphere, where days are shorter. By walking, you may also synthesize vitamin D in your skin, which is beneficial for mood, sleep, pain management and energy levels.

With November mornings often dark, when I’m at home, I’ll often share a half-an-hour lunchtime walk with my wife. After meals is the best time to walk because then you’re also burning the sugar you may have just eaten and reducing your risk of fat deposition or diabetes.

Plan precious time wisely
Whether you’re planning shopping, parties, or activities to boost your sunlight exposure, my best advice for you and your partner is to allocate your time wisely.

Time is precious, especially in this pressured season. Take Christmas in your stride – and put it in perspective, like the assistant in our local store.

When their decorations went up (in August!), with the shop covered floor-to-ceiling with tinsel, robins, cards and crackers, I said it looked lovely, then asked if it was a bit premature.

“Oh, don’t worry, Dr Ben,” she replied. “The good news is, it’ll all soon be over.”

If you’ve got a question for Our Man in The Man Shed Dr Ben Sinclair, you can email him on drben@menopausematters.co.uk

Welcome to The Man Shed and I’m delighted to be your man in it!

My name is Dr Ben Sinclair (please just call me ‘Dr Ben’, everyone does), and I’ve been a GP for nearly 20 years. Bear with me a sec while I shift these spare paint tins and get my laptop set up…

If you’ve got a question for Our Man in The Man Shed, Dr Ben Sinclair, you can email him on:
drben@menopausematters.co.uk.

Dr Ben's Blog Posts

» Go back to the Blog Index