By Gemma West
A project to get people active in Leicestershire has adapted the nation-wide campaign ‘This Girl Can’ to support women and girls within the direct community.
Jessica Hazell is director of the Girls Can and Active Menopause programmes at Active Together, the active partnership in Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland (LLR).
Jessica has been fighting to dismantle stereotypes towards women’s health and women’s sports and said women’s bodies and health still remain a taboo topic, making it all the more difficult for women to seek help and understand themselves.
“Every woman should be upskilled in her body,” she said, “to recognise when things are not right, but also the reasons why that might be.
“And then crucially, to make an informed decision around the next steps in order to treat those issues.”
The Active Together programme collaborates with venues all across Leicestershire to promote and support the events they want to give everyone the opportunity to experience.
All women will go through menopause between the ages of 45 and 55, which is when low hormone levels cause a woman’s period to end.
However, there is still a lot of stigma towards it.
Jessica said: “There are many pockets trying to break those stigmas by encouraging continued conversation around the menopause, increasing awareness of common symptoms.
“As an Active Partnership, our part in the puzzle is around how physical activity can help to manage symptoms of the menopause.”
As much as Active Together focuses on the physical side of menopause, having these sessions for women to join together and relate to and discuss their situations is very powerful in their journey.
For more information on menopause and women’s health in relation to physical activity, visit www.active-together.org/activemenopause
