Alison Hammond shows concern for co-host with hayfever
Sharon Marshall was struggling with her voice on This Morning with hayfever - causing Alison Hammond to call for the first aid kit.
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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
How common is perimenopause in your 30s? Tracy Beaker's Dani Harmer shares 'dark depression'
Dani Harmer has revealed she was diagnosed with perimenopause at the age of 36, raising questions about how common the condition is for women in their 30s. Harmer, best known for her role as Tracy Beaker, spoke candidly about her experience on This Morning today, sharing why she decided to go public with her diagnosis. "I just wanted to be open about it, because obviously I am on the younger side of it, and even though I think it's rare, I don't think it's that uncommon, especially looking through my comments," she said. "And so I just wanted to be quite open about it, because, actually, I had quite a good experience with my GP. So I just wanted to make people aware that going to the GP can really, really help, because I was just having such awful symptoms and I needed help with it." In a previous TikTok video posted on 23 May, Harmer shared that she experienced a "dark depression" before her diagnosis and spoke candidly about the toll perimenopause has taken on her health. "I have been diagnosed with perimenopause. More on that in a second. But what I need your help with is my hair. I am losing it, man, like it is thinning so badly, like you can see, like the bald patches coming in," Harmer said. She continued: "Brain fog, oh my gosh. I couldn't even, like, remember the word banana. That was odd, and then the night sweat started. My sleep was all over the place … I felt like I was being possessed by someone else, like it was horrible, and I was just getting deeper and deeper into a dark depression." To better understand how common perimenopause is in women in their 30s, Yahoo UK spoke to Dr Louise Newson, a general practitioner and menopause specialist. According to Dr Newson, perimenopause affects approximately four in 100 women under the age of 40, and at least one in 1,000 women under 30. Even teenagers can be perimenopausal or menopausal. "It's more common than people realise," she tells Yahoo UK. "I see a lot of women, and speak to a lot of women who are in their 20s and 30s, who have low hormones. "A lot of them have low testosterone, so they have low moods, they have poor concentration, they have fatigue and they have reduced stamina. They might have muscle and joint pains. They might have headaches and migraines, yet they've been misdiagnosed with depression and anxiety and given antidepressants. "The problem is, most people, including me, don't know that they're perimenopausal until they get their hormone [test results] back and think, 'Wow, I wish I'd done this years ago.'" Perimenopause refers to the period before menopause when a woman's body naturally transitions toward the end of her reproductive years. This average age this phase occurs is 47, according to the British Menopause Society, and it's marked by changes in menstrual cycles along with a range of physical and emotional symptoms. The menopause itself is traditionally defined as the point when a woman has not had a period for a year, which is caused by a reduction in hormone production. "Before the menopause is perimenopause, which can last for about 10 years before periods stop," says says Dr Newson. "So, hormone levels start to decline, but they often fluctuate. So they go up, they go down, they're all a bit crazy in our bodies. And these hormones – estradiol, progesterone, testosterone – affect every cell in our body and every tissue and every organ, especially our brains." According to Dr Newson, however, the broad term "perimenopause" doesn't accurately reflect the complexity of what's occurring hormonally and how it should be treated. For instance, many women in their late 20s and early 30s may experience a drop in testosterone well before noticeable changes in their periods. "Testosterone is more biologically active than oestrogen. We have more levels of testosterone than oestrogen in our bodies when we're younger, and then those levels decline quicker than the other hormones," she explains. "So a lot of women are testosterone deficient. And then people, as they get older, often their progesterone starts to drop first, and then their oestrogen starts dropping. So it really varies between different women. If we don't know what the hormone is that's changing, it's difficult to get the right treatment." During perimenopause, hormone levels are in flux, which means people may experience a wide range of symptoms, especially those affecting cognitive function and mood. "When the levels are changing and reducing, people get all sorts of symptoms, especially symptoms affecting our brains," Dr Newson says. According to the NHS, symptoms can include: hot flushes and night sweats vaginal dryness difficulty sleeping low mood or anxiety reduced sex drive problems with memory or concentration muscle and joint aches and pains joint stiffness and swelling reduced muscle strength pins and needles Dr Newson says it's incredibly important to work with someone who understands hormones. "What I would hate is for people to think, 'Oh, I just do a blood test and my testosterone is low, therefore my tiredness is due to low testosterone,' whereas they might have underactive thyroid, they might have anaemia, they might have some other cause," she explains. "So you do need to do this in conjunction with a doctor who understands hormones as well. Because also, if you do tests, our hormone levels are changing all the time." Dr Newson also recommends that people keep track of their symptoms. They can do this manually or use the free Balance app, which she created, that contains a symptom questionnaire; users can also create a health report. The Flo Health app also allows you to track perimenopausal symptoms. "What's changing more now than ever before is that women are learning for themselves, so they can be an advocate for themselves," she continues. "In the history of medicine, women have been gaslit the whole time, and we're always told, 'Oh, it's just stress, it's trauma, it's all in our heads,' and as a doctor, that really upsets me. "Just because the doctor they're saying doesn't know about hormones, it doesn't mean that there isn't a hormonal problem in that woman." Read more about perimenopause: I lived with extreme perimenopause symptoms for years without realising (Yahoo Life UK, 8-min read) Perimenopausal women '40% more likely to suffer depression' (PA Media, 3-min read) Perimenopause has brought chaos to my life – but also peace (The Guardian, 5-min read)
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Fern Britton: ‘My mum died, my dad died, then my marriage died'
Fern Britton beams at me through my laptop screen, looking joyful and glowy, with a light tan thanks to the blissful spring weather she's been enjoying at her home, close to Padstow in Cornwall. Looking easily a decade younger than her 67 years – she'll be 68 next month – Britton is here to talk to me (bar interruption by one of her three cats) about her latest novel, her 11th, A Cornish Legacy. But of course there is a lot of other ground to cover as well. Britton is after all one of our best loved TV presenters, who co-presented Breakfast Time in the 1980s before moving onto Ready Steady Cook – where she met now ex-husband Phil Vickery – and then to This Morning, where she co-hosted with Phillip Schofield until 2009, leaving amid reports of a feud. Last year she appeared on Celebrity Big Brother, coming fifth, and as well as regularly popping up on our screens since her This Morning departure, she's also dedicated herself to her novel-writing. Several are set in Cornwall, where she moved after her split from Vickery, father of her child Winnie. She also has grown up children – twins Harry and Jack and daughter Grace – from her marriage to Clive Jones. As we chat, she explains her latest plot centres around a character, Cordelia Jago, who has lost everything but is then left a house in Cornwall. With Britton having experienced a very difficult few years herself, is the plot semi-autobiographical? 'Not intentionally so, but I think the unconscious mind talks to you. I didn't realise it for a while and then I thought, hang on, this is sort of the life I've had for the last few years – but without the sprawling old mansion. In contrast, my house is very normal and only 30 years old.' Though she determinedly makes light of it, life has thrown one misfortune after another in her direction over the past decade. Having undergone a hysterectomy in 2016, she contracted sepsis and very nearly died. 'Then my mum died in 2018 and my dad died in 2019 and then my marriage [to chef Phil Vickery] died. Next, I discovered that my phone had been hacked for 15 years [by News of the World]. And last year a man who was stalking me for several years went to court and was given a restraining order. For a while, I was wondering what else could possibly happen. But lots of women endure difficult stuff and we just live with it and keep going.' Key to her resilience and recovery from all the tumult has been, much like her latest heroine, her surroundings. She can walk to the beach in under half an hour and when she sleeps with the windows open, she can hear the sea from her bed. 'Cornwall is my medicine. It feels like a very comforting, healing place to me,' she says. So much so that, despite previously talking openly about needing anti-depressants for several years, she is now medication-free, her last prescription being some three or four years ago. 'I'm in a good place. I know the difference between depression and a kind of overloaded anxiety that we all get. I feel that I've found the person that I used to be and I'm enjoying life and having fun.' There's no hankering after her former Buckinghamshire home and, although she acknowledges she didn't anticipate being single and needing to work in her mid-60s, there's no bitterness when she talks about the end of her second marriage. 'Divorce is not a breeze. No matter how you hope it's going to be easy and pain-free, inevitably it isn't. It's difficult and brings up a lot of unpleasant characteristics in everybody. Then, when it's finally over, there's a little bit of time where you have to just let the emotions subside. And then you can start looking back on how things were good and it was unfortunate that it just ran out of steam or whatever it was.' So, working on her novels comes from a place of need – as well as enjoying writing, Britton reveals she's disciplined at making herself sit at her desk every morning for a few hours before spending time with friends or out in nature in the afternoon. 'I have to be motivated because no one's going to look after me, and it's vital that women are financially independent. We can't say it loudly or more often enough to young women, and there's no shame in it. We need to be able to earn money and look after ourselves.' She's also become very motivated when it comes to looking after her health, she says. Just before the pandemic, in early 2020, she injured her right shoulder badly while emptying her bin and endured more than two years of severe pain. Partly as a result of this and the repeated lockdowns of that time, she started smoking and didn't focus on exercise or diet. It was thanks to the NHS surgeon who recommended a full shoulder replacement that she took herself in hand, she says. In the initial consultation he told her to quit smoking and suggested she lose some weight to best prepare for the operation. 'I had a year to get fit for the operation, so did the Couch to 5km app and gave up smoking. That and being pain-free after the operation has been a great gift. It's given me such a boost.' Now, as well as jogging three times a week, she is also doing weights and stretches to keep herself in good shape and she's noticed her legs getting noticeably stronger and her tummy getting flatter. 'Actually, I'm very proud of myself. People are obsessed with what size you are and this isn't about that. This is about staying fit for my kids so they don't have to worry about me and it's about enjoying this stage of life.' When I ask what she thinks of the current craze for midlifers to turn to drugs such as Ozempic and Mounjaro to control their weight rather than how she's doing it, Britton is entirely non-judgemental and says everyone needs to choose what is right for them. Moreover, she is passionate about people being allowed to keep their diet tactics private, rather than feeling they must tell everyone about it. She clearly still feels bruised by the tabloid stories about her own choice to have a gastric band back in the days she was presenting This Morning – stories that she now knows only came to light because her phone was hacked. 'I would say to anyone, do what you feel you need to feel good about yourself. If you want to take a medicine to kick start your weight loss then do it and you don't have to tell anyone about it,' she says. 'After my gastric band, I never felt guilty about it. I just thought, I'd do this one thing for me. But that privacy was taken away from me. And I couldn't work out who was saying these things. It had an awful impact on my life. And it damaged my relationship with my mother, who died before the truth came to light.' Among the pastimes helping her put such terrible hurt behind her is hanging out with a couple of very close friends who live nearby, going by the nicknames of Two Cups and Boo – the three of them enjoying weekly line-dancing classes together complete with 'proper cowboy boots'. And being a regular churchgoer has also become an important part of her life, providing a 'lovely, supportive community of people'. We can also look forward to Britton being back on our screens from July, when she presents a new programme, Fern Britton: Inside The Vet's, on ITV1 and ITVX, something she's loved filming. This reveals what happens to beloved pets behind closed doors when they need medical treatment. 'We see it all – I've been in on lots of operations and there are some really good stories,' she says. 'It's uplifting and very warm.' So, looking ahead, what ambitions does she have both professionally and personally? Her dream, she shares, would be for one of her novels to be made into a movie – possibly The Good Servant, published in 2022, which told the story of a royal governess in the 1930s. 'I'm not betting the ranch on it, but there's some interest and it would be amazing if that happened.' She's also working on the next novel, which she says is currently flowing easily. Meanwhile, when it comes to family Britton says she's learnt not to ask any of her four adult children about the prospect of grandchildren; 'They all say to me, 'Mother, don't even ask!'' But for herself she isn't ruling out the prospect of finding new love – 'the door is unlocked to that. Not exactly open, but unlocked,' she says. 'In A Cornish Legacy, you'll have to read to the end, but a very nice man arrives for Cordelia. He's called Ray – normal name, normal guy. What you see is what you get and he's great. Someone like that would do.' A Cornish Legacy, published by HarperCollins, is out June 5 Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Duck race supports Central Illinois abuse prevention center
PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Mark your calendar for the August 23, release of the ducks to benefit the Center for Prevention of Abuse. Celsy Young, the center's communications manager, stopped by WMBD This Morning to talk more about the ducks and what they accomplish during the Aug. 23 race. The 37th annual Duck Race is one of the longest-running duck races in the country, and all proceeds directly support the center's programs and services, which include emergency shelter, safety planning, counseling, therapy, legal and medical advocacy and prevention education. 'All kinds of things to help people along their journey to a peaceful life,' said Young, explaining why the ducks matter. 'We see 6,000 central Illinoisans through our doors every single year, and on top of that, we actually see 41,000 students in the tri county area, through our prevention education program, where we're helping to stop abuse before it can start.' Another accomplishment of the ducks is that they can bring their owners lots of fun items such as a $10,000 grand prize, a weekend getaway, and a variety of gift carts and items. Race Day festivities include live music by Sista and the Misters, food trucks, inflatables, face painting, and lots of splashing as the ducks take to water at 1 p.m., Aug. 23. Ducks can be adopted online at by phone at (309) 691-0551, by mail to P.O. Box 3855, Peoria, IL 61612, or at select locations throughout Central Illinois. Each duck is $5 with some volume discounts, and keep an eye peeled for pop-up, BOGO deals. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
