Latest news with #GenerationXers
USA Today
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Drew Barrymore had a hot flash on TV. Yes, menopause is having a moment.
Drew Barrymore had a hot flash on TV. Yes, menopause is having a moment. Show Caption Hide Caption It's time we talk about perimenopause and menopause The hormonal and physical changes that come with menopause are rarely discussed openly. Why not? The show must go on – even during a hot flash. Actress Drew Barrymore, 50, learned that lesson as she experienced a particularly rough one in the middle of Wednesday's episode of her talk show, "The Drew Barrymore Show." Instead of opening the program with a discussion on food expiration dates, viewers saw the host being fanned down by Valerie Bertinelli, Ross Mathews and Danny Seo while she stripped off her plaid jacket. 'It's just so weird that they come out of nowhere, you know?' Barrymore said. 'I'm so lightheaded right now.' Hot flashes are a sudden feeling of warmth that most often affects the face, neck and chest and can cause sweating, according to the Mayo Clinic. Most people who have hot flashes experience them daily, and can last between one and five minutes. They're one of the dozens of symptoms of perimenopause and menopause, which also commonly include irregular periods, night sweats, sleep problems, mood changes and brain fog. 'Not fun': Elizabeth Banks on perimenopause, motherhood and bout with shingles Menopause specialist Dr. Sameena Rahman, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Chicago, said Barrymore's candid TV moment demonstrates how this physiological transition is finally becoming a public conversation instead of a shameful secret. 'This moment is here to stay,' Rahman said. 'It's such an important topic that impacts women's quality of life and life expectancy, and it hasn't been getting the treatment it deserves.' Other stars have joined the movement. Oprah Winfrey hosted a public discussion on menopause, called "The Menopause Revolution," that aired Monday and featured experts and celebrity guests such as Naomi Watts and Halle Berry. Watts just released her first book, "Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I'd Known About Menopause," and Berry launched the health and wellness platform Respin, which offers tools on navigating menopause. It's also not the first time Barrymore experienced a hot flash on national television. In May 2023, the talk show host suddenly had one while interviewing guests Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler. 'I think I'm having one of my first perimenopause hot flashes,' she told the actors, as Aniston helped her friend adjust her microphone. An estimated 6,000 women reach menopause each day, which amounts to about two million women per year, according to the Mayo Clinic. While women have been undergoing menopause since the dawn of time, Rahman said Generation Xers and Millennials are bravely going public with the discrimination and ageism they face when seeking treatment for symptoms instead of "sucking it up" like previous generations. "No one wants to do that anymore. No one wants to suffer in silence, so they're not and I love it," she said. Menopause is not only a health issue, Rahman said. A Mayo Clinic study found it costs women an estimated $1.8 billion in lost work time per year and about $24.6 billion in medical expenses. Research also shows more than 70% of women blame menopause for the breakdown of their marriage, according to a survey conducted by The Family Law Menopause Project and Newson Health Research and Education. Fertility in sex-ed: Should teens be learning it? Some experts say yes. It can also be difficult to find help for menopausal symptoms with many clinicians receiving minimal training to diagnose and treat the condition, Rahman said. But with more awareness, that's beginning to change as more medical schools dedicate centers to perimenopause and menopause. Doctors "are out there hungry for the information... they're pissed off they didn't learn this and this is all a product of how women's health has been discounted for so long," she said. "This is changing now. There is some hope and light." For women who suspect they may be experiencing perimenopause, Rahman recommends meeting with their healthcare provider immediately instead of waiting for their annual visit. She also recommends going to the appointment prepared with detailed information about symptoms and when they started, and about their last menstrual cycle. Rahman said it's also important to ask your healthcare provider about certain treatment options like hormone therapy. If their clinician isn't comfortable, make sure to ask if they know other providers who might be able to help. While hormone therapy "is not a magic bullet," she said it can be an important tool for treatment that might also include diet, exercise and sleep modifications. "We're all going to go through this period of time, if we're lucky enough to live as long," Rahman said. 'Women should understand that aging is inevitable but suffering is not." Adrianna Rodriguez can be reached at adrodriguez@
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Normality ended with lockdown and work from home is its most atomising legacy
In the excellent Apple TV drama Constellation, an astronaut returns from months in space to find her life looks nearly identical to the one she left behind. But something feels weirdly askew. Wasn't her car blue, rather than red? Well, that's how I feel about post-pandemic Britain. At first glance, things look much the same. And yet everything is off-kilter. Five years on from the imposition of lockdown, we can't talk about a 'return to normal' when a great chunk of employees have never returned to the office in any meaningful sense since March 2020. A new survey of 12,000 workers across 44 countries found those from the UK spend just two days a week in the office on average – fewer than any other country surveyed, bar the Philippines. This has had a catastrophic effect on our social and urban structures. It's not just the fact that workplaces are no longer close-knit communities that helped to cement our sense of identity, but the wider blow to the infrastructure that served workers and enabled money and, crucially, purpose to flow through our economy. Just think of the impact on the commercial rental sector, public transport, sandwich bars, shops and the pubs where workers socialised after hours. I work freelance for a once-large media company. This perfectly illustrates the conundrum. When I first met the founders in 2018 they had a big office in Holborn, with around 100 telesales employees at desks, and had also rented a couple of smaller workspaces in central London. After the pandemic and the rude pausing of the wheels of commerce they ended up with one small office in East London, where their four different ventures 'hot-officed'. One day it might be a marketing hub, another it was a magazine publisher. The telesales' operatives have gone, replaced by an overseas service. This feels to me like a small parable of how our cities have had the vitality scooped out of them. But it's the social aspect I mourn most. Three years ago, I took on a university leaver to help on the magazine I edit. I soon felt it was like keeping a polar bear in a tiny concrete cage. He was only required in the office three days a week and, when there, he worked alongside a handful of middle-aged people with kids. In no way was he receiving the apprenticeship (most of us learn best by example) and intense social life I enjoyed when I crash-landed into the media in 1991. And his chance of meeting his future spouse, as I did in 1993 in the GQ office, was rather less than being struck by an asteroid. So, why do we allow this abdominal state of affairs to continue? Why doesn't our government set an example by properly tackling the thousands of civil servants who have never returned to working full-time? My hunch is we lack the willpower to remedy it because our governing class is mostly Generation Xers like me, who have already reaped the benefits of a functioning workplace. Now, after three decades commuting, many are happy to slob around in joggers, enjoying the properties we were the last generation to afford. A similar phenomenon was observed during lockdown, when the laptop classes were often living their best lives, with little care of what was inflicted on poorer families in cramped urban flats. The social contract feels broken in many ways, but this is surely one of the worst. We've sanctioned reduced opportunities and isolation for workers (just a PC for company) and then we wonder why there is an epidemic of poor mental health. 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.
Telegraph
25-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Five years ago today, lockdown destroyed our society. We are still terribly damaged
In the excellent Apple TV drama Constellation, an astronaut returns from months in space to find her life looks nearly identical to the one she left behind. But something feels weirdly askew. Wasn't her car blue, rather than red? Well, that's how I feel about post-pandemic Britain. At first glance, things look much the same. And yet everything is off-kilter. Five years on from the imposition of the Coronavirus Act, which arrived on 25 March 2020, we can't talk about a 'return to normal' when a great chunk of employees have never returned to the office in any meaningful sense. A new survey of 12,000 workers across 44 countries found those from the UK spend just two days a week in the office on average – fewer than any other country surveyed, bar the Philippines. This has had a catastrophic effect on our social and urban structures. It's not just the fact that workplaces are no longer close-knit communities that helped to cement our sense of identity, but the wider blow to the infrastructure that served workers and enabled money and, crucially, purpose to flow through our economy. Just think of the impact on the commercial rental sector, public transport, sandwich bars, shops and the pubs where workers socialised after hours. I work freelance for a once-large media company. This perfectly illustrates the conundrum. When I first met the founders in 2018 they had a big office in Holborn, with around 100 telesales employees at desks, and had also rented a couple of smaller workspaces in central London. After the pandemic and the rude pausing of the wheels of commerce they ended up with one small office in East London, where their four different ventures 'hot-officed'. One day it might be a marketing hub, another it was a magazine publisher. The telesales' operatives have gone, replaced by an overseas service. This feels to me like a small parable of how our cities have had the vitality scooped out of them. But it's the social aspect I mourn most. Three years ago, I took on a university leaver to help on the magazine I edit. I soon felt it was like keeping a polar bear in a tiny concrete cage. He was only required in the office three days a week and, when there, he worked alongside a handful of middle-aged people with kids. In no way was he receiving the apprenticeship (most of us learn best by example) and intense social life I enjoyed when I crash-landed into the media in 1991. And his chance of meeting his future spouse, as I did in 1993 in the GQ office, was rather less than being struck by an asteroid. So, why do we allow this abominable state of affairs to continue? Why doesn't our government set an example by properly tackling the thousands of civil servants who have never returned to working full-time? My hunch is we lack the willpower to remedy it because our governing class is mostly Generation Xers like me, who have already reaped the benefits of a functioning workplace. Now, after three decades commuting, many are happy to slob around in joggers, enjoying the properties we were the last generation to afford. A similar phenomenon was observed during lockdown, when the laptop classes were often living their best lives, with little care of what was inflicted on poorer families in cramped urban flats. The social contract feels broken in many ways, but this is surely one of the worst. We've sanctioned reduced opportunities and isolation for workers (just a PC for company) and then we wonder why there is an epidemic of poor mental health.
