No longer swept under the rug, menopause is finally getting its due. And with research showing 90 percent of women over 35 experience menopausal symptoms, there's no time like the present. That's why Abbott Elementary star Lisa Ann Walter is teaming up with Centrum to host Hot Conversations, a campaign focused on education and destigmatizing menopause.
"How we feel about women aging is tied directly to their ability to have children," she says. "Afterwards, you're not as vital to society, you're not as attractive. That's not true. I have never been more vital."
Class Is in Session
"Everybody has questions about menopause," says Lisa Ann Walter. "Our mothers never talked about it; like a lot of female health issues there is a shame and a stigma associated with it. That time has to be over."
Menopause is an inevitable part of the lives of almost half the population, but research from AARP shows that most employers (73 percent) and over half of women (54 percent) agree that employers need to do more to support workers in menopause. Women experiencing menopause report feeling unsupported at work and experience difficulty managing symptoms and maintaining concentration and confidence in the workplace.
Hot Conversations consists of a short film and social media campaign designed in the style of employee training videos. Funny, up front and focused on educational empowerment, Walter walks the viewer through her own experiences with symptoms.
"I went through some of the symptoms that are not so great, like brain fog and sleeplessness. I spent plenty of time up at two in the morning contemplating my own mortality," Walter explains. "And it's not so easy to just get up and go to work the next morning."
The Conversation Gets Hot With Lisa Ann Walter
It's immediately clear why Centrum chose Lisa Ann Walter to host Hot Conversations.
"It's hard to talk about these things because you're immediately desexualized," Walter explains. "You're old and dried out. And as a feminist and as a woman, I absolutely refuse to get on an ice flow and be shipped out to sea because I'm not longer a baby maker. I still have worth and value in society."
Alongside a push to treat menopause like the medical process it is (rather than a taboo), Hot Conversations is about women like Walter planting their feet and refusing to give up their seat at the table.
"Instead of telling older women that we've aged out, society should be honoring us for the wisdom that we have," she says. "I've been working for three decades, and I work now more than ever. I'm an active mother, I pull 14-hour days, I'm on the national and local boards for my union, I chair three committees, I have a speech tonight. I have never been more active and energetic."
Centrum Menopause Support
A big part of making progress when it comes to society's relationship with menopause is addressing the symptoms.
Centrum Menopause Support, a line of supplements specifically designed to help relieve common symptoms of menopause including hot flashes, sleep disruptions and occasional brain fog, stress or anxiety, available in Multivitamin + Hot Flash Support ($20), Restful Sleep Supplement ($20) and Clear Mind & Calm Mood ($20)(not evaluated by the FDA).
The hormone-free formulas are based on centuries of botanical remedies for menopause paired with clinically studied geniVida to reduce hot flashes.
