Last week, I finally reached my limit with the effects of peri menopause and got a prescription for HRT (and if anyone like would like to hear me rant about how annoyed I was to discover that one month is counted as two prescriptions so double the cost, I can do that too – it’s really no wonder that women my age are full of rage!). At the time of writing I have no idea how that’s going in pan out but I did have a bit of a wobble over my blood pressure, which is higher than the guidelines would like. All the advice was the standard diet (lose weight, drink less caffeine and alcohol), exercise (do more of it) and sleep (sleep more!).

In thinking about taking some action on this, this time of year is that I start to implement some stricter routines to help me when autumn/winter descends and my SAD kicks in. I’m not good in darker months of the year. Also, while know that the pandemic isn’t over, I’m going to be going into the office at least 2/3 days a week so it’s time to set some goals.

So first up what I’m not going to do, which is go on a diet. I don’t like them, they don’t work long term and they make me neurotic.  What I am going to do is get back to better habits and rather than set them for the month, this is what I want to commit to from now until December.

• Golden Hour – Sunday to Thursday no screens from 9pm, tidy flat, everything ready for the next day, bath before bed. Which leads to:
• Yoga – 10 minutes before bed, which should help me wind down and get better sleep
• Bedtimes – Sunday to Thursday 10pm.
• Exercise – more walking, to get back to a consistence 70,000 steps a week and two body balance a week at home.
• Coffee. I only drink coffee in the morning but I have been using the litre size cafetiere, so it’s time to downsize to the small one Monday to Thursday. On Saturdays, I share (where share means drink quickly or there won’t be any left!) with Ma and I can have a big pot of coffee to myself on Sundays, I’m home.
• Alcohol. No more than two days a week.
• Diet. I’m already a weekday vegetarian. But I do need to watch is my cheese intake (cheese is lovely) so I’m going to try and make a couple of vegan meals a week. I’m also implementing a no junk food that I didn’t make myself. I define junk food as crisps and cake and biscuits. So if I want them I have to make them. I’m quite lazy so what are the chances of me eating that much cake?

Realistically, I’m not going to be perfect on this, but 80% of the time, this is where I want to be. Let’s see how it goes.