Women experience three reproductive stages in their lives - puberty, pregnancy, and perimenopause - that change their brain in unique ways. These three critical stages in a woman’s reproductive life are accompanied by huge hormonal changes that have huge effects on her brain. I share how a woman’s brain changes during each of these stages and what she can do to protect her brain health now and for the rest of her life.

Trauma can actually make you feel more resilient and leave you better equipped to tackle future challenges. Although "post-traumatic growth" often happens naturally, without therapy or other interventions, it can be facilitated using five growth strategies: through education, emotional regulation, disclosure, narrative development, and service. I discuss how to use these five strategies to start growing after trauma. You can emerge stronger yourself. And you can help and support others to emerge stronger by encouraging introspection and curiosity, actively listening, and offering compassionate feedback.

One of the biggest issues for parents of teens is figuring out what’s “normal” teenage behaviour and when their child might need some extra support. I talk to parenting expert, blogger and influencer, Helen Wills, about how parents can support teenagers through the many different challenges that they face during adolescence. We also touch on another big issue for midlife mums, which can be just as confusing and challenging as parenting a teenager: managing the menopause.

When our children begin the slow transition to adulthood, many of them struggle more with anger. It’s important to keep in mind that anger is not the problem - it’s a symptom of a deeper problem or challenge. When we have a deeper understanding of what ramps up rage, particularly spontaneous or irrational anger for our teens, we can better support them during this turbulent and confusing time. I explain why teenagers can be so angry and how to deal with their emotional outbursts without shouting, shaming or punishing them.

Anyone who has ever gone on a run will be familiar with that "runner's high” feeling -  that euphoric sense you get after a jog where you feel on top of the world. That post-workout good mood isn't just anecdotal: research has consistently shown that, in addition to physical health benefits, exercise boosts your mood and happiness. I breakdown why exercise is such a powerful mood-booster and how it can make you happy now and in the long-term. 

How you act and behave as a parent or carer has a massive influence over your teenager’s attitudes, behaviour and choices. I breakdown why parents are the most important role models for teenagers and how they can be a positive role model in their life. Role modelling works in relation to virtually everything – from how you handle emotions such as frustration and anger, to how you respect and relate to other people, to how you cope with stress and difficulties, to eating patterns and exercise, even to how you look after yourself.

All women experience the menopause. Yet many women and health professionals still don’t fully understand the signs and symptoms of peri-menopause and menopause or know how to best treat them. I have a really important and wide-ranging discussion with GP and world-leading menopause specialist, Dr Louise Newson, about how to prepare for, monitor and manage the peri-menopause and menopause.

Do you think your genes are your destiny? Once you’ve inherited the “Alzheimer’s gene” then that’s it, you will get dementia and there’s nothing you can do about it! It’s time to change your assumptions. The way you live your life can actually change your genetic makeup. Your lifestyle choices - the foods you put in your body, the chemicals you are exposed to, how active you choose to be, even the type of people you choose to spend time with - can switch off and switch on different genes to change the destiny of your brain health.