The Dr Louise Newson Podcast - 228 - Exercise ‘snacks’ and menopause with Lavina Mehta MBE

Episode Date: October 31, 2023

Personal trainer, wellness coach and mum-of-three Lavina Mehta MBE joins Dr Louise in this week’s episode to share her advice on boosting your activity levels during the perimenopause and menopause. As a British Asian, Lavina is passionate about ensuring her message of the benefits of exercise reaches all communities, and highlights how exercise can treat, prevent and reduce the risks of chronic diseases like Alzheimer’s, diabetes and heart disease. Lavina encourages busy women to begin ‘exercise snacks’, which are short bursts of activity that can be slotted into full days. Finally, Lavina shares her three easy wins to improve future health: Start strength training and prioritise building your muscle mass over losing weight. Start off small with exercise ‘snacks’, which means adding little bite-sized chunks of exercise throughout your day. It all counts and it is never too late to start. Keep talking, keep learning, keep educating yourself and keep sharing your journey with everyone around you. For more about Lavina, visit her website and follow her on Instagram @feelgoodwithlavina, plus feel good workouts and exercise snacks on her YouTube channel @feelgoodwithlavina.    

Hello, I'm Dr Louise Newsom. I'm a GP and menopause specialist and I'm also the founder of the Newsom Health Menopause and Wellbeing Centre here in Stratford-Pon-Avon. I'm also the founder of the free balance app. Each week on my podcast, join me and my special guests where we discuss all things perimenopause and menopause. We talk about the latest research,

bust myths on menopause symptoms and treatments, and often share moving and, and always inspirational personal stories. This podcast is brought to you by the Newsome Health Group, which has clinics across the UK dedicated to providing individualised perimenopause and menopause care for all women. Today on the podcast, I'm meeting and talking to someone who I have met in real life before, which is quite unusual for some podcasts.

But Levina is somebody who just seems to be everywhere, wherever I go. She seems to be there. And always looking very glamorous and very beautiful. And most recently we were together at the Carfest, Chris Evans, amazing Carfest. And I'd turn up the night before with my children and I had on my Petagonia, bright pink, camping, waterproof. And she was there with this glamorous fur. I was thinking, oh my God, I just feel inadequate because she's so gorgeous. So seeing her the next day, I wasn't wearing my Petagonia, bright pink waterproof.

But it's still lovely. And what Levina is doing is just allowing people to think about movement, exercise, just getting off the sofa a bit, having a little bit of a movement fix as opposed to a huge workout, which is so intimidating people don't want to do. So I'm really excited and privileged that she's here today in the studio. So thanks for joining me today, Levinna. Oh, it's my privilege. So thank you so much for having me, Louise. And you always look wonderful. You're always smiling and so friendly. It's amazing to meet your family today, right? Oh yeah, didn't meet all of them, but it was still lovely that they were there, really special.

So I always find it really interesting because if we'd met each other 20 years ago, and you'd said to me, Louise, you're going to do women's health work, you're going to focus on the perimenopals and menopause, and you're going to run probably the world's largest clinic, and you're going to do la la la, la, I would have said, don't be ridiculous. And if I had said to you, Levena, you will get your MBA for services that you've did, especially in lockdown for exercise, for reaching out to communities. And then you'll start to be talking to women from your communities about

vaginald rhinos, about hormones, about perimenopause. I don't think you would have believed me either, would you? Never in my wildest dreams. All my parents, I think, being South Asian. Yeah, I qualified as a personal trainer age 40. And I am very honest in saying that I was never, ever into exercise. So just the fact that I'm, you know, promoting things that I didn't necessarily grow up with and complete career change, you know, during the start of my perimenophores.

But yeah, we're both doing things that we probably never imagine. But I love it. And I'm sure as you, right, we're both very, very passionate about it. Yes. And I think as you get older, you have different life experiences. And, you know, I remember, well, 23 years ago now, I decided to be a GP. I was always doing hospital medicine and I told my mother that I decided to be a chemo GP and she said, oh, that's really disappointing.

I don't know how I'm going to tell my friends. And I said it's not about your friends. It's about me and my quality of life. And I can't find a female role model who's a hospital doctor. And if I get pregnant, I would like to see my children and and and. And then actually as I've got older, I've got more selfish if that makes sense. And I realize that if I don't look after myself, I can't look after my family, my children, my work colleagues, my friends, my patients or anything else.

But I think as you get older, your body is a bit less forgiving and it needs a bit more attention as well, doesn't it? Oh, God, totally. I mean, look, I'm South Asian and it's in our culture just to look after others. You know, I've got three boys. My youngest is 15. They've grown up so quickly. But I used to live in a joint family, and there were nine of us.

You know, I had two sister-in-law's, mother-in-law. You can imagine how many hormones and things were going on in the house. I had a fabulous experience, so let me put it out there. And as you see, I have a great relationship with my mother-in-law, which I think is another one of those taboo subjects, especially in the Asian community. But, yes, it's always been about looking after others. And, you know, like you, I feel that now I'm in midlife and we've been through so many experiences.

You know, what you see on social media is just normally the positive side. And I'm very open, a lot of it, you know, quite vulnerable. and I try and keep it as real as I can because, you know, my life isn't perfect and I've been through things that I never imagined, you know, like grief and so many things behind everyone's closed doors. But I think it's really important that we really invest in ourselves. And the fact that we can do simple things, you know, I'm all about quick, easy, free tools. I call it the feel good toolkit. But I really, really want to share that with women. and give them hope, especially during midlife, where people are going through so many varying symptoms. You know, like myself, each menopause journey is just so different. And, you know, my community is the reason that I'm so passionate about is I still feel so much awareness needs to be done,

especially with the fact that South Asian and black communities can go through perimenopause and menopause so much earlier than the average white people are. And to this day, Louise, you know, I get DMs, I get questions. It's like there's been a huge menopause revolution over the last year and it's absolutely fabulous, but we've got to continue that conversation and really filter down to the communities that may not be on Instagram or on social media and maybe families that, you know, aren't able to have open discussions or there's barriers in terms of language or cultural barriers that are preventing women to get help.

Absolutely. And I think the problem is that every community is affected, well, obviously every community is affected, but most, if not every community is also neglected in some way as well. And there's all this talk, and I hear it a lot. Louise, what you're doing is amazing, the conversation. We're actually now bored of the menopause. Everyone's talking about it.

Can we just talk about something else? And I feel like I'm not going to stop until everybody gets the knowledge and information that they need and want. and there is still a lot of neglected communities. And it's almost sometimes, I don't know, I'm talking out of term, but it's almost sometimes I hear things, and I feel it's a bit patronising.

Oh, they're there. Let's just do a token, help some, you know, ethnic minority people and tick the box and go back to our middle class white homes. And that's completely wrong. And I think as healthcare professionals, especially when I was a, obviously, GP for many years, but I've been very privileged, actually,

to come across people from all sorts of backgrounds. And I've always learnt things and I've always realised that people, whatever aspect of life, they actually need more information than they're getting and they need it in different ways as well. So for some people it will be as easy as Googling. Other people, they prefer the secrecy of their phone on an app. Other people would like to read something in their own language.

Or other people, it might be their sister or daughter or, you know, someone at their place of worship. that they learned from. It really varies, doesn't it? Oh, it varies so much. I mean, it's, you know, very common. I had a conversation recently, you know, with my mother-in-law very openly about her menopause. I talk to my mum and it's, you know, it was those times where it was very suppressed and they both say to me, oh, I didn't feel anything. And obviously growing up as children, you remember those moments where, you know, mom could have just flipped, like I've flipped and I've had my, you know, moments of, you know, rage that just come out of nowhere or times where I've seen my mom cry and she's forgotten.

And they were just so busy because they came in the 60s, right, from India and Africa. And, you know, the very working class, they really started off with nothing. So their focus was obviously, like I'm saying, just giving to their children to make sure that they could provide our education, our basic needs. So it's very suppressed and it's an interesting conversation now. because obviously they see me talking about it so much. But, you know, my drive really came from when I actually went on Instagram in tears after I realized just last April, so about a year ago, that I was going through perimenopause from the age of 40.

And even now, you know, I've obviously, I'm not promoting exercise for how we look. I'm not one of those body transformation coaches. It's more about what exercise and lifestyle change. changes does for, you know, the inside, all the magic that it does inside our mental health. But people look at me now and they still think, oh my gosh, you're talking about menopause, but you look so young. And the amount of women, you know, these messages that I get that I've been to my GP and they're still being dismissed for being too young, I know there's so much education going on at the moment. And I point everyone to the balance at, you know, I feel like

that is the best tool. I used it myself. So obviously, I only promote things that I, know and I really believe in, but you know, you're providing such essential information and it's just in such easy, digestible form, which I love. But, you know, going to your doctor and knowing that if you're South Asian and if it is five or six years earlier than the average white female, so I guess, you know, correct me if I'm wrong, menopause could hit South Asian women around the age of 45. And if perimenopause is up to 10 years before that, for me, You know, when I hit 40, it was literally like my 40th birthday present. My periods just started going erratic.

I was kicking off a brand new career path, you know, something that I never, ever imagined I'd be doing. And I was going life twice a day during the pandemic. You know, I was never a public person. Even being on a podcast like this is like a pinch-free moment still. But, yeah, I think, you know, what we need to get is these key messages out there that it can hit women at completely different points. Absolutely. So we shouldn't be waiting to be a certain age or a certain birthday thinking. And actually some areas of India, the average age of the menopause, not that any woman's average, of course, is 40. And often that's related to hysterically as well. Many women have an earlier history. Many women have lots of children or more children than maybe they would over in the UK. And there's all sorts of reasons why people have an earlier menopause. And the recent figures have said three in 100 women under the age of 40 have an early menopause. It used to be one in 100.

But I think it's a lot higher than that, and we know certainly certain conditions such as HIV, women living with HIV, are more likely to have an earlier menopause and less likely to be diagnosed and less likely to receive treatment, actually. And then there's one thing learning about the symptoms, but actually the menopause is a cardiometabolic problem. So actually that means it increases our cardiovascular risk, so our risk of heart attack, stroke, cardiovascular diseases. But it also increases our risk of.

metabolic changes, so type 2 diabetes. And there are many Asian communities where there is a real increased risk, isn't there, of cardiovascular disease, type two diabetes, obesity, especially central obesity. And I remember you saying to me, you know, these women actually do become invisible. And they're not invisible from their families because often they're the ones that are holding things together at home. but they can't function in the same way, but it's almost shameful to talk about. But even if you don't talk about their symptoms, they've got these changes,

these metabolic changes occurring in their body, probably in a faster way than many of us who are Western. And actually, that's really important. And for me, as a physician, that's what I worry about the suffering. Of course I do of women with their symptoms, but I worry more about the long-term impact when you're looking at global health

and you're looking at how do I make the biggest difference to the most people in medicine to prevent disease, you know, we shouldn't be giving all the drugs to treat obesity. We should be preventing it. We should be preventing obesity. We should be preventing types of diabetes. And looking at the role of hormones is absolutely crucial. And then obviously working with exercise as well, because a lot of people say to me, well, I'll get women to exercise and then if there's a problem, we'll start to think about their hormones, but actually women are then being set up to fail and I think that's really hard. Yeah, I mean, look, you've touched on, you know, the topics I'm so passionate about, you know, I'm not a medic, I'm not a physician, but for me, you've probably hearing my workout.

So I try and back everything with science. So for me, the biggest impact is to get people healthier. And that means not just a six-pack and that temporary, you know, measure. it's about reducing risks of all these chronic diseases. And I became an ambassador for diabetes UK, but it was really pre-pandemic where I kicked off this Get UK Asians Fit campaign. And I was horrified when I sort of researching behind the science of exercise

that South Asians are six times more likely to have diabetes than the average white person. And that was pre-pandemic. And then twice as likely to have heart disease. and we know that heart disease is the number one killer for women, and we know that our chances of heart disease and our risks actually increased during menopause. So when I found out about the stats around diabetes,

when I look at my own family and my mom lost her dad at a very young age from diabetes, and when I think about how type 2 and pre-diabetes, how it's just so prevalent, not just in my communities, but worldwide. and when I look at how exercise, lifestyle changes, eating healthily, sleep, you know, our stress management, it's more a holistic approach. So it's not just about exercise, come on, you know, we've got to go and do it. Because like you say, women's symptoms can vary so much. And sometimes you just don't have the motivation, right, to actually go and do that hour-long workout. And that's where, you know, when I discovered exercise snacking, It was back in 2017.

It was just a random study that I read, and I just couldn't believe what I was reading. It was very early on, and I feel like it's coming out in mainstream now, you know, and I'm very excited for my book that will be coming out about all of this. But it was quite early on that I discovered that, you know, just small bite-sized amounts of movement are as effective, if not more effective than the hour-long workout that,

most of us can't fit into our lifestyles, men and women, let alone women going through terrible kinds of perimenopause and the fact that I feel that during midlife, you know, there's studies as research showing that we are more sedentary and that's one of the things that I'm really trying to get people to do is just to try and keep moving through their day. You know, I was a corporate project manager for a very large, you know, global company in my 20s. And now, it's really weird that I go into workplaces and my main mission is to try and get people to stay active. And not only is it going to benefit the company, you know, it's going to boost their employees' morale, their productivity, the happiness, their mental health, reduced the number of

sick days. But, you know, it's incredible when I go to these environments and I get people moving. And it's reducing the amount of time that we're sitting because the studies are showing, you know, the stuff I'm researching shows that people are sitting for, nine hours a day where most of us, you know, I should be getting you, Louise, doing a little exercise. Well, I'm standing up my desk today, so I am moving because it's so important. We do. If we're not sitting at a desk, we're sitting on our phones, we're just scratching over,

and that sort of awful posture is just so wrong. And it is hard, you know, and I, as many people know, really enjoy doing yoga. But sometimes, well, quite often I get up, I always get up early, but I get up and do 20 minutes yoga before I have a shower and I try and do that three times a week. So that's an extra hour. But then I also do like today I did a longer hour practice because it's Sunday and I can do that. So then I think, well actually I've done two hours which actually it's not brilliant but it's fine. But then I also did because I knew you were coming on the podcast. I actually did two days ago. I just did a 10 minutes with some small weight. It was upper body. It was just very, very lightweight.

But when I'd pick them up, I was like, oh, this is nothing because my husband has quite big weights at home. he's flexing about. So I thought, oh my goodness, eight minutes in, I was just sad enough. And then I thought, right, no, Levinas says. So I did a five minute abdominal muscle sort of core workout. Now, my core is strong because of yoga, because I've done yoga for a long time. So I do pride myself for having, you know, really good tone and core. But five minutes of that. And then yesterday, I actually didn't do a yoga practice because I thought, all my arms are sore. My tummy's a bit sore. But I was obviously using muscles that I maybe don't use, but also in a different way as well. And I think this whole muscle memory is very interesting, isn't it? We just sort of, it's very easy to do the same. And even my

yoga practice, I do different style of yoga. I do a stanga yoga very sort of almost religiously on a Wednesday, but I do mix it up a bit. And that's when you do these, you know, you're not too formulaic, are you? And I think that's really important. Yeah, I think, you know, variety is key. So, oh my God, Firstly, I'm so proud of you and you get a big gold star. Oh, thank you. But yeah, what you've just, you know, just the fact that you've tried something new and you felt the difference. So I think a lot of the time, especially, you know, for me, I started my strength training journey when my youngest went into kindergarten. So it was only 12 years ago.

I mean, that was when I was in my early 30s. I'm 45 now. And I'd never ever lifted weights in my life. I mean, the only thing I'd lifted was, you know, my handbag and my suitcase on my travels or whatever. And what I found really, I mean, the light bulb moment was when I just saw, you know, I was going through challenges in life and it was what it did for my mental health. And you've probably heard my slogan to exercise for sanity, not vanity, but I truly believe in that so much that the fact that it can help your mental health.

And my whole feel good with Levina is all around feeling good. the endorphins that are released, these happy hormones, that even after a couple of minutes of movement, and whatever you choose to do, be it yoga, be go for a feel good walk. You know, I always promote going out doors if you can, exposing yourself to nature. Just that has incredible science behind it in improving our health and reducing things like anxiety and depression, which is so common, especially for menopausal women. But yeah, it was lifting weights that I felt was the missing piece of the jigsaw for a lot of people's exercise routines, if you want to call it, because a lot of women, you know, do go to the gym and they just go straight onto the treadmill

or the road, something that they're very comfortable with. And it was a pandemic, really, but I think one of the best things that came out of it was the fact that people then got so comfortable working out from home or trying new things, you know, just that daily 30 minutes that we could go outside and people started running or they started walking. Or they started walking and for me walking literally is my therapy it's that time where I just try and switch off it's a time that's given me the most creativity really like some of these crazy ideas of the things that I've done over the last few years came on my walks but yeah you've got to find something that you enjoy but I am very passionate about promoting strength training and it doesn't mean

lifting heavy weights like just the fact that you're already doing body weight with yoga which is absolutely fabulous. So that's a form of weight-bearing exercise. And that's really important for our bone health. So we know about the risks of osteoporosis. And just that load, be it your body weight, or as you progress, you know, maybe through your strength training journeys, called progressive overload. And that's how you can slowly gradually over time. You may see me lifting huge heavy weights on my Instagram, but that's just something that I have found that I love. But yeah, so bone health is important, our heart health, which you touched on. And we know that, you know, this year, 2023 is our world menopause month, really, is focus on

cardiovascular disease, which I'm thrilled about. And then the other side is our brain health. And, you know, I'm an ambassador for Alzheimer's society as well, because actually when I lost my grandmother, she lived to 97, but her last decade of her life, there was. so much suffering and as a South Asian family we found it so immensely difficult to talk about dementia. It's a real taboo subject out there that families just don't like to confront and especially when you see the mother of our whole family suffering like that. When I actually started getting my symptoms, you know, my early 40s where I got that brain fog and I was thinking, oh my goodness, my brain is like the thing I'm relying on at the moment and I was doing a lot of public facing

work. I was then on social media. It really scared me. And like a lot of women, I did worry, am I going through early onset dementia or Alzheimer's? So exercise is one of the best tools that we can use to reduce risks of dementia as well. And I take keep our brains fit. You know, I did a TED talk literally just on the fact that exercise can actually not only boost your existing brain cells, but it can grow a new brain cells in your hippocampus. You know, it can really help with our memory. And the fact that we're losing so many women, you know, in menopause, in the workplace, is one of those things I know we're both so passionate about.

And I do feel, you know, the confidence, the self-esteem, it just kind of drops when you start thinking, oh my goodness, I'm starting to forget things. And I may be, you know, in front of my colleagues and they're going to judge me or how am I actually going to get around this? And there's, you know, even just the TED talk for me was a scary moment because I had no teleprompter and I had to do 18 minutes of speaking off by heart. And I knew that was all the things that I wanted to get into that short amount of time. But it's, you know, I did a little workout before I did my TED talk because I knew the science behind it. So even just going into a big meeting, if you're going into a big meeting ladies or

If you're going into your GP appointment and you're worried about how you want to talk about your symptoms or any situation that's putting you a little bit uncomfortable, just do a minute. Just do two minutes. I mean, we could even just do a bit of boxing now. You could do some sit and stand. You could do some stuff even at your chair, which is the stuff I do with my mother-in-law. And we've continued those workouts every week just to show not just the elderly. You know, that was the market that I was really passionate about during the pandemic with her. But I'm finding a lot of midlife women that may not have that motivation. And it's just a great way to start, right? You can do simple chair movements with our tin cans, our plastic bottles, no expensive gym equipment. You can do it from the comfort of your home if you're feeling terrible and you just want to stay in your pajamas. You know, I'm just all about making it as accessible as possible. So, yeah, I've done a lot there. Yeah, but it's also important.

And, you know, for many years as a GP, people say, obviously, I haven't got time for exercise. But also, it's quite intimidating. You know, I hate going to gyms because I'm always feeling an adequate. I look at them and I think, oh, no, look at that. So actually, I think lockdown for lots of reasons, we did learn things. And one of the things we learned was independence and ability to flex and change, but also to do, like you say, different forms of exercise. But then it's not just exercise.

It's just movement, isn't it? I think just sometimes cleaning your teeth and doing some pelvic floor exercises, it's fine. You're cleaning your teeth every day anyway. You might as well squeeze and, you know, do it the same time. And just making it part of your routine, I think, is so important. So it's not intimidating. And also knowing that often when we exercise, we feel better and then we're more likely to eat better. We're more likely to sleep better.

We're more likely to be happier, like you say. But actually, I think it's also really important to not expect too much out of exercising initially because it's so easy to look at people who are picking up heavy weights or who are doing the most amazing yoga pose or who are sprinting marathons. And women often, especially when they're perimenopoles or menopause or have very low self-esteem anyway, these feelings of reduced self-worth. And it's so easy to just go, no, I'll do it tomorrow and I'll do it tomorrow. And sometimes it's good to have a rest day as well.

You don't have to exercise every day, do you? But I think if it's coming to a pattern that there's days and days, and sometimes when I am incredibly busy, and I don't go and do my regular Wednesday morning, a stangy over class, it's very easy to always forget that you do exercise. You think, oh, well, it doesn't really matter. But then I look up patients who have never exercised, and you get this sarcopenia, this loss of muscle mass,

and I see their forearms and their arms, and they just can't get up. the chair so easily. And then I think, oh, I really enjoy my baths in the evening. And I always think, I don't want my husband to be putting me out of the bath. And it's very simple things that you don't realize until it's too late, actually. We're not doing, like you said at the beginning, I think that's really important exercise to be in our bikinis or our swimming costumes or our whatever figure-hugging dress. It's actually about, and often it's the core that you can't see is really important. But also, it's, it's a little bit. But also, it's, you're It's about our bone strength and our muscle strength, not just how it looks.

And I think focusing on that is really important, isn't it? Yeah, I mean, like, you know, you've touched on what I say. It's about future-proofing our bodies. And, you know, when we put it in perspective, like, one in four I've heard may not get any symptoms. One in four will get debilitating symptoms. I was probably in the middle. But my message really is, you know, and I do want women to not be scared, right? I mean, I want women to maybe look at someone like me that's doing something totally unplanned at the same time as my perimenopause started.

And I'm open about my symptoms. You know, I talk about them all the time. But this is our chance to start investing in ourselves. You know, like this is the moment where we want to think about what you're saying. How are we going to age well? Like, please free if possible. You know, it's really high when we look at rates of cancer, heart disease. disease, diabetes. And it's this point in life where, you know, my children are getting a bit

older. Yes, I talked to you just before we came on about the challenges of, you know, aging parents. So we're in that typical sandwich generation, as they call it. But in order to look after everyone else around us, and this is something I really say to women, is that you've got to look after yourself. And it's not just about exercise, Louise. So it's, you know, like, I'm very passionate about what I call self-care snacks as well. So just having that bath, that me time, whether it's breath work. You know, breath work is not just incredible for your brain health, but it's also great for your blood pressure for reducing your risks of things like heart disease. Journaling is something that I started in the pandemic. You know, I used to write a diary when I was a little

teenager, but it's just really helped me not just keep on track of my symptoms. Like, you know, using the balance up as well, but it's just a way for me to write away my worries. And sometimes small things, like just finding little tools that I say that you can do during your day, rest is so important and our sleep is so important. You know, you've hit it hard. Like if we're not sleeping well, we're not going to want to exercise. And it's both ways because exercise will hopefully help you sleep better. But it's looking at a very holistic approach about. And I'm I want women to be kind to yourselves. Like, just start off small. You know, it's not about comparing yourself to others. And I feel that's the hard bit with social media. You know,

you've got daughters. But it's really looking at your own feel-good journey, I say, and just be proud of your little successes. Like your wins this week, your eight-minute strength workout. It's just brilliant, right? But even if you just did a minute of squats every hour, Or like you said, I also wrote about brushing teeth and I do it now single-legged and I do it, you know, I get my balance stack in and balance is so important, especially as we age. We want to reduce our risks of falls. But it's these simple things and it's like piggybacking them like you said. So yes, I think it's very individual. I hope I wanted to encourage women to just start and you've got to do exercise, find things that you enjoy, right? no point in me saying, just go and do this. It's not a prescription. It's in our busy lifestyles, whether you're working or not. I'm sure, you know, you're busy as a woman. And we have so many challenges during this phase that I want women to find tools that are going to help them thrive.

Fantastic. What a perfect way to end. So lots to think about. Lots of positivity there. But before we end, Levina, I'd just like to ask three tips. So three tips for people who maybe just think, do you know what? It's great. I still can't be bothered. What are the three easy wins for anybody can do just to improve their future health? So I would love you all to start strength training. And I want you to prioritise building your muscle mass over losing weight. Yeah. So one of the examples could be just some standing press-ups just to start building your upper body strength. And the other one could be just doing some sit-and-stands every time you're sitting too long, whether it's behind your desk or at your sofa, and then just progress in your strength journey.

So the second one, I guess, is to start off small and start exercise snacking, as I say, build small bite-sized amounts of movement through your day and know that it all counts and that it's never too late to start. And I guess number three is, you know, like this. It's an honour being on this. And it's great because it's just helping us share our experience. we're all different. I want women to keep talking, to keep learning, keep educating yourself, and keep sharing your journey with everyone around you, right? So this ripple effect of me,

I share it very openly with my boys, my husband, my dad even now. And, you know, that's conversations that I never thought I'd be comfortable speaking about as a South Asian woman. But this is really important so that we do start filtering these messages down to everyone, not just, I guess, you know, like the middle class, but to all communities. So yeah, just know that you're going to get through this. Absolutely. And keep talking. So thank you ever so much for your time today. And for those people that don't follow, Levinna, sneak over to her Instagram and prepare to be delighted. So thanks ever so much for your time today. Oh, thank you, Louise. You can find out more about Newsome Health Group by visiting www.com.com.com.

and you can download the free balance app on the App Store or Google Play.