The Power of Personalised Health Coaching in Menopause

No two menopause experiences are exactly alike. Your menopause symptoms, health history, responsibilities, routines and priorities are personal to you. So why should the approach you take to your health be any different?

You can find plenty of menopause advice online. You can read about nutrition, try a new exercise routine, adjust your sleep habits or follow recommendations you've heard from friends and professionals.

But knowing what might help is not always the same as knowing what makes sense for your circumstances.

Personalised health coaching is about working out what is relevant to you, deciding where to start and adapting your approach as your needs change.

It is not about following a perfect plan. It is about developing a more considered, realistic way to support your health through perimenopause, menopause and beyond.

What Is Personalised Health Coaching?

Health coaching is a collaborative process that helps you identify your priorities, explore your options and work towards changes that matter to you.

Personalised health coaching takes your individual circumstances into account rather than assuming that the same recommendations will work equally well for everyone.

For example, two women might both be experiencing disrupted sleep and low energy. One may be working long hours and caring for children. Another may have recently retired and be adjusting to a different daily routine.

Although their concerns may sound similar, the practical changes available to each of them could be very different.

Personalisation means considering the person behind the symptoms, including their routines, preferences, existing health support and capacity for change.

It also means recognising that lifestyle coaching is not a way to diagnose the cause of symptoms or replace appropriate medical care.

Why Generic Health Advice Can Be Difficult to Apply

General health advice can be a useful starting point. The challenge often comes when you try to fit it into your actual life.

You might know that eating regularly, doing strength-based exercise, managing stress and making time for sleep can support your wellbeing. But what does that look like when you are exhausted, travelling for work, caring for a family member or struggling to find time for yourself?

You may also have tried several approaches at once, leaving you unsure which changes are useful and which are difficult to sustain.

This can lead to a familiar cycle:

• You discover a new recommendation.

• You try to make several changes at once.

• The changes become difficult to maintain.

• You feel frustrated when your routine falls away.

• You start looking for another solution.

The problem may not be a lack of motivation. You may simply need a more manageable way to decide what to focus on and how to put it into practice. I call this closing the Menopause Action Gap™.

Personalised coaching helps you move from collecting more advice to making considered choices about what is realistic for you.

What Makes Health Coaching Personalised?

1. Starting With Your Circumstances, Not a Standard Plan

A useful starting point is understanding what is happening in your life now.

That may include the concerns you want to address, your current routines, your food preferences, your experience of movement, your sleep patterns and the demands on your time.

Your health history and any existing medical support also matter. Where symptoms need assessment or treatment, a GP or appropriate healthcare professional remains the right person to consult.

The aim is to build a clearer picture of your circumstances before deciding which lifestyle changes might be worth exploring.

2. Identifying Your Priorities

When several things feel difficult at once, it can be tempting to tackle everything immediately.

But a long list of changes can quickly become overwhelming.

Coaching can help you identify what matters most to you and where a manageable first step might lie.

Perhaps you want to establish a more consistent eating routine before changing your exercise habits. Perhaps you want to make your evenings less stressful before adding anything else to your schedule.

The starting point depends on your priorities, not a universal sequence that everyone must follow.

3. Turning Recommendations Into Practical Actions

Advice such as “eat better”, “move more” or “reduce stress” is broad. It doesn't tell you what to do on a busy Tuesday when you have little energy and limited time.

Personalised coaching translates general intentions into actions that fit your circumstances.

That might mean finding breakfast options you can prepare quickly, identifying a realistic time for strength training, or creating an evening routine that works around your responsibilities.

The emphasis is on finding a starting point you can test in everyday life rather than trying to change everything at once.

4. Adapting as Your Needs Change

A plan that works well one month may become difficult when your work, family responsibilities, energy or priorities change.

Personalisation is therefore not just about creating an individual plan at the beginning. It is also about reviewing how things are going and adjusting the approach when necessary.

If a strategy is impractical, you can explore why and consider an alternative. If a change is working well, you can decide whether to build on it.

This helps make the process responsive rather than treating the original plan as something you must follow regardless of circumstances.

5. Building Confidence in Your Own Decisions

The aim of coaching is not to make you dependent on a coach for every decision.

It is to help you develop a better understanding of your options, recognise what is manageable and make more informed choices about your everyday habits.

Over time, this may help you feel more confident about adapting routines when life changes or when a particular strategy no longer suits you.

Progress is personal. It may involve changes in your routines, greater confidence in your choices, improvements in how you feel, or a combination of these. The outcomes will vary, and lifestyle coaching cannot guarantee symptom relief.

How Does Personalised Coaching Fit Into a Holistic Approach to Menopause?

Menopause can affect several aspects of daily life, and these can interact with one another.

Your eating habits may be affected by poor sleep. Stress may make it harder to maintain an exercise routine. A demanding schedule may leave little time to prepare meals or recover after a busy day.

This is one reason it can be helpful to consider your health in context rather than treating every concern as a completely separate problem.

My approach draws on five interconnected areas: nutrition, gut health, movement, sustainable behaviour change, and stress and sleep.

Personalisation is about deciding which areas deserve attention first and how to approach them in a way that fits your circumstances.

You can read more about how these areas work together in A Holistic Approach to Menopause.

What Personalised Health Coaching Is - and Isn't

Personalised coaching is not a promise that every symptom can be resolved through lifestyle changes. Nor is it a substitute for medical assessment, treatment or psychological therapy when these are needed.

A coach can help you explore lifestyle habits, clarify your priorities, work towards practical goals and review your progress.

A coach should not diagnose medical conditions, prescribe medication or replace your doctor or menopause specialist.

If you have symptoms that concern you, or symptoms that are new, severe or changing, seek appropriate medical advice. Coaching can complement your healthcare, but it should not delay it.

Is Personalised Health Coaching Right for You?

Personalised coaching may be worth exploring if you:

• Have read plenty of health advice but struggle to decide what to focus on.

• Have tried different routines but find it difficult to maintain them.

• Want to make changes but need them to fit around work, family or caring responsibilities.

• Feel overwhelmed by conflicting recommendations.

• Would value support in setting priorities, testing practical strategies and reviewing what works for you.

You do not need to have every goal clearly defined before you begin. Part of the process can be working out what matters most and what a realistic first step might look like.

If you're unsure whether you need this type of support, read Do I Need a Menopause Coach? 5 Signs You're Ready for Support.

If you would like to understand what working with a coach involves, see What Does a Menopause Coach Do?.

A More Personal Way Forward

You do not need another long list of things you should be doing. You need to understand which changes are relevant to you, what feels achievable and how to approach them in the context of your life.

Personalised health coaching provides a space to explore those questions, work towards practical goals and adapt your approach as you learn more about what works for you.

If you would like to talk through your circumstances and explore whether my approach could be a good fit, you can book a free 30-minute Menopause Clarity Call.

It is an opportunity to discuss your priorities, ask questions and consider your next steps without pressure.

Phillipa Jacobs-Smith is a UKIHCA-registered menopause health coach supporting women through perimenopause and menopause with personalised, evidence-informed lifestyle coaching.

Research & Evidence

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15. British Menopause Society (2024) Menopause: diagnosis and management. Available at: https://thebms.org.uk/ .