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The Dr Ben Blog

Blogs by Dr Ben

March 2025.

Dr Ben writes a new Blog at the start of every month for our Man Shed section.

Calling all Shed Men: It’s time to make a Holiday Plan!!

I’m happy to say I have cheery news to report to Menopause Matters readers of my blog this month, as the views from my Man Shed are definitely improving.

Now when I say ‘views’, I’m not talking about my views on life in general, or my views on the latest, top-of-the-range sheds that have just come on the market.

Nor is it anything to do with the much-needed recent clear-up I’ve had in here, getting rid of a lot of the dust and cobwebs that have been building up over the winter.

It's more to do with the Spring views out of my shed windows, which I can now see through much more clearly. It’s reminded me how valuable today’s newspapers are... for cleaning windowpanes.

The warm sunshine is encouraging a few daffodils, snowdrops and primroses to start decorating my lawn, which is also great news for my children because it means there are plenty of places for the Easter Bunny to hide when he/she hops in to pay us a visit (fingers crossed).

This all makes me start thinking about the holidays and how we are going to manage with the kids at home for two weeks. The Spring holidays, of course, are traditionally supposed to be all about enjoying relaxed family time together and relaxing on joyful days off work.

But for many caregivers, for example, this time can mean dreading the looming holidays ahead as, despite having time off work, they have to look after the whole family over the holiday period.

Although the holidays may mean a bit of a schedule change, they often don’t give us an opportunity to take much of a break. If you’re a Shed Man reading this, now’s the time when you might want to take some early steps to ensure that your Other Half gets a decent break from domestic chores over the holiday.

Now might be a good time to start thinking about planning some family activities this Easter. How about scheduling these yourself? You might look ahead and plan some meals provided by someone other than the matriarch of the household. You might want to tag-team in order to ring-fence some great time with the kids, and some time together with your partner, in order to give yourselves a break to do something special, or just spend some quality time together.

Fellow Shed Men, maybe now’s the time to sit down and share a chat with your partner about what expectations you both have for the Easter bank holiday period.

Don’t pressurise yourselves into doing too much. Rather, I’d advise, choose one or two activities which allow you to have fun together. Provided you can arrange alternative childcare cover, what about perhaps also asking the kids to pick a night when Mum and Dad could go out and spend some quality time together?

For our female readers, you may also welcome such proactive initiatives by your partner because right now you may well be struggling with fatigue, sleep disruption or low energy as a result of Perimenopause.

It’s important not to drive yourself too hard in the days and weeks leading up to the holidays – because then you’ll risk crashing when you stop.

In order to ensure you end up getting a proper break, try to start winding down a week or so before the holidays actually begin. That way you can give yourself enough time to tick off everything you will need to get done over the Easter period.

You might want to schedule in a bit of time for yourself to enjoy some exercise, maybe conduct a review of your nutrition programme, or perhaps draft a self-care plan as part of your break. It’s important to plan all these things ahead and take these opportunities to maintain yourself for the next term, until you can enjoy another rest break.

And if you’re lucky enough to spot a pair of fluffy, white ears among your primroses, suggesting a welcome visit from the Easter Bunny, you have my full permission to enjoy a bit of chocolate. Ideally this should be dark chocolate, which is full of antioxidants and much better for you than sugary milk chocolate. Dr Ben recommends that you go for quality, not quantity, as the benefits to your health of dark chocolate in moderation are well established.

Enjoy the holidays!

If you’ve got a question for Our Man in The Man Shed Dr Ben Sinclair, you can email him on [email protected]

Welcome to The Man Shed and I’m delighted to be your man in it!

My name is Dr Ben Sinclair (please just call me ‘Dr Ben’, everyone does), and I’ve been a GP for nearly 20 years. Bear with me a sec while I shift these spare paint tins and get my laptop set up…

If you’ve got a question for Our Man in The Man Shed, Dr Ben Sinclair, you can email him on:
[email protected].

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