Summary
Menopause affects every woman, but for many the most disruptive impact happens at work. From brain fog and broken sleep to low energy and even lower confidence, the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause can quietly chip away at performance, wellbeing and career momentum.
Most workplaces still do not talk about it. And many women do not realise their symptoms are hormone-related until it has already started to affect how they show up at work.
This article explores the hidden toll menopause can take in the workplace, why support is so often missing, and how Vision Personal Training is helping women stay strong and supported through the change with our strongHER program and our So Hot Right Now seminars run at our local studios.
Key Topics
How hormonal changes affect focus, energy, and confidence at work
The career impact of menopause, with research from Dr Louise Newson
Symptoms that disrupt professional performance
Why so many workplaces are still unprepared
What women can do now to protect their health and career
How the strongHER program and our So Hot Right Now seminar support women through this transition and beyond
What’s Really Happening During Menopause
Menopause is not a moment in time. It is a hormonal transition that can begin years before your periods stop. For many women, the symptoms of perimenopause start as early as their late thirties or early forties and can last for more than a decade.
During this stage, levels of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone begin to fluctuate and eventually decline. These hormones do far more than regulate your cycle. They influence everything from your mood and memory to your joints, muscles, metabolism, and ability to focus.
When estrogen drops, serotonin the brain’s feel-good chemical often drops with it. This can trigger anxiety, irritability, low mood and brain fog. At the same time, lower progesterone can affect sleep and resilience to stress. Testosterone, though present in smaller amounts in women, supports strength, energy, confidence, and cognitive clarity. Its decline can leave many women feeling flat or mentally sluggish.
In our So Hot Right Now seminars, our trainers explain that what often looks like burnout or stress may actually be the early signs of perimenopause. But because these symptoms can mimic overwork or ageing, they’re easy to overlook or mislabel.
The result? Women often keep pushing through, silently struggling with low energy, disrupted sleep, or poor concentration without connecting the dots. And all of this plays out at work in meetings, in decision-making, in leadership, in everyday confidence.
This is not a personal failing. It is a hormonal shift one that deserves better awareness, better support, and better strategies.
The Impact on Women’s Careers
For many women, menopause doesn’t just affect how they feel it affects how they work, how they lead, and how they see themselves in their careers. And too often, it happens in silence.
At Vision, we hear the same story from women across our studios. They feel foggy, tired, less confident. They find themselves withdrawing from meetings, second-guessing their performance, or quietly stepping back from roles they once thrived in.
This isn’t a lack of ambition. It’s the result of real, physiological changes that affect everything from sleep and memory to focus and emotional regulation.
In our So Hot Right Now seminar and from our internal training, we reference the work of menopause specialist Dr Louise Newson, who captured just how widespread the impact is:
99% of women said their symptoms had a negative effect on their career
59% had taken time off work, with 18% off for more than eight weeks
50% of those who took extended leave eventually resigned or took early retirement
21% passed on a promotion they would have otherwise pursued
19% reduced their working hours
Most alarming? 60% said their workplace offered no menopause support at all.
The reasons are complex. For some, it’s chronic fatigue or sleep disruption. For others, it’s the loss of mental clarity, mood changes, or physical discomfort. Many women report a drop in confidence not because they’ve lost their skills, but because they no longer feel like themselves.
As Dr Newson explains, this often happens right when women are at the peak of their experience. Careers they’ve built over decades are impacted by symptoms they were never prepared for and by workplaces that rarely know how to help.
Menopause should not be a career roadblock. But without the right education, support and strategies, that’s exactly what it becomes.
Symptoms That Disrupt Careers
Menopause symptoms are not just hot flushes and night sweats. In fact, the symptoms most likely to affect performance at work are the ones that people rarely talk about and even more rarely link to hormones.
In our So Hot Right Now seminars, we help women identify the signs that are most likely to impact their professional lives. These include:
1. Brain Fog and Poor Concentration
Women describe forgetting words mid-sentence, struggling to follow meetings, or losing focus during tasks they once handled with ease. This isn’t a lack of intelligence it’s the effect of declining estrogen and disrupted sleep on cognitive function.
2. Anxiety and Mood Swings
Hormonal changes can increase sensitivity to stress, reduce emotional resilience, and heighten anxiety — even in women who have never struggled with it before. The emotional load becomes heavier, and tolerance for workplace pressure can feel much lower.
3. Sleep Disruption and Fatigue
Night sweats, early waking, or a racing mind can lead to broken sleep for weeks or months at a time. The result is chronic exhaustion that affects productivity, patience, and motivation. This is one of the most commonly reported challenges by women in leadership roles.
4. Low Confidence
When you’re not sleeping, not thinking clearly, and not feeling in control of your body, it’s hard to show up with confidence. Many women begin to doubt their capabilities not because their skills have changed, but because their internal sense of self has.
5. Physical Discomfort
From joint pain and frozen shoulder to digestive issues and hot flushes, the physical symptoms of menopause can make long workdays, presentations or even sitting at a desk feel overwhelming. These are often misunderstood or misdiagnosed — and almost never discussed in workplace settings.
These symptoms aren’t imaginary. They’re real, common, and backed by biology. But because they show up slowly or vary between women, they are often missed, minimised, or misread as something else entirely like burnout, stress or poor performance.
At Vision, we believe women deserve better. They deserve education that explains what’s happening, and a strategy that helps them stay focused, strong and supported at work.
For more information on the many & varied symptoms of perimenopause & menopause please visit view our latest article on this
Why Most Workplaces Are Still Unprepared
Despite the scale of the issue, most workplaces are still not equipped to support women through perimenopause and menopause. The symptoms are invisible, the stigma is real, and the policies simply do not exist.
Dr Louise Newson’s research shows that 60% of women say their workplace offers no menopause support at all. And when time off is taken, menopause is rarely acknowledged. In fact, just 5% of women had the word “menopause” cited on their medical certificate. Far more had “stress” or “anxiety” listed instead.
Even in healthcare, the silence is widespread. According to UK research shared by Dr Louise Newson, only 1 in 10 female GPs had discussed their menopause symptoms with a manager, despite the fact that 77 percent of the NHS workforce are women, many of whom will be perimenopausal or menopausal. If these conversations are not happening within healthcare settings, it highlights just how under-addressed menopause remains in other industries.
Without awareness or training, many leaders mistake symptoms for disengagement or underperformance. Women are labelled difficult or emotional. And because these changes often happen at this stage of life just as women are reaching the peak of their careers the consequences are high.
When women are unsupported, they leave. When they’re empowered, they lead.
That is why Vision believes education is key. The workplace cannot shift overnight, but we can change how women understand and manage their own transitions andtransitions and that starts with information, not ambiguity.
What Women Can Do Right Now
The reality is this the workplace may not be set up to support you through menopause right now. But with the right education, movement, and mindset, you can take steps to support yourself.
At Vision, we remind women every day that they are not weak, broken, or overreacting. They are navigating a real hormonal shift that affects body, brain, and confidence often while balancing careers, families, and responsibilities that never slow down.
The good news? You don’t need to wait for the system to change before you take back control.
Here’s where to start:
1. Learn what your symptoms are really telling you
The first step is recognising the signs for what they are. Difficulty concentrating at work, sudden anxiety, disrupted sleep, or brain fog are not simply a result of being busy or getting older. These are some of the most common symptoms of perimenopause — and they can start years before your periods stop.
By learning how estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone impact your mind and mood, you can start connecting the dots — and stop blaming yourself.
2. Get the right medical advice
Not all doctors are trained in menopause care. According to Dr Louise Newson’s research, only a quarter of women ever discuss hormones with their GP, and almost 30 percent are prescribed antidepressants despite clear NICE guidelines that say this is not an appropriate first-line treatment for menopause-related mood symptoms.
A better starting point is speaking to a practitioner trained in menopause, who can talk you through options like hormone therapy, lifestyle changes, or supplements tailored to your needs.
3. Train for strength, not just stress relief
One of the most effective ways to support your body during menopause is strength training. When done properly, resistance training can help rebuild lean muscle, protect bone density, and improve metabolism but that’s just the beginning.
In our article Resistance Training and Building Confidence in Menopause, we explain how lifting weights can reduce brain fog, improve sleep, and lower anxiety. It is not just a physical strategy it’s a mental one.
Clients who are on our strongHER program consistently tell us that returning to resistance training helped them feel more capable at work, more in control of their energy, and more confident in meetings, presentations, and everyday life.
4. Eat for energy, clarity, and calm
During menopause, your nutritional needs shift. You may need more protein to maintain muscle, more fibre to support gut health, and more awareness around caffeine, sugar, and alcohol, which can all worsen symptoms like insomnia or anxiety. At Vision, our Coaches work with you to build nutrition strategies that match your lifestyle, preferences, and goals with structure, not restriction.
5. Create small but powerful habits around sleep and stress
One of the biggest pieces of feedback we hear from some of our female clients who are going through perimenopause and menopause is, “I’m exhausted, and I can’t think straight.” This is no surprise. Night sweats, elevated cortisol, and increased sensitivity to stress can all interfere with your ability to sleep and recover.
We focus on educating our clients to build better wind-down routines, reduce stimulants, and find time to move their bodies in ways that reduce cortisol not raise it. Even small changes, like mobility sessions or outdoor walks, can create a huge shift in how you feel.
6. Find support in and out of the workplace
The mental load of menopause becomes heavier when it’s carried alone. Whether it’s speaking to a manager, connecting with other women, or working with one of our Vision Coaches who understands what you’re going through, support changes everything.
The strongHER program is built on this foundation. Our Coaches are trained to support you physically and emotionally, with plans tailored to where you are not where someone else thinks you should be. And with our So Hot Right Now seminars help open the conversation around what’s normal, what’s manageable, and what your next step could look like.
You’re Not Imagining It, and You’re Not Alone
Menopause can feel invisible at work but its effects are real. From the boardroom to the break room, many women are quietly battling fatigue, brain fog, and confidence loss, unsure if what they are feeling is normal or even connected.
The hormonal changes during perimenopause and menopause affect every part of how you think, move, feel, and show up. And while most workplaces are still catching up in Australia, that does not mean you need to wait for permission to support yourself.
At Vision Personal Training, we are changing the conversation and more importantly, we are changing the strategy.
Through strongHER and our So Hot Right Now seminar series, we are helping women build strength they can feel, structure they can trust, and confidence that carries beyond the studio.
You deserve support that goes deeper than a surface-level fix. You deserve a plan that helps you stay strong in your body, focused in your mind, and present in your career without burning out or backing down.
Whether you are noticing the first signs of change or already feeling overwhelmed, you are not imagining it. You are not alone. And you are not powerless.
Take the next step with strongHER.
Learn more or speak to your local Vision Coach about the next So Hot Right Now seminar near you.
