Juliana Piskorz 

Kirsty Wark: ‘We should work a four-day week and on the other day learn another skill’

The Newsnight presenter, 63, talks about her early menopause, HRT and what’s wrong with our living-for-the-weekend culture
  
  

Kirsty Wark
Kirsty Wark: ‘It’s not a choice going through the menopause, but no one ever talks about it. I think it goes back to medieval times.’ Photograph: Phil Fisk/The Observer

I can tell I’m getting older (I’m 63), because I can’t see without my glasses. Just yesterday morning I went into my daughter’s bathroom and picked up a bottle that looked exactly like my face oil and splashed it all over my face and went out. I woke up this morning and my face is bright orange – it was her tanning oil. You’re only supposed to use one drop. I look like a carrot. I’m hoping by the time I do Newsnight on Thursday it will have calmed down.

I had a hysterectomy, when I was 46, which triggered early menopause. It’s not a choice going through the menopause, but no one ever talks about it. I think it goes back to medieval times when it was associated with witchcraft. When kids have sex education at school, it’s never discussed. No one says there will be a cycle in your life when you’re no longer fertile and you will get symptoms such as joint pain and forgetfulness.

I was on HRT. I’m not on it now, but I’m about to start taking it again. Sleep is the biggest problem for me. There’s nothing wrong with HRT, but quite often doctors will put women on antidepressants. So many women I’ve met have been offered them for no good reason. They’re fine if you’re struggling with depression, of course, but they are not for the menopause.

We should try and teach our daughters that they can do whatever they want. Though it’s very difficult for kids these days to figure out what they’re going to do. There will be no jobs for life and so they will need to develop resilience.

I don’t think people should live for the moment, we need to live for the future. We have the lowest productivity in Europe and yet we work long hours; we should work a four-day week and on the other day learn another skill, do yoga, get fit, or look after a relative. I think it takes a radical shift to change our living for the weekend culture.

 

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