Every autumn, basket in hand, I find myself moving slowly along the hedgerows of Tasmania harvesting hawthorn berries - and every year I'm reminded that somewhere along the way, herbalists put this plant in a box. Hawthorn became "the cardiovascular herb," and in doing so, we sidelined the berry: the part most widely used traditionally, and the part modern research is now revealing as a powerful, gut-mediated medicine. From TCM's Shan Zha to the latest microbiome science, it's time to bring the berry back to the table.

Perimenopause arrives differently for everyone - quietly for some, like a storm for others. But beneath the disrupted sleep, the bloating, the emotions sitting a little closer to the surface, there's something worth paying attention to. At the centre of this transition sits the microbiome, and when we learn to work with it rather than against it, something shifts.

Today I want to talk about a topic very close to my heart, mini-self-care. I know the concept of self-care has been done to death so I hope you can stick with me here. For busy humans, “self-care” can so often feel like another thing on the to-do list, and unfortunately exacerbate the feeling of having too much to do!