The time I began to notice some personal changes happened right around the time a certain word began infiltrating the cultural lexicon. “Perimenopause” was all over the talk shows, on shelves in book stores, and flooded all over my Instagram feed once the algorithm caught on to my googling “Why am I awake from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. every night?” The world was talking about this very important and often misunderstood stage in a woman’s life, but I was living the conversation. It meant that when Six Senses, a wellness pioneer and a thought leader in the space for decades, let me know they were creating and rolling out a dedicated female health program, aligned with but not limited to the onset of perimenopause, I was all ears. This was the first time I had ever felt such a disconnect from my body, and I know many of my friends, my peers, the fellow mothers in the playground, were feeling similarly. Our work outs lost their effectiveness, our thoughts dissolved before we could articulate them. Our hearts would beat as if running a marathon while lying in bed in the dead of night. I was not simply open to the idea of seeking professional help to get on top of it, I had already decided it was imperative to do so. Before I could say, “cortisol levels,” I was booking flights to Six Senses Douro Valley, in Portugal to try out their new perimenopause program. Here’s how it went.
In a nutshell
“Men have had extensive hormonal research done, but females are still playing catch up,” said Anna Bjurstam, the Head of Six Senses Spas and Wellness. As such she and her team have spent the last few years developing an effective program focussing on hormone balance, diet, exercise, sleep habits, bio and other metrics. Experts in the field—including Mindy Pelz who literally wrote the book on the importance of fasting in female health—oversee the program and according to Bjurstam, all practitioners will go through a certification on female health. Though it was piloted at Six Senses Douro Valley and is currently available at Six Senses Kanuhura in the Maldives, Six Senses Crans-Montana, Six Senses Ninha Van Bay, and Six Senses Rome, it will soon roll out across the entire Six Senses portfolio and guests can choose between three, five, and seven-day programs.
Before arrival
The program is designed to have you hit the ground running so much of the screenings happen before arrival. I had a series of calls with experts, including Javier Suarez, the property’s Director of Wellness and Joana Barretos, a physiotherapist and female health expert at home in New York in the weeks leading up to my visit. I will admit that I can be skeptical of short-term, intense wellness retreats—the all-in-approach over 72 hours that doesn’t replicate your life at home makes me dubious that the results will last, and I was here because I needed to make new habits that would work with my real life. I appreciated talking with Javier, who, after asking me to identify the key points I wanted to explore (trouble sleeping, weight gain, eating habits) told me to be me. “If you drink at home, don’t deprive yourself of a drink here,” he said. “You have to eat the fries.”
I submitted a questionnaire before my call with Joana, which allowed her to talk me through my symptoms and discuss my goals. For me, it was education so that I could effectively combat the fluctuations in weight, moodiness, fatigue, and more in my day to day life. We discussed my cycle, my diet, and my mental energy in recent months. I told her what exercise I preferred and did at home (a hard pass on yoga and pilates, which is often what these retreats seem to offer. I need a gym.). Three days before my arrival, a program was sent to my inbox.