Event Report: Women's Health Roundtable "The Relationship Between the Female Body and Hormones"

2022/02/02

As part of the Women's Body-Breeze Project, we held the Women's Health Roundtable event, "The Relationship Between the Female Body and Hormones," on Wednesday, January 26, 2022.

For this second session, we invited Dr. Megumi Yokota from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Keio University Hospital as a lecturer. She gave a lecture from a medical sciences perspective titled "How to Cope with Hormonal Fluctuations?" on "the changes in hormonal balance and countermeasures at each life stage, such as the decrease in female hormones, perimenopause, and menopause."

The second half featured a "Working Women's Roundtable," where we invited employees of Keio University to discuss, in a roundtable format, how to balance work with the various life stages that lie ahead, while sharing their own experiences with menopausal symptoms and problems caused by the effects of female hormones.

While the first session, titled "How to Live with Your Body," had a theme designed to appeal to a wide range of age groups, women's health concerns vary greatly during each period of their lives—from puberty to maturity, menopause, and old age. Therefore, this time we planned an event focusing on menopause to think about female hormones together with everyone. Approximately 70% of the applicants were undergraduate and graduate students who have not yet reached the menopausal stage. Many of them expressed interest in gaining preliminary knowledge for themselves or to support family members suffering from menopausal symptoms.

We received feedback from participants such as: "I learned a lot for the first time about the body during menopause and old age, which I have not yet experienced, and it was very informative. Hearing positive opinions about menopause and aging in the roundtable discussion and learning that there are good aspects as well as bad ones made me feel a little relieved." "The doctor provided accurate and abundant information. We were also able to hear frank stories, including personal experiences, from the faculty members who participated in the roundtable. We received the important message of 'facing and taking care of your own body' as a way to live through menopause and beyond. I hope this message reaches the younger generation and stays with them somewhere in their hearts." And, "I myself will be going through menopause in about ten years, and although I had heard various things from my parents, it didn't feel real to me, so it was great to hear other people's experiences. It was also reassuring to know that there are proper treatments for the stages women go through, such as PMS and menopausal disorders, and that it's okay to see a doctor. Thank you very much."

Please note that only the mini-lecture by Dr. Megumi Yokota from this event will be archived and released at a later date. It will be posted in the news section of the Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion website, so we encourage those who are interested to watch it.

Reference:

Event Page