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Stylish,graceful,
wearable

Photography: nick ballon

Meet the designer
behind a new pieceof health techhelping womenexperiencing
perimenopausePerimenopause – also known as themenopause transition – is experienced
by millions of women every year.
Describing the months or years leading
up to the menopause, the symptoms ofperimenopause can be very similar to those ofmenopause itself, but it can often be the casethat some of these symptoms change ordisappear over time.
“The most common symptoms are hot flushes
and night sweats, but there are also othersymptoms that are less thought about,” explains
Dr Louise Newson, who specialises in treating
women going through the perimenopause andmenopause. “Migraines, palpitations, memory
problems, low mood, anxiety, joint pain, muscle
stiffness, poor sleep, reduced libido,” she adds.
It’s the more obscure symptoms – migraines,
low mood, tiredness – that many women fail to
identify as part of perimenopause, something
Newson partly puts down to the “big taboo” ofthe menopause itself.
“The perimenopause sort of creeps up – we’re
not taught about it at school, or even at medicalschool,” she says. “Life is busy for lots of women– if you haven’t got the knowledge, or [if] you’re
not aware of the symptoms, you might justthink you’re stressed.”This lack of knowledge can have a severe
impact. Not realising that symptoms are partof a bigger picture, many women fail to seek
treatment. Newson describes patients whofalsely believe their memory loss is due todementia, or who are incorrectly prescribed highdoses of antidepressants by doctors who hadn’ttaken hormonal changes into account.
But there may be other options. The
Perimenopause Challenge is a category in theAXA Health Tech & You Awards that aims tofind technologies that help women track thesymptoms of perimenopause – enabling them toget better support and information. The Grace
Wristband, developed by designer Peter Astbury
and 2018 winner of the category, operates
by easing one of the worst symptoms of theperimenopause – hot flushes.
At the onset of a hot flush, says Astbury,
the hypothalamus (the part of the brain that
regulates body temperature) is falsely triggered.
The Grace Wristband contains a set of sensors
that detect this reaction, activating a “coolingtile” that delivers “intense cooling to thewrist”. The goal is to “useMain: designer
this sensation to signal toPeter Astbury at
the hypothalamus that theLoughboroughbody should retain heat” – aDesign School
Above: the Grace response directly opposite to aWristband
hot flush.

‘The hopeis that theGrace will
help more
women feelthey can talk
openly about
menopause’This could, says Astbury, prevent womenfrom waking up in the night with hot flushes,
alleviating many of the sleep-related issues
faced during perimenopause.
Astbury describes one woman going
through perimenopause who, waking up
sweating 15 or 20 times a night, would get up
and run her wrists under cold water to cool
down. “I realised at that point that creatinga product that could deal with night sweats
was just as important as helping with hot
flushes during the day,” he says.
Astbury started developing Grace when
he was just 22 and attending Loughborough
University – a time when, perhaps
unsurprisingly, he knew “next to nothing about menopause”.
“When you have an idea as a designer,” he says, “you normally do aquick Google search – 99% of the time, it already exists. But in this case,the more I researched, the more I realised that an effective, non-invasive
solution for symptoms like hot flushes had still not been created.”
During his research, Astbury heard stories from many women – and it
was this that left the biggest impression. “I regularly receive messages
from women desperate to be involved as research participants so they canuse Grace as soon as possible,” he says.
As Newson – who was one of the judges for the Perimenopause Challenge
category – points out, women’s health issues are not always discussed in an
open or comfortable way; something Astbury hopes will change.
“I think the UK, and the west in general, have developed anenvironment where people don’t feel comfortable talking about things
like perimenopause because of associations with ageing,” he says. “Manycultures don’t suffer from the same taboos as us – one study of Mayan
culture found that the menopause was associated with freedom and status,
and was therefore a positive milestone in life.”
The design of the wristband, says Astbury, is an attempt to break down
this stigma. “The aim is for women to wear Grace with confidence – thehope is that more people will feel they can openly talk about menopause.”
Astbury is hopeful that a change is taking place: “Women are
increasingly talking openly about menopause and its effects,” he says.
“I hope that this change gains traction and that our culture continues toevolve and become more and more open about all health-related topics.”

Dare to dreamInnovations inhealth technology
are transforming
the way we carefor our minds andbodies. That’s
why AXA is driven
to support theinventors of thefuture with theirHealth Tech &You Awards.
Find out more attheguardian.com/
axa-health-techand-you
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