TV presenter Kate Humble has spoken out about her struggle with extreme insomnia as she went through the menopause.
The former Springwatch star told how she always found it difficult
to switch off at night, but never even considered the menopause might be affecting her sleep.
Kate, 53, said: “Middle age… it’s a f***er. Hormones are sh**. But if you don’t know where you are menopause-wise – and I had no idea – go to your GP and they will do blood tests.
“I found out I was deficient in vitamin B12, which seemed astonishing to me, given how much Marmite I eat.
“But apparently, some people don’t absorb it that well.
“While I was there, I did say, ‘OK, what about the menopause?’ and they went, ‘Oh, my love, your ship sailed years ago. You are long, long, gone’.
“It was funny because I hadn’t been sleeping that well and I would wake up in the middle of the night and be hot.
“My excuse has always been that I have a small terrier, Bella, that sleeps alongside me and radiates astonishing amounts of heat.
“But it’s great – I don’t have the menopause, I just have Bella and B12!”
This year, Kate will celebrate her 30th wedding anniversary to BAFTA-winning TV producer Ludo Graham.
Together, they run a 117-acre working farm in Wales with their three dogs, a herd of Welsh mountain ewes, a flock of chickens and pig Delilah and her piglets.
Life on the farm can often be tough but Kate and Ludo, who have been together since they were 16, would not have it any other way.
Kate said: “The remarkable relationships are the ones you hear about people who’ve been together for 75 years and never had a day apart.
“I think, “Bloody hell, I don’t know how that works’.
“We’re both quite independent, and the work we have done involves us being away for quite big chunks of time.
“I had to go all over the country to film the latest series of A Country Life for Half the Price.”
Having enjoyed a TV career spanning three decades, Kate is only too aware of how much focus is placed on what women look like.
But she refuses to buy into the glamorous narrative and prefers to gets hands-on where possible.
She said: “If I am standing in the middle of a field with the wind blowing and I’ve just delivered a piglet, I am not going to look like I have just stepped out from having my make-up done – and I don’t give a sh** about that.
“I don’t care what I look like, or whether I’ve got a bit of mud under my fingernails and no mascara on.
“What I care about is that I’m doing something that might actually be positive, inspiring and uplifting.”
- A Country Life for Half the Price is on Channel 5 this Thursday at 7pm.
