大象传媒

Dr Foster, a passionate advocate for men鈥檚 midlife health, can see why the term manopause is used: 鈥淚 think the comparisons with menopause are very similar in the sense that they're both the drop in the main sex hormone.鈥�

In the second of these three documentaries on unusual experiences of the menopause, The Times鈥檚 Science Editor, Tom Whipple, explores whether the manopause is imminent for him.

He discovers there is scientific debate about how common it is, and the best way the manopause or as it medically known, testosterone deficiency, is treated.
Dr Jayasena, a leading consultant, maintains that a middle-aged man鈥檚 wellbeing is embodied in their penis鈥檚 performance: 鈥淧hysical activity and eating a healthy balanced diet and thinking holistically about one's well-being, emotional wellbeing, and treating mental illness that all get synthesized into, I'm going to say it, your penis.鈥�

Despite the debate, Tom uncovers that the manopause is increasingly being accepted as a medical stage in the workplace.
Through Freedom of Information requests to every British police force, he discovers a surprising amount have a policy or guidance for the manopause. Yet even more surprising is how many police forces don鈥檛 have a menopause policy for their female staff. Hayley Ayley, the Wellbeing Lead for the Police Federation, believes this could have serious consequences: 鈥淚f you don't feel that your organization recognizes the importance of supporting you through something that can be so life changing, you're going to leave.鈥�

Another Freedom of Information request to every hospital trust in the UK about the manopause reveals that even through the NHS call it 鈥渁n unhelpful term鈥�, some trusts still have a provision for it. For Dr Jayasena this is a misguided approach: 鈥滻 think assigning and supporting the term manopause is a real missed opportunity and actually does a disservice and harms the very people who I think well-meaning people to do with staffing are trying to protect.鈥�

For Tom questions remain as to whether the term manopause is appropriate and whether as a society we should be treating it as equivalent to the menopause.

Producer: Jane Fellner