Listener Week 2020 - paddlesport; the Pill; Nits; Dating over 45;

Women and Paddling: kayaking, canoeing, paddle boarding, rafting what are the attractions, what is involved, how can paddle sports help physical and mental health and where are women in these water sports? Following an email from a Woman’s Hour Listener who is passionate about women paddling, Jane speaks to Cadi Lambert, who runs the ShePaddles programme for British Canoeing, and Emma Kitchen, who has started training to be a coach to help people improve their paddle skills and is returning to paddling after some tough years in her personal life and has found new confidence from being on the water.

It’s more than 50 years since the contraceptive Pill became widely available in the UK. Several listeners have written in with questions, some concerned about its possible side effects. Can you take the Pill and stop your period? Does the Pill make you gain weight? Should there be a seven day break if you are using it? Julia Hogan, lead contraceptive and sexual health nurse for Marie Stopes, and Dr Rebecca French, Associate Professor of Sexual and Reproductive Health Research, answer your questions and burst some myths.

Do we all need to talk more about nits? Listener Louise Somerville thinks so. She’s been a parent for 30 years with three children, and she feels that increasingly schools are inconsistent in how much they help parents deal with nits and that clear advice is lacking. So today we ask how best to deal with nits and head lice, and the stigma attached, and why it matters. With entomologist Richard Jones and Joanna Ibarra from Community Hygiene Concern.

Elizabeth got in touch with us about her experience with dating apps when you’re over the age of 45, after finding they weren’t quite what she expected. Dr Martin Graff researches the online dating world and joins us to advise Clare how to best navigate it.

Presenter: Jane Garvey Producer: Kirsty Starkey

Interviewed Guest: Julia Hogan Interviewed Guest: Dr Rebecca French Interviewed Guest: Cadi Lambert Interviewed Guest: Emma Kitchen Interviewed Guest: Louise Somerville Interviewed Guest: Richard Jones Interviewed Guest: Joanna Ibarra Interviewed Guest: Dr Martin Graff