I want to be careful about how I answer this question, because the easy answer isn't the useful one. The easy answer is: yes, Reiki can help with perimenopause symptoms. Hot flushes, poor sleep, anxiety, the strange emotional volatility that arrives without warning. There's reasonable evidence, and a great deal of practitioner and client experience, that shows that Reiki supports all of these. But that answer, on its own, misses something important.

If you’re sceptical, good. That’s exactly the right place to start.

You’ve probably heard of Reiki. Maybe a friend mentioned it, or you spotted it on a spa’s menu between hot stone massage and reflexology. You might have nodded politely and thought: I’m not really sure what that is, but it sounds a bit… out there.

That’s a reasonable response. I’d have said the same thing once.