Hi, I'm Maud Meates-Dennis, founder of Defy Age Limits. I'm known as The Vitality Doctor.

After 40 years in medicine — including three decades as a specialist paediatrician — I found myself in the middle of my career, in the middle of my life, asking a question I had never had time to ask before: how do I get myself back?

I wasn't winding down. I was at full stretch. And yet something had shifted — not just in my body, but in my sense of who I was and what I was living for.

That question changed everything. And now I help other women over 50 answer it for themselves.

How It All Began

My personal self-healing journey began during one of the hardest times of my life. I was fifteen years into my specialist career when my stepson, Josh, died in a tragic motorbike accident. It felt as if the shine had gone from life.

This period coincided with the onset of menopause, when my body got a mind of its own and I felt out of control - as though aging and life were happening to me, not for me.

I hated the feeling of helplessness. Then one day, something shifted. While I was driving in the city, I saw the snow-capped mountains rising majestically in the distance. The snow was glistening in the sun and the sky was blue with no clouds to be seen. For the first time in what felt like forever, I felt joy.

That moment was a turning point. I realised that despite what my external world looked like, I could still find joy - and if I could influence my emotional state, maybe I could take control of my physical state as well.

I felt empowered. It was a huge shift.