Naomi Watts has always been open about her experiences with hormonal changes and encourages all women to be confident in their own skin. In fact, she’s been an advocate for positive change in this arena for over 40 years!

Watts just posted a fantastic side-by-side image on her Instagram. On the left, we see a throwback photo from a tampon commercial she did as a teenager with the caption “When can I start using tampons?” On the right appears a photo of the actress in a similar pose, asking a similar question about lubricant.

Watts, 54, asked in the post, “Why is it that we can talk about periods and puberty with ease, but when it comes to menopause, and yes, dryness… we all get a little skittish…. I created this post in an attempt to capture a woman’s hormonal bookends.”

However, as women age, so do their bodies. For far too long, menopause has been a taboo topic, but Watts wants to change that. In reference to the current-day photo of herself, Watts said, “[This] is a take on what it could look like if we tackled midlife hormonal challenges with the same kind of boldness.”

The actress is no stranger to hormonal changes in midlife. In fact, Watts experienced perimenopause in her 30s and was shocked to find a lack of resources and community on the topic.

She decided to do something about that by talking openly about her experience. As she said in the post, “When it comes to the ‘adult version’ of hormonal changes we’re thrust into the shadows of secrecy and shame… with a total lack of information, plus misinformation!”

But the actress is more than just talk. In fact, Watts founded Stripes, a company that believes that menopause isn’t a dirty word. The brand offers resources, education, and most importantly, a community to women who are experiencing perimenopause and menopause.

After all, as Watts pointed out, “More than 1 billion people worldwide will be menopausal by 2025.” That’s a lot of people who can support one another and break the stigma of menopause.

We’re thrilled to see Watts come full circle from promoting period protection as a teen to providing resources and a place for women to openly talk about menopause. It’s a cause we’re eager to get behind.

Hot flashes, bloating, abdominal pain, mood swings—these symptoms are all common among women going through menopause or perimenopause, and they all suck. But as it turns out, there may be an easy way to tame those pesky symptoms by sipping on a tasty (and nutritious) beverage.

Research has found that probiotics may be a helpful tool when it comes to combating menopause symptoms, and one great way to get more of those in your diet is by sipping on the super trendy kombucha.

Kombucha is an age-old fermented beverage made with tea, sugar, bacteria, and yeast—it might sound gross, but it’s delicious, we swear! But best of all, it’s brimming with probiotics that are beneficial for our microbiome. 

The human microbiome essentially consists of all the microorganisms that reside within the body, specifically in the gut, mouth, and vagina in women. Maintaining a healthy microbiome is crucial to one’s overall health.

Women experiencing menopause may have problems maintaining a healthy microbiome due to the interaction between gut microbiota (a community of microorganisms) and estrogen, which decreases during menopause. Fortunately, the gut microbiota, which regulates estrogen levels, can be helped with a healthy dose of probiotics.

Menopause-Related Or Not, It Helps Ease Gut Discomfort

It’s not uncommon to experience digestive issues such as abdominal pain, bloating, and changes in bowel movements during menopause. A lack of estrogen and progesterone hormones during menopause and perimenopause can lead to gastrointestinal (GI) issues, which ultimately affect digestion. This can lead to a lot of discomfort.

The hormonal fluctuations of menopause can also worsen symptoms in women who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Fortunately, probiotics can help promote healthy digestion and get you back on track. Enjoying kombucha regularly can replenish your gut’s probiotic supply and ease GI discomfort significantly. 

Whether your GI distress is related to menopause or not, probiotics can help restore gut bacteria and promote colon fermentation—basically, they’re just really great for helping you feel better.

It Can Boost Your Brain Health And Mood

Feeling short-tempered, angry, and impatient? If your mood swings have those around you walking on eggshells, you’re not alone. Although more common in perimenopause, sudden mood swings in menopause are a troubling symptom that many women wish to overcome. 

Luckily, probiotics have been shown to possibly improve mood and cognitive health as well. A whopping 95% of the body’s serotonin, a key hormone that affects mood and emotion, is regulated in the GI tract via the vagus nerve that connects to the brain. 

This relates to a concept researchers refer to as the gut-brain connection, which looks at not only how the brain can affect the gut (like stress causing a stomach ache), but also how gut health can impact our mental health.

While traditionally scientists have believed that our brain has a bigger impact on our gut, more recent research is suggesting the inverse may be true. This means treating gut issues could be key to improving our mood and overall well-being.

For example, in one March 2019 study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, participants showed marked improvement in mood, sleep, and feelings of anger following the consumption of probiotics for six weeks. 

It May Help With Hot Flashes And Night Sweats

Menopause is synonymous with hot flashes and night sweats, and though they may seem unavoidable due to their overwhelming prevalence, they’re not impossible to remedy. Once again, probiotics may be able to come to the rescue.

Research has shown that a healthy microbiome can also help control vasomotor symptoms (VMS) such as hot flashes and night sweats.

A July 2020 study published by the Journal of Clinical Medicine involved supplementing the diets of women aged from 40 to 60 with Lactobacillus acidophilus, a certain kind of bacteria often used to ferment kombucha. The findings showed that the bacteria helped alleviate a number of menopause symptoms, including hot flashes, night sweats, heart palpitations, and even vaginal dryness.

A Word Of Caution

Kombucha is a good example of how too much of a good thing can be harmful. Drinking an excessive amount of kombucha can cause nausea, headaches, upset stomachs, and possibly even ketoacidosis, a life-threatening condition when acid builds up in the bloodstream. 

As a general rule, it is recommended to drink four ounces of kombucha a day. Still, kombucha has many health benefits that shouldn’t be overlooked. If you’re looking to start incorporating kombucha into your diet, Health-Ade and Remedy Kombucha are two brands we recommend.

With Health-Ade’s delicious variety starter pack, kombucha beginners can kick off their journey to a healthy gut with sensational flavors such as Pink Lady Apple, Pomegranate, and Bubbly Rosé.

Health-Ade Kombucha Signature Variety Pack

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And if you’re looking for a sugar-free option, Remedy Kombucha offers their fan-favorite 24-pack in flavors like Raspberry Lemonade, Ginger Lemon, Mixed Berry, and Peach.

Remedy Kombucha Variety Pack

$44.99 Shop Now at Amazon

Many of us have made New Year’s resolutions to be healthier. These resolutions typically include eating better, exercising more, and losing weight. But shedding those extra pounds can be difficult, especially when menopause sets in. Although weight loss can be daunting as we get older, one doctor is revealing how she lost 100 pounds in her 50s.

Even though she’s been a doctor for decades, Dr. Emi Hosoda (better known as Dr. Emi on TikTok) knows the struggles of living a healthy lifestyle. In an interview with TODAY, the doctor admitted that she reached her heaviest weight of 235 pounds after having kids in her 30s. 

Although Dr. Emi was able to lose the extra pounds at the time, she was unable to keep the weight off for very long. As she continued to age and experienced menopause, weight loss seemed impossible.

The doctor explained, “Perimenopause hit around 2010 and I started working nights in a hospital, then all bets were off. So I gained pretty much all of my weight back.”

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The doctor decided to invest in a new fitness routine and different eating habits. Eventually, she lost 100 pounds due to her discipline and commitment to living a healthy lifestyle. In fact, Dr. Emi continues to focus on these changes since her energy has returned.

Although diet and health needs vary for each person, Dr. Emi recently revealed the five things she always does to keep the extra weight at bay. And some of these tips are easy enough for most of us to follow!

1. Stop Counting Calories

The one that we can all get behind is to stop looking at calories! Yes, you read that right. Instead of looking at the calorie count, Dr. Emi shared that we should be looking at the sugar value instead. Surprisingly, Dr. Emi even revealed, “I don’t really care about calories at all.” 

2. Take The Right Supplements

The doctor also shared that we should take the right supplements for our genetics and hormones. Then she mentioned the one thing most of us know: “drink enough water.”

3. Drink Water Based On Your Body Weight

How do you know if you’re drinking the right amount of water? According to Dr. Emi, “Each of us should be drinking a half ounce to an ounce of water per pound of body weight depending on how active we are.”

The caveat is that people with medical conditions should check with their doctors to find out how much water they should be drinking.

4. The Magic Of Magnesium For Menopause

Next, Dr. Emi shared that magnesium was a huge game-changer for her, and could be for women over the age of 35. Apparently, magnesium can help with sugar cravings and sleep. That’s good news for anyone who is menopausal or perimenopausal!

5. Strength Training Is Key

Lastly, Dr. Emi revealed that aerobic exercises aren’t enough. Strength training is also important, especially for those over the age of 50. However, this takes discipline even for Dr. Emi. In fact, she wakes up at 4:00 a.m. at least three times a week to work out. Her exercise routine includes 30 minutes on a stationary bike and then one hour of weightlifting.

If you’ve resolved to be healthier and want to follow Dr. Emi’s tips, check with your doctor to be sure these steps are right for you.

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Menopause can include a lot of symptoms we expect (e.g., night sweats) and some we don’t (genitourinary syndrome, burning mouth syndrome, and perimenopause rage). As menopause and its symptoms have historically been a taboo subject, so have the products and treatments to deal with these symptoms.

Luckily, many women have started speaking out about them, and thanks to them we’ve made a number of truly innovative discoveries this year.

1. A Genius Cooling Mist For Hot Flashes

Hot flashes have a habit of showing up at the absolute worst times—like right in the middle of a busy workday. But honestly, is there ever really a good time for a hot flash (maybe if you happen to be outside during a blizzard when one strikes)? 

This common menopause symptom can affect your whole body and your mood, and it can be detrimental to your work performance. To get some relief when you start to feel that heat creeping up your neck, try the Kindra Cool Down Mist. 

It will instantly reduce the intensity of your hot flash, and within 20 minutes you’ll feel its therapeutic effects. A total game-changer.

2. The Perfect Snack For Mitigating Menopause Symptoms

Entrepreneur, author, and business coach Julie Gordon White spent the pandemic baking sweet treats for her sons, which she of course also helped herself to. Combining that with her menopause-related hormone changes, White soon found herself gaining weight.

RELATED: Dandruff Caused By Menopause Needs A Different Solution Than Your Standard Bottle Of Heads & Shoulders

She started experimenting to find the perfect sweet-and-salty snack with natural ingredients that could also help with menopause symptoms. This is the Bossa Bars origin story, and it’s also how White discovered maca, a root that helps balance hormones and blood sugar.

Bossa Bars

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3. A Line Of Cooling PJs For Night Sweats

According to Laura Musall, no one understands just how serious night sweats are until you experience them yourself. She’s the 50-something founder of Cool Revolution, a line of cooling PJs for night sweats—or, as Musall calls it, “next-level sweat.”

She looked everywhere for cooling PJs made for women but couldn’t find anything that was comfortable or flattering. So Musall enlisted her friend Mindy Ford, and they contacted women’s health experts, designers, and developers before developing the perfect fabric.

“This is going to sound really gross, but I wore them multiple times to see how many days in a row I could sweat in them,” Musall laughed. “I just wanted to know.”

Cooling Pajama Tank And Shorts Set

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And these PJs aren’t just for bedtime. Musall’s clothing line includes pieces that are perfect for daytime too, just in case those frustrating hot flashes show up unannounced as they’re wont to do.

4. A Menopause Brand Created By Naomi Watts 

The Watcher star Naomi Watts was blindsided when she started experiencing perimenopausal symptoms in her 30s. Watts was surprised to discover a lack of community and wondered why no one was discussing the issue of transitioning into menopause.

RELATED: No, You Won’t Be Sweaty Forever: Debunking 10 Common Menopause Myths

That’s why the 54-year-old recently launched the brand Stripes, which provides menopause-related products, education, resources, and a community for women who are experiencing perimenopause and menopause.

5. Scientifically-Backed Foot Massages

Sleep disturbances are a common menopause symptom. They affect our mood, concentration, immunity, and stress tolerance. But as we found out this year, the non-hormonal solution to poor sleep could be a foot massage.

The body tends to produce less serotonin during menopause, which means it can’t produce as much melatonin to prepare the body for sleep. Massage therapy restores those serotonin levels, which in turn increases melatonin production, thus allowing you a better night’s sleep.

6. Skincare That Caters To The Unique Needs of Mature Skin

As we transition into menopause and our estrogen levels plummet, most of us will see significant changes in our skin. Mature skin has unique needs and requires beauty products that specifically cater to those needs. That’s why No7’s new line of five skincare products for menopausal skin should be part of your daily skincare routine.

No7 Menopause Skincare Instant Radiance Serum

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This collection is a must, as it addresses six key menopausal skin concerns: dryness, dullness, sensitivity, lack of firmness, uneven skin tone, and lines and wrinkles.

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For the longest time, all anyone talked about when it came to menopause were hot flashes and weight gain. Now we know there are so many more symptoms, side effects, and challenges women should know about before they enter “The Big Change.” Here we’ve rounded up 10 of the most surprising menopause discoveries we made in 2022.

1. It’s Harder Than Starting A Family

A 2022 survey found that working with menopause symptoms was considered more difficult than starting a family. Employers are at risk of losing high-level talent—and women are being forced to make difficult midlife career choices—because offices typically aren’t very accommodating when it comes to menopause. Some employers, though, are starting to take note and make changes.

2. Burning Mouth What?

Most women entering menopause will experience a constellation of symptoms that range from mood swings to sexual dysfunction. One of the lesser-known symptoms is burning mouth, which often presents as a burning sensation on the tongue, roof of the mouth, or lips. It can also affect the throat.

3. It Even Brought Oprah Down

It doesn’t matter how successful or how strong you are—menopause will likely throw you for a serious loop. Media mogul Oprah Winfrey has done it all over the course of her career, but even she wasn’t prepared for the life-altering transition into menopause. In her late 40s, Winfrey started experiencing some concerning symptoms like sleeplessness and heart palpitations. Her doctor suspected heart disease, but she would soon discover (on her own) that the physical and mental changes she was experiencing were due to menopause. This helped her chart the course to taking her life back, as well as encouraging other women to speak up about their own experiences.

4. Your Pre-Menopause Menstrual Cycles May Help Determine Your Heart Disease Risk

A new study found that women who saw an increase in their cycle length two years before their final menstrual period had better measures of vascular health than those who experienced stable cycle lengths during this time. This means that differences in cycle length could help predict which menopausal women are at greater or lesser risk of cardiovascular disease.

5. Genitourinary Syndrome Is A (Big) Thing

Half of all menopausal women have genitourinary syndrome caused by estrogen loss, which is associated with vaginal dryness and burning, painful sex, painful or difficult urination, discharge, and recurrent urinary tract infections. Despite the overwhelming evidence that this condition affects a large percentage of menopausal women, it’s still underdiagnosed.

6. Foot Massages Are A Great Treatment For Insomnia

Foot massages could serve as a non-hormonal alternative for combatting menopause-induced insomnia. A recent study found that a daily 20-minute foot massage can lead to less fatigue and stress as well as better sleep.

RELATED: Dandruff Caused By Menopause Needs A Different Solution Than Your Standard Bottle Of Heads & Shoulders

This therapeutic activity can be an effective substitute for melatonin supplements, hormone medications, or just staring at your ceiling and counting sheep.

7. The Reason Why ‘Frozen Shoulder’ Is A Pretty Common Symptom

The loss of estrogen during perimenopause and menopause can lead to a common symptom known as “frozen shoulder.” Dr. Mary Claire Haver, a prolific and popular doctor who uses social media to focus on menopause, explained in a TikTok video that estrogen is an anti-inflammatory hormone. Gradually losing estrogen during midlife causes inflammation that can lead to pain and stiffness in the shoulders. Even Jenny McCarthy chimed in on the post with how she found a remedy to her case of “frozen shoulder.”

8. Menopause Can Make Us Really Mad

One of the lesser-known symptoms of perimenopause is rage. If you’re in your 40s and experiencing bouts of anger, lashing out, and making enemies out of lifelong friends and family members, perimenopausal rage could be to blame.

Mood changes are much more common in perimenopause compared to menopause, which is reached one year after your last normal period. Hormone fluctuation makes perimenopause a time of vulnerability for women. The overwhelming rage some experience may be related to the body’s changes in estrogen levels combined with other stressors.

9. One Particular Type of Menopause-Related Fat Is Worth Worrying About

Visceral fat is the type of menopause-related fat you should worry about, and there’s an easy trick to find out if you’re at risk. Visceral fat is located deep within the abdomen, so it’s not the kind you can pinch with your fingers on your arms, tummy, hips, or butt. Rather, ensuring your waist-to-hip ratio is .85 or less is the way to go.

RELATED: Hair Thinning Or Falling Out? It Could Be A Side Effect Of Menopause

Scientists believe visceral fat is the culprit behind a variety of diseases and chronic conditions, like cardiovascular disease, dementia, asthma, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer.

10. Those ‘Weird’ Emotional Symptoms Are Actually Pretty Normal

Perimenopause and menopause have a wide range of mental and emotional side effects. When you’re experiencing it, it can feel like you’re crazy, overreacting, or both. Thousands of women on the r/Menopause subreddit have been discussing the emotional toll menopause can take.

Seeking the support of other women can help you feel less lonely during this unfamiliar time in your life.

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In 2017, textile marketer Louise Nicholson founded Fifty One Apparel, aptly named for the average age of menopause. Her clothing collection is designed to mitigate your menopause symptoms, and she uses spacesuit technology to do it.

Nicholson created a specially-insulated fabric made with technology once researched by NASA to help regulate astronauts’ temperatures when wearing a spacesuit—specifically, their gloves.

Back in the 1980s, research into space gloves resulted in NASA developing Certified Space Technology®. It was never actually used, but it did inform the creation of future space gear. That technology eventually evolved to become Outlast®, which is what Fifty One uses to make their menopause-friendly clothing.

From NASA To Nightwear

As Fifty One Apparel explains on its website, the cutting-edge Outlast® technology is a “phase change material that is continuously working to absorb and release excess heat.” So no matter what you’re doing, the material is consistently working to regulate your temperature.

RELATED: No, You Won’t Be Sweaty Forever: Debunking 10 Common Menopause Myths

Instead of wicking away sweat, Fifty One Apparel’s fabric controls the production of moisture before it starts, which in turn keeps your body temperature stable to allow you the ultimate comfort.

Independent studies show that Outlast®’s thermo-material significantly reduces the amount of sweat by up to 48%. But what really makes this material impressive is that if your body temperature falls again due to something like decreased activity, the natural wax releases the stored heat so you can continue enjoying a wonderfully balanced climate.

According to Fifty One Apparel’s site, “The fabric we use is made up of Thermocules™, which are tiny polymer shells in which the Outlast® phase change materials are enclosed. This encapsulation process makes the Thermocules™ durable and allows our clothing to regulate your skin’s microclimate.”

Think of this material as ice cubes in a drink. As those cubes melt, they absorb heat and cool the drink to keep it at a preferable temperature for longer. Wearing clothing made of this Outlast® material helps to “put the freeze” on hot flashes and night sweats.

With a variety of day, lounge, and nightwear available, their clothing can be worn anywhere: at home, the office, the gym, and in bed.

Casual, Cooling Comfort

Fifty One Apparel’s breathable tops are “created for stylish women with cooling in mind.” The temperature-regulating technology is featured in all their designs to keep you comfortable in any situation. 

One such design, the Clara Relaxed V-Neck, has a three-quarter length sleeve that flatters the arms. The classic style combined with the fabric’s soft drape makes it super versatile. It’s available in three colors and sizes small to x-large.

“Keeps you cool and comfortable even on the hottest days. Great relaxed fit with the perfect length, flattering sleeves. Very happy customer, thank you,” one reviewer shared.

RELATED: 100% Of Women Surveyed Said This Genius Cooling Mist Helped With Hot Flashes And Night Sweats

Fifty One Apparel’s collection of bottoms ranges from lounge pants to shorts, and each one will keep you cool and effortlessly stylish. All the designs are relaxed, and the body-regulating tech is ideal for mitigating your menopause symptoms so you can lounge in comfort.

The Georgie Cropped Pants are new to the Fifty One Apparel line, and they feature a flattering cropped wide-leg style that looks equally good with sneakers or flats. They have an elasticated waist with a drawstring cord, and the fabric is made from cellulosic yarns to give the pants a beautiful drape and luxurious feel. These pants are available in grey marl and black and in sizes 8 to 18.

During menopause, it’s perhaps most important to have a way of keeping cool and comfortable at night, and that’s exactly what Fifty One Apparel’s nightwear provides. Featuring a material that absorbs, stores, and releases heat for optimum comfort, this menopause-friendly line of PJs is still stylish and trendy. 

This nightwear combination is made up of the brand’s Rachel Lounge Pants and Charlie Vest, which can also be purchased separately. This set, which is available in two colors and in sizes 8 to 20, can just as easily be worn to the gym as it can be in bed.

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Menopause isn’t a dirty word, yet it’s still a pretty taboo topic for some reason. Unless you specifically seek out information about the numerous symptoms, you’ll likely be in for some surprises as you enter your menopausal years. Of course, not everyone will have the same experience, and symptoms can range from barely noticeable to debilitatingly severe.

There are, of course, more well-known symptoms: hot flashes, weight changes, and mood swings. But some other symptoms may come as a surprise. Some of the most unexpected menopausal symptoms we’ve recently become privy to include burning mouth syndrome, genitourinary syndrome, and frozen shoulder. 

Now we’re here to add another one to the list: dandruff.

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The cause of dandruff some women experience during menopause may differ from other common causes of dandruff. Estrogen and progesterone production declines during menopause, which can lead to many of the aforementioned symptoms. Lower estrogen levels cause thinner, drier skin everywhere on the body, including the scalp.

According to Dermatology Times, sebum production also decreases during this time, which can lead to a dry, flaky scalp. While some dandruff is caused by a fungus (seborrheic dermatitis), menopausal dandruff won’t respond to the same types of treatments (e.g. an antifungal shampoo).

However, there are other ways to treat dandruff during menopause.

To do so, start off by using a treatment like the JVN Pre-Wash Scalp Oil. This oil, formulated with hemisqualane, rosemary extract, and basil root extract hydrates the scalp and protects the hair from breakage and fallout. Plus, it’s vegan, color-safe, and cruelty-free.

JVN Pre-Wash Scalp Oil

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After pre-treating the scalp, be sure to choose a shampoo with salicylic acid. This medicated shampoo from Nizoral helps moisturize the scalp while ridding it of any dry flakes. It’s also soothing and prevents itching and irritation.

Nizoral Scalp Psoriasis Shampoo & Conditioner

$32.16 Shop Now at Amazon

Use a silicone scalp massager with your shampoo to give your dandruff a one-two punch, massaging vigorously to dislodge the dry skin. Suitable for all hair types, this massager will exfoliate the scalp without being abrasive. Follow up by conditioning as normal.

Sndyi Scalp Massager Shampoo Brush

$7.99 Shop Now at Amazon

While menopause is anything but fun, at least this annoying symptom is easy to treat as long as you have the right tools.

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We use a variety of euphemisms to refer to menopause: The Change, The Switch, etc. But surely we can get more creative than that, right? The r/Menopause subreddit recently weighed in on this topic and brainstormed some other terms that can be used in place of “menopause.” They had us cracking up, so here are some of our favorites.

1. The F*ckoning 

One user suggested using all caps for this term to add emphasis. Another shared, “I laughed way too hard at this which, of course, made me pee a little. For me, THIS is the answer.”

“Remember the movie trailer voice-over guy?” one woman asked. “They f*cked around and now they will find out. See what happens when you dare to disturb …THE F*CKONING!”

2. Murderpause 

This was another popular option that users insisted should be in all caps, because “if said out loud, it needs to be angrily shouted.”

“We should really have a Netflix series titled Murderpause,” one user noted. “We’re here. We’re hot. We won’t be ignored.”

3. Second Spring 

This term is apparently popular in Japan, and some Redditors really liked it because of the positive tone. It makes menopause sound like a beautiful thing, doesn’t it?

“I love this, it’s like getting a second chance. Very optimistic perspective,” one user shared.

4. Victoria’s Secret 

We dare you to find us a Gen X woman who hasn’t spent hundreds of dollars on bras and panties at Victoria’s Secret in her lifetime.

As one user explained, “We could also just call it Victoria’s Secret [because] I am pretty sure this is what she was keeping from us.”

5. Hellapause 

This was another popular suggestion, but, as one user pointed out, “might as well just shorten it to “Hell.”

RELATED: No, You Won’t Be Sweaty Forever: Debunking 10 Common Menopause Myths

6. Gland Finale

A personal favorite of mine, I think this is a clever and kind of elegant way to refer to this stage of life.

7. OVERies

Admittedly, this one would really only work in writing, but we still appreciate the wordplay.

8. Evolutionary Mayhem 

We think this is a fitting term to encapsulate the chaos that ensues (physically and emotionally) when you find yourself smack dab in the middle of menopause.

9. Hyper Puberty

Finally, we really loved the term “Hyper Puberty,” which is a suggestion that came from a daughter who’s currently witnessing her mom go through perimenopause. 

“As far as I’ve observed, I guess it could be called Hyper Puberty,” she wrote. “Apart from her hot flashes, I feel like I’m witnessing what I went through [in] puberty with her, but on a much grander scale.” 

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It’s no secret that women’s health care has been shrouded in mystery, misogyny, and misinformation. From hormones to mental wellness to the location (and function) of the clitoris, our society hasn’t exactly been a beacon of female medical empowerment. But now, two lawmakers are seeking to change that. 

Representatives David B. McKinley (R-WV) and Cynthia Axne (D-IA) introduced H.R.8774, The Menopause Research Act, to the House in September 2022. If passed, the National Institutes of Health would spend $100 million in 2023 and 2024 on evaluating and conducting new research on menopause and midlife women’s health.  

“Millions of women in America experience symptoms from menopause every day, yet there is little being done to find new treatments to improve their quality of life,” McKinley said in a statement.

Axne added: “Menopause-related symptoms take a toll on [millions of working-aged women’s] families, disrupt their lives, careers, mental health, and so much more.”

As for us? We couldn’t agree more. While we wait to see if the bill will make it to the Senate, here are our top 10 reasons why we hope Congress passes this much-needed legislation.

1. Women Will Make Up For Lost Time

The lack of information about women’s physiology is a cynical truth joke that makes women simultaneously cringe and shake their heads. From dismissive doctors to disappointing sex, it’s clear that our bodies are enigmas to many.

When you consider this 1977 FDA guideline that banned women of “childbearing potential” from participating in clinical trials, it’s not exactly surprising. While it was created to protect vulnerable populations, its bigger consequence is the sheer lack of data on female anatomy in a clinical setting.

2. Menopause Research Will Be Rebolstered

Since the 1977 guideline was rescinded in 1993, scientists have conducted some female-based research. But much some it falls painfully short—namely, the Women’s Health Initiative of the early 1990s. The WHI sought to study women’s health regarding cardiovascular and other diseases, cancer, and menopause care.

Twenty years later, some doctors are catching on and calling it the “biggest screw-up of the entire medical field in the last 25 years.” The study’s results are largely responsible for the inaccurate stigmas we have around hormone replacement therapy (and menopause in general).

RELATED: ‘The Biggest Screw-Up Of The Entire Medical Field In The Last 25 Years’—The Inaccurate Misconceptions Of HRT

3. We’ll Learn More About Symptoms

From burning mouth to frozen shoulder, women are expected to “just deal with” myriad unsavory menopause symptoms, and not everyone experiences the same symptoms or severity.

As a result, many of us are left with more questions than answers, which is an even harder phenomenon to grasp in the throes of menopausal brain fog. The Menopause Research Act could finally clear the smoke and mirrors around menopause’s elusive—yet pervasive—symptoms.

4. We’ll Learn More About Treatments

When we know more about the symptoms, we can start to find ways to address them. The infamous WHI study had a catastrophic effect on the progress of hormone replacement therapy, and the Menopause Research Act could finally pave the way for data that would reverse that.

The act could also reveal new, non-hormonal treatments available to women who cannot or prefer not to take hormones. Either way, anything is better than suffering in silence.

5. A Huge Portion Of The Population Will Benefit

The Menopause Research Act isn’t some niche legislation that will affect only a small population subset. Some reports estimate that by 2030, the global population of menopausal and postmenopausal women will increase to 1.2 billion, with 47 million new people in those categories each year.

According to the North American Menopause Society’s Menopause Practice: A Clinician’s Guide, the exact figures of the US menopausal population are difficult to obtain. But it estimates that 6,000 people enter menopause every day. That’s a lot of people who will benefit from McKinley and Axne’s proposed legislation.

6. It Will Lessen The Stigma Around Women’s Health

Generally speaking, our society tends to fear the unknown. We shy away from and project negative assumptions and fears around things we don’t understand. This can be especially true of women’s health.

Midlife is a great time to stop giving a flying you-know-what about what other people think. But that’s often easier said than done. Many women still struggle to hide their symptoms or needs as a result of the overwhelming stigma around female bodies.

RELATED: Menopause Even Brought Oprah Winfrey Down, Here’s How She Built Herself Back Up

7. It Will Help Us Celebrate Midlife

In that same vein, the more we know about menopause, the easier it will be to celebrate the good parts about it. For far too long, we’ve dubbed menopause “the change” and not the good kind. Too often, we hear about its most negative symptoms.

And while there are plenty of those, menopause does have its plusses: no more periods (read: PMS), sex without pregnancy scares, and greater self-assurance. Midlife isn’t the beginning of the end; it’s the beginning of something great.

8. It Will Pave The Way For Future Generations Of Women

Our children and grandchildren deserve a better menopause experience than we had. The Menopause Research Act could do just that for future generations. Hopefully, the idea of women’s health care is so shrouded in mystery will become a relic in just a few decades.

The Menopause Research Act brings the race toward women’s equality one step closer to the finish line. While we still have a ways to go, we’re keeping all our fingers and toes crossed that Congress pushes this bill—and women’s empowerment—forward.

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Veronica Webb started her modeling career in the ’80s and has been featured on the covers of Vogue, Essence, Elle, and many others. She was the first Black supermodel to win an exclusive contract for a major cosmetics company as a spokesmodel for Revlon. She has appeared in critically-acclaimed films including Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever, The Big Tease, and Malcolm X, and has also had recurring roles in TV shows including Becker and Clueless.

Despite being one of the most stunning women in the world with decades of success under her belt, Webb felt completely blindsided when she encountered something that nearly 1 billion women deal with every day: menopause.

RELATED: Rejected By The Entertainment Industry, Stacy London Is Giving Menopause A Makeover As A Business Leader

“My mother was an RN, my sister is a doctor, and no one really talked about menopause,” Webb told an audience at The Marvelous Mrs. Menopause event organized by Caire Beauty last month in New York City. “And when it happened to me, it caught me so unaware. I had every single symptom you can think of: heavy periods, brain fog, hot flashes, can’t sleep, depressed, everything.”

Webb was born when her mother was 46, a time when many women are solidly in perimenopause. On top of that, as is the case in many families, female relatives referred to menopause in euphemisms like “my own private summer” and “the flash.”

“It gave me this feeling that menopause was something that was never going to happen to me, or it would happen so late in my life that it wouldn’t even be an issue,” she told the crowd of mostly 50-something women on the 74th floor of One World Trade Center.

When, inevitably, symptoms of “the flash” came knocking on her door, menopause didn’t register as the cause.

RELATED: Half Of All Post-Menopausal Women Have Genitourinary Syndrome, So Why Have You Never Heard Of It?

“My husband was like, ‘What’s wrong with you? I want you back.’ I just thought, ‘I’m going crazy, it can’t be menopause,'” Webb said.

When she finally realized that’s exactly what it was, she decided she was not going to be quiet and ashamed about it. Instead, she would use her platform to spread the word that menopause and getting older is a normal part of life and anything but the end of vitality.

“It’s not a disease,” Webb said. “It’s something that we should all look forward to. It brings freedoms, and it brings responsibilities for taking care of your health. I’m happy to be here.”

Following the event, I sat down with Webb to learn a little more about her menopause journey, and how she tolerated some serious discomfort in the interest of taking menopause conversations out of taboo territory.

Q: How Did You Decide To Start Using Your Platform For This Particular Cause? 

A: “Because when I went through menopause, even though I come from a family that’s very well-educated and very fluent in the medical silo, it caught all of us by surprise, including my sister who’s an M.D.”

Q: I Think You Mentioned On The Panel That Your Sister Said That They Didn’t Really Learn About Menopause In Medical School. 

A: “No, not at all. Menopause wasn’t covered in medical school. My mother was an RN and really brilliant at what she did. And I was actually born when my mother was in perimenopause.

“Those conversations were just never had. And when women did talk about it when I was younger, this is like in the ‘70s and ‘80s, people just said, ‘Oh, I’m having my own private summer.’”

Q: In The World Of Modeling, Beauty Is So Important. Did It Feel Difficult To Come Out And Say, ‘Menopause Is A Thing That We All Go Through, Whether You’re A Model Or You’re A Housewife?’ 

A: “Well, for someone like me to feel out of control and uninformed about something that was happening in my body was intolerable.

“And of course, yes, when you are in a youth-obsessed business, the conversation about beauty, up until really the reckoning of the Me Too movement, the conversation about beauty was cut off even before pregnancy. It was a very difficult transition to make and it felt like jumping off a cliff when I first started to write about and talk about menopause seven or eight years ago on my blog and among my friends.

“But it turned out to be just a two-foot cliff, really. It became more comfortable sort of quickly. You realize that menopause is not a disease or a condition, it’s a phase of life that we all go through. And every woman who has been important in your life, if she lived long enough, she’s menopausal.” 

Q: If You’re Lucky Enough To Live Long Enough, You Go Through It. You Were Very Pioneering Talking On This Topic Nine Years Ago. That Must Have Felt Really Out Of Your Comfort Zone. 

A: “It was entirely outside of my comfort zone. But I had a lot of experience with stuff like this because when I first moved to New York in the ‘80s and I was in the fashion business, I lived through the AIDS crisis and lost so many people. 

“The most powerful saying I think in the AIDS crisis from Act Up was ‘Silence equals death.’ But in menopause, it’s silence equals shame. And we shouldn’t be ashamed of a natural process, any more than women should be ashamed of having a period or everything that happens after you have a baby that no one ever tells you about until the baby’s there.”

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Anne Fulenwider was Editor in Chief of Marie Claire magazine for eight years, and she thought she’d be in publishing for the rest of her life. But then the magazine published a series of stories about the state of women’s health research, and her future started to look different.

Fulenwider left publishing to become co-founder and co-CEO of Alloy, a company that helps women get prescription medications to treat menopause symptoms and provides reality-check information on midlife health.

At the recent Menopause CEO Conference in New York City, organized by Stacy London, CEO of State Of Menopause and held on World Menopause Day, Fulenwider joined 16 other menopause leaders on stage. It was the largest panel I’ve ever witnessed, and also the most interesting and provocative.

RELATED: Rejected By The Entertainment Industry, Stacy London Is Giving Menopause A Makeover As A Business Leader

After the meeting, she spoke with me about the excitement around this relatively new industry, her midlife transition from publishing to the business of menopause, and the exorbitant cost of clinical trials.

Q: How did you transition from publishing to what you’re doing now?

A: “I was born in magazines, thought I was going be in magazines for the rest of my life. We did a whole bunch of coverage of women’s health and it was just alarming to me what we were uncovering about how, for example, women’s bodies were not even included in clinical trials until 1993—it’s the year I graduated from college.

“So I had that bubbling in the background, and then my mother died out of the blue of a heart attack at 73, which is not so young, but too young. I had a long conversation with a doctor and we talked about the fact that she’d had heart issues her whole life and was taken off her hormones. And I just realized through her experience and through my daughter’s—my daughter’s fine now—but how little is known about women’s bodies.

“So basically three things happened: We started covering women at Marie Claire, I had my own personal family health issues going on with my mother and my daughter, and then Monica (Monica Molenaar, Alloy’s co-founder and co-CEO) approached me and was like, ‘Hey, do let’s do a content set about menopause.’ And being a journalist and editor, I did the digging around why is there a stigma around menopause. Why is there so much misinformation? 

“And I uncovered, as now everyone in the field knows, that study from 20 years ago, and how much damage it did. And that this was the root of all this fear around actual medical treatment of what is not a disease, but a medical phenomenon. 

“I was totally motivated and happy to leave publishing, to be honest, to do this more mission-driven, impactful work. I loved my whole journalism career, but I really, really love being on the front lines and actually trying to fix policy and health.” 

Q: I’m so glad your daughter is OK, what happened with her health?

A: “My daughter is 16 now but going through puberty she had really painful cysts, and we were in the emergency room with her because we thought it was appendicitis. And this lovely young doctor said to me, ‘Well, we’re just going to wait and do one more X-ray, and either we’re going to do surgery right now or send you home with Advil,’ because they didn’t know what was wrong yet.

“And I was like, ‘What?’ Those were my two options for my daughter. I was standing in the emergency room at the hospital and it brought me back to the lack of research on women’s bodies—how harmful it is to our own health and longevity.

“The other thing I’ll say is just that when you hit this age, I don’t know if you feel the same way, but I’m now 50, and with my mother dying, it was this pivotal moment of, wait, what am I going to do with the rest of my life? And it was a gift in many ways to have this moment of reflection of, okay, wait a minute, life is too short. I’ve done one thing for a long time and I really took advantage of that moment to stop and figure out what I wanted to do with my skills for the rest of my life.”

Q: Yes, I have felt the way too. One of the things during the panel that was remarkable to me was that distinction between menopause being a disease and being a stage in life, and ho that’s something you’ve come up against at Alloy as far as advertising on Facebook or anywhere else.

A: “So I really have a two-part answer to that, which is that menopause is definitely not a disease, but it is something that should be treated by the medical world. It is also a life stage, and there are lots of other things to do to improve the quality of your life.

“You have a moment at around 50 to set the course of your own longevity and your own aging. I mean, none of us can completely control our fate, but the choices you make around this time about changing your lifestyle and changing habits really set the stage for either a long, healthy life or even if it’s long, maybe not so healthy and active and enjoyable.

“Medical issue versus life stage—it’s just not the way I would phrase it. It’s both, and they’re not mutually exclusive. 

“That, however, is completely different from the Facebook issue, which yes, we have come across. You can’t say hormones, you can’t say vagina.” 

Q: You can’t say hormones?

A: “No. Because they think that you’re selling human growth hormones, which we’re not at all, of course, we’re selling FDA-approved treatments. There are so many things you can’t say. We have had many, many ads blocked.

“We spent a significant amount of our time dealing with Facebook and Google’s rejection of our ads. It’s insane. And it’s so unfair because of course, ED (erectile dysfunction) drugs are everywhere.”

Q: One last thing I’d like to ask you is regarding anecdotal, shared stories versus clinical trials to determine the effectiveness of treatments. In my mind, hard science is important, but at the same time, the bar is so high to start a clinical trial and it’s so expensive. What’s your take on how we can get treatments that are verifiably safe and work well but not spend $300 million? That’s kind of a giant question.

A: “It’s huge. Yeah, it’s huge. It’s funny, it’s what happens when you have a money-based health system, right? There are just so many things to unpack there. The fact that the clinical trials only apply to, I believe, new drugs that want to come into the market.

“So they’re sponsored by pharmaceutical companies. And by the way, I don’t know if you saw that article recently, the FDA is predominantly funded by pharmaceutical companies who are trying to get their drugs approved. 

RELATED: Your Menstrual Cycle Nearing Menopause May Indicate Your Risk For Heart Disease

“Pharmaceutical companies have created life-saving, wonderful drugs including our vaccines, et cetera. I’m not against them, it’s just that they dominate the research field, which just seems really wrong. Those studies should be done, but other studies that are not based on incentives should really also be there. 

“I think anecdotes are not strong enough. I believe in thousands and thousands of years of herbal remedies that are working. But I do think there may be a middle path. Now that I’ve been doing research on menopause for almost three years, I know there are tons and tons of studies out there that are pretty accessible.

“Currently, the burden is on the patient and the woman to do the research, which is ridiculous. But I think it might be on us and certainly on those of us from the media world and from storytelling in health.

“There are plenty of studies that may not meet the standards of double-blind clinical trials, but that are extremely informative and well done. And if you aggregate them and distill them into their truths and get them out there in digestible ways, it would be easier for women to make choices.”

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Among the many unpleasant changes associated with menopause, including hot flashes and menopausal rage, your skin may show some noticeable changes as well.

When a woman goes through menopause, estrogen levels rapidly decline. As estrogen levels plummet, collagen production also dwindles, resulting in skin laxity. Your skin might also become more dry, flaky, itchy, and thin.

It’s not always easy to see these changes staring back at us in the mirror. And when it comes to skincare during menopause, products designed specifically for this phase of life are few and far between.

RELATED: This Skincare Line Fights Menopausal Skin And Reviewers Are Stunned By The Quick Results

So we’re thrilled that No7 Skincare has introduced a line of skincare tailored specifically to address skin changes during menopause.

No7’s Approach To Menopausal Skincare

Women deserve a skincare regimen that supports healthy-looking skin during and after menopause. Developed in collaboration with over 7,000 menopausal women, No7 Beauty’s menopausal skincare collection addresses six key menopausal skin concerns: dryness, dullness, sensitivity, lack of firmness, uneven skin tone, lines, and wrinkles.

No7 Menopause Skincare Instant Radiance Serum

$17.99 Shop Now At Amazon

No7 Menopause Skincare Instant Radiance Serum visibly targets signs of aging, combating wrinkles on the face and making the neck look firmer while giving the skin a radiant and healthy glow.

It has a unique applicator that allows you to apply the product directly from the bottle. Best of all, this moisturizing serum provides instant cooling relief to soothe and rejuvenate hot skin.

No7 Menopause Skincare Protect & Hydrate Day Cream

$22.60 Shop Now At Amazon

Dryness is one of the toughest menopausal skin symptoms, but No7 Protect and Hydrate Day Cream is up to the task. In fact, 94% of menopausal women agreed their skin felt moisturized and softer after their first use. 

This day cream is bursting with moisture-boosting ingredients such as niacinamide and a hydrating complex, proven to hydrate skin for 72 hours. Plus, it contains green tea and vitamin C to help the skin look and feel more radiant. You can also expect smoother, more even-looking skin with broad spectrum SPF 30 in this day cream.

No7 Menopause Skincare Firm & Bright Eye Concentrate

$16.46 Shop Now At Amazon

A further symptom of menopause is the dreaded raccoon eyes, but the No7 Menopause Skincare Firm and Bright Eye Concentrate can kick them to the curb. 

This eye cream refreshes and cools tired-looking eyes with the help of a metal rollerball applicator. Furthermore, this eye concentrate contains nourishing lipids, soy isoflavones, red clover, and moisturizing niacinamide to moisturize dry skin, reduce wrinkles, and firm the skin around the eyes.

No7 Menopause Skincare Nourishing Overnight Cream

$23.92 Shop Now At Amazon

The No7 menopause day cream is ideal for hydrating your skin during the day, but make sure to moisturize overnight as well. No7’s Nourishing Overnight Cream is packed with nourishing ceramides and lipids for dry, sensitive menopausal skin. Your skin will feel fresh and nourished when you wake up.

No7 Menopause Skincare Instant Cooling Mist

$14.99 Shop Now At Amazon

No7 Menopause Skincare Instant Cooling Mist instantly soothes irritated, hot skin, leaving it looking radiant and fresh. Two weeks after using this product, menopausal women said their skin’s texture had improved, fine lines were reduced, and their skin was visibly firmer and more even.

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Social media is a double-edged sword. It can certainly be a den of misinformation, misogyny, and unrealistic expectations. But there are some trustworthy accounts and voices on the internet. And when used correctly, social media can be an invaluable resource for education, support, and inspiration.

This is especially true when it comes to menopause. Indeed, our society is woefully silent about this natural transition in a woman’s life, leaving many midlife women with lots of questions, few answers, and even less time. That’s where social media can help.

RELATED: No, You Won’t Be Sweaty Forever: Debunking 10 Common Menopause Myths

As menopause gradually starts to be a more frequent topic of public discourse (thank goodness), more and more social media influencers are beginning to follow suit. Many of these accounts provide reliable, honest, and empowering information to guide you through “the change.”

But, of course, the universe of social media is vast. So we did some of the work for you by rounding up a handful of our favorite midlife influencers.

1. @DrMaryClaire

Dr. Mary Claire is a Texas-based OB-GYN and founder of The Galveston Diet. She offers a wide range of menopause information on her TikTok account, from hilarious personal anecdotes to empowering narratives that flip menopause’s negative connotation on its head. She even addresses new medical studies, presenting the data in layman’s terms so you can easily stay informed on the latest breakthroughs in women’s health.

2. @Dr_NaomiPotter

Dr. Naomi Potter is a menopause specialist and co-author of Menopausing. Her practice seeks to provide empathetic, holistic healthcare, and her social media presence aligns with that. Potter’s account features insightful interviews with other wellness professionals where they discuss working with menopause, HRT, and more.

3. @BlackGirlsGuideToMenopause

The lack of accessible resources and care for midlife women in general is bad enough, but for women of color, it can be even worse. Omisade Burney-Scott aims to bring POC voices to the forefront of the menopause conversation with her podcast and social media profile, Black Girl’s Guide To Surviving Menopause. We especially love Burney-Scott’s “Say More” discussion deck, which was co-designed with Kindra (a favorite of ours) and allows women to dive deeper into their midlife journeys.

4. @HotFlashesAndCoolTopics

Menopause conversations—if they happen at all—can feel like they center around the same few topics: hot flashes, low libido, etc. But the Hot Flashes & Cool Topics Podcast strives to feature different, equally important issues like mental wellness, family dynamics, and immunity. Navigating midlife is complicated, but HF&CT seeks to untangle the web of misinformation and misdirection.

5. @MenopauseMatters

Menopause Matters is a UK-based women’s wellness magazine available in print and online. Its Instagram profile is an invaluable treasure trove of information and inspiration, and it’s especially helpful for visual learners. Menopause Matters’ easily digestible infographics outline complicated topics like hormonal treatments and other lesser-known treatments so you can get all the facts and none of the fluff.

6. @HeatherHirschMD

Dr. Heather DeMille Hirsch is a Boston-based menopause doctor and teacher. She’s also a proud member of an “Army of Women” who seek to reclaim and revamp the narrative surrounding menopause. She offers no-BS advice on HRT and vaginal changes and even highlights the pitfalls of the modern medical field in terms of women’s wellness. She offers master classes on her website, but even scrolling through her Instagram profile provides a wellspring of down-to-earth, dependable advice.

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Menopause symptoms are widely regarded as unpleasant. And it’s true, a lot of them are no fun at all, from hot flashes to mood swings to vaginal atrophy. But dramatic headlines can often lead to misunderstandings and misinformation. 

Navigating midlife is hard enough on its own. Add to that the chaos of outdated medical information and misogynistic assumptions, and separating fact from fiction can be even more challenging. 

So we’ve rounded up some of the most common misconceptions about menopause so that you can focus on the realities of your hormone changes—not the myths.

1. It Happens Suddenly

With so much talk surrounding “the change” and its severity, it can be easy to assume that this transition happens overnight. But in reality, menopause is a gradual process. Perimenopause typically begins between 45 and 55, though it can start earlier.

Menopause itself typically begins between the ages of 51 and 52. Multiple factors affect an individual’s menopausal experience, including pre-menopausal health, genetics, and socioeconomic factors.

2. You Will Be Sweaty Forever

Yes, hot flashes and night sweats suck. But luckily, there are effective treatments and management strategies for these vasomotor symptoms. Some of our favorites include these breathable PJs and this handy-dandy cooling spray.

Even if these solutions don’t work for you, you can reduce hot flash triggers by drinking ice water, dressing in layers of light fabrics, and avoiding spicy foods. For most women, these menopause symptoms naturally subside over time without intervention.

RELATED: Stop The Night Sweats With These Genius Products That Help You Stay Cool While You Sleep

3. Menopause Starts When You’re Old

Our society tends to categorize women as either very young or very old. Misogynistic views on aging lump midlife women in with senior citizens. And as most 50-somethings would attest, that is not a description they identify with.

Perimenopause can start as early as your late thirties and early forties. So you likely won’t feel “old” when you notice your first menopause symptoms. (Psst—that’s because you’re really not.)

4. Menopause Is Misery

Yes, sometimes it can be. However, most people who experience menopause have mild-to-moderate symptoms. Even more disruptive symptoms pale in comparison to the potential benefits of this new stage of life.

For example, menopause means you can kiss PMS goodbye for good. You no longer have to worry about monthly cramps, accidental staining, or being stuck in public without a period product. Plus, you no longer have to worry about unplanned pregnancies or birth control. Speaking of which…

5. Sex Is Basically Over

You know the myth that menopause means no more sex? Yeah, forget that. While some menopausal individuals will experience vaginal atrophy or a loss of libido, multiple treatments are available to remedy these issues.

Moreover, many women find the lack of pregnancy fear sexy and liberating. Dr. Jacqueline Thielen, a women’s health expert from Mayo Clinic, said, “Some of my older patients in their 80s are probably the ones that are most engaged in their sexual relationships. [It’s] about finding a comfort with yourself and the ability to share with someone else no matter what age you’re at.”

RELATED: Use It Or Lose It: The Device That Will Help Maintain Your Sexual Health In Midlife And Beyond

6. It Causes Memory Loss

There’s a big difference between general brain fogginess and actual memory loss. Peri/menopause might induce the former, but it generally does not cause the latter. If you are experiencing memory loss, it’s more likely caused by your brain aging, not hormonal fluctuations.

While more research is needed to determine the correlation between hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and memory loss, some individuals taking HRT have noticed improvements in cognitive function.

7. It Makes You Moody

To be fair, society tends to criticize women for being moody at any age, and midlife is undoubtedly no exception. But the hormonal transition itself isn’t to blame, the related symptoms are.

Hot flashes, night sweats, and other sleep disturbances don’t just affect us in the moment; they wear the mind and body down, making us more irritable, prone to stress, and impatient throughout the rest of the day.

8. Men Get It, Too

As women age, their estrogen levels deplete. Similarly, as men age, they also experience a drop in testosterone levels. This decrease is a normal part of the aging process for men, but it’s not necessarily “manopause.”

Unlike menopause, testosterone depletion occurs over a longer period of time. It also rarely causes symptoms in men. (Feel free to save this nugget of info for the next time a guy tries to mansplain menopause to you.)

9. Genetics Predict When Menopause Happens

Genetics do play a role in the onset of menopause, but they don’t guarantee you’ll have the same menopausal experience as your mother. Smokers start menopause an average of two years sooner than non-smokers.

Physical factors (level of physical activity, body mass index) and socioeconomic factors (occupation, income) can affect menopause timing, too. Additionally, you might be more likely to start menopause early if you are immunocompromised or have undergone chemotherapy.

RELATED: Should You Take Hormone Replacement Therapy?

10. Hormone Replacement Therapy Is Dangerous

This one is a doozy. The idea that the risks of HRT outweigh the benefits is primarily rooted in a study led by the Women’s Health Initiative in 2002, which has since been discredited for misleading data.

We’ve broken down the bunk science in a previous article. But to summarize, the WHI’s data was found to be deceptive and, according to a more recent study, inaccurate. The North American Menopause Society has even changed its HRT guidelines recently, emphasizing its safety and efficacy for many women under 60 years old or within 10 years of menopause onset.

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For people who have life partners, going through changes together is to be expected. People grow older, move, change careers, have children, and endure many shifts in life both individually and as a couple. However, there is one life transition that many women don’t necessarily go through at the same time as their partners: menopause. Cynthia Nixon and her wife, Christina Marinoni, however, have endured this unique experience and believe they’re better for it.

RELATED: Menopause Even Brought Opera Winfrey Down, Here’s How She Built Herself Back Up

While in her early 50s, Nixon opened up about going through perimenopause. As she shared with The Telegraph, “I’m in the perimenopause and although I’ve been in it for a year now, it’s starting to really pick up steam.” 

The actress then reflected on what it was like to experience the menopause transition. “I have hot flashes and a lot of hormonal mood swings,” Nixon said, “but just like when you get emotional before your period, it doesn’t mean that’s the crazy you. It’s stuff you’re able to submerge a lot of the time—and that’s the same with the menopause. So, yes, you can have all these crazy mood swings but you can also learn from them: they’re not a mirage.”

Going Through Menopause Is Better Together

What makes perimenopause different for Nixon is that she’s been able to go through the transition with her wife. “What’s hilarious,” she admitted, “is that my wife and I are going through it at the same time.” One can only imagine what it would be like to go through menopause simultaneously with someone else in your family.

Honestly, it could be the best thing that ever happened to some women. Many feel left out of the conversation when it comes to changes within their own bodies. Doctors can have a difficult time pinpointing if some physical symptoms are indicative of menopause or if a more serious medical issue is at play.

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For those who are fortunate enough to experience menopause as part of a community, there is substantial comfort to be found. In Nixon’s experience, entering this stage of life has been a relief. “There has been no sadness for me because once you hit 50, you’re done.” The actress reflected, “The freedom that comes from no longer being fertile is huge.”

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We hear all the time about menopause and weight gain, but things can get confusing when it comes to the effect extra pounds have on our health.

Doctors often still focus on BMI, which many experts have stopped using because it’s not a trustworthy predictor of health. Plus, BMI doesn’t differentiate between types of body fat. The truth is, there is a type of menopause-related fat that you should worry about, and there’s an easy trick to find out if you’re at risk.

Two Types Of Body Fat

As Harvard Health explains, not all fat is created equal. Evidence continues to emerge showing that location matters when it comes to body fat.

“Saddlebags and ballooning bellies are not equivalent,” according to Harvard Health. That’s because there are two types of body fat—visceral and subcutaneous. And they have different effects on your body.

The fat that you can pinch with your fingers on your arms, tummy, hips, or butt is subcutaneous fat. It’s located just beneath the skin. Visceral fat is located deep within the abdomen and is the kind to worry about.

The body fat in most people breaks down to about 90 percent subcutaneous and 10 percent visceral. But don’t let that small percentage fool you.

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Visceral fat lies beneath the firm abdominal wall in the spaces surrounding your organs, like the liver and intestines. It can be a major factor in a variety of health issues.

Visceral fat is also stored in an area known as the omentum, which Harvard Health describes as “an apron-like flap of tissues that lies under the belly muscles and blankets the intestines.” As the omentum fills with fat, it gets harder and thicker.

How Visceral Fat Can Affect Our Health

As we transition into middle age, the proportion of fat to body weight increases more for women than for men. And our fat storage starts to migrate to the upper body instead of our hips and thighs.

Even if you don’t gain any weight, you may notice significant changes in your body shape during menopause. Even if your hips and thighs were historically your typical weight-gain spots, during midlife your waist may instead gain inches as visceral fat expands your waistline.

Since the mid-1990s, body fat research has significantly increased our knowledge about how the two types of fat operate in our bodies. Body fat used to be regarded as blobs sitting in our bodies that were waiting to be used for energy. But recent research has proven that visceral fat cells are biologically active, and scientists have realized that “the fat cell is an endocrine organ, secreting hormones and other molecules that have far-reaching effects on other tissues,” according to Harvard Health.

As a result, scientists believe visceral is the culprit behind a variety of diseases.

“Subcutaneous fat produces a higher proportion of beneficial molecules, and visceral fat a higher proportion of molecules with potentially deleterious health effects. Visceral fat makes more of the proteins called cytokines, which can trigger low-level inflammation, a risk factor for heart disease and other chronic conditions. It also produces a precursor to angiotensin, a protein that causes blood vessels to constrict and blood pressure to rise,” explains the Harvard Health report on belly fat.

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The chronic conditions where visceral fat is implicated include cardiovascular disease, dementia, asthma, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer.

An Easy Method To Measure Visceral Fat

Visceral fat can be measured in a number of ways including a CT scan or a full-body MRI, but those tests are expensive and not easily accessible. Luckily, there’s an easier and totally free way to do it.

“The waist-to-hip ratio is felt to be a more accurate measurement of your health than your weight or your BMI,” said Dr. Mary Claire Haver, a nutritionist and board-certified OB/GYN, in a recent video.

All you need for an at-home “gut check” is to check your waist-hip ratio with a tape measure and some math.

1. Measure your waist at its smallest point which is usually around the level of the belly button.
2. Measure your hips at the widest point.
3. Divide your waist size by your hip size.

If your waist-to-hip ratio is .85 or less, you’re “doing pretty well.” However, if you have a ratio of 1.0 or greater, that typically means you have a “higher risk for health problems.”

If your ratio is above that 1.0 mark, there are things you can do to lose and prevent visceral belly fat. The good news is, visceral fat is more readily metabolized into fatty acids. So, it should respond more efficiently to a good diet and regular exercise compared to that stubborn fat on the hips and thighs.

Tips for attacking visceral fat include 30-minutes of exercise per day, eating a balanced diet, not smoking, and getting good sleep. Of course, it’s always a good idea to talk to your doctor. But if you’re thinking you can get a quick fix at the plastic surgeon, that won’t cut it—liposuction doesn’t address the visceral fat inside the abdominal wall, only the subcutaneous kind.

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Many women experience a common constellation of symptoms when they enter menopause, from changes in their menstrual cycle to insomnia, hot flashes, sexual dysfunction, and mood changes. Nevertheless, there are some lesser-known menopause complaints that may surprise you. 

In the past decade, research seems to suggest that burning mouth syndrome can be an unpleasant side effect of menopause.

Never heard of burning mouth syndrome? Neither had we. Welcome to yet another bizarre symptom of menopause that no one’s talking about.

What Is Burning Mouth Syndrome?

In general, burning mouth syndrome (BMS) feels as unpleasant as the name sounds. It often presents most commonly as a burning sensation on the tongue, roof of the mouth, or lips. However, it can also affect the throat.

There can be a sudden onset of BMS symptoms, including burning, tenderness, tingling, heat, scalding, and numbness as if one had been burned by a hot beverage.

Patients suffering from BMS often report that the burning sensation worsens throughout the day. Although sufferers have difficulty falling asleep, pain may ease once they fall asleep, but will return the following morning.

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In addition to the burning sensation, patients report a bitter or metallic taste. There is also a tendency for sufferers to complain of a dry mouth despite having a regular flow of saliva.

According to some patients, the pain is so severe that it can lead to irritability, mood changes, depression, and anxiety.

What Causes BMS?

Researchers are investigating several theories to explain burning mouth syndrome, but no specific cause has been identified.

According to some, BMS is characterized by neuropathic pain and the possibility that the burning sensation is caused by loss of facial nerve function and disinhibition of the trigeminal nerve. The latter is a part of the nervous system that sends signals from the face to the brain regarding touch, pain, and temperature. Consequently, patients experience nerve damage in the area of the tongue that controls taste and pain.

A second interesting theory suggests that BMS is caused by abnormal levels of gonadal, adrenal, and neuroactive steroids. The effects of chronic anxiety and stress are similar to a domino effect, whereby these symptoms disrupt steroid production, thereby causing abnormal neuroactive steroid function in the skin, mucosa, and nervous system.

Studies have shown that the decrease in gonadal steroids, or sex hormones, also interferes with the production of neuroactive steroids. And as you know, menopause sees a decrease in estrogen in the body. The mechanism by which the decrease in neuroactive steroids contributes to BMS symptoms is still being explored.

How Is Burning Mouth Syndrome Diagnosed?

Oftentimes, it’s not easy to distinguish BMS from other conditions because they share similar symptoms. In order to proceed with treatment, it is necessary to rule out a variety of other possibilities.

BMS cases are most commonly caused by oral health issues. In fact, oral health issues account for one-third of all BMS cases. Therefore, patients should first seek medical treatment from their dentists to rule out the possibility of serious oral health complications. Dentists can refer you to specialists if necessary.

A primary care provider, however, may order several tests to confirm a diagnosis if it is determined that you don’t have an oral health issue. Most commonly they’ll order the following tests:

• Allergy tests
• Blood tests
• Imaging tests
• Oral swab tests
• Salivary flow test
• Tissue biopsy

Depending on your situation, they may also refer you to a specialist.

How Is Burning Mouth Syndrome Treated?

Due to its multifactorial nature, BMS requires a more complex management approach. In some cases, patients require the expertise of medical specialists such as dentists, ENT specialists, dermatologists, and endocrinologists.

Benzodiazepine, tricyclic anti-depressants, and gabapentin are commonly prescribed to patients with BMS to control pain, the most challenging symptom.

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Among the alternative therapies are local applications of desensitizing agents like topical capsaicin. Adding hot pepper sauce to water in a ratio of 1:2 has been found to reduce oral symptoms in BMS patients. When applied three to four times per day, it may cause partial or even complete pain relief.

Other treatments involve hormone replacement therapy, a high-fluid diet, nutritional supplements, antioxidative therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy.

Medications and alternative therapies can be effective in treating existing BMS; however, researchers are suggesting that people can prevent BMS. 

Although burning mouth syndrome is poorly understood, stress is widely believed to be a contributing factor. In his work Health Impacts of Yoga and Pranayam: A State-of-the-Art Review, Pallav Sengupta advocates the use of holistic yoga for the prevention and management of stress.

According to him, yoga had a positive impact on the treatment of ‘depression, mood alterations, neuro-hormonal activity, diabetes, and coronary atherosclerosis.’ Further research is needed to determine its effects on BMS.

In severe cases, BMS can take months or even years to resolve on its own. Despite being a possible lesser-known symptom of menopause, there are treatments available. By speaking with your healthcare provider today, you can find a solution and get pain relief.

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Oprah Winfrey has done a lot of things. Best known for her self-titled talk show, she has also launched a media company, television network, and magazine. Over the years, she’s been the recipient of numerous awards and accolades. However, even with all of her recognition and achievements, Winfrey couldn’t stop menopause from bringing her down. The only way she was able to come back from it was by being open and vulnerable about her situation. 

A few years ago, when Winfrey was in her late 40s, she began experiencing sleepless nights and heart palpitations. Taking her symptoms seriously, the talk show host immediately went to her doctor. After seeing a cardiologist, Winfrey wore a heart monitor for weeks because the cardiologist suspected the worst: heart disease.

Finding Answers In Unexpected Places

However, the answer to her heart palpitations didn’t come from her doctors. Instead, her questions were answered in Dr. Christiane Northrup’s book, The Wisdom of Menopause. As Winfrey read about heart palpitations being a symptom of menopause, she realized the most likely explanation for her symptoms were overlooked by her doctors. Winfrey finally understood that she was going through the menopause transition.

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As Winfrey shared on Oprah Daily, “I did multiple shows about my discovery because at the time, almost no one was talking about menopause. Until that point in my adult life, I don’t recall one serious conversation with another woman about what to expect. Sure, I’d heard about hot flashes. But I wasn’t prepared for palpitations.”

In fact, Winfrey’s symptoms didn’t end with the heart palpitations. Once she entered menopause at age 53, she felt dulled. Even doing things she previously enjoyed, such as reading, became difficult. Winfrey couldn’t believe that the change was bringing her down. After all she had accomplished in life, the actress wasn’t willing to stop doing what she loved because of menopause.

Sometimes Friends Have The Best Advice

The talk show host shared her experience on her show and with her friends. Since Winfrey was willing to address the issue and be vulnerable about her experience, a friend shared that she, too, experienced the depressive symptoms that Winfrey described. The friend admitted to Winfrey that an estrogen supplement had been the answer to helping her thrive again.

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Turns out, Winfrey experienced the same rejuvenation thanks to an estrogen supplement. “All it took was one application, and the world returned to technicolor,” remarked Winfrey. “I could feel my countenance shifting. For the first time in years, I was sleeping the whole night through.” The estrogen supplement was the key to bringing back Winfrey’s drive for life.

Winfrey’s ability to be honest and vulnerable about her experience is a great example for all of us. When we open up about our needs, we can receive the support that gives us our life back, even from the unlikeliest of places.

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Cardiovascular disease is the number-one killer of women (and men). It causes one in three deaths in women each year—more than all forms of cancer combined. Nonetheless, many of us fail to recognize the risk that cardiovascular disease poses to our health.

Heart disease can affect women at any age, and it’s vital that we understand our personal risk factors and family history. According to the American Heart Association, nearly 45% of females 20 and older have some form of cardiovascular disease, and pregnancy and menopause can further increase your risk.

Even though menopause doesn’t cause heart disease, it’s at this point in midlife when our cardiovascular risk factors can accelerate. At this stage of our lives, focusing on our heart health is absolutely crucial.

Previous research published by the BMJ has shown that long, irregular cycles in adolescence and adulthood are linked to a greater risk of early death, especially as a result of cardiovascular disease. So researchers were curious to look at the relationship between heart disease and menstrual cycles during the menopausal transition—and what they found may surprise you.

A Look At The Study

As we approach menopause, the length of our menstrual cycles usually gets longer. According to a new study published in Menopause, this change in cycle length could provide some clues about our individual risk of developing heart disease.

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh collected menstrual cycle data from 428 different women aged 45 to 52 at the time of enrollment for up to 10 years or until they were post-menopausal. They focused on changes in cycle length during the menopausal transition, then assessed cardiovascular risk after menopause by measuring arterial stiffness or artery thickness.

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The study found that those who saw an increase in cycle length two years before their final menstrual period had better measures of vascular health than those who experienced stable cycle lengths during this time.

These results indicate that differences in cycle length—along with other menopause-related characteristics and health measures—could help predict which menopausal women are at greater or lesser risk of cardiovascular disease. It could also help doctors to recommend individualized strategies for preventive care.

“Cardiovascular disease is the [number one] killer of women, and the risk significantly increases after midlife, which is why we think that menopause could contribute to this disease,” explained lead author Samar El Khoudary, Ph.D., associate professor of epidemiology at Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health, in a University of Pittsburgh news release.

“Menopause is not just a click of a button,” she continued. “It’s a multistage transition where women experience many changes that could put them at higher risk for cardiovascular disease. Change in cycle length, which is linked to hormone levels, is a simple metric that might tell us who is more at risk.”

Analyzing The Findings

The results of the study noted three distinct trajectories in the length of the participants’ menstrual cycles over the course of their menopausal transition. The majority—62%—had stable cycles that didn’t change much before they entered menopause.

Approximately 16% experienced an early increase in cycle length (five years before their final period), while 22% showed a late increase (two years before their final period).

When compared to those with stable cycles, the women in the late-increase group had substantially more favorable measures of artery hardness and thickness, which indicates a smaller risk of heart disease. Those in the early-increase group had the poorest measures of artery health.

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These results are quite surprising, given the previous research about the link between menstrual cycle length in younger women and the risk of heart disease. Earlier studies suggested that high estrogen levels may protect the heart in young women with short cycles, but apparently, that can change as we age.

“These findings are important because they show that we cannot treat women as one group: Women have different menstrual cycle trajectories over the menopause transition, and this trajectory seems to be a marker of vascular health,” El Khoudary noted.

“This information adds to the toolkit that we are developing for clinicians who care for women in midlife to assess cardiovascular disease risk and brings us closer to personalizing prevention strategies.”

El Khoudary and her team hypothesize that the different menstrual cycle trajectories during the transition to menopause reflect hormone levels. It’s possible that estrogen is less protective in older women. The researchers plan on tracking hormone changes to test that theory in their future work.

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The Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) was launched in the early 1990s to study women’s health regarding cardiovascular and other diseases, cancer, and menopausal care. When the WHI’s published its research on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in 2002, it was the largest of its kind. And indeed, the results were groundbreaking—in the worst way possible.

The research reported that HRT increased the risk of cancer, dementia, and other diseases in menopausal women. Scientists said the risks outweighed the benefits, and with that, HRT became taboo. Even after other researchers pointed out the study’s many flaws, the stigma has persisted for decades.

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Finally, 20 years later, the North American Menopause Society updated its guidelines to correct the error. Here’s what you need to know (and what you need to unlearn).

What Did The WHI Get Wrong?

Despite the WHI’s noble intentions, the results of the 2002 paper were inaccurate for several reasons.

1. Participants Were Past Menopause Age

According to a 2006 critique by Dr. James H. Clark published in Nuclear Receptor Signaling, one predominant issue was the age of the study’s participants. Of the tens of thousands of women who participated in the study, most were “12-15 years past the onset of menopause,” Clark wrote.

“Thus, these women were without their pre-menopausal levels of estrogen and progesterone long enough to bring about changes in various bodily functions, which are the precursors of disease.”

The bottom line: the women enrolled were not representative of the population of women who would typically be starting on an HRT regimen.

2. Participants Were Overwhelmingly Already At Risk

Dr. Peter Attia discusses the study on his YouTube channel, in which he calls the WHI study “the biggest screw-up of the entire medical field in the last 25 years.”

Attia explains the time constraints for the study prevented scientists from using younger women, who they would have had to follow for longer than older women to determine menopause (and HRT’s) effects on the body later in life.

But Attia says the participants weren’t just older; they were sicker, too. “Something like 30, 40 percent of these women were smokers. The prevalence of obesity, diabetes was enormous. [The researchers] disproportionately picked the most unhealthy population they could.”

3. Relative Risk Vs. Absolute Risk

Moreover, Clark argues that the WHI blew the corresponding disease incidence rates out of proportion. Rather than using absolute risks, which provide a clearer picture of a population’s overall risk level, the study emphasized relative risks.

Relative risk ratios focus on smaller groups and thus create larger risk percentages. The media latched onto these bigger (and scarier) numbers, inaccurately suggesting that the correlation between HRT and various diseases was greater than it actually was.

As Dr. Louann Brizendine explained to Suggest editor Kristen Phillpkoski, the WHI study set research in women’s hormone therapy back 20 years. “One of the things that happened is they stopped teaching [about it] in medical schools.”

“Even OBGYNs,” Brizendine continued, “many of them say they aren’t prepared to do hormone therapy for women. They didn’t get any more than one lecture during their residency in hormone therapy.”

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The AARP reported that only 20% of OBGYN residency programs provide any menopausal training at all. Those who do receive about four hours of menopause training during medical school. Philip M. Sarrel, professor emeritus of gynecology at the Yale School of Medicine told AARP, “doctors are not helpful. They haven’t had training, and they’re not up to date.”

The Facts: HRT Is Safe And Effective For Most Women

Luckily, it looks like that might be starting to change. A 2022 study published in Cancer found that HRT significantly reduced all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease when initiated in women younger than 60 and/or at or near menopause.

As Texas-based OBGYN Dr. Mary Claire Haver outlines on her YouTube channel, these findings suggest HRT can prevent or reduce the symptoms of many diseases women encounter during midlife including cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s, and sexual and vaginal disorders.

Based on these findings, the North American Menopause Society has changed its guidelines regarding HRT. “Hormone therapy remains the most effective treatment for vasomotor symptoms [hot flashes, night sweats, etc.] and the genitourinary syndrome of menopause and has been shown to prevent bone loss and fracture,” the NAMS said.

“For women younger than 60 years or who are within 10 years of menopause onset and have no contraindications, the benefit-risk ratio is favorable for treatment of bothersome VMS and prevention of bone loss. For women who initiate hormone therapy more than 10 years from menopause onset or older than 60, the benefit-risk ratio appears less favorable because of the greater absolute risks of coronary heart disease, stroke, venous thromboembolism, and dementia.”

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So, while the NAMS statement acknowledges some findings of the WHI study, it puts them in the correct context. For most women younger than 60 or near menopause onset, HRT is a safe, effective, and in some cases, life-saving treatment.

What About Breast Cancer?

While the NAMS statement suggests HRT is an effective treatment for most women, this does not mean all women. Inaccuracies of the WHI aside, there are still correlations between estrogen levels and breast or uterine cancer development. 

Using estrogen and progestin (or combined hormone therapy) can reduce the risk of estrogen-related cancers. But the danger is not non-existent. As the American Cancer Society explains, “to put the risk into numbers, if 10,000 women took [HRT] for a year, it would result in up to about eight more cases of breast cancer per year than if they had not taken hormone therapy.”

The ACS also cites a clinical trial called the HABITS study that found breast cancer survivors taking HRT “were much more likely to develop a new or recurrent breast cancer than women who were not taking these hormones. Because of this, doctors generally do not recommend [HRT] if a woman was previously treated for breast cancer.”

So, What Does This Mean For You?

Regardless of the data debunked from 2002, HRT might not be for everyone. But as more accurate menopause information enters the mainstream, it’s likely that many women will discover that they are eligible for hormonal treatments (and that it could have enormous benefits on their overall well-being). 

Ultimately, it’s a decision for you and your doctor to make, so it’s critical to find a doctor who observes the most up-to-date and factually accurate menopause guidelines. If you are looking for a new health provider, Dr. Haver and her team have curated a list of recommended physicians across the US, Puerto Rico, Canada, the UK, and South Africa. 

Whatever route you choose in your midlife journey, let science—not fear—lead the way.

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Judy Greer wasn’t feeling like herself. Only in her early 40s, the actress couldn’t explain the brain fog and extreme fatigue she was experiencing. She did what most people would do—she visited several doctors in hopes of receiving a diagnosis. However, when the only solutions the doctors had were to prescribe prescription drugs, birth control pills, and even Prozac, Greer sought other advice. The answers to her problems came from a surprising place.

Where Can Middle-Aged Women Go For Advice?

The symptoms Greer was experiencing began while she was working on the FX show Married. The actress just wasn’t feeling like herself on set and had a side conversation with the show’s costume designer. Although Greer wasn’t seeking advice at the time, this casual chat would be a turning point for the actress.

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While speaking with the costume designer, Greer shared with The Hollywood Reporter that she finally realized her hormones were changing due to her age. “[The costume designer] was like, ‘Oh, honey, how old are you? Your hormones are all over the place. You’re going through this hormonal change, like a big shift,’” shared the actress. “And I was kind of like, ‘No’—I think at the time I was maybe like 40 or 41—‘no, not yet.’ And she’s like, ‘Oh yes, just you wait.’ And at first, I was kind of annoyed with her. And then I started doing research. And I started realizing, yeah, she’s right.”

Including Women In Their 40s In The Conversation

Judy Greer began to realize that women in their 40s are often invisible. No longer young and youthful but not quite at the menopausal stage, women’s changing bodies in midlife are often left out of conversations. Greer is changing that with Wile, a women’s naturopathic supplement brand.

Wile offers supplements for hormonal changes. These supplements include blends for hormonal wellness, stress relief, and curbing emotional eating. Other products are designed specifically to respond to hormonal imbalances. Greer swears by the supplements and takes them daily.

Greer, a founding partner of the company, has been taking the supplements for over a year now. Since beginning the regiment, she says she’s noticed a huge difference in her hormonal changes. “I’m not only a part of the company, but I’m also a customer, too, which is really important to me,” Greer says. “I don’t really want to lend my name to things that I don’t believe in.

Women in their 40s need to be part of the conversation. Greer is shining a light on this important stage of life for women with Wile. As Greer says, “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be as vibrant and important and happy and successful and confident as we were when we were in our 20s and 30s.”

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Kristin Scott Thomas is celebrating menopause on and off-screen. In fact, the actress has said that one of her best moments was playing the role of Belinda on the hit show Fleabag. The reason? Thomas enjoyed playing a character who shares her own feelings on menopause.

In the episode she guest stars in, Thomas’ character, Belinda, is a successful businesswoman who has just received a Woman in Business award. After receiving the award, Belinda meets Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s character, Fleabag, at the bar. As the two begin chatting, Belinda spouts off against her award and all women’s awards as “infantilizing bollocks… ghettoizing, a subsection of success.”

In the epic barstool soliloquy, Belinda reflects on the excruciating pain that women must endure throughout their lifetime. As Belinda continues to share more about what it’s like being a woman to Fleabag, she shares about the cycle of pain women experience. “I’ve been longing to say this out loud—women are born with pain built in, it’s our physical destiny—period pain, sore boobs, childbirth, you know. We carry it with ourselves throughout our lives,” Belinda shares. “Inside, we have pain on a cycle for years.”

Menopause Is The Most Wonderful Thing In The World

Belinda also remarks on what it’s like to move from period pain to perimenopause. “Just when you feel you’re making peace with it, what happens? The menopause comes, the f*cking menopause comes, and it is the most wonderful f*cking thing in the world. And yes, your entire pelvic floor crumbles and you get f*cking hot and no one cares. But then you’re free, no longer a slave, no longer a machine with parts. You’re just a person, in business.”

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However, Fleabag has doubts about what Belinda is saying. “I was told it was horrendous,” remarks Fleabag. Belinda replies, “It is horrendous, but then it’s magnificent. Something to look forward to.”

Celebrating Menopause As A Rite of Passage

This famous bar scene is one of the best TV moments about menopause. Truth be told, it’s one of the few TV moments about menopause. Although every single female will go through menopause, it can still be taboo to discuss. However, Thomas and other celebrities are changing this.

Even though many of us are familiar with the drawbacks of menopause: hot flashes, brain fog, and sleep problems—more and more female celebrities are celebrating this stage of life, including Thomas. Hopefully, Hollywood will follow suit and continue adding epic menopause scenes to TV shows and movies.

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Dr. Heather Hirsch is a Boston-area internist with a large following on social media platforms plus a podcast, Health by Heather. Her work is dedicated to informing and empowering women as they navigate menopause, perimenopause, and post-menopause. 

Recently she shared with her followers that studies show that half of all post-menopausal women suffer from a condition called genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM). She believes that it’s actually more prevalent: “If you ask me, 100% of women going through menopause will have GSM.” So what is it? And what can we do about it?

What Is Genitourinary Syndrome Of Menopause?

Estrogen levels start to decline during perimenopause and menopause. The decrease in these levels can cause fluctuations in your skin, hair, and mood.

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GSM is yet another symptom caused by estrogen loss. The syndrome is associated with vaginal dryness, painful sex, vaginal burning, painful or difficult urination, discharge, and recurrent urinary tract infections.

Other symptoms of GSM include urinary incontinence, bleeding after intercourse, and shortening and tightening of the vaginal canal. It’s all thanks to declining estrogen, which results in thinning, drying, and inflammation of the vaginal walls.

Diagnosis Of GSM

If you suspect you might have GSM, share your symptoms with your doctor. Your doctor may follow up with a pelvic exam, urine test, and/or an acid balance test.

“When we make estrogen our pH levels are actually a little bit more acidic,” Hirsch said. Meaning a healthy vagina will have a lower pH and will be more naturally acidic. The acid test will check the pH levels of the vagina to tell if it’s more acidic or alkaline.

Why Is GSM Underdiagnosed?

Despite the overwhelming evidence that GSM affects a large percentage of women, the condition is underdiagnosed and underrated.

Some women may believe that these symptoms are inevitable and that there are no treatments available, so they don’t seek medical care. Other women may be embarrassed to discuss the symptoms associated with GSM. And some women don’t realize that their symptoms are correlated with menopause. But suffering in silence isn’t necessary.

RELATED:  ‘F*cking Ridiculous!’ Scotland Is Championing Menopause But Got One Big Thing Wrong

To get treatment and a correct diagnosis, women should speak up about changes during their annual gynecological or primary care appointments. In addition, The North American Menopause Society has suggested that doctors screen all women over 40 for GSM. Because GSM can cause disruption of daily life, a decrease in quality of life, and put a strain on relationships, it’s important to acknowledge these symptoms and seek treatment.

Treatment Of GSM  

Lifestyle changes might help you avoid or lessen the severity of GSM. Tobacco use has been linked with earlier menopause and vaginal atrophy, so quitting smoking is a good idea. Wearing cotton underwear and avoiding fragrance-containing products can help avoid vaginal irritation. Hormonal and non-hormonal therapies are also options.

Non-Hormonal

Lubricants can help reduce friction, which could help with discomfort during intercourse. And vaginal moisturizers replace natural vaginal secretions. Lubricants are typically water-based, whereas moisturizers may contain hyaluronic acid or polycarbophil, a gel that promotes hydration. Moisturizers are typically longer lasting than lubricants.

You might also want to seek out over-the-counter options—several companies have sprung up in recent years with non-prescription menopause treatments.

Laser therapy is another treatment for mild-to-moderate GSM. It’s also an option for women who have undergone breast or uterine cancer and others who aren’t able to use hormone therapies. The MonaLisa Touch Laser Therapy is the only FDA-approved laser therapy available in the U.S.

Hormonal

Replacing lost estrogen is another treatment for GSM. Your doctor might prescribe hormone replacement therapy, which can be delivered by rings, tablets, patches, or other methods. A low dose of estrogen can treat the urinary and vaginal symptoms of GSM.

If you think you might be suffering from GSM, make sure to talk to your doctor about your options. From over-the-counter treatments, hormones, and lasers, there’s no reason to suffer in silence.

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Angelina Jolie experienced early onset menopause at a young age. Although menopause was triggered after the actress had surgeries to prevent cancer, Jolie has no regrets. In fact, she appreciates feeling older.

When the award-winning actress discovered that she carried a cancer gene, she knew immediately that she would do anything to prevent getting the disease. Jolie had already lost her grandmother, mother, and aunt to ovarian cancer. She didn’t want to go down that road.

After Jolie’s doctor detected the same BRCA1 cancer gene and possible signs of early cancer, the filmmaker opted to have preventative surgery. Not wanting to follow in her family members’ footsteps, the actress had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed. Fortunately for Jolie, there was no cancer detected following the preventative surgeries. However, the surgeries did have an effect on her health.  At only 40 years old, Jolie began to experience early menopause.

‘I Actually Love Being In Menopause’

While most women don’t experience menopause until their mid-40s, 50s, or even 60s, the actress has enjoyed feeling older. “I actually love being in menopause,” Jolie admitted in an interview with The Telegraph via E! News. “I haven’t had a terrible reaction to it, so I’m very fortunate. I feel older, and I feel settled being older.”

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The filmmaker’s honest and frank talk of menopause is a breath of fresh air for women of all ages. Although everyone with ovaries will go through menopause, we’re often taught to dread the changes that will occur in our bodies. With all the talk of hot flashes, mood swings, and sleep problems, most women would rather run the other way. Plus, aren’t we supposed to want to stay young forever?

Jolie is sharing a different version of the experience. Even though she went through menopause at a young age, she is celebrating her current stage of life. In fact, the actress is more at ease now than when she was younger. Her experience is just the opposite of how most people expect women to react to menopause.

As the actress continues to fight off cultural expectations and ageism, she is embracing this new chapter in her life. Although the fountain of youth is often sought after in Hollywood, Jolie is happy to say goodbye to her younger days. “I feel happy that I’ve grown up,” she remarked. “I don’t want to be young again.”

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Stacy London, who co-hosted the show What Not To Wear for a decade, is back at the job of wanting to make you look and feel your best.

But this time, instead of with clothing, she’s doing it as CEO of the company she took over in 2019, State of Menopause. After transitioning through an extraordinarily difficult midlife period when she faced back surgery, the death of her father, and severe perimenopause symptoms, she wanted to use her platform to help midlife women not just survive, but thrive.

And if she couldn’t do it with a TV show (which she repeatedly hit brick walls trying to create), she would do it in business.

State of Menopause offers products to help us manage, understand, and even enjoy the menopause transition. The brand sells everything from a cooling spray to a CBD vaginal moisturizer, and recently launched a line of hair products, specifically targeting all the changes our locks experience during midlife.

Gen Xers like London (and myself) were taught to compete, but we’re learning that collaboration delivers better results than competition. With that in mind, London convened the first Menopause CEO Summit in New York City this week on World Menopause Day. Although some of the companies attending are in direct competition with one another, she believes there’s room for everyone, and hopes the event will strengthen education and community around menopause issues.

Read on for my interview with London. We discussed, among other things, being a Gen X leader, her difficult menopause journey, and the ridiculous idea that anyone should be evaluated by their reproductive status.

RELATED: ‘I’ve Been A Monster:’ Women Share The Unexpected Emotional Impacts Of Menopause

How Has Being A Gen X Woman Influenced Your Leadership Style?

“We were taught to compete. We were taught that there was only one place to get that job or only one guy to date, or there was just one first place. And it was kill or die to get there.

“I think we are a fascinating generation. Gen X is the last generation that will probably experience generational shame around aging and menopause, as well as generational confusion and ignorance around aging and menopause. And we’ll be the first to break that stigma in a real way.”

Yes And Hopefully We’re Changing The Way Our Culture Views Women In Midlife.

“So menopause has traditionally been seen as this kind of expiration date. Simply because once you are no longer able to give birth to biological children or be fertile that somehow means that you are no longer the focus.

“When we had wooly mammoths and sabertooth tigers, you were no longer the focus when you were not furthering the race anymore. And there are a bunch of people who have theories about why women live past menopause or past child-birthing years I’m not sure I understand or agree with entirely.

“But this idea that you can reduce us to our reproductive health or our hormonal chaos is ludicrous.

“If you look at the contributions of women over the age of 40 for a long, long time in our history, they have nothing to do with giving birth to children.”

What Is The Meaning Behind Your ‘AND’ Necklace?

“Things can be true at the same time. For me, the ‘AND’ means I had a career in magazines and in television and now I’m in business.

“I can feel like I am at my most authentic self, I can be incredibly self-aware, and yet still be bummed that I don’t get looked up and down on the street anymore. These things can all be true at the same time. And aside from that, it stands for ‘a new dawn’ and ‘a new day.’”

I Love That.

“Over time, we become less culturally relevant. We start to feel invisible. But one, I don’t think Gen X is really into that. I think we like being the center of attention. I think we believe there’s room for all of us.

“But also we can actually look at the trope of a midlife crisis and recognize that that is really part cultural invalidation and part hormonal chaos. And what that winds up creating is a crisis of confidence and confusion in terms of identity, both of which I think are truly solvable within the menopause experience and within the midlife experience. And we’re just starting to get to the tip of the iceberg.

“That was part of the reason for wanting to be involved in [the State of Menopause].”

How Do You Think Gen X Is Learning From Younger Generations?

“I believe in a lot of ways younger generations have given Gen X permission to be more transparent and more honest about their own experiences. I mean, I remember growing up being taught you never show weakness, you don’t cry. Be a duck, like perfectly floating on the surface and you are like paddling like hell underneath. Or if you were exercising and somebody said that you looked great, you never admitted to how hard it was to get there. There was always this illusion that we were supposed to have done everything without effort.”

Totally. The Cool Girl Fallacy.

“Right, cool girls are all of the things. They just know how to play chess, they didn’t have to learn.

“But I think millennials and Gen Z feel very much cheated by the idea that we didn’t talk openly about the struggles and tribulations that we had. And by not sharing those things, by not being more transparent and honest about those experiences, it’s made them very forceful in the way that they talk about things that are quite personal, that we would’ve considered off limits in terms of conversation, like race and gender and sexuality.”

What Was Your Menopause Experience Like?

“I medically did not have a profile that allowed me to go on hormones. And what is so astounding to me is that I thought at certain points, my moods, all of the different issues that I had going on at the same time, when I say hormonal chaos, I mean, I’ve been quoted saying it was a tsunami of batsh*t, crazy. I truly felt like I was going to throw myself off a bridge.

“Some days I was just like, I don’t know how I’m going to do this. And to think about all of the millions of people who have gone through this, who never said a word in total silence, who never said to their doctor, ‘please help,’ or never got the kind of counseling or care practitioner that they needed—it breaks my heart to think about it.

“I just feel very fortunate that we are at that stage where Gen X is like, it’s bullsh*t that we’re being rated on the performance of our reproductive health. I mean, it’s ludicrous. You cannot reduce any of us or our worth to those systems.

“Instead we really just need to be looking at the science. We only started insisting that women be in health trials in 1993. We don’t know enough about female physiology to feel safe in our bodies. That’s insane to me.”

You Tried To Create A Show For Midlife Women, Can You Talk About What Happened?

“When I was around 47, I started to feel like I didn’t know what my next move was. I wanted to do this show about middle-age transformation, particularly for women, and do it about fashion, but also about finance, empty nest syndrome, elder care, all the things that we want to really be thinking about at this stage of life. And I pitched to every streamer and every channel to crickets.”

Wow.

“Everybody said nobody wants to watch middle-aged women on television. And I was like, okay, I don’t know who you think the Real Housewives are, but you’re basically telling me you don’t want to see anything that really tries to elucidate and illuminate what aging means and what midlife means.

“I took that very personally because I was like, I’m a middle-aged woman. This is what I wanna talk about. This is the woman I want to reach because I had an identity crisis. I didn’t look like myself. I didn’t feel like myself and I didn’t know what to do about it.

“I knew it couldn’t be just me who feels this way, and little did I know that a lot of things I was attributing to my midlife crisis, like having pretty significant spine surgery and my father dying—I thought physical or emotional grief was kind of taking over my body, having no idea what perimenopausal symptoms were, having no idea that that is what I was experiencing. And perhaps those two events really amplified that experience, but I felt like I was fading.”

‘I Didn’t Know How To Dress Myself Anymore’

“I was like, I don’t know where the Stacy London from What Not To Wear or the Stacy London who is a successful person is anymore. I was having trouble getting off the couch every day. So I recognized that something was happening to me, and I thought it was something worth exploring in the medium that I understand best, which is television.

“And being able to talk about these things in a visual way, that there was always like an ‘aha’ moment that you had watching What Not To Wear in understanding that it was never about the clothes. It was about what the clothes could do. How could we make people see themselves differently, be compassionate with themselves?

RELATED: You’re Not Crazy, It’s Perimenopause Rage: Women Open Up About Their Experiences, And How To Spot It In Yourself

“How could they treat their bodies with respect? How could they walk into a room and feel wonderful? And feel like I had lost that. At 47, my body has changed. I didn’t know how to dress myself anymore. I knew I could not be the only one feeling this way. And after being turned down by all of these television channels, COVID happened.

“I had this come to Jesus moment with what is my kernel of truth? What is it that I want to do? I am in a fortunate enough position to be able to choose a new path instead of banging down a door that leads to a room with a crowd of people that don’t really want me there anymore.”

‘I Want To Be A Self-Esteemist.’

“I really wanted to be influential in the way people feel about themselves. And so I’ve always considered myself a stylist, but I think that even more, I want to be a ‘self-esteemist,’ that’s the only word that I’ve been able to come up with.

“And that was partly why I wanted to take over [the] State Of Menopause. I want the company to have products the same way on What Not To Wear I wanted you to wear clothing—because they’re instruments. They’re weapons in your arsenal of making sure that you feel and look the way you wanna feel.”

It’s Exciting That The Younger Generation Is Noticing Midlife Women Since We’ve For So Long Lacked Attention And Resources. Suggest’s CEO Is In Her 30s, And There’s A Community Called Revel Whose Founders Are Also In Their Thirties.

“That goes back to the generations coming together and I mean, not for nothing, a lot of this has to do with commercial viability, right? We may be a smaller population than boomers or millennials, and there was a smaller financial price tag attached to getting our attention. And now that we are reaching middle age and certainly after COVID, rethinking the way we want to live our lives and how we want to pivot, getting our attention is very profitable.

“And I think younger generations are actually recognizing that the lifetime value of any consumer can start very young and actually go the lifetime of that consumer. And that we’re going to stop segmenting everything by decade or even just by age and more by circumstance and the other issues that connect us.”

And How Did The Menopause CEO Summit Come About?

“I am very lucky to be able to do what I do. But the women and all of my colleagues who have been working in this field for a lot longer than me don’t have the same kind of following and don’t have the same kind of soapbox.

“And what is the point if I am the only one screaming from the rooftops? That’s a drop of rain in the ocean. What matters is being able to use that soapbox and convert it into a platform to raise everybody’s voices.

“That to me is not just part of my company, but of this stage of my life—wanting to share the spotlight, wanting other people’s success to help impact my own. And that is something that I’ve never done in my lifetime. I’ve never had the opportunity to do it this way.

“Menopause as a topic and a community that in 2025 is going to be 1 billion people—that’s 12% of the Earth’s population. That’s the population of China. There are only 13 or 14 companies right now. I want to get us all together. I want that to grow bigger so there is a group of people out there who aren’t just fighting for you to have information, or for you to have agency over your own wellbeing, but we’re like cheerleaders rooting for you.”

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Naomi Watts has seen it all when it comes to her acting career. The actress, 54, has played characters who have endured loss, suffering, and great tragedies. However, Watts was blindsided when her own body started changing in her 30s.

Nothing had prepared Watts for menopause. She didn’t even see it coming. In fact, the actress was shocked when she began experiencing perimenopause when she was in her 30s. That’s why she recently founded Stripes. The brand provides education, resources, and, most importantly, a community for women who are experiencing perimenopause and menopause.

Women Shouldn’t Have To Go Through Menopause Alone

Stripes is dedicated to providing a supportive community to women who are going through the menopausal transition. After experiencing perimenopause at a young age, Watts was astonished to find a lack of community. She also didn’t hear many people discussing around the issue. Watts founded Stripes as a way to build community and to bring the topic of menopause into the public sphere.

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Watts is fulfilling her mission. Just last week, the actress attended The New Pause Symposium in New York City to discuss the importance of bringing menopause into the spotlight. She also highlighted why she founded Stripes. There is much more to be said about menopause than is typically mentioned publicly. As she says in her Instagram post about discussing menopause at the symposium, “The conversation is just getting started.”

Watts was at the symposium just after launching Stripes, a company that provides relief to menopausal symptoms through various products, as well as a community of support to women experiencing menopause. The actress reflected on her experience with perimenopause and the importance of the community that exists through Stripes.

“I found myself at 36 and perimenopausal, a word I didn’t even know about, and at the precipice of trying to start a family,” Watts shared at the symposium. “So I went into complete panic, felt very lonely, very much less-than or like some kind of failure and what was I going to do? There was no one to talk to, there was no information, basically on my visit to the doctor, who said, ‘Well you’re not getting pregnant … your bloodwork is indicating that you’re close to menopause,’ so I was freaking out.”

‘Too Young’ To Experience Menopause

Watts felt like she was too young to be going through perimenopause. She kept this part of her life a secret for many years. In fact, she didn’t think about sharing her experience with others until she was in her 50s. 

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At the symposium, Watts shared that it wasn’t until the pandemic that she began considering taking on projects that dealt with menopause. During this time, she reflected on how she could help women who were struggling with perimenopause just as she had. 

“I started letting the ideas percolate, and that’s when I said, ‘Okay now I’m on the other side of 50, I don’t have to feel that shame.’ It is the average age. I’m now beyond the average age and I can actually say it out loud and I can say, having gone through the worst part of it, I’m on the other side of it now.”

‘A World Where Menopause Isn’t A Dirty Word’

Cue the birth of Stripes. Just as the company says on their website, “Because while menopause may be part of midlife, midlife is a lot more than just menopause.” Watts has made it her mission to normalize speaking about menopause and help other women age comfortably during midlife changes. Through Stripes, women have a community, are seen, and also have their specific needs met. As Watts shared in a recent Instagram post, ensuring that women are visible and have community are extremely important during menopause.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Stripes (@iam_stripes)

Stripes offers multiple items for women who are going through menopause. From hydrating facial serums to revitalizing hair masks and probiotic supplements for your “down there” (as the website says), Stripes has you covered with products that support women’s menopausal experiences. Plus, you can feel good about using products from the company. Stripes is environmentally friendly, inclusive, and dedicated to helping women age comfortably.

Committed to sustainability, Stripes has partnered with the biotech company Amyris. This allows Stripes to create “holistic, science-backed solutions” for women going through menopause. As their website says, their “active ingredients are sustainably sourced and created to be good to both you and our planet.”

Stripes is also adamantly not an anti-aging company. Instead, the brand is dedicated to helping women age comfortably. They do so by providing solutions that help women navigate transitions that occur throughout menopause. In fact, Stripes views aging as a privilege that people should celebrate.

A brand that is devoted to ending the shame, stigma, and unknowns around menopause is needed. Thankfully, Stripes is doing just that. Through science-based research, squashing the stigma around menopause, and creating a community for women, Stripes is unapologetically shining the spotlight on menopause.

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In honor of World Menopause Month, Suggest is partnering with five trailblazing brands that aim to uplift, inspire, nourish, and support midlife women. Starting today, Suggest readers can enter our Menopause Giveaway to win $2,200 worth of prizes in beauty, wellness, clothing, and more. 

For far too long, entering midlife as a woman has felt like stepping into the shadows. Suggest is excited to play a part in the pro-aging revolution. We seek to empower women (including ourselves) to celebrate and explore this new stage of life. 

Thanks to these five brands, women in midlife are finally getting the recognition they deserve and the support they need—especially around menopause. Use the form below to enter Suggest’s giveaway to treat your menopause symptoms and yourself.

ENTER HERE:

Meet The Brands (And Find Your Prizes)

Suggest is committed to bringing our readers the best brands in the business. And every partnership we create is built on the same foundation: to respect, support, and celebrate midlife women.

1. $200 Gift Card For LoveSeen Lashes

Style icon Jenna Lyons founded LoveSeen to dismantle the idea that false lashes are one-size-fits-all. Together with co-creator Troi Ollivierre, LoveSeen has created a line of inclusive, eco-conscious, and natural falsies you are sure to love. Not sure which lash you’d try? Take LoveSeen’s Lash Quiz to find out.

2. $500 Gift Card For MENO Vitamins

From the makers of FLO and O Positiv Vitamins comes MENO, a new line of non-hormonal supplements designed for women experiencing the peskiest of menopause symptoms: hot flashes, night sweats, sleeplessness, occasional anxiety, and mood swings. MENO vitamins use natural ingredients like black cohosh, ashwagandha, chasteberry, and vitamins D3 and B6 to alleviate and improve symptoms with regular use. So, you can celebrate this stage of your life—not suffer through it.

3. $500 Gift Card For Kindra Wellness Products

Struggling through menopause? Meet Kindra. They sell science-backed estrogen-free menopause essentials for everything from vaginal dryness and low libido to hot flashes and brain fog! Their products are doctor-recommended and highly reviewed, like their best-selling Daily Vaginal Lotion with over 1000 reviews. Want to learn more? Check out 5 Reasons to Try Kindra’s Lotion.

4. $500 Gift Card For WILE Supplements

We’ve loved WILE Women ever since we sat down with its founders to discuss hormonal therapy’s social and medical stigmas. WILE’s line of plant-based wellness products uses a naturopathic approach that works with your body’s hormones, not against them. From Burnout Relief tinctures to stress-soothing Tranq Dranq, WILE’s products are clinically proven to reduce the most stubborn of menopause symptoms.

5. $500 Gift Card For The W Marketplace

Imagine finding everything you need on a shopping site and knowing that every dollar you spend is going to a woman-owned business. The W Marketplace is an e-commerce site for women-owned businesses of all kinds, from beauty to clothing to wine. The W Marketplace also offers women-owned professional services, including consultants, coaches, financial advisors, legal aid, and more.

As a 44-year-old woman in perimenopause who works from home, I’m currently writing this article with my air conditioning cranked down to 68 degrees, my office ceiling fan on high, and a small fan under my desk pointed directly at me. I’m also wearing a t-shirt and shorts.

I am able to make my workspace feel like the arctic—and tolerate my constant hot flashes—because I work from home. Of course, this wouldn’t be possible if I worked in-person at an office.

Many women who’ve had the option of remote work these past couple of years have had the same revelation. And now that employers are starting to remove the remote work option post-pandemic, changing jobs is a decision facing many women at the height of their careers.

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According to a new survey, nearly half of female workers between the ages of 40 and 55 have considered ditching the office and looking for remote jobs so they can more easily deal with menopause symptoms.

Of the 1,000 women surveyed, 79% said working during menopause as challenging, even more than other common life stages, including starting a new job, starting a family, or getting a promotion. When asked what age decade is the most challenging for being in the workplace, respondents ranked their 50s as number one, well ahead of second-ranked 20s. 

Despite the fact that women make up half the workforce—and 20 percent of those women are between the ages of 45 and 54—most employers are risking the loss of high-level talent because they are not accommodating women experiencing menopause symptoms.

Home Is The Better Option

A new survey commissioned by fertility benefits company Carrot found that 47% of the 1,000 female respondents—who were either in perimenopause or menopause, or had been in the last five years—would consider looking for remote or hybrid work because of menopause symptoms.

What’s more, almost a third of the women surveyed said they would think about transitioning from full-time to part-time work because of menopause symptoms. And, 22% said they would consider retiring early.

Another study in the UK found 18% of women going through menopause are thinking about quitting their jobs altogether.

RELATED: ‘I’ve Been A Monster:’ Women Share The Unexpected Emotional Impacts Of Menopause

These results aren’t just about the temperature of the office thermostat. Symptoms including sleep loss, mood swings, brain fog and more can also pose problems at work.

Patients are constantly sharing stories of their menopause symptoms impacting their relationships and careers because they’re exhausted, emotional, and responding to situations inappropriately, wrote Dr. Monica Christmas, director of the Center for Women’s Integrated Health at the University of Chicago Medicine in The New York Times.

Employer Perks And Benefits Rarely Consider Menopause

Last year, in a survey of 2,500 women from telehealth company Gennev, 99 percent of women in the menopause age group said that they don’t get any menopause benefits at work. The Carrot survey also found that nearly 25% of respondents had taken time off of work because of their menopause symptoms, but hid the reason from their employer.

These numbers make it clear that it would behoove employers to accommodate workers in this age group because it can be extremely expensive to replace them.

“A lot of the most skilled and most valuable women who are leaders are in this group and the replacement costs for those leaders is much higher than average,” Carrot CEO Tammy Sun told Bloomberg.

A Slow Change

With more mature female employees in the workforce than ever before, there are a handful of governments and companies that have started to realize this could be an issue for senior leaders. However, in the United States, there is very little discussion about menopausal women in the workplace.

British consultant Nicola Green—who advises employers on how to support their female workers going through menopause—names efforts as simple as providing free menstrual products in the bathroom and access to cold drinking water as ways to start accommodating menopause symptoms and retaining senior talent.

But ultimately, she says, giving a remote work option or flexible hours is the best way to support female workers in this season of life and keep them on staff.

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For many busy women, the only solution to frustrating menopause symptoms is “deal with it.” Our schedules don’t slow down because we had a horrible night’s sleep or are having our fourth hot flash of the day. And while the latter can be mitigated with a hands-off solution, a new study suggests a more touchy-feely approach for the former. 

Sleep disturbances are arguably the worst of the many symptoms menopause has to offer. Poor sleep affects our mood, concentration, immunity, and stress tolerance. But according to a recent study published in Menopause, the solution might be at your local spa (or with your significant other). 

As it turns out, a foot massage is more than a treat-yourself luxury. It could serve as a non-hormonal alternative to combatting menopause-induced insomnia.

The Science Behind Massage Therapy

Turkish researchers studied 70 postmenopausal women, dividing them into experimental and control groups. The lucky experimental group received a 20-minute foot massage every day for a week. The unfortunate control group received no intervention. 

The study found the sleep and stress statistics between the two groups were significantly different. Those in the experimental group reported less fatigue and stress. They also slept an average of one more hour a night than the control group.

RELATED: ‘This Is Bullsh*t:’ These Midlife Women Were Fed Up With Night Sweats, So They Created A Cooling PJ Line That Can Be Worn Anytime

So, what makes a foot rub so powerful? 

According to the Institute for Integrative Healthcare, it all comes down to hormones—specifically serotonin and melatonin. Serotonin is a precursor to melatonin. If the body produces less serotonin (like during menopause), then it can’t produce melatonin to prepare the body for sleep. Massage therapy restores these serotonin levels, thereby increasing melatonin production. 

A 2020 Chinese study found similar results after analyzing the effects of foot reflexology on sleep disturbances. Essentially a massage, foot reflexology involves applying pressure to specific points of the feet. The study suggests that “foot reflexology produces significant improvements in sleep disturbances.”

Scientifically Proven Self-Care

In a perfect world, we’d have ample time and money for self-care practices like massage therapy. But a perfect world this is not, and massages are often delegated to the “if I ever had the time, which I don’t” category. However, these studies prove that a massage is more than just a splurge. It’s medicinal. 

RELATED: 10 Eye-Opening Tips This OBGYN Wished She Knew Before Perimenopause

Whether you book a session with a masseuse pro or enlist the helping hands of your significant other, receiving a regular foot massage can help you get deeper, more restful sleep. You have enough things on your plate to worry about—how tired you are should not be one of them. 

And if you prefer to do your massages solo, that’s an option too. The Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals outline five simple self-massage techniques on MassageTherapy.com:

1. Ankle circling: Place your right foot on top of your left thigh. Rotate your foot at the ankle using both hands.
2. Sole rub: Place one hand on top of your foot and the other on your sole. Rub your hands back and forth across your foot in short strokes.
3. Toe stretch: With one hand, gently stretch your toes back. With the other hand, gently tap the sole of your foot to stimulate blood circulation.
4. T-shape fan: Use both thumbs to sweep up the center of your sole. Then, near the toes, fan the thumbs outward toward opposite sides to stretch the foot.
5. Thumb circling: Move your thumbs in rhythmic, kneading circles across the entire sole.

If reaching for your feet is uncomfortable, MassageTherapy.com also suggests rolling the foot on a tennis ball while seated. Placing a handful of marbles across the floor and gently rubbing your feet across them is another option. 

An Effective, Non-Hormonal Solution

No matter how you choose to receive your massage, the science is clear (and something we can 100% get behind). This therapy can be an effective alternative to melatonin supplements, hormone medications, or just staring at your dark ceiling at 3 a.m. yet again. 

As far as we’re concerned, these scientific findings are the definition of a win-win. Best case scenario, a massage helps reduce menopause-related insomnia and improve mood, concentration, immunity, and stress tolerance. Worst case scenario, you got to enjoy a soothing massage guilt-free. And that’s the best kind of self-care.

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Hair thinning or loss is a lot like a slow leak—you don’t notice it until it’s already caused significant damage. At that point, it can be difficult to address the root causes and, more importantly, solutions. 

And there are so many potential factors that contribute to less-than-lustrous locks. Stress, diet, lifestyle, genetics, hormones—not only can they all contribute to hair loss, but they each require different solutions. 

This can make combatting thinning hair feel like an uphill battle. But according to the Cleveland Clinic, more than 50% of women can place most of the blame on one factor: menopause.

How Do Hormones Affect Hair?

While pregnancy hormones cause hair to grow and thicken, menopause can make it do the opposite: thin or fall out. Both phenomenons are associated with our hormones—specifically estrogen, progesterone, and androgen levels. 

Estrogen and progesterone are both linked to hair growth. As these hormone levels decrease during menopause, hair diameter and density shrink. While hair follicles naturally cycle from anagen (growth) to telogen (rest) phases, low estrogen levels cause the follicles to stay in either resting or shedding (exogen) mode.

Meanwhile, estrogen depletion can spur increased production of androgens, which shrink hair follicles on the head and cause more hair to grow on the face. This combination of rising and falling hormone levels causes hair loss on the scalp and hair growth on the jaw, chin, and cheeks. 

Menopause is an inevitable part of aging, but hair loss doesn’t have to be. There are solutions to hormone-related hair thinning and loss if you’re willing to commit to a treatment.

RELATED: You’re Not Crazy, It’s Perimenopause Rage: Women Open Up About Their Experiences, And How To Spot It In Yourself

Growing Back Hormonal Hair Loss

Not every hair loss treatment is the same, so it’s essential to determine whether your hair loss is hormonal (read: menopause) or caused by an autoimmune disorder like alopecia. Your doctor should be able to help figure this out. 

For hormone-specific solutions, Harvard Health Publishing recommends minoxidil, the generic name of Rogaine. It’s a topical solution that stimulates hair growth in roughly six to 12 months. Keranique’s Minoxidil Foam, an unscented, clinically proven 5% minoxidil solution, has great customer feedback on Amazon.

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• 5% Minoxidil Topical Aerosal.
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While minoxidil works, it’s not a quick fix. If you stop using it, you can lose any hair regrowth you’ve gained. For the best, most long-lasting results, make minoxidil part of your daily routine. If you can’t commit to daily treatments, a different solution might be better.

For example, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can be a powerful remedy for hormonal hair loss. Anti-androgens block the production of male hormones, which can decrease testosterone-related hair loss.

Some doctors prescribe spironolactone (Aldactone) to restore hair density. Possible side effects include changes in libido or mood, fatigue, and weight gain. 

Hair transplantation is another option. This surgical procedure is often not covered by insurance and can range anywhere from $2,000 to $20,000, depending on where you live. But if you have the means and accessibility, it’s an effective way to restore hair density and growth.

RELATED: Study Shows More Women Are Using Cannabis To Treat Menopause Symptoms, But Is It Safe?

Loving Your Hair In All Its Forms

Like wrinkles or sagging skin, hair thinning is a normal part of growing older. Our 50-year-old bodies will never exactly resemble our 20-year-old bodies, and frankly, that’s okay. If you want to use products or medications to combat the changes, go for it. 

But you could also try rocking a shorter cut, experimenting with wigs or extensions, or embracing the thin (or bald) hair life. Because at the end of the day, what’s happening on top of your head is far less important than what’s happening inside of it. 

If you do choose to combat menopausal hair loss, make sure your solutions address the root cause for noticeable, long-lasting improvements.

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Menopause can feel like an incredibly lonely experience. Not only are accessible information and health care severely limited, but often, you might be the only one in the household going through this transition. That vantage point is an isolated one. 

Additionally, it can be difficult for women to find a true support system. Many are too preoccupied with their job or families to engage in meaningful social time. And even if they did have free time, so much of women’s health is still shrouded in taboo. 

Emotional health is certainly no exception. Perimenopause and menopause have a wide range of emotional and mental side effects. But to the person experiencing it, it can feel like you’re crazy, overreacting, or both. 

Finding support, whether through friends, local programs, or online communities can greatly aid in this uncharted period of life. Over at the subreddit Menopause, thousands of women are finding just that. In one post, members discussed the emotional toll menopause can have, and we found the conversation to be refreshing, to say the least. Hopefully, you find it enlightening, too.

‘I Just Had The Worst Week Ever’

The original post began: “Can we discuss the mental/emotional experiences during this transition? I just had the worst week ever. Honestly, physically, I felt like I was in the early weeks of pregnancy. My breasts swelled, hurt like mad as well. I could not even put a bra on.”

“But I was an emotional mess,” she continued. “I can’t even explain it. But I wanted to cry. I was so bitchy and negative. My husband says he thinks I need some meds for my crappy mood. I’m having nightmares, insomnia, and my anxiety is ridiculous.”

‘It Was Not My Fault’

Soon, women started flooding the Reddit thread with their own similar experiences. “I’ve had all of this,” one user replied. “I’ve been a monster, yelled, cried, and broken things. I have considered medication. But what I actually needed was replacement hormones.”

“For me, it was so important to realize that it was not my fault,” they continued. “I tend to take responsibility for everything, in the sense that I always assume there is something wrong with me if I’m not acting perfectly in every situation. Realizing that I was in [perimenopause] was a huge relief. I don’t think men have any clue how many aspects of a woman’s life and personality can be affected by hormones. It’s like you’re a different person.”

RELATED: You’re Not Crazy, It’s Perimenopause Rage: Women Open Up About Their Experiences, And How To Spot It In Yourself

Medication Really Helped Some Women

“The mental and emotional part of this hit me very hard,” one woman wrote. “It started with depression and anxiety. I went to the doctor and was put on meds because it was affecting my ability to do my job. They’ve helped me a lot.”

“I still have ups and downs,” the user continued. “Some days, I feel like I’m here but not here. Anxiety…oh, the anxiety. So many of us were unprepared for how bad it can get. 

Another Redditor, who shared that she was 57 years old, added that her doctor prescribed anti-depressants to mitigate menopausal symptoms. “I was not happy…the moods and emotions were greatly affecting all aspects of my life,” she wrote. 

“[It’s been] just about two weeks since I started. And although it’s not hormone replacement therapy, my moods are leveling off. I am considering staying the course for a bit to see what happens.”

Other Women Are Turning To DIM

“I had three friends say they needed space from me,” one user shared. “I must be awful. (But I’m not—just more negative than usual and sad and complain-y.) To be fair, one of them is also going through [menopause]. I don’t think I’ve been this depressed ever in my entire life.” 

“But I started DIM this week,” the user continued. DIM, or Diindolylmethane, is a plant-based supplement that aids in hormone balance by supporting the body’s metabolism of excess estrogen. It can alleviate menopause symptoms, including mood swings, weight loss, and hormonal acne. 

The user commented that after starting DIM supplements, they feel “a hell of a lot less weepy and evil. Less hot. But still a little warm. Warm flashes I can handle.”

RELATED: Hormone Replacement Therapy Will Be Available Over-The-Counter In The UK In September—We Wish The U.S. Would Follow Suit

You Are Definitely Not Alone

“Thank you, thank you for posting this,” one user wrote. “I was just a depressed, sad, maniacal person for about a week. I had some major life things happen that could make me feel unsettled. But I feel ravaged with sadness and hopelessness.”

“I live with my partner at the moment, and he cannot begin to understand it. Nor can I explain it. I am happy one day and despondent the next and try to pretend that I’m okay. It’s pretty terrible.”

But as isolating as these feelings are, it’s important to remember that you are not alone. The transition to menopause is a natural one that shouldn’t be downplayed, ignored, or fought against. Seeking the support of other women, even online, can help you feel less lonely in this new stage of womanhood.

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We need to talk about perimenopause. Just in case no one has told you, and that’s likely, perimenopause is the natural transition that begins for women in their late 30s or early 40s, and it lasts anywhere between two and 10 years. 

It’s triggered when your ovaries gradually produce less estrogen, and the experience is marked by changes in the menstrual cycle, among many other potential symptoms. Ovulation becomes erratic and eventually stops altogether. The menstrual cycle lengthens, flow becomes irregular, and you ultimately stop menstruating. After one year of no periods, you’re in menopause.

Although half the world’s population experiences perimenopause, we don’t talk much about it. For whatever reason, we’re less hesitant to discuss period horror stories, uncomfortable OB-GYN visits, or tales of giving birth. But once we get past the baby-making years, the conversations are shrouded in shame or non-existent.

Even Dr. Mary Claire Haver, an OBGYN with special training in nutrition, lacked the knowledge she wishes she had when she hit midlife. Now, she’s getting the word out about all things perimenopause and menopause on social media and beyond.

RELATED: You’re Not Crazy, It’s Perimenopause Rage: Women Open Up About Their Experiences, And How To Spot It In Yourself

Menopause isn’t an official medical specialty, but Dr. Haver has made it her business to focus on it—and we are so glad she has. Recently, a Suggest editor stumbled across a video titled “10 Perimenopause Tips I Wish I Knew Sooner.” This info is a game changer.

1. Anti-Inflammatory Nutrition Is Essential

Dr. Haver says that inflammation is the “root cause” of so many things that start to ail us in our 40s because our estrogen levels are falling. Estrogen is an anti-inflammatory hormone. If you take it away, things get inflamed. 

To combat the falling estrogen levels—and the resulting inflammation—make anti-inflammatory foods a major part of your daily diet. Cut back on refined carbs, fried foods, soda, and red meat. Add anti-inflammatory foods like tomatoes, nuts, green leafy veggies, fruits, fatty fish, and olive oil.

As Dr. Haver points out, an anti-inflammatory diet is the “best way to combat” the loss of estrogen during perimenopause and tackle the inflammation problem.

2. Intermittent Fasting Is An ‘Incredible’ Tool

Intermittent fasting—where you switch between periods of fasting and eating on a regular daily schedule—is another excellent way to fight inflammation during perimenopause, according to Dr. Haver. 

Research shows that intermittent fasting improves weight loss, decreases visceral (belly) fat, decreases cortisol, improves glucose intolerance, protects against age-related memory decline, improves liver function, and improves lipid and cholesterol levels. That’s a pretty convincing list.

3. Magnesium Is Essential

Magnesium plays several crucial roles in the body, supporting everything from muscle and nerve function to energy production.

Low magnesium levels can increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, osteoporosis, and type 2 diabetes. Foods that are rich in magnesium include greens, nuts, seeds, beans, whole grains, milk, and yogurt. 

4. Get Enough Vitamin D

Dr. Haver says it’s important to get enough vitamin D daily to maintain strong bones, especially during perimenopause, since yet another problem caused by low estrogen levels is bone loss.

Spending time outside in the sun is a great way to increase your vitamin D levels. You can also add it to your diet via fatty fish and seafood, mushrooms, egg yolks, and fortified foods.

5. Get Enough Omega 3 Fatty Acids

Another key part of your daily diet during perimenopause is getting enough omega-3 fatty acids. Cold-water fatty fish like salmon, tuna, and mackerel are good sources, or you could take a daily supplement, like this highly-rated Omega 3 fish oil from Sports Research.

6. Lube Is A Must During Intimacy

One of the most common symptoms of perimenopause is vaginal dryness. This is why Dr. Haver says using lubrication during absolutely every intimate encounter is essential.

RELATED: Use It Or Lose It: The Device That Will Help Maintain Your Sexual Health In Midlife And Beyond

7. Developing Good Sleep Hygiene

During perimenopause, getting a good night’s sleep can become increasingly difficult. Dr. Haver recommends developing good sleep habits to help combat those night sweats and stay asleep for more than three hours at a time.

To improve your sleep hygiene, try keeping your bedroom cool, dark, quiet, and free of electronic devices. Going to bed and waking up at the same time are also key.

8. Setting Personal Boundaries

During perimenopause, hormone fluctuation can make you feel tired, angry, or overwhelmed—name an emotion and you’ll probably feel it in a matter of 24 hours. So it makes sense that Dr. Haver included setting personal boundaries on her list of things she wishes she’d known. Trying to accommodate too many people will only intensify your emotions—plus it’s a great idea to set firm boundaries no matter how old you are.

9. Getting The Right Kind Of Exercise

Exercise is an important part of the daily routine during perimenopause, but make sure it’s the right kind. Dr. Haver says to focus on both aerobic exercise and resistance training when you are in your 40s.

Physically inactive people will lose up to 5% of their muscle every decade starting at age 30. But even if you are active, you will still likely lose muscle. On top of all that, research shows that loss of estrogen also contributes to muscle loss. That can lead to weakness and a loss of stamina, which can create a vicious cycle.

All that’s to say, resistance training is vital in midlife and beyond for maintaining and building muscle.

10. Self-Care Is More Important Than Ever

Dr. Haver says not to roll your eyes at the last item on her list—self-care. During perimenopause, she says the importance of “putting on your own oxygen mask first before taking care of everybody else in your life” can’t be overstated. Your body and brain are going through intense changes, and dealing with them should come first, and without guilt.

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I am closing in on my 45th birthday, and the perimenopause is in full swing. With each new day comes a new symptom. Recently, I’ve noticed significant pain in my right shoulder which has limited my range of motion. It absolutely came out of nowhere, and it’s extremely uncomfortable. The best way to describe the pain is that my shoulder is tight and it feels like I’ve “slept on it wrong.”

Every day I find myself doing shoulder rolls and shrugs—and popping a couple of ibuprofen—to get relief. I tried adjusting my sleeping position to see if that would help. So far, it hasn’t. And that’s because my pain has nothing to do with my sleeping position.

I finally found out why this sudden shoulder pain appeared when I came across Dr. Mary Claire Haver, a prolific and popular doctor on social media who focuses on menopause. 

That’s not an official medical specialty, per se. But, Dr. Haver has made it her own rare specialization for the purposes of providing information that many women wouldn’t have access to otherwise.

According to a recent post from Dr. Haver, the recent shoulder pain I have experienced is an extremely common symptom of menopause known as “frozen shoulder.” And about 70 percent of her patients who experience it are between the ages of 40 and 59.

The Common Denominator

“What do women between the ages of 40 and 59 all have in common?” Dr. Haver asked in a recent TikTok post. The answer is: The loss of estrogen during perimenopause and menopause.  

As the doc explained in the clip, estrogen is an anti-inflammatory hormone. If you “take it away, things get inflamed.” With that short phrase, a lot of things started to make sense to me and many other women my age. The comments section proved it.

RELATED: Reduce Inflammation And Bloating By Adding This One Item To Your Diet

“Hold up. Is this why my shoulder feels like it’s full of bolts sometimes? It literally happened overnight a couple years ago,” one person commented. Another added, “Wow! This was me. Why do I have to find answers on TikTok?”

The Masked Singer star Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg even chimed in to share that she’s experienced it, and she had a treatment solution.

“I had it bad. Yoga really helped it. It’s gone now,” McCarthy wrote.

Other treatment options for frozen shoulder—as outlined by the MayoClinic—include OTC pain medications like ibuprofen and aspirin. To help recover shoulder movement, consult a physical therapist for some range-of-motion exercises. 

If severe symptoms persist for more than 12 to 18 months, it’s time to talk to your doctor about more aggressive forms of therapy, like steroid injections and hydrodilatation.

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America is experiencing a new wave of reefer madness—except this time, we’ve flipped the script. What the 1930s once considered a “deadly scourge” is now lauded as holistic medicine capable of potentially treating a myriad of physical and mental ailments. 

From those with Parkinson’s to veterans with PTSD, people from all walks of life are starting to turn toward cannabis to alleviate their symptoms. A recent study published in the scientific journal Menopause suggests that cannabis might also have a rightful place in women’s health care. 

According to the study, cannabis has become increasingly more popular among women for dealing with menopause-related symptoms. Yet just because it’s more common, does that also mean it’s safe?

Baking The Data

Thanks to the increased access to medical cannabis, the study’s premise was to more closely examine the number of women turning to cannabis to alleviate menopause-related symptoms. Researchers mainly recruited participants through targeted social media ads, with most of the participants being white, non-Hispanic, middle-aged women who were either perimenopausal or postmenopausal.

Participants began by outlining their most burdensome symptoms. The top three mentioned were sleep issues, tiredness, and a general lack of energy.  

86.1% of study participants already consumed cannabis, and 78.7% endorsed medical cannabis use to mitigate menopausal symptoms. Around 84% of participants smoked, while 78% opted for edibles. Based on these self-reported numbers, the study suggests that more and more women are turning to cannabis to treat menopause-related symptoms, particularly for sleep and mood issues.

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But is it just easier to ignore symptoms while you’re high? What about weed makes it so sought after in treating menopause’s most stubborn symptoms?

How Cannabis Might Help Menopause Symptoms

While the research on cannabis use specifically for treating menopause symptoms has been limited, the general health effects of cannabis have been studied a bit more.

Speaking to Healthline, Dr. Aaron Gelfand, an OB-GYN at ChoicePoint, explained that numerous physiological systems are thought to be affected by the use of THC or CBD (which activate the endocannabinoid system).

Things such as body temperature, mood, stress, and sleep can all be impacted by cannabis use. Additionally, Gelfand pointed out that cannabis is used to treat anxiety, depression, and even vaginal dryness in menopausal women.

“The amygdala is responsible for emotions, behavior, and motivation,” Gelfand told Healthline. “During menopause, all of these are heightened. Upon taking cannabis in any form, the response is suppressed, causing less anxiety and depression.”

Despite the promising sound of all this, Gelfand cautioned that not all users react to cannabis use the same, particularly those who ingest THC. In particular, THC may have a stimulating effect on some which could in turn make it even harder to fall asleep.

Some Health Professionals Say CBD Might Be Safer

As a brief overview, cannabidiol, aka CBD, is a chemical found in marijuana that doesn’t contain the psychoactive compound THC (tetrahydrocannabinol).

Both CBD and THC are shown to have similar medical benefits, but CBD seems to be better tolerated with fewer side effects than THC.

David Culpepper, clinical director of LifeMD, is one medical professional who is more comfortable with patients using CBD over THC for treating menopause symptoms.

“In my experience, most of the anti-inflammatory and other health benefits patients receive from cannabis products come not from THC, but from CBD, which is a benign, non-psychoactive compound,” Culpepper told Healthline. “It’s possible that women using cannabis for menopause are reaping the benefits of the CBD, while unnecessarily intoxicating themselves with THC.”

This opinion seems to largely come from the fact that very little research has been done specifically on the use of cannabis with THC to treat menopause symptoms.

More Research Is Needed

More research is needed to fully understand the potential benefits and risks of medicinal cannabis use for those suffering from perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms. This is particularly true in evaluating CBD’s and THC’s individual contributions (and potential side effects) in this matter.

Moreover, combustible marijuana (weed you smoke) poses its own problems. While research suggests smoking marijuana is less harmful to the lungs than tobacco, the risk is not zero. Any combustion (even vaping) is hard on the lungs, and prolonged exposure to smoke or irritants can result in respiratory ailments.

No two menopauses are alike, and not everyone will benefit from medical cannabis. That said, it’s clear it’s a solution more and more women are turning to ease menopause symptoms. Like any health-related issue, it’s always advised to speak to your doctor first to decide if trying cannabis may be a good option for you.

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It happens at some point in every woman’s life, but the way society views this all-important stage can have a huge impact on how she sees it herself. Menopause is still treated as a joke in most shows and films, even ones marketed to an audience of older women. Here’s how Julia on HBO Max breaks that mold and treats menopause as the positive life-changer that it is, while still acknowledging the real difficulties women face. 

Julia Child’s All Too Common Experience

From the very beginning of the series, Julia Child’s experience with menopause has been treated with a degree of dignity and realism that’s sorely missing from depictions in other shows and films. Even the recent Sex And The City reboot, And Just Like That… spent a scant amount of time on the subject late in the season. Instead, it relegated it to a sight gag instead of treating it as a monumental change that not only affects how society views older women but how they view themselves.

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On the other hand, the HBO Max series Julia, introduces the topic within the first 18 minutes of the show when Child experiences hot flashes and takes a trip to the doctor. After explaining her symptoms and adding that she’s just not feeling as “frisky” anymore, the doctor coldly and somewhat distractedly informs her that she’s undergoing menopause.

A Heart-Wrenching Moment

Her reaction likely resonated with other women dealing with the same stage of life: “Of course,” she said, her face crumpling with shame. “How embarrassing.” 

There’s nothing wrong or embarrassing about menopause, but it does signal a change in the way you’re treated as a woman by society. Hot flashes and mood swings, which can have a huge impact on a woman’s personal life, are punchlines.

Older women who are past reproductive age often feel as if they’ve been forgotten or that they’re being ignored, but what makes Child, and by extension, Julia, so special is the way they flipped that script right on its head. 

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Turning Heartbreak Into Success And Purpose

Though Child struggled to tell her husband what was happening, she channeled her energy into her career, bringing French cooking to salivating American audiences—and now she’s considered one of the most famous chefs to ever live. For the show to make the direct connection between Child’s experience with menopause and her subsequent take off into culinary superstardom was smart and exactly what modern women need to see. 

Menopause might signal the end of one season of life, but in no way does it diminish a woman’s potential for the rest of it.

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Dr. Louann Brizendine completed her degree in neurobiology at UC Berkeley, graduated from Yale School of Medicine, and did her internship and residency at Harvard Medical School.

In this episode, we talk about her new book The Upgrade: How the Female Brain Gets Stronger and Better in Midlife and Beyond.

She also wrote the New York Times bestseller The Female Brain and its follow-up (which was made into a fictionalized movie in 2018), The Male Brain, which continues to be read around the world.

This episode is filled with so much great information, enjoy and please review the podcast on Apple Podcasts! Also, please consider supporting the show.

The fact that spellcheck still doesn’t know how to spell perimenopause kind of says it all.

I sat down with Wile Women founders Gwendolyn Floyd (CEO) and Julie Kucinski (CMO) and founding partners Judy Greer (yes, from Arrested Development!) and Corey Scholibo to discuss the wide-ranging lack of knowledge and utter confusion around perimenopause, menopause, and women’s health. Not even gynecologists seem to have a firm grasp on this transitional time of a woman’s life.

Wile Women makes products to support women’s health after 40ish. Using plant medicine supported by clinical studies, the brand demystifies and embraces hormonal health. Products support and regulate the big three: estrogen, progesterone, and cortisol, with tinctures, supplements, and drinks.

Instead of using single ingredients to tackle symptoms, the brand “looks at women and formulations holistically because that’s how our bodies and nature really work.” That’s why, for example, their Drinking Your Feelings, Un-Anger, and Tranq Drank products contain a blend of ingredients that work together to combat unwanted symptoms.

In this interview, we discuss the flawed Women’s Health Initiative study of 2002, which, incredibly, 20 years later, is still scaring us away from hormone treatments. We also discuss naturopathy, medical gaslighting, and so much more. I learned so much from this conversation, and I hope you will too!

Audio editing by Sofija Jovanov.

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In this episode you’ll meet Claire Gill, founder of The National Menopause Foundation. After more than 20 years in marketing and public relations for both nonprofits and Fortune 500 companies, Gill founded the organization in September 2019. Can you believe it didn’t exist until then? No wonder I had no idea that another name for menopause is the climacteric.

Gill was not only fun to talk to, but she is positively full of knowledge. Her goal is to help women thrive at every stage of their lives with access to information and networks that help make menopause a positive, inspiring, and empowering time in every woman’s life.

When Gill, who is also CEO of the National Osteoporosis Foundation, realized there was no national nonprofit dedicated solely to women’s journey to and through menopause, she set out to create one. The National Menopause Foundation is working to create a positive change in how people perceive, understand, and experience menopause through education, peer-to-peer support, activism, and research.

Check out the foundation’s website, The Positive Pause podcast, The Hot Flash newsletter, and its online community, The Menopause Metamorphosis for tons of great info that will make you feel less alone and be more informed on your menopause journey.

Audio editing by Sofija Jovanov

Welcome to episode 32! This week we speak with Barbara Hannah Grufferman, 60-something ultra-marathoner, menopause expert, and award-winning author.

Grufferman has written two books focusing on positive aging: Love Your Age: The Small Step Solution to a Better, Longer, Happier Life and The Best of Everything After 50: The Expert’s Guide to Style, Sex, Health, Money, and More. She speaks all over the country—well, she did before the pandemic, but that hasn’t stopped her from bringing her pro-age insight to audiences around the world virtually.

Grufferman also publishes a newsletter called The Menopause Cheatsheet, which educates women about that all-too-mysterious time of life.

She is also a wealth of knowledge on over-50 on health, fitness, beauty, fashion, style, relationships, and more.

In the podcast, we discuss the AARP’s evolving cool factor, how running is not actually bad for your joints, easy ways to avoid osteoporosis, and lots more.

Many of us, somewhere around the age of 50, find ourselves sweating profusely while screaming at our kids about shoes we just tripped over while searching for the handbag already on our shoulder, trying to make it on time for an annual exam where our doctor will inform us that our bones are getting brittle.

Mood swings, brain fog, and osteoporosis can all be symptoms of menopause and peri-menopause. The low estrogen levels accompanying menopause also increase the risk of heart disease, osteoporosis, and dementia.

The Pros And Cons Of Potential Solutions

Happily, there is a treatment that can temper your moods, help you remember why you entered a room, and even prevent osteoporosis. Studies show that hormone replacement therapy, also known as HRT, can mitigate these ailments. It even helps women live longer.

But if you’re wary of HRT, you would not be alone. In addition to the benefits, studies have also shown that HRT is not without risk and has gotten quite a bit of bad press in the United States.

The largest HRT clinical trial to date, the Women’s Health Initiative, enrolled more than 160,000 postmenopausal women from 50–79 over 15 years. Researchers studied the effects of an estrogen-progestin pill called Prempro and reported that treatment increased the risk of heart disease, stroke, blood clots, and breast cancer.

That’s definitely not to be taken lightly, but the results also need to be put into context.

I sat down with Dr. Leslie Meserve to do just that. “It had quite a few flaws,” she said of the WHI study, “and it really changed the face of women’s health care in the United States for the past almost 20 years. And it has been to our detriment.”

RELATED: 10 Eye-Opening Tips This OBGYN Wished She Knew Before Perimenopause

Assessing The Data That Didn’t Add Up

Back in 2002, when the Women’s Health Initiative reported its findings, the researchers published a press release that said HRT could cause breast cancer. This sparked fear of the treatment that lives on to this day. But the press release was not exactly correct, according to Meserve.

There were just eight more cases of breast cancer out of 10,000 “person-years.” (Person years refer to both the number of people in the study and the amount of time each person spends in the study. For example, a study that followed 1,000 people for one year would contain 1,000 person-years of data.)

“It was not statistically significant,” Meserve said. “That term statistically significant is important. We really shouldn’t be going to the public and saying there’s a finding if it’s not considered statistically significant because, without that being the case, it could be due to chance.”

Some studies show that these risks are much more significant for women who begin hormone therapy when they are 60 or older or more than ten years after menopause onset. However, other researchers and doctors say that when you start HRT at this time, the benefits actually outweigh the risks.

Finding The Right HRT For You

Of course, HRT is not a one-size-fits-all process. Not only does every individual react to hormone therapy differently, but several different forms of therapy are also available. The risks and benefits change according to your health history and the type of HRT you decide to take.

If you have had a hysterectomy (i.e., you do not have a uterus, doctors can prescribe estrogen alone, which has been shown to have fewer risks. If you have a uterus, however, your doctor will prescribe progestin along with estrogen because studies have shown that estrogen alone can build up the lining of the uterus and cause cancer.

Additionally, if you have a family or personal medical history of cancer, heart disease, stroke, blood clots, liver disease, or osteoporosis, you should talk with your doctor about whether HRT is a safe choice.

Using HRT To Beat Mother Nature At Her Own Game

If HRT does turn out to be a good choice for you, the benefits can be wide-ranging. HRT can mitigate the following symptoms:

• Hot flashes
• Night sweats
• Vaginal dryness
• Painful sex
• Osteoporosis
• Insomnia
• Memory issues

Dr.  Phil Sarrel of Yale School of Medicine has studied HRT extensively. In one study, he and his fellow researchers found that 70% of women using HRT who experienced insomnia noted an improvement in their sleep, 56% reported an improvement in their memory, 42% said that they weren’t worrying nearly as much, and 40% said they were able to perform more effectively at work.

Dr. Sarrel also found in 2014 that the decrease in women taking HRT after the 2002 study led to women dropping out of the workforce and increased costs for medical treatments.

“Women who experienced hot flashes had 1.5 million more health care visits than women without hot flashes,” the study found. “Costs for the additional health care was $339,559,458. The cost of work lost was another $27,668,410 during the 12-month study period.”

As always, talk to your doctor about the best type of HRT and the delivery method that’s right for you. It can come in the form of a pill, patch, gel, vaginal cream, or slow-release suppository. Taking as little medication for the shortest amount of time can reduce the risks.

Stay in regular touch with your doctor about how the treatment is going and how you’re feeling overall. And, as always, eat well and exercise to keep yourself healthy overall.

More From Suggest

• Hormone Replacement Therapy Will Be Available Over-The-Counter In The UK In September—We Wish The U.S. Would Follow Suit
• New Guidelines Target Preventing Obesity In Midlife Women, But The Conclusion Is Somewhat Controversial
• Study Shows More Women Are Using Cannabis To Treat Menopause Symptoms, But Is It Safe?

An “Op-Doc” from The New York Times called “Menopause Stories” is a much-needed, candid discussion of what happens at the onset of and throughout menopause. It’s a first-person account of five women in varying stages of “the change.”

One was just 34 when she discovered she was entering menopause. Another was on the other side of it and finally free of symptoms. Each woman had a different experience, but what they all had in common was that they were 100% underprepared for the overwhelming life changes menopause would bring.

For example, one thought her heater broke when she began having hot flashes (if only). The stories are real, raw, and all too relatable, but they’re also way too rare. So rare, in fact, that the piece generated hundreds of comments from women who were grateful for the short documentary.

The comments might actually be the best part of the whole thing. Some are funny, some are sad, some are sexy, others are grateful, and I couldn’t stop reading them. Because they made one thing incredibly clear: we want to hear more about menopause.

Yep, We Want *More* Menopause

…more menopause discussion, at least. Comments from all across the U.S. poured in after the publication of “Menopause Stories.” They made clear that we want more of these stories. Here’s hoping that mainstream publishers, medical professionals, drug companies, and entrepreneurs get the hint.

After all, a recent report shows menopause is a $600 billion opportunity waiting for investment. While we wait, here are some of our favorites from the 600+ comments.

• “I have never commented on an article of any kind before. All I want to say to the filmmaker and to the women in this film is thank you. So many women do not understand this most basic bodily function that will happen to them. Everyone wants to share their life experiences of childbirth. But no one wants to talk about “the change.” We must talk about it to each other.” — Carrie (Washington, D.C.)
• “Menopausal women aren’t to be underestimated as a talent pool for master assassins. We could get in and out without a trace because no one sees us anyway. — Carol (Minneapolis, MN)
• “If this happened to men, they would get four years off to ‘re-balance,’ moisturizer would be free, and so would the GYN.” — RogueOne (Philadelphia, PA)
• “This piece helped me to realize that I blame myself for much of what is naturally happening to me…why can’t I focus? Why can’t I get more done, why am I so damn tired today, why can’t I pull it together and be productive like I was in my 20’s?” — Mliss (Texas)
• “My mother claimed she never suffered through menopause, but the rest of my family did.” — Moonstone (Texas)
• “This was incredibly reassuring to me in my beginning stages of perimenopause (<— Seriously, spell check doesn’t even recognize this word—how’s that for a topic no one will discuss!)” — Megan (Spokane, WA)
• “I also lost all libido for a couple years. But, big surprise, when I came out on the other side, I became a hot mama; best sex of my life was after 55!” — Zgirl (Massachusetts)
• “The fact that women are expected to experience what is a natural but often monumentally torturous experience in silence, and in shame, is evidence of our second-class status in this country.” — Maggie (Seattle, WA)

More From Suggest

• Working With Menopause Symptoms Ranks More Difficult Than Starting A Family: Why Employers Need To Pay Attention
• ‘I’ve Been A Monster:’ Women Share The Unexpected Emotional Impacts Of Menopause
• 10 Eye-Opening Tips This OBGYN Wished She Knew Before Perimenopause

This interview with Wini Linguvic of The Elevate Practice was the first Mean podcast I recorded, but somehow it ended up being published third. What can I say, I’m known to be out of order on occasion. In any case, it’s a great interview. Linguvic is extremely knowledgeable, well-spoken, and hilarious.

Linguvic’s yoga class is not like any other I’ve been to in the more than 20 years I’ve been practicing—I’m no expert but I’ve taken a lot of classes. When I moved out of San Francisco to the small beachside town of Pacifica, I was a dedicated Pilates practitioner and instructor. I couldn’t find a class I liked nearby, so I tried out Linguvic’s yoga class. I soon realized I didn’t miss Pilates because while her instruction is very different, it includes the practical movement I loved in Pilates, minus the horrible hundreds, plus her immense knowledge about the body, her New York accent, an amazing community, and lots more.

Linguvic’s class is special for many reasons. The level of empathy she has for her students is clear. She might be extremely flexible, but she wasn’t always. In the early days of her yoga practice, she actually worried her hips were fused because she felt so stiff—listen to the podcast for that story! She hasn’t forgotten what it’s like to feel like you can’t do it. Her attention to detail is also impressive. She always has a notebook in hand—she’s not winging it. Everything in her class is purposeful. And her sense of humor keeps you coming back again and again. That’s also what makes my conversation with her so fun.

And we don’t just talk about yoga. Linguvic and I bonded on a personal level because we’re both mothers of little girls, and we both became moms in unconventional ways. We also became moms later in life than most. The conversation also covers motivation, time management for parents (especially parents over 50), and the truth and lies of social media. I hope you enjoy it!

Buckle your seatbelt because this post is about menopause. And you know what, I think you can handle it. Also, I’m so sorry but you have no choice because if you live long enough, unless you’re on the other side of The Change (or you’re a man in which case, welcome, and thank you for reading), it’s coming.

The good news is you are anything but alone. In fact, more than half the world’s population suffers through the physical and mental changes that come with menopause. That’s stating the obvious, isn’t it? But since so many of us pretend it’s not a thing that happens to every single woman in the whole world, we might need to say it out loud a bit more. And, dare I say, we need to proactively educate women and girls about it.

Menopause can happen in your 40s or 50s, but the average age in the United States is 51, according to the Mayo Clinic. Perimenopause, when fertility decreases and symptoms associated with lower estrogen levels begin, can start as early as your 30s.

Meanwhile, celebrities are making headlines for having babies in their late 40s—Janet Jackson was 50—giving women the illusion that they can postpone pregnancy indefinitely. In fact, many such celebrity pregnancies are achieved with IVF plus donor (or frozen) eggs or embryos, which is a wonderful option for growing your family. The downside is the reports lead women in their 30s to believe that they don’t have to start thinking about whether they want children.

I’m not trying to scare monger, but some real talk is overdue on this topic. The reality is that menopause is a real thing that encompasses a wide variety of changes that include not just the end of fertility and hot flashes, but can also bring alarming weight gain, insomnia, fatigue, chills, breakouts, anxiety, depression, rage, rice paper vagina, little to no sex drive, thinning hair, intermittently hating your family, feeling like you’re pregnant, loss of breast fullness, the inability to give any f*cks about anything (this one can be good and bad), and permanent bitch face, and how could you not when all that just happened.

But women in their 30s and 40s don’t have to be blindsided by all of this, and they can actually decrease symptoms with diet and exercise (I know, always the same boring solution to everything). Older women are finding their voices more than ever in recent years, and they’re sharing their menopause experiences in articles and on social media. Menopause experts are cropping up on social media, and hopefully, that means they’ll also be more accessible in real life.

As a way to spur more information sharing, I reached out to women by email as well as on my Instagram page and that of The Menopause Collective asking what they wish everyone knew about menopause. Below I chose some responses that cover a broad range of symptoms, difficulties, and even some positive side effects of menopause. You can read all of the responses here and here.

“If men experienced a prolonged period of brain fog, insomnia, hot flashes and nausea, which are the most common symptoms of menopause, they’d enact a law that protects their jobs, and they would deem it a disability on the federal level, and they’d provide them with a sports and recreation themed ‘Manly Recovery Holiday,’ on the tax payer’s dime. Women with serious menopause symptoms usually just get fired.” —writer Lara B. Sharp

“Menopause is a time when literally everything is going pear shaped, your brain and your ass, and no one is talking to each other about it. The suffer in silence thing, (or is it a shame thing?) is oppressive and really needs to change.” —Linda Fahey, ceramicist and founder of Yonder Shop in San Francisco

“It’s coming! Mood swings galore, anxiety, fatigue, irritability, hot flashes, weight gain and sleepless nights are REAL. You are not going crazy, it’s menopause! Learn all you can about it. Talk to your partner, kids and friends about what is going on with you. This is a family affair and you’ll need support.” —Samantha of Stung by Samantha

“I wish every woman knew that weight gain doesn’t have to automatically come with menopause. By using the right kind of nutrition, exercise, and working on hormonal balance, you can avoid most if not all of the symptoms that can come along with menopause and aging.” —Laura Heikkila, fitness and nutrition coach, So This Is 50

“That you’re not only angry because of menopause but sometimes you are really just fed up with other people’s bullshit, and it took you all these years to realize it.” —Inge H. Downing

“I’m 52, and absolutely love every stage of my life. I am very fit and look at age as an attitude, not a number. For the first time in my life, I’m not cold. That’s a plus. Done with cramps and monthly migraines and the emotional rollercoaster. Don’t have to plan vacations around my cycle. The few years going through it were not the best from the standpoint of my sleep. That was the worst of it probably, but I don’t let anything slow me down for long. I just decided I would embrace it, approach it with humor, and I am on the other side of it now. Hang in there! It’s like pregnancy. Everyone is different. Just know you aren’t going crazy. Your hormones may be, but you aren’t.” —Michelle Fanning

“That it isn’t talked about enough and we need to prepare our young women and let them know what to expect and what to do about it. Why should this aspect of women’s health matter less than others just because we’re older!” —Jenny Pinson

“I wish that everyone knew the symptoms can vary hugely, it isn’t just a case of hot flushes and night sweats, which in all honesty until I started going through the perimenopause, I thought that’s all it was. Wow, how wrong can a person be. I’ve experienced chest pains, anxiety, hair loss and brain fog. Some days are easy others not so. My mum’s death and the perimenopause hit at the same time, but to listen and know you are not alone is a big help.” —Cheryl McGlone

“I wish employers would be more educated. I work in a mainly female office now but previously lost my job due to brain fog. I had a breakdown as a result and still suffer major anxiety over the smallest oversight. My bosses now are really understanding of mental health so I’m really lucky.” —littlest_hobo76

“It isn’t something to be ashamed of and it’s not contagious!! We should be free to discuss how it effects us without embarrassing others.” —elfiesmum

“It’s not just about the ‘menopause.’ I didn’t have a clue about ‘perimenopause’ symptoms of which can happen 10+ years before menopause. I thought i was slowly going mad. I have been offered every type of antidepressant there is (despite saying that I know I am not depressed) We need to educate and communicate with our daughters. Doctors need better education and women in general need to be given correct medical advise when presenting with symptoms of hormonal changes.” —Luan Walsh

“The PMS symptoms you experience in your 30s will eventually become worse in perimenopause. Getting your health, fitness and diet healthier needs to be in place as early as mid-30s. Otherwise symptoms worsen from mid-40s onwards.” —Shirly of peri_menopause_health