Did you know that over 1 Billion women will experience menopause by 2025, and that 80% of these women will experience menopausal symptoms? There are 34 different menopausal symptoms, and the top five most common are hot flashes and night sweats, sleep problems, vaginal dryness, weight changes and brain fog.  Historically women over 40 years old have largely been ignored by brands. But this is starting to change.  Over the last 5 years we’ve seen a number of companies catering to midlife women and menopause (it’s about time!). Most of these companies seem to offer natural products (do ..read more

We met with menopause creator Jen Rigley aka @flourishingover50 to talk about her mission as a creator and how she navigated menopause! Q: Tell us a little bit more about yourself, and what led you to become a midlife creator. A:  I'm excited about spreading the word and really supporting women and girls around the world! From an early age, I've experienced personal loss in my family when I was young. I had a difficult childbirth experience, I was challenged as a female in the tech industry serving as a marketing executive. And it was not uncommon for me to b ..read more

We sat down (virtually!) with menopause creator Kamili Wilson, who is the voice behind the popular Instagram account @menopause_made_modern to talk about her menopause journey and her mission to create an inclusive platform to help other women navigate the menopause transition. Here are some highlights from our conversation... Q:Tell us more about your menopause journey, how did you know you were in menopause? KW: I first started really experiencing symptoms related to perimenopause at 43, although I don't believe I had the language at that time to know it was perimeno ..read more

How Menopause Affects the Brain This article is adapted from Lisa Mosconi's, PhD research on women's brains, her TedTalk, and her book, The XX Brain. Women's brains differ from men's brains, and these differences impact women's health. For example, women are more likely than men to be diagnosed with anxiety, depression, and headaches and migraines. Women are also more likely than men to have Alzheimer's disease; in fact, two-thirds of all Alzheimer patients are women. Women and men's brains age differently, and menopause plays a key role. Our brains are in constant communication with the rest ..read more

What is Insomnia? Insomnia essentially means having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. Having trouble sleeping every now and then is normal, but if you go weeks or months without a good night's sleep then it can cause health problems.  Common symptoms of insomnia include: difficulty falling asleep waking up too early waking up during the night (restless sleeping) not feeling well-rested when waking up trouble concentrating or focusing on tasks irritability Menopause & Trouble Sleeping Insomnia is a very common symptom of menopause. During menopause, the decreasing hormone lev ..read more

New technology allows women to test their hormones at home and more accurately predict when they will enter menopause. As women, we do not know when our menopause is going to start, how long is it going to last or what phase of menopause we are currently in. This lack of information can cause stress and anxiety for some women. Furthermore, when we start to experience symptoms we don’t necessarily associate them with menopause. Newson Health Research and Education recently conducted a survey of almost 5,000 women, and found that doctors misdiagnose menopausal symptoms as something else more fre ..read more

Starting in perimenopause, your internal thermostat can go awry. The part of your brain responsible for sensing and controlling body heat overreacts to even slight changes in core body temp. This is likely due in part to estrogen withdrawal, but could also be due to extreme estrogen fluctuations. Most women report noticing triggers that make them have a hot flash—for example, spicy food, stress, or red wine. Neurons in the brain are activated, and your brain sends out the signal that the body needs to cool down. In response, your veins, arteries, and capillaries widen to increase blood flow an ..read more

If you’ve heard of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) as a treatment for menopause, and you have been confused by what you’ve heard, you are not alone! Take it from Dr. JoAnn Manson, the lead investigator of the largest study on HRT in postmenopausal women (The Women’s Health Initiative), who says: “The pendulum has swung so widely, from ‘hormone therapy is good for all women’ to ‘it's bad for all women’ to now somewhere in between.” So what are the current recommendations, and what should you know? We’ll break it down for you here. A Brief History: The Women’s Health Initiative was a study of ..read more

Heart disease risk rises for everyone as they age, but for women symptoms can become more apparent after the onset of menopause. Heart disease is the #1 cause of death for women in the United States. Heart health impacts men and women differently. After menopause, which occurs at an average age of 51, women’s blood pressure tends to increase. Menopause is associated with a two-fold increase in risk of hypertension (high blood pressure). Hypertension rates are higher in women than men over the age of 65. In fact, the NHANES study indicates that 81% of women age ≥75 have hypertension versus 73 ..read more

Vitamin E Soy Isoflavones (mostly with genistein) Red Clover Isoflavones Black Cohosh Siberian Ginseng Throughout history, herbal supplements and more recently, vitamins have been used to ease hot flashes and night sweats. The most commonly used plants are soy, red clover, and some herbs like black cohosh and Siberian ginseng. The safest and most effective option for reducing hot flashes is Vitamin E, the only vitamin with proven clinical efficacy in reducing hot flashes, possibly because of its restorative action on estrogen levels. Clinical trials reported a significant reduction in the oc ..read more