Free Webinar: 3 Exciting Findings in the Science of Menopause

(and takeaways for your life)

It seems to be Menopause month in my world of research and teaching.

Today, I realized that it’s no accident that I’ve been focused on women’s healthcare issues for months now.

This election cycle, I've been reflecting on both patriarchy and racism and the way they affect medical research and practice on the one hand, and the way they compromise body sovereignty and integrity on the other.

In the menopause field, these two forces have conspired to cause us to suffer unnecessarily. They have resulted in the undereducaton of most menopause specialists (let alone other doctors). They have curtailed studies on women's health: I mean, think about how much funding has gone to addressing male libido and testosterone, while research into female libido and sexual functioning is by comparison... a wasteland.

And they have not studied either the menopausal experience of people of color or the social antecedents of menopause (including the way racial trauma, inflammation, connective tissue, and other factors influence age at menopause, duration of symptoms, and the severity of resulting conditions).

This has resulted in the abandonment of a generation of menopausal women, who were forced to contend with menopause without resources.

And in the midst of all this, reproductive healthcare is degrading to the point of loss of life. Our body sovereignty, the right to make decisions about our bodies whether related to menopausal hormone treatment, abortion, or other healthcare choices, is no longer ours.

And then there's a narrow image of women as “traditional mothers” gaining ground in the U.S. and elswhere. You have less value if you do not give birth to biological children; it's part of the 2024 election platforms.

And this past year with the violence in Gaza (I’ve written on reproductive healthcare for women in Gaza, infanticide, the impact of the air and ground invasions on our ecosystem, on the fate of olive trees, and many other related issues), I’ve been reflecting on who suffers most when people in domimant culture need to be safe.

It may be easier to see this equation—the need for people in power to ensure future power and safety by compromising the dignity, health, and body sovereignty of others—when we’re the ones who are affected. And yet, it’s happening everywhere.

So I've made something for you: a page on my website that will offer resources (articles, PDFs, talks) on exciting new research in the neurobiology, psychology, and practice of menopause care. You can bookmark the page; it’s where you’ll find the webinar replay and PowerPoint PDF in case you’d like to download and keep them, plus other resources as I add them.

Each year, a staggering 47 million people enter menopause, a number expected to reach 1.2 billion by the year 2030.

The statistics for people entering perimenopause are even higher. Most people enter this in-between stage between the ages of 35 and 45.

As of 2020, research shows, more than half of all women globally were unaware of the symptoms of perimenopause, and felt surprised and unprepared for it when it began.

On Tuesday, October 22 at 12:00 p.m. EDT, this free one-hour Masterclass will highlight three emerging findings in the science of menopause, and outline takeaways for your life. I'm super excited about these findings, which overlap in cool and unexpected ways.

And on Saturday, October 26, in a daylong Menopause Lab, we’ll explore novel menopause research and applied science in mind-body medicine, and translate it into practical tools for optimal health and well-being.

We’ll delve into:

• What Vasomotor Symptoms (VMS) are, how to treat them, and their meaning in the context of menopausal hormone therapy

• The Gastrointestinal System and the gut, oral, vaginal, and skin microbiomes—and how these systems shape the other key arenas of menopause health

• The immune system, neuroinflammation, and health

• The Musculoskeletal Syndrome of Menopause, with a focus on preventing osteoporosis and improving bone health

• Sleep: why sleep disorders increase in menopause, what the consequences are, and how we can address them

• The Genitourinary Syndrome of Menopause, and how to nourish your vaginal, urethral, and sexual health

• Cognition, including brain fog, memory blanks, attention deficits, and desire: Why they happen and what to do about them

• Desire in its most global sense, including motivation, sense of agency, and libido–and potential interventions for each

• Emotional health, including anxiety, depression, and PTSD: how it shapes and is shaped by other mind-brain-body systems, and how you can support it

• The benefits (and risks) of Menopausal Hormone Therapy, or MHT, as well as additional therapeutic tools

On a practical level, you’ll receive a mind-brain-body symptom tracking template to prepare you to monitor your symptoms and the effects of interventions, with ease, and to boost your agency and collaborative capacity at doctors’ visits. And we’ll have time to workshop individual issues for those who wish to.

In the meantime, I'm sending you a ton of love as your body continues to metabolize and transform the epigenetic, historical, social, and personal challenges you and your loved ones are facing.

We're in this together. 💚

And in case you missed it, last week’s long read focused on the Musculoskeletal Syndrome of Menopause: what it is, why it matters, and what we can do to address it.

Bo