This isn't a complete list. These are books, podcasts, and organizations I respect, and the list grows as I read and as the evidence changes. Nothing here replaces a conversation with your own clinician, but each one can help you walk into that conversation better informed.
Books
These are also the books we'll read together in the Midlife Women's Health Book Club. Join the waitlist to read along.
The Perimenopause Survival Guide
Heather Hirsch, MD
A practical, clinician-written walk through the transition, with more detail on how symptoms cluster and how treatment is sequenced. A good place to start if you want to understand what is happening and what your options are.
Unlock Your Menopause Type
Heather Hirsch, MD, with Stacey Colino
Organizes menopause care around your health history and symptom pattern, so treatment fits you rather than a one-size-fits-all plan.
The New Perimenopause
Mary Claire Haver, MD
An evidence-based guide to the years before the final period, when hormones swing the most and symptoms are often missed.
The New Menopause
Mary Claire Haver, MD
A broad, accessible overview of hormonal change in midlife and the options for managing it.
Estrogen, Interrupted
Rebecca Dunsmoor-Su, MD, and Amy Voedisch, MD
A guide to surviving and thriving in perimenopause, written by two physicians who specialize in this transition.
The Menopause Moment
Kelly Casperson, MD
Mindset, hormones, and science for long-term health, from the urologist behind the You Are Not Broken podcast.
Hormone Havoc
Amy Shah, MD
A science-backed protocol for perimenopause and menopause, with a focus on sleep, thinking, and day-to-day energy.
The Hormone Loop
Gillian Goddard, MD
An endocrinologist's guide to hormonal health at every stage, from puberty through the reproductive years to perimenopause and beyond. Foreword by Emily Oster.
Mind Over Menopause
Pahla Bowers
The mindset side of the transition: processing your feelings, rethinking how you see your body, letting go of dieting, and using mindfulness.
Estrogen Matters (revised and updated)
Avrum Bluming, MD, and Carol Tavris, PhD
An oncologist and a social psychologist revisit the research on hormone therapy and breast cancer, and argue that the risks were overstated for many women.
The Menopause Brain
Lisa Mosconi, PhD
A neuroscientist explains what happens in the brain during the menopause transition, including brain fog, mood, and sleep.
Unbreakable: A Woman's Guide to Aging with Power
Vonda Wright, MD
An orthopedic surgeon's six-week program for building muscle and bone through menopause and beyond.
Next Level
Stacy T. Sims, PhD, with Selene Yeager
An exercise physiologist's guide to adjusting training, nutrition, and recovery for the menopause transition.
The Menopause Diet Plan
Hillary Wright, MEd, RDN, and Elizabeth Ward, MS, RDN
A commonsense, fad-free approach to eating that supports weight, heart, brain, and bone health through menopause.
The Galveston Diet
Mary Claire Haver, MD
A physician's nutrition plan for the metabolic changes and weight gain common in perimenopause and menopause.
The Menopause Gut
Cynthia Thurlow, NP
How changes in the gut microbiome during midlife may affect weight, digestion, and overall health.
Find a clinician
Clinicians with focused menopause training are listed in The Menopause Society's practitioner directory. Look for the MSCP credential (Menopause Society Certified Practitioner). The Society's guide, How to Find a Certified Menopause Practitioner, explains what the credential means and what the letters after a clinician's name stand for.
The AAWHM directory (formerly the Heather Hirsch Directory) lists clinicians trained through Dr. Hirsch's course for clinicians.
Sleep
Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I)
CBT-I has strong evidence for improving sleep and is a first-line treatment for insomnia. To find a trained provider, search the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine directory or the International Directory of CBT-I Providers, maintained by the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine.
Evia app
Guided hypnotherapy for hot flashes, night sweats, and sleep. The Menopause Society's 2023 nonhormone therapy position statement recommends clinical hypnosis for hot flashes.
Lowering prescription costs
GoodRx
Compares prescription prices at pharmacies near you and offers coupons that can lower the cost.
Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company
An online pharmacy that fills many generic prescriptions, often for much less than a local pharmacy charges.
PhilRx
An online pharmacy that works with your insurance to find the lowest price for your prescription.
Websites, apps, and communities
HelloPeri
Virtual courses on perimenopause, founded by Maggie Ney, ND, a Menopause Society Certified Practitioner, and Alisa Kasmer.
Perry
An app with a community of women in perimenopause, personalized content, and expert-led discussions. Perry also hosts the podcast Perimenopause WTF?
The Swell
An online community and learning platform for women over forty, with in-person events, many focused on perimenopause and menopause.
Women Living Better
Founded by Nina Coslov, this site conducts research on the menopause transition and shares new findings in plain language.
Guidelines and official statements
These are written for clinicians, so they can be dense. If you are weighing a treatment, consider printing the relevant one and bringing it to your visit. It helps when you and your clinician are working from the same evidence.
FDA announcement on hormone therapy warnings (November 2025)
The FDA asked manufacturers to remove the boxed warnings on heart disease, breast cancer, and dementia from hormone therapy labels. Low-dose vaginal estrogen will no longer carry a boxed warning at all. Labels are being updated product by product, so the insert in your box may not reflect the change yet.
The Menopause Society: 2022 Hormone Therapy Position Statement
The Menopause Society's summary of the evidence on hormone therapy, both systemic and vaginal: who benefits, the risks, and how timing, dose, and route change the balance. (The Menopause Society was formerly NAMS, the North American Menopause Society.)
The Menopause Society: 2023 Nonhormone Therapy Position Statement
Which non-hormone treatments for hot flashes and night sweats have good evidence behind them, and which do not. Useful if you can't or would rather not take hormone therapy.
The Menopause Society: 2021 Management of Osteoporosis in Postmenopausal Women Position Statement
How to screen for bone loss, who should be treated, and the options for preventing fractures after menopause, from lifestyle and calcium and vitamin D to hormone therapy and osteoporosis medications.
The Menopause Society: 2020 Genitourinary Syndrome of Menopause Position Statement
The evidence on treating vaginal dryness, pain with sex, and urinary symptoms after menopause, from moisturizers and lubricants to vaginal estrogen and DHEA.
American Urological Association: Genitourinary Syndrome of Menopause guideline
Guidance on treating vaginal dryness, pain with sex, urinary symptoms, and recurrent urinary tract infections after menopause, including vaginal estrogen.
Podcasts
Midlife Refined
Dr. Traci DeSplinter
Focused on lengthening healthspan in midlife.
You Are Not Broken
Dr. Kelly Casperson
Sex, hormones, and midlife, from a urologist.
Health by Heather Hirsch
Dr. Heather Hirsch
Perimenopause, menopause, and midlife health.
The International Menopause Society podcast
Hosted by Dr. Marla Shapiro
Interviews with menopause researchers and clinicians. Some episodes are aimed at health professionals.
Dr. Streicher's Inside Information: Menopause, Midlife, and More
Dr. Lauren Streicher
Episodes worth a listen
#1 Women's Hormone Doctor: Take Control of Your Body, Balance Hormones, & Feel Amazing
The Mel Robbins Podcast, with Dr. Sharon Malone
Women's sexual health, menopause, and hormone replacement therapy (HRT)
The Peter Attia Drive #348, with Dr. Rachel Rubin (May 2025)
My Personal HRT Protocol with Dr. Rachel Rubin, Urologist and Sexual Medicine Specialist
Innovate and Elevate
Sexual health is health: a conversation with Dr. Rachel Rubin about menopause, HRT, & genitourinary health
Beyond the Prescription, with Dr. Lucy McBride