Books to
inspire

Low libido? Brain fog? No energy? Feeling flat? Testosterone is increasingly being talked about as the hormone midlife women may be “missing”. But does the evidence match the hype? Spend any time in menopause groups online and testosterone is hard to miss. Women talk about getting their energy back, thinking more clearly, feeling stronger, being more motivated and, perhaps most often, rediscovering a sex drive that seemed to have packed its bags and left somewhere in midl

Menopause advice is everywhere. How do you know what to believe? A decade ago, women struggled to find reliable information about menopause. Now we are being told to eat more protein, lift heavy, take creatine, optimise our hormones and buy an ever-growing list of products designed for midlife. More information should be a good thing. So why does it feel harder than ever to know who to trust? As recently as a decade ago, HRT still seemed to exist in a strange, shadowy

You’re thinking about HRT, now more commonly called menopausal hormone therapy or MHT, but should you go on it at all? If you do, should it be a patch, gel or tablet? How do you know what dose is right, whether you need blood tests, and what the breast cancer risk really looks like? Menopause specialist Dr Anna Fenton explains what HRT can actually help with, where the evidence sits and what women should be asking before and after they start treatment. When I first intervie

Last month, I had a routine mammogram. Even when it’s routine, there’s always that little kernel of worry. You go in, get your boobs squashed between two plates in a way that feels both deeply undignified and medically necessary, then get dressed and carry on. And wait. A week later, the text arrived. All clear. Nothing to see here. Get on with your life. Phew. On to worrying about everything else, then. But life said, hold my gin. The very next day, I was in the shower, wash

Sarah Starkey knew something wasn't right. What she didn't know was that she had extremely dense breasts, or that breast density could make cancer harder to detect on a mammogram. Now she wants other women to have information she never had. Sarah Starkey had a palpable lump. Breast pain. Nipple changes. A family history of breast cancer. Then her mammogram came back clear. Three months later, the 48-year-old mother was diagnosed with stage 3 triple-negative breast cancer. By

You might be earning well, paying the mortgage and contributing to KiwiSaver, but when did your finances last get a proper warrant of fitness? Zara Malcolm, financial adviser and founder of female-focused financial planning business FoundHer, says if you’ve reached your 40s or 50s without really looking at the numbers, it’s not too late. There is one question Zara Malcolm would start with if a woman came to her wanting a midlife money check-up. “What does your life cost?” It’