Dr. Mary Claire Haver: How to Navigate Menopause & Perimenopause for Maximum Health & Vitality

In this episode, my guest is Dr. Mary Claire Haver, M.D., a board-certified OB/GYN and an expert on women’s health and menopause. We discuss the biology and symptoms of perimenopause and menopause and their effects on body composition, cardiometabolic health, mental health, and longevity. She explains the lifestyle factors, including nutrition, resistance training, sleep, and supplements, that can better prepare women for and improve symptoms of both perimenopause and menopause. We also discuss hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and whether HRT impacts the incidence of breast cancer or can affect cardiovascular health.

We also discuss contraception, cellulite, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and how to reduce the risk of osteoporosis. This episode is rich in actionable information related to what is known about menopause and perimenopause and the stages before, allowing women of all ages to best navigate these life stages.

Journal Articles

• Stress, depression, and anxiety: psychological complaints across menopausal stages (Frontiers in Psychiatry)
• Menopause is associated with postprandial metabolism, metabolic health and lifestyle: The ZOE PREDICT study (eBioMedicine)
• Treatment With Multi-Species Probiotics Changes the Functions, Not the Composition of Gut Microbiota in Postmenopausal Women With Obesity: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study (Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology)
• Brain metabolism in health, aging, and neurodegeneration (The EMBO Journal)
• Writing Group for the Women's Health Initiative Investigators. Risks and Benefits of Estrogen Plus Progestin in Healthy Postmenopausal Women: Principal Results From the Women's Health Initiative Randomized Controlled Trial (JAMA)
• Menopausal hormone therapy and dementia: nationwide, nested case-control study (BMJ)
• Hormone-related Risk Factors and Postmenopausal Breast Cancer Among Nulliparous Versus Parous Women: An Aggregated Study (American Journal of Epidemiology)
• Menopause Transition and Cardiovascular Disease Risk: Implications for Timing of Early Prevention: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association (Circulation)
• Oral Supplementation of Specific Collagen Peptides Has Beneficial Effects on Human Skin Physiology: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study (Skin Pharmacology and Physiology)
• Specific Bioactive Collagen Peptides in Osteopenia and Osteoporosis: Long-Term Observation in Postmenopausal Women (Journal of Bone Metabolism)

Articles

• Closing the data gaps in women’s health (McKinsey & Company article)

Books

• It's Not Hysteria: Everything You Need to Know About Your Reproductive Health (but Were Never Told)
• The New Menopause: Navigating Your Path Through Hormonal Change with Purpose, Power, and Facts

Huberman Lab Episodes Mentioned

• Dr. Natalie Crawford: Female Hormone Health, Fertility & Vitality

People Mentioned

• Katherine Kalil: professor emeritus, neuroscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Gabrielle Lyon: board-certified physician, trained in geriatric nutrition
• Timothy Harlan: culinary medicine, George Washington University of Medicine