Gender-affirming hormone therapy cues changes similar to puberty

There are multiple HRT options to treat menopause and perimenopause symptoms including hot flashes, vaginal dryness, and mood swings.

Menopause hormone therapy infuses the body with estrogen after the body's natural levels drop

The treatments can treat symptoms like hot flashes and vaginal dryness at varying doses. Progestogen, another hormone, is also typically prescribed with estrogen because estrogen alone can thicken the uterus lining, which elevates the risk of developing endometrial cancer.

HRT for menopause may not help with mental health or sleep says a large 2026 analysis

A recent analysis investigating the effects of menopause and HRT use on mental health, cognition, and brain health suggested HRT did little or nothing to aid with mental health and sleep. But the researchers caution that, among other data gaps, they didn't have information on which HRT formulations were used among their nearly 125,000 participants, so results may have varied by drug treatment.

Common hormone therapies to treat menopausal symptoms

While there is no cure for menopause, there are ways to treat some of the intense symptoms women experience during perimenopause. There are two main hormone therapies used, one in the form of a pill, gel, or patch to treat symptoms like hot flashes, and another in the form of a cream or ring to treat symptoms like vaginal dryness. Read this article to learn more about the different hormone therapies available for menopausal women.

It's never too late to start hormone replacement therapy for menopause symptoms because the products may help alleviate symptoms of menopause or fight bone loss.

HRT patches are popular partly because they have lower blood clotting risks than oral estradiol

Women taking estradiol for menopause or perimenopause are sometimes told oral HRT is not an option for them because it increases blood clot risks. But a large analysis in 2019 concluded that other forms of the HRT, such as the patch, creams, and gel, do not.

27% of US menopausal women used estrogen in 1999, but by 2020 that number was under 5%

The fallout of studies in the early 2000s linking hormone therapy for menopause and elevated cancer, stroke, and other health risks meant that even decades later—yet before the FDA removed its black box warning in 2025—use of HRT remained extremely uncommon. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Within months of a landmark 2002 study that indicated HRT harms, sales dropped by about half

In the early 2000s, Women's Health Initiative studies indicated HRT increased risk of breast cancer, heart disease, and stroke in some women—so many physicians stopped prescribing it to help with menopause symptoms. But further research has concluded that much of the elevated risk was overblown and that it was also disproportionately seen in women in their 70s who had been taking an older HRT formulation.

FDA has removed black box warnings from hormone replacement therapy for menopause.

Testosterone therapy can cause infertility, and has been explored as a contraceptive.

Early 20th-century ID cards protected transgender people in Germany using hormone therapy.

Menopause is a hormonal transition point, like puberty

Yet menopause isn't talked about as much. In this podcast episode by Houston Methodist, a Texas-based hospital, the host speaks with a gynecologist with a specialization in menopausal medicine about what menopause really is, and how women and the people in their lives can navigate this next life stage.

Estrogen is a really important hormone for men, too.

How menopause affects mental health

Menopause, a natural biological process, occurs in three stages: perimenopause (hormone fluctuations), menopause (end of menstrual cycles), and postmenopause (12 months without menstruation). Hormonal shifts during this time can affect neurotransmitters, increasing the risk of mood disorders.

Men are flocking to hundreds of new online testosterone clinics for low T prescriptions.

Treatment-induced menopause is menopause induced by surgery or medicine

Chemotherapy and radiation, as well as oophorectomy (a surgical procedure to remove one or both ovaries) and a radical hysterectomy, can cause a woman to become menopausal. Women who go through medical menopause experience the same symptoms as women who go through menopause caused by natural hormonal cycles.

Testosterone prescriptions remain very low overall

Though demand for an injectable formulation of testosterone roughly doubled between 2019 and 2025, testosterone prescriptions still remain very uncommon—adding up to less than 2 per 100,000 prescriptions in 2025.

Menopause and perimenopause symptoms may affect both the mind and the body

Women going through these aging transitions may experience some common physical and mental symptoms to varying degrees, including hot flashes, bladder control issues, brain fog, and vaginal dryness. This article dives into some of the most common symptoms women might expect during perimenopause, plus what they can do to relieve them.

America doesn't have enough estradiol patches for menopause and perimenopause demand

Fueled in part by the lifting of the FDA's black box warning about HRT risks, sales of estradiol patches in the US have shot upward. More than 142 million units of the patches were sold in 2025 versus 46.5 million in 2020. Suppliers are failing to keep up with demand—11 patch products were in short supply in early 2026. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Women experience heightened bone loss after menopause

Both women and men begin to lose some bone density after age 35, on average. But, for the first decade after menopause, women lose bone more rapidly due to the significantly decreased levels of estrogen, putting women at heightened risk of osteoporosis and related bone fractures.

MS Drugs reduce inflammation, helping reduce relapses and slow disease progression

Disease-Modifying Drugs calm the body's inflammatory response to help stave off relapses—when new or existing MS symptoms show up for a day or longer. Avoiding smoking, exercising, reducing stress via mindfulness, checking for vitamin D deficiencies, drinking more water and eating well, all can slow disease progression. [The jury's still out on if HRT around the time of menopause may reduce dementia risk](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanhl/article/PIIS2666-7568(25)00122-9/fulltext) Estrogen can reduce inflammation and support neural growth in the brain, and some research has suggested that beginning hormone replacement therapy around menopause—versus later in life—reduces Alzheimer's disease risk. Still, a recent systematic review concluded that taking HRT didn't affect dementia risk, regardless of when women started taking it, so the science remains unsettled.

FDA removed its cardiovascular risk warning on testosterone products in 2025

The change came a decade after the FDA added the label. Recent work, including a gold-standard randomized trial, found that men receiving the products had similar cardiovascular risk levels as men taking placebo products. Testosterone, however, may hold other health risks, including infertility.

Menopause, once not discussed in polite company, is now a plot point in some television shows

Menopause has long been a topic left out of film and TV. But some shows, like "The Change," and celebrities, like Jennie Garth, are now openly talking about it. This article breaks down how Hollywood is starting to come around to the menopause conversation and how celebrities are talking about their own personal experiences, as well as advocating on Capitol Hill.

86 commonly used drugs, including certain antidepressants, painkillers, and immunosuppressants, have different results for men and women, according to recent research.

The gaps in menopause research and their effects

Nearly all studies (99%) researching the biology of aging don’t consider menopause in their setup. A Harvard professor noted that about 75% of aging-related diseases are likely influenced by menopause. In this article, she discusses how gaps in research are negatively impacting how the medical system can effectively treat aging women. Read her analysis of the issue here.

What is medical menopause?

Medical menopause is when menopause is induced from either surgery or medicine. Chemotherapy and radiation, as well as oophorectomy (a surgical procedure that removes the ovaries) and a radical hysterectomy can cause a woman to become menopausal. Women that go through medical menopause experience the same symptoms as women that experience natural menopause. Learn more about the medical condition here.

Girls are hitting puberty earlier than ever before

Around the world, there has been a spike in children—especially girls—experiencing early puberty and doctors are seeking to understand why. The rise has been particularly strong post-2020. Early-maturing girls are at a higher risk for developing...

Resistance training can help fight osteoporosis, especially in menopausal women.

The term 'low T' was coined in 2002, recasting testosterone therapy and elevating demand.

Health problems are being misdiagnosed as perimenopause symptoms

Symptoms of menopause and perimenopause (the premenopause period) can be varied enough that clinicians dismiss them in patients in their mid-30s and onward as just a symptom of hormone level change. In this story, a woman's itching was dismissed as a hormonal change, but after two years and 11 separate doctor consultations, was diagnosed as cancer. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Gene therapy is restoring hearing among kids with genetic deafness

Gene therapy for profound genetic deafness has been advancing in recent years, with multiple clinical trials enabling hearing at normal levels for the first time without hearing aids or cochlear implants. The therapies target hearing loss caused by mutations in the OTOF gene that codes for a protein called otoferlin. That protein normally plays a key role in relaying sound signals in synaptic transmission between the ear's inner hair cells and the auditory nerve.

Menopause can exacerbate anxiety

Some research shows that menopause can fuel anxiety and also that preexisting anxiety can boost the chances of experiencing other menopause symptoms, including hot flashes, insomnia, and brain fog. But treatments—including hormone replacement therapy, breathing exercises, and other forms of exercise—can alleviate some of these symptoms.

This is what happens to your body during menopause

The menopause transition may begin in one's mid-40s with erratic periods and a decrease in estrogen. It can trigger health complications, including hot flashes, palpitations, and elevated risks of osteoporosis.

The halting of human bone growth helps manage heat produced from metabolism

While fish, amphibians and reptiles get bigger throughout their lives until they die, their slower metabolisms allow their bodies to regulate the resulting smaller temperature increases. In humans, hormones triggered during puberty harden growth plates, ending bone lengthening.

Perimenopause, which typically occurs in a woman's mid-40s, precedes menopause

Sometimes referred to as the menopausal transition, perimenopause often lasts around four years as the ovaries' production of the reproductive hormones progesterone and estrogen decline. It may be accompanied by mental and physical symptoms, including irregular periods, hot flashes, sleep issues, mood swings, and alterations to a woman's sex drive.

A 40-something science journalist was getting more winded during workouts, and experiencing night sweats, forgetfulness and tiredness—she thought it was perimenopause, but these common symptoms turned out to be signs of her blood cancer.

By 2030, roughly 6% of the world's population will be in menopause

An estimated 25 million women pass through menopause annually, with a projected increase in the number of women in menopause in both lower-resource and higher-income populations in the years ahead, highlighting the social and economic value of focusing on menopause care.

'Menobelly' is real, with more fat stored around the abdomen as estrogen levels drop.

Late-onset menopause lowers osteoporosis risks, but heightens the risks for certain cancers

Defined as when a woman starts to experience perimenopause after age 55, late-onset menopause is linked to an elevated risk of developing breast, ovarian, and uterine cancers.

Less than 1% of aging studies consider menopause and its effects

Nearly all studies researching the biology of aging don't consider menopause in their setup. In part, that's because menopause is difficult to emulate in animal models. Menopause is uncommon in the animal world beyond humans and whales. This presents a problem for medicine and science because about 75% of aging-related diseases are likely influenced by menopause.

The word allergy is partly derived from the Greek word 'allos' for 'other'

For people with allergies, their immune systems recognize substances as a harmful "other"—cuing an inflammatory response. This podcast explores allergy details and related topics, including how scientists are interested in if the same allergic response mechanisms could underpin other health issues, including severe, painful symptoms around the time of menstrual cycles. Since estrogen acts on white blood cells called mast cells, which leads to the release of histamines—similar to what happens during allergic responses—an understudied question is whether the same process is fueling some of the uncomfortable symptoms around menstruation. An allergist guest notes this raises questions about if antihistamine medications like Pepsid might alleviate them, something that hasn't yet been explored in clinical trials.

Almost 80% of people diagnosed with autoimmune diseases are women

Yet it's still unanswered what may account for that difference. To better understand this disparity researchers are exploring factors including hormonal changes that occur around puberty, pregnancy, and menopause, as well as gut microbe differences, and aspects of X-chromosome protein-coding genes. (Some users may encounter a paywall.)

40% of women will have noticeable hair loss by age 50.

Plant hormones and growth regulators guide growth stages and responses in plants

Plants naturally produce hormones like auxin and gibberellins, while humans apply synthetic or extracted growth regulators to control plant development. These substances influence processes like flowering, root growth, dormancy, and ripening—even in very small doses.

Perimenopause can last as long as 8 years

Perimenopause typically lasts about four years, beginning at around age 45; however, some women experience it as early as their 30s. Smoking and thyroid disease are factors that can trigger early perimenopause. Early menopause, which can increase health risks, occurs in about 5% of women. Researchers are still investigating why it occurs.

Postmenopause is a stage lasting roughly a third of a woman's life

Postmenopause is the final stage of menopause, occurring once a woman hasn't had any vaginal bleeding for a full year. She is then considered postmenopausal for the rest of her life. While some of the intense symptoms she might experience during postmenopause will decline, her risk for certain conditions and diseases will increase.

Biohacking to boost personal health has become a concept that encompasses everything from vitamin regimens and cryochambers to brain implants and red light therapy.

Modern pregnancy tests detect a specific hormone in a woman's urine or blood.

Gene therapy can occur inside the body, but it can also be completed outside the body—with scientists treating cells in the lab, and then those corrected cells are transplanted back into the body.

Menopause may become a $600B industry

Companies marketing products and supplements to alleviate menopause symptoms and make life easier during this life stage have become a gold mine. This 2022 article explores how and why companies have swooped into this space, and whether you should trust them or not.