Asking for a Friend - Fitness, Health & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife

By 2030 the world population of menopausal and postmenopausal women is projected to increase to 1.2 billion, with 47 million new entrants each year, but according to a recent Forbes survey, a staggering 73% of women don't treat their menopause symptoms.  

What about vaginal dryness, hot flashes, sleep disruptions, and skin changes?  Are we really putting up with this stuff?  There are some amazing women-led companies ...

My friend, Claudia, thought this would be a timely topic for many us, and it did not take me long to find an expert in the field of eldercare.  

There can be many rewards for caring for ill or aging parents, a spouse, relative, or a special neighbor.  It is truly a labor of love, but with that there can be some very challenging and trying moments that come with the territory of having this honor.  The role requires patienc...

If you are bloated or feel like your gut symptoms are holding you back from living life, this show is for you.  Our guest expert, Heather Finley, is an adventure-loving, book reading, constipation-overcoming dietician, who wants you to poop better.

Heather is your guide to make easy, sustainable changes so that you can find relief and feel healthy again.  She is the mastermind behind the gutTogether Program, host of the Lo...

Here is a statistic for you.  The average 45 year-old woman has been on 61 diets since the age of sixteen.  This brought me back to the 1980s and 90s, the era of dexatrim, Ayds Candies, and Slim Fast.  As a side note, the active ingredient in Ayds Candies and Dexatrim was the decongestant, phenylpropanolamine, which can be found in many cold medicines today.  I almost forgot about fen-phen.  Remember all the heart and legal issues ...

If you have experienced stress, anxiety, or trauma, what have you done to help you manage or overcome the thoughts and emotions that may derail your day, sleep, and overall wellbeing?

Podcast guests have opened my eyes to alternative modalities that go beyond therapy and prescriptions.  Hypnosis, EFT, and Reiki can all be considered to help us find peace.  On this episode we discuss shadow work and acupuncture, among other...

One of my pillars of selfcare in midlife is community and connection.  Women are generally better at reaching out and networking than our male counterparts, and I am fortunate to have been on the receiving end of other women, not only wishing to collaborate, but also connecting me with others who are in their circles.  

When I met today's podcast guest, I knew right away that I was in the presence of one of these grea...

Tired of the all or nothing mentality when it comes to your health and fitness?   Lindsey House, R.D., wants you to get off the sidelines of life and feel energetic so that you can enjoy all the great stuff ahead in midlife and beyond.  

This dietician and personal trainer, turned accountability coach and podcaster, is all about direction and not perfection.  Lindsey is rewriting the rules to be realistic for attainable go...

When it comes to our intimate partnerships in midlife, this can be a moment for us to get back to a more fulfilling and meaningful sex life, but in this season of change, do we want and need the same things that lit us up twenty years ago?

Emma Schmidt & Associates is a sex and relationship therapy group practice with a mission is to help make therapy more accessible, locally, nationally and globally. As a sex therapis...

Delightful!  That is how I sum up this podcast interview.  I believe that it is important that men have a voice on this podcast, and it is always refreshing to get a different perspective on the intricacies of male/female relationships. 

As the head of a major hospital, Ricky Arenson, MD worked with many patients who had reached 100+ years of age.  He asked them what the secret to their longevity was, and surprisingly, it...

After twelve years in medicine, helping families heal their bodies, Dr. Alexandra Stockwell started studying the science and art of emotional and sensual connection to help her patients heal their relationships.

So why did this already super busy, mom, wife, intimate marriage expert, and podcaster decide to co-author a book about menopause?  As Alexandra and her dear friend, Tricia Brouk, began to dig in, they found that d...

If you asked your friends or family what you are "known for" or what makes you unique, what kind of answers do you think you might get?   We all have our "thing" whether it is a talent, trait, or a quirk that makes us who we are to those who know us best.

Are you that person who has the inside track of what's going on around town, the friend who is on top of all the latest and greatest in entertain...

Earlier in 2023 I had a day where out of nowhere came a racing heart and super high anxiety.  It was concerning to feel this out of control, and I never really pinpointed a cause other than maybe one of those annoying symptoms of menopause.  I can't imagine feeling like that all the time, and it was enough of a wake-up call to prompt me to make some needed changes, and that included more intentional downtime and selfcare.  As ...

After episode 64 of the podcast, I had many listeners reach out to me to express their frustration over the lack of healthcare providers in their area who were in the know in the latest in hormone therapy treatments and protocols.  When the company Winona contacted me to speak to one of their medical providers, I jumped at the chance to bring our listeners a possible option to fill a void in their quest to feel better and be their ...

Do you ever wonder why a particular relationship that you have is so darned difficult?  If you sometimes ask yourself if the relationship is unhealthy for you, then maybe it's time to assess the situation.  Being walked on, devalued, or feeling stuck can be demoralizing, and worse yet, if we let things go too long, we can develop emotional abuse fatigue.

These relationships can be confusing, because they may not be ba...

More than 80 million Americans suffer from vein disease.  We mostly think of varicose veins, which for some, can makes us self-conscious about the appearance of our legs, but they can be downright painful.  Pregnancy, heredity, and what do you know, menopause, can all play a role.

Cindy Asbjornsen, DO, found a passion and calling for helping people with vein disease.  She is committed to educating her patients about vein h...

There is so much that we do in midlife in the name of prevention, such as eat well, exercise, and focus on self-care.  When you think about the physical therapy, we typically put it in the category of reacting to an injury or recovery post-surgery, rather than prevention.  My own recent experience opened my eyes to the many facets of PT, and it is astounding to me the amount of training and specialization physical therapists comple...

Allow me to introduce you to Jen Butler.  She is a self-proclaimed imperfectionist, who wanted to reach some of her own personal goals, but she knew deep down that her wine habit was going to hold her back from being successful.  

Removing alcohol is a courageous act of self-care, and she made the decision at the end of 2017 to hand sauvignon blanc a pink slip and started her sober journey.  Jen wants to help other women f...

One of the goals of the Asking for a Friend Podcast is to bring thought leaders to the table in all matters that impact midlife women.  As things are rapidly changing, it is difficult staying current on hormone replacement therapy and the treatment of menopause.  It is vitally important that we are armed with information so that we can do our own research and feel empowered to have discussions with our healthcare providers.  
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If you follow the podcast on social media, you may already know that I had a recent osteoporosis diagnosis.  I felt dismissed as the doctor prescribed a pharmaceutical, told me to increase my calcium and vitamin D, and they would see me back in two years.  Really?  That just wasn't good enough, so I went on my own search for answers.

I am happy to report that there are professionals out there, like this episode's...