Peaceful Meditation
Quiet background music when you'd rather not follow a conversation.
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Curated, not algorithmic. No autoplay rabbit holes. Guided audio plays in your browser with no sign-in, and we never track what you play, the same promise as the Relief Finder.
For a hot flash, right now
Paced breathing for a flash
Emerging or limited evidence. Useful context, but treat conclusions as provisional.
Slow breathing has small-trial evidence for turning a flash down while it's happening. Plays in your browser; nothing is tracked.
Alright. It's starting. This will peak and it'll pass, usually inside a few minutes, and nothing has gone wrong. Let's take the panic out of it first. Drop your shoulders. Unclench your jaw. If you can, get cool air or cold water on the places closest to the surface: wrists, the back of the neck, the face. Loosen a layer. Now slow the breath right down. In through the nose for a count of five. Out for five. Keep it low in the belly, not up in the chest. In, two, three, four, five. Out, two, three, four, five. Slow paced breathing like this is one of the few non-hormonal things with real evidence behind it, and it works best if you keep going for a few minutes rather than one round. In for five. Out for five. Let the heat crest. You don't have to fight it, you only have to stay slow while it moves through. When it eases, note it if you're tracking. Patterns are how you find your triggers.
For the end of the day
The ten-minute wind-down
Good evidence, but limited sample size. Nila notes where the gaps are so you can ask smarter questions.
A body scan with the out-breath doing the work, the same wind-down as the Relief Finder sleep toolkit. Plays in your browser.
Lie down, on the floor or the bed. Legs long, or knees bent, whatever your back prefers. We're not stretching for flexibility here. We're telling the nervous system the day is over. Let your arms fall away from your sides, palms up. Breathe in through your nose, and out for longer than felt necessary. Again. Now scan downward: jaw, shoulders, hands, hips, feet. Wherever you find holding, breathe out and let it be heavier. Stay for as long as you like. If you fall asleep here, that was allowed.
For understanding GSM
The 2025 GSM guideline, from the people who wrote it
Strong evidence from multiple high-quality studies. Nila is confident in these takeaways.
Twenty minutes with the specialists behind the AUA/SUFU/AUGS 2025 guideline on genitourinary syndrome of menopause: what changed, and why local estrogen is first-line.
Read the guideline15 listens
The Menopause Manifesto, read by the author
Dr. Jen Gunter · about 60 min
Good evidence, but limited sample size. Nila notes where the gaps are so you can ask smarter questions.
The biology of menopause without the marketing, in audio form.
Why we picked it: The clearest myth-free orientation we know, and Gunter's delivery is dry enough to make the WHI chapter genuinely funny.
Grade B: evidence-referenced throughout, by a practising gynecologist.
The Journal of Sexual Medicine Podcast
International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health · GSM and the 2025 AUA/SUFU/AUGS guideline · about 30 min
Strong evidence from multiple high-quality studies. Nila is confident in these takeaways.
The specialists behind the 2025 GSM guideline walk through what changed and why local estrogen is first-line.
Why we picked it: Twenty to thirty minutes with the people who wrote the guideline beats a hundred forum threads. Pair it with our GSM guide.
Grade A: discussion of a multi-society clinical practice guideline.
Huberman Lab
Dr. Andrew Huberman · Dr. Stacy Sims: female-specific exercise and nutrition · about 60 min
Good evidence, but limited sample size. Nila notes where the gaps are so you can ask smarter questions.
Why training and fueling advice built on young men fails the perimenopausal body, and what to do instead.
Why we picked it: Sims is the most-cited researcher in our member chats on strength and protein. Long, but the first forty minutes carry the essentials.
Grade B: researcher interview; some claims extrapolate from small studies.
Ten Percent Happier
Dan Harris · Sleep episodes with Dr. Matthew Walker and others · about 60 min
Good evidence, but limited sample size. Nila notes where the gaps are so you can ask smarter questions.
Practical sleep science for people who are suspicious of meditation apps.
Why we picked it: The sleep episodes are the useful ones: CBT-I, why 3 a.m. waking happens, and what actually moves sleep onset.
Grade B: CBT-I content matches the clinical evidence base.
Maintenance Phase
Aubrey Gordon and Michael Hobbes · The menopause episode · about 60 min
Emerging or limited evidence. Useful context, but treat conclusions as provisional.
A sharp, funny takedown of wellness-industry menopause grift.
Why we picked it: For the week you need to laugh at the industry instead of cry about it. Rigorous about what the evidence doesn't say.
Grade C: journalists, well-researched but not clinicians.
The Mel Robbins Podcast
Mel Robbins · Menopause episodes with Dr. Mary Claire Haver and others · about 60 min
Emerging or limited evidence. Useful context, but treat conclusions as provisional.
Mainstream, high-energy interviews that have introduced millions to perimenopause.
Why we picked it: Useful as a shared reference with friends who are just starting to ask. Read the supplement claims against our graded list.
Grade C: guest claims vary; some run ahead of the trials.
On Being
Krista Tippett · about 60 min
Long, quiet conversations about meaning, ageing and the body.
Why we picked it: Not about menopause at all, which is sometimes exactly the point. For the Sunday-walk slot when you want depth without a protocol.
Sleep With Me
Drew Ackerman · about 60 min
Boring-on-purpose bedtime stories that carry you past the 3 a.m. spiral.
Why we picked it: The podcast built for the middle-of-the-night wake. Rambling, gentle, and deliberately hard to follow.
Weight for It
Ronald Young Jr. · about 30 min
A thoughtful series on weight, bodies and shame, useful context for the perimenopause weight conversation.
Why we picked it: The kindest audio treatment of body-change grief we've found, and it never sells you anything.
The Dr. Louise Newson Podcast
Dr. Louise Newson · about 30 min
Emerging or limited evidence. Useful context, but treat conclusions as provisional.
A UK GP and menopause specialist on MHT, perimenopause diagnosis and the prescribing conversation.
Why we picked it: The most appointment-useful of the menopause podcasts: short episodes, one topic each, good prep before you see a doctor or specialist.
Grade C: clinician-led; Newson's prescribing stance is more liberal than some guidelines.
Terrible, Thanks for Asking
Nora McInerny · about 60 min
Honest, funny conversations about grief, bodies and getting on with it.
Why we picked it: For the weeks midlife stacks loss on top of hormones. Laugh-cry territory, in the best way.
Song Exploder
Hrishikesh Hirway · about 15 min
Musicians take one song apart, piece by piece.
Why we picked it: Fifteen calm minutes of pure craft. Our most-recommended palette cleanser between heavier listens.
The Slowdown
American Public Media · about 5 min
One poem, read well, in about five minutes.
Why we picked it: The shortest calm we know. Five minutes, one poem, done.
WorkLife
Adam Grant · about 30 min
Organizational psychology on boundaries, burnout and saying no, useful ammunition for the menopause-at-work conversation.
Why we picked it: Pair with the work toolkit: Grant gives you the language for the boundary conversation with a manager.
Come As You Are, the author reads
Dr. Emily Nagoski · about 60 min
Good evidence, but limited sample size. Nila notes where the gaps are so you can ask smarter questions.
The science of women's sexuality, responsive desire and why the brakes matter as much as the accelerator.
Why we picked it: The single most-recommended sex book in our member chats, in audio. Pairs with the sexual health hub.
Grade B: grounded in the sex-research literature, by a sex educator with a PhD.
The individual episodes we've collected, with their original listening links. Podcasts are conversations; a guest's claim isn't a clinical guideline.
Nila founder Erin Beattie joins Amy Milne to talk about two decades of unnamed endometriosis, breast cancer, surgical menopause with little guidance, and why she built Nila for the hours between medical appointments. A candid conversation about dismissal, language, research gaps, workplace support, and making room for people who rarely appear in the menopause brochure.
Menopausal women are the fastest-growing demographic in the workforce, yet many leave work because of their symptoms. A practical conversation on what helps — for you, and for the managers and colleagues around you.
Urologist and sexual health specialist Dr. Rachel Rubin walks through what most women never get told: that recurring UTIs, urgency, leakage, dryness, painful sex, low libido and the slow loss of orgasm are usually hormonal — and treatable. Plain-language tour of GSM (genitourinary syndrome of menopause), why local vaginal estrogen can cut UTI recurrence by more than half, when testosterone is worth a real conversation, and the 1-in-4 stat on a treatable condition that blocks orgasm and almost no one screens for. Long (2h 14m) but the show notes link every study she cites.
Urologist and sexual medicine doctor on libido, vaginal estrogen, the orgasm gap, and why "low desire in midlife" is usually a fixable medical and relational story, not a character flaw. Honest, funny, and very useful.
OB-GYN and author of The New Menopause. Plain-spoken episodes on HRT, weight gain, joint pain, and the gaslighting most women have to fight through to get help. Her own podcast, plus regular guest appearances.
Two Australian clinical psychologists (Dr. Michelle Livock and Dr. Monique Mitchelson) on late-diagnosed ADHD and autism in women — burnout, sensory overload, perimenopause crashes, and the cost of years of masking. The most clinically literate ND-women podcast we've found.
Dr. Tami Rowen is a UCSF gynecologist who works across menopause and trans health. The clearest hour we've found on what testosterone actually does in midlife, for cis and trans patients both.
One of very few episodes anywhere on the transmasculine experience of midlife hormone shifts. Tate Smith is a trans man and educator; the conversation is plain, kind, and useful.
Dr. Omisade Burney-Scott's long-running podcast and community project centering Black women, femmes, and non-binary people in the menopause conversation. Conversational, political, and warm.
Karen Arthur's UK podcast on Black women's experience of perimenopause and menopause, from symptoms and HRT to identity, work, and joy. A good companion to the SWAN data on the page.
The Stanford neurobiologist who wrote the book on chronic stress on what years of it actually do to a body, and why the stress response is brilliant in short bursts and corrosive on a loop.
The official podcast of Let's Talk Menopause, the US nonprofit behind the successful campaign to remove the FDA boxed warning from local vaginal estrogen. Conversations with clinicians, researchers and advocates on what good menopause care actually looks like — including frank episodes on HRT, GSM, mental health and the politics of getting taken seriously. Hosted by Dr Sharon Malone and rotating co-hosts.
Long-form walk through the cortisol curve — why it should peak in the morning and fall at night, what flattens it, and which behaviours (light, timing, movement, caffeine) actually move it. Skip the supplement segment if you only have an hour.
UK midlife podcast from Davina McCall — yes, that Davina. Weekly conversations on perimenopause, HRT, divorce, ADHD diagnosis at 50, starting over. Mainstream, warm, and grounded by her co-author Dr Naomi Potter (menopause specialist) when the conversation turns clinical. The accessible UK voice on midlife change.
Six-part series from Australian comedian Em Rusciano on perimenopause, patriarchy, and the medical gaslighting we're done putting up with. Lived experience plus interviews with menopause-informed doctors and psychologists. Funny, furious, and the most direct treatment of perimenopause rage on a podcast.
The short version — 36 minutes on what cortisol and adrenaline are for, when they help, and when the curve flattens. Good first listen before the two-hour episode.
Dani Binnington, breast cancer survivor and founder of Menopause and Cancer, talks with oncologists, menopause specialists and women living it about the bit that gets skipped after treatment: sudden surgical or treatment-induced menopause, hot flushes when HRT is off the table, vaginal dryness and sex after cancer, bone and heart health, and how to advocate for yourself between oncology and menopause care. Practical, unflinching, and rare — most menopause podcasts don't cover cancer at all.
Acas on how employers can support staff through menopause: legal rights and considerations, creating a supportive and inclusive environment, and how to handle conversations well.
A long, generous conversation with Dr. Gabor Maté on how unresolved trauma lives in the body, why so many midlife women end up with autoimmune and chronic pain conditions, and what real healing looks like outside the medical mainstream.
A Canadian pelvic health physiotherapist interviews researchers and clinicians about leaking, prolapse, pain with sex and pelvic floor training. Long-running, unhurried, and specific about what training can and can't fix.
A Toronto pelvic health physiotherapist takes the parts of pelvic health people whisper about and says them out loud: urgency, leaking, painful sex, bowel habits, and what changes after menopause.
An interview with pelvic health physiotherapist Dr. Sara Reardon on what falling estrogen does to bladder, tissue and pelvic floor muscle, and why training and local estrogen do different jobs.
Pelvic floor physiotherapist Michelle Kenway on the symptoms that arrive quietly in midlife, what is worth trying at home, and the point at which a supervised assessment changes the plan.
Neuroscientist at Weill Cornell who runs one of the only labs studying how perimenopause reshapes the female brain. If you've been told your brain fog is "just stress," listen to this. Long-form, evidence-led — covers the brain changes of perimenopause, what HRT does and doesn't do for cognition, and Alzheimer's risk.
Andrea Donsky talks with thyroid specialist Dr. Amie Hornaman about why so many "perimenopause" symptoms are actually undiagnosed thyroid issues, the five labs to ask for (TSH, free T3, reverse T3, TPO, TG), why T4-only meds like Synthroid often aren't enough, and how to find a clinician who actually treats thyroid hormone replacement properly.
Conversation with Kell Smith about what menopause-shaped symptoms look like from the inside as a trans woman, including the workplace angle. Warm and specific.
Real anonymous couples in a single therapy session with Esther Perel. The midlife desire and resentment episodes are the ones to start with — she's the rare voice who treats long-term partnership like the difficult, alive thing it actually is.
An HR-leader conversation with a certified menopause coaching specialist on what real menopause support for employees looks like — policy, accommodations, and culture.
Tracy Otsuka, late-diagnosed herself, talking to other late-diagnosed ADHD women about the things no one warned us about — the perimenopause crash, rejection sensitivity, the executive function collapse around the cycle. Warm and very specific.
Cristen Conger investigates the perimenopause boom — where it came from, why some ob-gyns are wary, and how to tell the difference between real perimenopause needs and what is being sold to us. Covers the WHI study that set HRT back a generation and the menopause market now targeting women in their thirties.
A personal solo episode from nutritionist Andrea Donsky on why she wrote Nourishing Menopause: the 100+ symptoms most doctors never mention, the 17 real reasons women gain weight in midlife, why weight training matters more than cardio, and what 14 years in perimenopause taught her about what women actually need.
Menopause Chicks founder Shirley Weir shares her "Script Tips" framework for flipping a dismissive doctor's appointment — including the single most important word ("impact") to bring into the room, what's now covered under Canada's new menopause hormone therapy Pharmacare program in BC and Manitoba, and why UTI prevention in postmenopause matters.
Nurse practitioner Cynthia Thurlow on why 94% of perimenopausal women suddenly develop digestive issues — the estrobolome and estrogen recycling, the fibre mistake making bloating worse, why your gut microbiome shifts to look more like a man's after menopause, and the difference between intermittent fasting and "digestive rest" in midlife.
Tara Brach is a clinical psychologist and Buddhist teacher whose RAIN practice (Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture) has become a standard tool for working with anxiety, grief, and the inner critic. Start with this one if everything feels too much.
Useful primer on how gender and hormone history change the midlife picture, aimed at a general audience. Good first listen before more specialised episodes.
Jill, a pelvic-floor physiotherapist living with endometriosis, goes past "surgery didn't work" into what actually helped: nervous-system-informed care. A useful listen if pelvic pain, endo, or chronic below-the-belt symptoms are part of your midlife picture.
Michelle in conversation with Daviana about how the symptom picture during transition can look uncannily like menopause, and what that taught her about midlife on estrogen.
A podcast on menopause, perimenopause and midlife health from Karen Martel, a certified hormone specialist.
Sexologist Dr Angela Wright and host Dani Binnington on why so many women, especially after cancer, are still denied low-dose vaginal estrogen for GSM. Names the AI-on-letrozole nuance and the growing guidance that low-dose vaginal hormones may still be appropriate after breast cancer.
A podcast from fitness trainer Debra Atkinson on exercise and strength training after 50.
A podcast on strength, body composition and perimenopause from Dr. Stephanie Estima, a Canadian chiropractor.
A podcast from board-certified OB-GYN Dr. Mary Claire Haver on perimenopause, menopause and midlife health, with expert guests.
Barbara Wilson (Working With Cancer) on your rights returning to work with a cancer history and menopause symptoms: whether cancer counts as a disability, reasonable adjustments, phased returns, and how much you actually need to disclose.
Psychologist and founder of Sexy Money, Wendy sits down with Amy for a frank conversation about pleasure as a health practice, GSM, and giving yourself permission to talk about what nobody talks about. Warm, funny, honest.
A quieter episode on the identity shift that lands after treatment ends. Useful pairing with journal work, less about symptom fixes and more about the reconstruction phase.
Two NHS breast care clinical nurse specialists on what changed once their team started taking menopause-after-cancer seriously: new prescribing conversations, bone-health follow-up, and what a patient can reasonably ask for even inside a stretched service.
Long-running gender-inclusive podcast and project from Omisade Burney-Scott. Conversations sit at the intersection of Black, queer and midlife — episodes with Mona Eltahawy, Syd Yang and adrienne maree brown are great entry points.
Specific episode on perimenopausal mood, rage and the line between hormones and mental health — Lynsey and her partner describe a rapid mental-health collapse during perimenopause.
Late-diagnosed ADHD women talking about how perimenopause flattens previously-managed nervous systems. Essential if your rage feels disproportionate AND you're (or might be) neurodivergent.
Karen Arthur on the anger Black women in midlife are routinely told to suppress, and the cost of being read as "angry" in a workplace that already misreads you.
US gynaecologist Dr Mary Claire Haver on MHT for mood, sleep architecture, weight, joints — including the symptoms (jaw, vision, body composition) most GPs treat as unrelated. Search any symptom name.
Pelvic floor PT Sara Reardon (DPT) on prolapse, leaking, vulval pain and the conditions (including lichen sclerosus) that most GPs don't examine for. Practical, anatomy-not-identity.
Dr Vonda Wright's own deep-dive episode on the cluster she named — frozen shoulder, joint pain, sarcopenia and bone loss in the menopause transition.
Functional MD Aviva Romm on the histamine-estrogen relationship, why allergies and skin reactions can flare in perimenopause, and what to actually try without ending up on twelve supplements at once.
Sleep medicine specialist Dr Chris Winter on why obstructive sleep apnea is dramatically under-diagnosed in midlife women, and how to advocate for a study when your GP says "you don't look like the typical patient."
Podcast hosted by LaSara Firefox Allen, who works specifically with non-binary, trans and gender-expansive people through perimenopause. Practical, coaching-led, with a clear gender-affirming frame.
Quiet background music when you'd rather not follow a conversation.
Open on SpotifyA softer soundtrack for the end of the day.
Open on SpotifyInstrumental beats for a one-task afternoon.
Open on SpotifySpotify curates these playlists, not Hello Nila. The selections can change, and Spotify's own account and privacy rules apply. We don't earn anything from these links.
What stayed with you? What would you like to ask about? A few lines can be enough.
Open your journalEpisodes that make evidence claims carry the same grade tags as every other shelf. See how we grade evidence, A to D