AI Summary
5 min readAt 66, Dr. Karen Adams, an OB-GYN and director of the Stanford Program in Menopause and Healthy Aging, says she would not go back to being 35 for anything. That is not a throwaway line. It is the organizing claim of this episode of How to Age Up, which argues that the cultural narrative around menopause and aging in women is catastrophically backward. The real story, according to Dr. Adams, is that the decades after menopause are often the happiest and most liberated of a woman's life—if she can get through the transition with good medical care.
The episode centers on a paradox: the period of life women are taught to dread is, for many, the best one. Dr. Adams describes a well-documented U-shaped happiness curve. People are least happy in their teens and twenties, get happier through their thirties and early forties, dip again in their late forties to mid-fifties (the perimenopause window), and then climb steadily. "Sixties people are happier, seventies people are even happier," she says. The dip is real, but it is a transition, not a destination. The destination is what she calls "menopausal zest"—a term she uses to describe the surge in well-being, confidence, and freedom that follows the end of menstruation.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:50) **Welcome and Why We Fear Aging** - Hosts Jasmine and Natalie introduce the episode’s theme: that we’re taught to dread getting older, especially in our 20s and 30s.
- 2 (03:39) **A Cultural Shift: Seeing Older Women as Sexy and Powerful** - The hosts observe that pop culture is starting to celebrate women in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, challenging old narratives.
- 3 (05:13) **Introducing Dr. Karen Adams: The Menopause Expert** - Dr. Karen Adams, an OBGYN and director of the Stanford Program in Menopause and Healthy Aging, is brought in to reframe what getting older can look like.
- 4 (07:13) **The Knowledge Deficit: Doctors Don’t Know Menopause** - Dr. Adams details why so few doctors are equipped to treat menopause, tracing the problem back to a flawed 20-year-old study.
- 5 (09:46) **The U-Shaped Happiness Curve: Why 60s and 70s Are the Happiest Decades** - Dr. Adams presents data showing that people get happier as they age, with teens and 20s being the least happy.
- 6 (11:14) **The Good Part of Menopause: Freedom from Periods and PMS** - Dr. Adams explains the under-discussed benefits of menopause, starting with the end of menstruation-related suffering.
- 7 (13:16) **Menopausal Zest: Stepping Into Your Power** - Dr. Adams describes the deeper psychological liberation that comes with post-menopausal life.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
We don’t often talk about the benefits of aging. Dr.Karen Adams has a different perspective. From new beginnings to menopausal zest, the director of the Stanford Program in Menopause & Healthy Aging discusses what women can look forward to as they age up.
How do you think about aging? Please leave us a voicemail (at 202-266-7701) with your name, your age, and your answers to the following questions:
- What aspects of aging are you nervous about?
- What are you looking forward to as you age?
- Who do you hope to be like when you are older? Is there someone in your life who has made you excited about getting older?
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