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Conversation Takeaways Why more women are asking about testosterone therapy. What research actually says about testosterone for low libido, energy, mood, and brain fog. Why some women feel amazing on testosterone while others notice little improvement. What to consider before deciding whether testosterone is right for you. About This Episode Everybody seems to be talking about testosterone these days! From improved sex drive to promises of more energy, better mood, and clearer thinking, testosterone is quickly becoming the next big conversation in women's midlife health. But does it really deliver on all those promises? In this episode, I'm taking a closer look at what the research actually tells us about testosterone therapy for women, including where the evidence is strongest and where we still have unanswered questions. We'll also talk about what women are sharing online, why their experiences can be so different, and why feeling exhausted, foggy, or unlike yourself doesn't automatically mean you need another hormone. Because before we start chasing the next hormone, I want you to understand what's actually happening in your body. Ready to Feel Like Yourself Again? If you're tired of guessing why you feel the way you do, I'd love to invite you to my FREE 5-Day Experience: Feel Like Yourself Again: Learn to Read the Story Your Body Has Been Telling. Over five days, I'll help you begin connecting the dots between your symptoms, hormones, and everyday health so you can better understand your body and make more confident decisions about your health. Join the free 5-day experience Know your body. Lead your life.

Conversation Takeaways Do you really need all those lab tests recommended online? Why is eating healthy in midlife so confusing? How do you know which menopause advice to trust? What does it mean to become more confident and informed about your health? Three Women. Three Questions. Let's Talk. Have you ever wondered whether you need all those labs your friend recommended, felt completely confused about what you're supposed to eat in perimenopause, or questioned which menopause expert you should believe? In our first Ask Michele episode, we're tackling three questions that I hear from women all the time. Lisa, 49: "My friend sent me a list of labs that every woman our age supposedly needs. Should I ask my provider to order all of them?" Karen, 48: "I've gained weight during perimenopause, and everybody has a different opinion about what I should eat. Where do I even start?" Jennifer, 52: "I'm hearing so much conflicting information about menopause, hormones, and my symptoms. How do I know what's actually true?" I'll take you behind the scenes of how I think through these questions as a Women's Health Nurse Practitioner and coach each woman toward greater clarity. Listen to the episode to hear how we work through all three questions together. Ready to Feel Like Yourself Again? If you're tired of guessing why you feel off, join my FREE five-day experience, Feel Like Yourself Again, where you'll begin connecting the dots between your hormones, symptoms, and everyday life. Get started: https://michelebroad.com/feel-like-yourself-again Have a question for Ask Michele? Send it my way. Your question might be featured in an upcoming episode! Know your body. Lead your life.

Conversation Takeaways Why your midlife health is about more than just hormones and HRT. What you should know about your heart, bones, muscles, metabolism, brain, sleep, and sexual health. Why more testing doesn't always mean better healthcare. How understanding your body helps you make more informed health decisions. We've spent so much time talking about perimenopause, menopause, and hormone therapy that I think we've overlooked an important conversation: What should women in their 40s, 50s, and beyond actually be paying attention to when it comes to their health? In this episode, we're looking beyond estrogen and progesterone to talk about the bigger picture of women's health. From cardiovascular health and bone strength to metabolism, brain fog, sleep, and sexual wellness, I'll explain why these areas matter and what you should begin understanding about your own body. We'll also touch on why having more labs drawn isn't necessarily the answer and why learning to ask better questions is an important part of what I call Health Independence. Because taking care of your health isn't about monitoring every little thing or chasing the latest wellness trend. It's about knowing your body, recognizing what deserves your attention, and making informed decisions.   Ready to Feel Like Yourself Again? If you're tired of guessing what's happening in your body, join my FREE 5-Day Feel Like Yourself Again experience. You'll learn to recognize the patterns your body has been showing you, connect the dots between your symptoms, and begin understanding your health as a whole story rather than a collection of problems to fix. Start your free five-day experience here: https://michelebroad.com/feel-like-yourself-again Know your body. Lead your life.

Conversation Takeaways HRT can help without fixing every symptom. Hormones are only one part of your biological story. What hasn't improved may be important information. The answer isn't always more hormones. Social media, podcasts, and conversations with friends can make HRT sound like the pot of gold at the end of the perimenopause rainbow. But what happens when HRT helps and you still don't feel like yourself? In this episode, we talk about why lingering fatigue, brain fog, sleep issues, weight changes, or simply feeling "off" don't necessarily mean your HRT has failed. Sometimes it means we need to widen the lens and look at the rest of your story. Because the better question may not be, "Do I need more hormones?" but "What has improved, what hasn't, and what is my body telling me now?" Free 5-Day Feel Like Yourself Again Ready to stop guessing and start understanding? Join my free five-day Feel Like Yourself Again experience and learn how to connect the dots between your symptoms, hormones, changing biology, stress, and real life. Feel Like Yourself Again

Conversation Takeaways Being on HRT and still not feeling like yourself doesn't necessarily mean your hormone therapy isn't working. Look at what improved and what didn't. Your hormones don't live in a vacuum. Sleep, stress, thyroid function, metabolic health, nutrition, muscle and recovery can all influence how you feel. Sometimes HRT needs to be reassessed. Other times, persistent symptoms are telling us it's time to widen the lens. You don't have to choose between HRT and supporting the rest of your biology. They belong in the same conversation. Instead of only asking, "Why isn't my HRT working?" consider asking, "What part of my story haven't we looked at yet?" In This Episode You started HRT. Maybe your hot flashes improved, your night sweats disappeared, or you're finally sleeping a little better. But you're still tired, foggy, unmotivated, or simply thinking, Why don't I feel like myself yet? I hear this from women in my everyday practice. In this conversation, we're talking about why HRT can be an important part of your midlife health story without necessarily being the whole story. We'll look at what your remaining symptoms may be telling you, why continuing to adjust hormones isn't always the only answer, and why understanding the biological environment those hormones are entering matters. Because the goal isn't simply to get you on hormones. The goal is to help you feel well and understand enough about your body to know why. Free 5-Day Experience: Feel Like Yourself Again If you know something has changed in your body but you're struggling to understand what, join me for Feel Like Yourself Again, my free five-day experience designed to help you start connecting the dots between your symptoms, hormones, stress, sleep and the life your body is actually living. Join Feel Like Yourself Again for Free Stop guessing. Start understanding.

What You'll Take Away From This Conversation Why a "normal" hormone test doesn't necessarily rule out perimenopause. Why a lab result is a snapshot, while your body is the whole movie. Why symptoms, menstrual changes, health history and your life all matter. Why labs are still valuable for looking at other possible contributors. Why understanding the bigger picture can help you make better decisions about HRT and other treatment options. What to ask your provider when your labs say "normal" but you still don't feel like yourself. About This Episode You know something has changed. You're not sleeping the same, your periods may be different, your brain feels foggy, your energy has disappeared or you're suddenly hot while everyone else seems perfectly comfortable. Then your bloodwork comes back and you're told, "Everything looks normal." And you're thinking, That's wonderful. Should I tell my body? Because apparently she missed the memo.  In this episode of The Michele Broad Show, we're talking about why one normal hormone result may not tell the whole story during perimenopause. We'll look at why hormone levels can fluctuate, when labs are useful, what else may need to be considered and why your symptoms and history matter alongside the numbers. We'll also talk about HRT, because understanding your whole health story isn't an argument against treatment. Understanding helps us make better treatment decisions. The goal isn't to prove your hormones are abnormal. It's to better understand what is happening to you. Sometimes "normal" isn't the end of the conversation. Sometimes it simply helps us figure out what question to ask next. Stop guessing. Start understanding.

Why does 3 AM seem to have a standing appointment with women in midlife? You fall asleep just fine, but somewhere around 3:00 your eyes open and suddenly your brain is ready to discuss tomorrow's schedule, your mother, the kids, the email you forgot to answer, and possibly something embarrassing you said in 2009. It's easy to assume this must be hormones. Or cortisol. Or blood sugar. And while any of those may be part of the conversation, waking up at 3 AM isn't a diagnosis and your hormones don't sleep alone. In this episode of The Michele Broad Show, we're looking at what may actually be behind those middle-of-the-night awakenings, including the changes of perimenopause and menopause, stress and cortisol, alcohol, blood sugar and metabolic health, sleep apnea, and the everyday demands your body carries into bed with you. We'll also talk about why the better question may not be, "Why do I wake up at 3 AM?" but rather, "What has changed that makes it harder for my body to stay asleep or get back to sleep, the way it once did?" And before you create a 23-step bedtime routine or diagnose yourself from the clock, I'll show you how to become a 3 AM detective for one week and begin looking for the patterns that may be hiding inside your own story. Because one night is a night. A repeated pattern is information. And the more you understand the information your body is giving you, the better questions you can ask and the better decisions you can make. Stop guessing. Start understanding.

Hormone therapy has finally become part of the mainstream women's health conversation, and that is a good thing. After decades of women feeling dismissed or undertreated, more women are asking questions, advocating for themselves, and learning about treatment options during perimenopause and menopause. But another problem may be emerging. Women are increasingly arriving at healthcare appointments already convinced that every symptom they are experiencing is hormonal and that estrogen or progesterone will solve it. In this episode, Michele challenges that assumption without dismissing hormone therapy or minimizing the very real symptoms women experience during midlife. She explores why hormones do not operate in isolation, how sleep, stress, nutrition, muscle, insulin, movement, workload, recovery, and other health conditions can influence how a woman feels, and why treatment often works best when we understand the biological environment it is entering. You will also hear why hormone therapy should not be expected to produce weight loss, how symptom improvement can create an opportunity for better lifestyle changes, and why women deserve more education—not simply more prescriptions. This conversation is ultimately about helping women move beyond asking, "What hormone do I need?" and begin asking better questions about their whole health picture. Because the goal is not to become anti-hormone therapy. The goal is to become informed enough to know when treatment makes sense, what it can realistically accomplish, and what you can do alongside it to support your health for the long term.

In this final episode of the Your Body Is Smarter Than You Think series, Michele Broad brings together the ideas explored throughout the first two conversations and introduces the philosophy that now guides all of her teaching. If your body is intelligent, and if your hormones don't live in a vacuum, then the next question becomes: What has your body been responding to all along? Drawing on nearly thirty years of caring for women, Michele explains why your biology cannot be separated from the life you've been living. From stress and sleep to relationships, work, caregiving, and everyday habits, every experience influences the way your body adapts and communicates. Rather than chasing isolated symptoms, this episode invites you to become curious about the bigger picture. You'll learn why understanding your body's patterns creates confidence, why observation should come before intervention, and why lasting health begins with seeing the whole story instead of searching for another quick fix. This conversation also marks the beginning of a new direction for the podcast and blog. Moving forward, every episode will explore how the lives we live shape the biology we carry, the foundation of the Michele Broad Method and a new way of thinking about women's health.  In this episode, you'll learn: Why your body is constantly responding to your life, not just your hormones. How stress, sleep, nutrition, relationships, and daily habits shape your biology. The difference between asking "What's wrong with me?" and "What has my body been responding to?" Why curiosity leads to better health decisions than judgment. How understanding your body's patterns builds lasting health confidence. The philosophy behind the Michele Broad Method and where we're headed next.

What if the symptoms you've been blaming on a single hormone are actually part of a much bigger biological conversation? In Part Two of The Body Is Smarter Than You Think, Michele Broad, Women's Health Nurse Practitioner with nearly three decades of clinical experience, explores one of the most important concepts in women's health: your hormones don't live in a vacuum. Rather than viewing estrogen, progesterone, cortisol, insulin, and thyroid hormones as separate systems, Michele explains how your body functions as one beautifully connected biological conversation. Every experience from stress and sleep to relationships, nutrition, movement, and the natural transitions of midlife becomes information your body uses to decide how to respond. You'll also discover why one of Michele's signature teachings has become so important to her practice: Perimenopause didn't begin the conversation. It joined a conversation your biology was already having. This episode will help you move beyond symptom chasing and begin asking better questions; questions that lead to greater understanding, more confident decisions, and a healthier relationship with your body. In this episode you'll learn: Why hormones never work in isolation. How your body responds to the life you've been living. Why symptoms often make more sense when viewed in the context of your whole biology. The difference between asking, "What's wrong with me?" and "What has my body been responding to?" How understanding your biology creates Health Independence. Stop guessing. Start understanding.

Women today know more about perimenopause and menopause than ever before, yet many still don't understand the biology behind what their bodies are actually doing. In this first episode of The Body Is Smarter Than You Think series, Michele shares how her own experiences, nearly three decades of caring for women, and a growing curiosity transformed her philosophy of women's health. Together, you'll explore why understanding your body's biology is far more empowering than simply knowing the name of your symptoms, and why curiosity may be the first step toward true Health Independence. In This Episode You'll Learn: Why women know the language of symptoms but often not the biology behind them How Michele's own journey reshaped her philosophy of women's health Why your body was designed to adapt, not simply stay the same How understanding your biology changes the way you approach your health Why this series begins with trust instead of treatment

Hormone therapy has become one of the biggest conversations in women's health, but with so much conflicting information online, knowing where to start can feel overwhelming. In this episode, Michele Broad, Women's Health Nurse Practitioner, takes a different approach. Rather than answering whether hormone therapy is right for you, she explores the questions every woman should ask before making that decision. You'll learn why your symptoms are only one piece of a much larger biological story, how to think beyond quick fixes, and why understanding your body is the foundation of making confident health decisions. In this episode you'll learn: Why hormone therapy shouldn't be the first question you ask. How your life story shapes your biology. Why symptoms are valuable data, not a diagnosis. The role hormone therapy plays within a comprehensive health plan. Why personalized medicine matters when considering treatment options. How to become a more informed and confident partner in your healthcare. If you've been wondering whether hormone therapy is right for you, this episode will help you stop guessing and start understanding.

What if your hormones aren't the problem, but the messenger? In this episode, Michele Broad, Women's Health Nurse Practitioner, explores one of the most overlooked conversations in women's health: the many hidden factors influencing your hormones long before symptoms appear. Instead of focusing on one hormone or the latest supplement, Michele explains why your body is constantly responding to the life you're living and why understanding those patterns is the first step toward lasting change. You'll learn why symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, weight gain, poor sleep, and mood changes are often the final chapter of a much longer biological story. Michele also shares how your nervous system, stress, blood sugar, recovery, relationships, workload, and daily habits all shape hormone health in ways most women have never been taught. If you've been asking, "What's wrong with me?" This episode will help you begin asking better questions, questions that lead to clarity instead of more guessing. In This Episode You'll Learn: Why hormone symptoms rarely begin with hormones alone. How your nervous system influences hormone function every day. The hidden lifestyle and biological factors affecting your energy, metabolism, and focus. Why high-achieving women often overlook the cost of constantly pushing through. How to recognize the patterns your body has been trying to communicate. A new framework for understanding your health through curiosity instead of fear. Remember: Your hormones don't live in a vacuum. Your body is telling the story your life has written. The goal isn't to fight your biology, it's to understand it.

Why Your Mind Doesn't Feel Like It Used To Have you ever walked into a room and forgotten why you were there? Found yourself rereading the same email three times? Struggled to find words that used to come easily? If so, you're not alone. Brain fog has become one of the most common concerns women bring up during perimenopause and menopause, yet it's often misunderstood. Many women worry they're losing their edge, when in reality, their bodies may be sending important signals that deserve attention. In this episode, Michele explores the real reasons brain fog happens in midlife and why it isn't simply a normal part of aging. You'll learn how hormonal fluctuations, chronic stress, blood sugar instability, poor sleep, and other biological factors can influence memory, focus, and mental clarity. Most importantly, you'll discover why brain fog is often a symptom and not the root problem and how understanding what's happening inside your body can help you reclaim confidence, focus, and trust in yourself again. In This Episode, You'll Learn: Why brain fog is a symptom rather than a diagnosis How estrogen affects memory, focus, and cognitive function The connection between stress, cortisol, and mental performance Why blood sugar swings can impact concentration and energy How sleep influences memory and brain health When brain fog may be a sign to investigate deeper health concerns How to stop blaming yourself and start understanding your biology Key Takeaway: Your body isn't working against you. Brain fog may be one of the ways it's communicating that something needs attention. Understanding the root causes can help you move from frustration and fear to clarity and confidence.

For years, you've been rewarded for pushing through. Pushing through long workdays. Pushing through exhaustion. Pushing through stress. Pushing through everyone else's needs before your own. But what happens when the very habits that helped you build your career, care for your family, and achieve your goals start creating consequences for your health? In this episode, I'm exploring the hidden biological cost of self-override and why many women in midlife find themselves wondering why the things that once worked no longer do. You'll learn why this isn't a failure of willpower, discipline, or motivation, but often a reflection of changing biology and a body that is asking for a different approach. This conversation challenges the belief that success requires sacrifice and introduces a new perspective on health, leadership, and sustainable performance. In This Episode We Discuss: Why high-achieving women often normalize symptoms The hidden cost of self-override How stress adaptation can eventually become exhaustion The biological shifts that occur during midlife Why productivity advice often fails women The connection between health, leadership, and performance How to recognize when your body is asking for a different approach A new definition of success that includes well-being