Advertise on podcast: Midlife Advice | Perimenopause, Hormones and Midlife Women’s Health

Ever notice that when things are finally going well, you can't fully enjoy it? You feel good for about five minutes, then you're either moving the goalposts or bracing for something to go wrong. This solo episode is about why your brain does that, and how celebrating small wins trains your nervous system to hold more joy. Celebrating isn't just for weddings, graduations and birthdays. The more you celebrate the small stuff, the more reasons you find to celebrate. I share why this lesson from my mentors felt so counterintuitive to a lifelong goalpost-mover like me, and what's shifted since I started practicing it. Then we practice together. I'm celebrating two big things: Midlife Advice landing in the top 2.5% of all podcasts globally (thank you!!), and the official launch of my new 6-week group breathwork program, the Keep Your Cool Collective.  And before you head off into your day, I'm asking you to find something of your own to celebrate. What we get into: Why your brain resists joy when life is going well, and what "waiting for the other shoe to drop" is really aboutHow moving the goalposts keeps you stuck in hustle, head-down modeWhy celebrating the action you took, not just the outcome, is importantSimple ways to celebrate in five minutes or less How breathwork expands your capacity to handle everyday triggers, like hearing "Mom!" for the 47th timeI want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail! Jessica's freebies and resources: 📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd at 12pm PT! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork) 😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep) ⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page) ✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

You used to be able to handle so much more stress than you can now. Work, kids, travel, hard conversations, not enough sleep, and you kept going. Now your neck is always tight, your digestion is off, you're wired at 11pm and exhausted at 3pm, and you can't figure out what changed. Hormones are part of that. But there's a second thing happening, and almost nobody talks about it: your body may be carrying the physical residue of decades of stress it never got to finish processing. Dr. Carli Axford, a chiropractor with more than 30 years of clinical experience (who has never cracked a back!) and the founder of the Spinal Flow Technique, is here to get specific about what "the body stores stress" actually means. Not metaphorically. Physiologically. Where it goes, what it feels like under a practitioner's hands, and why it tends to surface in your 40s and 50s after years of you managing just fine. Carli explains why women who come in with digestive problems often have stored emotions higher up in the spine, how she can tell the difference between chemical stress and emotional stress by touch, and the one question that tells you whether that knot between your shoulder blades is from your workout or from something you have been carrying for years.  What we get into: What "storing stress" actually means physiologically, and why the spine is where it landsThe three kinds of stress, emotional, physical, and chemical, and how each one feels different in the bodyWhy women who come in with digestive issues often have an older stress pattern sitting higher in the spineWhy your capacity for stress drops in perimenopause, and what fluctuating estrogen and progesterone have to do with your nervous system's resilienceHow to tell whether that knot in your back is a pulled muscle or a pattern you have carried since childhoodWhat you can do at home, in a few minutes, to move your body out of fight or flightDr. Carli Axford is the founder of the Spinal Flow Technique, a healing modality now practiced by thousands of certified practitioners worldwide. She is recognized internationally for her work on stress, trauma, and the body's capacity to heal itself. Her book Awaken Your Spinal Flow is forthcoming from Hay House in May 2027. Connect with Dr. Carli Axford: drcarliaxford.org | @dr.carli.axford I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail! Jessica's freebies and resources: 📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd at 12pm PT! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork) 😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep) ⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page) ✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

Breathwork for anxiety sounds almost too easy. Too obvious. But the mechanism behind it is measurable. This episode explores anxiety as a body problem, not a mind problem, and the way you're breathing all day might be what's keeping it going. Sigmar Berg is the founder of Lovetuner, a breathwork and sound healing tool featured in CNN, the LA Times, and Buzzfeed, and he has spent over a decade studying the intersection of breath, nervous system regulation, and frequency healing. In this conversation, he explains why shallow, fast, chest-level breathing keeps the nervous system locked in fight-or-flight mode, what one conscious extended exhale actually does to your physiology, and how adding sound at 528 Hz amplifies the effect. If anxiety has been creeping in, especially in your 40s and 50s when hormones can make it so much worse, this conversation gives you a framework and a practice you can use the same day. What we get into: - Why anxiety often starts in the body, not the brain, and what's happening physiologically when it does - How shallow, fast breathing sends a danger signal to your nervous system even when you're just sitting at your desk - What makes the extended exhale so effective for calming the nervous system fast - Whether specific breathing patterns like box breathing or 4-7-8 actually matter, or if we're overcomplicating it - What 528 Hz is, why Sigmar built a tool around it, and what the science actually says - How to start a breathwork habit without a 30-minute practice Connect with Sigmar Berg: lovetuner.com | @lovetuner528hz on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube | Book: One Journey I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail! Jessica's freebies and resources: 📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd at 12pm PT! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork) 😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep) ⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page) ✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

If you've caught yourself thinking "I don't feel like myself" and you can't quite put your finger on why, this one's for you. Hormones play a role. Being stretched impossibly thin plays a role. But there's a third factor that I think is fundamental, and it's one I never hear anyone talking about: interoception. Interoception is your ability to sense and interpret what's actually happening inside your body (like hunger, thirst, stress, emotion). When it's working, you catch yourself before you're hangry, before you snap at your kids, before you're running on fumes. When it's not working, and for so many of us in midlife it's not, you don't know you're stressed until you're yelling, or so numb you're running the whole day on autopilot without feeling a single thing. I'm breaking down exactly how chronic stress shuts your interoception down, what that actually looks like in daily life, and the somatic practices, including breathwork, that bring it back online.  Stick around to the end, because I'm inviting you to two free virtual breathwork sessions where you can feel the shift for yourself instead of just hearing me talk about it. What we get into: What interoception is and how it worksThe specific ways chronic stress shuts your body's signals offWhy you might feel completely numb one day and completely overwhelmed the nextThe research on interoception and stress, explained in plain languageHow breathwork helps you tune back in and hear your body againTwo free virtual breathwork sessions happening soon  Resources: PubMed article: Interoception and Stress I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail! Jessica's freebies and resources: 📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd at 12pm PT! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork) 😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep) ⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page) ✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

ADHD in midlife women is the topic my audience requested most in my latest Instagram poll - and now it's here! If you've been wondering whether your scattered, overloaded brain is ADHD, perimenopause, or just life, you are in the right place. Today I’m speaking with Dr. Jennifer Dall, Ed.D., an ADHD specialist with a doctorate in educational psychology, a background in special education, and her own late-in-life ADHD diagnosis, to talk about everything women over 40 actually want to know about ADHD. What you'll hear: How ADHD shows up in high-achieving women, and why it looks nothing like the stereotypeWhy perimenopause doesn't cause ADHD but can turn the volume all the way up on symptoms you've had your whole lifeWhy so many Gen X women went undiagnosed for decades, and what the stories we were told about ourselves have to do with itWhether you need a formal ADHD diagnosis and what that evaluation actually involvesWhat you can start doing today to work with your brain instead of fighting itThe ADHD strengths that high-achieving women carry without ever recognizing them as strengths Connect with Dr. Jennifer Dall:  adhdholistically.com | @adhd.holistically  I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail! Jessica's freebies and resources: 📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd at 12pm PT! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork) 😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep) ⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page) ✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

What if your future self could travel back in time to right now and show you exactly what you're missing? That's the exercise we're playing with in today's episode. I've been using it myself, and it shifts my perspective, changes my energy, and influences the trajectory of my whole day in a really positive way. And it couldn't be easier. I first came across this concept while listening to Dr. Benjamin Hardy's book, Be Your Future Self Now. He shares a story about a completely average evening that tugged at my heart strings. And then a text from my 84-year-old dad gave me the chance to try it in real life. In this episode: The future self visualization exercise you can start using on the most ordinary moments of your dayHow to apply it when you're feeling irritated, impatient, or just doneWhy this one simple shift is a powerful way to change your energy and your whole outlook on a regular TuesdayI can’t wait for you to try this. After you do, click the link below to send me a text and tell me about it! I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail! Jessica's freebies and resources: 📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd at 12pm PT! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork) 😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep) ⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page) ✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

Muscle and joint pain in perimenopause is not just a hormone problem, and it's not just aging. Physical therapist and musculoskeletal specialist Stacey Roberts explains what's really driving pain in midlife women, and what to do about it. Her answers might surprise you. We talk about: Why your hormones were acting as your body's natural anti-inflammatories, and what happens when they drop in perimenopause and menopauseThe non-drug, non-injection options for joint and muscle pain that most women never hear aboutWhy cortisol being too low (not just too high) can cause nighttime inflammation, especially in high-achieving womenHow to tell the difference between normal workout soreness and pain you should actually stop forWhy the place where you feel pain is not always where the problem is (a weak hip causing foot pain, for example)The vicious cycle of hurt, stop moving, get tighter, hurt more, and how to break out of itWhy heavy lifting is not the only way to build strength and protect your jointsWhat to do first if you've stopped working out because something always hurtsStacey Roberts PT, RN, MSN has over 30 years of experience helping patients live pain-free. Stacey owns New You Health and Wellness in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, combining advanced manual therapy, cutting-edge technology, and functional medicine. She is the author of the number one bestselling book The Pain Free Formula and host of The Pain Free Formula podcast. Connect with Stacey NewYouHealthandWellness.com | The Pain Free Formula book | The Pain Free Formula podcast | @newyouhealthandwellness I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail! Jessica's freebies and resources: 📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd at 12pm PT! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork) 😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep) ⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page) ✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

Do your perimenopause symptoms like brain fog, weight gain, and sleep issues feel like they are so much worse than your friend’s? Your DNA might explain why. Today I’m speaking with Kim Ressler, Founder and CEO of SNiP Nutrigenomics, to unpack the growing science of nutrigenomics and what your genetic blueprint reveals about how you experience perimenopause and menopause.  If you've ever wondered why your symptoms feel so much worse than everyone else's, this episode has an answer worth hearing. In this episode we discuss: Why menopause is more genetically influenced than most women realizeHow your DNA shapes specific symptoms like brain fog, weight gain, insomnia, anxiety, hot flashes and moreWhat genetic testing can tell you about your menopause experienceHow to use your DNA to make smarter nutrition and lifestyle decisions without going deep into biohacking Guest: Kim Ressler, Founder and CEO, SNiP Nutrigenomics snipnutrition.com I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail! Jessica's freebies and resources: 📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd at 12pm PT! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork) 😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep) ⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page) ✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

Low libido in midlife is likely not just your hormones. There are other factors at play that are important to know about. Let’s talk about what's actually shutting down desire for midlife women, and what helps bring it back. Brooke Bralove, LCSW-C and AASECT Certified Sex Therapist and I talk about what women over 40 actually need to know about low desire, sexual ruts in long-term relationships, and how unresolved trauma can live in the body and affect intimacy for decades. Here’s what we cover: Why familiarity and too much emotional safety can kill eroticism in long-term relationshipsThe myth of spontaneous desire, and what's actually more realisticHow mental overload, exhaustion, and resentment shut down libido faster than any hormone shiftWhy "willingness to try" is more useful than waiting to be in the moodHow trauma, big and small, can show up in the body and affect intimacy years laterWhat Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) is, and how it's helping women resolve sexual trauma in as few as one sessionOne thing you can do this week to reconnect with your own desireBrooke Bralove, LCSW-C, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, psychotherapist, and AASECT Certified Sex Therapist with over 20 years in private practice.  brookebralove.com | @BrookeBralovePsychotherapy  Chapters: 00:00 Understanding Low Libido in Midlife Women 03:11 The Role of Familiarity and Newness in Relationships 05:57 The Myth of Spontaneous Desire 08:55 The Importance of Communication and Willingness 11:49 Addressing Resentment and Unmet Needs 14:21 Exploring Root Causes of Low Libido 17:03 Healing from Trauma and Its Impact on Desire 19:49 Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) Explained 22:37 Practical Steps to Reconnect with Desire I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail! Jessica's freebies and resources: 📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd at 12pm PT! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork) 😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep) ⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page) ✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

Feeling stuck in midlife even when life looks successful from the outside? Novelist and coach Ellen Baker says we can reinvent ourselves the same way an author writes a character into existence: by choosing who we need to be before we have proof we're there. Ellen Baker spent a decade navigating divorce, rejection, and reinvention before her novel The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson became HarperCollins' Lead Read for Winter 2024 and was featured in People and Woman's World. Her new novel, Summerland Cove, is out June 2026. She is also the founder of The Next Chapter Studio, where she helps women rewrite the internal beliefs that shape how they show up. She says we can write the next chapter of our own lives the same way an author writes a character into existence: by deciding who that character needs to be before writing a word. You choose the identity first. The outcomes follow. I can’t wait for you to hear this! We talk about: Why the identity that got you here isn't the one that will carry you forwardThe author's approach to identity change: deciding who your character needs to be before the story startsHow to look at yourself from the outside, the way an author looks at a character she's writingThe "I choose to" shift that gives you your agency back right nowWhy we've been conditioned to think achievement has to come before identity (and why that's backwards)How to tell the difference between an identity that's truly yours versus one you're just performingThe "What if?" question that lets you try on a new identity without pressureWhat actually changes first when a woman steps into a new identityHow an identity shift ripples into relationships, and how to navigate thatThe first thing to do if you suspect you've been living from an outdated identity Connect with Ellen Baker: ellenbakernovels.com | The Next Chapter Studio: ellenbakernovels.com/studio I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail! Jessica's freebies and resources: 📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd at 12pm PT! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork) 😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep) ⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page) ✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

Creatine isn't just for bodybuilders. Functional medicine doctor Miranda Naylor explains why women over 40 actually need creatine for muscle, brain, mood, and sleep. Thank you, Dr. Naylor, for clearing up all the confusion around creatine and whether it is helpful and safe for midlife women.  What you'll hear: Why women naturally have lower creatine stores than menHow estrogen affects creatine metabolism and why midlife women may need moreWhat creatine actually does for muscle, brain function, mood, and sleepDosing guidance: loading vs. maintenance, and what to look for in a productDr. Miranda Naylor is a functional medicine doctor in San Diego, CA and the host of the podcast Modern Women's Wellness.  Connect with Dr. Miranda: drmirandanaylor.com | @drmirandanaylor | Modern Women’s Wellness podcast ➡️ My favorite creatine: Be Well By Kelly (https://go.shopmy.us/p-50264235) I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail! Jessica's freebies and resources: 📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd at 12pm PT! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork) 😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep) ⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page) ✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

The AI tools you're using weren't built for midlife women. But now there’s one that is customized for women over 40 and you’ll learn all about it (including how you can start using it) in this episode. If you've ever asked ChatGPT something deeply personal and gotten back an answer that was technically fine but somehow missed the point, you need to hear about this new AI tool for midlife women. Today I'm talking with Stephanie Georges, a former top-ranked Wall Street analyst, C-suite executive, and Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Senior Fellow who is now building The Meraki Dignity Project: an AI platform trained specifically on women-informed, evidence-based research, with a community layer built in. What you'll hear: - Why the biggest AI tools are under-serving midlife women (the pay gap example will stop you cold) - What "human-centered AI" actually means and why it changes the quality of support we can get - How Sophie, the platform's AI guide, walks you through a conversational onboarding and gets to know you holistically - Why community is the missing layer in almost every AI tool right now - How the platform builds a visual roadmap of your life, not a task list - How to get into the free beta right now More about Meraki Dignity: Website: merakidignity.com Instagram: @merakidignity 😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session! https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail! Jessica's freebies and resources: 📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd at 12pm PT! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork) 😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep) ⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page) ✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

In this personal birthday episode, I’m sharing what’s been guiding me this year and the practices helping me step into my next-level self now, instead of waiting for someday or some arbitrary accomplishment. And I invite you to reflect alongside me, not on tasks you’ve completed, but on who you are becoming. Every year around my birthday, I find myself asking a few questions: How am I really doing? Am I spending my time on what matters most? Am I becoming the person I want to be? My birthday falls right in the middle of the year, so it feels like the perfect time for all of us to pause, reflect, and intentionally choose how we want the second half of the year to feel. In this episode, I’m sharing a few of the intentions I set at the beginning of the year, what’s been working well, where I’ve faltered, and the practices that are helping me feel more connected to myself, my family, and the future I’m creating. In this episode, I share: The intention that has guided nearly every decision I’ve made this yearWhat it really means to make choices from your future selfThe behind-the-scenes work of building my new program, Hello, Next-Level YouWhy supporting other women in business feels so important to me right nowMy preferred practice for grounding and sourcing what I needHow I’m bringing more presence, play, and joy into parentingAn invitation for you to reflect on where you are and how you want the rest of your year to feel ⭐️ If this podcast has ever made you think, dream, wonder or laugh, inspired you to try something new, or enriched your life in any way, please make my birthday wish come true and leave a 5-star rating and written review on Apple Podcasts or 5-star rating and comment on Spotify!  I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail! Jessica's freebies and resources: 📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd at 12pm PT! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork) 😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep) ⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page) ✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

Get your summer reading recommendations for women over 40, curated by someone who reads more in a month than most people read in a year. This episode is your 2026 summer reading list, plus the permission to quit every book that is not worth your precious time. Today I’m joined by my friend (since preschool!) and repeat guest Alexis Lynch for our annual summer reading conversation. Alexis shares three picks for 2026, including a novel about midlife identity and reflections on aging, a prison book club story that restores your faith in humanity, and a guilty pleasure page-turner she finished in 24 hours.  We also discuss Heart the Lover by Lily King, including the passionate-love-versus-stable-partnership theme and the concept of how our identity evolves over the decades. Oh, and Alexis admits this book inspired her to secretly sleuth her college boyfriend… What you'll hear: Alexis's three summer reading picks for midlife women, with honest reviews on eachUpdated tips for actually reading more when life is completely fullA discussion of Heart the Lover: the big themes, what the hidden name means, and why this book grabs hold of your heartThe one book to start with if you haven't read anything in a long timeAlexis Lynch is a practicing attorney, a lifelong reader, and a self-described quitter of bad books. Alexis’ summer 2026 reading list for women over 40: So Old, So Young by Grant Grinder How to Read a Book by Monica Wood These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean The book Alexis and Jessica discuss that is SO good: Heart the Lover by Lily King I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail! Jessica's freebies and resources: 📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd at 12pm PT! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork) 😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep) ⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page) ✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

If you have tried fillers or lasers for jowls, hooded eyes, or skin laxity after 40 and are still not happy with what you see, you're in the right place. Dr. Carolyn Chang is a board-certified plastic surgeon who has spent her career focused on natural-looking results for midlife women, and she is here to give you real answers. She trained under one of the inventors of the modern facelift and is one of the only female plastic surgeons in San Francisco named annually to Castle Connolly's America's Top Doctors. She is also refreshingly direct about what actually works and what doesn't, and this conversation covers all of it. We discuss: What fillers, lasers, and tightening devices can realistically do for jowls and skin laxity, and where they hit their limitEyelid surgery (blepharoplasty): who it actually helps, what it involves, and why most women are surprised by how short the recovery isWhat a modern facelift is really doing, and why it looks nothing like what most people pictureThe deep plane facelift: what the marketing gets wrong and what to actually ask your surgeonWhether repeated energy treatments like Ultherapy can affect your ability to have a facelift laterTummy tuck and breast surgery after pregnancy: what you can realistically expectBreast implant illness: is it real? The two things that have to be true before the timing is right for surgeryWhat facial surgery, tummy tucks, and mommy makeovers cost in a major metro marketHow to evaluate a surgeon, what before-and-afters actually tell you, and the red flags to look for in a consultation Guest: Dr. Carolyn Chang, Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon drcarolynchang.com | @carolynchangmd I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail! Jessica's freebies and resources: 📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd at 12pm PT! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork) 😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep) ⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page) ✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong