The Mel Robbins Podcast

The #1 Menopause Doctor: How to Lose Belly Fat, Sleep Better, & Stop Suffering Now

Order your copy of The Let Them Theory 👉 https://melrob.co/let-them-theory 👈 The #1 Best Selling Book of 2025 🔥 Discover how much power you truly have. It all begins with two simple words. Let Them. — Today's episode is a MUST listen. You won't believe what the latest research is saying about #menopause. And you're likely not getting what you need to know from your doctor. Did you know #perimenopause can begin as early as your 30’s? Or that symptoms can include frozen shoulder, joint pain, ear ringing, migraines, and body odor? Today, the #1 menopause doctor tells you everything she knows so you can stop guessing and KNOW how to stay healthy and feel amazing in your body. Dr. Mary Claire Haver joins Mel on the podcast today. She is a board certified obstetrics and gynecology specialist, a certified menopause practitioner from the Menopause Society, and her latest book is The New Menopause. Her advice today will help you optimize your health, no matter what your age. You've got symptoms; today's episode has solutions, like: - 3 types of foods that will stop your bloating - 2 supplements that will help you sleep better - 1 exercise that will help you lose weight and improve your bone density Bookmark this episode and share it with every single woman in your life, because it’s time to change the paradigm: you do not have to live with symptoms that can be resolved and you do not have to suffer. Follow Dr. Mary Claire Haver on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drmaryclaire/ For more resources, including links to Dr. Haver’s latest book, her free Menopause Empowerment Guide, and reader recommended physicians, click here for the podcast episode page: https://www.melrobbins.com/podcasts/episode-157 Follow The Mel Robbins Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themelrobbinspodcast I’m just your friend. I am not a licensed therapist, and this podcast is NOT intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional. Got it? Good. I’ll see you in the next episode. In this episode: 00:00 Intro 06:10: What’s wrong with our medical system when it comes to menopause. 08:45: By the age of 30, women have lost 90% of these. 09:44: How the loss in sex hormones starts to affect your life. 14:50: Surprising symptoms you’d never think were related to menopause. 19:15: How does estrogen help your body run in the most optimal way? 20:45: What causes menstrual bloating and swelling? 21:00: Why do women become depressed and anxious during their cycles? 21:40: Wait. Migraines can be caused by a change in hormones?! 22:15: You’re not crazy if you’re dealing with ADHD symptoms in your 30’s. 24:00: Another surprising symptom of low estrogen levels. 28:10: What does estrogen have to do with your heart health? 29:10: How women are being treated unfairly by the health insurance industry. 29:55: Asthma is another unexpected symptom of menopause. 30:15: Estrogen impacts your gut health. 30:30: Despite what you’ve been told, osteoporosis IS preventable. 33:40: How is a woman’s vagina impacted by loss of estrogen? 42:00: Once officially in menopause, a woman should never have these again. 43:20: Will you have these menopause symptoms for the rest of your life? 44:25: Your body makes 4 types of estrogen. 46:26: How much estrogen you have at 25 vs. postmenopause. 47:40: The postmenopause toolkit you need to start feeling better. 48:20: What you need to know about hormone replacement therapy. 53:12: 3 types of food ALL women should include in their diets. 55:10: What type of magnesium supplement should you take? 56:56: Why you have to take a vitamin D supplement. 57:52: Why do so many women have higher cholesterol? 58:45: Should women take probiotic supplements? 1:00:12: What type of exercise should postmenopausal women do? 1:01:30: How can you sleep better? 1:03:20: Estrogen dips impact how your body processes alcohol. 1:09:45: How do you find a doctor and how do you prepare for your visit? 1:10:55: What else can you do to manage your experience? — Follow Mel: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melrobbins/ TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@melrobbins Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melrobbins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melrobbins Website: http://melrobbins.com — Sign up for Mel’s newsletter: https://melrob.co/sign-up-newsletter A note from Mel to you, twice a week, sharing simple, practical ways to build the life you want. — Subscribe to Mel’s channel here: https://www.youtube.com/melrobbins?sub_confirmation=1 — Listen to The Mel Robbins Podcast 🎧 New episodes drop every Monday & Thursday! https://melrob.co/spotify https://melrob.co/applepodcasts https://melrob.co/amazonmusic — Looking for Mel’s books on Amazon? Find them here: The Let Them Theory: https://amzn.to/3IQ21Oe The Let Them Theory Audiobook: https://amzn.to/413SObp The High 5 Habit: https://amzn.to/3fMvfPQ The 5 Second Rule: https://amzn.to/4l54fah

Mel RobbinshostDr. Mary Claire Haverguest

Mar 20, 20241h 14mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Rewriting Menopause: Science, Symptoms, and Solutions For Women’s Health

Mel Robbins interviews menopause specialist Dr. Mary Claire Haver about what actually happens to women’s bodies, brains, and hormones during perimenopause and menopause.
They explain how estrogen loss impacts every organ system, driving symptoms from hot flashes and belly fat to joint pain, brain fog, UTIs, and cardiovascular risk—most of which are poorly understood and under-treated by mainstream medicine.
Dr. Haver debunks long-standing fears about hormone replacement therapy (HRT), clarifies who can safely use it, and emphasizes that menopause-related declines in bone, heart, and metabolic health are largely preventable.
The conversation ends with practical guidance: how to find a knowledgeable provider, what to change in nutrition, movement, sleep, and supplements, and why talking openly about menopause can literally change and even save women’s lives.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Estrogen loss affects every organ system—not just hot flashes and periods.

Estrogen receptors exist in the brain, heart, lungs, joints, bones, gut, and genital/urinary tract, so when estrogen sharply declines, women can develop symptoms as diverse as brain fog, asthma flares, frozen shoulder, joint pain, UTIs, vaginal dryness, and cardiovascular changes.

Perimenopause can start as early as 35 and last 7–10 years.

Women may first notice vague issues—irregular or heavy periods, mood changes, migraines, brain fog, joint pain, or gut problems—long before their period stops, and many of these are hormone-driven even if blood tests look “normal.”

Menopause is one day; everything after is post-menopause—and risk accelerates then.

Medically, menopause is defined as one day, exactly one year after your last period; from then on you are post-menopausal, with rising risk of osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, visceral belly fat, and genital/urinary problems unless you intervene.

HRT is far safer and more beneficial than many women have been told.

For most women within 10 years of menopause onset, appropriately prescribed estrogen (with progesterone when needed) lowers all-cause mortality and cardiovascular risk; prior hysteria largely came from a misinterpreted study done in older women and has since been substantially walked back.

Bone loss and many fractures are largely preventable with early action.

Because estrogen normally helps maintain bone remodeling, its loss leads to porous, fracture-prone bones; up to 50% of women will have an osteoporotic fracture, and a hip fracture after 65 carries about a 29% one-year mortality—yet bone strength can be protected with HRT, resistance training, adequate vitamin D, and lifestyle.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

We’re going to live a third of our lives like this, and after reproductive options are taken off the table, it’s almost like medicine leaves us behind.

— Dr. Mary Claire Haver

Our ovaries age at twice the rate of the rest of our body.

— Dr. Mary Claire Haver

You will not die without estrogen—you’ll just die faster and less healthy.

— Dr. Mary Claire Haver

We need to normalize this before we can optimize it.

— Dr. Mary Claire Haver

If you’re choosing to drink, you’re choosing not to sleep.

— Dr. Mary Claire Haver

Massive knowledge and research gap in menopause care and medical trainingBiology of estrogen, egg loss, and the perimenopause-to-menopause transitionHow estrogen loss affects the brain, heart, bones, joints, gut, and genital/urinary systemMisconceptions and updated science on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and cancer/heart risksWeight gain, belly fat, inflammation, and metabolic changes in midlife womenLifestyle interventions: nutrition, fiber, magnesium, omega-3s, probiotics, and resistance trainingSleep disruption, alcohol tolerance, mood changes, and practical symptom management

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