Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Brain fog isn’t just annoying, it’s detrimental…
The downstream effects of brain fog are massive and yet it’s a symptom often minimized and put in the same category as “hot flashes”. They are not the same.
The single biggest lie women have been told about perimenopause? That it's a gynecological problem. Dr. Heather Hirsch — board-certified internist, Harvard faculty, and founder of one of the first hospital-based menopause clinics in the US — is done with that framing.
In this episode of The Better Podcast, Dr. Hirsch joins me to dismantle the assumption that perimenopause begins and ends with a reproductive doctor. This is a cardiometabolic transition. Full stop. Estrogen isn't just a period hormone — it's a vasodilator, a bone protector, an insulin sensitizer, and a vessel guardian for your brain and heart. When it starts to shift, so does everything else.
This conversation goes deep on what's actually happening in your body during perimenopause — and what to do about it before the downstream consequences become irreversible.
Brain fog isn’t just annoying, it’s detrimental…
The downstream effects of brain fog are massive and yet it’s a symptom often minimized and put in the same category as “hot flashes”. They are not the same.
The single biggest lie women have been told about perimenopause? That it's a gynecological problem. Dr. Heather Hirsch — board-certified internist, Harvard faculty, and founder of one of the first hospital-based menopause clinics in the US — is done with that framing.
In this episode of The Better Podcast, Dr. Hirsch joins me to dismantle the assumption that perimenopause begins and ends with a reproductive doctor. This is a cardiometabolic transition. Full stop. Estrogen isn't just a period hormone — it's a vasodilator, a bone protector, an insulin sensitizer, and a vessel guardian for your brain and heart. When it starts to shift, so does everything else.
This conversation goes deep on what's actually happening in your body during perimenopause — and what to do about it before the downstream consequences become irreversible.
