Hack My Age: Menopause Upgrade

A conversation on circadian rhythm through the menopause transition, an area where the general advice needs adjusting and where sleep is often the first thing to go. Disrupted sleep, shifting metabolism and changes in body composition all arrive at once, and each interacts with the clock.

Dr Panda's contribution here is the timing layer underneath all three. Sleep quality depends on where the sleep window sits and on what light and food have signalled in the hours before it. Metabolic changes are amplified when the eating window spreads across the day, since the organ clocks lose their anchoring cue. And because the relationship runs both ways, with poor rhythm worsening symptoms and symptoms further degrading rhythm, it is a loop worth interrupting deliberately rather than waiting out.

The practical portion covers light exposure, keeping a consistent eating window when appetite and energy are unpredictable, and where the research on women specifically is still incomplete. A useful listen for women navigating this transition.