From taboo to trending. Where will the pendulum settle?
This article is part of a series
by Dr Sasha Nair, Endocrinologist
On Moving Ground: Shifts in Medicine and Culture
examining the patterns emerging across medicine and culture.
In the On Moving Ground: Shifts in Medicine and Culture article series, Dr Sasha Nair, Endocrinologist, co-founder of ERH Associates and Certified High Performance Coach (High Performance Institute), draws together clinical experience and behavioural insights to contextualise shifts in contemporary medical practice within its wider cultural dynamics.
The menopause pendulum has swung from near silence to a surge of voices—talking, advising and selling. What happens next?
6/10/26
For a long time, menopause was something many people felt unable to discuss. Even those ready to talk often didn’t know where to turn for information, what to expect—or whether the changes they were experiencing were related to menopause at all.
Now, sometimes it seems like menopause is everywhere: on magazine covers, across social media, in workplace policies and in everyday conversations. Alongside personal stories, public advocacy, medical information and treatment options, a growing marketplace of advice, influencer content, products and promises has also evolved.
This newfound visibility matters. It has opened doors.
Clinicians, advocates, everyday people and influencers all contribute to the conversation, sharing knowledge, perspectives and personal experiences. Some contributions inform; others reassure, inspire or simply help people feel less alone. Yet the sheer volume can make it harder to work out what applies to you—and to recognise when something isn’t well-founded.
The pendulum has swung. But its current trajectory
probably won’t continue indefinitely.
Today’s heightened focus on menopause—with its conflicting advice, extremes of opinion, promises (and the fear of missing out or getting it wrong that can accompany all of this)—probably won’t remain at this intensity. As attention shifts to other emerging health topics and the loudest debates run their course, there is the potential for a more cohesive and balanced approach. But where the pendulum settles will be shaped by what we do along the way.
How can we use this momentum to create lasting improvements in care—and help women feel better informed, supported and able to make choices about their midlife wellbeing?
What could we make possible?
“I just want to feel like myself again.”
We hear this often in consultations. Sometimes it means relief from symptoms that erode quality of life. Sometimes it carries a broader hope: feeling steady, capable, connected and comfortable in your own body.
What might become possible if more women could find that support?
Could seeking help feel straightforward, without needing to arrive at an appointment already knowing the diagnosis and treatment you want? Could advice make your choices clearer rather than your to-do list longer?
Medicine now sits inside a broader wellness culture. In that culture, menopause isn’t only something to treat. It is something to optimise.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to feel strong, clear-headed and energised. Aiming high isn’t the problem.
But expanding possibilities can carry a quieter pressure.
If others are testing more, supplementing more and doing more, am I missing something? Is there a window that closes? Should I be doing more too?
Scroll long enough and intensive monitoring or expensive routines can start to look like baseline care. Yet measuring more does not automatically mean feeling better or improving long-term health. A test is most useful when it provides reliable information that can meaningfully guide care; it can also bring uncertainty, cost and worry.
Could better guidance help us distinguish what is useful, what is optional and what is unlikely to add much for us individually? Could greater awareness give us more confidence to choose, without feeling obliged to pursue everything?
The same questions reach beyond medicine.
Could we talk about menopause openly without making it the explanation for everything—or the defining feature of a woman’s midlife? If the older story offered too little possibility, can we broaden it without creating an expectation to be stronger, sharper, more youthful, more productive—and visibly thriving?
What would it look like for women’s accumulated experience, judgement and knowledge to be more readily recognised? The ability to draw on what we have learned, connect ideas and see patterns can offer something valuable in families, workplaces and communities.
For those who want it, could this stage bring more opportunity to lead, create, mentor, learn or change direction? Could experience become a resource we make better use of, rather than something overshadowed by the cultural emphasis on youth?
And could those possibilities remain invitations?
Someone may feel that she has already made her major contribution. She may want a quieter life, more pleasure, fewer responsibilities or time that does not have to produce anything. Another may be ready to begin something entirely new.
Both should have room.
A broader understanding of midlife wellbeing could include symptom relief, preventive care, strength, pleasure, ambition and connection. It could also include rest, privacy and the freedom to be less busy.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to feel beautiful. Working towards change can coexist with feeling good now. Neither requires everyone to share the same goals.
Perhaps the most useful shift would be towards greater freedom: to seek treatment when it helps, to pursue an aspiration when it matters, and to leave aside an expectation that does not belong in your life.
What would that freedom make possible for you?
How could we help it happen?
These possibilities become more useful when we ask what would bring them closer.
Some changes need action from clinicians, services, funders and policymakers. Clearer routes to care, accessible appointments, thoughtful assessment and understandable explanations all help turn recognition into support.
Women’s experiences can show where those routes work and where they break down. Acting on that knowledge is a responsibility for those designing and providing care.
Other changes happen through the information we share.
Clinicians, advocates, journalists, influencers and businesses can help people understand whether a message describes personal experience, an established finding or a possibility still being explored. We can explain uncertainty without making it sound like indifference, and make commercial interests visible without assuming that they invalidate everything being offered.
A personal story can open a door. Clear context helps someone decide whether to walk through it.
There are also choices to make about the stories we tell.
Which versions of midlife receive attention? Do we make room for women who are flourishing, women who are struggling, and women for whom menopause is simply one part of an otherwise absorbing life?
Can we celebrate someone’s reinvention without turning it into a prescription? Recognise someone’s contribution without asking her to keep proving her value?
In workplaces, families and communities, a useful starting question might be: what would help here?
The answer could be a practical adjustment, an opportunity, a more informed conversation or simply being listened to without assumptions. Asking leaves room for needs we might not have anticipated.
As individuals, we can consider what matters most to us and what support would make a difference. We can ask questions, share experiences and suggest changes. That participation matters, while responsibility for reliable information and accessible care remains with those providing them.
We will not all choose the same priorities. But we can learn from those differences and build approaches that accommodate them.
What could you help clarify, change or create? Who might you work with? What is already helping that could be made available to more people?
There is room for experimentation and collaboration here—for trying something useful, listening to the response and adjusting as we learn.
Where might we land?
The attention around menopause probably will not remain at its current intensity. But the care, understanding and possibilities developed during this period can outlast it.
A more balanced approach could emerge: one in which menopause is easier to discuss, support is easier to find, and women have more room to decide what wellbeing means in their own lives.
That is a possibility worth exploring together.
Where the pendulum settles will be influenced by what we choose to retain, what we reconsider and what we build while there is momentum.
So perhaps the next question is a practical one:
What would you like to be different when this moment has passed—and what could help make that happen?
An easier route to care? A different story about midlife? More opportunity to contribute—or more freedom to step back?
Those answers can give us somewhere to begin. A conversation to have, a change to propose, a question to investigate, or an idea to develop with others.
The next chapter is still being written. We have scope to help shape it.
This article is part of On Moving Ground: Shifts in Medicine and Culture, a series examining the patterns emerging across medicine and culture.
Healthcare rarely changes in straight lines. Ideas gather momentum, conversations widen, and priorities shift — sometimes gradually, sometimes all at once. Over time, what once felt settled begins to move.
After two decades in clinical practice, I have learned that these movements are rarely random. What appears sudden is often building quietly beneath the surface. Disruption is followed by adjustment; adjustment gathers its own momentum — and the cycle continues.
On Moving Ground explores these wider shifts: how medical practice is shaped not only by evidence, but by culture, policy, technology and expectation. Here, we step back — to see how the dots align, to recognise patterns as they emerge, and to consider what they might signal for the future.
In This Series
Cultural Shifts in the Modern Doctor’s Appointment: A Shared Pressure Point in Modern Care
How expectations, vulnerability, time pressure and information access have subtly reshaped the clinical encounter.
The Menopause Moment: From Silence to a Surge in Information. Where Next?
How menopause has become a defining cultural conversation, what its growing visibility has made possible, and how we can help turn that momentum into better care and broader midlife wellbeing.
When Medical Conversations Speed Up: Media, Advocacy and the Compression of Nuance
Why modern health debates move faster than evidence generation—and how amplification changes the tempo of trust.
Staying Oriented in a Fast-Moving World: How to Navigate Rapid Change
How clinicians and healthcare users can remain broadly informed about AI, scientific change and world events through overview and pattern recognition rather than constant real-time consumption.
PMS and PMDD: An Upcoming Cultural Inflection Point?
Why premenstrual disorders may be entering a new phase of visibility—and how their clinical realities differ in important ways from menopause.
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