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May marks Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to reflect on how we care for our minds as much as our bodies. But for midlife women, mental health isn’t just a conversation topic — it’s a daily reality.
Between hormonal upheaval, caregiving demands, shifting identities and the ever-present pressure to “keep it all together,” the mental load can feel like a full-time job. Add in mood swings and brain fog, and it’s no wonder so many women in their 40s, 50s and 60s report feeling mentally frayed.
But there is some good news: We’re not just talking about burnout anymore — we’re finally talking about recovery. About daily restoration. About the power of hitting reset.
Enter Vedic Meditation teacher Jillian Lavender, whose book Do Reset: Meditate. Move Beyond Thinking. Find Clarity. offers an especially timely message this Mental Health Awareness Month. Lavender doesn’t promise to make life less stressful. Instead, she offers a way to bounce back — a tool to help us become calmer, clearer and more engaged, even in the midst of chaos. Her message is simple: You don’t need to escape your life to feel better. You just need to reset.
And here’s the good news: That reset doesn’t require a plane ticket or a perfect schedule. Just 20 minutes, twice a day, in a quiet spot. It’s about building resilience from the inside out — and for midlife women navigating multiple stressors, that might be one of the most powerful forms of self-care we have.
Let’s spend these final days of May not by pushing harder but by pausing with purpose — and let’s carry that practice with us throughout the rest of the year. Because mental health isn’t a luxury. It’s a foundation. And when we care for our minds, everything else begins to follow. |
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Meet the Yale Professor Rewriting the Rules of HappinessDr. Laurie Santos didn’t set out to start a happiness revolution — but that’s exactly what she’s done. As a professor of psychology at Yale University, Santos teaches The Science of Well-Being, the online version of Yale’s most popular course, which has reached millions worldwide and sparked a global rethink of what it actually means to live a satisfying life. Her wildly popular podcast, The Happiness Lab , explores how research in psychology can help us feel better, think more clearly and reconnect with joy in unexpected ways.
As Mental Health Awareness Month comes to a close, we’re turning to Santos for evidence-based insights on how to boost emotional well-being in midlife — when stressors pile up and happiness can feel like a moving target. Whether you’re managing new transitions or just craving more fulfillment in everyday life, her message is refreshingly clear: Happiness isn’t about chasing big goals. It’s about rewiring your habits, mindset and expectations — one small shift at a time.
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Where did the idea for your podcast, The Happiness Lab, come from?My journey into happiness started by seeing how unhappy my college students were at Yale. I was in this role called the head of college on campus, which meant I was meeting and working closely with students, and I was seeing this college student mental health crisis. Right now, nationally, more than 40% of college students report being too depressed to function.
More than two-thirds say they're overwhelmingly anxious. It's a really tough time right now for young people. So, I just thought: My field of psychology might have something to say about what we can do to make people feel better. That turned into a class on campus that went a little bit viral. And I thought, what better way to share this than in a podcast where I can, in narrative form, tell all these stories of people who are seeking happiness and found it.
Hearing those statistics is just so heartbreaking. For parents — or anyone with a young person in their life they care about — what can help set kids up to thrive?
Well, I'm glad you asked that, because we released a course called, The Science of Well-Being for Parents, where we're giving parents strategies that they can use to feel better themselves and also that they can share with their children to make sure their kids don't become a statistic.
Why do you think your class is so popular with students? Did they get it right away, or what did they think it was when you started teaching it?I think it's that our students are voting with their feet. I think they don't like this culture of feeling overwhelmed and anxious, and I think they want real, evidence-based solutions. And that's important. They don't want platitudes; they want to ask, “What does the science show I can really do here?”
How do you find flow, which is that state of being fully present and immersed, in your life?
My favorite example, which maybe sounds very specific, is that I still like to play that old-school game Guitar Hero. Because I'm not naturally a musically inclined person, I have to use an electronic device that pretends to play music. But for me, when I'm completely overwhelmed, I just walk to the PlayStation, in between work breaks, working from home, and play a Mötley Crüe song or some cheesy ’80s song. Then, I'm back; I'm much more in flow. |
The Best Ways to Nourish the Body (and Brain) in MidlifeHealthy eating can feel like one more thing on the to-do list — but during midlife, it’s also one of the most powerful tools we have for supporting long-term health. In our recent coverage, we explored how food can become a form of prevention, resilience and even joy.
What we eat after 40 matters more than ever. As hormone levels shift and protective estrogen declines, nutrition becomes a frontline defense — supporting everything from heart health and cognitive function to bone strength and mood stability. Experts now suggest that midlife women may benefit from more protein than previously recommended — often upwards of 70 grams a day — and that ingredients like omega-3s, calcium and plant-based nutrients play a critical role in preventing chronic conditions.
conditions.
But nourishment isn’t just about nutrients — it’s also about sustainability. That means moving away from restrictive diets and toward long-term patterns like Mediterranean or plant-forward eating, which emphasize whole foods, fiber and diversity. And when healthy meals taste as good as they feel — like a creamy tempeh noodle bowl or banana cake topped with blackberry-almond butter — making nutritious choices becomes less of a task and more of a treat.
Even your morning cup of coffee can get a gut-friendly upgrade. Whether it’s a low-acid roast, a mushroom-infused blend or a caffeine-free alternative made with mesquite or figs, there are more options than ever that support digestion without sacrificing ritual. Because nourishing ourselves in midlife isn’t about giving things up — it’s about choosing what helps us thrive.
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READING Walk: Rediscover the Most Natural Way to Boost Your Health and Longevity—One Step at a Time , a national bestseller released earlier this month, by Dr. Courtney Conley and Dr. Milica McDowell, is a science-backed guide to getting more from every step — from choosing foot-friendly shoes to using walking to support mobility, wellness and longevity.
CELEBRATING updated colorectal cancer screening guidelines from the American Cancer Society, which continue to recommend screening beginning at age 45 for average-risk adults while expanding noninvasive options, including updated at-home stool tests and a blood-based test—making potentially lifesaving screening more accessible.
WATCHING Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones on Netflix, a beautifully shot docuseries that travels to the world’s longevity hotspots and explores the lifestyle habits—especially around food and community—that help people thrive well into old age. APPLAUDING Delaware lawmakers for advancing a bill that would require insurance coverage for medically necessary menopause and perimenopause care, including diagnostic testing, hormone and non-hormone therapies, mental health support, pelvic floor physical therapy and bone health treatments. |
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