Tamsen Fadal Wants Women to Have Better Menopause Resources

For years, Tamsen Fadal delivered the nightly news with poise and polish, but behind the scenes, she was quietly navigating something millions of women face: menopause. She didn’t realize the symptoms creeping in—sleepless nights, stubborn belly fat, brain fog—were all connected until a blunt note in her patient portal confirmed it. Now, the Emmy Award-winning journalist and best-selling author has become a fierce advocate for flipping the script on midlife health.

Fadal’s newest collaboration, a free educational Menopause Hub with digital health platform Noom aims to do what most doctor’s offices still don’t: give women real tools, real language, and real support. She opened up to The Healthy by Reader’s Digest about the cultural shift finally making menopause less taboo, her wellness practices, and how she’s using her platform to help women feel strong, seen, and fully in charge of their next chapter.

Find out how your favorite stars stay well when you subscribe to The Healthy by Reader’s Digest newsletter

The Healthy by Reader’s Digest: You’ve been a powerful voice in the menopause conversation, and it’s great that the topic is becoming much less taboo. In the last five-plus years, it’s really been shifting. What inspired you to become such a vocal advocate, and why do you think it’s resonating now more than ever?

Tamsen Fadal: I don’t think I ever set out to become an advocate, really, but I had my own personal journey that I didn’t expect when I was at the height of my career. I was anchoring the evening news in New York City for 15-plus years, and I had my own incident and realized I was in menopause after a note in my patient portal with four words: in menopause, any questions? I had no idea that a lot of the symptoms I’d had over the course of the five to seven years before that were perimenopause. It was never a word in my vocabulary.

As I dug in to figure out what to do for myself, I realized that there were going to be one billion women in menopause in this transition. And I went, how is that even possible? We’ve never talked about it, covered the story, spoken about it, shared this. I realized there were a lot of gaps: gaps in funding, gaps in knowledge, gaps in education in terms of medical schools.

The Healthy: What was the test your doctor had you take? I told my doctor recently, “I want every test.” And she said, “Oh, we can’t really tell. We don’t really know.” What would you tell women to ask their doctor to check?

Tamsen Fadal: I would ask them: What’s your age range? Are you between 40 and 50 years old, or 50-plus? Do you have these symptoms: irregular periods, lack of sleep, belly fat, joint pain, low libido? If you do have those, the symptoms are what are really going to be used as a diagnostic tool when you’re in perimenopause. Every doctor and expert I’ve talked to says you can do a thousand blood tests, but if you do one on one day and another on another day, you might get different results because of the fluctuation of hormones.

So do yourself a favor. Instead of worrying about what you’re titling yourself—if you’re dealing with these symptoms, most likely you’re in perimenopause. If you’re dealing with something outside of that, yes, it might be more serious. But a blood test is not necessary to determine perimenopause. The blood test I did—I just did a whole workup, and it turned out I was already menopausal. When that happened, you can say, “OK, my levels are below a certain number and now I’m in menopause.” So I always preface that, because I think it’s important that we don’t run around spending tons of money on things that might not be necessary.

The Healthy: That’s really helpful. I’ve wondered: Am I exhausted from perimenopause? Or am I just a young mom?

Tamsen Fadal: Yes. There’s a lot of overlap.

The Healthy: You’re partnering with Noom to launch a new free menopause hub. Can you give us tell what women can expect from it, and how you hope it changes the conversation?

Tamsen Fadal: We’re going to be talking about personal stories, which is great, and educating around different areas of perimenopause, menopause, and beyond—because it’s not just the symptoms. It’s really the longevity conversation we have to pay attention to: the health span of what we’re going to be like when it comes to bone health, heart health, brain health.

The Healthy: We’re seeing a wave of celebrity women opening up about this. What do you think changed the cultural discussion? What was the turning point?

Tamsen Fadal: I hope it’s because we started being vocal four or five years ago. I started on social media—on TikTok—talking about it when very few people were. And it was scary, because I’d hear from people, “You’re jeopardizing your career talking about this. What are you doing? That’s not sexy.” If you were in the rooms I was in four or five years ago, it was actually very frowned upon. So I think normalizing these words, not being afraid to say them in public—and understanding the long-term health ramifications of not paying attention early—that’s taken hold.

SHE MEDIA/GETTY IMAGES

The Healthy: You mentioned some of these symptoms like sleep, mood, weight changes—it can affect so many aspects of well-being. What wellness routines and health strategies have made the biggest difference to you personally?

Tamsen Fadal: I think prioritizing sleep, which I would never have said 10 years ago—I was in news and on the grind constantly. [I was] very proud of the fact that I could survive on four hours of sleep a night. Sleep is my priority right now. The other big one is what I’m eating. It took a lot of learning for me to understand how important protein was during this time—for my bone health, my brain health. And my workouts are different. I’m weight training versus standing on the treadmill all day long—which, actually, I like a lot more.

The Healthy: Bone density and all that is so important for longevity.

Tamsen Fadal: It’s so important. I mean, look—you have a fall and break a hip, and that can start a decline you can’t stop. I’m really aware that at 54, I want to be moving the same way at 74.

The Healthy: What is one self-care ritual that you refuse to skip?

Tamsen Fadal: Going outside, first thing every morning. I started it during COVID a little bit, but now it’s become a real routine. I get outside every single day—whether it’s 15 minutes or an hour and a half—because it gives me clarity for the day, helps manage stress, and gets me moving.

The Healthy: Lastly, between your advocacy, media career, and new partnerships—what’s next for you?

Tamsen Fadal: We did the documentary in October, and it’s been really exciting to see it go global. We’re in over 40 countries, including places that don’t even talk about women’s health. That’s really important to me—getting into those pockets where people don’t have access. I just did a 10-city tour talking to real women in real places, and I learned a lot. I got a lot of questions, and I now have a podcast where we’re trying to answer those questions—and add them to the education hub we’re building.

For more wellness updates, subscribe to The Healthy by Reader’s Digest newsletter and follow The Healthy on Facebook and Instagram. Keep reading:

• Busy Philipps on the Diagnosis That’s “So Intrinsically a Part of Who I Am”
• Molly Shannon Shares How She Stays Physical—While Also Caring for Her Body
• Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alyson Hannigan Want You To Have an Important Family Health Talk
• Carnie Wilson Speaks Up on Mental Health: “It’s All About Erasing That Stigma”