'Wired but tired.' Brain fog and overwhelm. Awake at 3 in the morning. Your labs say 'normal' and you do not feel normal.
This is for women 35 to 65. I am Daniela Hess, and for over 25 years I have helped women make sense of what is happening in their bodies. I put it all in one place.
The Midlife Bible, $7: a PDF you keep, yours the moment you buy. The free guide: no cost, unsubscribe anytime.
Her knowledge combined with her own personal experience has helped me better understand what my body is going through and has reminded me that I am not alone.
It is the stretch between appointments. You are researching it midnight, guessing at what's changed, and with no one to ask until the next appointment finally arrives.
Midlife women, in my opinion, are very innocent. We're innocent in our not knowing all this because the conventional medical system has solidly failed.
You do not have to keep guessing.
The 1 hour 43 minute talk, The Entire Midlife Journey. Plus The Midlife Essentials, a 75-page PDF with your symptoms decoded, your Lab Wish List, and how to get your labs when your doctor says no. You walk into your next appointment knowing which labs to ask about.
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Your thyroid, your gut, your hormones, and your labs. I wrote it so you do not have to piece this together alone at 3 in the morning. A PDF you keep, yours the moment you buy.
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3 hours with me and Kim Beekman, from the Cell, to the Soul, to the Spirit. Recorded live, ready for instant access, with The Midlife Bible included. Counts for 3 hours of Yoga Alliance continuing education.
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Your symptoms are the starting point, not your labs. I read anything you send beforehand, then go through your labs, your hormones, your thyroid, your adrenals, and your gut with you. I read every request myself.
Work with DanielaSpiritual mentorship and grief coaching are also available. See every way to work with me →
For over 25 years, I have helped women make sense of their labs, their hormones, and their symptoms. I live with Hashimoto's and hypothyroidism myself, so I know this firsthand.
Working with Daniela helped me realize that healing is about much more than managing symptoms. She has a deep reverence for both science and the wisdom of lived experience, helping me understand the connections between nutrition, stress, lifestyle, emotional well-being, and nervous system health.
Taking Daniela's Radiance Course was the BEST life decision! From start to finish Daniela inspired, encouraged, supported, uplifted and challenged me to create and embody the enchanted life I was seeking. As a teacher, Daniela is an articulate, knowledgeable, humble, passionate, professional as well as a master storyteller.
The Midlife Essentials, a 75-page PDF guide, plus the 1 hour 43 minute talk: your symptoms decoded, the labs to ask for, and how to get them when your doctor says no.
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Hear me explain midlife health for free. I have taught more than 10,000 students, and I have spoken on summits and podcasts.
Midlife as 5 layers that move together, the Physical, the Mental, the Emotional, the Relational, and the Spiritual, with the labs to ask for and how to ask for them.
In perimenopause, conventional 'normal' ranges describe an average population, so a result can read normal while you still feel unwell. Functional medicine practitioners use optimal ranges, which ask where your numbers need to land for you to feel well. In the talk, I use ferritin as the example: the conventional range runs from 15 to 200, and functional practitioners often look for 70 to 100. I also cover vitamin D and B12.
Ask for a full thyroid panel by name, because TSH alone can stay in range for years while thyroid antibodies are already elevated. The 6 markers are TSH, free T3, free T4, reverse T3, TPO antibodies and thyroglobulin antibodies. I also walk through a full iron panel, vitamin D, B12, folate, RBC magnesium, hs-CRP, blood sugar markers, cortisol and sex hormones, including when to draw them.
Perimenopause can begin as early as 35 and menopause averages around age 52, so hormones can shift for up to 17 years. I explain that midlife touches 5 layers at once: physical, mental, emotional, relational and spiritual. I start with the physical layer, because ferritin, thyroid, sex hormones, cortisol and gut inflammation can shape what you feel in the other 4.
Several physical shifts can look like anxiety, depression or burnout, so they are worth ruling out with your practitioner. I go through the mimics: low progesterone can feel like anxiety, low ferritin like depression, low estrogen like brain fog, and flat cortisol or Hashimoto's like burnout. I love yoga, sound baths and breathwork, and I explain why they can act as treading water until your body has what it needs.
Topics covered: perimenopause symptoms, labs normal and still feel terrible, full thyroid panel, ferritin optimal range, midlife women's health, functional medicine ranges.
Watch or listen to the talk →What every yoga teacher should know about midlife women's health: hormones, energy, and the nervous system, through the lens of functional medicine and Qigong.
Perimenopause can begin as early as 35 and menopause averages around age 52, so students can spend up to 17 years in hormonal shifts, often with little support. Kim and I explain what estrogen (brain, bone and cardiovascular support), progesterone (calm and deep sleep) and testosterone (motivation, strength and zest) do, and why labs belong beside practice. We do not recommend what to take or eat.
Yes, they can look like depression or anxiety, so they are worth checking before you assume the cause is emotional. As an example, a ferritin of 17 sits inside the conventional range of 15 to 200 and can still go with exhaustion and brain fog, and functional medicine ranges look for higher than the conventional lower limit. Low progesterone can feel like anxiety, and Hashimoto's can look like burnout.
Sugar is linked to insulin resistance, which can feed inflammation. Processed foods and chronic stress are 2 more drivers I discuss, and chronic stress is linked to higher blood sugar whatever you eat. Inflammation can show up as lingering colds, sinus headaches, migraines, constipation, bloating, hair loss, fatigue and brain fog. Kim adds how it can differ by Ayurvedic constitution.
Topics covered: perimenopause yoga teachers, midlife women's health, low ferritin symptoms, functional vs normal lab ranges, inflammation symptoms midlife, low progesterone anxiety.
Watch or listen to the talk →
What yoga teachers need to know about the women's midlife journey, from more than 25 years of work with students and clients.
Several physical patterns can look like emotional ones, and I call them the mimics. In this talk I explain how low ferritin can look like depression, low progesterone like anxiety, low thyroid function like burnout, low estrogen like brain fog and high cortisol like insomnia. Perimenopause can start as early as 35 and menopause averages around 52, so the window runs about 17 years. It is worth asking your practitioner about.
A 'normal' flag means your number falls inside the standard range, and it does not tell you whether the number is right for you. Normal asks whether you are sick enough to treat yet, and optimal asks where your numbers need to sit for you to feel well. I use ferritin, your iron storage, as the example in this talk.
Ask a question and point her toward a practitioner. I give teachers 5 questions to ask themselves and their students: Have you had a full thyroid panel, not just TSH? Do you know your ferritin? Has anyone checked your estrogen, progesterone and testosterone? Have you mapped your cortisol across the day? Has anyone read your labs through optimal ranges? Teachers do not diagnose.
Topics covered: perimenopause symptoms, midlife women yoga teachers, normal vs optimal lab ranges, ferritin, thyroid panel, hormones and mood.
Watch or listen to the talk →
Christopher and I explore a midlife woman's most valuable resource, at the Science of Calm Summit.
Your energy. In this talk, Christopher and I explain that the quality of your energy shapes the quality of your experience of life. Perimenopause can begin at 35, and it exposes imbalances you once pushed through with another cup of coffee. We share 3 keys: energy quality shapes life quality, calm is the result of a resourced body, and when calm is missing you ask where it is leaking from.
Missing calm can look like anxiety and can point to what your body lacks. I walk through 3 places calm can leak. Biological: shifts in progesterone, estrogen and testosterone, blood sugar crashes, low ferritin, thyroid changes and poor sleep. Neurological: cortisol swings that leave you wired at night and exhausted in the morning. Environmental: constant stimulation and depleting relationships. Each area is worth asking your practitioner about.
These practices support you and they do not replace what your body needs when something is missing. I explain that you cannot meditate your way to higher ferritin or use somatic work to build a working thyroid, so I suggest asking whether anyone has evaluated your hormones, read your ferritin through optimal ranges and run a full thyroid panel, not just TSH. Christopher also teaches a 10-minute Qigong practice you can do standing, seated or lying down.
Topics covered: midlife woman energy, perimenopause calm, why can't I feel calm, ferritin optimal range, full thyroid panel, Qigong for midlife energy.
Watch or listen to the talk →
A raw conversation on energy, autoimmune issues, and the hidden gaps in 'normal' lab results, with longtime friend and host Kelly Young.
Chronic inflammation can look like bloating, constipation, tiredness, brain fog, headaches, hair loss, rashes, low mood, trouble losing weight and puffiness. In this conversation with Kelly Young, I explain the drivers I learned about: blood sugar swings, a proposed contributor called increased gut permeability ('leaky gut'), processed foods (including packaged foods that look healthy), chronic stress, poor sleep, environmental toxins, repeated infections and poor gut bacteria. These drivers add up.
Conventional lab ranges and functional medicine ranges draw the line in different places. I use ferritin, your iron storage, as the example. A conventional range runs from about 15 to 200, and functional practitioners often treat a ferritin under 70 as too low to feel well. My own results landed in the normal band while I felt unwell. I also name the labs I think every woman between 40 and 60 should know: vitamin D, B12, iron, ferritin and a full thyroid panel.
Gut health can be a starting point. I describe 'leaky gut' as intestinal lining cells that should sit shoulder to shoulder and drift apart, a proposed contributor to inflammation and to an immune system that targets thyroid tissue. The thyroid helps regulate metabolism, energy, temperature, digestion and brain function, so a slowdown can ripple into cortisol. I also explain the Autoimmune Protocol, an elimination approach with tracked reintroduction, worth exploring with a practitioner.
Topics covered: midlife inflammation, brain fog in midlife, leaky gut, Hashimoto's and gut health, ferritin optimal range, functional medicine lab ranges.
Watch or listen to the talk →Healing, Midlife, and the Keys for Conscious Living, a conversation on the Love Your Life Podcast.
I teach 3 keys that build on each other: conscious living, healthy living and inspired living. Conscious living means catching an automatic reaction and choosing a response. Healthy living means supporting your body so your nervous system can settle. Inspired living means following what I call PIE: passion, inspiration and enthusiasm. I present them as a spiral you return to again and again, not a checklist.
Notice when you run an old pattern, skip the self-blame and come back. I describe 5 core wounds that tint how we read ordinary moments: abandonment, rejection, betrayal, humiliation and injustice. Someone with an abandonment wound, for example, reads small moments as signs they are about to be left. Then ask, 'What is this situation asking me to learn?' The returning is the practice.
A depleted body can steal your zest, and practice alone may not refill it. I speak to women 36 to 60, because low iron stores, low vitamin B12, low vitamin D and hormone changes can leave you feeling heavy and low on zest. It is worth asking your practitioner about ferritin, B12, vitamin D, sex hormones and a full thyroid panel, not just TSH, read against optimal ranges and not only normal ones.
Topics covered: keys for conscious living, conscious living, healthy living midlife women, inspired living, reacting vs responding, core wounds.
Watch or listen to the talk →
My segment on self care and self love, part of a free global online gathering hosted by Healing Our Earth.
Hormone shifts can make your mind feel noisier and your nervous system harder to settle. Between 35 and 60, progesterone, which I call the calming hormone, can drop, estrogen declines and thyroid function can change. A practice that felt lovely in your 20s and 30s can feel hostile inside. You are not failing at meditation, and the practices can still support you through this.
No. Minds think the way lungs breathe and hearts beat, so effortless meditation does not ask you to stop your thoughts or battle them. I suggest judging your practice by what happens afterward: how you treat yourself and others, whether you listen in conversations instead of waiting to speak, and whether you feel steady gratitude for being alive.
Not exactly. I teach that the head, the heart and the core, the solar plexus as our center of power and action, all work together, so what you think, feel and do line up in daily life. Christopher and I also teach a simple cue: when you feel, you are not thinking. During practice we return to how the breath and body sensations feel.
Topics covered: effortless meditation, meditation myths, busy mind meditation, perimenopause meditation, midlife women self care, progesterone estrogen thyroid midlife.
Watch or listen to the talk →A conversation with host Elizabeth Mintun on why exhaustion, anxiety, and feeling 'not like yourself' in your 40s and 50s can be linked to hormones, nutrients, and metabolism.
Your body chemistry can limit how far inner work carries you. In this conversation with Elizabeth Mintun, I explain that low ferritin and low progesterone can look like anxiety, depression or mood swings, and that low testosterone, B12 and vitamin D can leave you flat. Perimenopause can start anywhere from age 35 into the late 40s and can amplify any imbalance already there.
A full thyroid panel with TPO antibodies, not just TSH, can show more of the picture. In this conversation I suggest asking your practitioner about it, along with vitamin D, B12 and ferritin, and having a qualified person interpret the results. I suggest TPO to see whether an autoimmune process is part of the picture.
Rest 1 hand on your belly, thumb at your belly button, whenever you listen, take a call or sit at the computer. On the inhale, notice whether your hand moves out. Diaphragmatic breathing can move you from fight and flight toward rest and digest. I also suggest spending 7 days noticing what you repeatedly think and believe.
Topics covered: perimenopause anxiety, midlife wellness, labs normal and still feel terrible, optimal ranges functional medicine, ferritin B12 vitamin D, full thyroid panel.
Watch or listen to the talk →FAQ
The Midlife Bible is a PDF I wrote for women 35 to 65 and beyond. It covers your thyroid, your gut, your hormones, and your labs, with 50+ charts and concept diagrams and a clickable contents where every entry jumps to its chapter, so you can go straight to the symptom that is loudest for you. It costs $7 and you keep it. It is education to bring to your own practitioner, not medical advice.
A normal range describes where most people in a lab's reference group land. An optimal range asks where your number needs to sit for you to feel well. Ferritin, your iron storage, is the example I teach. A conventional range runs from about 15 to 200, so a ferritin of 17 reads as normal. Functional medicine practitioners often look for 70 or more, and trials of iron in menstruating women with fatigue found benefit at a ferritin of 50 or below. Your practitioner can help you read your own results.
Perimenopause can begin in your 30's and unfold over as many as 17 years, so it often starts long before anyone names it. It is the transition before menopause, and menopause means 12 months without a period. During that time estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone can all shift, and the symptoms can look like fatigue, brain fog, poor sleep, anxiety, or low mood.
Yes, it can. A struggling thyroid and perimenopause share fatigue, brain fog, hair loss, weight changes, low mood, and poor sleep, so it is easy to credit one for the other. I live with Hashimoto's myself. A full thyroid panel goes beyond TSH alone: TSH, free T3, free T4, reverse T3, TPO antibodies, and thyroglobulin antibodies. Studies find thyroid antibodies can appear years before TSH shifts, so a TSH that reads normal does not always settle the question. It is worth asking your practitioner about.
Ask for each test by name, and bring a written list so the request is specific. My free guide, The Midlife Essentials, includes the Lab Wish List for Midlife, a printable page to bring to your appointment, and how to get your labs when the answer is no. The Midlife Bible adds a chapter on what to say, how to request your records, and how to find a Functional Medicine practitioner.
The Midlife Essentials is a free 75-page PDF. It decodes your symptoms, from burnout and the 3 AM wake-up to hot flashes, brain fog, and hair loss, and shows how your hormones, thyroid, and gut connect. It includes your Lab Wish List. You also get the 1 hour 43 minute talk, The Entire Midlife Journey. Both come by email, and you can unsubscribe anytime.
Start with the free guide and talk, which cost nothing. If you want the whole picture, read The Midlife Bible for $7. If you learn better by watching, the 3 hour workshop with Kim Beekman is $28, and it includes The Midlife Bible. If you want to bring your own labs to me, a one-on-one is $250 for 60 to 90 minutes.
