Why Progesterone Drops at 35 and How to Know If You're in Perimenopause with Zora Benhamou
The Energy Blueprint Podcast
Ari Whitten
4.6 • 781 Ratings
🗓️ 13 February 2026
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today, I'm excited to introduce you to Zora Benhamou, a gerontologist who studies aging and has some unique ideas about menopause, based on research and her gerontology background.
In this episode, we discuss her take on menopause, including the fact that it's technically a one-day event! 12 consecutive months without a period lead to your "meno birth date." But perimenopause - the stage just before menopause - lasts 5 to 7 years on average (10-15 years for some women!), and that's where the most difficult symptoms can happen.
The biggest menopause myth is that it's a concern for older women, that it's something you don't need to worry about until you're 50.
But research shows women start losing progesterone around age 35, the calming, relaxing hormone that makes you feel good. The reality is that women should ideally begin thinking about menopause decades earlier, in their 40s and 50s.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | But the research shows that on average, women around the age of 35 start to lose progesterone. |
| 0:06.6 | This is your hormone that is you're going to be so sad when she goes away because she is calming. |
| 0:12.3 | She makes you feel relaxed. |
| 0:13.4 | She feels to feel good. |
| 0:14.7 | And when she goes, and she goes quite rapidly in mid-30s, and that's when you may start to have sleep disruptions or you're feeling |
| 0:22.7 | a bit more anxious. Hey, this is Ari. Welcome back to the Energy Blueprint Podcast. With me in today's |
| 0:27.9 | episode is Zora Benhamu, who is a gerontologist who studies aging and is a biohacker and is the host of the Hack My Age podcast and the owner of hackmyage.com. |
| 0:44.1 | She is a specialist in menopause and particularly in science-backed approaches to biohacking |
| 0:52.5 | menopause and menopause symptoms and making the transition |
| 0:57.2 | into menopause and through menopause as suffering free as possible. She is a wealth of knowledge. |
| 1:05.5 | I really enjoy this conversation and I think you will too. So with no further ado, enjoy this conversation about biohacking |
| 1:13.7 | menopause with Zora Ben Hamu. Zora, such a pleasure to have you on. Thanks. I'm excited for this |
| 1:19.7 | conversation. Yeah. So first of all, you are a gerontologist. Yeah. I would like to start with that. |
| 1:28.7 | I want you to tell people what that means, what that is, and sort of how that field, |
| 1:34.5 | geroscience, gerontology, is distinct from medicine. |
| 1:41.3 | Yes. |
| 1:42.1 | I am so glad you asked. |
| 1:43.7 | You're the first person who's right off the bat |
| 1:46.6 | asked me that on a podcast interview, and it's so important because people tend to think a gerontologist |
| 1:52.5 | is a geriatric physician. I'm not a doctor, and a geriatric physician is somebody who treats |
| 1:57.2 | older adults. A gerontologist is somebody who studies aging and longevity, and we don't |
| 2:02.7 | look only at the biological perspectives of aging. We look at the psychological, the sociological aspects. |
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