I'm William Brangham and this is Horizons. It's a phase of life half of us will experience,

but it's received little attention until now. I just now call it out. I'm like hot flash, hot flash,

that's what's happening. I did not sleep. It's us who need the study. It's us who need the research.

More than a million women in the U.S. will start

menopause every year, yet this biological certainty is too often shrouded in secrecy or ignored

by many mainstream medical researchers. What we do and do not know about menopause. Coming up next.

Welcome to Horizons. We are talking today about menopause, the natural process all women go through, but one that has been misunderstood by many, poorly studied, and is rife with misinformation. Biologically, menopause is the time

when a woman's ovaries permanently stop producing estrogen. It's usually preceded by a phase

called perimenopause, where a woman's hormone level

start to fluctuate, which can often trigger a whole series of emotional and physical symptoms.

But as most women who are in the midst of this or who have already been through it, will tell

you, this is not a simple time. It can be a very difficult, disruptive, and uncomfortable period in their lives.

In a few minutes, we're going to talk with two doctors who have spent their careers studying menopause

and guiding thousands of women through the confusing and contradictory guidance about how best to manage this period.

But first, we talked with a group of women who

have been through it themselves about what it has been like for them.

Sundia Gerg, and I'm 60 years old. Nicole Garrison, and I am 46. My name is Michelle Perles,

and I am 54 years old. Yes, my name is Melanie Sanders, and I am 46 years old.

So I went into my OB, had a conversation with her,

and she basically said, yeah, welcome to this phase of life.

And that was it.

And, you know, I walked away thinking,

...