Making Sense of Midlife Health

There has never been more health information available to women in midlife. We can learn about strength training, protein, sleep, bone health, cardiovascular health, hormones, supplements, stress and longevity without ever leaving our phones. Some of that information is useful and well supported. Some of it is oversimplified, exaggerated or presented without much context. Some of it we just don't have enough research yet. 

The challenge is no longer simply finding information. It is knowing what deserves our attention, what applies to us, and how to use it in a way that actually supports our health. That's after we have determined that the information is actually factual, and useful.

That is one of the reasons a recent paper in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine caught my attention. The researchers looked at 43 studies examining whether one-way text and instant messages could help adults become more physically active or improve weight-related outcomes. Overall, the interventions produced a very small improvement in physical activity and no meaningful effect on weight-related outcomes.

I found that interesting because it reflects something we often overlook in health behaviour: knowing what to do is only part of the process.

A reminder to go for a walk may be helpful, a watch that tells you to stand may get you moving, and an app may help you notice patterns. But these tools do not understand the context of your life. They do not know how you slept, whether your joints are sore, what kind of week you are having, or whether you have already done enough for one day. Yet we are increasingly surrounded by technology and social media that encourages us to look outside ourselves to decide how we are functioning.  There is value in some of these tools, and I use technology myself. The concern is what happens when the tool stops being useful information and starts becoming the authority.

If your watch says you slept poorly but you feel rested, which information do you trust? If an app says you have not moved enough but your body feels tired after a demanding week, do you listen to the app or to yourself? If your social media feed keeps telling you that women in midlife should be doing more, how do you decide what is actually relevant to you?

Over time, it can become easy to lose confidence in our own judgement. We start checking the app, the numbers, the latest post or what everyone else is doing before deciding what we need.

That is one of the things I want to challenge in the way we talk about midlife health.

There are real physiological changes that deserve our attention through midlife. Hormonal changes can affect symptoms and wellbeing.  Our muscle, bone, cardiovascular health and long-term physical function become increasingly important. Good evidence can help us understand those changes and make better decisions.

But feedback from tracking devices should support our decision-making, not replace it.

The same is true of technology. A wearable can provide information. An app can help you notice a pattern. A reminder can help you follow through on something you have already decided is important. These are useful tools, but they should not become the place where you go to find out how you feel, what your body needs or whether you are doing a good enough job of looking after yourself.

That requires learning how to combine good information with your own lived experience.

This is one of the central ideas behind the Midlife Wellness Reset.

We begin by understanding what is actually changing and separating useful information from the noise. From there, we reconnect with what matters personally. How do you want to feel? What do you want your health to support? What do you want to be able to do five, ten or twenty years from now?

Then we build the foundations: movement, nutrition, sleep, stress management, connection and the other behaviours that consistently support long-term health. The goal is not perfection. It is to make those behaviours useful and realistic enough to fit your life.

The next part is where trust begins to develop. You try something, notice what happens, decide whether it helped, and adjust. Over time, that process builds confidence because you are no longer relying only on instructions from outside yourself. You are using evidence, your own observations and your circumstances to make better decisions.

The mobile messaging research is a useful reminder of this. One-way messages can provide information and prompts, but they cannot fully account for context, preferences, competing demands or the complexity of human behaviour.

Sustainable behaviour change usually involves more than being reminded. It involves learning, experimenting, adapting and making choices that are personally meaningful.

That does not mean ignoring experts or dismissing research. Good evidence gives us a stronger foundation for making decisions. The goal is to become better informed, more observant and more confident in deciding what makes sense for you.

I am interested in helping women understand what is happening, decide what deserves their attention and build enough trust in themselves to know when a recommendation is useful, when it needs to be adapted and when it can simply be ignored.

Better health is not about following every instruction more closely. It is about becoming more capable of making good decisions for yourself.

Research discussed: Emeran A, Burrows R, Loyson J, et al. The Effect of Text Message-Based mHealth Interventions on Physical Activity and Weight Loss: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 2024.