You used to be able to handle so much more stress than you can now. Work, kids, travel, hard conversations, not enough sleep, and you kept going. Now your neck is always tight, your digestion is off, you're wired at 11pm and exhausted at 3pm, and you can't figure out what changed.

Hormones are part of that. But there's a second thing happening, and almost nobody talks about it: your body may be carrying the physical residue of decades of stress it never got to finish processing.

Dr. Carli Axford, a chiropractor with more than 30 years of clinical experience (who has never cracked a back!) and the founder of the Spinal Flow Technique, is here to get specific about what "the body stores stress" actually means. Not metaphorically. Physiologically. Where it goes, what it feels like under a practitioner's hands, and why it tends to surface in your 40s and 50s after years of you managing just fine.

Carli explains why women who come in with digestive problems often have stored emotions higher up in the spine, how she can tell the difference between chemical stress and emotional stress by touch, and the one question that tells you whether that knot between your shoulder blades is from your workout or from something you have been carrying for years. 

What we get into:

• What "storing stress" actually means physiologically, and why the spine is where it lands
• The three kinds of stress, emotional, physical, and chemical, and how each one feels different in the body
• Why women who come in with digestive issues often have an older stress pattern sitting higher in the spine
• Why your capacity for stress drops in perimenopause, and what fluctuating estrogen and progesterone have to do with your nervous system's resilience
• How to tell whether that knot in your back is a pulled muscle or a pattern you have carried since childhood
• What you can do at home, in a few minutes, to move your body out of fight or flight

Dr. Carli Axford is the founder of the Spinal Flow Technique, a healing modality now practiced by thousands of certified practitioners worldwide. She is recognized internationally for her work on stress, trauma, and the body's capacity to heal itself. Her book Awaken Your Spinal Flow is forthcoming from Hay House in May 2027.

Connect with Dr. Carli Axford:

drcarliaxford.org | @dr.carli.axford

I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail!

Jessica's freebies and resources:

📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork)

😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep)

⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page)

✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

Breathwork for anxiety sounds almost too easy. Too obvious. But the mechanism behind it is measurable. This episode explores anxiety as a body problem, not a mind problem, and the way you're breathing all day might be what's keeping it going.

Sigmar Berg is the founder of Lovetuner, a breathwork and sound healing tool featured in CNN, the LA Times, and Buzzfeed, and he has spent over a decade studying the intersection of breath, nervous system regulation, and frequency healing. In this conversation, he explains why shallow, fast, chest-level breathing keeps the nervous system locked in fight-or-flight mode, what one conscious extended exhale actually does to your physiology, and how adding sound at 528 Hz amplifies the effect.

If anxiety has been creeping in, especially in your 40s and 50s when hormones can make it so much worse, this conversation gives you a framework and a practice you can use the same day.

What we get into:

- Why anxiety often starts in the body, not the brain, and what's happening physiologically when it does

- How shallow, fast breathing sends a danger signal to your nervous system even when you're just sitting at your desk

- What makes the extended exhale so effective for calming the nervous system fast

- Whether specific breathing patterns like box breathing or 4-7-8 actually matter, or if we're overcomplicating it

- What 528 Hz is, why Sigmar built a tool around it, and what the science actually says

- How to start a breathwork habit without a 30-minute practice

Connect with Sigmar Berg:

lovetuner.com | @lovetuner528hz on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube | Book: One Journey

I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail!

Jessica's freebies and resources:

📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork)

😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep)

⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page)

✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

If you've caught yourself thinking "I don't feel like myself" and you can't quite put your finger on why, this one's for you. Hormones play a role. Being stretched impossibly thin plays a role. But there's a third factor that I think is fundamental, and it's one I never hear anyone talking about: interoception.

Interoception is your ability to sense and interpret what's actually happening inside your body (like hunger, thirst, stress, emotion). When it's working, you catch yourself before you're hangry, before you snap at your kids, before you're running on fumes. When it's not working, and for so many of us in midlife it's not, you don't know you're stressed until you're yelling, or so numb you're running the whole day on autopilot without feeling a single thing.

I'm breaking down exactly how chronic stress shuts your interoception down, what that actually looks like in daily life, and the somatic practices, including breathwork, that bring it back online. 

Stick around to the end, because I'm inviting you to two free virtual breathwork sessions where you can feel the shift for yourself instead of just hearing me talk about it.

What we get into:

• What interoception is and how it works
• The specific ways chronic stress shuts your body's signals off
• Why you might feel completely numb one day and completely overwhelmed the next
• The research on interoception and stress, explained in plain language
• How breathwork helps you tune back in and hear your body again
• Two free virtual breathwork sessions happening soon 

Resources:

PubMed article: Interoception and Stress

I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail!

Jessica's freebies and resources:

📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork)

😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep)

⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page)

✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

ADHD in midlife women is the topic my audience requested most in my latest Instagram poll - and now it's here! If you've been wondering whether your scattered, overloaded brain is ADHD, perimenopause, or just life, you are in the right place.

Today I’m speaking with Dr. Jennifer Dall, Ed.D., an ADHD specialist with a doctorate in educational psychology, a background in special education, and her own late-in-life ADHD diagnosis, to talk about everything women over 40 actually want to know about ADHD.

What you'll hear:

• How ADHD shows up in high-achieving women, and why it looks nothing like the stereotype
• Why perimenopause doesn't cause ADHD but can turn the volume all the way up on symptoms you've had your whole life
• Why so many Gen X women went undiagnosed for decades, and what the stories we were told about ourselves have to do with it
• Whether you need a formal ADHD diagnosis and what that evaluation actually involves
• What you can start doing today to work with your brain instead of fighting it
• The ADHD strengths that high-achieving women carry without ever recognizing them as strengths

Connect with Dr. Jennifer Dall: 

adhdholistically.com | @adhd.holistically 

I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail!

Jessica's freebies and resources:

📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork)

😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep)

⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page)

✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

What if your future self could travel back in time to right now and show you exactly what you're missing?

That's the exercise we're playing with in today's episode. I've been using it myself, and it shifts my perspective, changes my energy, and influences the trajectory of my whole day in a really positive way. And it couldn't be easier.

I first came across this concept while listening to Dr. Benjamin Hardy's book, Be Your Future Self Now. He shares a story about a completely average evening that tugged at my heart strings. And then a text from my 84-year-old dad gave me the chance to try it in real life.

In this episode:

• The future self visualization exercise you can start using on the most ordinary moments of your day
• How to apply it when you're feeling irritated, impatient, or just done
• Why this one simple shift is a powerful way to change your energy and your whole outlook on a regular Tuesday

I can’t wait for you to try this. After you do, click the link below to send me a text and tell me about it!

I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail!

Jessica's freebies and resources:

📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork)

😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep)

⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page)

✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

Muscle and joint pain in perimenopause is not just a hormone problem, and it's not just aging. Physical therapist and musculoskeletal specialist Stacey Roberts explains what's really driving pain in midlife women, and what to do about it. Her answers might surprise you.

We talk about:

• Why your hormones were acting as your body's natural anti-inflammatories, and what happens when they drop in perimenopause and menopause
• The non-drug, non-injection options for joint and muscle pain that most women never hear about
• Why cortisol being too low (not just too high) can cause nighttime inflammation, especially in high-achieving women
• How to tell the difference between normal workout soreness and pain you should actually stop for
• Why the place where you feel pain is not always where the problem is (a weak hip causing foot pain, for example)
• The vicious cycle of hurt, stop moving, get tighter, hurt more, and how to break out of it
• Why heavy lifting is not the only way to build strength and protect your joints
• What to do first if you've stopped working out because something always hurts

Stacey Roberts PT, RN, MSN has over 30 years of experience helping patients live pain-free. Stacey owns New You Health and Wellness in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, combining advanced manual therapy, cutting-edge technology, and functional medicine. She is the author of the number one bestselling book The Pain Free Formula and host of The Pain Free Formula podcast.

Connect with Stacey

NewYouHealthandWellness.com | The Pain Free Formula book | The Pain Free Formula podcast | @newyouhealthandwellness

I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail!

Jessica's freebies and resources:

📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork)

😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep)

⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page)

✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

Do your perimenopause symptoms like brain fog, weight gain, and sleep issues feel like they are so much worse than your friend’s? Your DNA might explain why.

Today I’m speaking with Kim Ressler, Founder and CEO of SNiP Nutrigenomics, to unpack the growing science of nutrigenomics and what your genetic blueprint reveals about how you experience perimenopause and menopause. 

If you've ever wondered why your symptoms feel so much worse than everyone else's, this episode has an answer worth hearing.

In this episode we discuss:

• Why menopause is more genetically influenced than most women realize
• How your DNA shapes specific symptoms like brain fog, weight gain, insomnia, anxiety, hot flashes and more
• What genetic testing can tell you about your menopause experience
• How to use your DNA to make smarter nutrition and lifestyle decisions without going deep into biohacking

Guest:

Kim Ressler, Founder and CEO, SNiP Nutrigenomics

snipnutrition.com

I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail!

Jessica's freebies and resources:

📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork)

😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep)

⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page)

✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

Low libido in midlife is likely not just your hormones. There are other factors at play that are important to know about. Let’s talk about what's actually shutting down desire for midlife women, and what helps bring it back.

Brooke Bralove, LCSW-C and AASECT Certified Sex Therapist and I talk about what women over 40 actually need to know about low desire, sexual ruts in long-term relationships, and how unresolved trauma can live in the body and affect intimacy for decades.

Here’s what we cover:

• Why familiarity and too much emotional safety can kill eroticism in long-term relationships
• The myth of spontaneous desire, and what's actually more realistic
• How mental overload, exhaustion, and resentment shut down libido faster than any hormone shift
• Why "willingness to try" is more useful than waiting to be in the mood
• How trauma, big and small, can show up in the body and affect intimacy years later
• What Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) is, and how it's helping women resolve sexual trauma in as few as one session
• One thing you can do this week to reconnect with your own desire

Brooke Bralove, LCSW-C, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, psychotherapist, and AASECT Certified Sex Therapist with over 20 years in private practice. 

brookebralove.com | @BrookeBralovePsychotherapy 

Chapters:

00:00 Understanding Low Libido in Midlife Women
03:11 The Role of Familiarity and Newness in Relationships
05:57 The Myth of Spontaneous Desire
08:55 The Importance of Communication and Willingness
11:49 Addressing Resentment and Unmet Needs
14:21 Exploring Root Causes of Low Libido
17:03 Healing from Trauma and Its Impact on Desire
19:49 Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) Explained
22:37 Practical Steps to Reconnect with Desire

I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail!

Jessica's freebies and resources:

📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork)

😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep)

⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page)

✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

Feeling stuck in midlife even when life looks successful from the outside? Novelist and coach Ellen Baker says we can reinvent ourselves the same way an author writes a character into existence: by choosing who we need to be before we have proof we're there.

Ellen Baker spent a decade navigating divorce, rejection, and reinvention before her novel The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson became HarperCollins' Lead Read for Winter 2024 and was featured in People and Woman's World. Her new novel, Summerland Cove, is out June 2026. She is also the founder of The Next Chapter Studio, where she helps women rewrite the internal beliefs that shape how they show up.

She says we can write the next chapter of our own lives the same way an author writes a character into existence: by deciding who that character needs to be before writing a word. You choose the identity first. The outcomes follow.

I can’t wait for you to hear this!

We talk about:

• Why the identity that got you here isn't the one that will carry you forward
• The author's approach to identity change: deciding who your character needs to be before the story starts
• How to look at yourself from the outside, the way an author looks at a character she's writing
• The "I choose to" shift that gives you your agency back right now
• Why we've been conditioned to think achievement has to come before identity (and why that's backwards)
• How to tell the difference between an identity that's truly yours versus one you're just performing
• The "What if?" question that lets you try on a new identity without pressure
• What actually changes first when a woman steps into a new identity
• How an identity shift ripples into relationships, and how to navigate that
• The first thing to do if you suspect you've been living from an outdated identity

Connect with Ellen Baker:

ellenbakernovels.com | The Next Chapter Studio: ellenbakernovels.com/studio

I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail!

Jessica's freebies and resources:

📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork)

😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep)

⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page)

✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong

Creatine isn't just for bodybuilders. Functional medicine doctor Miranda Naylor explains why women over 40 actually need creatine for muscle, brain, mood, and sleep.

Thank you, Dr. Naylor, for clearing up all the confusion around creatine and whether it is helpful and safe for midlife women. 

What you'll hear:

• Why women naturally have lower creatine stores than men
• How estrogen affects creatine metabolism and why midlife women may need more
• What creatine actually does for muscle, brain function, mood, and sleep
• Dosing guidance: loading vs. maintenance, and what to look for in a product

Dr. Miranda Naylor is a functional medicine doctor in San Diego, CA and the host of the podcast Modern Women's Wellness. 

Connect with Dr. Miranda:

drmirandanaylor.com | @drmirandanaylor | Modern Women’s Wellness podcast

➡️ My favorite creatine:

Be Well By Kelly (https://go.shopmy.us/p-50264235)

I want to hear from you. Send me a text or voicemail!

Jessica's freebies and resources:

📅 Join me for a FREE virtual breathwork experience for women 40+ Friday, October 2nd! (https://www.belongwellness.com/free-breathwork)

😴 Sleep better tonight with my free 10-minute audio breathwork session. (https://your.belongwellness.com/sleep)

⚡️Join the Keep Your Cool Collective, my 6-week group breathwork experience for women over 40 who are ready to feel f*cking GREAT. This program launches October 5th. (https://your.belongwellness.com/hnly-beta-sales-page)

✨For more midlife advice on perimenopause, hormone health, nervous system regulation, and living with purpose in your 40s and 50s follow me: @midlifeadvicepodcast | @heyjessicalong