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Hair loss affects nearly half of women at some point in their lives — and for many of us, it can feel deeply distressing.

In this episode of Opt to Thrive, I’m unpacking hair loss in women — especially during midlife and the menopausal transition — and explaining what’s really going on beneath the surface.

Because while menopause can absolutely play a role, hair loss is not always “just hormones.” Sometimes it can be a sign that something else is happening in your body — from thyroid dysfunction and iron deficiency to medication effects or other underlying health conditions.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why hair loss can feel so emotionally impactful (and why that matters)
• The red flags that mean you should see your GP
• The two most common causes of hair loss in midlife women:
– Female Pattern Hair Loss (FPHL)
– Telogen Effluvium
• How stress, illness, dieting, surgery and psychological distress can trigger shedding
• What’s happening in the hair growth cycle
• How menopause and declining oestrogen affect hair follicles
• Whether menopause hormone therapy (MHT) helps
• The difference between micronised progesterone and synthetic progestins
• Practical treatment options including minoxidil and when specialist input may be needed

We also talk about how to recognise when shedding is temporary — and when it may be progressive — and why getting the diagnosis right matters.

Hair loss is not “vain” or trivial. Research shows it can significantly affect confidence, relationships, and even career performance. That’s exactly why it deserves thoughtful, evidence-based discussion.

If you’ve noticed thinning, increased shedding, or changes in your hair during midlife, this episode will help you understand what might be happening — and what you can do about it.

As always, if something in this episode resonates with you or raises concerns, please speak with your GP.

And if there’s a topic you’d love me to cover next, send me a message — I love hearing from you 💛

Let’s Stay Connected:

• Register your interest for the Wellbeing program Here
• Get your free Midlife Health & Body Reset Guide: Here
• Find out more about the Midlife Reset Program: Here
• Join the Opt to Thrive mailing list: Here
• Follow Dr. Corina on Instagram: @drcorinasimsopttothrive
• Connect on Facebook: Opt to Thrive (Dr Corina Sims)
• Opt to Thrive official website

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and share it with a friend who may enjoy it too.🫶

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Life has a way of spinning one day into the next, and from time to time many of us find ourselves in a bit of a rut — not unwell, but not quite thriving either.

In this episode, I explore what wellbeing really means beyond the curated images we often see on social media, and why true wellbeing is far more than just happiness or physical health.

We’ll walk through the key domains that support a flourishing life, do a simple self-check you can use to assess your own wellbeing, and talk about practical ways to regain balance if you’re feeling a little off-centre.

And I’ll share an exciting vision I have for building a community of women committed to creating their best wellbeing — together.

Let’s Stay Connected:

• Register your interest for the Wellbeing program Here
• Get your free Midlife Health & Body Reset Guide: Here
• Find out more about the Midlife Reset Program: Here
• Join the Opt to Thrive mailing list: Here
• Follow Dr. Corina on Instagram: @drcorinasimsopttothrive
• Connect on Facebook: Opt to Thrive (Dr Corina Sims)
• Opt to Thrive official website

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and share it with a friend who may enjoy it too.🫶

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Aging gracefully… it sounded simple to me once. Until I arrived here.

Midlife brings a series of identity shifts that few women are ever prepared for — changes in how we look, how we are seen, the roles we play in our families, our work, and the quiet way we begin to see ourselves differently.

In this episode, I open an honest conversation about what it really means to age as a woman. We explore the subtle psychological transitions that can accompany this stage of life, why some of these shifts can feel unexpectedly tender, and how we might move through them with strength, self-respect, and compassion.

If you’ve ever caught your reflection and felt a flicker of surprise…
 If your roles are evolving…
 If you sense you are becoming someone new…

This conversation is for you.💛

Let’s Stay Connected:

• Get your free Midlife Health & Body Reset Guide: Here
• Find out more about the Midlife Reset Program: Here
• Join the Opt to Thrive mailing list: Here
• Follow Dr. Corina on Instagram: @drcorinasimsopttothrive
• Connect on Facebook: Opt to Thrive (Dr Corina Sims)
• Opt to Thrive official website

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and share it with a friend who may enjoy it too.🫶

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After a rare visit with both of my adult children at once, an unexpected family conflict reminded me how quickly emotions can take over and how powerful it is to pause and choose our response. 

In this Mindful Moment, I share the simple question that helped me move from reaction to intention: 

How do I want to show up here?

Because while we can't control the people we love, we can always choose who we become in the moment.

Let’s Stay Connected:

• Get your free Midlife Health & Body Reset Guide: Here
• Find out more about the Midlife Reset Program: Here
• Join the Opt to Thrive mailing list: Here
• Follow Dr. Corina on Instagram: @drcorinasimsopttothrive
• Connect on Facebook: Opt to Thrive (Dr Corina Sims)
• Opt to Thrive official website

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and share it with a friend who may enjoy it too.🫶

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Wearables are everywhere — watches, rings, bands — tracking your sleep, recovery, stress, heart rhythm… and making a lot of women wonder: Should I trust this?

In this episode, I break down what your tracker can tell you… what it can’t… and the mistakes I see all the time in clinic when people treat the numbers like a diagnosis.

You’ll discover:

• The real reason sleep tracking can look convincing… but still be wrong
• Why “deep sleep” is the metric that causes the most confusion (and anxiety)
• The hidden problem with sleep scores (and why your score can change depending on the app)
• HRV and “recovery” scores: what they’re trying to measure — and why comparing yours to others is a trap
• The atrial fibrillation/irregular rhythm feature that can accidentally freak you out (and a setting you might need to change)
• When wearable data is a helpful nudge… and when it can actually make sleep worse

If you’ve ever woken up, checked your sleep score, and decided how tired you’re going to feel… this one is for you.

🎧 Hit play and let’s make wearables useful — not stressful.

Other helpful episodes mentioned in the show you may be interested in:

• Episode 7: 8 Top Tips for a Better Night's Sleep
• Episode 44: The Silent Bone Crisis Affecting Midlife Women

Let’s Stay Connected:

• Get your free Midlife Health & Body Reset Guide: Here
• Find out more about the Midlife Reset Program: Here
• Join the Opt to Thrive mailing list: Here
• Follow Dr. Corina on Instagram: @drcorinasimsopttothrive
• Connect on Facebook: Opt to Thrive (Dr Corina Sims)
• Opt to Thrive official website

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and share it with a friend who may enjoy it too.🫶

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That racing heart, dry mouth, and “why am I doing this?” moment?
That’s growth.

In this Mindful Moment episode, I reflect on stepping into discomfort, from radio interviews to new challenges, and why doing hard, unfamiliar things supports brain health, confidence, and resilience in midlife.

A gentle nudge to lean in… not pull back.

How you can be afraid…but do it anyway. Because it’s good for you💛

Let’s Stay Connected:

• Get your free Midlife Health & Body Reset Guide: Here
• Find out more about the Midlife Reset Program: Here
• Join the Opt to Thrive mailing list: Here
• Follow Dr. Corina on Instagram: @drcorinasimsopttothrive
• Connect on Facebook: Opt to Thrive (Dr Corina Sims)
• Opt to Thrive official website

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and share it with a friend who may enjoy it too.🫶

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Hot flushes are one of the most common — and most disruptive — symptoms of menopause. For some women they’re mild and fleeting. For others, they interfere with sleep, mood, confidence, and quality of life.

In this episode of Opt to Thrive, Dr Corina Sims explains why hot flushes happen, what’s actually going on in the brain and body, and what truly helps — separating evidence-based options from myths and misinformation.

In this episode, we cover:

• What hot flushes are and why they feel so intense
• How declining oestrogen disrupts the body’s temperature control system
• The impact of hot flushes on sleep, brain fog, mood, and wellbeing
• Common triggers and practical strategies to reduce symptom severity
• Medical treatment options — hormonal and non-hormonal
• What the evidence really says about “natural” and complementary therapies
• Why some popular treatments don’t work — and may not be safe

Key takeaway:

Hot flushes are real, common, and treatable. You don’t need to wait, push through, or suffer in silence — and there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Let’s Stay Connected:

• Get your free Midlife Health & Body Reset Guide: Here
• Find out more about the Midlife Reset Program: Here
• Join the Opt to Thrive mailing list: Here
• Follow Dr. Corina on Instagram: @drcorinasimsopttothrive
• Connect on Facebook: Opt to Thrive (Dr Corina Sims)
• Opt to Thrive official website

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and share it with a friend who may enjoy it too.🫶

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In this short Mindful Moment episode, I’m sharing a story from a recent family dinner — where a simple conversation question led to a much deeper reflection on emotions, thoughts, grief, and what it really means to “feel our feelings.”

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in life is that our feelings are created by our thoughts — but as I discovered while talking with my son, that idea can sometimes be misunderstood.

There are emotions we are meant to feel — grief, sadness, heartbreak, disappointment — especially in times of loss. Those feelings are not problems to be solved or avoided. They are part of being human, and they need space to be processed.

But there is also another kind of suffering — the unnecessary pain created by unhelpful or untrue thoughts, rumination, self-criticism, and the stories our brains tell when they run on autopilot.

In this episode, I reflect on:

• the difference between necessary emotional pain and unnecessary suffering
• why resisting uncomfortable feelings often makes them stronger
• how grief and sadness need to be allowed — sometimes only a little at a time
• the seductive pull of “wallowing” days and familiar sad music
• how confirmation bias can spiral a bad day into overwhelm
• why acceptance can ease suffering — even when circumstances can’t change
• gentle ways to get curious about the thoughts underneath emotional discomfort

And I share a few simple questions you can ask yourself when a dark-cloud day appears:

• What am I feeling — and can I allow it instead of fighting it?
• What thought might be contributing to this feeling?
• Is that thought true… and is it helpful?
• Is there a kinder, more compassionate thought available to me right now?

Some days we can shift perspective.
Some days we simply sit with the feeling and let it soften with time.

Both are okay. 💛

If you’ve ever had one of those heavy days where nothing is “wrong,” but your mood just feels flat, tender, or heavy — this episode is for you.

Let’s Stay Connected:

• Get your free Midlife Health & Body Reset Guide: Here
• Find out more about the Midlife Reset Program: Here
• Join the Opt to Thrive mailing list: Here
• Follow Dr. Corina on Instagram: @drcorinasimsopttothrive
• Connect on Facebook: Opt to Thrive (Dr Corina Sims)
• Opt to Thrive official website

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and share it with a friend who may enjoy it too.🫶

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Happy New Year — and welcome to the first episode of the year! 🎉

As we step into a fresh new year, it’s the perfect time to think about preventative health, staying well, and making sure you’re up to date with the screening tests that genuinely help women live longer, healthier lives.

In today’s episode, I’m walking you through the big screening programs we have in Australia, what they’re designed to do, when they’re recommended — and where we don’t have screening (and why that matters).

This episode covers:

• ✔️ Cervical Screening Test — what changed, why it’s every 5 years, and when a self-collected swab is appropriate
• ✔️ Breast cancer screening & mammograms — who needs screening, how family history affects screening frequency, and why symptoms need investigation (not screening)
• ✔️ Bowel cancer screening & FOBT — why the starting age has lowered to 45, how the kit works, and why early detection saves lives
• ✔️ Ovarian cancer — why there is no effective screening test, what symptoms to be aware of, and when to investigate
• ✔️ The new Australian lung cancer screening program — who it applies to and how it works

You’ll also hear a little New Year life update from me — family time, fig harvest, French backpackers, and reflecting on a big year of growth personally and professionally 💛

My hope is that this episode helps you:

• understand what each screening test is actually trying to achieve
• know when screening applies vs when symptoms need investigation
• feel more confident asking questions and making informed choices about your health

👉 If you’re not sure what breast-cancer risk category you fall into, you can try the iPrevent risk calculator (Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre), then discuss your results with your GP

Let’s Stay Connected:

• Get your free Midlife Health & Body Reset Guide: Here
• Find out more about the Midlife Reset Program: Here
• Join the Opt to Thrive mailing list: Here
• Follow Dr. Corina on Instagram: @drcorinasimsopttothrive
• Connect on Facebook: Opt to Thrive (Dr Corina Sims)
• Opt to Thrive official website

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and share it with a friend who may enjoy it too.🫶

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In this reflective episode, I share a personal story sparked by an unexpected night out — watching Love Actually in concert with close friends. What began as a joyful shared experience unfolded into a powerful meditation on love, loss, memory, and the way life shapes us over time.

As the music and stories stirred memories from my own past — including heartbreak, grief, and a season of profound uncertainty — I reflect on what it means to let go of what we thought life would look like, and to trust the unfolding of what comes next.

This episode is about acceptance, perspective, and learning not to miss the beauty and joy woven through even the most painful chapters. A reminder that the pleasure and the pain, the joy and the sorrow, are all part of the same dance — and that the dance is always worth it.

I hope it encourages you to pause, reflect, and fully embrace whatever season you’re in right now.

Let’s Stay Connected:

• Join the Opt to Thrive mailing list: Here
• Follow Dr. Corina on Instagram: @drcorinasimsopttothrive
• Connect on Facebook: Opt to Thrive (Dr Corina Sims)
• Opt to Thrive official website

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and share it with a friend who may enjoy it too.🫶