Women's health, stage by stage: from infancy to postmenopause
Women's health is not just periods and pregnancy, and anyone who says so is working from a very old map: it's six life stages, from infancy through postmenopause, and the priorities shift at each one. If you're wondering which stage am I in, that quick tool is a good first step, and the six stage guides are the cards just below it.
Every page names its writer and shows when it was last updated
Six stages, one guide
Infancy & childhood
Birth to about 10 is where the foundations go in, and sleep needs ease from 12 to 16 hours in infancy to 9 to 12 by school age, so yes, bedtime negotiations count as science.
Puberty & adolescence
Puberty arrives on its own schedule, and about a quarter of adult bone is laid down in the 2 years around the growth spurt, so this guide covers periods, iron, strength and sleep for girls and the parents raising them.
The reproductive years
Late teens to early 40s covers cycles, fertility, pregnancy and training, plus a classic number worth knowing early: 400 µg of folic acid daily from 3 months before trying to conceive until 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Perimenopause
This is the run-up to your last period, usually the 40s to early 50s, when a protein target of 1.2 to 1.6 g per kg of body weight a day, plus lifting, helps protect muscle while hormones swing about.
Menopause
This is the point your periods stop for good, usually somewhere between 45 and 55, when bone density can dip by up to a tenth over 5 years, which is why this guide looks at strength, protein and HRT (hormone therapy in the US).
Postmenopause
The years after that, from the mid-50s onward, are about staying strong and independent, and strength and balance work 2 to 3 times a week is among the most effective ways to help prevent falls.
What this site is
The Female Atlas is a stage-by-stage guide to women's health, with food, training, sleep and checks laid out for the body you're actually in, and there's more about the site if you'd like it. Yolene Brue and two colleagues write it, and every page shows when it was last updated.
I'm in my 40s, I lift five days a week, and I still find it a bit rude how little of the research was built on female bodies. Most of it was done on men, then handed to the rest of us as 'close enough'. These pages start from women instead. Each guide covers what changes, nutrition, supplements, training with an example week, sleep and lifestyle, and health checks. Guidance and units follow US guidelines first, with metric alongside and UK differences noted where they matter, such as GP for family doctor and HRT for what the US calls hormone therapy.
Most read in the library
Protein
Most adult women do well with 1.2–1.6 g of protein per kg of body weight a day, or 75–100 g at 137 lb (62 kg), spread across meals.
TrainingStrength training
Strength training for women builds muscle and bone reserve; a sensible target is 2–4 sessions a week, above the CDC and NHS minimum of 2 days.
TreatmentHRT
HRT is the most effective treatment for hot flashes and night sweats, and for most healthy women under 60 the benefits usually outweigh the risks.
Who writes this site
Three writers share these pages, and their cards are just below. I lead, and the other two bring their own stages and voices. If you'd like to know how we check facts, that page has the detail.
Yolene Brue
Founder and lead voice
Yolene is the founder of The Female Atlas: a wife, a mother of three and a menopause, health, fitness and nutrition enthusiast in her 40s, living through perimenopause herself. After years of painful periods, endometriosis, PCOS, IVF and a four-year search for the right HRT, she built the site she wished she’d had: real information for women, at every stage, with no fakeness.
Early stages desk
Infancy and childhood, puberty and adolescence, the reproductive years
The Female Atlas team’s early stages desk covers childhood, puberty and the reproductive years. We turn current guidelines and research into clear, practical advice for girls, young women and the parents supporting them.
Later life desk
Menopause and postmenopause
The Female Atlas team’s later life desk covers menopause and the decades after it. We cut through the myths, the marketing and the outdated advice with what the research actually shows, and we hear from real women living it.
How facts are checked: how we check facts · all sources.
Where to start
A good way in is to read your own stage first, then the one before it and the one after, because what came earlier explains a lot and what's coming is easier when you've prepared for it. If you'd like a habit that suits almost every stage, the WHO suggests adults aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week (WHO, 2024). If a figure catches your eye, all sources lists the guidelines and studies behind every page, so you can check them for yourself.
This is general health information, not medical advice, so many women find it useful to check with their doctor or pharmacist before big changes to diet, training, supplements or medication, and with a pediatrician or family doctor about a child. A prompt appointment is worth booking for any bleeding after menopause, a new breast lump or change, unexplained weight loss, or symptoms that are getting worse.
Beyond that, take what's useful, leave what isn't, and be kind to yourself. You know your body and your life, so you decide what fits: women's health is not one size fits all.