Welcome to the better half of your life. The New York Times bestselling author of The Female Brain explains how a woman’s brain gets “upgraded” in midlife, inspiring and guiding women to unlock their full potential.

“This is an important book. I want all women to read it. I wish I had read it years ago!”—Jane Fonda

Dr. Louann Brizendine was among the first to explain why women think, communicate, and feel differently than men. Now, inspired by her own experiences and those of the thousands of women at her clinic, she has a message that is nothing short of revolutionary: in the time of life typically known as menopause, women’s brains are reshaped, for the better, in a way that creates new power, a bracing clarity, and a laser-like sense of purpose if you know how to seize it.

With guidance for navigating the perimenopausal and menopausal storm while it lasts, and actionable, science-backed steps for preserving brain health for the rest of your life, The Upgrade is a stunning roadmap, told through intimate stories, to a new brain state and its incredible possibilities. Dr. Brizendine explains the best science-backed strategies for:
 
• Hormones: If timed and handled properly, hormone management can save your life. Brizendine cuts through the controversy to give you the latest guidance for HRT.
• Exercise: Leg strength correlates directly with healthy brain function at age 80. Here are the strategies for maintaining your strength.
• Sleep: It’s critical for maximizing the Upgrade, and Brizendine shares how to achieve healthy rest during challenging transitions.
• Mindset: Brizendine shows how to seize the opportunities of your midlife brain changes by shifting your mindset and vision with intention.
• Brain Health: The Upgraded brain requires special care when it comes to sugar, alcohol, inflammatory foods, and the microbiome. Here’s advice for fueling and maintaining cognitive function for decades.
 
The Upgrade amounts to a celebration of how women step into their power and an entirely new—and radically positive—understanding of aging.

The New York Times bestselling author of The Female Brain explains how the female brain changes for the better in midlife, reframing the patriarchal term "menopause" as "The Upgrade" and inspiring women to unlock their full potential.

When Louann Brizendine published The Female Brain, it was a game-changer for its profound scientific understanding of how women think, communicate, and feel. Now, Brizendine uses her unique ability to make science approachable to offer an empowering vision of the years in a woman's life that have too often been ignored or misunderstood and creates a positive new framework for this life stage, never using the words perimenopause or menopause, with their suggestions of obsolescence, in the book.

After analyzing the latest research, Brizendine has found that in midlife the inclination to cater to the needs of others relaxes, allowing women to become more centered while retaining their gifts of perception. The change in ratio of estrogen to testosterone makes women more direct and able to speak out. There's also a drop in anxiety that allows the female brain to flip its attentional style from multitasking to focusing on one thing at a time. The upgraded female brain is centered, direct, validated, focused, fearless, expansive, and free.

In this sweeping look at the second half of life, Brizendine dives deep into the microscopic workings of your mitochondria one moment and zooms out to the bigger picture--family, relationships, identity--the next. With clear prescriptive advice, she also offers specific ways women can fend off dementia; increase longevity, well-being, and sexuality; and find their best selves at this stage of life. Ultimately, The Upgrade amounts to a celebration of how women step into their power and an entirely new--and radically positive--understanding of aging.

“This is an important book. I want all women to read it. I wish I had read it years ago!”—Jane Fonda

“Dr. Louann Brizendine’s The Upgrade is uplifting and upbeat about the physical, mental, and social health of women in the upper chamber of the life cycle. As she did in The Female Brain (a bible for all women), Dr. Brizendine writes clearly and jauntily, this time explaining why, generally, we get happier as we age. The Upgrade is an engrossing read, rich with science and psychology and hopefulness.”—Leslie Stahl, correspondent, 60 Minutes

“This fine book integrates information from many fields of studies. It is holistic, filled with useful insights, and inspiring. Brizendine is one of America’s great cultural educators.”—Mary Pipher, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of Women Rowing North

“Dr. Brizendine is a trailblazer and in her groundbreaking, science-backed new book, she not only shows how much we can do naturally to optimize the menopausal brain but also explains why the mature brain is so much better than what came before. Read this book and you’ll learn how to seize the possibilities afforded by your amazing brain.”—Anna Cabeca, DO, bestselling author of The Hormone Fix and MenuPause

“The author’s mastery of scientific research impresses, as does her accessible and authoritative delivery. Blending academic rigor with self-help practicability, this is an optimistic and well-observed take on the benefits of life’s second half for women.”—Publishers Weekly