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Better Google Searches for Midlife Women's Health Info

  • Writer: Catie Chung PhD RN
    Catie Chung PhD RN
  • Oct 16
  • 6 min read

Let’s be real.

When something weird pops up in your body — a new pain, hot flash, or random heart flutter — you’re gonna Google it. We all do.

But here’s the frustrating truth: most of what shows up in those search results wasn’t written for midlife women.


A 2024 Lancet series called menopause research “decades behind other medical fields.” And the NIH’s latest women’s health plan literally lists midlife women as an “underserved population.” So when we search, we’re working with an internet that’s basically missing half the data we need.


That’s why how you search matters. A lot.


Smart searching helps you get better information — and saves you from wasting precious time, energy, and nervous-system calm.


What makes a good quality Google search?

No research degree required — just clear, real-life wording.

Think: specific + neutral + age-appropriate.


✅ Better (realistic) searches

  • “best ways to improve sleep for a 50-year-old woman in perimenopause”

  • “safe beginner strength training plan for women over 45”

  • “healthy eating pattern for women in their 50s to reduce inflammation”

  • “signs of heart disease in women over 50 site:.gov”


Each one quietly tells Google: this is who I am and what I actually need.


⚠️ Not-so-great (clickbait or vague) searches

  • “why can’t I sleep” → 18 million results, half of them ads.

  • “menopause cures that work” → “cure” triggers junk results.

  • “best diet for women” → way too broad.

  • “miracle hormone for belly fat” → 🚩🚩🚩 run.


Search like a grown-up woman gathering data, not a panicked late-night scroll zombie. Panicked searches will get you lots of "sponsored" results that have stuff for sale.


Example #1: Sleep

Search: “how to sleep through the night for a 50 year old woman in perimenopause.”


Now scroll slowly. Skip the ads. Click the tiny dropdown that says About this result — that’s where Google tells you who wrote the page and why it’s showing up.

Then open two or three credible tabs like:


Look for dates (updated within the last 1–2 years) and language that feels factual, not fear-based. Takeaway? Consistent bedtime, cool room, less caffeine.If it mentions hormone therapy or medication — screenshot it and ask your provider. No DIY prescriptions, please.


Example #2: Movement

Search: “strength training for women over 50 beginners.”


Top solid results include:


Those sources talk safety, form, and progression — not “get shredded in 7 days.” If a headline promises miracles or flat abs by Thursday, close that tab.


Quick scroll sanity rules

  • Top 5 results max.

  • Ten minutes max.

  • Skip “Sponsored” or “Ad.”

  • Check author + update date.

  • Limit your open tabs (this is hard for me!)

  • If everything looks stale, add “for women over 50” or “2020 - 2025” to your search.

  • Clarity > quantity every time.


Where the research is still missing

It’s not your imagination — big gaps remain:

  • Perimenopause & mental health: 2024 meta-analysis shows 40 % higher depression risk during perimenopause (PubMed 2024).

  • Heart disease in women: still under-recognized and under-treated (AHA 2024).

  • Hormone therapy: evidence limited for perimenopause use (NAMS 2022 Statement).


If you can’t find a clear answer online, that’s not failure — it’s a sign that science hasn’t caught up yet.


What the internet is good for

Finding credible lifestyle guidance you can actually act on:


That’s how we translate research into real-life care — for our energy, healthspan, and sanity.


Bottom line

You don’t need to quit Googling. You just need to Google like a grown-ass woman who values her time and energy.

Two thoughtful searches. Ten mindful minutes. One small action you can actually do today.

That’s how we protect our healthspan — and stop letting the internet steal our peace.


References (verified by me!)



I made a short YouTube video about this too! Check out my channel here https://www.youtube.com/@frontporchnurse


This is the transcript :)


Video Transcript (with timestamps)

[00:00] Hello. I did the previous video about searching doctor Google and how Google works to remind us all that doctor Google is not the smartest doctor, unfortunately. But now I wanted to talk to you about asking better search questions to bypass a lot of the crap information and get right to the good stuff. So just think about when's the last time you Googled anything or Internet search, any search engine, anything about your health? Middle of the night when you woke up all sweaty?

[00:15] Maybe you asked in your haze in your tired haze, is this perimenopause or am I dying? Okay. Well, search like that will make you think you're dying for sure. You're a gen xer. You're juggling the work.

[00:30] You're juggling the kids, the aging parents, every open browser tab that exists. But here is what the deal is is most of the information online and the research that is behind that body of information was not designed for us as midlife women. And if we want quality answers, we've gotta ask better quality questions. So here is why this matters to us. This definitely makes me ragey and crazy feeling, but midlife women as a population, midlife women and elderly women are massively under researched.

[00:45] There's only about 10 to 15% of all the research budgets that go to, um, midlife women's health and aging health. Menopause research, far behind other areas of medicine. This is documented. Um, I can put the resources if you wanna see where it's documented from. Just it's documented in a lot of places, but if you want some resources, I can put them below in the description.

[01:00] Uh, the NIH says that the new women's health strategic plan, which is supposed to be happening through 2028, lists midlife women as an underserved population. That is not good. That's not cool. The translation is when we Google, when we search for online information, we're looking at recycled clickbait. And if we do find medical information, most of it was written for or based on research with younger men ages twenties and thirties or quote average adults.

[01:20] So we've gotta ask more specific questions to get better search engine results and save ourselves and our nervous systems and our time as much as we possibly can. You don't need a research degree to do this. It's you just it's just a technique. We need to be specific, and we need to sound human. We need to specify who we're trying to what kind of information we're trying to look for for what type of human.

[01:35] So here's some examples of good searches. Best ways to improve sleep for a 50 year old woman in perimenopause. Safe beginner strength training plan for women 55. Healthy eating patterns for women in their fifties to reduce inflammation. Signs of heart disease in women 60.

[01:55] It used to be a reliable website. It was a .gov, but now I'm gonna say a .edu. And that is because the .gov is the US government. And, um, with the shutdown that has happened and other changes in departmental funding, um, a lot of the research either has been taken offline, um, or I should say publications about the research have been taken offline, um, or the information might not be completely up to date. So just be careful of the .gov in the age of 20 25 and who knows for how long. Now here are some less helpful searches, but it might be the kind of thing that you have, um, gotten into the habit of typing into the search engine.

[02:20] I feel like I have a sneeze. Why can't I sleep? Doctor Goog does does not know. You get a ton of results, millions of results. Most are ads.

[02:35] Um, another 1 is menopause cures that work. So cure is a red flag word because, um, it triggers, like, the miracle cures this, um, advertising solutions, that kind of stuff. Best diet for women. 20 year old women, pregnant women, postmenopausal women, like, what what are you looking for here? So you just get a lot of gunk.

[02:55] So instead of that, instead of just typing in the the panic search, take a breath, decide what you're really looking for, try to develop your question from a neutral point of view, and include some information like the age of the person and the and that you are searching for women's health. Or if you're searching for men's health, put that in there. Okay.

 
 

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