cover image Is It Hot in Here? Or Is It Me?: The Complete Guide to Menopause

Is It Hot in Here? Or Is It Me?: The Complete Guide to Menopause

Barbara Kantrowitz, Pat Wingert Kelly, . . Workman, $19.95 (532pp) ISBN 978-0-7611-3808-2

Workman's enviable success with the classic pregnancy "bible" What to Expect When You're Expecting has no doubt sparked this guide, which claims to do for those at midlife what Heidi Murkoff's series has done for pregnant women. The company has tapped two respected Newsweek health writers for this map to everything a woman might encounter before, during and after menopause. An attractive, user-friendly format with sidebars, charts, illustrations and q&as guides readers through hundreds of pages of material. Chapters progress from the basics (types of menopause, onset and duration, testing); hormonal changes and their impact on sleep, sex, moods and memory; and lifestyle (diet, exercise, stress); to heart and bone health, cancer, treatment options and medications. As Wingert and Kantrowitz point out, we've come a long way from when symptoms associated with menopause included "uncontrollable peevishness" and "perversion of moral instincts," yet many women remain reticent about their experiences, fear aging and feel incapable of the new challenges presented by their bodies along with the rest of their obligations. Such readers will welcome Wingert and Kantrowitz's inclusion of suggestions for self-care and their positive focus on what, they say, can be a healthy and productive time in a woman's life. (Feb.)