Progesterone: Why Optimization and Replacement Matters During Your 30s, 40s and Beyond

With Becca Pabona & Jeralee Kidd, Performance Medicine Nurses

In this episode of The Rare Wellness Podcast, Performance Medicine Nurses Becca Pabona and Jeralee Kidd explore an often-overlooked but critically important hormone in women’s health: progesterone.

While estrogen typically gets the spotlight in midlife conversations—especially around hot flashes and night sweats—this discussion highlights how progesterone is often the first hormone to decline during perimenopause, sometimes years before menopause begins.

Becca and Jeralee break down:

• Why progesterone plays a key role in sleep quality, anxiety regulation, mood stability, and brain health
• How declining progesterone can lead to symptoms like insomnia (especially waking at 2–3 AM), “wired but tired” anxiety, mood swings, heavier periods, migraines, and worsening PMS
• The science behind progesterone’s calming effect on the brain through the GABA-A receptor pathway
• Why micronized (bioidentical) progesterone differs significantly from synthetic progestins used in earlier hormone studies
• The importance of symptom-guided optimization, not just lab-based decision-making
• Why progesterone therapy, when used appropriately, can be one of the safest and most impactful interventionsfor perimenopausal women

Jeralee also shares her personal experience with progesterone and how addressing this hormone transformed her sleep and anxiety—insights she now sees reflected in many patients at the Center for Regenerative and Performance Medicine.

If you’re in your late 30s, 40s, or early 50s and feel like “something is off,” this episode may help you understand why it may not be stress or aging alone—it could be progesterone.

For more information, visit www.spokaneht.com.