Best Books of All Time for Hormones, Stress & Aging

If your bookshelf—or hormones, skin, brain, or womb—requires a little dust off, these books will get the job done. As women, we are stuck in overdrive, stressing about stress, family, friends, aging, what’s going on “down there,” and everywhere else, for that matter. But when we start learning about ourselves and our bodies, we can feel validated and empowered to make choices that will improve our lives. If you are burnt out, breaking out, struggling with weight, hormones, and aging, check out the best books of all time for women’s health +. 

Best Books of All Time for Hormones, Stress, Aging, & Weight Loss

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, Emily Nagoski, PhD & Amelia Nagoski, DMA 

Sisters Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski explain why women experience burnout differently than men in this groundbreaking book. The duo provides a simple, science-backed plan to help women reduce stress, regulate emotions, and live a joyful life. 

Experiencing burnout as a woman in America is the norm, not the exception, and if you feel entirely overwhelmed and underappreciated, this book is for you. Emily and Amelia help readers break the cycle of societal pressures and real-life obstacles with compassion and hope. 

You’ll learn how to return your body to a state of relaxation, how the “monitor” in your brain regulates frustration, how to defend yourself against the Bikini Industrial Complex, and how you can recover and prevent burnout through rest, human connection, and befriending your inner critic. 

This book is full of mind-blowing science and helpful worksheets and exercises to help women feel empowered and inspired. If you’re ready to create positive change in your life, meet your new down-to-earth guides Emily and Amelia in Burnout. 

Come As You Are: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life, Emily Nagoski, PhD 

The revised and updated edition of Emily Nagoski’s New York Times bestseller Come As You Are will transform how you think about mindfulness, desire, and pleasure. Nagoski provides groundbreaking science and research to help women create a sustainable sex life full of confidence and joy. The book explains that stress, mood, body image, and trust are central to a woman’s sexual health and wellbeing. Dive into this book to decode and demystify the science of sex for more pleasure and more self-love. 

Hormone Intelligence: The Complete Guide to Calming Hormone Chaos and Restoring Your Body’s Natural Blueprint for Well-Being, Aviva Romm, MD  

New York Times bestseller Hormone Intelligence goes into everything about women’s hormones, women’s cycles, and women’s health. In this incredible field guide, Dr. Aviva Romm helps you take your body back with groundbreaking new science for women. 

Do you feel like sometimes you are broken? That being a woman feels like a diagnosis? That being hormonal is bad?! Too often, as women, we experience debilitating period symptoms, struggle with low sex drive, sleep problems, bloating, fertility challenges, acne, and more. We often go to doctor after doctor with these problems and leave with no solution. 

Hormone Intelligence is the solution. Yale trainer and internationally renowned women’s health expert helps you get to the root causes of your symptoms and takes you through a 6-week program to create lifelong hormonal and gynecological health. You’ll discover holistic, dietary, and lifestyle changes that will help you reclaim your hormones, body, and self. Dive into yummy recipes and feel empowered with this book. 

Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement, and Reproductive Health, Toni Weschler, MPH 

Since its publication over two decades ago, Toni Weschler has guided a whole new generation of women to become pregnant, avoid pregnancy naturally, and take control of their sexual health using the Fertility Awareness Method. 

This book was the key reason my husband and I have prevented pregnancies without birth control and get pregnant right away each time. It holds a very special place in my heart, and I hope it resonates with you as well. 

The 20th Anniversary Edition now contains the latest medical advances in assisted reproductive technologies, more in-depth coverage of women’s gynecological and sexual health, new sample charts, and 6 new chapters. These chapters go into endometriosis, ovarian cysts, PCOS, natural ways to balance hormones, preserving your future fertility, miscarriage,s idiopathic infertility, and causes of unusual bleeding. 

This book is super warm and super approachable. I consider it an essential book and reference guide for women during their reproductive years. 

Adrenal Fatigue: 21st Century Stress Syndrome, James L. Wilson MD 

This is another book I swear by. It’s the most comprehensive book on adrenal fatigue I have ever read, with very practical action steps. If you are: tired for “no reason,” have trouble getting up in the morning, need coffee to keep you going, feel run down and stressed, crave salty or sweet snacks, struggle to keep up with the daily do’s, can’t bounce back from stress/illness, have a decreased sex drive, or are just not enjoying life anymore—this book is for you. 

The book contains a self-test questionnaire to help you determine if you have adrenal fatigue, and if so, how severe. Trust me when I tell you that this book will validate your feelings. Your struggles are valid, and this book will empower you to take your life back. 

The Hormone Cure: Reclaim Balance, Sleep and Sex Drive; Lose Weight; Feel Focused, Vital, and Energized Naturally with the Gottfried Protocol, Sara Gottfried, MD 

The Hormone Cure is the New York Times bestselling guide to hormone balance to help women of all ages achieve increased vitality, energy, resilience, and sensuality with science-based, natural therapies. This right here, ladies, is an easy-to-follow crash course in everything hormones. I’ve found it incredibly useful and refer back to it often. 

As women, we are told that feeling tapped out, dried up, stressed out, sleep-deprived, and moody are just a part of being a woman—and that the only way to fix them is with an orange bottle. 

Sara Gottfried is a Harvard-educated physician and nationally recognized, board-certified gynecologist who refuses to accept that popping pills is the new normal cure-all. In her book, she helps women who feel overwhelmed feel empowered to reclaim their wellness and optimal health. 

She combines scientific evidence with natural therapies to identify the common causes of hormonal imbalance to get to the root. She uses a three-tiered treatment strategy to help: supplements and targeted lifestyle changes to address underlying deficiencies, herbal therapies to restore balance and optimize your body’s natural function, and bioidentical hormones (available without a prescription). 

If you want natural and effective ways to find more energy, better sleep, improved mood, easy weight loss, and more, this guide will change your life. 

I should note that she also just came out with Women, Food, and Hormones: A 4-Week Plan to Achieve Hormone Balance, Lose Weight, and Feel Like Yourself Again, which I have not read yet. In her new book, she shares a new, female-friendly Keto diet that addresses women’s unique hormonal needs. It comes with an intermittent fasting protocol and over 50 filling recipes. If you have read this, please let me and other readers know what you think! 

I’m So Effing Tired: A proven Plan to Beat Burnout, Boost Your Energy and Reclaim Your Life, Amy Shah, MD 

Ok, can this cover be any more true for women? I used to say this all the time, my friends still say it all of the time, and clients say it to me all the time. I’m So Effing Tired by Dr. Amy Shah, a leading medical doctor and nutrition expert, is a guide to beating burnout and increasing your energy. Exhaustion does not have to be your new normal—in fact, it was never normal. If you feel like you’re overworked, overstressed, and overtired, this is the book for you. 

Odds are, you’ve gone to your doctor for help, and the only answers you’ve gotten are maybe it’s because of your age, workload, or it’s just normal. Wrong. Inspired by her own journey, Shah created this program so that you can regain your life. She takes readers through the complex and intricate relationship between your gut, immune system, and hormones. She explains the latest scientific research and her experience helping thousands of clients transform their lives. 

In just two weeks, you’ll learn how what you eat, when you eat, and how you manage stress all impact your energy. And you will feel it surge! In three months, you’ll be a whole new person, so that you can live the life you want. 

The Moon Juice Manual: Adaptogenic Recipes for Natural Stress Relief, Amanda Chantal Bacon  

Wellness expert, former chef, and founder of Moon Juice, Amanda Chantal Bacon, gives us a practical and yummy field guide to cooking and healing with adaptogens. The Moon Juice Manual is your blueprint for mind-body health with stress-busting mushrooms and herbs. 

You’ll learn how chronic stress impacts the body and mind—why you might have low libido, non-existent energy, and chronic inflammation. Even more, you’ll discover how to incorporate adaptogens into your daily life to optimize beauty, brain, sex, spirit, sleep, and mood. 

Get ready to make easy and decadent treats like Schisandra Sleeping Beauty Balls, Horny Goat Weed Brownies, and Eleuthero Chocolate Chip Cookies. Your apron is waiting. 

The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer, Nobel Prize Winner Elizabeth Blackburn, PhD, and Elissa Epel, PhD 

A groundbreaking book by the Nobel Prize Winner who discovered telomeres, telomerase, and their role in the aging process, and the psychologist who analyzed specific lifestyle habits to protect them, slow down disease, and lengthen life. The Telomere Effect answers your questions: why do some 60-year-olds look and feel like 40-year-olds, and why do some 40-year-olds look and feel like 60-year-olds? 

There are many factors that contribute to illness and aging, but Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn discovered biological markers called telomerase, the enzyme that replenishes telomeres, which protect our DNA and how they play a role in the health and length of a person’s life. With this, she provides a biological basis for the mind-body connection. 

Even more, Dr. Elissa Epel found specific things we can do to lengthen our telomeres to keep us vibrant and disease-free. In this book, you’ll learn how sleep, exercise, and diet impact our telomeres and how stress eats away at them! You’ll get a list of the best foods and more. 

I hope this list of books for women’s health has got you excited about reading! Let me know in the comments below which books you’re most excited about.