Roshini Sanah Jaiswal, founder of neurocosmetics brand Justhuman, has launched 'It Was Menopause All Along', India's first podcast dedicated to reshaping conversations around menopause. The podcast features leading public figures, global medical experts, and women with lived experiences to address the critical gap in menopause awareness and treatment in India.
Early Menopause in Indian Women
Indian women reach menopause at an average age of 46, nearly five years earlier than women in the West, according to the Indian Menopause Society PAN India Survey (Journal of Mid-life Health, 2016), corroborated by a systematic review (ScienceDirect, 2021). This means perimenopause begins in the late 30s to early 40s, years before most women or their doctors think to look for it. Projections cited in Scientific Reports (Nature, 2024) indicate that over 400 million Indian women will be aged 45 and above by 2026, largely without a framework to understand what is happening to their bodies.
Health Risks of Untreated Menopause
Untreated menopause is linked to accelerated bone loss, cardiovascular risk, cognitive decline, and long-term brain health consequences that are modifiable with early diagnosis and treatment. Yet most women never receive either, according to NIH/PMC (2019). The podcast aims to close this gap by providing science-backed information and tools for women to act.
Podcast Mission and Content
"For generations, women have been told that menopause is simply something to endure. But the truth is that many women don't even know they're experiencing it. They blame themselves for the anxiety, the brain fog, the sleepless nights, the sudden shifts in confidence and identity. And that is the concern -- because today we have answers, we have treatments, and we have science that makes endurance completely unnecessary. Every woman deserves to know that," says Jaiswal.
The podcast launches with entrepreneur and television personality Seema Kiran Sajdeh, who speaks with rare candor about navigating acid reflux, osteopenia, stress, and depression without a framework to understand what was happening to her body. "Women are told they're stressed. They're told they're overreacting. They're told they're getting older. The concern isn't that women experience menopause, it's that so many experience it without understanding what's happening to them, and without being told that help exists. That's the gap that needs to be closed," says Sajdeh.
Notable Guests and Experts
The season goes on to feature politician Mahua Moitra, journalist Shoma Chaudhury, culture journalist Bandana Tewari, gynecologist Dr. Duru Shah, neuroscientist Dr. Sarah McKay, dermatologist Dr. Michelle Henry, celebrity aesthetician Harshna Bijlani, Editor of Hello Magazine Ruchika Mehta, artist and influencer Manjri Varde, sexual educator Leeza Mangaldas, Kim Vopni (The Vagina Coach), and others. Each brings a different lens to a subject that touches every dimension of a woman's life: her brain, her body, her skin, her identity, her relationships, and her work.
A Call for a Menopause Revolution
"These are some of the most informed, educated, resourced, and well-connected women you'll meet, and menopause still blindsided them," says Jaiswal. "Now imagine the millions of women who do not have access to the same information, expertise, or support. India does not need more menopause awareness. It needs a menopause revolution!"
'It Was Menopause All Along' was built on a single belief: that every woman deserves answers sooner, not at 55, after years of misdiagnosis and self-blame, but now, while she can still act, advocate for herself, and live the second half of her life with full information. "If via the podcast, we help one woman recognize herself in these conversations and reach for help sooner, the change is already being made," concludes Jaiswal.
