Empowering good health and happiness beyond 50
Self help, Women Health
Date Published: 20 March 2026
“An uplifting and empowering guide to later life that blends lived
experience with science and practical wisdom, encouraging us not merely to
age, but to thrive. I read this book as a middle-aged man and loved it
… it is beautifully reassuring, humane, and optimistic.”
— Professor Chris van Tulleken, Clinician, Academic, TV Presenter, UK
Aged 50+ is a pivotal stage in many women’s lives. We are entering post-menopause—free from reproductive hormones, periods, and contraception. Children may be leaving home, careers may be shifting or winding down, and there is the dawning realisation that we may have 20 or 30 healthy years ahead of us. This is not an ending, but a powerful new beginning. This stage of life offers an opportunity to reconnect with yourselves, to rediscover what truly matters, and to prioritise self-love and self-care without guilt. This book brings you the wisdom of 50 inspiring women who share their lived experiences with honesty and generosity. Their stories offer guidance, reassurance, and permission to live authentically on your own terms. Together, they show how this stage of life can be rich with meaning, purpose, freedom, and joy. These are Your Joyful Years.
Professor Joyce Harper is a down-to-earth expert in reproductive and women’s health, with almost 40 years’ experience listening to women and translating science into practical, evidence-based guidance. She has published widely about women’s health and is passionate about helping women thrive. Joyce combines research, real-world experience, and a deep belief in living life to the full, and she practices what she preaches. This book is the second in her trilogy: Your Fertile Years; Your Joyful Years; and Your Final Years.
About the Author
Joyce Harper is an internationally renowned and award-winning educator, author, women’s health coach, podcaster, academic, public speaker, and scientist. She is Professor of Reproductive Science at University College London in the Institute for Women’s Health, where she leads the Reproductive Science and Society Group. She has published more than 250 scientific papers and regularly gives keynote lectures at international conferences.
Joyce is deeply passionate about empowering women to live their best lives through good health and happiness. Her last book, Your Fertile Years, published by Sheldon Press in 2021, explores women’s health from puberty to menopause. In Your Joyful Years, she shares the wisdom of 50 women over 50 who are thriving, to empower women to lead a life of good health and happiness. She has started writing her next book, Your Final Years, about the end of life.
Her podcast Why didn’t anyone tell me this? is ranked in the top 10% of podcasts globally on Listen Notes and is listened to in more than 90 countries.
Joyce gives many public talks. She regularly appears in the press, on radio and TV. She is a regular guest on various BBC programmes including Women’s Hour and the BBC World Service. She has been a guest on Brian Cox’s Infinite Monkey Cage and his radio show A Question of Science and she explained sex to Philomena Cunk, in Cunk on Life.
As co-founder and co-lead of the UK Menopause Education and Support Programme (InTune) with Dr Shema Tariq and the International Reproductive Health Education Collaboration (IRHEC), Joyce is dedicated to improving reproductive health education for all ages. She collaborates with schools across the UK and globally to deliver impactful programs that promote knowledge and understanding.
An avid cold-water swimmer, Joyce is also a founding member of the research network SwimHer, which investigates the links between women’s health and cold-water swimming. Her groundbreaking work includes publishing the world’s first study about how cold-water swimming affects menstrual and menopause symptoms.
Since 2016 she has run a local women’s group in Saffron Walden, The Purple Tent.
Contact Links
Instagram: @ProfJoyceHarper
TikTok: @ProfJoyceHarper
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