Empowering good health and happiness beyond 50
Date Published: 20 March 2026
— 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.
What was
your main drive to write this book?
I am a very happy and positive person, but I know that for many women this
stage of life can feel uncertain or even overwhelming. There is still such a
strong negative narrative around ageing, particularly for women, and I wanted
to challenge that. Through this book, I wanted to share the stories of women
who are thriving and to show that this can be a time of freedom, growth, and
self-discovery. Many of us feel this is the best time of our lives, and that we
can truly find our authentic selves once we are post-menopause.
What do
you hope readers will learn by reading this book?
I hope the book offers both reassurance and practical guidance, especially for
women who may be struggling. This might be due to an empty nest, retirement,
divorce, bereavement, or simply a sense of loss of identity. I want the book to
feel like a toolkit, something women can return to, helping them build good
health, meaningful connections, and a real sense of happiness and purpose in
their lives.
Did you
do much research when planning this book?
Yes, the research was a central part of the process. I began by interviewing
women, initially people I knew who I felt were living fulfilled and happy
lives. From there, I used a snowball approach, asking each woman to suggest
others who were also thriving. This led to a diverse and inspiring group of
voices. The interviews took around six months to complete, and they were
incredibly rich and thought-provoking. After that, the writing process began,
where I wove together their stories with evidence-based insights.
Did you
have any main people who helped you in the process of this book or influenced
you to write it?
The biggest support throughout this journey was my agent and dear friend, Wendy
Yorke. She was not only one of the women I interviewed, but she also runs a
wonderful writers’ retreat. That space gave me the time and clarity to step
back and really think about how I wanted to shape the book. Her encouragement
and belief in the project were invaluable right up until the end.
How long
did this book take you to write from initial thought to hitting publish?
Around two years from the initial idea to publication. It was a deeply
reflective process, both professionally and personally, and one that evolved as
the interviews and themes developed.
Do you
have plans to write more about this topic or new topics?
One of the most unexpected and powerful themes to emerge from the interviews
was the role of death in shaping how we live. Many of the women had experienced
significant loss, losing parents at a young age, more recent bereavements, or
other profound life events. These experiences often led to a deeper
appreciation of life.
I would like to explore
this further in my next book, looking at death in a more open and positive way.
This could include conversations with women who are facing the end of life, as
well as those who have survived suicide attempts, alongside perspectives from
death doulas, undertakers, spiritual leaders, and others who work closely with
death and dying. I’m interested in how we can approach grief, acceptance, and
mortality in a way that ultimately helps us live more fully.
About the Author
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
Posts
0 Comments