Empowering good health and happiness beyond 50
Date Published: 20 March 2026
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
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.
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