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248. What Your Midlife Symptoms Are Really Telling You / Andrea Nakayama

    Midlife symptoms have a way of turning up the volume on everything you’ve been ignoring—fatigue, restlessness, burnout, or that persistent feeling that “this just isn’t working anymore.” In Episode 248: What Your Midlife Symptoms Are Really Telling You, I’m joined by functional nutritionist and educator Andrea Nakayama for a powerful reframe: your symptoms aren’t failures—they’re feedback.

    What Your Midlife Symptoms Are Really Telling You

    Andrea brings a fresh lens to midlife wellness, one that goes far beyond quick fixes and trendy biohacks. She invites us to listen—to treat our midlife symptoms as messengers, not mistakes. These signals often point to something deeper: a misalignment between how we live and what truly fuels us.

    We explore why burnout and fatigue might be guiding you toward your next act, not just another supplement. Andrea shares how functional nutrition, narrative medicine, and deep self-awareness can lead to real, lasting healing.

    She also shares her own midlife story—navigating profound personal loss, raising a child, managing Hashimoto’s, and building a business in her 40s. Her journey reminds us that healing is not about timing—it’s about listening to what life and your body are asking for, one small step at a time.

    You’ll learn:

    • How to recognize your body’s deeper messages (and stop ignoring them)

    • Why wellness isn’t about fixing, but aligning

    • What the health world gets wrong about biohacking and quick fixes

    • How to advocate for real healing—especially when your doctor isn’t seeing the whole picture

    • Why longevity is more about meaning than control

      If you’ve been doing everything “right” but still feel off, this episode is for you. Your symptoms might be the guideposts you’ve been missing.

    Connect with Andrea here

    Connect with Heike here

    Check out more episodes here!


    Pursue Your Spark Book for women in midlife/Heike Yates

    Help Me Spread The Word

    If this speaks to you, here’s how you can help it reach other women who need it the most:

    1. Buy a copy (or gift one to a friend)
    2. Leave a 5-star review on Amazon – it helps so much!
    3. Tag me in your pics @heikeyates and use #PursueYourSpark