781: What If It’s Not Anxiety, Burnout, or “Just Your Hormones”? The Hidden Signs of ADHD in Women with Dr. Jolene Brighten

October 13, 2026 in Podcast, Women’s Health 0

Listen to the Episode Here

Episode Summary

What if the brain fog, overwhelm, time blindness, racing thoughts, and shorter emotional fuse showing up in your 40s aren’t just perimenopause?

For many women, ADHD has been hiding in plain sight for decades.

In this episode, Dr. Mariza sits down with women’s hormone expert and author Dr. Jolene Brighten to unpack why ADHD looks so different in women, why so many girls learn to mask their symptoms, and why changing estrogen levels during perimenopause can make those coping strategies suddenly stop working.

Dr. Brighten explains how ADHD in women may look less like the stereotypical hyperactive child and more like people-pleasing, perfectionism, constantly running mental lists, interrupting because you’re afraid you’ll forget your thought, chronic overwhelm, and appearing completely put together while internally struggling.

They also dive into the fascinating overlap between ADHD, perimenopause, PMDD, sleep, mitochondrial function, glucose metabolism, neuroinflammation, and emotional regulation.

And perhaps most importantly, they discuss what women can actually do: how movement can support brain energy, why sleep matters so much for the ADHD brain, how to build habits that work with your executive function instead of against it, and exactly how to advocate for a proper evaluation when your concerns are dismissed.

Because if your brain suddenly feels harder to manage in midlife, there may be more going on than “just hormones.”

DR. JOLENE BRIGHTEN

Dr. Jolene Brighten is a board-certified naturopathic endocrinologist, women’s hormone expert, educator, and bestselling author whose work focuses on helping women better understand the relationship between their hormones, brain, and overall health.

Her newest book, ADHD and Women: A Guide to Optimizing Your Hormones and Thriving with ADHD, explores how female hormones can influence ADHD symptoms throughout puberty, the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, postpartum, and perimenopause.

In this conversation, Dr. Brighten brings both clinical expertise and personal experience to the complicated intersection of ADHD, hormonal transitions, PMDD, emotional regulation, sleep, and women finally receiving answers after decades of believing they simply needed to try harder.

IN THIS EPISODE

Why ADHD in women can hide behind people-pleasing, perfectionism, and looking “high-functioning”
How declining estrogen in perimenopause can make masking ADHD symptoms much harder
Why girls with ADHD are often diagnosed with anxiety or depression instead
The connection between ADHD, mitochondrial function, brain glucose metabolism, and neuroinflammation
Why movement can temporarily improve focus and cognitive performance in the ADHD brain
How sleep disruption can compound brain fog, emotional dysregulation, and ADHD symptoms
Why ADHD and PMDD so often overlap and may worsen during perimenopause
How hormones may influence impulsivity, mood, executive function, and premenstrual ADHD symptoms
What to track and say to your doctor if you suspect ADHD but keep getting dismissed