Episode 2 Summary: The Vata Years — What Ayurveda Has Always Known About Perimenopause

In this episode of Well Traveled, Dr. Alexina Mehta takes you to India to explore how Ayurveda has understood perimenopause for over 5,000 years — not as a problem to fix, but as a natural and powerful transition into a new phase of life.

She introduces the Ayurvedic concept of the three doshas — Vata, Pitta, and Kapha — and explains how perimenopause marks the beginning of the “Vata years,” a time characterized by increased movement, change, and sensitivity in the body and mind.

Through this lens, common symptoms like anxiety, sleep disruption, weight changes, dryness, and hormonal fluctuations begin to make sense. Rather than random or pathological, they are signs of rising Vata and a system asking for a different k ...