Navigating the Hot and Cold of Perimenopause
A Glimpse into New Tech and Communities
At a recent healthcare conference in Las Vegas, I found myself, as one does, chatting with a presenter about menopause amidst the hustle of a casino. At a women’s health event, you know that thermoregulation is a. . .hot topic.
“I. Am. Fuh-reezing.”
But this time, standing in a vendor booth, I was shivering. I'd picked a sleeveless outfit, to guard against the strip’s warm, dry climate and the inevitable hot flash. But the air conditioning was on full blast—a common occurrence for any conference designed with men in suits in mind.
I commented to Laura Okafor, the founder of Perry, that I wished I'd brought a sweater. She nodded, understanding the rollercoaster that is perimenopause, when hot flashes are as unpredictable as casino slot machines. (My favorite recounting of a hot flash might be this by Andrea Hoffmann in her post yesterday on What Are the Chances).
At that moment, Sam Shames joined the conversation. The 31-year-old co-founder of Embr Labs had a gadget in hand that he thought might help: a watch. But not just any watch. This was the Embr Wave, a wearable device designed specifically to manage temperature-related discomforts like hot flashes and chills.
Sam’s biggest consumers are women in menopause. And looking around the venue, it seemed every “femtech” investor had descended upon this exhibit hall in the Venetian. Ah, to be the young inventor of a hot-flash watch.
Back in 2013, Sam and three other MIT students created the Embr Wave during a contest for undergraduate and graduate students on sustainability solutions. The students of materials science and conductivity, sitting in an overly air-conditioned lab, began talking about devices that could adjust temperature by targeting points on skin.
Your core body temperature generally stays fixed at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Embr Wave works by targeting the inner wrist to create sensations of warmth or coolness. This simple mechanism engages the skin’s thermoreceptors, signaling the brain to make you feel warmer or cooler through the nervous system. For women navigating hot flashes, this provides real relief.
A hot flash is a brief episode of intense warmth, often accompanied by sweating, rapid heartbeat, and sometimes even a sense of anxiety or panic. It’s tied to a “fight or flight” response in the body that results from fluctuating estrogen levels.
When the device, which helps to override that sensation, launched in 2017, Sam had tested it on his own mother and her friends—all of whom offered feedback on both its function and design. The watch needed to be as visually appealing as it was functional, the women told him. Several redesigns later, the team produced a sleek, modern design reminiscent of a fashionable smartwatch. Available in rose gold and black with the option to attach different colored wristbands, it retails for around $300.
What’s Next: Predicting Hot Flashes
During our interview, Sam says that Embr Labs has raised $66 million to continue developing the watch. Sam and his team are already working on a next-generation version, one they hope will have predictive capabilities. Imagine a device that knows when a hot flash is coming before you do, allowing you to activate its cooling feature in advance. This would be a breakthrough in helping women manage one of the most frustrating symptoms of menopause. “We’ve spent multiple years developing the capabilities to predict a hot flash 20 to 30 seconds before it happens,” Sam tells me.
Sam is far from alone in his efforts. Platforms such as Okafor’s Perry offer education, support, and a place for middle-aged women to discuss symptoms and solutions for this period of “not yet menopause.”
In this realm is Pandia Health, a telemedicine platform for women I’m exploring for my daughter and myself. It’s a one-stop, convenient place to receive healthcare and prescriptions for women at every stage of life, whether they’re teens looking for prescription-strength solutions for acne or middle-aged health shifts.
Reframing Menopause: It’s Not Just a Phase, It’s a Community
As I walked away from Sam and the Perry booth, new watch on my wrist and some fresh insights in my pocket, I felt something I hadn't expected: hope.
Menopause, in all its unpredictability, is no longer just a “phase” to be endured; it's an experience being acknowledged by science, supported by technology, and shared within a growing community. And that is something worth cheering on.
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