Australia has legislated the reinstatement of private health insurance rebates for naturopathy. For the millions of women navigating perimenopause, many of whom have been managing gut symptoms and hormonal changes with natural therapies at full cost, this is a significant shift. Here is what it means for you, and what to do next.

If you've arrived at this article because your cholesterol went up and you weren't sure why, there's a good chance the answer is hormonal. Perimenopause-related cholesterol changes are real, well-documented, and largely under-discussed in clinical settings. Understanding them as part of a broader biological picture, rather than a dietary or lifestyle failure, is the first step toward a genuinely informed response.

Heart disease isn't explained by cholesterol alone. High LDL significantly raises risk and the evidence for that is strong and consistent. But whether that risk actually leads to disease depends on the health of your artery walls, the degree of inflammation in your body, your hormonal environment, your sleep and daily rhythms, and a complex web of factors that a single number on a blood test simply can't capture.