Finally, a wearable designed for women approaching menopause

Peri tracks hot flashes, night sweats, anxiety, and more for women in perimenopause. How it works, why its founders decided to sell it as a consumer device, and Peri’s surprising business model.

Ali Hewson, like many women, was unprepared for the intensity of perimenopause. “I initially thought I would just grin and bear it, as my mother did,” she says. 

But the symptoms piled on: brain fog, hot flashes, mood swings, dryness, exhaustion. “One minute you are happy and content, then suddenly you are anxious and irritable followed by intense heat and sweating,” Hewson says. At their worst, her hot flashes were happening hourly. 

The symptoms began to take a toll on her rich and varied responsibilities as a humanitarian activist, fashion entrepreneur, mother of four, daughter to aging parents, and wife to world-famous rock star Bono. Even after deciding to seek relief, Hewson faced challenges in finding the right care. She visited four different gynecologists, each of whom prescribed a different version of hormone replacement therapy, or HRT. 

“It was a journey over 10 years to find the best doctor and formula that works for me,” she says. “I felt like an experiment.” 

It’s this very scenario that inspired the development of a new wearable for women in perimenopause, dubbed Peri, which Hewson has backed as an angel investor. (In 2023, I wrote about the booming business of menopause and the ways in which entrepreneurs were pursuing the $16 billion opportunity.)

Launching stateside this week, Peri attaches to the torso and uses proprietary algorithms to monitor—in a first for a wearable—hot flashes and night sweats. The device, which is about the size of a flattened AirPods case, stays in place with a sticker and is designed to be worn all day, night, and even in the shower. In addition to perimenopause’s signature vasomotor symptoms, it also captures sleep, exercise, anxiety, and periods. 

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Ainsley Harris is a senior writer at Fast Company. She has written about technology, innovation, and finance for the past 10 years, including four cover stories More

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