For women struggling with weight gain after menopause, a new study suggests that adding hormone therapy to a popular obesity drug may lead to greater weight loss.

Postmenopausal women lost about 35% more weight when using menopausal hormone therapy alongside tirzepatide — a GLP-1-based, Food and Drug Administration-approved drug for the overweight and obese — compared to those taking the drug alone, according to a Mayo Clinic study.

The findings, published in February in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, & Women’s Health, highlight a possible new strategy for addressing weight gain after menopause, when hormonal shifts can increase the risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes.

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“This study provides important insights for developing more effective and personalized strategies for managing cardiometabolic risk in postmenopausal women,” Dr. Regina Castaneda, the study’s first author, said in a statement. 

Researchers analyzed 120 postmenopausal women who were overweight or obese who took tirzepatide for at least 12 months, including 40 who also used hormone therapy and 80 who did not.

Hormone therapy is commonly used to treat menopause symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats, while tirzepatide helps regulate appetite and blood sugar.

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Women in the hormone therapy group lost an average of 19.2% of their body weight, compared to 14.0% in the non-hormone group — about 35% greater relative weight loss — with more women reaching significant weight-loss thresholds, according to the study.

Despite the results, researchers emphasized that the study was observational and cannot prove cause and effect.

“Because this was not a randomized trial, we cannot say hormone therapy caused additional weight loss,” said Dr. Maria Daniela Hurtado Andrade, an endocrinologist at Mayo Clinic and senior author of the study.

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Outside experts agree that the findings must be interpreted cautiously.

“As with all observational studies, we need to interpret this study with a grain of salt,” Dr. Gillian Goddard, a board-certified endocrinologist, told Fox News Digital. 

Goddard, who is also an adjunct assistant professor of medicine at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, noted that the findings show a link but do not prove that hormone therapy, which usually includes estrogen, directly caused the additional weight loss.

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“There may be important differences between the two groups,” she added. “For one thing, the group taking estrogen may be healthier than the groups that didn’t take estrogen. … Healthier people are more likely to eat a healthy diet and exercise in addition to taking tirzepatide. That could lead to more weight loss.” 

Symptom relief from the therapy may have also improved sleep and well-being, making it easier for the group to maintain diet and exercise routines, Hurtado Andrade noted.

Researchers also pointed to a possible biological explanation. Preclinical data suggest estrogen may enhance the appetite-suppressing effects of GLP-1-based medications like tirzepatide, according to the study.

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Goddard said that theory is plausible but unproven.

“The other possibility is that estrogen interacts with tirzepatide in some way that makes it more potent,” she said. “We will need randomized studies to get a better handle on that.”

As for safety, experts say using the two together appears safe for most women. However, hormone therapy is not recommended for all patients, especially those with a history of certain cancers, blood clots or other underlying health risks, according to the Mayo Clinic.

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Researchers say future randomized trials will aim to confirm the findings and explore whether the combination also improves broader cardiometabolic health outcomes, according to the study.

“If confirmed, this work could speed the development and adoption of new, evidence-based strategies to reduce this risk for millions of postmenopausal women navigating this life stage,” Hurtado Andrade said.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the study authors for comment.

If you’re not sleeping well, there could be a variety of reasons, but one habit stands out as the biggest culprit.

Dr. Wendy Troxel, a licensed clinical psychologist and senior behavioral scientist at RAND based in Utah, revealed that phone use at night is the activity that is most likely to have a negative effect on slumber.

“Most people are aware of this, but probably the No. 1 habit that’s contributing to interrupted sleep and poor-quality sleep in Americans is the use of phones at night, particularly in bed,” she said in an interview with Fox News Digital.

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“About 90% of Americans are using their phones in bed, and as much as I would like to tell everybody to remove the phone entirely from the bedroom, I realize that ship has probably sailed by now.”

This disruption is driven by both blue light exposure and the stimulating content on phones, according to Troxel.

“There is blue light emitted from our devices, and blue light can suppress the hormone melatonin, which is the hormone of darkness.”

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“But it’s not just the blue light that is causing sleep disruptions from our phones. It’s really the stimulating content that we’re consuming … (on) social media, which is designed to be addictive, so that you can’t put that phone down,” she added.

This content is also “very emotionally activating,” Troxel noted, which is “antithetical to the state we want to be in as we approach sleep.”

To counteract attachment to phones, the sleep expert recommends setting a boundary with one simple rule.

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“I recommend that you try to keep your phone more than arms’ distance away from you while in bed,” she advised. “And set a rule for yourself. If you’re going to use the phone, don’t do it in bed. In fact, make your feet be on the floor if you’re going to use that phone.”

Setting this boundary creates “behavioral friction,” according to Troxel.

“As a clinical psychologist, I work with people to help them … break habits that aren’t serving them,” she said. “Having that little bit of behavioral friction makes the habit of immediately grabbing for the phone and scrolling while in bed a little more difficult.

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“And when that automatic behavior is a little more difficult, it’s less likely to occur.”

Large, palm-sized spiders are spinning massive golden webs across porches and power lines, and, according to experts, they’re here to stay.

The Joro spider, which has a leg span up to 4 inches and markings of neon yellow, blue-black and red, was first recorded in Georgia in 2013.

Since its arrival — likely as a hitchhiker on a shipping container or an airplane from Asia, experts say — the arachnid has been steadily marching north. 

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The spiders have so far been spotted in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. 

They are expected to spread throughout eastern North America, at least as far north as Pennsylvania and possibly further in warmer, coastal areas, according to Penn State.

To travel, the spider uses a technique called “ballooning,” in which hatchlings release fine silk threads that catch air currents and carry them over long distances.

Ian Williams, an entomologist with Orkin, said he counted 200 adult spiders by September of last year on his one-acre property near Atlanta.

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“They’re quite intimidating looking spiders, and they make very large webs,” he told Fox News Digital. “The webbing itself, if it catches the sunlight, has a golden hue to it. And it’s very strong.”

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Despite the arachnid’s striking appearance, experts agree that people shouldn’t panic. Research shows the Joro is among the “shyest” spiders ever documented. When disturbed, they often sits motionless for over an hour rather than attacking.

“While they’re large spiders, they don’t have large fangs. And, so, it’s difficult for them to bite humans,” Williams noted.

Even in the rare event of a nip, the expert said the venom is weak, comparable to a localized bee sting, and carries “no medical importance.”

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As an invasive species, the Joro’s impact is still being weighed by scientists.

“One of the big concerns is that they potentially out-compete native species of spiders,” Williams said. 

A prolific hunter, the Joro spider catches everything from mosquitoes to large, meaty insects like cicadas. It is unclear whether it steals food from native garden spiders.

To prevent Joro spiders from nesting on your porch or property, experts recommend using a broom or long pole to knock the web down.

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“Spiders may get the message, ‘Hey, I’m not going to keep remaking my same web in the same area,’” Williams said.

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Physical removal is more effective than pesticides, which often miss the spiders in their high, open-air webs.

For those who spot a Joro spider in a new area, experts suggest logging the sighting on apps like iNaturalist to help researchers track their northern migration.