My hostas have no leaves in the middle. I know that other perennials have the same problem as they get older and are announcing that it's time to divide them
But are hostas the same? It seems that whenever I have tried to divide one it really suffers and never really comes back.
Thank you in advance for your advice.

Some of the larger varieties do die back in the center leaving a "ring" of viable growths. I have divided a few at that time. It took a long handled spade to gain a little leverage and a well prepared hole.
I found them easy to transplant. You just need to keep them evenly moist while they recover from the shock of being divided and re-planted.
I have had a few with rather sparse leaves on some divisions but each clump recovered and looked great the following year.
All my perennial beds got a monthly feeding of Miracle Grow plant food from an applicator at the end of a garden hose. I would feed for 4 months only. May, June, July and August. I saw an immediate doubling in the number of bloom spikes from everything I had in the beds from hostas to astilbe, to primrose to azaleas.

When are u trying to divide your hosta? Best time is early spring when it just starts to sprout or later in the fall when it's cool.i, too, find them easy to divide. I put the shove where I want to divide, step on it and it goes down thru the hosta roots, they take it to a hoke I've prepped and plant. I have divided some late springor early summer but it seems one the leaves are up, the leaves that are affected by the move never really recover, so it's also prettier to do it early or late