July 24, 2025 • 20 mins
Women’s health is dynamic—it’s an ongoing journey shaped by life stages and decisions that compound and build on one another over time. In this opening episode, we talk to longevity expert Dr. Karen Koffler and introduce a framework for understanding women’s health across life stages. From the first period to menopause and beyond, from brain and bone health to hormones, fitness and nutrition, we explore what makes women’s health unique. This conversation sets the stage for how every woman can turn knowledge into power—expanding not just her lifespan, but her healthspan.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to hear something good on women's health and longevity.
We are so grateful to our partners P ANDNG, maker
of trusted brands like Tampex, Always and Always Discreet and Walgreens.
You're women's wellbeing destination. Together we'll bring you something good
each week on women's health and longevity, and it wouldn't
be possible without their support. Each week, we aspire to
(00:22):
bringing the good news on women's health by talking to
renowned scientists and medical experts, and by sharing health advice
that can help you live healthier and happier. Today, we're
talking to doctor Karen Kaffler about what's changed for women's
health and the simple steps women can take to focus
not just on their lifespan, but their health span. Doctor
(00:44):
Karen Koffler is Professor of Medicine at the University of
Miami School of Medicine. She's a physician at Lifespan Medical
focused on longevity medicine, and she also has her own
private practice focused on women's health and longevity. Welcome, Doctor Koffler.
Except for having me Kim so, in recent years, there's
really been a new focus on women's health. Of course,
(01:06):
we know that women's health is an ever changing lifelong
journey from first period to menopause and beyond. But what's
change in the way we're approaching women's health today. What's
the opportunity for women?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I think women today are much more engaged, much more
aware that they can be more directive in their health,
more of an architect in designing exactly what they want
to attend to, what they're worried about, what they want
to prevent moving forward. They've watched previous generations and they
(01:40):
recognize that they don't necessarily want to age in that
same way. And so I think women are becoming much
more proactive in their own healthcare and in fact therefore
directing much more of the healthcare of their families.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
And it seems that today even young women are really
much early in life focused on this. Are you seeing
that in your practice?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
You know, it's incredible.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Even my twenty four year old will tell me about
labels and products to avoid and so forth, and I
think that's really remarkable.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
I think it's an incredible shift. I think young women.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Today are far more aware of things that are affecting
their health than they ever were before, and they're taking
great action to avoid toxins, products that contain things that
can be harmful down the road. So there's a much
greater sense of awareness about how to keep themselves healthy.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
It's a wonderful change and hopefully we'll pay dividends for
many years. One of the things that we're hearing a
lot about which really helped me. Actually it's pretty simple concept,
but the difference between lifespan and health span. Of course,
we all always talk about extending our lifespan. What does
health span mean? You know?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
In reality, I think we all really want better health
span because what we're seeing is the last decade of
life is often spent in a much more fragile, less
engaged way, and so I think rather thinking in terms
of longevity, I think we should be thinking in terms
(03:20):
of health. Jevity what I invented, But I really do
think what we want to do is optimize our health
as we age so that we can participate in life
much more fully than perhaps we've watched previous generations too.
And if those of us who are lucky enough to
have elders that have aged really.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Really well, we want to mimic that.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
We want to be active, we want to be engaged,
we want our brain sharp and that really speaks more
about health span than just life span.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Yeah, that's super interesting. It really is true when everyone
thinks about that last decade. I think that's what people
are mostly afraid of. And it's kind of a time
because we have this incredibly fast aging population, baby boomers
moving into that later stage of life. And really, frankly,
I think baby boomers are also kind of reshaping aging
because they're really not willing to age the same way,
(04:15):
which is pretty exciting for those coming behind them. So
what can we do then, what can women do to
really help extend their health span and focus on that?
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Yeah, so it really begins with the basics.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I mean, how we nourish ourselves, and that includes food,
but it also includes how we move, how well we
sleep are, what the quality of our relationships are like,
what gives purpose and meaning. Those lifestyle practices have by
far and away a bigger impact on how well we
(04:50):
age and what our health span looks like than really
anything else we do. And then there are additional things
that we can layer on on top of that implementation.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Certain practices, those.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Are important, but no more important by far than how
we nourish ourselves.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
In terms of food, sleep, and movement.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
I mean that's super interesting in the sense that when
you first started talking about this with me several years ago,
when I started sort of thinking about my own health
span a little bit more seriously. You know, we kind
of all know that you like should eat well and
you should you know, exercise and sleep well. Right, But
when you get into the details of it, what does
it actually mean and how do you motivate yourself to
(05:35):
do that? How do you change your sort of mindset
around that. I think you've really helped me with that.
One idea that you put in my mind was thinking
of yourself as an athlete, for example, at any age,
And I know for myself that's been a pretty interesting
shift to think, Okay, well I want to act like
an athlete. I think you know, of course my love
of pickleball, which changed my daily activities. But I think
(05:56):
most of us were raised to play sports. A lot
of us play sports as kids, but as we got older,
didn't really have that opportunity for team sports, and maybe
some of us don't love the gym so much. So
what can you tell us about how you view yourself
to get yourself to do those basics that are so essential.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Well, I think your point is super well taken. It's
how you begin to visualize yourself. If you want to
see yourself as healthy, it makes it a lot easier
to begin to implement small practices that get you there.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
And what does healthy look like? Being able to move,
being able to raise.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Your suitcase into the overhead compartment, being able to engage
in basic things are some of the ways that we
can see ourselves becoming healthier and healthier. And to your
point about movement and activity, there are so many opportunities.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Now.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I have a girlfriend who just started ballet, which she
hasn't done since she was twelve years old. Love it
de Salsa dancing here in Miami, super calm, and line dancing,
any kind of movement. It doesn't have to be the gym.
Having said that, I think one of the important challenges
and changes that women need to implement really is this
(07:15):
idea of building more strength. Building physical strength, which by
the way, translates into mental and emotional strength, and we
know that, but building physical strengths meaning being able to
move your body weight and then some and watching yourself
actually gets stronger and stronger, that is really key.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
On so many levels.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
It builds muscle, it improves metabolic rate, it builds bone,
it's great for the brain, it's great for the heart,
and it keeps us physically active far longer. I love
your pickleball activity, and you know I've complimented you on
finding that because it also works your agility, which works
(07:58):
your brain. It's a socially engaging activity, which is great
for all of us as well as just the physical activity.
The aerobic activity itself is so beneficial and it's.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
So much fun. But I think your point about strength
training is really important because I think there's been and
you've said You've mentioned this before, that there's been a
little bit of a hesitancy for women to think of
them as sort of lifting weights. And I think there's
been so much recent research coming out around the one
of the best things you can do for brain health,
(08:32):
for example, is strength training. One of the things I've
learned from you and others that I've talked over the
last several years is this concept that disease doesn't just
appear right. It's a slow evolving process. And so you know,
if you want to not have osteoporosis in your seventies,
you don't just catch it quote unquote in your seventies,
or you don't just develop Alzheimer's or neurorogenitic disease suddenly.
(08:55):
These are built on a lifetime of habits, and so
tell us a little bit more about that, and how
early should we start to think about, for example, bone
and strength building around bone.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Really, that's everything you just said is so so true,
and so adopting health habits early on in our teens
through our twenties, thirties, and forties is really going to
dictate how we're going to age. Having said that women
in their fifties, sixties, seventies and beyond will respond to
(09:27):
changes in health habits, that's the really, that's the beauty
of the human design is that it's so amenable to
change that we can see ninety year old women building
muscle mass when shown how to properly lift weights or
move weights around.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
So that's inspiring, it is inspiring.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
And so really starting early, you know, we build the
majority of our bone mass, for instance, by the age
of thirty, and then from that point on we're sort
of taking out of that bone bank account. So we
want to have our teens and women in their twenties
really concentrating on eating in such a way that they're
(10:09):
building up bone foods richer in calcium, less inflammatory foods
which take calcium out of bone, like sugar for instance,
and staying physically active and those measures, as well as
getting sun and keeping the vitamin D levels up, those
measures will go a long way to maintaining bone as
(10:29):
we age.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
It's really exciting. I mean, just talking about sugar for example.
Another thing that I've really taken advantage of, I think
over the last several years is the wearable movement and
the fact that we have access to these wearables, and
I'd love to hear your thoughts on that. And I
think you know that I try to continuous glucose monitor
even though I'm not pre diabetic. I'm not diabetic, but
to understand my sugar levels because as you just said,
(10:52):
sugar has such an impact on so many aspects of
our health that we're typically unaware of but can become
more aware of through things like a CGM monitor. Tell
us a little bit about wearables and how are you
finding that to help with giving us agency over our health?
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Right there are so many new technologies coming out.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
As an example, the CGM. What a great device.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
You know, we only used it for diabetics in the past,
and now we're using it for all kinds of things,
including pcos and other health issues, to help really refine
for each individual what foods tend to spike their sugars.
There's or rings which help us identify the quality of
our sleep. Are we getting adequate deep stage sleep, which
(11:37):
is the restorative sleep. What's our heart rate variability looking like?
Which dictates the level of stress the body is under.
For example, if your heart rate variability is low on
a particular day, as perceived through the whoop or an
or ring, you don't want to exercise heavy that day.
Maybe that day you do stretching and you go for
(11:59):
a walk walk. So these devices are really allowing us
to personalize care in a way we've never done before.
And the list goes on and on and on. AI
is introducing a whole new threshold of more in depth
and earlier predictive potential for patients.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Well, I hope we can get into this and maybe
more in a future episode, but just for those listening today,
I think I'm obviously very familiar with the CGM, But
why does it matter if your sugar is spiking. Why
do you even want to know about that?
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Good question.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
We're not designed to have wide fluctuations in our sugar.
The body works very hard to keep our sugar levels
within a very specified range. High sugars basically coat our
tissues and cause a significant inflammatory response, and it is
associated with heart disease, with dementia, with bone loss, with
(12:57):
all kinds of issues.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Joint pain too, like all the pains that we get exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
So, really aging is a matter of inflammation, and if
we keep inflammation to a minimum, we really help.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Reduce or slow the aging process.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Wow, well that's a really important for everybody to be
listening to. So there's so many things we can do
to fight inflammation, and perhaps we're going to have to
have a whole episode on that, Karen, if you'll join
us again. But one thing that I probably should bring up,
which has been really interesting to see over the last
couple of years, is this change in how we think
about menopause. Of course, that's an inflection point around aging
(13:35):
in women. Why has there been this new understanding or appreciation,
frankly celebration even of menopause. It went from really a
pretty big stigma around menopause to embracing it. What's changed
and why is that important? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
You know, I think prior generations really didn't comment much.
Many of us have no idea what our mother's menopause
was like, and that's shifting. Women are becoming much more
vocal about it because the reality of it is what
they suffered through is actually a very massive shift in physiology.
(14:10):
When our estrogen and progesterone levels decline, Bearing in mind
that there are receptors throughout the body on all tissues
virtually for those hormones, that is a very big change physiologically.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
It is not surprising that.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Women feel more fatigued, or that they have brain fog
or joint pain or hot flashes or mood swings, and
the list goes on and on and on, because in
a relatively short amount of time, our hormone levels are
changing very, very significantly, and today women recognize that they
have tools to soften that significantly and really reinstate hormones
(14:54):
so that they don't have to suffer and they don't
have to have a wearing out of their tissues at
this madic pace. So there's much more available to us.
Science has fortunately questioned the dogma around this, and women
are now much better equipped to have a much smoother transition,
(15:15):
and in so doing, you know, it's a stage of
life where women can begin to engage in.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Other more perhaps creative activities.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
There was a statistic not that long ago that showed
that the fastest growing population in new business sector were
women postmenopausally, which is very exciting.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Love it, love it, And as you've said many times,
it's a really amazing time to reset your health, to
reset your purpose, rethink kind of what you're doing, and
it's a new phase of life, and I think a
lot of us are taking that seriously to reset our
health certainly. And I know, of course you know that
we've been very supportive of women owned businesses, so we
see that a lot in our work too. So I
guess one final question, if you could give some recommendations
(15:58):
to women about the things that you think our key
to focus on that would really help you with your
overall health trajectory, what would that be?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I would say, probably the most important thing is to
recognize that within every one of us there is this
innate capacity to heal and change. And so if you
decided today to start an exercise program. Let's say, walk
out the door for ten minutes, turn around, walk back,
and the next day do that, and the next day
(16:28):
do that, and make it a daily small commitment, and
even if you get off track, the next day you
get back on track. The body will respond to that.
Every decision that you make that is pro health. You know,
the goal of let's say, what we teach our patients
get in thirty different plants a week, and by the way,
(16:50):
that includes teas.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
And herbs, so it's not hard to achieve.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
And maybe for the next month that's what you're going
to focus on, and then it becomes habit. Maybe the
next month or three months you focus on your walking
or your strength training. You institute these small changes, you
make them, have it, you begin to see the results,
and those results very affirming. That's probably the single most
(17:16):
important thing I would say. And also, don't get neurotic
and don't get too caught up in the latest, greatest fashion,
because while some of those new techniques or new sort
of social media based activities have some value, again, they're
not going to overwhelm the value of those basic changes
(17:37):
that we talked about in terms of better sleep, better nutrition,
and more movement in your life.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Love it.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
There's one piece of advice that you've given us that
I think also is really meaningful to a lot of women,
which is your perspective on saying no. Tell us a
little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
I think that's really critical. So and it's taken me
an awfully life time to learn it.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
If we're capable, we tend to say yes without thinking
about the cost. And when you say yes to certain things,
you may be saying no to other things, including self care.
And I think a very important thing that for instance,
many perimenopausal menopausal women realizes you have to make self
care your priority. And we have probably on some level
(18:24):
embodied the fact that it's being selfish, or the idea
that it's being selfish to say no in deference to
something that you need, and I think we need to
really dispel that notion. And so making self care a
priority means saying no to other things.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
And it's okay, thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
We could go on for a long time, as you know,
I would love to, actually, and we hope that you'll
come back on the show and dive into some of
these topics in more detail. But thank you so much
for joining us today. It's as always such a pleasure
to talk to you.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
I agree, I really enjoy speaking with you.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Thank Thanks, what a great conversation, so helpful and so inspiring.
Here are the top takeaways from today. First, you can
be the architect of your own health. Technology today is
enabling us to better understand and impact our health trajectory,
allowing us to focus not just on our lifespan, but
(19:20):
on our health span. Second, it's never too early or
too late to build good habits that will pay dividends
for a lifetime. Get back to the basics and focus
on nutrition, sleep, and exercise. Lastly, how you view yourself matters.
Think of yourself, for example, as an athlete or even
a dancer, and focus on building strength at any stage
(19:41):
of life. If you take action, says doctor Koffler, the
body will respond. Have a great day. For more podcasts
from iHeartRadio, check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Today's episode of
Here's Something Good on women's health and longevity was brought
to you by P and G, maker of trusted brands
(20:01):
like Tampax, Always and Always Discreete, and by Walgreens your
women's well being destination.
Welcome to hear something good on women's health and longevity.
We are so grateful to our partners P ANDNG, maker
of trusted brands like Tampex, Always and Always Discreet and Walgreens.
You're women's wellbeing destination. Together we'll bring you something good
each week on women's health and longevity, and it wouldn't
be possible without their support. Each week, we aspire to
(00:22):
bringing the good news on women's health by talking to
renowned scientists and medical experts, and by sharing health advice
that can help you live healthier and happier. Today, we're
talking to doctor Karen Kaffler about what's changed for women's
health and the simple steps women can take to focus
not just on their lifespan, but their health span. Doctor
(00:44):
Karen Koffler is Professor of Medicine at the University of
Miami School of Medicine. She's a physician at Lifespan Medical
focused on longevity medicine, and she also has her own
private practice focused on women's health and longevity. Welcome, Doctor Koffler.
Except for having me Kim so, in recent years, there's
really been a new focus on women's health. Of course,
(01:06):
we know that women's health is an ever changing lifelong
journey from first period to menopause and beyond. But what's
change in the way we're approaching women's health today. What's
the opportunity for women?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I think women today are much more engaged, much more
aware that they can be more directive in their health,
more of an architect in designing exactly what they want
to attend to, what they're worried about, what they want
to prevent moving forward. They've watched previous generations and they
(01:40):
recognize that they don't necessarily want to age in that
same way. And so I think women are becoming much
more proactive in their own healthcare and in fact therefore
directing much more of the healthcare of their families.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
And it seems that today even young women are really
much early in life focused on this. Are you seeing
that in your practice?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
You know, it's incredible.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Even my twenty four year old will tell me about
labels and products to avoid and so forth, and I
think that's really remarkable.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
I think it's an incredible shift. I think young women.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Today are far more aware of things that are affecting
their health than they ever were before, and they're taking
great action to avoid toxins, products that contain things that
can be harmful down the road. So there's a much
greater sense of awareness about how to keep themselves healthy.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
It's a wonderful change and hopefully we'll pay dividends for
many years. One of the things that we're hearing a
lot about which really helped me. Actually it's pretty simple concept,
but the difference between lifespan and health span. Of course,
we all always talk about extending our lifespan. What does
health span mean? You know?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
In reality, I think we all really want better health
span because what we're seeing is the last decade of
life is often spent in a much more fragile, less
engaged way, and so I think rather thinking in terms
of longevity, I think we should be thinking in terms
(03:20):
of health. Jevity what I invented, But I really do
think what we want to do is optimize our health
as we age so that we can participate in life
much more fully than perhaps we've watched previous generations too.
And if those of us who are lucky enough to
have elders that have aged really.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Really well, we want to mimic that.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
We want to be active, we want to be engaged,
we want our brain sharp and that really speaks more
about health span than just life span.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Yeah, that's super interesting. It really is true when everyone
thinks about that last decade. I think that's what people
are mostly afraid of. And it's kind of a time
because we have this incredibly fast aging population, baby boomers
moving into that later stage of life. And really, frankly,
I think baby boomers are also kind of reshaping aging
because they're really not willing to age the same way,
(04:15):
which is pretty exciting for those coming behind them. So
what can we do then, what can women do to
really help extend their health span and focus on that?
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Yeah, so it really begins with the basics.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I mean, how we nourish ourselves, and that includes food,
but it also includes how we move, how well we
sleep are, what the quality of our relationships are like,
what gives purpose and meaning. Those lifestyle practices have by
far and away a bigger impact on how well we
(04:50):
age and what our health span looks like than really
anything else we do. And then there are additional things
that we can layer on on top of that implementation.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Certain practices, those.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Are important, but no more important by far than how
we nourish ourselves.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
In terms of food, sleep, and movement.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
I mean that's super interesting in the sense that when
you first started talking about this with me several years ago,
when I started sort of thinking about my own health
span a little bit more seriously. You know, we kind
of all know that you like should eat well and
you should you know, exercise and sleep well. Right, But
when you get into the details of it, what does
it actually mean and how do you motivate yourself to
(05:35):
do that? How do you change your sort of mindset
around that. I think you've really helped me with that.
One idea that you put in my mind was thinking
of yourself as an athlete, for example, at any age,
And I know for myself that's been a pretty interesting
shift to think, Okay, well I want to act like
an athlete. I think you know, of course my love
of pickleball, which changed my daily activities. But I think
(05:56):
most of us were raised to play sports. A lot
of us play sports as kids, but as we got older,
didn't really have that opportunity for team sports, and maybe
some of us don't love the gym so much. So
what can you tell us about how you view yourself
to get yourself to do those basics that are so essential.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Well, I think your point is super well taken. It's
how you begin to visualize yourself. If you want to
see yourself as healthy, it makes it a lot easier
to begin to implement small practices that get you there.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
And what does healthy look like? Being able to move,
being able to raise.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Your suitcase into the overhead compartment, being able to engage
in basic things are some of the ways that we
can see ourselves becoming healthier and healthier. And to your
point about movement and activity, there are so many opportunities.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Now.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I have a girlfriend who just started ballet, which she
hasn't done since she was twelve years old. Love it
de Salsa dancing here in Miami, super calm, and line dancing,
any kind of movement. It doesn't have to be the gym.
Having said that, I think one of the important challenges
and changes that women need to implement really is this
(07:15):
idea of building more strength. Building physical strength, which by
the way, translates into mental and emotional strength, and we
know that, but building physical strengths meaning being able to
move your body weight and then some and watching yourself
actually gets stronger and stronger, that is really key.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
On so many levels.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
It builds muscle, it improves metabolic rate, it builds bone,
it's great for the brain, it's great for the heart,
and it keeps us physically active far longer. I love
your pickleball activity, and you know I've complimented you on
finding that because it also works your agility, which works
(07:58):
your brain. It's a socially engaging activity, which is great
for all of us as well as just the physical activity.
The aerobic activity itself is so beneficial and it's.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
So much fun. But I think your point about strength
training is really important because I think there's been and
you've said You've mentioned this before, that there's been a
little bit of a hesitancy for women to think of
them as sort of lifting weights. And I think there's
been so much recent research coming out around the one
of the best things you can do for brain health,
(08:32):
for example, is strength training. One of the things I've
learned from you and others that I've talked over the
last several years is this concept that disease doesn't just
appear right. It's a slow evolving process. And so you know,
if you want to not have osteoporosis in your seventies,
you don't just catch it quote unquote in your seventies,
or you don't just develop Alzheimer's or neurorogenitic disease suddenly.
(08:55):
These are built on a lifetime of habits, and so
tell us a little bit more about that, and how
early should we start to think about, for example, bone
and strength building around bone.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Really, that's everything you just said is so so true,
and so adopting health habits early on in our teens
through our twenties, thirties, and forties is really going to
dictate how we're going to age. Having said that women
in their fifties, sixties, seventies and beyond will respond to
(09:27):
changes in health habits, that's the really, that's the beauty
of the human design is that it's so amenable to
change that we can see ninety year old women building
muscle mass when shown how to properly lift weights or
move weights around.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
So that's inspiring, it is inspiring.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
And so really starting early, you know, we build the
majority of our bone mass, for instance, by the age
of thirty, and then from that point on we're sort
of taking out of that bone bank account. So we
want to have our teens and women in their twenties
really concentrating on eating in such a way that they're
(10:09):
building up bone foods richer in calcium, less inflammatory foods
which take calcium out of bone, like sugar for instance,
and staying physically active and those measures, as well as
getting sun and keeping the vitamin D levels up, those
measures will go a long way to maintaining bone as
(10:29):
we age.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
It's really exciting. I mean, just talking about sugar for example.
Another thing that I've really taken advantage of, I think
over the last several years is the wearable movement and
the fact that we have access to these wearables, and
I'd love to hear your thoughts on that. And I
think you know that I try to continuous glucose monitor
even though I'm not pre diabetic. I'm not diabetic, but
to understand my sugar levels because as you just said,
(10:52):
sugar has such an impact on so many aspects of
our health that we're typically unaware of but can become
more aware of through things like a CGM monitor. Tell
us a little bit about wearables and how are you
finding that to help with giving us agency over our health?
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Right there are so many new technologies coming out.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
As an example, the CGM. What a great device.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
You know, we only used it for diabetics in the past,
and now we're using it for all kinds of things,
including pcos and other health issues, to help really refine
for each individual what foods tend to spike their sugars.
There's or rings which help us identify the quality of
our sleep. Are we getting adequate deep stage sleep, which
(11:37):
is the restorative sleep. What's our heart rate variability looking like?
Which dictates the level of stress the body is under.
For example, if your heart rate variability is low on
a particular day, as perceived through the whoop or an
or ring, you don't want to exercise heavy that day.
Maybe that day you do stretching and you go for
(11:59):
a walk walk. So these devices are really allowing us
to personalize care in a way we've never done before.
And the list goes on and on and on. AI
is introducing a whole new threshold of more in depth
and earlier predictive potential for patients.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Well, I hope we can get into this and maybe
more in a future episode, but just for those listening today,
I think I'm obviously very familiar with the CGM, But
why does it matter if your sugar is spiking. Why
do you even want to know about that?
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Good question.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
We're not designed to have wide fluctuations in our sugar.
The body works very hard to keep our sugar levels
within a very specified range. High sugars basically coat our
tissues and cause a significant inflammatory response, and it is
associated with heart disease, with dementia, with bone loss, with
(12:57):
all kinds of issues.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Joint pain too, like all the pains that we get exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
So, really aging is a matter of inflammation, and if
we keep inflammation to a minimum, we really help.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Reduce or slow the aging process.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Wow, well that's a really important for everybody to be
listening to. So there's so many things we can do
to fight inflammation, and perhaps we're going to have to
have a whole episode on that, Karen, if you'll join
us again. But one thing that I probably should bring up,
which has been really interesting to see over the last
couple of years, is this change in how we think
about menopause. Of course, that's an inflection point around aging
(13:35):
in women. Why has there been this new understanding or appreciation,
frankly celebration even of menopause. It went from really a
pretty big stigma around menopause to embracing it. What's changed
and why is that important? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
You know, I think prior generations really didn't comment much.
Many of us have no idea what our mother's menopause
was like, and that's shifting. Women are becoming much more
vocal about it because the reality of it is what
they suffered through is actually a very massive shift in physiology.
(14:10):
When our estrogen and progesterone levels decline, Bearing in mind
that there are receptors throughout the body on all tissues
virtually for those hormones, that is a very big change physiologically.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
It is not surprising that.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Women feel more fatigued, or that they have brain fog
or joint pain or hot flashes or mood swings, and
the list goes on and on and on, because in
a relatively short amount of time, our hormone levels are
changing very, very significantly, and today women recognize that they
have tools to soften that significantly and really reinstate hormones
(14:54):
so that they don't have to suffer and they don't
have to have a wearing out of their tissues at
this madic pace. So there's much more available to us.
Science has fortunately questioned the dogma around this, and women
are now much better equipped to have a much smoother transition,
(15:15):
and in so doing, you know, it's a stage of
life where women can begin to engage in.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Other more perhaps creative activities.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
There was a statistic not that long ago that showed
that the fastest growing population in new business sector were
women postmenopausally, which is very exciting.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Love it, love it, And as you've said many times,
it's a really amazing time to reset your health, to
reset your purpose, rethink kind of what you're doing, and
it's a new phase of life, and I think a
lot of us are taking that seriously to reset our
health certainly. And I know, of course you know that
we've been very supportive of women owned businesses, so we
see that a lot in our work too. So I
guess one final question, if you could give some recommendations
(15:58):
to women about the things that you think our key
to focus on that would really help you with your
overall health trajectory, what would that be?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I would say, probably the most important thing is to
recognize that within every one of us there is this
innate capacity to heal and change. And so if you
decided today to start an exercise program. Let's say, walk
out the door for ten minutes, turn around, walk back,
and the next day do that, and the next day
(16:28):
do that, and make it a daily small commitment, and
even if you get off track, the next day you
get back on track. The body will respond to that.
Every decision that you make that is pro health. You know,
the goal of let's say, what we teach our patients
get in thirty different plants a week, and by the way,
(16:50):
that includes teas.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
And herbs, so it's not hard to achieve.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
And maybe for the next month that's what you're going
to focus on, and then it becomes habit. Maybe the
next month or three months you focus on your walking
or your strength training. You institute these small changes, you
make them, have it, you begin to see the results,
and those results very affirming. That's probably the single most
(17:16):
important thing I would say. And also, don't get neurotic
and don't get too caught up in the latest, greatest fashion,
because while some of those new techniques or new sort
of social media based activities have some value, again, they're
not going to overwhelm the value of those basic changes
(17:37):
that we talked about in terms of better sleep, better nutrition,
and more movement in your life.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Love it.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
There's one piece of advice that you've given us that
I think also is really meaningful to a lot of women,
which is your perspective on saying no. Tell us a
little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
I think that's really critical. So and it's taken me
an awfully life time to learn it.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
If we're capable, we tend to say yes without thinking
about the cost. And when you say yes to certain things,
you may be saying no to other things, including self care.
And I think a very important thing that for instance,
many perimenopausal menopausal women realizes you have to make self
care your priority. And we have probably on some level
(18:24):
embodied the fact that it's being selfish, or the idea
that it's being selfish to say no in deference to
something that you need, and I think we need to
really dispel that notion. And so making self care a
priority means saying no to other things.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
And it's okay, thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
We could go on for a long time, as you know,
I would love to, actually, and we hope that you'll
come back on the show and dive into some of
these topics in more detail. But thank you so much
for joining us today. It's as always such a pleasure
to talk to you.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
I agree, I really enjoy speaking with you.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Thank Thanks, what a great conversation, so helpful and so inspiring.
Here are the top takeaways from today. First, you can
be the architect of your own health. Technology today is
enabling us to better understand and impact our health trajectory,
allowing us to focus not just on our lifespan, but
(19:20):
on our health span. Second, it's never too early or
too late to build good habits that will pay dividends
for a lifetime. Get back to the basics and focus
on nutrition, sleep, and exercise. Lastly, how you view yourself matters.
Think of yourself, for example, as an athlete or even
a dancer, and focus on building strength at any stage
(19:41):
of life. If you take action, says doctor Koffler, the
body will respond. Have a great day. For more podcasts
from iHeartRadio, check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Today's episode of
Here's Something Good on women's health and longevity was brought
to you by P and G, maker of trusted brands
(20:01):
like Tampax, Always and Always Discreete, and by Walgreens your
women's well being destination.
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