THE ED MYLETT SHOW - Busting Myths About Sex & Reproductive Health w/ Dr. Jolene Brighten

Episode Date: October 3, 2023

🚨 Parental Advisory - This episode dives deep into mature topics around sexual health. Parents, please use discretion when young ears are present!Get ready to DEBUNK myths and Unlock the Hidden Treasures about the female body that can lead to BETTER sexual, mental, emotional, and physical HEALTH.Today, we’re diving in to a topic that for far too long has been misunderstood and misinformed - the intricate tapestry of WOMEN'S HEALTH with none other than my friend, the phenomenal DR. JOLENE BRIGHTEN.Dr Brighten is a beacon in women's medicine, a tireless advocate for patients, a board-certified naturopathic endocrinologist, clinical sexologist, international speaker, clinical educator, and acclaimed author!What sets her apart? Her visionary approach zeroes in on the ROOT CAUSES OF ILLNESS, providing solutions that are holistic and deeply transformative.And hey, all the men tuned in, LEAN IN CLOSER. This isn’t just for the ladies; this is vital information you can use to support the incredible women in your life on their journey towards peak health and joy!👉Get ready to debunk myths and illuminate truths about women's sexual health, understanding the dynamics of orgasms, clitoracy, and unraveling the secrets that enhance sexual experiences for both partners!You’ll discover:The link between INSULIN SENSITIVITY and sexual healthThe power of regular exercise and exhilarating sexUnpacking the complex relationship between TESTOSTERONE, hormones, body image, and a satisfying sex lifeDecoding SPONTANEOUS vs RESPONSIVE DESIREThe multifaceted role of ADRENAL GLANDSMastering STRESS MANAGEMENT for a fulfilling lifeUnraveling the mysteries of PROGESTERONENavigating through HORMONE REPLACEMENT therapiesThe silent impacts of BIRTH CONTROL PILLSEach minute with Dr. Brighten is a treasure trove of insights, strategies, and actionable steps for women to reclaim their sexual, mental, emotional, and physical vitality!BUCKLE UP!

This is the end my let's show. Alright everybody, welcome back to the show. So grateful that you're all joining us today, but I'm really grateful that this lady is here. I pursued her to be here today. I saw some of her work on social media, a couple of friends of mine know her, and I thought to myself, I need to have her on my show. And the more I'm more I've researched or even preparing for this interview, I'm positive that I want her here today.

And so, I don't know what I would call Dr. Brighton other than, I guess she's a naturopathic, but doctor, but I think she's like an expert on all things, sex, health, hormones, women, wellness. And I wanted to do a show today. By the way, men, as you start to listen to this, this is for both men and women today, especially for you men that want to understand your women, her body, her well-being, much better. We're going to talk about that. And then for you ladies today, we're really going to go deep on a lot of things that relate to you both physically and emotionally.

And I have the perfect person here. So Dr. Jolyne Brighton, thanks for being here today. Thanks for having me. And that was such a nice introduction. It's all true, to be honest with you. But I, and you know, this, I messaged you. I said, please come on my show. I know.

I was getting text from while. Tell them why you had to wait to come on. What was the reason? Oh, well, because I'm going through IVF. And so yeah, you have to have everything timed of like, when do you get eggs? And then I was in Europe and speaking over there. And I'm still glad we finally made it happen. I flew from Mexico City yesterday just for this interview. Oh my goodness. I'm honored that you did that. Yeah. And there was a hurricane. And I was like,

it's not stopping me. Oh my gosh. You're right. I didn't think about the timing of it. You're exactly right. All right. Let's get to the good stuff first. Guys, listen to this. Okay, you ready? For the ladies, you say women orgasm, 65% of the time. Is that correct? Is that a correct quote? Yeah, well, I don't say it research says it. Yeah, it's what's called the orgasm gap.

And so there's a big discretion between how often a penis gets to ejaculate and how much a clitoris gets the stimulation that it needs to reach orgasm. So men are orgasming about 95% of the time in our heterosexual relationship and women is about 65% of the time. Why? Because of the clitoris and because of the lack of clitoriscy, I should really say, which is not my term in coronary he came up with that,

but I think it's brilliant. It's like literacy but for the clit. And so what men are taught is that the way that you have sex is through penetration. And what women are taught, even in sex ed, is that sex equals a penis in the vagina. And so everybody's being taught that that is the holy grail. Far from that is because of Freud, as I talk about in Is this Normal?

Yes. Yeah, yeah, I slam him a little bit rightly so because he was like, oh, the literal orgasm is so infantile. You want to strive for the vaginal orgasm. But in reality, what we know from the research is only about 18% of women orgasm from vaginal penetration alone, and that's based on their anatomy, nothing that they can control. And so why the orgasm gap exists is not because of the rhetoric

that a lot of people fall into of like, men don't care about women's pleasure, men, they're just like in it for themselves, that's not that, it's that they haven't been educated and as a whole, our society really establishes, if you look at all media, when sex has had, there is one type of sex and that is the way to orgasm. And in reality, it doesn't line up to the research

or most women's experiences. What do men need to know about a woman's clitoris that would benefit their woman and them? And what do women need to know about a woman's clitoris that would benefit their woman and them. And what do women need to know about that part of the body? Cause I gotta tell you that I've had this discussion, cause I had another episode I did that we talked about this a little bit. And I had so many messages from women telling me

that even though it's their own body part, they were raised with very little understanding about it themselves and almost like taboo to like touch it or know how it works. So what should a man know about a woman's clitoris that would benefit both him and her and what should she know? Yeah, I love it that you shared that. I say in the book, if you listen to the audio, I'm not good at French, but membrane on two, that is what the clitoris was called by a French physician, which means shameful

member. So, my gosh, are you serious? Yeah, and we're talking like hundreds of years ago. So this whole concept of filling shame around that part of your body, so maybe you don't touch it yourself, you don't communicate about it. It's not just our modern society. The Clitoris, as I call it, the Clitoral Consal conspiracy in the book, was taken out of medical literature. So we actually knew the clitoris was much larger than how it had been portrayed.

But even today, most medical anatomy textbooks are not accurate. They're not showing accurate, clitoral diagrams. And this is just mind blowing, is that there's the statistics thrown out. And you'll hear like, oh, the clitoris has 8,000 nerve endings based on a cow. Research came out at the end of 2022 the first time we ever had a research on a human woman showing 10,000 maybe more. It needs to be replicated but I just want everyone listening to understand if you feel like you've been left in the dark, that is on purpose. If you feel shameful about it, that's on purpose.

So everything you're feeling is not a U problem. It's a major like, literal conspiracy. So. Literal conspiracy. You know, I said man, woman, but I should ask you this, I'm a curiosity. Is the data any difference with orgasms, with same sex with a woman?

It is, yes. So, yes, it is. Of course it is, because if you're a vulva owner, then you understand how a vulva works and where the anatomy is. But there is something no matter your sexual orientation that is universally true,

and that is communication. And so what should men know, and what should women know, you have to talk. You have to talk in the bedroom about what feels good, what doesn't feel good. I often say, don't go in with the negative of like, no, don't do that, but instead say,

I really love enjoyed it when you did this or I was loving this. So in the book, I have three diagrams of the clitoris, and one is it set in the vulva so that you can really see the whole train and see where things are. Now, no two vulvas are the same, much like fingerprints. So it's not going to be exactly like the diagram in the book. So you're going to have to ask questions. If you're not the vulva owner, ask questions. What we do know from the research is that predominantly women like moderate pressure, so not too hard, not too soft, very goalie locks in all of this, there needs to be a rhythm.

So rather than, you know, this like up and down or poking or, you know, going at it, you know, off beat, so to speak, really finding a rhythm. So rhythmic, circular motions, medium pressure, that's going to do it for a lot of women, stimulating the clitoris itself. But you need to ask, because maybe she likes more, maybe she likes less, and what's important to understand is that if she orgasms first, it's more likely she's going to orgasm again when there is penetration. So there is a lot, the men often come from this perspective of like, once I have an orgasm, I'm usually done.

Once I ejaculate, I'm done, I'm out. And they think like, well, if she has an orgasm, then she's done, it's over. And in fact, having an orgasm first, that can actually enhance the sexual experience going forward. So that, if you wanna try for penetrative orgasms, that's one of the tips that I give in the book.

I also explain that there's no reason why you can't stimulate the clitoris at the same time and still achieve orgasms. I want to know if some things, how you would even measure this or if it's like, we'll call it a wives' tale, though, I don't like that terminology. And by the way, we're about to get to health and hormones and wellness because it's connected to this as well. Oh, absolutely. But is it true?

I don't even know how you would measure this, but this is what I've always been told. That the reason a man is only orgasming once is that it's a much more intense experience for the man. Have you heard this before? Yeah. And that the woman's orgasm is not quite as strong and so that she has multiple ones. Is that completely not true?

Was there, but how would you even measure it? I know, that's not true. That's another one of those, you know, we take a male body and then we compare women to it, but the male is always superior. And it's like, well, you can have multiples because your male body and then we compare women to it, but the male is always superior. And it's like, well, you can have multiples because your orgasms are not as good as mine. Got it.

And in fact, when you ask experts, you blind them to the data of what people are reporting and expert cannot tell the description of a man or a woman who is describing orgasm because they're so similar. They are similar. Yeah. But what it really is is a refractory period. It's just the ability for the nerves and the entire system to be able to fire again. To recover.

Yeah. And once there is a calculation. So to some extent, it means the woman is stronger in the sense that she can recover and go again, prepare to the man. I mean, you know, there is something, you know, as much as like, I'm a woman, I'd love to be like, oh, yes, we're stronger. It's just different. And there are men who are able to achieve multiple orgasms.

It just is not necessarily the norm and is commonplace. And the same is true, there are women who are like, I can't achieve multiple orgasms. That's okay. The end of the day, are you having mutually beneficial pleasure that is consensual? Like winning. That's the winning.

Okay, I love this. I love this. So we went to the salacious stuff first, but we're going to come back to that. I know. You just were like, let's just dive in. Well, this is getting to it, right? Like, if I want to know. This is my show, damn it.

I want to show this. It works. And I'm 52 and finally learning this stuff. It's a little late. So how is that? No way. There's actually research that. So how is that? No way. There's actually research that shows that like senior citizens in some capacity are getting it on more than

they do. Are you calling me a senior citizen? No, I'm just saying. Look at the road ahead. It's just, you know what's funny? Totally off the record. I got an email from the AARP this week. So I'm really sensitive to that topic.

I'm like, what in the world? They're prepping. They're data on me already. My gosh, I'm still interested in orgasms for gosh sakes. Okay. So women's health is connected to this topic, though. And so literal health. And I've heard you make a correlation. And by the way, correct me when I'm wrong, because I'm pretending to be a doctor here as we talk. And then talking about a body that I don't have. Well, you sound like someone who read my book. So I'm going to be a doctor here as we talk and and then talking about a body that I don't have. Well, you sound like someone who read my book. I am someone, by the way, I should basically say this to the book is called, is this normal

judgment-free straight talk about your body? And I did read your book. And one of the things that I think I got there was that insulin sensitivity can actually impact a woman's clitoris. I love that you're saying this. Let's talk about it. Okay, so we have known for a very long time that if there is insulin sensitivity issues,

so you're losing, let me back this up. So if anyone doesn't know, insulin comes from the pancreas, it basically knocks on the cell's door and is like a voucher glucose, they're cool, let them in. So that's what insulin does. When we lose sensitivity, when insulin goes to try to ring that doorbell,

the receptor is not receiving the message and the cell does not allow glucose in. And so what a lot of people will immediately think of as diabetes, but there's a spectrum before we get there. We lose the sensitivity to insulin before it becomes so bad that we are diagnosed with diabetes, which is when we no longer can control how much sugar stays in our bloodstream. Now, what we've understood for a very long time is that the penis will suffer damage from this. Now, that means nerve damage and blood vessel damage. And

losing the ability to have an erection, sensation, this can happen when we have sensitivity to insulin issues and diabetes. Now, whenever I talk about this, people are like, I need to see extensive literal data. Here's what we know. One, there is studies out there showing

decreased literal sensitivity because you have decreased blood flow and the nerves can become damaged when we have insulin dysregulation. Now, I want everybody to think back to biology and know that your biology teacher probably did do a disservice in not teaching you about the homologous structure. So the penis and the clitoris are the same from embryological development. It's the same tissues. And so this is why if Freud just got it so wrong and so many people get it wrong when they say like, oh, you should be able

to orgasm without stimulating the clitoris. But we all accept, we stimulate a penis and it orgasms. It's the same tissue. And so the same mechanism is true when it comes to what is happening with insulin and with our nerves and with our entire cardiovascular system, but also just specific to the clitoris. The clitoris engorges in the same way as the penis. And so people don't even realize women get erections. Women can have an erection and be in pain if they is, like, she doesn't achieve an orgasm in the same way that men can have that level of discomfort.

Now, let me just say in saying that, that is no reason to forego consent or for anybody to be coerced or pressured into sex. But when I start to explain it, women are like, oh my gosh, this makes so much sense. Like, the aching that I had or, you know, the fact that I thought things changed down there and they do. This is so good. I didn't know that. I think you know, I did not know that. So one of the things that I've always wondered why it doesn't happen more is why couples don't work out together more like they both might work out but they don't do it together. Yeah. To me like I'll give you two things but one of them is your thing. So, like, it's hot.

It's hot to watch your partner, like, train and work out and exert their body, and they got usually less clothes on or skimpy or close. Like, it's a hot thing. I would think more couples would do it. It's interesting. Like, sometimes only one of the two actually work out, but rarely do they work out together. It's almost like, I'm on this side of the gym here on the other because though, maybe the weight discrepancy or the things you're working on. But even like going to the gym together, and then leaving together, I think

is a hot thing, right? That's number one. But number two, there's a correlation between weight lifting and some of these insulin sensitivity issues as well, right? So there's actually literal and penal health to actually lifting weights. Yeah, if you want to have good sex, you want to build muscle mass. And that's because muscle mass helps keep us sensitive to insulin. It's also going to help with your hormones overall. So no matter if you were given ovaries or testes at birth, your hormones will be better if you build muscle mass. So there's the insulin component, but there's also the fact that that's going to help with

testosterone production and testosterone levels. And this is often where people will say, like, oh, well, women don't need testosterone like men do. False. In fact, we do need testosterone. And both of us get similar symptoms when our testosterone is too low. It's not just low libido, and in fact, it's rarely that I ever see somebody that struggles with their libido that it's just a testosterone issue. If you're

seeing a testosterone issue, as I go through in the book, I actually do it as a checklist so that people can evaluate themselves. You see low mood, lack a motivation, so maybe you don't want to go to the gym anymore. And that's like, that's just like so hard, right? Because you need to build the muscle mass to have the testosterone, but the testosterone is too low. You're not building the muscle mass. So you could be losing muscle mass.

You can find that you're easy to cry. This can happen in men or women, waking up, feeling tired and that fatigue just lasts all day. We have to rule out other things. Like, could it be thyroid? But these are some of the ways that testosterone can show up. And what is, I think, really another thing that's problematic and puts a lot of pressure on men as well, is that we still distinguish about showing emotions. And so they may be stifling emotions thinking like I'm feeling depressed but I'm

not going to talk about this like I'm a man and like yeah I want to cry but like that's weird right and really that can be a sign of your hormones being an issue. Really good by the way you're extraordinary. I'm like so riveted and engaged in this conversation from me right now. I want to ask you something that I wasn't planning on asking you, but it just came up. So, this sensitivity issue. So, I'm going to talk as a guy for a second.

But you said our, the clitoris and the penis are made of the same tissue, so I'm curious about. My male friends that get into their late 30s, 40s, 50s like myself, there's a lot of talk about erectile dysfunction or things like that. I don't find that that's the conversation that I have with most of my male friends. Maybe it's a taboo conversation,

but when we're really being candid with one another, the conversation isn't that they're not getting as erect. The sex issue for men that I know is the sensitivity issue, meaning the erection itself may be pretty similar to what it used to be, but it just doesn't feel as good as it used to if I'm being blunt. So is that also true for a woman as she gets older and aside from insulin sensitivity, is there something you can do in your diet, your hormone supplementation, some other external oil cream, something you do that increases sensitivity for both the male and the female? That's a great question. So when we talk about sensitivity, we're talking about

nerves. And so for anybody who experiences a change like that, meaning with a urologist, and just getting checked out and worked on. That is like the first thing I would say. If you are ever, you know, coasting through life and then something changes, that's a sign to see a doctor. Usually people are waiting for like, oh, I have a rectilitis function or I'm just disinterested and sex altogether. They're waiting for more of the extremes to justify going to the doctor, but really what we're

looking for is what was your normal, it has it changed. And if it changes, then we're interested in that. So when it comes to decreased sensitivity, yes, that can be hormone related. And so in men, it certainly can be related to testosterone. So insulin aside, it can be related to testosterone. In women, we find, especially in the late perimenopause, moving into menopause, is estrogen declines. We can get clitoral atrophy. So the clitoris can actually shrink because of the lack of estrogen stimulation. Same with the vaginal tissue

itself, it can become very thin, it can become dry, sex can become painful and unenjoyable. So hormones can be related to the decrease in sensitivity. And I actually thought like maybe we're starting to talk about how, you know, there can sometimes be performance anxiety. This is something, so talk about this research, the dual control model from Bangkokston, Janssen, in my book. And it basically simplifies to like a gas pedal and a break. Like the things that turn you on, the things that make you go, and the things that like shut it down, or derail your train, so to speak, from receiving any messages of sexual stimuli. And whenever I talk about this research, and I talk about it from the perspective of women, I always

get comments online where men are like, well, this happens to me too, and this doesn't take into account my experience. And I'm like, no, this happens to me too. And this doesn't take into account my experience. And I'm like, no, no, no, the research was first done on men. And then they were like, we should probably think about women in this as well. So when I, in this model, you know, what society tells us is like, you know, hallmark, you know, get the card, get the flowers, get the chocolate, turn on the sexy music, get the scented candles. Those are all the positive input,

the gas pedal. In reality, the uncomfortable place where we actually need to work is on all the brakes. So we can have body image issues. It doesn't matter what your gender is. You can feel insecure about your body about being naked, about what does your body look like in this position? And so, the first of what does your body look like can make it so that you know, the first of like, what does your body look like, can make it so that you never even feel like you can get in the mood.

And the other aspect of like worrying about what your body looks like in a position can actually pull you out of the mood once you get going. And so, there's all these psychological factors and stressors that come into play. For women, it's usually not feeling tended to, not feeling supported, safe, taken care of in a relationship, and because they're so sensitive to the environment, they can definitely have the hormonal component as well. So hormones can be a blockade. And so the way to really think about this is through there's an intake form that we use

as a certified sex counselor, there's an intake form that we use as a certified sex counselor. There's an intake form to understand how sensitive the gas pedal and brake is. But the really the thing to understand is it doesn't matter if you have more like you're easy to go or if you have like you know a lot of brakes like in terms of being good or bad. It just is and it's like who you are in your makeup. And so the thing to understand is like, what will actually block you from getting the moon and identify those things and work on those things. Some are going to be a U issue, some is going to be a them issue, some is going to be an us issue.

And you can work on those things to really achieve the pleasure and the sex that you desire. With the understanding as well, that while all of society, again, we go back to media, like anytime we see sex in the media, right, in a movie, it's always like, oh, like, he looked at her and like, they were kissing and she just orgasmed and everybody just wants to have sex and it can fill that way at the beginning of a relationship. But that classical picture of spontaneous desire is not everybody's true state. So spontaneous desire is like, I'm gonna sex on the brain, I think about it,

more often than someone who has responsive desire. With the spontaneous desire, women can fill that like around ovulation as I talk about in the book where they're like, why am I in the grocery? And like this song came on and that's doing it for me or I'm looking at this magazine and I'm like, yes, like I need to go home.

Like I did. And that's that more spontaneous desire. Responsive, totally normal as well. That is something where you really have to get things going before things get going. And men and women can both have this alike. But because society really puts all of these stereotypes in place and is like, men should be the pursuer,

men should be this way. If you're not that way, you feel like something's wrong with you. And then if you are opposite, you're a woman and you're like, I'm the pursuer. I'm the one always interested. Then that's when we see headlines like, you know, when Megan Fox was talking about how she wants

to have sex all the time. And then, you know, the media is like, oh, she's like a teenage boy and she's like a man I'm like no, she's just her like and that's her normal. Yeah So good that you just said that I let shift a little bit now to health. It's connected to this So now we're gonna go into a little bit less sex a little bit more health I want to go through some of the Hormone stuff with you that you talk about in the health. I wanna go through some of the hormones stuff with you that you talk about in the book.

I also want them to get the book, so I don't wanna cover all of it. But I wanna go through a couple primary ones with you. What are some of the signs that you're having adrenal issues, and then what can you do about them? Because I've addressed mine, and man, at least for me, I must say, that it was one of those boxes, I take testosterone, so I kinda knew what my it was one of those boxes, I take testosterone.

So I kinda knew what my testosterone was. I know what my estrogen is. I get my cholesterol checked. I have these other markers. I know what my liver enzymes are. I have these other things. I wasn't really looking at my adrenals. And I just, with what my testosterone levels were,

I should have had more energy in my case. And I was finding myself like around two o'clock, like, I think I need a nappy poo right here. Like, what is going on with me right now? So the sacadrenals for a minute. Yeah. So if people don't know what the adrenals are, we should start there. They're two little glands.

They sit on top of your kidneys and they release several hormones. So cortisol is one. We also have aldosterone, which is going to cover in your blood pressure. That's why we can sometimes see lightheadedness. So if you stand up, you get really dizzy, you have low blood pressure, that can be related to the adrenal glands. And then they also really use the fight or flight hormones. So epinephrine, nor epinephrine.

And then a big one that we all should be fans of, which is DHA. And DHA is an anti-aging hormone that starts as decline at 25, which I just think is super lame, because we need it, especially as women, so much as we get into menopause. And it's a precursor to estrogen and testosterone. And so it's one of the ways that we make those hormones. Contrary to popular belief, the ovaries and the testes

are not the only sources of estrogen and testosterone. So the adrenal glands are important in that as well. So when you talk about that afternoon fatigue, cortisol should spike first thing in the morning. This is why I tell people, open up your curtains, expose yourself to light. Even if you can't see the sun, trust me, every dermatologist is telling you to put on sunscreen because the UV rays still get through. Yet, that's going to help degrade melatonin and support you in spiking your cortisol. First thing in the morning as you should.

Now, as cortisol goes through the day with you, it's going to decline. And it should be at the lowest in the evening. However, in some people, what we'll see is that instead, maybe they're spiking at 10 a.m. and they're having tremendous anxiety at work. And it's correlating to like that really stressful drive they took going in, having a meeting every Monday morning and like we're seeing this like pattern of stress that's causing a spike in cortisol

and then a later plummet in other people. And what some people call adrenal fatigue, it's a common thing for people to say and I don't ever like to finger wag at like lay person terms, but your dreamers are not tired. What is actually happening is we have HPA dysregulation. So the H and the P are in the brain, and the A is the adrenal gland.

So it's the way the brain and the adrenal glands are talking. And with that, sometimes what we can see is what I call a reverse cortisol curve. And this is really common in parents whose infants have literally trained them to stay up. Like people are like, well, sleep train my baby.

I'm like, watch them sleep train you, friend. But so instead of spiking in the morning, they're spiking in the evening. And so they're wired and tired. They're so fatigued, their body's tired, but their brain just can't stop. They wake in the morning, they have headaches, they're feeling so tired. They're the people that are like, they have the coffee bugs, it's like

don't talk to me until coffee, you know, all of those, anytime I see that, I'm a check your adrenals friend, check your adrenals. So that's some of the things that we can see going on. What can you do for your adrenals if they are not functioning correctly? Yeah, so we always want to know why, like what's going on. So there you do for your adrenals if they are not functioning correctly? Yeah. So we always want to know why, like what's going on. So there are the more extreme case of Adescent's disease. So when people say adrenal fatigue, I'm like, that's adrenal fatigue because in Adescent's, that's an autoimmune condition.

It's rare. President Kennedy actually had it. So he had that darkening of his skin. You have to be on hormone replacement therapy eventually for those adrenal glands. And you can have like, adazonian crisis, which is, you're going to be hospitalized. It's life threatening. So that is more of the extreme. But for most people, it's going to be chronic stress nonstop. That can be psychological stress. It could be infections people living in their house with mold. Like, it can come up a lot of ways. And so we have to identify what the stressors are and try

to mitigate those, remove them. It's not so easy. You know, I'll see colleagues who are like, you know, I tell people they need to quit their job. And I'm like, well, people need to make money. That's the society we live in. So, and to me, it's like, there is, there are situations where we have tremendous stress that is relentless, that we do need to get out of. But a lot of the times, it's how people are managing their stress. So what's interesting is that we look at things

like mind-body medicine, so doing meditation, deep breathing, going for walks, all these things that, you know, people were sometimes like, oh, you know, whatever, that manzoo, pumsy stuff, not only is it so good for your stress, it builds resiliency. It actually makes you stronger in the face of stress and able to recover faster. And we also know that not only is it associated with lower depression, anxiety, but also,

like, hot flashes, night sweats, things that happen in menopause. These nine body practices can have a tremendous benefit. So there's the mind body, there's how we manage our stress, but there's also our nutrition. And you know, I'm a nutrition scientist, so I'm always about like, how do we eat in a way to optimize? Our adrenal glands are one of the most concentrated tissues with vitamin C in our body. So they need a lot of vitamin C. And so with that, you can be eating things like bell peppers.

As usually people go to citrus fruit, I'm a big fan of start the morning with some lemon juice and some salt in it. So you're getting electrolytes. A electrolyte balance in the body is really important for adrenal health as well. But so you're just enhancing your vitamin C. But bell peppers are actually an excellent source.

Peppers in general, eat Mexican food everybody. Get your peppers. So getting vitamin C, vitamin B5, mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms are actually an excellent source of that. And looking at how can you manage your blood sugar throughout the day, not from the like, how am I managing my insulin and getting like super, you know, like my optic on it, but instead looking at like, how am I starting my day?

Most people are going to do best to have high protein in the morning and bring in fiber as well. So for men, we want to get about 30 grams of fiber a day and women about 25 grams of fiber a day in women, about 25 grams of fiber a day. And for most people, we're going to want to hit at least 30 grams, like 25, 30 grams of protein in the morning, more if you're lifting weights, more if you have a larger body. And the reason for that is because the, you know, we used to do this calculation of like you need, you know, 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight a protein. That is too low.

And we've known it's too low for a very long time. People, most people are getting so much less than that too. I know. And you'll hear a lot of people argue like, oh, we don't need protein that much protein. And I'm like, you know, my back when I was doing nutrition research, it was on sarcopenic obesity, which is the loss of muscle mass, the infiltration of fat, and the risk of cardiometabolic events of diabetes, of having heart attack, having strokes, like all of this goes up, having a fall and breaking your bones, like losing your ability to walk on your own in life.

This all goes up. And so if people are like, well, you know, what does that look like? I say, you know, think about the round M&M, the round M&M guy. You have skinny arms and skinny legs and this big round body. And what's happening is we're getting fat infiltration

around the organs. So visceral adiposity. That is the worst. Like, we don't want it. I'm always like, like, you got a booty and thighs. I don't care. Keep your fat there. It's around your organs. We don't want it. I'm always like, like, you got a booty and thighs. I don't care. Keep your fat there. It's around your organs.

We've got a problem. Okay. So good. Speaking of that, a progesterone. So everyone talks about testosterone and estrogen nowadays, which we'll address it in a second. But this is one of those that you write a lot about and talk a lot about too, that I never hear about,

to be honest with you. So address that topic for a second. Because I think this is one of these things, people listen to a lot of podcasts they may hear something. I don't think they probably heard this way before. Yeah, well, let's live up to that. Okay, so the only way to progesterone is via ovulation. And so the ovaries make progesterone via a temporary endocrine structure known as the corpus

luteum. So once an egg gets released, there is a little structure left behind that produces progesterone. So if you're not ovulating regularly like parimenopause, PCOS, which is polycystic ovarian syndrome, or for another reason, you're not making progesterone regularly. Now, progesterone becomes the main hormone of your luteal phase. So in the menstrual cycle, we start our period that kicks off the follicular phase and estrogen is in charge. Estrogen is going to rise along with testosterone.

They're going to spike around ovulation. This is why you're going to want to have sex more. You think about sex more, estrogen and testosterone. Once you ovulate, here comes progesterone. And progesterone should take the lead over estrogen. Estrogen should still be present. But now progesterone is finishing up getting the endometrium, the lining of the uterus ready for pregnancy, potential pregnancy.

Your body's always like, let's get knocked up, whether you want to or not. But it's also really nourishing for the brain. It helps with anxiety. So we know that when progesterone is low, we can feel more anxious. That's because of how it interacts with the GABA in our brain. So the GABA receptor, that is going to dock GABA, which is a chill out neurotransmitter.

So non-excitable time. And that's really lovely, so that we can get good nourishing restorative sleep and so Progesterone's also been shown to Be helpful in building the myelin sheath. Those are how nerves are conducting all the messages How I'm talking to you right now and it's also involved in cardiovascular health and bone health It does a lot in the body. I'm just sitting here listening to you thinking, what an amazing time we're in. I know, right? We know these things about ourselves now that really most people were unaware of even 10 years

ago, 15, 20 years ago. The other things become more common, I told you that I take it, is hormone replacement therapy. I wonder, and it's okay if you don't like it, but I'm wondering how you feel about that and is there an appropriate age and appropriate reading level, a testosterone level drops below a certain amount, or do you believe you can cure all of that, I guess, naturally, nutritionally? Oh, I wish.

The thing about the ovaries is when they're done, they're done, and we know that also men's testosterone declines as they age as well. And what, you know, people need to understand about this is that for a long time, you know, people have touted like, you know, it's a natural process, like you should let it happen, but we're living so much longer. Right. So it's like one thing when you went through menopause at 51, which is the average age, and then you passed away at 60 something. Now, if you're living to 80 something, that's a long time to live.

When we lose these hormones, our brain becomes impacted, so we see increased risk of dementia, our cardiovascular system gets impacted. To your question about when do we start it, it as close to menopause as possible. With perimenopause, we will not necessarily start like estrogen early on. It may be progressed around that we're bringing. And the reason for that is because once you stop ovulating, which is what's happening in perimenopause, it becomes more irregular and once you're done, and it's been 12 months now, you're in menopause, which is where everybody focuses, is like, let's focus on menopause, this one day event, and then we're postmenopause. But I'm like,

there's this 10 years, seven to 10 years before menopause, where you might be struggling. So, progesterum being the first to go is one of the first things that we usually look at bringing in, and then bringing in estrogen in that later phase of parimenopause before you're transitioning into menopause and then continuing it. If we do that, there's some research saying that estrogen replacement therapy is performing better than these lipid drugs in women when it comes to cardiovascular health. If we do that closer to menopause, then we are seeing benefits in terms of possibly preventing dementia.

So there's a lot of benefit to bringing these in. And I think it's really important for people to understand because there's been a couple of large studies. We actually, I think we used hormone replace with therapy for almost like 60 years before they started to do a randomized control trial and I know it's a long time, right? And then they did it, but you know

There's a couple of studies and they just weren't great because One of the studies that they were basically taking all you know more advanced age than what we would start and Who already had cardiovascular issues and then showed that like yeah? They had stroke they had heart attack because this isn't a treatment. It's a prevention. We have to come in earlier. Another study, they wanted asymptomatic women because otherwise they would know they were in the trial if they got better. They'd be like, oh, I'm definitely getting the real thing. No pussy, whoa, here. So, you know, this is not who we typically use it with. There's usually symptoms, and that's why we start using it and looking into it. The other thing is that they had smokers in the group,

and other people in the group who are ready were at higher risk, but the problem with these studies is that the women were beyond where we would start somebody on hormone replacement therapy. They had already been without hormones for, you know, a decade or more. And so I think it's really important to understand that a lot of recommendations have been based

on research that doesn't correlate with how we actually do hormone replacement therapy. I am a fan because I would like my patients to all remember a well-lived life and not end up with dementia to have a strong pelvic floor and urinary track symptom to where they don't develop urinary incontinence. It's one of the primary reasons women go into nursing homes to be able to not have vaginal dryness to be able to enjoy sex. Is there a correlation? No, it's one of my next questions. Yeah, yeah. A correlation between hormone levels and lubrication and their genre., there is. Yeah, so because I've had other people

Tell me they didn't think there was so there is. Oh, yeah, that would be lovely, right? If it's in order that way, so let me like back it up and say this. So there is a phenomenon known as a rousal non-concordance. What that is is it doesn't matter how in the mood you are or your hormones or anything, your genitals are not getting the memo, and they're just not lubricating. Also, it depends on where you're at in your cycle. So this is how we know that it is correlated with hormones, is because if you are about to ovulate estrogen is up, you are going to notice that is easier to self-lubricate.

If you are in the later phase of your cycle, that late-luteal phase and progesterone is up, it's gonna be more difficult to self-loot brigade. But at no point is Loub ever a bad idea. Actually, saying the book that a Loub pre-bedroom is a place where good sex goes to die. Yeah, I do say that. With that, we also know that's one of the signs

and symptoms of being postmenopausal and having low estrogen is the vaginal dryness. So, and we're not talking just like, oh, I have difficulty self lubricating with sex. We're talking about things can get so dry that wiping with tissue paper, you can just go to the bathroom and you bleed, or that it's dry and the tissue sticking together. I've had patients that are like, it feels like I'm walking in their sandpaper in my vagina. It's a horrible feeling. But the other thing about estrogen that often goes overlooked is that estrogen helps

with the cells creating glycogen, which is a sugar that feeds the lactobacilli species, they're who keep the pH down so that we do not get infections as regularly. And so it's also really important for vaginal ecology. Okay, really good. So by the way, in a minute, we're gonna ask a question for someone younger.

So stick with me, but one thing for, and I'm not a doctor, obviously. Listen to you talk, I proved I should have never gone to medical school. But I'm 52 and at my age, when I meet people near my age, 10 years younger, 10 years older, I can almost immediately tell whether they're on hormone replacement therapy. And I feel this, and I mean this the right way.

I almost feel some form of sadness for those that have not at least investigated and pursued it because I'm, I, you're aging right before my eyes do an extent that maybe isn't necessary. Yeah. And I have friends of mine that are in their 70s that when I take a, just visually look at them or their vitality or their strength or how active I know they are sexually and physically, compared to other friends of mine that are even 10 years younger. Yeah. But from a hormonal perspective, the 60-year-old is much older than the 70-year-old and I'm thinking that this stuff isn't even very expensive,

some of it. And by the way, I'm not carte blanche recommending it. For example, my testosterone impacts negatively my HDL, which is already genetically very low. So I have to be careful. There's no across the board recommendations here. Like you got to know what it's doing to your body and get your labs drawn regularly.

But one thing that's remarkable to me is, you take my audience that's all these folks that are really trying to live a better life. They're working on their minds, they're working on their fitness and their body, they eat clean, yet they almost never get their labs done. They never look at their body and their blood. I'm such a data junkie. I'm always tracking. I just went and got my full MRI body scan this morning with Prenovo. You did. I do one once a year is my. Oh, that's amazing.

And Peter D. Amanis was sitting here four hours ago doing a conversation. We were talking about that very thing. Like some of these things, I feel sometimes frustrated to discuss because some of them are more expensive and some folks listening can't afford it. But a lot of these things like getting your blood drawn, usually if you have insurance, even,

that's going to be covered. And so just, this is how you'll know. You can't tell from the outside of your body. Yeah. You even, that's gonna be covered. And so, just, this is how you'll know. You can't tell from the outside of your body. Yeah. You know, getting these things looked up. Let's talk about something for someone a little bit younger. And it's the topic that you talk a lot about

on your social media, which by the way, you should be following her there too. But also, I want to the impact of taking the pill if you're a woman. What, what's your overall belief about taking the pill? What should somebody know, a, about taking it? And when they're on it, what's happening in their body and what potentially happens when you get off of the pill

and that impact. Okay, that's a big question. So if I miss any of it, you just let me know. Right, I know you, I don't think you're gonna miss any of it. I wrote a whole book on the topic. So, you know, firstly, you wanna say that the pill has a necessary place in women's health. And I think there's a lot of people who are like,

it's just a pregnancy prevention drug. And then they think like, oh, you could just, do all these other methods. And the reality is, is that there is no one-size-fits-all for contraceptives or for pregnancy prevention. We have to counsel a patient. Same is like hormone replacement therapy, although this is not the same,

because hormone replacement therapy has more benefits than necessarily the pill does for some people. So it just depends, right? So the first thing I'll say is that we do need access to the pill, IUDs, the whole works. It barriers, yes, especially if you're in a monogamous relationship, barriers should be on point. But the pill has utility in terms of somebody,

as you were just saying, that not everybody can afford screening labs, not everybody can afford the treatments available. It's unfortunate. I really wish that we lived in a society that gave everybody access. It's so frustrating to me that one topic, not to interrupt you, but the disparity in health care

between those that can afford it and those that can't. It is the great secret gap in our country, not just the wealth gap. It's the health treatment, health prevention, health welfare gap. It's something that I'm going to be on a major crusade about the next 10 years of my life because it's not fair. That somebody with a little bit more means can get full body MRIs and their labs done in a Ford hormone replacement therapy and talk to somebody. That's why podcasts are so great.

I can put the world's best expert on this in front of anybody who's on any budget can listen to this right now. I didn't mean interrupt you. No, no, no, this is a conversation. That's how those go. It's totally cool. So, you know, what I'm saying though, so let's say somebody has polycystic ovarian syndrome. Now me, in a perfect world, would prefer that we are working on diet and lifestyle and that we can get everything dialed in.

But maybe they don't have the duck budget, they don't have the means, like there is something that's a barrier and they're not ovulating regularly. They're going to be at risk of endometrial hyperplasia if they're not getting their period. That is where the lining of the uterus builds up. And after years of that, they're going to be at risk of endometrial cancer. So I can prevent cancer in someone by giving them the pill until maybe their life situation changes or they can adopt a lifestyle that would help them with PCOS. By the way, for everyone listening,

the new recommendations just came out, the international recommendations say that everybody should have lifestyle and nutrition as first-line therapy, as it should be part of the conversation. So it is important, it does have utility, but not everyone can do that. Not everybody lives in a safe environment.

So I did two years of clinical rotations in a homeless youth shelter. These are women who don't have doors to lock. These are women who cannot protect themselves. And an unintended pregnancy would be detrimental to their life. And so I just say that because I am going to say some negative things about the pill. Because, you know, I think that we have to weigh the pros and cons for everybody, but we also have to recognize that there has been utility for the pill and that utility still exists. And, well, I would love us not to just treat symptoms without looking into it, not everybody

can look into why we have symptoms. So that's the first thing I'd say to know about the pill. If you have irregular periods, if you are finding you have painful periods, if you have acne, if you have symptoms that your doctor throws into the bucket of lady part problems, and the first thing they pass you is the pill, pause, because that's going to mask whatever is going on. We can't test your hormones at that point. We can't, you know, there's things that we can't do to work you up to understand

what was actually the cause here and why that's problematic is because we already have conditions like endometriosis and PCOS that are under diagnosed that leave women to suffer, that have consequences like infertility that they don't even know about because they're just past the pill or they're ignored by healthcare. So that is one piece. The other piece is to know that just because your doctor may tell you like, oh, the side effects are so minimal, don't worry about it, they don't discuss you with it or they dismiss you, that whatever you're experiencing is true. And that I think is the biggest problem.

Women are past the pill and then they're gaslit about their experience. And part of it. What do you mean by that? So you go on the pill. You find that maybe you are part of the that population that has adverse mood effects. Yeah, and you're told, oh no, it couldn't be the pill. It's just you. Your life changed. Like you're like you have a chemical imbalance. Yeah, you introduced chemicals in my system. And then I became depressed. And so it can be something like that with mood. Noticing weight gain. So from the studies, we're like, it doesn't really cause weight gain

when you look at the average. You're not always going to be the average. We expect in statistics that when we have a bell curve, there will be these outliers. We expect that. And yet when doctors prescribe treatments, or, you know, especially in the case of like the pill, they're so quick to be like, no, the research doesn't show it.

Right. Therefore, you're what you're feeling and experiencing is not true. Right. And this is why I tell people, if you're gonna start the pill, write down your data. What's your mood like? What are, like, just go through everything.

Right. And then you can track it because a doctor will always successfully gaslight you if you do not have things written down and you do not have that right in front of you because I shouldn't say always, some of you will be very good at this. But what I say is that when you write down your day

and your doctor starts to gaslight you about things and like this for my Star Wars fans out there, you literally look at it and you Obi-Wan Kenobi and I'm like, these are not the droids you seek. Like, you are not going to basically mess with my mind right now because a lot of times doctors will be like, you're misremembering. No, no other woman has this. I've never had a patient experience. You start to doubt yourself. So, track your data so you can know what is true for you and what's not true for you. Okay, I really glad you talk about this because again, I want to categorize myself clearly

again. I'm a layman, but I have a daughter and we don't give millions of young men a chemical in their body when they turn 16 or 18 or 19 or 20 years old. But let's just be real, there are millions and millions of young girls in the world today that have prescribed that pill so the parents can sleep better at night. And there's also been a mental health crisis amongst our young people for a very long time. And I have to wonder whether in some cases there's correlation there. And if you have a young daughter,

or if you're a woman in general, this is a place to at least evaluate whether or not it's making an impact on you, because I can tell you, in my sense, if it was reversed, and we had millions of young men that were being prescribed medication, young and their life, and by the way, and as you've said, plenty of reasons to be prescribed,

maybe okay for most people, but it's not even one of the places that we're looking to see if it's affecting brain fog, mental health issues, weight gain, could the weight gain be connected to the mental health issues? All these things in general. So I'm so glad that you discussed this and everybody listened to this

that if you are a young person or you have a daughter, this is something to at least evaluate and to wonder. And you're right, like I have had friends all of my life say, I felt different when I took it, the doctor told me that's not reported, the doctor told me that that's not one of the causes. And so you are introducing a chemical to your body, it's gonna do something somewhere, somehow, right?

So. Well, I have to share with you that. So for IVF and people, this is on my YouTube, if you're like, have more questions about all the details, I put it in, I'd share about my life, but I needed to start the pill and only be on it for 10 days because there was a whole timing issue of like, you know, when you're going to Europe and this and that

and like life was just crazy. And so I had to be on it only 10 days, only a few days in, my mood tanked and was bad. And not only was to be on it only 10 days, only a few days in my mood tanked and was bad. And not only was I feeling ragy, but I was like crying and feeling depressed. And I started to gaslight myself. Like, this can happen this quickly. No, there's no way. Like it's because you wrote a book about it. And you're just like tricking yourself. I get in my husband's like, dude, you have to get off that pill. Like, you are not yourself. And I'm like, okay, it's not just me. And I bring that out because that was a short period of time.

I also started to break out with cystic acne. And you were looking at me now, everybody. My skin is clear. And this is something that my doctor's also, we're like, when I had come off the pill, I got cystic acne, I started having issues. They were like, no, it's not the pill, I got cystic acne, I started having issues. They were like, no, it's not the pill, I can't be the pill. I'm like, no, but like, that's the thing that changed.

So when it comes to teens, I'm like, right there with you. Like, that is such, like, I have boys right now. I also, you know, if they end up in a heterosexual relationship, I don't want anybody's life being hijacked by an unplanned pregnancy as a teen. And for everybody who's like, abstinence only, read the book, I talk about the research. And what an Amsterdam and Germany have done differently and how they have such vastly

better outcomes. But I digress. Okay, so let me go back to teens. They aren't high risk for not only depression, but also suicide. So that makes you be like, oh my God, maybe I shouldn't, they shouldn't take the pill. You can change formulations and that can change people night and day. So this is important to understand is that just because one pill doesn't work for you doesn't mean another pill won't. And when I tell parents and what I tell patients is

monitor with teens, it's hard. They don't always wanna talk to their parents. So their bestie needs to be dialed in. I start dodging your texts. I'm not interested in the things I used to. I'm not showing up to like my dance practice, gymnastics, the golf, I don't know, whatever you loved. These things start to change,

hey, can you like let me know or let my parents know or like, what is the procedure to make sure that we get help? I love this. I want to say I'm just for one more second. I want to ask you about the Pneoglain because I am fascinated with it overall for a lot of reasons that aren't even just physical, but metaphysical, even. But, and again, this is just me. I'm not an alarmist or anything like that.

And again, I just wanna say this, I've had enough friends have young daughters that some of their acting out, whether, I'll give you, I'll just say it. Yeah. So they got on the pill and prior to that, they weren't partying real hard. They weren't, they weren't doing what they were before.

Now, as part of it, it's the age and the pill correlated with that age, and that's a rebellious age, but, or is there more self-medicating going on? Is there some more anxiety, angst wound up, whatever it is that I think you just really need to watch your young people and your young girls if they've been prescribed the pill to not just their behaviors, not just their attitudes, but some of their behaviors and watch a little

bit more closely. I just had a daughter get out of those adolescent years and now she's a sophomore in college. And so, had a lot of young girls running around my house for a long time. And it's just interesting that during those years, when this stuff starts with some of them, some of the other stuff started it as well. Now you might say, take the pill out of the equation, guess what, dummy? That's when kids start getting into alcohol and drinking. I get all that, but I also, it's, was been fascinating to me in conversations with friends of mine. How correlated some of those behavior changes were. So I want to

make sure that it's just, we need to make sure that make sure that we're, you know, doing everything we can for the young ladies in our lives. Well, to that point, there are so many confounding variables, right? This is why we can't say the pill causes depression. There's so much going on. We can say there's a correlation. And what we do understand, there has been some research showing that we are more prone to engage in risk-taking behavior when we're on the pill that some of us can have basically a blunted cortisol response in the brain in the way that people with PTSD like came back from more can so that you don't

respond in the same way. There's a PhD researcher, Dr. Sarah Hill, she wrote a book called This Is Your Brain on Birth Control and it is all about just the brain aspect. It was crazy. Her and I were writing our books at the same time. And mine came out the beginning of 2019. Hers came out at the end of 2019. But when we got copies and read each other, we were like, we were finding the same stuff. Like in the research and coming to the same conclusions. But yeah, she talks a lot too about how she came off the pill and she felt like, you know, she didn't know who she was

on the pill, like she was a different person off of it. There's a lot of women who say that and there's a lot of doctors who are like, no, that's just not true, that doesn't affect you. Well, how do we know unless we listen to women who tell their stories? We can't just always look at only the research and expect that like that's going to give us every bit of information.

It's almost like clinical experience has gone out the window and listening to your patients is like just you know this thing that we don't do because either they fit into the box or they're wrong. Yeah, one other thing too is like attitudes and emotions are a very difficult thing to monitor and understand in any kind of data or any kind of study. It's difficult to know that. It's not something we just take a lab test for and we have data for. Yeah. But what I've just heard this enough that you're the first person to ever talk about it that I'm familiar with. By the way, I'm just really grateful that today's so good and so different and that you flew from Mexico to do it.

But before you go, we should talk about glands a little bit too. So I mentioned earlier the pineal gland. So what should we know about that? The pineal gland has something to do with like melatonin and your circadian rhythm and what else? And why is it matter? So we talked, you guys got to rewind it, go back. We talked about cortisol rising and I said expose yourself to light. So that light is going to pass through your eyes, it's going to affect the pineal gland.

That's going to help. We're going to degrade and break down melatonin and we're going to say it's time for cortisol to come up. In the evening, it's opposite. You need melatonin to rise for cortisol to come down. So if you are struggling with your neutrinos, you have to sleep in a completely dark room. Get the temperature down. So if you are struggling with your neutrinos, you have to sleep in a completely dark room. Get the temperature down. And that means sometimes you have to get an eye mask. But the other thing is that people are always like avoid your electronics before bed. That would be great. I'm enough people with ADHD that are like, I have to scroll until my brain shuts up and numbs out and I fall asleep. Amber glasses, blue light blocking glasses, put on, you know, get an app or change your screen so that it's filtering that blue light because that blue light is gonna break down your melatonin.

Now, in the book, I have a whole diagram about how sleep disruption affects all of our hormones, putting it at some risk of infertility, inflammation, diabetes, the whole work. So people often are like, oh, well, just if I'm skipping sleep, right? Quality restorative sleep matters as well. And why, you know, there's a lot that happens during sleep, but when we talk about the hormone melatonin, it's an antioxidant. So it's protecting us against free radicals. And it's not just protecting our brain,

but in women, it's also protecting our ovaries. It's protecting our hormone producing centers as well. And so, that's why we wanna have a good bedtime routine. I think it is one of those blessings of being a parent is that you do get into a routine. I feel like in your 20s, you're just like, I'm invisible, I'll never sleep. I'll be fine.

I seriously was like, I'll stay up till midnight, settling in med school, and then get up in 5 a.m. and teach a weightlifting class, and do all of this stuff, and now my 40-year-old self is like, you should slap. You really should slap. Is it sad that one of my favorite times every single day is when I go to sleep?

No. I love sleep. I love sleep. I love that. A lot of you were nodding right now, but you get into the bed, you're like, oh gosh. When I was young, I didn't give a crap about sleep. And I'm like, I can't wait to do this.

I don't know what that says about my in the middle of the day, awake life, but I can't wait for sleep. Well, I think it's like part of it too is that you intuitively know, like this is when your brain detoxes. This is when the cleanup happens. You have really essential hormones that are rising. So around 10 p.m. we're going to see like growth hormone rises. And so you have to be asleep to be getting the benefit of all of these hormones and the

home mechanisms that they consolidate memory. I think that's true. I also think like it's the time of day where I'm guaranteed to be disconnected. I'm not texting or emailing or I don't talk to anybody during that time. Okay. If you stuck around at the end, I get to ask one of the most important questions at the end because you talk a lot about this and a lot about it lately too. So the last thing I want to ask you about is our thyroid. Because it's like a lot lately, I hear you talking about this and the book, but this is something that it's okay to learn with these ads. They got a thyroid issue.

Like the only time you ever hear of someone's gain to significant amount of weight and they go, oh, it's the thyroid thing. But this is really critical. And I get my levels monitor and I'm on some medication for it myself. But talk about the, but,

I said, I'm doing okay, good, good, good. So talk about the thyroid. Let's just, let's address that before we go. It's important. It is super important. And I've been talking about it for a very long time. So they'd say butterfly shaped gland. It sits at the front of your neck. And the thyroid is going to affect every single

system in your body. So thyroid hormone, specifically T3, which is the active thyroid hormone. There's a receptor in every cell in your body for it. That's how crucial it is. And that is why it's sometimes hard to get diagnosed because maybe you're presenting with brain fog. Maybe it's constipation, dry skin, hair loss, lateral third of your eyebrows is starting to disappear. Or maybe it's subtle, like you have heartburn and joint pain, and your voice is kind of gravely and deepening.

These can be signs that your thyroid is too low. So it's not always just energy alone. It's not just being cold and it's not just the weight gain. It's literally any cell in your body means any system in your body can start to present. So the most common we see is hypothyroidism. And within the United States, the most common reason is Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. That's an autoimmune condition. You literally kick your own ass.

So you're in the immune system. So I'm going to talk about graves. So everybody in Hashimoto's, the antibody is dock onto the receptor. They flag the tissue for destruction. The immune system comes in and destroys it. In Graves' disease, which is much more rare, let's excess thyroid hormone, everything's amped up,

but you still feel tired sometimes, but you're anxious, you're finding that you have maybe diarrhea, you're sweating a lot, you're shaking with that. It's an autoimmune condition where the thyroid is actually antibody is docking to it that stimulates it to produce thyroid hormone. So we've got these two autoimmune conditions. In a perfect system. You know, I don't know. I don't want to think we're imperfect just because we need thyroid meds, but in a perfect world, your brain, the pituitary signals TSH, that signals the thyroid. So when your doctor just measures TSH, they're just measuring the brain hormone, which is an indirect

measurement of the actual hormones that the thyroid produces. It's useful, but it's not enough information. What should they measure? They want you want to measure TSH, free T4. That's what the thyroid produces. Free T3, that is the conversion that needs to happen, primarily in peripheral tissues like the gut and the kidneys, and then looking at those antibodies. If you've never had a TPO and thyroid globulon antibody,

it's really important to have those screened because the antibodies come first when it comes to hypothyroidism and then the thyroid disease where you need medication that comes second. So this is what we most commonly see in the United States. People often are like, oh, just give iodine because your thyroid needs it. In developing nations, maybe that would be the solution, but I caution people with Hashimoto's because the research has shown us when there is a deficiency in selenium and we bring in thyroid, it can actually cause an autoimmune flare and you can feel a lot worse.

And while we just talked about all the thyroid symptoms, it's important to understand that even with thyroid medication coming in, you may not still feel good because if the autoimmune condition is still progressing, we have to address that. You're in a highly inflamed state and your body knows that it's time to slow down and to really just get you to simmer down and go to bed so that you can heal. So we want to do thorough testing, make sure that we understand what's going on. And then as you were saying, sometimes hormone replacement therapy is necessary.

You can live without estrogen, testosterone, progesterone in menopause. So you can go through menopause, you can live without those. You can never live without thyroid hormone. It's absolutely essential. And that's important for people to understand because my website, drrate.com,

I have a ton of information about best diets to be eating for thyroid, which by the way, so everyone knows my jam is to fill you with nutrient-dense foods, not take everything away kind of approach. I'm like, what can we eat to maximize our thyroid health, our adrenal health, our adrenal health, our immune health altogether?

So looking at that piece, we want to be working on the nutrition aspect, but if enough tissue has been destroyed, you can't out eat your way out of it. It's kind of like, you know, in menopause, how if you're overestop, I cannot help you eat anything or exercise or do anything to make them make hormones again. If you lack thyroid gland, you're going to have to have thyroid hormone replacement. Gosh, I was just sitting here listening to you thinking in my own life how important, we talked about genders earlier, thinking about how important the female doctors in my life are.

So, and what I, the reason I wanted you here today is I want the world to have access to you is at least their virtual mentor and doctor. And I wanted to put you on display to say listen to this woman's brilliance. And, and, and you all heard it here today. Like my, my heart doctor is Dr. Amy Donine. My, I guess longevity and wellness doctor is Dr. Gabrielle Lion and now I know Gabrielle That's awesome. Now my my go to and everything here is you and so I Really enjoyed today like let me ask with you. They're flashing the time up on the screen

I'm like I thought we were like 25 minutes in and we're an hour in. It's you're such a treasure of information and you're such a light in the world. You do something that everybody that I love that's an expert at what they do does well. Let me tell you what it is. They take incredibly complicated things. And they're so intelligent that they can break it down into simple, easy to understand terminology

so that people that aren't experts in that field can take advantage of their wisdom and their knowledge. You do that. That's why I wanted you by definition. You do that better than anybody that I know. Oh, thank you. Well, it is. It's rare. Every room you walk into, you're the smartest person in the room. But I don't know about that. I do. But unlike most people who are that way, you feel no need to prove it, because you're really there to serve, and to help, and to heal people.

And I just want to acknowledge you for that. I think you're remarkable. Oh, well, thank you so much. I truly do. I really appreciate that. Like, you are definitely trying to get me to come back. Oh, no, no, you're coming back. We're going to be,

I got to feel like there's another book here soon. So I hope that you definitely come back. So guys, if you have not done it yet, you can go, it is this normal, judgment-free, straight talk about your body. You can follow Dr. Brighton anywhere on social media. You can go to drbriton.com. You can follow me on social media at edmylet.com.

You can get my book, The Power of One More. Go get them together, right? If you're gonna get her book, The Power of One More Book is my book. Get one more book. Oh yeah, besties. Besties. Get them on your shelf. I loved this today. Thank you for traveling so far. Yeah, thanks for having me.

Totally worth it. Millions of people just got healthier right now today. Alright guys, God bless you. Please share the show, max out your life, and remember you were born to do something great with your life. Take care. This is The Edm. Milach, shall.