Women’s Health and Aging

I recently listened to a Huberman Lab podcast that discussed weight loss concepts that you don’t typically hear about. Andrew Huberman, Ph.D., a neuroscientist and Professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine, reviews a number of unique, evidence-based hacks for weight loss. Because we are all inundated with information about the “best” ways to lose weight - keto, intermittent fasting, pills, exercise regimes, etc.

In part one of this series about menopausal weight gain, we discussed the reasons why women tend to put on weight during perimenopause and menopause. Now let’s discuss what to do about it. Many of the variables that impact weight gain during this phase of life can be modified by focusing on what you eat, how you move your body and determining if medications and/or hormone therapy might be right for you.

According to Menopause.org, “...there is no scientific evidence that menopause or hormone therapy is responsible for midlife weight gain….Age and lifestyle are the main culprits.” WTF? If you ask any woman in America aged 48-52 - they might just disagree. In fact the majority of my patients are experiencing an unexplainable 10–25 pound weight gain around the age of perimenopause (40-51 on average) and menopause (52+ on average) - despite an increasingly strict focus on diet and exercise.

Unlike your bathroom scale, body composition analysis can tell you what percentage of your total body weight comes from fat, muscle, and bone - providing a much more accurate measurement of your overall health and fitness levels. You may have heard of BMI - which measures your weight against your height. But this can be very deceiving - for instance, people with more muscle mass can show up in the “obese” category on the BMI scale.

Cold exposure therapy is a brief to extended exposure to cold temperatures via different forms including cold showers, ice baths, cold plunges, etc. There are many well-documented benefits to cold-exposure therapy including a boosted immune system, enhanced mental clarity, anti-depressive benefits, building mental toughness, improved metabolism and metabolic detox.

As we discussed in our first blog of this series, losing weight and keeping it off can be challenging. Ideally, we like to start by focusing our patients on lifestyle changes - specifically diet and exercise. While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition, in our experience, a plant or whole foods-heavy diet with at least some consciousness around carbohydrates and varying degrees of intermittent fasting can be the most effective for weight loss.

According to a 2018 CDC report, 56% of women and 42% of men in the U.S. tried to lose weight within the previous 12 months. And research suggests that approximately 80% of people who shed a significant portion of their body fat will not maintain that degree of weight loss for 12 months - and most dieters regain, on average, more than half of what they lose within two years.

Pelvic floor physical therapy is a treatment applied to the pelvic floor muscles. This is a subspecialty of a physical therapist and most pelvic floor PTs have special training allowing them to work on the pelvic floor. The pelvic floor, a group of muscles running from the pubic bone to the tailbone, serves a number of purposes including supporting the pelvic organs, controlling the bladder and bowels, and allowing for healthy sexual arousal and orgasm.

Many women - and men - may have heard about Kegel exercises. But so many of our patients wonder what exactly they are and how, precisely, to do them. Kegels can be an excellent exercise to help improve your urinary health as well as your sex life - so learning about what they are and how best to perform them can really contribute to your wellbeing.

Dr. Kass takes a comprehensive approach to treating urinary incontinence, evaluating possible contributory factors such as medications and medical conditions before recommending specific treatment.

I can’t tell you how many women come to me with stories of being discounted by their OB-GYNs or primary care practitioners. Many women’s primary providers (OB-GYNs and family medicine) are failing women suffering through menopause - telling them “This is normal and it will pass” or offering them inadequate treatments like antidepressants. And so many women feel like they are losing control over their bodies and wellbeing.

If you have struggled to find the help you need to address menopausal symptoms, you are not alone. Despite the discomfort women experience during menopause, and treatment options that can improve one’s quality of life and perhaps prevent several chronic diseases, very few women are successfully treated. Today, American women can spend a third or more of their lives struggling with menopausal symptoms and related conditions, many without a clear understanding of what to expect, how to respond, and what treatment is possible.

According to an article in AARP, nearly 6,000 women reach menopause every day in America. The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) reports that approximately 75 percent of women experience some kind of menopausal distress. And sadly, for close to 20 percent of these women, night sweats and hot flashes are severe enough to interfere with nearly every significant aspect of their lives: work, relationships and sleep.

For the majority of my female patients, vaginal rejuvenation is all about enhancing genital urinary health, function, and feeling. While some are looking to enhance aesthetics, I have found that more women turn to me for vaginal rejuvenation because they are having some level of dysfunction that is compromising their quality of life or relationships and they’re looking for a solution. And these conditions are more common than many imagine. For instance, more than 30% of women are affected by urinary incontinence, and half of postmenopausal women are affected by vaginal dryness and discomfort with sex.

According to the American Hair Loss Association, By the age of thirty-five, almost 60% of American men will experience some degree of hair loss, and by the age of fifty, approximately 85% of men have significantly thinning hair. And, mistakenly thought to be a strictly male disease, women actually make up 40% of American hair loss sufferers.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is the use of oxygen at higher than atmospheric pressure for the treatment of various diseases. During an HBOT treatment, 100% O2 is breathed in a pressurized chamber. Essentially, the goal of this therapy is to fill the blood with enough oxygen to repair tissues and restore normal body function.

Did you know that more than 50 percent of men will experience some type of hair loss after turning 50? Approximately 50 million American men and 30 million women experience male- or female-pattern baldness. So if you’re feeling follically challenged, you’re not alone.

You might be hearing a lot about stem cells in the news of late. It seems like discoveries of their regenerative properties are being unearthed every day. So what are “stem cells” exactly? According to the NIH: “Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth.”

As discussed in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series - intermittent fasting can be a powerful approach to weight loss. However, many people find the idea of fasting daunting. The idea of going hungry for extended periods is simply not appealing - and can even be frightening to some. So I believe it’s important to consider the myths and misconceptions surrounding intermittent fasting so you are well informed when considering this approach.

As discussed in Part 1 of this series on intermittent fasting, many popular approaches to weight loss, including low-fat and calorie-restricting diets, simply don’t work. According to researchers at UCLA,“ You can initially lose 5 to 10 percent of your weight on any number of diets, but then the weight comes back...

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), over 71% of Americans are overweight. So it shouldn’t be surprising that it seems like a new diet comes along every day. For years, counting calories was thought to be one of the best solutions for weight loss: restrict your calories - and lose weight.

Even though I’ve been studying and practicing Regenerative Medicine for over a decade, I am continually amazed at the human body. One of the most miraculous aspects I’ve come to appreciate is our regenerative capacities. In particular - the power of Plasma-Rich Platelets (PRP). Why, you ask? Because harnessing and applying PRP has allowed me to help heal countless patients - helping with all manner of ailments.

You might have heard the term “vaginal rejuvenation” and wondered, what in the world does that mean? Does my vagina really need to be, look or feel younger or more lively? What’s important to point out is that vaginal rejuvenation is about far more than aesthetics. This treatment is really about enhancing function and feeling. My patients turn to me for vaginal rejuvenation because they are having some level of dysfunction that is compromising their quality of life or relationships and they’re looking for a solution.

As we have explained in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series on Women’s Sexual Health - experiencing problems with sexual response, desire, orgasm or pain is a common, and complex, issue. So many women suffer from unsatisfactory - and challenging or painful - sex lives. The causes can be hormonal, psychological or related to medications or other comorbidities. So how should women approach treatment? Thankfully, there are many options.

As discussed in our previous post, so many women have some form of sexual dysfunction. It has even been reported that the majority of women - up to nearly 87% according to one scientific literature review - suffer from sexual challenges, whether it’s a declining interest in sex or an increased difficulty reaching orgasm.   So what’s to be done? One component of women’s sexual dysfunction that is garnering increased focus is testosterone.

Talking about sex isn’t always easy. It’s private, and intimate and - when we experience problems - can be embarrassing for some. And challenges can be especially prevalent after menopause.