Your hormones shift throughout your lifetime, but three big milestones tend to dominate the conversation: puberty, pregnancy, and menopause. Everyone’s body is different, of course, but for many women, the latter happens sometime in the early 50s. (The international average age is 52 years old, in case you’re curious.)
Tag: hormones
-
WTF Fun Fact 13534 – Hunger Hormones in the Gut
Researchers at UCL have discovered that hunger hormones produced in the gut can directly influence the decision-making areas of the brain, thus affecting an animal’s behavior. This study, conducted on mice and published in Neuron, is groundbreaking in demonstrating the direct impact of gut hormones on the brain’s hippocampus, a region crucial for decision-making.
The Role of the Ventral Hippocampus
A recent study from University College London (UCL) has unveiled a fascinating insight into how our gut directly communicates with our brain, especially when it comes to food-related decisions.
During the study, scientists observed the behavior of mice in an environment with food, analyzing their actions when hungry and full. They focused on the neural activity in the ventral hippocampus, a part of the brain associated with decision-making and memory. What they found was remarkable: activity in this brain region increased as animals approached food, but this was only the case when they were full. The activity inhibited them from eating.
Conversely, in hungry mice, there was less activity in this area, allowing the hippocampus to stop inhibiting eating behavior. This change in brain activity correlated with elevated levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin in the bloodstream. The researchers further manipulated this process by either activating these ventral hippocampal neurons or removing ghrelin receptors from them, resulting in altered eating behaviors in the mice.
Hunger Hormones: Ghrelin’s Role
The study sheds light on the role of ghrelin receptors in the brain, demonstrating how the hunger hormone can cross the blood-brain barrier and influence brain activity. This discovery is significant as it shows that ghrelin directly impacts the brain to control a circuit that inhibits overeating. This mechanism, which likely exists in humans as well, ensures that the body maintains a balance in food intake.
Continuing their research, the UCL team is now exploring whether hunger can affect learning or memory. This line of investigation could reveal if mice perform tasks differently based on their hunger levels. Such research could have broad implications, potentially illuminating mechanisms involved in eating disorders or the relationship between diet and mental health risks.
Potential for Eating Disorder Research
This groundbreaking discovery opens new avenues for research into eating disorders and the prevention and treatment of such conditions. By understanding how the gut’s signals are translated into decisions in the brain, scientists might uncover new strategies to address imbalances in these mechanisms. The study’s lead author, Dr. Ryan Wee, emphasized the importance of decision-making based on hunger levels, highlighting the serious health problems that can arise when this process is disrupted.
The UCL study highlights the complex interplay between the gut and the brain, underscoring how our bodies’ internal signals can profoundly influence our behavior and decisions. As research in this field continues to evolve, it could lead to significant advancements in understanding and treating various health conditions linked to our eating behaviors and mental health.
Source: “Hunger hormones impact decision-making brain area to drive behavior” — ScienceDaily
Related
WTF
Source link -
3 Ways To Support Fertility In Your 20s, From An OB/GYN
First, people in thier 20s who eventually want to become pregnant may consider tracking their menstrual cycle if they aren’t already.
This way, you’ll be able to see when something is off (think: a period longer than seven days, spotting, unusual discomfort, etc.) and address it sooner rather than later.
“If a woman has irregular menstrual cycles, they should also seek consultation for a work-up because this could affect their future fertility,” says reproductive endocrinologist Banafsheh Kashani, M.D., OB-GYN.
The tech-savvy may consider downloading a menstrual-tracking app or utilizing the Cycle Tracking on Apple’s iOS 17 update if you have an iPhone. This may make it easier to see patterns over time. However, you can do this via pen and paper or simply mark your calendar when you reach your menstrual phase as well. No matter how you like to track, the most important step is to ask for help when you notice something awry.
Even if you never plan on having children, tracking your menstrual cycle is a great way to get to know your body and notice how your hormones impact your physical and emotional well-being.
Hannah Frye
Source link -
I Prescribe GLP-1s: What To Ozempic Conversation Is Missing
Medications like Ozempic or Wegovy are in a class called GLP-1, or glucagon-like peptide-1, medications. The active ingredient in Ozempic is semaglutide. Semaglutide is an incretin, a hormone produced in the gut that helps signal to your brain that you are full. Semaglutide also helps regulate the transit time in your gut; if food passes more slowly through your body, then you feel full for longer.
For context, GLP-1 medications have been used since 2005 to treat Type 2 diabetes. They have been thoroughly studied and recognized by the medical community as an effective treatment of diabetes. In 2021, semaglutide was approved under the brand name, Wegovy, for weight loss.
One myth that has been circulating around the internet is that Wegovy is more effective than Ozempic. In reality, they are the exact same. They are equally effective for weight loss at the same dosage. The thing is, until recently, Ozempic was typically prescribed at a lower dose when used for diabetes management. Wegovy, on the other hand, is prescribed with the intention of maximizing the dose to achieve optimal weight loss.
With the increase in demand for these medications, Ozempic started to be prescribed for weight loss and not just diabetes management, even though it’s technically only FDA-approved for diabetes.
Ongoing research is also looking into new medications. One is CagriSema, which is a combination of cagrilintide and semaglutide. Cagrilintide emulates amylin, a hormone that impacts satiety. The second is Retatrutide which is a GLP-1, gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP), and glucagon agonist. It’s similar to Mounjaro but adds a glucagon agonist, which may help people burn more calories in addition to suppressing their appetite.
A big misunderstanding about this growing class of medications is that you can take them for a while and just get off of them. Ultimately, they are more of a chronic medication and work most effectively if taken consistently, similar to an anxiety or blood pressure medication (funny how we don’t judge these!). This is important to take into account before starting these medications.
Emily Doctor, DNP
Source link -
Saalt Steamer Review From A Health Editor & Menstrual Cup User
Hannah Frye is the Assistant Beauty & Health Editor at mindbodygreen. She has a B.S. in journalism and a minor in women’s, gender, and queer studies from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Hannah has written across lifestyle sections including skin care, women’s health, mental health, sustainability, social media trends, and more. She previously interned for Almost 30, a top-rated health and wellness podcast. In her current role, Hannah reports on the latest beauty trends and innovations, women’s health research, brain health news, and plenty more.
Hannah Frye
Source link -
Birth Control Makes Recovering From Stress Harder, Study Finds
To gauge the women’s “stress resilience,” researchers measured their levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) during a stressful event. ACTH can signal changes in stress levels more quickly than changes in the better-known stress hormone cortisol.
“Stress resilience is your natural inborn ability to bounce back from the anxiety response,” explains licensed marriage and family therapist Jeff Yoo, LMFT. “Stress resilience is as natural as the stress response,” he adds, noting that everyone will get out of fight-or-flight mode eventually, and the quicker this happens, the better.
For this study, researchers took blood from the women (which provided a stressful environment) and then measured their ACTH levels right after the prick. Then, participants took part in group activities like board games, singing together, group conversation, etc., for 15 minutes. This was meant to encourage a release of anxiety—as social interaction is one of the most effective ways to decrease stress levels2.
The results show that the 15 minutes of social activity lowered the stress hormone levels in women who were not on birth control pills. Women on birth control did not experience the same significant dip in their stress hormone levels. However, ACTH levels decreased in 70% of all participants throughout the group activities in some capacity, reiterating the positive impact of socialization after stress.
Hannah Frye
Source link -
Doctors Dismissed My Period Pain For Years — Until This Diagnosis
Years later, when I was 27, the OB/GYN I’d been seeing said to me: You might have this condition called endometriosis. In order to diagnose it, the doctor said they’d need to do an invasive procedure called a laparoscoppy. It’s a keyhole surgery where doctors look for endometrial tissue on the exterior wall of the uterus, and remove any they find. The doctor thought I likely didn’t have it—but if I wanted to double-check, they could move forward.
Lo and behold, I had the procedure, and I was diagnosed with endometriosis.
After the surgery, I experienced relief for about six months. But then the symptoms came back. Around the same time, I had begun experimenting with taking medical cannabis to help with my seizures. About a year into weaning off my epilepsy medication, I noticed some of my endometriosis pains were improving, as well.
So, I decided from that point to try to take things into my own hands a bit more, and test out how certain lifestyle interventions might impact my symptoms. I began to lean into acupuncture, herbs, and yoga. I also began using cannabinoids internally. As a result, I started to experience profound relief.
Now, I’d be lying if I said my symptoms completely vanished and I don’t have endometriosis anymore. But, I will say things have improved dramatically. If I was experiencing pain at a 10 before, I’m now closer to a 4—all thanks to natural interventions including nutrition, stress management, meditation, yoga, TCM, and using cannabis in many forms. I also learned so much about hormonal health, and how much my choices impacted my menstrual cycle.
It was actually that realization that was the catalyst for starting Looni, my menstrual health and wellness company.
Chelsea Leyland
Source link -
4 Hormonal Dementia Risk Factors That Directly Impact Women
As explained by neuroscientist, nutritionist, and associate director of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medical College Lisa Mosconi, Ph.D., in a mindbodygreen podcast episode, reproductive hormones play a massive role in protecting our brains from damage (such as the amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease).
“The interactions between the brain and the reproductive organs are really crucial for brain health and brain aging—especially in women,” she says. “We tend to think of testosterone [and] estrogens as involved in reproduction, having kids. But in reality, these hormones have a lot of effects inside our brains.”
“In particular, they literally push our neurons to bring glucose to make energy. So if your hormones are high, your brain energy is high. But then what happens to testosterone is that it doesn’t quite decline that much over time, whereas for women, estrogens pretty much plummet when women go through menopause,” Mosconi shares.
It’s this plummet in estrogen that leaves women’s brains especially vulnerable when they hit menopause in their 40s or 50s. “If you think of these hormones as having some kind of superpowers for the brain, women lose the superpower around the time that menopause hits, right? And the brain is left a little more vulnerable,” Mosconi says.
Like menopause, having your uterus or ovaries removed (i.e., a hysterectomy or oophorectomy) also results in a drastic drop in estrogen levels. Other periods of hormonal fluctuations—such as puberty and pregnancy—influence estrogen levels as well, which explains why some hormonal health factors leave women at higher risk while others help protect their brains.
Morgan Chamberlain
Source link -
Veracity Hormone Wellness Test, From A Beauty Editor
When I received the kit, I started the testing process by filling out the registration, which I accessed by scanning a QR code. Along with giving basic information about myself, I answered questions about my lifestyle and current health status. These were questions like:When was the start of your last period? What symptoms are you experiencing? How often do you exercise? Any dietary restrictions?
Once the registration was completed, I started the saliva sample. This required me to spit into a tube until I hit the designated sample collection line. Hitting this line took me about two minutes of spitting; I kept busy by scrolling through my phone. Pro tip: Make sure you’re hydrated to keep this process as smooth as possible.
When my sample was finished, I carefully screwed on the top to prevent leakage and packaged it up in the pre-paid shipping slip. I was sure to fill out the labels properly, including birthday and collection date, to ensure my results weren’t delayed.
The entire process was super easy—and I would know. I actually did it twice. The post office lost my first test, and the brand quickly sent over a replacement to redo my sample.
My test results were ready in about two weeks, which falls right into the brands two to three-week waiting period. I received an email notification, which led me to the Veracity portal. This portal sticks around long after your results are ready to go, so you can revisit it at any time.
Hannah Frye
Source link -
Raspberry Leaf Tea Benefits & Impact On Women’s Health
Raspberry leaf tea is derived from the leaves of the red raspberry plant, a plant native to Europe and certain parts of Asia, which is also known for its tart, bright red berries. Raspberry leaf tea has a fruity, slightly earthy flavor that is often compared to black tea. And just as you might expect, it also has a deep red hue that is reminiscent of raspberries.
This herbal tea is a staple in traditional forms of medicine, such as Ayurveda, according to Ananta Ripa Ajmera, an Ayurvedic practitioner, co-founder and director of The Ancient Way, and author of The Way of the Goddess. “Raspberry leaf tea is used to lower the amount of heat and inflammation people experience in their bodies,” she says.
Ajmera explains that it’s especially beneficial for digestion, which is the key to overall health, according to the principles of Ayurveda. It’s also been associated with benefits for women’s health, which we’ll get to below.
Today, raspberry leaf tea is widely available in supermarkets and specialty shops alike. In terms of cost, it’s also comparable to many other varieties of herbal tea, with prices ranging from $0.20 to $0.50 a piece for prepackaged tea bags and $1 to $2 per ounce for loose-leaf versions.
Rachael Ajmera, MS, RD
Source link -
Why Melatonin Doesn’t Help You Stay Asleep + What To Take Instead
Magnesium bisglycinate, the leading mineral ingredient in the formula, is a combination of magnesium and the amino acid glycine. Glycine has been found in research to enhance sleep quality and neurological function2, while magnesium, an essential macromineral, supports our circadian rhythm and is clinically shown to soothe the mind and body to promote relaxation and sleep.*
And along with magnesium bisglycinate, sleep support+ also includes jujube seed extract, a fruit that has long been used in traditional Chinese medicine, as well as PharmaGABA®, a natural form of an amino acid neurotransmitter. Both ingredients have been found to help people fall asleep faster—and stay asleep longer—making this special blend a no-brainer.*
If you need more convincing, take it from double board-certified integrative medicine doctor Amy Shah, M.D., who told mbg that sleep support+ is her go-to when it comes to quality sleep: “[I] used to take melatonin at night but found that it often did not work. mindbodygreen’s natural, gentle sleep support+ formula has effectively solved my sleep issues. The unique combination of magnesium bisglycinate, jujube, and PharmaGABA® induces relaxation and calm and helps maximize my sleep quality,”* she says.
Sarah Regan
Source link -
3 Conditions That Cause Cognitive Decline (But Aren’t Dementia)
Vitamin B12 is critical to a number of cognitive functions, such as neurotransmitter production, DNA synthesis1, and maintaining nerve cell health. Sufficient B12 levels are also vital for regulating healthy methylation pathways2 and levels of homocysteine (a biomarker with massive health implications when elevated, including cardiovascular dysfunction and dementia).
When your body isn’t getting enough vitamin B12, it can cause a number of concerning dementia-like symptoms, like confusion, behavior changes, and memory impairment.
Morgan Chamberlain
Source link -
3 Ways To Support Your Skin During Hormonal Shifts
If you’re struggling with hormonal acne or clogged pores, then you’ll want to add some active ingredients to your topical routine if you don’t include them already. Look for products with salicylic acid, gentle retinol, and niacinamide.
You’ll then want to cushion those actives with barrier-supporting hydrators, like hyaluronic acid, ceramides, peptides, as well as noncomedogenic oils, like rosehip seed oil and grapeseed oil. This way, your skin has time to recover from the intense actives. Not sure how to work all of them into one routine? You may want to opt for skin cycling—here’s everything you need to know.
For those with access to a dermatologist, it’s worth a visit to see how they can support you during this time of hormonal fluctuations, be it with topical products, in-office treatments, or oral medications.
Hannah Frye
Source link -
5 Ways To Amplify The Most Sexual Phase Of Your Menstrual Cycle
So what exactly is the sexual phase, and when does it occur? Let’s go over some key points in the menstrual cycle: The period is an obvious phase that can last anywhere from three to seven days in a normal cycle. As you leave the period, you enter the mid-follicular phase. This is when you may notice an increase in cervical fluid, energy, and mood. As you near the end of your follicular phase, your estrogen and testosterone levels are at their highest levels during your cycle. Both of these hormones contribute to increased sexual desire, the tendency to fantasize more, and the ability to self-lubricate more easily.
About three days prior to ovulation, estrogen levels ramp up and spike once the egg is matured and ready for ovulation. In response to the surge of estrogen1, the brain releases luteinizing hormone, which triggers ovulation. It will take about one to two days for the egg to be released and for the corpus luteum to form—the temporary endocrine structure in the ovary that releases progesterone. This series of events take place in a five- to six-day window when thoughts of sex will be most likely to occupy your mind and orgasms will be easier to achieve.
But once that progesterone production is up and running during the luteal phase, your sexual desire, fantasy, and ability to get wet may leave you wondering where the magic of that sexual phase went. While estrogen is present in the luteal phase (the time between ovulation and menstruation), it stands little chance of overcoming the effects of progesterone. The result, as I share in my book, Is This Normal? is “you find yourself feeling that getting into a pair of sweatpants is much more appealing than getting into their pants.”
As a board-certified naturopathic endocrinologist and sex counselor, here are the tips I share with my patients to help amplify their sexual phase each month.
Jolene Brighten, N.D.
Source link -
Intermittent Fasting For Women Over 50: Meal Plan + Safety Tips
Menopause is a term used to describe the time in a woman’s life when her menstrual periods stop permanently1.
After you go through menopause, your ovaries produce very little of the sex hormones estrogen and progesterone. The natural decline in hormone production that occurs during this time can cause a range of unpleasant symptoms including hot flashes, weight gain, high blood lipid levels, mood swings, vaginal dryness, sleep problems, and irritability.
Perimenopause, or the time leading up to menopause, generally begins in a woman’s late 40’s. Most women experience menopause around the age of 511.
Certain lifestyle and dietary changes, like intermittent fasting (IF) may be effective for women who are perimenopausal, menopausal, and postmenopausal. Unfortunately, although there’s plenty of research on the potential benefits of IF for premenopausal women, research investigating its effects in older women is limited2.
However, the little research we do have suggests that IF may have some health benefits for women over 50, like promoting weight loss3 and improving blood sugar regulation.
Overall, research findings4 suggest that IF affects older women in the same way it does younger women in terms of weight loss and metabolic benefits, but larger studies are needed to understand how IF impacts women during perimenopause and menopause, as well as postmenopause.
Also, IF may compromise the health of some older adults and may lead to changes in certain hormones, which we’ll cover later in the article.
Jillian Kubala, MS, RD
Source link -
4 Hormonal Dementia Risk Factors That Directly Impact Women
As explained by neuroscientist, nutritionist, and associate director of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medical College, Lisa Mosconi, Ph.D., in a mindbodygreen podcast episode, reproductive hormones play a massive role in protecting our brains from damage (such as the amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease).
“The interactions between the brain and the reproductive organs are really crucial for brain health and brain aging—especially in women,” she says. “We tend to think of testosterone [and] estrogens as involved in reproduction, having kids. But in reality, these hormones have a lot of effects inside our brains.”
“In particular, they literally push our neurons to bring glucose to make energy. So if your hormones are high, your brain energy is high. But then what happens to testosterone is that it doesn’t quite decline that much over time; whereas for women, estrogens pretty much plummet when women go through menopause,” Mosconi shares.
It’s this plummet in estrogen that leaves women’s brains especially vulnerable when they hit menopause in their 40s or 50s. “If you think of these hormones as having some kind of superpowers for the brain, women lose the super power around the time that menopause hits, right? And the brain is left a little more vulnerable,” Mosconi says.
Like menopause, having your uterus or ovaries removed (i.e., a hysterectomy or oophorectomy) also results in a drastic drop in estrogen levels. Other periods of hormonal fluctuations—such as puberty and pregnancy—influence estrogen levels as well, which explains why some hormonal health factors leave women at higher risk while others help protect their brains.
Morgan Chamberlain
Source link -
This Type Of Cutting Board Can Mess With Your Hormonal Health
In addition, cutting creates deep grooves in the plastic where bacteria can linger, which makes used plastic cutting boards very difficult to fully disinfect in a dishwasher. You really need to be using a brush to get into those grooves. So if you do use a plastic board, opt to give it a good scrub yourself instead of placing it in the dishwasher.
In one older study5 out of the University of Wisconsin, researchers placed several bacteria, including E. coli and Salmonella, on both used and new wood and plastic cutting boards. The wood cutting boards consistently outperformed the plastic boards in terms of bacterial safety. Moral of the story? Wooden cutting boards may turn out to be more sanitary than plastic, and prove better for your hormonal health (provided they don’t use plastic-containing glues to stick the wooden pieces together).
Some plastic cutting boards are also coated with antibacterial substances to prevent bacteria from growing, but this only trades in bacteria growth for other chemicals, often endocrine disrupters. A very common antibacterial chemical used for such purposes is Microban, which contains the antibacterial ingredient triclosan6. The FDA does not recognize triclosan as safe due to its hormone-disrupting properties6. While triclosan has been phased out of handwash and sanitizers7, it still lurks in other everyday products—including cutting boards.
Some people also use strong chemicals, such as bleach diluted with water, to clean plastic cutting boards. That creates the fearful possibility of contaminating your food with such chemicals. If you’ve ever put tomato or turmeric-rich foods into a plastic container, you’ll see that it turns red or yellow. This is because the ingredients have seeped into the matrix of the plastic. Harsh cleaning agents could also be seeping into your board, potentially contaminating the food you cut on it.
Vivian Chen, MD
Source link -
Why Eating For Stable Blood Sugar May Help Endometriosis Symptoms
Fast-forward a good 20 years, and we still don’t have a cure for endo, and we don’t have what I, or the World Health Organization4 for that matter, would consider effective treatments for the condition.
But I’m not surprised. In 2022, the National Institutes of Health dedicated less than 0.1% of their research funding to the study of this chronic condition that affects 1 in 105 people assigned female at birth of reproductive age, significantly reduces quality of life6, and costs the United States an estimated $22 billion a year in lost productivity. (FYI, in rare cases, people assigned male at birth can have endo too.)
Like many people with endo who’ve been left in the lurch regarding treatment and care, I had to do my own research. I discovered that dietary changes, although not a cure, may help alleviate endometriosis symptoms. Back in the early aughts, the prevailing wisdom regarding diet and endo was to go vegan.
The simplified theory was that eating some animal products7, like red meat, could drive prostaglandin production. Prostaglandins, although crucial for the body, when overproduced can cause the uterus (and that endometrial-like tissue) to contract, leading to pain and cramping. Plus, prostaglandins are implicated8 in the pathophysiology of endo.
As someone who went vegan way back in 2001, I can tell you that a vegan diet does not always equate to a healthy diet. Although I ate an abundance of fruits and veggies, I was also consuming lots of processed carbs, such as pasta, rice, cereal, bread, etc. So that vegan diet didn’t necessarily help me. In fact, it may have made it worse9.
Jennifer Chesak
Source link -
How Vitamin C Contributes To Hormone + Mood Balance
You may or may not already know that your brain is sensitive to the absence or deficiency of vitamin C1. This is precisely how vitamin C influences your mood.
While vitamin C’s role starts in the brain, it trickles down throughout the entire body to help balance hormones. For example, vitamin C plays an essential role in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis (think: fight-or-flight stress response).
In fact, “The adrenal glands house the greatest concentration of vitamin C in the whole body and are necessary for proper cortisol output2,” registered dietitian nutritionist Emily Achey, M.S., R.D., INFCP, previously told mbg.
By supporting the oxidant versus antioxidant balance in the adrenals, vitamin C supports emotional well-being and a number of other physiological functions, as adrenal glands are involved in regulating metabolism and healthy blood pressure, supporting the immune system and more.
The benefits of vitamin C certainly don’t stop there, either. This essential nutrient plays a critical role in immune health, skin health, iron absorption, and more. Suffice it to say: You should definitely make sure you prioritize vitamin C for overall health, hormonal balance included.
But here’s the thing: A whopping 42% of the U.S. adult population3 is living with vitamin C insufficiency, and almost half are failing to get enough vitamin C from their food each day. Want to be absolutely sure you’re getting enough? Add a vitamin C supplement to your daily wellness routine to support your hormones, immune system, brain health, and more. Here’s a curated list of the best science-backed options on the market to ease your search.
Hannah Frye
Source link -
Sleep Disorders Show Up Differently In Women, Says An MD
At least some of the sleep differences between men and women are thought to be a matter of biology. The hormonal shifts2 that women experience through puberty, menstruation, pregnancy, and perimenopause are all known to impact sleep quality.
There’s also a social element at play. Generally speaking, there’s an expectation put on women to care for others—which can leave them with less time to care for themselves. Jam-packed schedules leave us stressed, anxious, and overwhelmed come bedtime.
Afolabi-Brown notes that some medical sleep disorders are also more prevalent in women than men. Restless leg syndrome is one of them, which can be related to iron deficiencies3 that are much more common among people who menstruate. Women are also as much as twice as likely to have insomnia, fueled by anxiety and neurodevelopmental differences like ADHD and autism spectrum disorder (also common and underdiagnosed in women).
Years of male-dominant diagnostic criteria also mean that many women with sleep disorders are slipping through the cracks. “Obstructive sleep apnea is often missed in women,” Afolabi-Brown gives as an example, since so many people’s idea of a sleep apnea patient is a middle-aged man who snores loudly, and is likely overweight. In reality, she says, women can be just as likely to develop it (especially during pregnancy4), but it might manifest as disrupted sleep, headaches, and insomnia instead of the hallmark snoring.
Considering these societal pressures, physiological differences, and diagnostic gender biases, Afolabi-Brown says that “it’s almost as if the cards are stacked against us a little; a lot, actually.” After years of grin and bearing sleep deprivation herself, she committed to helping women prioritize their sleep and get the treatment they need. (Pssst… she’s teaming up with seven other sleep specialists this weekend for a Women’s Sleep Summit; head here to learn more details and register to attend live or watch the recording.)
Emma Loewe
Source link
