Latest / The Dr Louise Newson Podcast / 298 - What is healthy ageing?

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298 - What is healthy ageing? · The Dr Louise Newson Podcast

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Hello, I'm Doctor Louise Newson, I'm AGP and menopause specialist
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and I'm also the founder of the Newson Health Menopause and
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well-being Centre here in Stratford upon Avon.
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I'm also the founder of the free Balance app.
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Each week on my podcast, join me and my special guests where we
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discuss all things perimenopause and menopause.
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We talk about the latest research, bus myths on menopause
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symptoms and treatments and often share moving and always
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inspirational personal stories. This podcast is brought to you
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by the Newsome Health Group, which has clinics across the UK
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dedicated to providing individualised perimenopause and
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menopause care for all women. Today on my podcast I've got
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another guest from the other side of the world, so in
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Melbourne, Australia. I've got with me Professor
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Serki, who is director of Women's Healthy Ageing Project
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and she is also an author. She's very active, academic and
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incredibly clever. So I feel very honoured that
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she's agreed to join me on the podcast today, even though it's
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very late at night for her. So thanks ever so much Cassandra
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for coming today. My pleasure So.
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I've, I don't know whether you know, but some of my listeners
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know that I've got a pathology degree as well.
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And I spent a good nine months with a professor of
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biochemistry. Actually, sadly, he's died now.
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I wish I could go back in time and ask him even more questions
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because he spent a lot of time talking about monocytes and
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macrophages, which are types of white cells.
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I'm talking about how important they are to fight infection.
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But when they go, they can become pro inflammatory.
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So increase inflammation. And there are various
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circumstances in our environment that make our body become more
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against us really and increase inflammation.
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And I was sitting there thinking, oh, what's this got to
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do with helping people with heart attacks?
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Or what's this going to help people with cancer?
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Because I wanted to do cancer medicine.
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And then by the end of the, the whole course was a year, the
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BSc. But after nine months, it
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suddenly clicked and I thought actually this is all related,
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like the relationship of heart disease and cancer is there,
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like dementia and osteoporosis is there.
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But no one had taught me this ever before.
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And that was in 1992. And lots of people still don't
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understand. And so there is so much that is
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really relevant and even more relevant to the work that I'm
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doing now with hormones. So before we get into all the
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science, I'm just keen to hear a bit about your background and
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how you got to where you are now and what fueled your interest.
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Well, in Australia we have a very similar system of medical
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training to the UK and so that means we do do general training
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as general physicians. Before we specialized in a sub
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speciality area of internal medicine.
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So I became a physician first, which is very long, long
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program. And then after that did my
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training as a consultant neurologist and then I did an
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epilepsy fellowship. And because of course you have
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to know everything about 1 little molecule nowadays, but I
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am a generalist in my heart and in my being.
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And so when I was moving into academia, I got really
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interested in healthy ageing because the area I actually
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looked at, would you believe, after doing an epilepsy
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fellowship was epilepsy and cognition.
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I of course had many of the younger patients as a young
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consultant neurologist and they were on anticonvulsant
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medications. And they're all at uni because I
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work at the hospital that's associated with the university.
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And they were telling me that on these medications, they just
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couldn't think as well anymore. So I got really into cognition.
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And when you start looking at these diseases, if I could say
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this, the disease we used to associate with aging thought of
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as aging diseases, I suddenly realized that it was this whole
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encapsulated inflammatory cascades.
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So all the chronic diseases of aging have an inflammatory
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component to them. Which is so relevant and
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certainly as you might know, I trained as a physician as well,
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so had a long training and before going into general
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practice and no one really talked about aging or what it
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meant. And even now I don't think so
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because you just Google aging and it's always anti aging face
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creeps, isn't it? It's trying to keep us young
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rather than prevent aging. And that's quite different, I
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think. Well, I think there's so many
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funny things about the word aging and how it's perceived in
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Western culture, perceived much better in Eastern culture,
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actually. But I also think we forget that
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aging was 27 in the 1900s, you know?
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And, you know, 1960s aging was 50, and it's only in the last
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two decades the mean age has been over 80, age of death.
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And so our perception of aging is entirely different.
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And I know you're interested in asking about hormones and aging
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today. And I mean, just looking at what
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I just said, when the mean age of menopause is 50 and the mean
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age of death is 50, then you're not getting many post menopause
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or women to be able to do any research or do any study or have
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any knowledge about what is post menopause for women.
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And yet today in your country in mind where women's mean age is
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over 80, we're living a third of our lives in post menopause.
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So this is an incredibly important part of our lives that
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we know so little about. It's so relevant, isn't it?
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And I think somebody recently actually a meeting I went to
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said, oh, it's interesting, isn't it?
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Because orca whales are the other mammal that has menopause
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and it's all about nurturing and it's about you being there for
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your grandchildren and your wisdom and knowledge as
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menopause or women. And I said, I think you've
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missed the point actually. That's part of aging is great
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because when you're older, you have got more wisdom, more
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knowledge, you can nurture hopefully better.
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You've got lots of life skills. But that's not the same as being
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menopausal without hormones. And you know, we can't be
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tortured more than we are already by being not allowed our
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hormones that do more than just stop a few hot flushes or severe
6:30
hot flushes for some women. But it's more than that.
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And I think for many years they've been because they're
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referred to as sex hormones, but they're not about sex and
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they're not about gender actually.
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They are biologically active chemicals in our body that men
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and women have them. We all, everybody has them in
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different quantities and amounts.
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But like you say, it wasn't so relevant even 100 years ago
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because we didn't live so long without our hormones and the
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women that did, You know, we only need to look at the number
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of women locked up in asylums and, you know, mental health
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that was misdiagnosed perhaps when it could have been related
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to menopause. But now we look at the huge
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burden of disease because people are living longer and sometimes
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it's not. I'm not blaming everything on
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not having hormones, but it's definitely a contributing
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factor. And one of the things about the
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study which I lead here in Australia, it's the longest
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running study of Women's Health in Australia.
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And what makes it really remarkable is that we have
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those, it was a study looking from pre to post menopause.
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That's how it was originally designed.
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And so it's got all the estrogen, FSH, LSH, all the
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measures, menstrual Diaries, hormone therapy, all of that.
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However, it was run by a consortia led by a psychiatrist.
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So all the mental health measures and a consortia of
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physicians, so bone measures as well as the hot flushes and all
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of that. And then also cognitive
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measures. And we have amyloid scans of
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these woman's brains. And you know, that sort of study
8:05
is really rare actually. So you'll get the menopausal
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studies that kind of stopped after menopause having defined
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that transitional period. And so it's actually really
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rare. I mean, I guess it's rare to get
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any study funded more than three to five years, let alone the
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fact for aging, these chronic diseases of aging.
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So I'm talking about osteoporosis, osteoarthritis,
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heart disease, diabetes, dementia.
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These take 3 decades to develop. So if you're not doing a study
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for three decades, you can't possibly see what's actually
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going on. You're taking snapshots here and
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there. Yeah.
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So what's been the biggest things or the most interesting
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areas that you've found with your research so far?
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Oh my gosh. I mean, our studies got hundreds
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of publications because it was going for a decade before I
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joined as a little PhD student. And I personally have more than
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200 publications. So that's that's a huge
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question. It's such a huge question.
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But you know, I will, you know, if there's a sound bite I can
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give, it would be this. And it's sounds trite, but it
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isn't. If there's one thing you go out
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and do for healthy aging, whether it be brain, heart,
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bone, inflammation, mental health, the one thing you can do
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that's best in all of these metrics, in all the different
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papers we've done, it's physical activity.
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It's the one. Thing you can do.
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That is actually the best for healthy aging.
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That's so interesting, isn't it? And I was at an event last night
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and we were talking about how to make the best of your menopause
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and make it as healthy as possible.
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And just as we get older, whether we're men or women, and
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it's something that I don't think I was taught enough about
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as a medic. We talked a bit or we learned a
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bit about osteosarcopenia, this loss of muscle and bone mass
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that occurs, but not the importance of exercise and
10:02
regular exercise as well, which is so important, isn't that?
10:05
Yeah, again, I think, you know, we have to look at the fact that
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we've increased our mean age of death dramatically,
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exponentially over the last two decades.
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And so we're still playing catch up with what happens when we
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don't die of a heart attack at. 50.
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Or of an infectious disease at 30.
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Yeah, really interesting and relevant.
10:27
And obviously nutrition is a key part as well, isn't it?
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Well, you know, talking about inflammation today with you, you
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know, the gut is a key role player in inflammation, it turns
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out, which is something that wasn't known a couple of decades
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ago, but now we're seeing there's a gut brain access,
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there's a gut everything access and it's because of
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inflammation. So that gut, that good
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microbiome, you know, that's actually having
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anti-inflammatory actions throughout the body.
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In addition to of course, we need key nutrients and
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micronutrients. The with the oversupply of food
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now we can all get calories, but micronutrients are really
11:08
important. In the old days we had to forage
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for food. We were actually getting quite a
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few micronutrients in all of that veg that was predominant in
11:16
our diets. I mean, certainly people's
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nutrition has really changed even over the last few decades,
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but we see a lot of women, and I speak to a lot of women who have
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symptoms related to irritable bowel syndrome.
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So bloating, some heartburn, maybe some Constipation, just
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those symptoms where in the past we would have diagnosed
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irritable bowel. And given all sorts of
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treatments actually often really do improve with hormones and
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even testosterone can have a massively beneficial effect on
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people with heartburn and other bowel symptoms.
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But I do wonder how much is a direct effect of the hormones
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and how much is an indirect effect because the hormones are
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affecting the gut microbes. It's just a really interesting
12:02
relationship, I think that hasn't been explored enough that
12:06
I've read, but I think it's something that is so important.
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I completely agree. We need to do a lot more work in
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that space. Not just that, but the mental
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health. So of course, the gut is highly
12:18
reactive to anxiety. Everyone knows that because
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everyone gets butterflies in their stomach before they go on
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stage. So the gut is highly reactive to
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our mental health status. And of course, you know, there's
12:30
a lot of evidence, especially in hormone responsive mental
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health, which is a new field that's, you know, developed
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where people have gone through menopause and they're resistant
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to some of the antidepressant medications and when put on
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hormones actually improved. So it's very interesting.
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We never knew there was hormone responsive mental health.
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And it is absolutely key. We see a lot of women who are in
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quite crisis actually mentally when they come and see us.
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And they've often been seen by mental health teams and been
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given different psychiatric medications, some of it quite
13:07
heavy duty. And no one's thought about the
13:09
hormones. And I didn't realise even when I
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did psychiatry as a junior doctor because no one had taught
13:15
me. And now with these women, I we
13:18
often give them hormones for their other physical symptoms,
13:21
knowing that they're menopausal or perimenopausal, that the
13:25
first time I did it, I didn't really think that it would
13:28
improve their mental health as much as it does.
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Certainly having the right dose of hormones, but also
13:33
testosterone as well has an massively, in my clinical
13:37
experience, beneficial effect on mental health, which was
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something that has not really been explored much at all.
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It makes sense when we know the role of testosterone throughout
13:48
our brains, but I'm not really sure why it's been neglected so
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much when we know that our hormones are made in our brains
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and workers neurotransmitters, yet it's sort of been all about
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periods and fertility when we think about not having our
14:02
hormones. I think there's a labelling
14:05
issue with Women's Health. So I think often when they say
14:08
Women's Health, you know, people go, oh, right, tell me about
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boobs and bits. Yes.
14:13
And so, you know, as a neurologist, I can tell you when
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I'm at a Women's Health conference and somebody comes in
14:20
late to the seminar and they slip in the back and they look
14:22
up at the screen and they see a brain scan, they think they're
14:25
in the wrong seminar. Whereas, you know, to me, the
14:30
leading cause of death in your country and mine in women
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leading cause of death is dementia.
14:35
So how we cannot understand that women are brains.
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So I do think a lot of Women's Health has been done by obscene
14:42
gyne and they're probably not so focused on the brain.
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But you know, as generalists, anything that crosses that blood
14:48
brain barrier, because not everything does.
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It's a pretty, that's why we call it a barrier.
14:53
You know, not everything crosses that blood bone barrier and
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estrogen certainly does and has enormous impact on neural cells
15:00
so. Yeah, and I think that's when
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you say I was at an event and it was about translational
15:05
research, which was great. It was a real honour to be
15:07
invited. And they said, oh, Louise, we've
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put you on this table, number whatever, and it's with other
15:12
Women's Health researchers. I said, but I'm interested in
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the health of women, not so much Women's Health.
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And they sort of looked really. And of course I'm interested in
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endometriosis and fibroids and period problems, but I'm more
15:25
interested actually in cardiovascular disease and
15:27
metabolic syndrome and dementia. And it's that change.
15:32
I think being a woman who's interested in health of women,
15:37
immediate people think it's gyne problems or maybe like you say,
15:41
breast problems, but it's not. I really like the way you say
15:45
that health of women. Maybe that's what we should be
15:48
re badging because that's the bit that hasn't been done really
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well. You know, you just look at the
15:53
amazing investment that's been done in my country.
15:57
We have an endometriosis action plan, We have a national plan
16:01
for PCOS. Breast cancer survival rates
16:05
have been going up every year, which is incredible.
16:07
So when you focus on things, you can really improve health.
16:11
So maybe you're right, we need a rebranding.
16:16
I'm pleased you you agree. I, I totally think it's so
16:19
important when we look at, like you say, the diseases that are
16:22
causing mortality, but also morbidity as well.
16:25
You know, the longer we live, the more likely we are to have
16:28
diseases and they are the diseases that are affecting us
16:32
day-to-day. So it's not so much, of course
16:36
it is the age we die, but it's our journey to that age and it's
16:40
how many times are we going to be admitted in our 70s and 80s
16:43
to hospital? How is our cognitive state going
16:46
to impair us? What about our physical state?
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You know, am I going to be dependent on a carer in my 80s?
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I absolutely don't want to be. I want to keep strong and
16:56
physically and mentally healthy. And that's what's draining our
17:00
healthcare system, and I'm sure yours as well, is people who
17:04
have diseases associated with ageing.
17:07
But then there are other people that have accelerated ageing and
17:11
more inflammation, which is compounded by not exercising
17:16
adequately, not eating the right foods, not having the right
17:20
hormones and also looking at stress, looking at our gut
17:24
microbe. There's everything together.
17:26
And I think so much in medicine, we can't be siloed.
17:29
You know, you as a neurologist stopping your work at the broad
17:32
lane barrier would be completely wrong, but there are a lot of
17:36
neurologists that don't look at the body.
17:40
Look, I think you're so right. Often when we say healthy
17:42
ageing, people say, what does that mean?
17:44
Because they're so caught up in the word ageing.
17:46
And I think, you know, ageing is something that's a chronological
17:51
measure of how many years we've been on Earth and that, you
17:55
know, doesn't harm you. So there's many people who die
17:59
at 99 still carrying some, you know, logs up mountains in
18:04
those, you know, so-called Blue Zones where you can find people
18:07
who are living very functionally and well into their 90s.
18:12
So it's not the age that's the issue.
18:14
We forget sometimes that age is also a measure of how many years
18:19
we've been smoking, how many years we've had high blood
18:21
sugars, high blood pressure, high stress, as you mentioned.
18:25
I mean, the stress issue isn't trivial.
18:27
I know when we say stress, people might think we're talking
18:30
about being stressed out. But people who are lonely, who
18:33
say that they're lonely, we can actually measure the immune
18:36
system is depressed, they're more likely to get infections.
18:40
We can actually physiologically measure the damage to the body
18:44
from people feeling lonely. So you know, this idea of
18:47
stress, I think we're just scratching the surface of what
18:50
that means for our long term health.
18:52
Absolutely. And and there are certain things
18:55
that will increase the amount of stress that we have.
18:58
So if we don't sleep, for example, that's going to
19:01
increase stress, which is also going to have metabolic changes
19:04
in our body. And I feel a lot of time,
19:07
especially as a physician, in the past, I've been just putting
19:09
sticking tape on things. And I was reflecting recently
19:13
about the medications that I prescribe now as a physician.
19:16
And they're very few. And it's not because I've
19:18
forgotten how to prescribe, but actually people I see don't need
19:22
as many medications. Whereas in the past, you know, I
19:26
was prescribing a lot of statins, a lot of blood pressure
19:29
lowering medication, a lot of painkillers, a lot of
19:32
antidepressants actually for people.
19:34
Because I was seeing things in isolation and I was very
19:38
reactive in what I was doing because I was, you know,
19:40
treating a raised blood pressure or treating a raised cholesterol
19:44
rather than what I do now is taking a step back and thinking,
19:46
well, why have they got raised blood pressure and why have they
19:50
got raised cholesterol? And what is their nutrition
19:52
like? What's their exercise like?
19:53
What's their hormonal status like?
19:55
And yes, they might need short term some medication to lower
20:00
their blood pressure to allow for their exercise, their
20:03
nutrition, their hormones to be rebalanced properly.
20:07
But I don't start medications like that thinking I'm going to
20:10
carry them on for decades. And certainly as a older GPI
20:15
would spend a lot of time de prescribing, which sounds a bit
20:18
weird, but actually stopping medication is really rewarding
20:22
actually as a doctor, because it's so easy, isn't it, to add
20:26
on more and more medications. And a lot of most medications
20:30
actually do have side effects and a lot of them we don't know
20:33
the long term effects, do we? Especially on cognition and our
20:37
brain, but also on our bones and cardiovascular system.
20:40
Yeah, exactly. And I think, you know, the point
20:43
you raised about sleep is so key.
20:46
People don't think of sleep as important.
20:49
But as a neurologist, it is immensely important for the
20:54
brain. And we were talking about it
20:56
causing stress. And it's not just the kind that
20:59
you get stressed out if you haven't slept.
21:01
But we can look at people sleeping and then becoming sleep
21:05
deprived and again, measure their blood, measure their
21:08
cerebral spinal fluid and actually show there's more
21:12
inflammatory markers, there's more byproducts that haven't
21:16
been cleared because during sleep those byproducts get
21:20
cleared. So, you know, it's stressing the
21:22
system as in pushing a plank too hard so it breaks, not just some
21:27
sort of mental concept of stress, it's a physical stress
21:31
to the system as well, not having sleep.
21:35
And, you know, on the medications, You're so right.
21:37
I think, you know, what do they call a Band-Aid medicine where,
21:40
you know, people keep getting cut and then you put a Band-Aid
21:42
on. Whereas what we should be
21:44
looking much more at is prevention.
21:46
When I worked at CSIRO, which is our Commonwealth agency, we had
21:50
a preventive health flagship and we demonstrated to the
21:53
government that they spent less than 1% of the healthcare budget
21:56
on prevention. You know, and I do think that we
21:59
have, you know, for good reason when we're still trying to work
22:02
out what diseases were very focused on fixing problems that
22:06
we're we're finding. And what we've got to do is not
22:08
develop those blocked arteries, you know, and not develop
22:12
diabetes, try and prevent it from happening.
22:14
I mean, the treatments are getting better all the time, but
22:17
I think anyone who's living with diabetes would say they'd rather
22:20
not. Yeah, have it.
22:22
Absolutely. It's so important.
22:24
And we know chronic diseases of ageing and WHO wrote a report
22:27
showing 80% can be prevented. A 2° and, you know, prevention
22:32
is key to so much. And I remember going to a
22:35
lecture about eight years ago now with Professor Walter Rocco,
22:38
who I've, he's actually been on the podcast from the Mayo Clinic
22:41
talking about his work, looking at, I'm sure you're aware of it.
22:44
You know, women that, who are young, who have a bilateral,
22:47
they have their ovaries removed under the age of 40 and the
22:51
increased instance of diseases that occur.
22:55
And I remember thinking, yeah, I know about heart disease can
22:57
increase. I know osteoporosis, dementia
22:59
can increase. But then he's talking about even
23:02
kidney disease, chronic kidney disease, which I hadn't realised
23:05
at the time, but also all the different mental health
23:08
conditions. So obviously I knew that
23:11
clinical depression increases the longer we are without our
23:13
hormones. But schizophrenia, psychosis,
23:17
drug addiction as well, the COPD, you know, lung disease.
23:22
And then thinking, gosh, this is massive actually.
23:24
And that's when I think you sometimes do need a light bulb
23:27
moment, don't you, when you're reading things.
23:29
And I suddenly then went back home and got my pathology notes
23:33
out and the one essay I had to write was a three hour essay and
23:37
it had to write Is atheroma a marker for cancer?
23:41
Now for those of you who are not sure, atheroma is the you get
23:45
this sort of fatty deposit lining the blood vessels that
23:47
accelerates and then that increases risk of cardiovascular
23:51
disease. So it's often the start of
23:53
cardiovascular disease or heart disease.
23:55
And so I read this title, we had like 20 different titles we
23:59
could choose 1/3 hour essay. And I had this and I was like,
24:02
oh, it was so exciting. But actually it's connecting
24:05
this inflammation. So the inflammation that occurs
24:08
in the endothelium, the lining of the blood vessels, which
24:11
increases atheroma, is actually very similar to this
24:15
inflammation that occurs with cancers as well, for many
24:19
cancers. And like I said before, when you
24:21
think about our immune cells that fight infections,
24:25
especially our monocytes and macrophages, they all can be
24:29
really, really protective. They're like our army that
24:31
protect us not just from infections, but from disease.
24:35
But if they've got the wrong microclimates, the wrong
24:37
conditions, they will turn against us and they will become
24:40
very inflammatory and produce all sorts of cytokines,
24:43
chemicals that will worsen. And I remember thinking,
24:47
actually, this is all related because if you've got low
24:51
hormones, estudiol, progesterone, testosterone,
24:54
you've got the wrong nutrition. So you're eating the wrong
24:58
chemicals. If you like going into our
25:00
bloodstream, you're not exercising, you're not just
25:03
leaving yourself with stress. And then you add, you know, your
25:06
poor gut microbes, You can see how the poor body gets
25:09
completely confused and starts being inflammatory.
25:13
And then that's really hard sometimes to take back because
25:17
it's a slow process, isn't it, Getting back and reducing
25:20
inflammation. It is.
25:22
And one of the things about inflammation in the body is it
25:25
is a cascade. So once it gets started, it can
25:29
actually build on itself and get out of control.
25:33
And every one of these chronic diseases that are aging has
25:36
inflammatory mediators. Totally.
25:39
And I also think, you know, I spend lots of time with my
25:42
patients explaining it is going to take a long time.
25:45
There's not a quick fix. And you can't, you know, do an
25:49
exercise class and then expect to feel amazing the next day.
25:52
Of course, you might a bit, but you have to, your body has to
25:56
relearn. You know, if you break a bone in
25:59
your body, it takes several weeks to improve.
26:03
If you have a bruise on your arm, it can take quite a long
26:05
time to really improve properly. And I think internally sometimes
26:09
we're quite impatient with our bodies, aren't we?
26:12
And we expect things to happen quicker and then people can get
26:16
disheartened and then think, well, what's the point of
26:19
exercising or what's the point of stuffing all these fizzy
26:22
drinks that I'm drinking? Because it's not really having
26:24
any short term effect, but longer term it really can make a
26:29
huge difference. Content.
26:30
Oh, absolutely. I mean, the research absolutely
26:33
shows that, you know, it's, I think again, you know, this
26:37
focus we've had on the Band-Aid approach, you know, if you break
26:41
your hip, you get a titanium new one stronger than the one you
26:44
had before. And if you block every vessel
26:47
around your heart and manage to survive, you know, they'll just
26:50
do bypasses. So we do have this kind of
26:53
attitude of the quick fix. But again, anyone who has had
26:57
bypass surgery, you know, that is no small thing.
27:01
And it's much better to what we're now able to do, even with
27:05
some of our newer medication, is remodel those arteries, so
27:09
actually reverse some of the damage that's been done.
27:12
Yeah. And I mean, some of the
27:14
incredible research they've done in the brain, they've shown that
27:16
exercise can actually increase hippocampal size.
27:21
Yeah. I mean, our brain is quite
27:23
plastic in some ways, but it will respond.
27:26
And even just looking at the blood supply through the brain,
27:29
if we reduce inflammation in our endothelium, we can open up our
27:34
blood vessels a bit more. Even that will make a
27:36
difference. But actually our brain really
27:39
does respond to a different environment, which is something
27:42
that we don't always think about actually, and it's so crucially
27:46
important. So we've got a lot to do and a
27:50
lot of it is I feel a lot of my work is educating people so they
27:54
can make decisions that are right for them.
27:56
And we are all different. We all know that we could do
27:59
certain things differently or better.
28:01
And it's just picking what's going to be the best thing for
28:05
you at the stage of your life to improve your future health and
28:08
hopefully prevent as many diseases as possible.
28:12
So I'm really interested to hear about your research over the
28:15
next few years and how things change and improve.
28:18
So I'm very grateful for your time today sharing your some of
28:22
your incredible knowledge that before we end, I'll always ask
28:26
the three take home tips that I'm going to focus on the brain
28:29
actually, because obviously you've been a neurologist.
28:32
So three things that we as women should really focus on when
28:37
we're thinking about keeping our brain as healthy as possible as
28:42
we get older. So I would say the three things
28:46
to do 1, the physical activity that I've already said and it is
28:50
just by far and I mean we've looked at cholesterol and HDL
28:55
and LDL and blood pressures and you can imagine 1000 different
28:59
things. We've looked at every time
29:01
physical activity comes up way in front in terms of its impact
29:05
on improvement moving brain. The second is to talk about
29:08
cholesterol. So there's a lot about
29:10
cholesterol. However, in women it's not
29:14
cholesterol. You know, there's the good
29:16
cholesterol, which is HDL cholesterol and the bad
29:19
cholesterol, which is LDL cholesterol and cholesterol.
29:22
But for women, it looks like in all the research for heart and
29:26
for brain, and of course the two are interrelated.
29:29
HDL is really important for women.
29:32
So that's the good cholesterol and keeping it up.
29:35
And in fact, because most of the studies were done in men for
29:39
heart disease and for men because they have large vessel
29:42
disease, whereas women tend to get small vessel disease.
29:45
Cholesterol, LDL has been really important for male health and
29:49
those medications have all been targeted at cholesterol and LDL.
29:52
There's now development of medications to target HDL, but
29:56
the vast majority of our older medications, they actually don't
29:59
impact on your HDL, but green leafy vegetables and exercise
30:04
can increase your HDL. So while we're waiting for the
30:08
tablet designed for women, actually that's the way to
30:11
improve your HDL. And then the third thing I would
30:14
say which women actually do really well, which is probably
30:18
why we have a survival advantage is social connection.
30:23
I think we do underestimate it and in our increasingly complex
30:27
and Zoom related environments and the busyness where now
30:32
everyone has to do everything, I think it's really important to
30:35
remember because you know, it's not about how many friends you
30:39
have or certainly not how many Facebook friends you have.
30:41
But women sometimes feel very alone.
30:44
They're looking after a lot of people.
30:45
They're in busy households, at busy workplaces.
30:48
But I think that's really important for women too.
30:51
So they'd be my top three. I love it.
30:54
And all of those are achievable and something that we all should
30:57
continue to work on. So I'm very grateful and it's
31:00
been really interesting talking to you.
31:02
So thanks so much today. Yeah, you too, Louise.
31:05
It's been a pleasure. You can find out more about
31:12
Newson Health Group by visiting www.newsonhealth.co.uk and you
31:19
can download the free Balance app on the App Store.
31:22
Or Google Play.