How to Optimize Female Hormone Health for Vitality & Longevity | Dr. Sara Gottfried

(instrumental music) Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life. I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today my guest is Dr. Sara Gottfried. Dr. Sara Gottfried is an obstetrician-gynecologist who did her undergraduate training in bioengineering at the University of Washington in Seattle. She then completed her medical training at Harvard Medical School, and she currently is a clinical professor of integrative medicine and nutritional sciences at Thomas Jefferson University. She has also been a clinician treating men and women in various aspects of hormone health and longevity for more than 20 years. She is an expert in not just traditional medicine as it relates to hormones and fertility, but also nutritional practices, supplementation, and behavioral practices, and combining all of that expertise in order to help women navigate every aspect and dimension of their hormones, longevity, and vitality, ranging from puberty to young adulthood, adulthood, perimenopause, and menopause. And nowadays she's also treating men across the lifespan in terms of longevity, vitality, and hormone health. During today's discussion, Dr. Gottfried shares an enormous amount of information and tools that women can apply toward their hormone health, fertility, vitality, and longevity. We discuss the gut microbiome, which many people have heard about, but Dr. Gottfried points out the specific needs that women have in terms of managing their gut microbiome and the ways that that influences things like estrogen levels and metabolism, testosterone, thyroid, and growth hormone, and much more. We also discuss nutrition and exercise. We touch on how the omega-3 fatty acids play a particularly important role in managing female hormone health. Dr. Gottfried points out why women have particular needs when it comes to essential fatty acids and how best to obtain those essential fatty acids for hormone health. We also discuss exercise, and she offers some surprising information about the types and ratios of resistance training to cardiovascular training that women ought to use in order to maximize their hormone health. We also talk a lot about the digestive system. This was a surprising aspect of the conversation I did not anticipate. Dr. Gottfried shared with us, for instance, that women suffer from digestive issues at more than 10 times the frequency that do men, and fortunately that there are tools specific to women that they can use in order to overcome those digestive issues, and that in overcoming those digestive issues, they can overcome many of the related hormone issues that so many women face. Dr. Gottfried also shares with you tremendous knowledge about the specific types of tests, not just blood tests but also urine and microbiome tests, that women can use in order to really get a clear understanding of their hormone status, not just of present but also where the trajectory of their hormones is taking them. So, we have an avid discussion about puberty, about young adulthood, adulthood, perimenopause and how best to manage and navigate perimenopause, and menopause, including a discussion about hormone replacement therapy. In addition to her academic and clinical expertise, Dr. Gottfried has authored many important books on nutrition, hormones, and supplementation as it relates to women and to people generally. The two books that I'd like to highlight and that we provided links to in the show note captions are Women, Food, and Hormones and The Hormone Cure. I read The Hormone Cure and found it to be tremendously interesting and informative, not just in terms of teaching me about female hormone health and various treatments for female hormone health, but also as a man trying to understand how the endocrine system interacts with mindset, nutrition, and supplementation more generally. So, I highly recommend The Hormone Cure for anybody interested in hormones and hormone health, and Women, Food, and Hormones in particular for women, although I, again, both books are going to be strongly informative for women wishing to optimize their hormone health, vitality, and longevity. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost to consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast. Our first sponsor is ROKA. ROKA makes eyeglasses and sunglasses that are of the absolute highest quality. I spent a lifetime working on the biology of the visual system, and I can tell you that your visual system has to contend with an enormous number of challenges in order for you to be able to see clearly. So for instance, when you go from a very brightly lit area to a dimly lit area, your visual system has to make all sorts of adjustments that allow you to still see your environment. 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You'll take a brief three-minute quiz, and Thesis will send you four different formulas to try in your first month. Again, that's takethesis.com/huberman, and use the code Huberman at checkout for 10% off your first box. Today's episode is also brought to us by LMNT. LMNT is an electrolyte drink that has everything you need and nothing you don't. That means the exact ratios of electrolytes are in LMNT, and those are sodium, magnesium, and potassium-... but it has no sugar. I've talked many times before on this podcast about the key role of hydration and electrolytes for nerve cell function, neuron function, as well as the function of all the cells and all the tissues and organ systems of the body. If we have sodium, magnesium, and potassium present in the proper ratios, all of those cells function properly, and all our bodily systems can be optimized. 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And now for my discussion with Dr. Sara Gottfried. Dr. Gottfried, Sara, welcome.