Why Depression, Anxiety, and Alzheimer’s are More Common in Women + How to Protect Women’s Brains from Aging and Disease with Dr. Lisa Mosconi

Science is science, right? Unfortunately, this is not always the case, especially when it comes to women’s health. Our understanding of the human brain and body has been clouded by years of gender bias—for decades many scientists and doctors have assumed that men and women are really the same, except for the bits and bobs that can be covered by a bikini. Yet, as this podcast guest and renowned researcher Dr. Lisa Mosconi points out, this kind of “bikini science” has dramatic implications for women’s mental and physical health that go beyond our reproductive organs, affecting every part of the brain and body. Dr. Lisa Mosconi, PhD, is the Director of the Women’s Brain Initiative and Associate Director of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC)/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where she serves as an Associate Professor of Neuroscience in Neurology and Radiology. She is also an adjunct faculty member at the Department of Psychiatry at New York University (NYU) School of Medicine, and at the Department of Nutrition at NYU Steinhardt School of Nutrition and Public Health. Dr. Mosconi holds a PhD degree in Neuroscience and Nuclear Medicine, and is a certified Integrative Nutritionist and holistic healthcare practitioner.Her expertise lies in examining the way gender impacts the health of the brain and body, and in overcoming the massive gender gap in the world of medicine. As she describes in her amazing book, The XX Brain, since the time of Darwin there was a long-held assumption that women’s brains are inferior because they are smaller, but women are generally smaller than men, which was not taken into account for decades, and still persists subconsciously in many areas of medicine and neuroscience. Podcast Time Stamps3:10 Why Lisa wanted to be a scientist and study the human mind and brain9:22 Why Alzheimer’s is not just a result of genetic mutations and old age12:12 The difference between early onset and late onset dementia14:56 Why you should be careful of taking genetic tests like 23 & me21:26 Why most research is done on men and the disaster at the heart of medicine32:54 The communication between the female brain and the female reproductive system, and why our hormones are crucial for brain health40:11 The brain in middle-aged women, and how menopause can contribute to cognitive decline47:25 How you as a woman can take back your health and prevent memory loss!59:00 How chronic stress impacts our hormones and brain health1:07:25 The power of the X gene, and why women have more genes than men For more info on Dr. Lisa Mosconi and to get her book visit: https://www.lisamosconi.com Read the show blog and transcript here: https://drleaf.com/blogs/news/why-is-depression-anxiety-and-alzheimer-s-more-common-in-women-how-to-protect-women-s-brains-from-aging-and-disease-with-dr-lisa-mosconi This podcast was made possible by our sponsor ThirdLove: Comfortable bras are so hard to find, which is why I am a big fan of ThirdLove! They are a company dedicated to helping women around the world look great and feel confident in their bodies, and have donated over $18 million worth of bras to women around the world!To get 15% off your ThirdLove order see: thirdlove/drleaf Additional Resources: -Join my text group for more tips, notifications of sales, and more! Just text DRLEAF to 80519 -Get my new brain detox app SWITCH on sale now! Get 50% off a 3 month subscription. Just look for Switch on Your Brain in the App Store or Google Play or visit: https://theswitch.app -Get any of my books, DVDs, and workbooks for less 25% with code DRLEAF at checkout: https://drleaf.com/collections/all -Register now for my 2020 Mental Health Summit Dec 3-5 in Dallas, TX! Early bird sale ends 5/30: https://www.drleafconference.com Visit my website at https://drleaf.com for more free resources, tips, and tools to help you improve and heal your mental health! And be sure to sign up for my week Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.