How Your Brain Changes Through Menopause with Dr. Lisa Mosconi

Hey, it's J.J. here. You know, I've been talking about environmental toxins forever and laundry detergent is a sneaky one. A lot of them contain harsh chemicals like dyes, preservatives, and even UV brighteners. Those brighteners don't actually clean anything. They just coat fabric so your eyes think things look whiter or brighter. That's more chemicals I don't want on my family sheets or skin. And if you've got sensitive skin or allergies around the house, this can be a big problem. That's what got my attention about Earth Breeze. It looks like a dryer sheet, but it's actually laundry detergent. You toss one in the washer and that's it. No pouring, no mess, and no heavy plastic jug. Their packaging is lightweight cardboard, which helps reduce plastic waste. And if you choose the fragrance free option, it's gentle, hypoallergenic, non irritating and non sensitizing. I really like how simple it is and how fresh and clean everything comes out without those unnecessary chemicals. Right now you can try Earth Breeze for up to 40% off with free gifts@earthbreeze.com virgin that's earthbreeze.com virgin for up to 40% off plus free gifts on your first order. Hey JJ here. Every year around this time, I get the urge to make my home feel a little extra special. A space that feels just like the holidays.

And Wayfair is my go to for that.

Think cozy textures, twinkly decor, warm lighting, and all those little touches that make you want to curl up with a good book and a blanket. You'll usually find my book stacked on a great little end table I got from Wayfair, proof that function and style can coexist. Now, whether you're adding last minute hosting essentials, picking out gifts for loved ones, or refreshing your decor for the season, Wayfair makes it easy with beautiful finds, great prices and fast delivery. And when the holidays wind down, Wayfair has everything you need to tuck it all neatly away. Smart storage solutions for every room from the kitchen to the closet. Plus, with free shipping for any order over $35, that's fast delivery and a total peace of mind. It's the perfect mix of joy and order, bringing the holiday spirit in, then storing it all with EAs ready to make your home feel as good as it looks. Get organized, refreshed and ready for the holidays. For way less, head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Wayfair Every style, Every home that's W A Y F A I R.com this.

Episode is brought to you by McAfee.

Swimsuit Passport Phone with VPN activated VPN cell phone service is going to be spotty on vacation, so we'll be using public Wi fi Sounds sketch Exactly. The networks can leave your personal info like credit card numbers exposed to hackers.

McAfee's secure VPN lets you browse and bank safely from wherever, whenever. Learn more@mcafee.com online protection.

I'm JJ Virgin, PhD dropout. Sorry, mom turned four time New York Times bestselling author. And yes, I'm a Certified Nutrition Specialist, Fitness hall of Famer, and I speak at health conferences and trainings around the globe. But I'm driven by my insatiable curiosity and love of science to keep asking questions, digging for answers, and sharing the information I uncover with as many people as I can. And that's why I created the well Beyond 40 podcast to synthesize and simplify the science of health into actionable strategies to help you thrive. And in each episode we'll talk about what's working in the world of wellness, from personalized nutrition and healing your metabolism to healthy aging and prescriptive fitness. Join me on the journey to better health so you can love how you look and feel right now and have the energy to play full out at 100. So it turns out we aren't crazy. Our brains do change as we go through menopause. We all knew this as women going through menopause, but there never had been any research on it until now. Enter Dr. Lisa Moscone, a true innovator who has been the first one to really go in there and start to image women's brains pre menopause, perimenopause, post menopause and look at the differences. And now she's going in and starting to look at the differences with women on HRT and not. And what she's finding is truly miraculous. And one of the cool things she's finding is, guess what? There are big benefits to postmenopausal brains. And you're going to hear all about that today. I've got Dr. Lisa Moscone in the house. She is an Associate professor of Neuroscience in Neurology and Radiology at Weill Cornell Medicine and the Director of Women's Brain Initiative and the Alzheimer's Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medicine, New York Presbyterian Hospital. I had her on the show before she wrote the book XX Brain, which was a New York Times bestselling book and also brain food And I had.

Her come on before to talk about.

You know, what we should feed our brains. We will be digging into her latest research, which is wild and super actionable, by the way. And then I have her sharing what you can do right now. That's going to help you wherever you are, if you're 50, if you're 40, if you're 60, if you're 80, have the best brain possible. So she's going to be sharing all of that information as well. Also, what's, what's different when you're in puberty? Like, when do your brains, when does your brain change? And what happens at puberty, at pregnancy, at post menopause? That is super important actually, for us to adapt to each of those stages. So we'll be digging into that. You'll love her accent. She is, she's Italian, and she went to the University of Florence in Italy. And she is listed as one of the 17 most influential living female scientists by the Times and called the Mona Lisa of neuroscience by Elle International. So this is a fabulous, very provocative interview that will make you you some of this. You go, yes, I've been feeling that.

Okay.

And, but more importantly, you know, it's going to help empower you as to how to really make the most of your brain at this age and beyond. So I will be right back with Dr. Lisa Moscone. I've put the information for today along with her amazing Instagram channel, Dr. Moscone and her last book in our last podcast. It's going to all be@jjvirgin.com menopause brain. So be sure to check that out. And I'll be right back with Dr. Lisa Moscone. Stay with me.

Hey, jj, Virgin here. Okay, real talk. So often the holidays sneak up on me, travel, gifts, hosting, you know, all the things, and suddenly it's like, wait, who spent what and where? And I know I'm not the only one who's looked at a bill in January and thought, wow, that escalated quickly. If you want to keep your finances under control this holiday season, you need to be using Monarch. It's rated the Wall Street Journal's best budgeting app of 2025. Monarch is the all in one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean interface on your laptop or on your phone. Monarch lets you link everything and gives you real time visibility so you're not shocked later. Right now, I've been checking the holiday spending category so I don't accidentally start the new year with that dreaded debt. Hangover and honestly, just seeing everything laid out is already helping me stay more aware. This season, Monarch does the heavy lifting. It links your accounts in minutes, gives you smart categorization and super clear visuals. Yes, that end of your reset could be a real goal this time. Don't let financial opportunities slip through the cracks. Use the code virgin@monarch.com in your browser for half off your first year. That's 50% off your first year@monarch.com with the code Virgin.

Some people think nature is like this, but actually it's like this. That's why Columbia engineers everything we make for anything nature can throw at you. Columbia engineered for whatever.

Dr. Lisa Moscone, welcome back to the show.

Thank you for having me. So happy to be here.

Well, how could I not have you when you write a book called the Menopause Brain? Oh, my gosh. I'm like, how quickly can you come on the show and can we just do like, you know, 10 episodes? So what made you decide? I know you wrote the XX Brain and that's what we had you on for. And you're a neuroscientist that's been looking at brains and specifically you've really unpacked women's brains. And I love that you're now talking, talking about, like, we have three different phases in life where things are different in our brains, which we're going to unpack too. But let's start with why did you decide to write a book about the brain in menopause?

Because when I wrote the XX Brain and I was talking about how menopause and hormonal changes impact the brain also in terms of Alzheimer's prevention and all the things that we can do to protect our brains for the long term. And everybody wanted to talk about menopause. It was really so many women reached out. There was so much interest. Everybody wanted to learn more, and they realized that we don't talk about the menopause brain. It's something that is still quite taboo, that is not the subject of much research. And also in clinical practice, there's no framework to address the brain symptoms on menopause in particular. And this knowledge is really important because so many women, as they go through menopause, experience brain symptoms of menopause, especially brain fog, which is a very unsettling, very puzzling, and very alarming symptom. The many mistake for early onset dementia. Even though I really noticed a surge of interest among women in readers and contacts, but also my friends, my friends and colleagues who really wanted to know more at the same time, we have so many patients who are coming to us at the Alzheimer's Prevention Clinic specifically for menopause and brain symptoms of menopause and the brain fog of menopause. I thought, why don't I just put all the information that I have in a book so that I can take the research out of the lab and out of academia and make it accessible and actionable for all women who are experiencing these changes?

Bless you for doing that. You know, I think you look at menopause, and I'm loving that it's becoming an open conversation, because it just seems like there's been so much suffering. And so I appreciate that you're getting it out there when you talk about brain symptoms. Okay, so brain fog is definitely one. We've all done the walk into a room. And why did I walk in this room? Why am I here? But beyond that one, what are some of the other symptoms?

Yes. So there are so many brain symptoms or neurological symptoms of menopause that are quite often misunderstood as something to do with the ovaries. Right. So as a society, we have really focused on only half of what menopause is all about, which is the half pertaining to reproductive life and ovarian function. But in reality, menopause impacts your brain as surely as it impacts your ovaries. In fact, most of the symptoms of menopause have nothing to do with the ovaries. They originate in the brain. So when women say that they're having hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, or disturbed sleep and mood swings and depression and anxiety and brain fog and memory lapses, or having a hard time concentrating but even. Even feeling anxiety or more stress in life, those are indeed signs of menopause, but they have nothing to do with the ovaries. Those are neurological symptoms that originate from the ways that the brain changes during menopause. So they are a direct consequence of hormonal changes in the brain.

So I know you've been mapping that, right? You've been doing brain imaging, so you could actually see what's going on in the brain. So what. What does it look like? What's happening?

So this is interesting because, as you know, I am not an ob gyn. I'm a neuroscientist. I specialize in brain health and Alzheimer's prevention. And when I started looking at menopause as a possible trigger for brain symptoms and increased risk of certain brain conditions like Alzheimer's disease, I thought, well, what's been done with brain scans? What's already been published. What's my baseline? What can we add to the conversation? And that was in 2015. And there wasn't a single brain imaging study looking at women before and after menopause, or even just women at different stages of menopause, premenopausal, perimenopausal, post menopause, nothing. There wasn't a single brain imaging study. Whatever had been done was focused on women who were way past menopause in their 70s or 80s. So menopause was really studied more like an outcome than something leading to a certain outcome. So I said, well, we have the data. We need to know. Let's. Let's do it. Even though it's really not my thing, right? It wasn't my thing. Now it's my thing.

I was gonna say it is now.

Certainly now, because the data was so impressive. We had enough data to compare midlife women to men matched by age. So exactly the same age. What we were seeing by comparing this group is that the women consistently showed changes in the brain gray matter, so less gray matter in some specific brain regions that are important for memory, for language, for thinking and reasoning, and also showed reduced brain energy levels. I don't know if you've seen those brain imaging that now everybody's using without crediting us, but that's fine because becoming cultured. So it's wonderful. But when we look at the brain scans that are called positron emission tomography scan, we will look at the way that the brain burns glucose to make energy. And you see those maps, they're like red, blue, yellow, and green. If you look at the same brain going from having a menstrual cycle to not having a menstrual cycle, that the brain intensity really decreases during this. Yeah, there's quite. At least in our hands, there's a reduction in the way that the brain. In how fast the brain burns glucose to make energy. And we also find changes in connectivity and. And then for some women, we see an increase in Alzheimer's plaque already at that point in life. And I want to clarify, not all women, some women, mostly women with a predisposition to Alzheimer's disease, either a family history or some genetic risk for Alzheimer's, which really brought us to think of midlife as a tipping point for brain changes that could potentially become issues later on in life. But then the question was, well, is it just that we're women and their brains age differently than men, or is there something more that can explain this difference? Look, we looked at everything. We started with genetics, which is everybody starts with genetics. And that didn't quite explain the difference. Then we looked at medical comorbidities, diabetes and depression and high cholesterol levels and cardiovascular disease risk, and our participants are quite healthy. That didn't quite explain the differences. Then we looked at lifestyle, which helped a little bit, but not quite, until one day my students were doing cognitive testing, and they were testing a woman who was, like, in her 40s, and she was having a really hard time. She couldn't focus. And my students, the coordinators, were like, would you like a glass of water? Would you like to take a minute? She was like, I need you to open the window. I'm having hot flashes. I can't think straight. And they were like, you're having what? They had no clue. And eventually she was having such a hard time that she had to stop testing. And so they ran to me and said, she's going to come back. She really had to go. She wasn't feeling good. She was having hot flashes. What are half flashes? And I was like, oh, that's interesting. But she was at 45. And so we went back and we called OBGYN, our colleagues in OB GYN, and we said, can you help us do all this menopausal assessments and diagnosis, which they did. And then it's clear. So if you look at women who are premenopausal, they have a regular menstrual cycle and match them with men of the same age, then there is no difference in the brain scans.

So this is someone who's not Perry, because you said pre and peri, and I want everyone to understand the difference. Pre means no symptoms at all. Periods haven't shortened none of the symptoms of menopause. Everything's completely normal. Those people. And they have the same brains as men.

Yeah. There's no significant difference in the brain when comparing premenopausal women with a regular menstrual cycle to men of the same age. When you start looking at perimenopausal women who are missing periods over time and mostly have symptoms of half flashes, disturbed sleeps, and the brain fog, then you start seeing the difference. There are changes in gray matter, there are changes in blood flow to the brain, there are changes in brain energy levels, and then you go to the postmenopausal stage, and there's quite a divide, women's brains and men's brains, which led us to look at menopause as a very important predictor of overall brain health for women in midlife, which is quite certainly new in My field. And I think it's really important that we're doing this research because all women go through menopause at some point in their lives. In many women, over 80% of women experience neurological symptoms during menopause, brain symptoms, which can be very debilitating. So it's important to validate women's experience. I think that's what research really does, is that we're providing an objective validation of what women have been saying for thousands of years. Right.

They're not crazy and they don't need Prozac.

Exactly. We're not crazy. It's not in your head. It's not all in your head. I mean, it is in your head. Right. And it's really important to have science backing up for whatever reason. We need science to back up whatever women are experiencing.

Right.

So have you been able to also look at women who are now in perimenopause or post menopausal and are on hormone replacement therapy and look at the difference?

Yes, we're doing it now. We're starting right now. Yay. Best way.

Can you tell any preliminary stuff or is it too early?

No, we can't. So descriptively, if you look at observational data, like women who spontaneously decide to take hormones as compared to those who decide not to take hormones, the differences are quite subtle. But there seems to be a little bit of stabilization or higher brain energy levels in the women on hormone therapy. Now, this is observation of research which is never perfect. So we need clinical trials. And we just launched a clinical trial where we do brain scans and cognitive testing and blood biomarkers, and we do very thorough evaluations before and during treatment with. Actually, we're doing a specific type of hormone therapy which is more like a nutraceutical. I thought you might like it because it's more, you know, it's close natural in quotes for whatever that means. But it's a serum. It's a selective estrogen receptor modulator that was developed by my mentor, Dr. Roberta Diaz Brinton in Arizona. And it's selective in that it specifically goes into your brain to support brain energy while having either neutral or inhibitory effects on the reproductive system, which means it does not increase the risk of reproductive cancers. So you can take it without a progesterone.

Nice.

And once thoroughly validated, we're hoping that all women will be eligible, including those with a history of breast cancer or ovarian cancer.

Wow.

Would it have the cardiovascular and bone benefits that other estrogen replacement has?

It should. We are testing the brain specifically but the team who developed the compound is also looking at heart and bone and lungs.

And yes, yeah, I bring those up. But I know you also call estrogen this master regulator of the female brain. So would it be then that the declines you're seeing would mimic what's more normal, like that a male decline too, then instead of this dramatic fall off.

A cliff with therapy?

So when you talked about aging, you said men's and women's brains look the same until we hit perimenopause. Then all of a sudden we start declining and really decline in post. And I'm just wondering, if someone were able to have hormone replacement therapy, would they just more mimic what how a man is aging, how his brain is aging? Of course, I don't know if a man, when he goes through endopause, is going to end up in the same boat, you know, if he's not doing hormone replacement therapy.

We're studying that now. So the idea is that by taking hormones during perimenopause, we might be able to maintain the overall concentrations stable. Right. Because what happens perimenopause is that estradiol starts fluctuating widely in that people saying that that's what contributed to the symptoms of menopause is that the concentrations are not stable, but they're like all over the. So if you start taking supplements or replacing the hormones ahead of time, the idea is that the concentrations will stabilize and your brain will not go through this kind of Y fluctuations as well. They could then hopefully mitigate or ideally prevent the symptoms from happening. I wouldn't want women's brains to be the same as a man's brain. I'm just happy when there's no clear difference over time because our brains do age slightly. Different parts of the brain tend to age a little bit faster, a little bit slower, but different markers may change. So I'm happy with a woman's brain remaining, you know, following the right trajectory for a woman's brain.

Right. I just don't want to fall off a cliff there that you talked about and you mentioned in the book. You talk about the three peas and how is the brain different in puberty versus pregnancy versus perimenopause?

Something that is really fascinating to me, and it is so understudied. No surprise there. But there are so, you know, this debate there's on social media right now about menopause. Is it a disease? What is a healthy aging? And I think we're missing the actual definition of menopause, which is a neuroendocrine Transition state. Why is it important to call it for what it is, a neuroendocrine transition state, a state that changes your brain and your reproductive system all at once. It's because it is really its own unique category, which is not a disease. It's got nothing to do with chronological aging, but is a turning point that is specific to women, together with the three Ps puberty, pregnancy, perimenopause, and andropause for men. But for women, our brains are cued to transition and rewire themselves at each one of the three Ps. The changes are quite similar if you look at them with brain scans, actually. So at puberty, the brain loses a lot of neurons. We lose a lot of gray matter, which is called pruning. It's a process by which the brain initiates this kind of dumping, where neurons that are no longer needed are discarded. The interesting thing is that this elimination process is actually. It may sound scary that we're losing gray matter, but in reality it's better because the brain is an incredibly active, metabolically active organ and is extremely expensive to maintain. So it's way more efficient to have a smaller brain that is better interconnected, that you can maintain more easily. However, that brings vulnerability during puberty. Adolescents are reckless. They have no impulse control, they're sleepy, or they're all over the place.

Are boys and girls brains different at that time? Because it sure seems like boys are way more reckless than girls are.

Yes. So there's some evidence that girls brains mature earlier, which in brain terms means that they reach the peak of how many neurons you need to have. And the different brain regions are fully interconnected with each other a little bit earlier on than men. It's usually three years. So for girls, girls hit puberty around 11, 12 or now even earlier, whereas boys is more like 14. And this kind of peak maturity usually tends to coincide with puberty. Then with puberty, a lot of neurons are shredded, but then they stabilize. Once women develop or girls develop a menstrual cycle. What's really important is that every time the ovaries cycle, the brain goes through a micro cycle as well. The brain is consistently in sync with the ovaries. And even though the changes are very subtle, of course it does change. You can see it on the microscope. You see the little dendrites branching out and reach ovulation. So it's really interesting. And then the system, the neuroendocrine system is reactivated or overactivated during pregnancy every time a woman gets pregnant. And there's another surge of rewiring, and the neurons are shred another time. So the pregnant brain, especially the postpartum brain, is a transitional brain that is basically getting rid of neurons and connections that, once again, it no longer needs, and that strengthens the other neurons, allows your brain to really put more energy on the neurons that it needs to keep. There are those neurons that really support maternal instinct and the ability to raise a baby human who can't speak and is completely helpless for a really long time. So a mom effectively turns into a superhero with a super brain. Now, the interesting part is that a similar remodeling happens during perimenopause. Once again, the brain goes through a remodeling where we say that menopause is a renovation project on the brain because the brain rewires itself another time. Because now all the neurons that are responsible for having a menstrual cycle or for hosting a pregnancy and for making you a super mom, you don't need them anymore. You're still a super mom, but you do need all those neurons. So it makes sense that the brain would just say, you know what? This is my clue to let go of a bunch of things that are just. At this point, I don't need them anymore, and they're very hard to maintain, so I'm just going to get rid of them. And I think that's why we're seeing the gray matter reductions. These are the neurons that are living in the reduction in energy levels because you're losing neurons. So you don't need to keep such high energy activity in your brain now. In fact, it looks like things stabilize for many women after menopause and the symptoms go away. For some women, the brain does not adapt and stabilize, but it keeps declining. Cognitive function keeps declining, the symptoms persist. And that's when we start talking about Alzheimer's prevention, or we do more thorough evaluations. We just make sure that there's nothing else that needs addressing.

So then some of that pruning that happens, which I kind of look at it as like you're kind of cleaning out your closet.

Yes.

Yeah, that. Yeah. Thank you.

So putting it into terms of you're cleaning out your closet so you can get new cool stuff. Yeah, that's in style, but it sounds like it's a good thing. So if you're on hrt, are you not going to have that pruning that happens? Because it sounds like some of that pruning you'd want to have happen.

There are different theories about the idea that this remodeling and pruning is a good thing is my own personal opinion, along with that of many other scientists who believe that there is an evolutionary reason for women to go through menopause and live past it. There are scientists who do not feel this way, who feel that menopause is a disease or an unhealthy state for women that is only addressable by replacing hormones. So I cannot answer the question because I don't have data to really.

That's interesting. I like your opinion, however.

Thank you.

So I want your opinion and, and in looking at this and kind of looking at. All right, this is pruning you to step into that next phase of your life, which I'm the most interested in at 60 of, where I think that we are our most powerful. We are the matriarchs. We have the biggest opportunities and a lot of the things that might have taken our attention in our time that we had to focus on before now we pruned out where we still obviously care about our kids, but we're not awake all night, every night worrying about our kids. Like it's not the hyper focus that you've had to have before with them.

Yeah, there's a neurological basis for that, that. There are some studies at least, that looked at exactly what you said. Because so many postmenopausal women report feeling better after menopause than they themselves were prior to menopause. And also when they, when they had the regular menstrual cycle, they feel more empowered to feel more self confidence. They feel like they. What comes up a lot is, is the idea. We call it emotional transcendence.

And it sounds like. I know you talk about the benefits of the menopause brain. I've literally said this, Lisa. I'm like, if I'd known this would feel this way, I would have done a fast forward. Like how quickly could I have gone from you know, puberty over to here? Because there's a lot of angst during that time and worry and stress and, you know, other focused that you get to this place. And now it's, it's this interesting piece where you feel way more at peace. You'd like, you know, you, you aren't so concerned about what other people think or how your clothes fit and all that kind of stuff. You know, you're into way bigger, more legacy types of questions in life. And, and it's super fun. So I did. So there's a neurological basis for this.

There is. And studies have shown that one very specific part of the brain that's called the amygdala changes during menopause in a way that is actually helpful to women. So the amygdala is the emotional center of the brain and is very highly reactive in puberty and in pregnancy because you really have to tap into your aggressive side once you have a newborn that you protect.

Oh, yeah, Mama bear, man.

Mama bear, yes, exactly. That's the neurological correlate of mama bear behavior. Is this amygdala really overactivated during pregnancy? In menopause, the amygdala is selectively turned off in a way that makes the brain just as responsive to good things that happen to you, but not as reactive to negative things that happen to you. So your emotional response to stressful situations or sad events is a little bit blunted. You don't suffer as much psychologically perhaps, but you're just as happy when good things happen to you. I think it's a wonderful way to think about getting older as a woman and seems to also correlate with having even more empathy. So postmenopausal women are by far the greatest impacts of all age groups.

Wow.

Which I think is really interesting and I would love to see more research on that. This is more like psychologists is what they do. But I think it's fantastic cognitive psychology. It really helps because we look at the biology of menopause and the neurology and neuroscience of menopause. But then it's wonderful to see it correlated into behavioral outcomes because the narrative of menopause is one of doom and gloom. It's like, oh, you're no longer fertile, you're no longer interesting, you're basically invisible. And now you're unhealthy on top of that. And it's just not true.

This episode is brought to you by Buffalo Trace Distillery. Powerful yet smooth. Contained, but never tame. Proudly going their own way, but never going alone. This is the spirit inside Buffalo Trace Bourbon. Made at Buffalo Trace Distillery, the world's most award winning distillery. Buffalo Trace is always perfectly untamed. Distilled, aged in, bottled by Buffalo Trace Distiller distillery, Franklin County, Kentucky. 90 proof, 45% alcohol by volume. Learn more at buffalotrasedistillery.com Please drink responsibly.

Why is that message out there in the world when it really is the opposite? Where is that coming from?

I would say from Darwin. As far as I'm concerned, Darwin, who's the father of modern biology, was a complete misogynist, Right. Saying that his dog was smarter than his wife and stuff like that. But Also, his teachings are really the backbone of modern biology and modern science. And they're all predicated on the assumption that evolution makes you stronger. Right. The survival of the fittest. And in order to be fit and successful, you need to be fertile and reproductive because you need to pass on your genes to your next generations, which makes sense if you're a man, because men remain further into their 80s, as tabloids keep reminding us. But the beautiful thing about human menopause is that it's quite special because if you look at other animal species, most females die soon after the end of their reproductive span. But women don't. Right. We live past it, which I think is a gift. It's a huge gift in so many, so many ways. And also, it means that evolution, just the theory, just does not apply to women.

We have important things to do, and I think this is the time of our life when we really are stepping into doing those things. And I've literally been collecting role models of women out there who, in their 60s, 70s, 80s, like, oh, my gosh, look at what you're accomplishing at this.

Time in your life.

I mean, look at. Look at Dolly Parton.

Yeah.

Like, holy smokes, Dolly. You know, you're just amazing. So, you know, you look at these women, and there's so much proof out there, and they are not invisible. So this is such a great, empowering message. So someone going through all of this, what are some of the things beyond the. Okay, it's time to step into your, you know, your most powerful time in life, your greatness. What can they do from a health standpoint to help make sure they can do that?

Yes. There are so many things that one can do to really protect your brain, their brains over time and for a lifetime of use that I think are best started in midlife. Because, honestly, your healthy midlife is the best predictor of your health in old age and for the rest of your life. And it's never too late to start. However, the sooner you start, the better, because you give yourself a head start.

Yeah.

And midlife, by the way, I've reframed completely. So midlife, you know, it's amazing how as you get older, older gets older. And I always thought, you know, midlife, I think, what was it, 30 to 50? Now for me, I think it's 40 to 80. Just. That's my new midlife.

I love that.

Yeah.

Why not?

Why not? For sure. I would say the sooner you're able to start and really commit to taking care of yourself, the better.

And what Are the key the big drivers you see that we should be doing? What are the ones most important that a neuroscientist believes we should be doing? And maybe you're doing yourself for lifestyle.

Oh, for sure. Diet and exercise are the cornerstones of a healthy brain.

Okay, and what specifically? Because those are broad categories.

So for exercise, when it comes to menopause, research has identified three different types of that are specifically helpful with some symptoms. All three are great for you obviously, but you can use one or the other depending on the symptoms that you have. So cardiovascular activity seems to be best for hot flashes and night sweats because it helps you regulate body temperature and stabilize body temperature and is also really helpful for brain fog, which you know or memory issues and reduce focus because it brings blood flow to the brain, it brings endorphins, it supports the synthesis of neurotransmitters, it reduces inflammation. So it gives you a boost really quickly and hopefully it can help with those specific symptoms of menopause. But then strength training.

I started lifting weights when I was 16 in the high school gym with the football players. So it's been, it's, it's been a long time of lifting weights. I've always loved to lift weights. So it's.

And you such, you know, you're always such in a positive modalist when I see you or socially or publicly. And there is also evidence the strength training specifically supports mood besides muscle mass and bone density, but also has a mood uplifting component that's being studied in women of menopausal age showing benefits. So I think it's really important to know that because I wouldn't associate necessarily lifting weights with reducing depression or reducing anxiety. So it's important to know that that is a viable strategy that is also good for you overall specifically for those symptoms. And then flexibility exercises. So more like mind body techniques like yoga, pilates, tai chi, stretching even seems to help with obviously balance and flexibility, but also with sleep and stress reduction. If one has ideally the time to do everything, that's wonderful. Otherwise of course, whatever you can do more consistently, I think it's really important. Consistency is key rather than temporary intensity. I mean I have to work out consistently over time to really overdo it one day and then you can't move for a week. So I think frequency is important and consistency. And for diets, everybody's on different diets. So I try to stick with the nutrients. Right. So the nutrients that have been more consistently linked with better women's health and the gentler menopause are antioxidants, fiber, anti inflammatory nutrients like omega 3s, but also the phytonutrients that you find in spices and herbs, which are very soothing and lean protein. I think this has been shown time and time again to be really beneficial for women's health. Also some complex carbohydrates, but I think they come hand in hand with the fiber to tell them apart. And minimizing things like processed foods and refined sugar and soda and refined carbohydrates has been shown to delay the onset of menopause or to be linked with a delayed onset of menopause in women and also fewer symptoms or menopause. In some clinical trials and observational studies, women who were on a Mediterranean style diet and were compared to women on a Western American Diet showed a 30% reduction in hot flashes and night sweats in as little as three months. I think it's helpful to remind all of us the diet has an impact and a healthy diet can support an easier transition.

You realize if that was a drug, that would be a huge drug, 30%. I always look at that and look at the benefits of exercise and I go, if this, if you had a drug that did this, it would be. Everyone would prescribe it like so I think this is important because those two levers can make a massive difference. And nothing you said was outrageous, right?

No, I think it's very doable. It's really a matter of making the right choices and be consistent with having a healthy diet and a regular exercise routine. And of course other things are just as important like sleep, good sleep, hygiene and avoiding toxins and reducing stress. These are all things that have an impact on hormonal health and hormonal concentration. So it is, it is important to look at all the different factors in the book. I have long lists.

I was just going to ask. I'm assuming that's a perfect segue. So you know, because you wrote the XX Brain and we had a. I'll link to that podcast episode because we talked in depth about food and then you wrote the Menopause Brain. That's the new one. I'm going to put it@jjvirgin.com menopause brain. I'm also going to put your Instagram handle, Dr. Moscone, because you're doing a lot of cool stuff there as well. But there's. You've got the information that we need out there. And again, wherever you are, I know this is well beyond 40, if you're 40, if you're 50, if you're 60 if you're 70. Because I get a lot of women writing in Lisa going, you know, I was in that terrible zone when all the bad information was coming out from the, you know, Women's Health Initiative study. What can I do now? And so this seems like a great place for them to start is to have this book as a resource. And, I mean, I just applaud you for taking the time. And this is. This is a group that I think a lot of people want to avoid researching because it's. Yeah, you just made the big face for people not watching. Her eyes got really wide, you know, but it is. It's a way more challenging group to.

To look at.

But what you're. The findings that you've gotten so far are amazing.

Yes. And they keep coming. Just before our call, I was looking at brain fog and the correlates of brain fog on the brain scans, and it's. It's clear there has. It's never been done. You know, it's shocking to me that every idea I have, I'll go to PubMed and I'll be okay. What's been done? And nothing has been done with brain imaging. So there's really uncharted territory, which is a bit stressful as a scientist, because it's always better to start with something that has been done and then you build up on it. But it's also really rewarding, and I think it needs to get done. And the reason I made the phase, there's no funding for this age range.

Wow.

Yes. So look at the federal budget. As a scientist, you know, I depend on federal funding to be able to do the research. If you look at women's health. Right. Let's say there's. I don't remember how many billion dollars allocated towards women's health. And then within women's health, you need to find menopause, which is a subcategory of. A subcategory of aging. And menopause research received $8 million in 20. 20. 8 million 3 grams, which if you do the math, is 0.02% of the federal budget for women's health, which in turn is 0.5% of the entire NIH budget. So it really comes down to no research. So we really need to kind of revamp this. And I keep saying the more women demand this information, the more newspaper articles have been written around menopause, the more influencers go out there and talk about menopause, and the sooner funding agencies will realize that this is something that women need. We need this information. We need the research.

Maybe we need like a fund. Women's Health Day. Yes, I know.

Idea.

I mean, I knew we were underrepresented, but that's crazy.

Yes, a lot of research is funded by nih, which we're very grateful for. But I supplement. I almost, you know, I have to basically double it with private donations. And thank goodness that we have wonderful donors at Wild Cornet Medicine New York Presbyterian who really believe in a research and they're willing to fund things that the government wouldn't fund because they're new. They haven't been done. They're risky even.

You are a true innovator. An innovator, a disruptor.

I'm persistent. I am just persistent.

Well, thank you so much. Thank you so much for your work. Thank you for this book and past book and all. Everything on Instagram. Everyone listening, make sure you follow Dr. Lisa Moscone on Instagram. She's putting out great, great, great content. Share this episode and share the books with your girlfriends because this will really help you step into this place where this is the best time of life. And with this knowledge now you can make it so. So I appreciate everything you do and thank you again for being the guest on the show as well.

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Be sure to join me next time for more tools, tips and techniques you can incorporate into everyday life to ensure.

You look and feel great and are built to last.

Check me out on Instagram, Facebook and my website, jjvirgin.com and make sure to follow my podcast@subscribetoj.com so so you don't miss a single episode.

And hey, if you're loving what you hear, don't forget to leave a review.

Your reviews make a big difference in helping me reach more incredible women just like you to spread the word about aging powerfully after 40.

Thanks for tuning in and I'll catch.

You on the next episode. Hey JJ here. And just a reminder that the well Beyond 40 podcast offers health, wellness, fitness and nutritional information that's designed for educational and entertainment purposes only. You should not rely on this information as a substitute for nor does it replace professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you have any concerns or questions about your health, you should always consult with a physician or other healthcare professional. Make sure that you do not disregard, avoid or delay obtaining medical or health related advice from your healthcare professional because of something you may have heard on the show or read in our show notes. The use of any information provided on the show is solely at your own risk.

Hello listeners this is Anne Bogle, author, blogger, and creator of the podcast what Should I Read next? Since 2016, I've been helping readers bring more joy and delight into their reading lives. Every week I tag all things books and reading with a guest and guide them in discovering their next read. They share three books they love, one book they don't, and what they've been reading lately, and I recommend three titles they may enjoy reading next. Guests have said our conversations are like therapy, troubleshooting issues that have plagued their reading lives for years and possibly the rest of their lives as well. And of course, recommending books that meet the moment. Whether they are looking for deep introspection to spur or encourage a life change or a frothy page turner to help them escape the stresses of work, school, everything, you'll learn something about yourself as a reader and you'll definitely walk away confident to choose your next read, with a whole list of new books and authors to try. So join us each Tuesday for what Should I Read Next? Subscribe now wherever you're listening to this podcast and Visit our website whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com to find out more.