Little-Known Hormone Is Key to Aging Well with Dr. Anna Cabeca

Dr. Anna Cabeca, welcome back for the gazillionth time. Always good to see you, my oldest, dearest friends. And we are going to be talking today about the book I want her to get out into the world. This, this is, you know, you've done so many cool things out in the world of women's health. You're truly a pioneer.

Thank you.

And this is like the big idea, and we're going to be talking today about oxytocin. And I would love to start with what it is, because again, I don't think this is out there. Everybody, when they think of oxytocin, probably thinks of hugging, right?

Right. I mean, oxytocin, like, and I always like to differentiate, it's oxytocin, not oxycodone, right? Oxycodone is a pain medicine, okay, bad. And, um, but oxytocin is the cuddle love hormone. It's a really a trust hormone, a connection hormone. And the, the most important piece about oxytocin, and well, when we think about it, it's the most powerful hormone in our body. It's an alkalinizing hormone. It's to rebuild and restore. I mean, when we orgasm, we produce oxytocin. When we're in, you know, to initiate labor, oxytocin is secreted endogenously. And so that we have contractions. And it's that hormone that when you have had, if you've had a child and you look at this child after you've been in labor for, I don't know, for my first experience, it was 3 days. And then I look at this little child, all wrinkly and everything, and I'm like, oh my God, the most beautiful thing in the world. I just love it. Let's, let's just, it's just amazing, right? And you forget the pain. You forget the pain. You, you know, that's a natural anesthesia. You're completely connected to this child. And that is that oxytocin hormone. It's really the glue that keeps us together and makes life worth living.

Okay, I have to ask you one. Maybe you know the answer to this one. I think I heard it from Alison Armstrong, in that when women have an orgasm, they have oxytocin around from it for 3 weeks, and when men have an orgasm, it's like— I want to say 3 minutes, but it's like 3 days. So is this true?

It is so true. It is so true. So it's like oxytocin has a double edge to it, right? So the time it's starts to— it peaks with ovulation too. There's a slight peak of it, but that, you know, with ovulation you've got an increase in testosterone and dopamine. You've got that drive for— that increased desire, drive for sex. And so that is naturally that kind of that peak when you have sex and intimacy and you, you know, you secrete oxytocin. It's like it can, it can connect you. It can connect you in a way that it's like a bad judgment hormone.

I, I always look that, when I heard that, I went, well, this is why women are not made for one-night stands.

No, right?

Because even if they think about and they go, you know, okay, this is just going to be a one-night stand, they can't stop thinking about the guy.

Hey, my first marriage. Some things you just have to experience to learn, you know.

Oh my goodness, that might be my favorite all-time podcast line.

Right there. Oh my God, it's so true. So that the concept is, okay, your, your oxytocin is connecting you to that partner from like ovulation to the time, you know, you're pregnant, basically that at 2 weeks, that gestation period, you've got that oxytocin, you're connected to that mate, you are glued in. And that's kind of the hormone of survival as well. So there's so many faces to oxytocin, but it's that survival piece. Okay, I'm connected. So now we'll have, you know, have a child together type of experience. And it's, it, it is true. You have to, you have to really pay attention to that. You're like, okay, is this oxytocin speaking, or is this, is this, is this really the right, the right relationship type experience?

Yeah. And what happens, you know, as we age, our hormones go down. Does oxytocin go down too?

Yeah, yeah, it does. Sadly, it's like oxytocin goes down, all our reproductive hormones start to decrease, cortisol— all an insulin increase.

It's like, this is not fair.

It is not fair. But the good thing is you just have to be more intentional, intentional about making more oxytocin. So I would say you've got to microdose oxytocin throughout your day. And that I call oxyplay, doing activities that increase oxytocin. So it's like chatting with a girlfriend right here, right now. My oxytocin is definitely higher than it was when I got started. And so there's that piece, you know, how can you incorporate activities that increase oxytocin throughout the day? At the same time decrease cortisol.

Yeah. So if you are increasing oxytocin, is that, is it that oxytocin elevation decreases cortisol or is it that the things that would increase oxytocin would decrease cortisol? Which is it? Or is it both?

Yes, it's both. It's definitely both. And this is how I learned to, this association to begin with was because in my, you know, at 48, I was going through my second menopause or perimenopausal journey. I mean, really, like, you know, mood all over the place, feeling really disconnected, burnout from my work, and really feeling, I mean, disconnected to life in general, to anything, relationships, etc. That's when you're just, you're running on fumes and you're doing what you need to do because you're disciplined and you just have to do it to survive or to exist, or you've got your routines in place. You're kind of running in that realm versus an energy of desire and happiness and, you know, totally fueled. So during that time, I was struggling with PTSD, which was under the surface. And I thought I'd handled those issues, but I hadn't. So cortisol and oxytocin were fighting each other essentially in my life. So what I found is that when I would do activities to increase oxytocin, naturally helped support decreasing cortisol. And that I did a simple test to just, you know, looking at your adrenal. There's ways we can test and measure and see how we're doing on a regular basis to make sure we're doing that in a physiologic way, actually getting physiologic results. So as I realized, as I started increasing more of the oxytocin-increasing practices, my, you know, acidity went down. Stress makes us acidic and cortisol, you know, was regulated and my circadian rhythm regulated, and it was just healthier in general, happier in general. I lifted myself out of that depression, lifted myself out of that hormonal imbalance. And really, even though all my other hormones were dialed in, oxytocin was the key hormone to pull me out of the depths of, of PTSD and depression.

Now, are there times that someone would benefit from doing supplemental oxytocin, like it's not going to be enough to hug someone, laugh at the girlfriend, and pet your dog?

Yeah, sometimes there is, absolutely. And I use it clinically as a physician with clients who have had PTSD and are really struggling with adrenal, with cortisol hypofunction, burnout, or even hyperfunction, so disordered circadian rhythm or cortisol curves. So I'll look at that and, you know, certainly depression, anxiety, disconnect, those are instances that we can use it as a crutch, that we can use oxytocin as a crutch in these situations. And for example, I had a client who's an ER physician. And she says, you know, I give everything at work, I'm in the ER, I mean, you know, that's a damn stressful job, right? Damn stressful job. And so she goes, by the time I get home, I'm cranky, I'm irritable, I'm exhausted, I just want to, you know, sit on the couch, read a book, or watch a movie, and I'm not interacting with my kids. And I said, well, first, you change the music. What music are you listening to? All the things. What can you do in your life? Can you get some movement in, et cetera? There are several activities that will help you manage stress. So do all those things. But let's give you a boost of oxytocin on your way home. So as a lozenge or a nasal spray, there's different ways we can administer it. For sexual health, you can use oxytocin vaginally as well. But so I give her these troches at that point. These troches are rapid dissolve tablets. And she would take it when she would get in the car on her way home. And she goes, you know, that first day, she goes, I will open the door and I'm smiling. My kids are like, who's that? What's going on? Right? Like, what happened? And so she used it as a crutch for a while as it helped shift her physiology. And then just as needed on very stressful days till she didn't need it any longer.

Very cool.

Yeah.

Now you mentioned libido and everyone tends to think of libido as more of a testosterone issue. What's the role of oxytocin here?

So oxytocin, first of all, helps with that trust factor, the enjoyment factor, the joyful factor, that connection factor. And when we think of key areas that disconnect, that interrupt our libido, our desire, It is, you know, issues with desire straight off. So it can be the hormonal, it can be disconnected in a relationship, and it can be discomfort or pain. So that disconnect is a really key piece. And when you have oxytocin and intimacy— when you have intimacy and you increase oxytocin, that's a positive feedback to have more intimacy. So the frequency of intercourse can increase, or Intimacy can increase in general. The important thing to know is that again, oxytocin in women versus oxytocin in men, there are significant differences here.

So what— walk us through what the big differences are.

Yeah. So for men with like, for oxytocin after intimacy, it makes them want to roll over and go to sleep, right? It helps them. You can ask. I mean, I have been doing this now for many years and there is, Yeah, not one man that I know of that, you know, hasn't said that at some point. Yeah, after sex, I like to roll over, you know, I just will roll over and go to sleep or whatever. And so the key thing you have to tell them is like, okay, here's the 2-minute strategy to get your mate wanting to have more intimacy and more sex with you and to initiate it more. So give her a couple minutes after sex to have connection, positive feedback, caressing, be really present with her. For at least 2 minutes, right? The amount of time it takes to shave, the amount of time it takes to shower. I mean, just give her those couple minutes to really increase that connection, and that will make her want to have more sex with you.

Wait, so, so rolling over and falling asleep right after sex, is that just men do that? Or if women do that, does that mean they have high oxytocin too?

They— well, it could be. It can be for multiple factors, right? You're relaxed, super relaxed and exhausted. But most— for most women, for most women, physiologically with oxytocin, it increases that desire for more connection and intimacy. That's the time where, you know, especially early on in practices, initiating that time increases that feeling of satisfaction and connection. Because for women, when they have orgasm, for instance, increased amount of oxytocin, which can be, you know, we're going to increase oxytocin without orgasm just with play and laughter and pleasure, having fun. But so when we're increasing oxytocin, that positive feedback is that there's a need, a desire for that deep connection. It's like an open heart moment for women specifically. They feel that open heart moment. And whereas men, they're like, okay, I'm done. That's good. It's fast-acting stuff. That's wonderful. I'm in bed, right? I'm, I'm, asleep. For women, you have that time and really to take that time as women to nurture, to continue to, you know, continue to increase that oxytocin delivery, to increase that positive feedback from the intimacy. So when women are surveyed, when they look at, okay, what's your number one satisfaction with intimacy with your husband or with intercourse? And she'll say, you know, it's really— it's a feeling of connection and love. And in that space for, you know, men, it's that, well, did I make her happy? Did she have pleasure? There's that piece. But he's also like, okay, did I get off, right? And so there's, you know, okay, done, check that box. And it's important to understand too, in surveys of men and women, when we look at the number one benefit that men— his number one turn-on in the bedroom is her turn-on. And so it's not like he's going, you know, me going in, he's going to check that box. He wants to see her enjoy the pleasure, enjoy the intimacy, enjoy the touch. She's— he's make— he's doing something to make her happy, and that's a really big turn-on for him. So in both aspects, before, during, and after, there's many aspects here, but the role of oxytocin is threaded through the entire playtime.

And beyond sex. Yeah. So do the things that raise oxytocin in women also raise oxytocin in men?

Yes.

Are there different activities? Like, you know, I know men can go watch football and raise testosterone and that ain't gonna do anything for me.

Yeah. Yeah. That's a, being around people you're connected to, increases oxytocin in both sex. And so pretty, pretty consistent, the activities that increase oxytocin in a man increase oxytocin in women and vice versa. So that is absolutely true. Now, what are activities unique to the individual that she likes more? So you can say, okay, nipple stim increases oxytocin, but if you don't enjoy it it's not going to increase your oxytocin, right? If you're like, oh, that hurts, it's annoying, I don't— I'm not enjoying it, that is not going to increase oxytocin. So same thing, you know, you can have a pet lover, you've got your beautiful dog and you're enjoying your dog, and someone else like, okay, I'm not— I'm not petting this dog, right? Like, what? You know, there's things that are definite aversions that are going to interfere with oxytocin, but in that in the moment in general, laughter always in both sexes increases oxytocin. The amount of oxytocin increased is different for each individual. Paul Zak, one of the forefront researchers in oxytocin as the trust hormone, and he was measuring people in oxytocin levels in different situations. So a classic example is measuring oxytocin of everyone in a wedding party. And the number one person with the highest level of oxytocin is the bride. And the number 2 person is the mother of the bride.

I was gonna say it was mom.

Yes, totally, totally. The groom's somewhere a few steps down.

I wonder if the dad is like way far. I remember my dad at my wedding was like talking to my mom. I overheard him about, she's not my little girl anymore. I just wonder if they have less like a low— it was so sweet.

I mean, oh, so sweet. He's like, oh my gosh, I have to send her off. I mean, it's— I mean, when you go to— because he didn't like my Husband. Oh yeah, who probably was really not existent.

In retrospect, didn't really either, but you know what it is. This is the one no one knows. It's the mystery third husband. Okay. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. We'll have to, we'll talk later. I'll call you.

Off podcast.

Well, I mean, there's so much to that, but even if you think of the ceremonies that we've cultivated, The ceremonies that we've cultivated and increased, and for example, a wedding ceremony is designed to bring the level of— I mean, part of the results of creating the ceremony time-tested over thousands of years is to bring love and connection as one of your gifts to the couple getting married. You're bathing them in your feelings of love and intimacy and nostalgia and good feelings and laughter and dancing in oxytocin. And that is designed to help, you know, again, surround a couple with good community, good family, good friendships that are all in alignment with this relationship and marriage, and also for the longevity of the marriage. So in cultures, time— like, you know, our traditional cultures, even wedding ceremonies can be a week long. And I think part of that was this cultivation. As we're celebrating, as we're coming together, etc., then, you know, there's longevity in the marriage or some more glue associated with that ceremony, essentially.

So is this something that we could measure? And if we're measuring it, is this something that has like cycles, or, you know, like how would you know the right time to measure it? How do you know if you're low, etc.?

Measuring is a challenge. Measuring oxytocin is a challenge. There's only a couple labs in the country that are really skilled at measuring oxytocin because it is very fragile. It has to be flash frozen, shipped overnight. And the, you know, conditions, just like with any of our hormones or reproductive hormones, estrogen, testosterone, etc., they're pulsatile. And so it's going to fluctuate throughout the day. I had created an oxytocin quiz to ask, you know, a list of questions that I asked my clients or, you know, customers, Here are some questions that are associated with either high versus low oxytocin. So there are definitely clinical symptoms associated with low oxytocin and, and also certainly physiologic.

So what are the— what, how would someone suspect they were low in oxytocin?

You know what, in, you know, in like the self-evaluation with yourself, it's assessing, do I feel connected? Do I, you know, am I enjoying the activities I used to enjoy? Am I feeling less likely to initiate intimacy or some of those activities? I'm not playing with my pet as much. I'm not going out to my horses and connecting with my girlfriends. I'm not interacting in life, engaged in life as much as I used to. Now there are other hormones involved in there too, serotonin, dopamine, et cetera, melatonin. And you know, all our reproductive hormones have a part, but definitely that over the long haul, looking at those symptoms of low oxytocin is key. The other thing is when we think of autism as a low oxytocin state, so not making eye contact, you know, not having physical touch or initiating physical touch, cold clammy hands, pale skin. Those are symptoms of low oxy— those can be symptoms of low oxytocin, among other things.

And what things would, would make your oxytocin go low?

Definitely number one is stress, is certainly stress, trauma, depression, negative self-talk. Um, that most common thing I see, it has to do with cortisol, is the most common thing.

So you could pretty much assume if someone's got, you know, chronically— and this is, I think this is so important to designate. I, I hear so much stuff right now about people being afraid to exercise because it causes a cortisol rise. I'm like, yes, that's good. Like, it's— we got to know acute versus chronic. If you cannot acutely raise cortisol, we will not be here. So you want to be able to do that. And if you looked at the things that happen during exercise you would not exercise because you'd look like you were having a heart attack, you know, right? It's kind of ridiculous. But, um, you know, I'm looking at what are these things because it seems like it's safe to say if you've got chronically elevated— or probably just the opposite, that would be true too— if you really burnt out your adrenals, either one of those two things would also mean low oxytocin.

Yeah, because when your cortisol is up for a long time your paraventricular nucleus in the brain will say, okay, cortisol, you are frying me out, and suppress it. It's like putting the brakes on your cortisol. And so what happens, you're in the— is the adrenals aren't burned out, they're just in hypofunction. They're, you know, like your body, your PVN is like, okay, we got to save you from frying out the system. High chronic cortisol is catabolic. It breaks down muscle, it breaks down bone. Hence one of the reasons I have a 37-year-old in my practice right now with osteoporosis. Very high stress and PTSD. I mean, you, you know, that it will break down. Cortisol is catabolic, it breaks us down. Oxytocin, and it increases acidity in our, in our bodies. It actually physiologically increases hydrogen ion secretion across our renal tubules of our kidneys, and so creates that acidic urine pH, which long-term too isn't good for bladder health. I mean, cystitis, infections, incontinence. As we get older, we have to really pay attention to these things. So anything that can help support decreasing oxytocin is going to help support increasing— I mean, increasing oxytocin. Yeah, so we— anything that supports increasing oxytocin is going to help manage cortisol. And with that concept of, oh well, you're, you know, don't— I mean, I agree, don't run a marathon when you're burnt out. I mean, I agree, go for a walk, do things, a marathon. Yeah, and don't ever run a marathon, right? I got that right.

Marathon, how's that? So I know I'm gonna get some hate on that.

Yeah, I—

yeah, sorry. Take some of that time and do some resistance training, HIIT training, and meditate.

Well, you know, or put that challenge on and check it off. But look at the state of your life that you're in. Marathon runners versus sprinters, which looks healthier? And what else is going on in your life? So if you're focusing on that alkalizing, nourishing diet, you've got low inflammation in your system. When you have, you know, I mean, anything— you have a gratitude practice, you have good relationships and good friendships, that's a very good cocoon to do whatever exercise you want, honestly. Because, and this is the other piece with oxytocin, and say, okay, cortisol is acid acidifying, oxytocin is alkalinizing. We've seen that in many studies. We've seen that it helps with regeneration of even aged muscles. Again, there's so much good stuff with oxytocin as far as a longevity hormone, is the key to longevity. And especially if you consider, what do most people want on their gravestones or their headstones at the time they die? You know, I loved well and I was well loved, right? I mean, that's oxytocin. Right. Not that I worked harder or, you know, stressed out.

I worked my ass off and felt like people didn't appreciate me.

That's right. That's right.

What about, are there any supplements that can help with oxytocin?

Yeah, definitely. There are certain supplements in my research, and I write about this in one of my books or both, all three of them. I can't remember. How many books do you have now? I have three. I have three published books, The Hormone Fix, and I definitely write about it in The Hormone Fix, Keto Green 16, and menopause. So, and I— oxytocin comes up in all my books because it is a key factor for—

and she will have the big oxytocin book.

The big oxytocin book proposal is in, and, um, then I get— eventually we're in our final stages of getting that proposal in and accepted. So yeah, I'm excited about that.

Back over to supplements. So supplements that can help boost, support oxytocin production, or I, I'm not sure if it's supporting the production of it, keeping it around. What are— like, what, what can we do?

Well, several, several factors. One is vitamin C. Vitamin C is a key component. Vitamin D— like, if our vitamin D levels are low, think about low vitamin D, depression, low oxytocin. You need vitamin D on board for all of our hormones to work really well. So vitamin D, you know, higher melatonin— and melatonin also is key. From melatonin will metabolize to oxytocin as well. That good night's sleep, you feel better the next day.

So I have a question around that, that I'm glad you brought that up, because I still remember when I was younger and I took melatonin and I felt like I was hungover the next day. And then, you know, decades later, I started using melatonin and didn't feel that right. And so obviously I'd been normal in my melatonin before, and then now I'm low. And I hear from people, they're like, "Oh no, you should not take melatonin all the time." And I'm like, "Well, why wouldn't you take melatonin every night if you're low in melatonin?" You know, it doesn't make sense to me that you would cycle it or do anything else if you're low in it. Why would you want to be low in it? It's so mission critical.

It is mission critical. I think the same thing with oxytocin where I pulse it for clients. I may keep them on short-term, 3 to 6 months, and then intermittently in between or after. Because anything that we're taking, any exogenous hormone that we're taking on a regular basis is going to potentially provide negative feedback and decrease our body's manufacturing of that hormone in and of itself.

However, as we age, we're not able to produce as much of, say, melatonin. Right. You know, and then we're not producing estrogen. We're not like, I can— doesn't matter if I pulse estrogen or not, I'm not going to produce the estrogen I need to feel like a I don't want to crawl out of my skin. So with melatonin, if you're aging out and you're not producing the melatonin you would have, why would you want to pulse that? Wouldn't you want to just get it back to the levels that you used to have so you feel good, sleep well, etc.?

You should take it on a continuous basis to get that sleep cycle established, to get that sleep cycle established. And there are other reasons to take melatonin too, in higher doses for immune function, and in our cancer protocols, melatonin is a key factor. And I know with brain injury with brain injury as well. The key factor too, when we think, okay, melatonin's low because of age-related issues, but how do we make melatonin? We need to have enough progesterone and estrogen on board, or we're not going to make melatonin. Because without enough progesterone, we're not going to have enough dopamine as well, because progesterone helps decrease dopamine degradation, the breakdown of dopamine. And from dopamine, we make serotonin, which we need estrogen on board to make serotonin. From serotonin, we make melatonin. So if something along that pathway is not working. I'm in the philosophy now more than ever after 30 years of practice is that, you know, look at the— look at the pathways, look what leads up to it. How can we optimize every step on the pathway? And what do we need to make serotonin? We need tryptophan on board, 5-hydroxytryptophan. So like, okay, so where can we support 5-hydroxytryptophan, which has other roles in our body besides making serotonin and melatonin and will help with mood? So up the food chain, down the food chain, supply what is needed for the time needed. And in the case of melatonin, I think more information is really needed long term, especially in, you know, over age 60, to look at daily chronic use. Now, in someone in their 40s, I wouldn't do it chronically every day for a year. You've got to address the underlying issues causing your body not to make melatonin. And you're like, okay, you're getting your— you're getting your morning sunshine, you've got red light, you've sauna, you're working on setting your circadian rhythm. It's like, okay, I wouldn't deny you thyroid hormone, so let me give you melatonin hormone the same way. And so in that situation— but I've seen clients coming in in their teens, or with teenagers who have been on melatonin daily, and I think that's a mistake.

Yeah, that makes a ton of sense that it'd be something in your 50s, 60s, 70s that likely even giving everything in the pathway, the cofactors, B6, things like this, you're just not going to get where you need to get.

Right, right. And suddenly, I mean, we're living inside versus outside. So really resetting that, emphasizing the importance of circadian rhythm.

And I live with a mole, like, literally, it's great at night. Tim does not— has very light-sensitive eyes. So at night, this is great. We turn everything down. I would normally— I'm like I'm like, flip all the lights on. But in the morning I'm like, okay, mole, we got to like, put some lights on.

Yeah, let's open the curtains, get some sunlight. And that's another thing too with light, you know, light sensitivity, you know, you have to work on— I mean, I encourage in just this situation is when I have clients with significant light sensitivity, we're able to turn that around to optimizing vitamin D, retraining the eyes, wearing blue light blockers instead of our regular glasses at night, getting lighting, you know, exposure to our eyes, especially for those of us that have been glasses or contact wearers for a long time, it's actually working against us. So we have to conscientiously do things to re-exercise and get that light exposure.

Because, uh, anyway, what was that? I'll take him to Bryce Applebaum. We're gonna, I think, go over there and see him to get out of our glasses. Now, the, the last thing I'd love to look at is How this fits into HRT.

So again, with oxytocin and looking at that hierarchy of hormones, the most important thing is we do have this incredible pharmacy within our body that's designed to sustain us, right? Our longest— this is the, the controversy— our longest living populations aren't on handfuls of supplements and hormones, but they also don't live in this whacked situation we live in. Exactly. Exposed. I mean, we're exposed to an unprecedented amount of toxins and hormone disruptors that have to constantly be addressed and, and paid attention to. And the lifestyle factors, the whole thing about sunrises and sunsets, circadian rhythm, getting sunlight, optimizing your vitamin D. I mean, there's no age limit on being able to naturally, that I know of, optimize our vitamin D. It may take longer as we get older with sun exposure, etc., but it is, it is definitely something our body is still able to do. So when it comes to hormone, you know, managing our hormones, we want to look at all the underlying root causes why those hormones are out of balance? Always. Is it you need detox? You need nutrients? You know, whatever it is that you may need, and address those issues. And then replace, replenish. I like to say I do hormone replenishment, not replacement. That way, replenishing the hormones that your body needs in ideally an ideal physiologic way for you at this time of your life. And I would, you know, this is just bringing up— I'm going to go on a tangent, JJ. I'm up for it. Yeah, a client of mine, I hadn't seen her, a Georgia client of mine. And so when I had moved and I had retired my practice there several years ago, um, as you know, I got retired my practice in 2015. I started seeing patients here in Dallas in 2023. So I had a significant time of sabbatical. And she says, you know, I've really had to strong-arm my, my doctors to keep me on the prescriptions that you've had me on, the cream. She goes, Dr. Anna— so this is a psychiatrist, highly educated, she's been in practice over 35 years— and she's like, I have I had to like negotiate and bargain, get really strong on my doctors to keep me on your prescription. And she goes, as a result, they haven't changed it in these 8 years. And I was like, oh girl, right? And she's 60— oh, and she's 65 now. So they said, oh, we can— we're not writing it anymore for you. And I was like, would you deny her insulin if she needed based on her age? Would you deny her thyroid hormone based on her age? I mean, it's ridiculous to say, oh, you're 65 and now you're not going to need this. Boof! And, and psychiatry, I mean, especially for her, I mean, that's high stress. So periodically in the past, we would, you know, incorporate oxytocin because there's a lot of trauma, a lot of stress. But those key practices that you can do on a daily basis that increase your oxytocin, because our pharmacy in our body is the best pharmacy in the world, and so you want to do those things. But then when you need it, you can add in appropriate replacement and replenishment. And so, yeah, other supplements too, like maca. I will tell you, maca— I've been using Mighty Maca for years. It helps decrease cortisol, and we've seen improvements in happiness, content, in these preclinical trials and surveys of our clients. And so that's a key thing. And also, maca has been shown to naturally increase your body's own natural sex hormones. And so So that's an important supplement to take too. So that's another one that I wanted to mention.

And let's just like, let's just jump the gun a little bit because you have, so you have Jova, which increases oxytocin, increases sexual activity. We're going to tell everyone what Jova is. We'll put a link in the show notes. But this was so funny because at our, Tim and I's wedding, in my wedding, we had goodie bags for everybody, and we had Jolva in the goodie bags, and people just went crazy for them. So, so what is Jolva?

A party favor. It's been a party favor too.

Great party favor. Yes, I— well, when we did, um, my girlfriend Lisa's bachelorette party, we made sure she had Jolva because, you know, and so, you know, what is it? So tell everyone what it is.

So Jolva, I created from that situation when I had stopped my practice and I had been compounding prescriptions for my patients. And then patients would be like, you know, Dr. Anna, our doctors aren't comfortable, you know, rewriting these compounds, compounded creams or troches or whatever. Or my vaginal potions specifically for libido, sexual health, desire, vaginal health and dryness, incontinence issues. So I really had worked through my career on customizing these compounded formulas for patients. And so when I retired, I said, okay, well, I'm going to come up with something that's over the counter that's even better than anything I can write on a prescription. So that's what Julva is. It is a topical formula to use clitoris to anus, okay, vaginally, on the vulvar vaginal area. It's important to, um, and use it on a daily basis, part of your cosmetic routine, your, you know, your healthy aging routine. And it has key ingredients that help really turn used together, they help turn back the hands of time. And we have had clients— she's now 67, she likes to boast that she has the vagina of a 25-year-old. And I'm like, okay, you don't need any other biomarker of aging than that. But I see it all the time. People, you know, as a gynecologist, weren't, you know, had incontinence issues, weren't able to have sex because of dryness or the thinning of the vaginal lining and discomfort. And that that, you know, Jolva just completely turns that around.

So love it. And you're coming out with lube too?

I also have a new lubricant coming out. It is really great. I'm excited about this.

Well, I just love the idea that it's something that's not in plastic.

No, no, it's in a glass bottle, and it is a very, very clean formula. So it's a water-based formula, and it's hard to find a nice water-based formula That's slick. And it also included a couple ingredients that help increase blood flow and, of course, nurturing and healing ingredients. Especially, this is designed for the postmenopausal woman that can be used by anyone. But so the combination of ingredients that I put in are really good, like aloe vera and hyaluronan. And it's, um, yeah, it's nice. And some ginseng. It will help with desire, pleasure, but most importantly, comfort and intimacy. So you can actually experience the pleasure. If it hurts, you're not going to want No.

Yeah, it hurt. Well, there's a couple people, but for the most part. Now, if you are watching, if you're listening to this, we'll put some pictures on social too. But if you're seeing any of this on social, you will notice that Dr. Anna's hair is insane. Like the first thing I said, I had like hair envy when I got on. I'm like, what the heck are you doing over there with your hair? Like she's got a lion's mane of hair going on. And so talk me through this because I know you sent me this at the beginning. And the first thing I thought about was I don't wash my— I don't wash my own hair very often because I can't blow dry my own hair. So tell me about the hair thing too, because so many people complain about hair.

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. And there was a time like I have a— I do have a full head of hair and it's always been like the crowning glory. Story. But there was a time where like my ponytail was down to like nothing, like I had very, very lost a lot of hair. When I pulled back my hair, I had hair loss all the way to the crown of my head. So I'm like, you know, it's amazing. I mean, I literally had 4 inches from my forehead to where my hair loss was. I mean, it was terrible. I mean, it was really terrifying too. And so I really, you know, in building my own health back and my protocols and managing stress, for me, it was a lot of stress-related hair loss at that time too. But then at 58, you know, getting my gray to come in, I was telling JJ, you know, JJ, I was, as I was telling you, I stopped coloring, you know, I'm not coloring my hair as much because I didn't like how it felt. But I did create a product with sea buckthorn oil in it, which really does help. It's a topical hair mask and it helps condition from the ends to the roots and the scalp to increase blood flow and hair growth. So the Beauty Locks formula with amino acids in it too, to keep your hair strong, is also specifically designed for hormonal hair loss. And it, it, yeah, I'm happy with it.

Like, you're, you are your own model here because— thank you— like, wild. Did you blow out your own hair?

I did, I did it. I used the curlers. You know how I sent you curlers way back when? Those old, what are they, Conair or something curlers? Those foam, yeah, foam curlers. Anyway, yeah, so that's why I did my hair. Yeah, but I prefer to have it done for me too, JJ, I have to admit. Well, speaking of which, you know, a head rub increases oxytocin.

I love like getting your hair washed and getting that, like, oh my gosh, it's the best.

Yeah, that's an oxytocin, that's oxyplay for you. So it's the benefit is you get some, you know, you get your hair done, but you get a boost of oxytocin.

That's one of those things I do when I can at these, when you go to spas where they have that scalp massage. Scalp rituals. We did one in Bali, Tim and I, and I was like, it was so great. And then I remember she was trying to blow up my hair with this little blow dryer that was like— it was like she was like blowing on my hair. This is not going to work. I got it. I'll handle this. But yes, it's looking fabulous. Everything's looking great. Where should we send everybody who would love to learn more about all the the good stuff that you're doing?

No, I definitely would love for you guys to connect with me on social media, Instagram @thegirlfrienddoctor, and my website at dranna.com. I have, what, decades now, a lot of good content and articles I've written and quizzes and information. So at dranna.com, D-R-A-N-N-A.com.

And what we'll do is we'll make it easy. We'll put all your social sites sites, uh, down, and that we'll put it all at jjvirgin.com/oxyply, because you'll remember that. O-X-Y-P-L-A-Y. Um, and because you're— is your primary thing Instagram, or what do you—

we're all predominantly Instagram. I haven't gotten, you know, the knack for TikTok yet, but the primary one is—

we say knickknack on TikTok.

Knickknack on TikTok. That's what I want wanted to say. But also, JJ, we offer your audience a discount code too.

Oh, let's do that for sure. What would you—

what would you like it to be? We'll put it in the system right now. Um, JJ, like JJ15, 15% off.

It's great.

So, okay, JJ15 will give you 15% off your first order at Dr. Anna.

Fabulous, fabulous. So you just learned about all the goodies. She's got great books, great social, does fun things there too. So make sure you get hooked up at jjvirgin.com/oxiplay. And I hope I get to see you soon somewhere.

I do too. I do too.

I look forward to real oxytocin. That's right.