Did you know there is a connection between mental health and medical disorders like cardiovascular disease or Alzheimer's disease? Clinical neuroscientist Jill Goldstein, a professor of psychiatry and medicine at Harvard Medical School and the executive director of the Innovation Center on Sex Differences in Medicine, explains why women are disproportionately affected by these co-occurences. They have twice the risk of developing a co-occurrence of heart disease and depression than men do.

Pregnancy is made difficult by having low levels of the hormone progesterone, a fact many women are unaware of. After experiencing IVF for her first child, Amy Beckley, a researcher with expertise in hormone signaling, wondered if there was an easier way to conceive. She began to track her progesterone, discovering she had low levels. After using supplements, she delivered a baby without IVF. Beckley wants to help others trying to conceive, so she invented Proov, an at-home test to track...

Approximately 6.1 million women in America struggle to get pregnant every year, according to the CDC. This leads many couples to explore assisted reproductive technologies, most commonly IVF. In part I of our infertility series, we explain what women need to understand about infertility, what the process of IVF is like, and how much emotional and physical labor is involved. Dr. Alan Penzias discusses the most common infertility issues, what the typical treatment process involves and how age...

More women are dying from childbirth today than when our moms had babies. Pregnancy and childbirth are complex and tech companies are hoping to help make these experiences safer. There has been little innovation in this space since the 1970s. The need for creative solutions to fix maternal problems is clear, so we wanted to know what the tech companies were doing to help make pregnancy and childbirth more safe.

The Pan-Mass Challenge's (PMC) annual bike ride fundraiser broke records with this year's $63 million gift to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The PMC, led by Billy and Meredith Starr, has exclusively raised $717 million for Dana-Farber over its 40-year history. Dana-Farber president and chief executive Dr. Laurie Glimcher explains how the funds impact patient care and research. Over 150 Dana-Farber employees participated in the last ride, including Dr. Katherine Janeway, who was a cancer...

What do you feed your children at snack time? Fruit snacks? Kid’s yogurt? Gatorade? So many of us don’t realize how much sugar is in these foods, which are often marketed as healthy options. With over two decades of experience as a pediatrician, Dr. Shakha Gillin noticed how many health issues could be solved by a better diet. She realized to fix kid’s eating habits, she needed to educate parents and the school system, the main sources teaching kids the right way to take care of themselves.

Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama are among states that have passed laws challenging Roe v. Wade's ruling. With the possibility of states overturning the Supreme Court's decision, we looked at how being denied an abortion affects women. The Turnaway Study, led by Diana Foster Greene, compares the outcomes of women who received an abortion with women who were denied an abortion. OB-GYNs Dr. Jenn Conti and Dr. Erica Cahill further explain the challenges of abortion providers face in the...

When you need help who do you turn to? Instagram? Facebook? Online advice can come loaded with judgment and inaccuracies, but it is accessible and relatable and that makes it potent. We talk to Dr. Margaret Quinlan and Bethany Johnson, the authors of "You’re Doing it Wrong! Mothering, Media, and Medical Expertise", on how mothers face criticism for their parenting choices, from the historical medical expertise of the nineteenth century to the newsfeeds of today.

Even with decades of experience as a cardiology nurse, Kristen O'Meara initially dismissed her own warning signs of a heart attack, relying on the fact she was healthy and active. Hours later, O'Meara would find herself in the emergency room recovering from a heart attack caused by a condition many otherwise healthy women suffer from: SCAD. Many patients, paramedics, and even doctors are unaware of the condition, leaving them to associate heart attack symptoms with less dire ailments, like...

Back in '96, Shannon Miller led the Magnificent Seven to the gold at the Summer Olympics, earning the first-ever gymnastics win over Russia for the U.S. In 2011, Miller announced that she had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Following recovery, Miller went on to advocate for others with ovarian cancer. She discusses cancer's aftermath and how it caused her perspective to shift. Miller also talks on her experience growing up as an athlete in comparison to the pressure of youth sports today.

In 1989, a team of anthropologists studying Hadza hunter-gatherers in northern Tanzania noticed how hard one group was working: the grandmothers. “They were well into their sixties and their productivity was just as great as the women who are still in the childbearing years,” anthropologist Kristen Hawkes tells Emily. Historically, women’s primary contribution to society was to give birth– implying post-menopausal women offered no value. We now have scientific evidence to prove that wrong.

From the late reproductive stage to the final menstrual period, the female body goes through a great deal of change. The spikes in estrogen during menopause cause an unpredictability that makes the transition particularly difficult. Unlike the pattern of stocking up on tampons and Advil every 28 days, women are thrown for a loop when their hormones become erratic. Dr. Jan Shifren and Dr. Nancy Woods go in-depth about memory function, feeling unstable, and what women need to be aware of during...

Hormone therapy has a complicated history. We’ve heard hormone therapy causes cancer and we’ve heard it is perfectly safe. We unpack the Women’s Health Initiative and why it has been so widely misunderstood and how the misinformation has led to widespread confusion. We hear from Dr. Jan Shifren of Massachusetts General Hospital's Midlife Women's Health Center, Dr. Marcie Richardson of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Newton-Wellesley Hospital, and the University of Guelph's Glen Pyle.

As Nina Coslov hit her forties, she began questioning what her body was experiencing. Are these symptoms related to my hormones or something else? Her uneasiness led to research about the aging female body, thus learning about the late reproduction stage and perimenopause. Her newfound knowledge was a relief; she wasn’t unhappy or sick, she was just changing. Coslov then launched Woman Living Better, an educational website on the early menopause stages, with help from Dr. Marcie Richardson...

Investigative reporter Nina Teicholz was a vegetarian for over twenty years before taking a closer look at her own diet, ultimately leading to her New York Times bestseller "The Big Fat Surprise." Teicholz's work has disrupted orthodox nutrition beliefs, challenged the dietary guidelines, and debunked the weak science around dietary fat. Nina and Emily discuss how we got red meat so wrong, along with what studies show concerning women on a low-fat diet.

Sports medicine physiatrist Dr. Amy West explains how female bodies, specifically female athlete bodies, differ from male bodies. Should you be working out on your period? What do hormones have to do with injury recovery? Do transgender athletes and those with DSD have an advantage over cisgender athletes? What is RED-S and why is it often seen amongst young female athletes? West also discusses the links between the CrossFit movement and the field of physiatry.

While all mothers are constantly working on raising the next generation, moms who end up re-entering the workforce face difficult challenges. From accepting that being a stay-at-home mom may not be your thing to being discriminated in the workplace for being a mother, your career path gets complicated if and when you decide to have children. We are joined by the creator and host of the Double Shift Podcast, Katherine Goldstein, along with Professor Kathleen McGinn of Harvard Business School.

Endometriosis is a disorder where the endometrial tissue appears in other parts of your body, usually in the pelvic region, but could spread as high as your lungs. On average, it takes a decade to finally get a diagnosis. There is currently no cause or cure, leaving many in the dark about what’s going on with their bodies. We talk with some of the women who have endured endometriosis along with experts Dr. Stacey Missmer and Dr. Ken Sinervo.

This episode is a continuation from episode 16 of our conversation with investigative reporter Gary Taubes, author of "Good Calories, Bad Calories", "Why We Get Fat", and "The Case Against Sugar." Taubes has written extensively on how dogmatic beliefs around a low-fat diet are flawed and how bad science has contributed to that. If you haven't listened to that conversation from last week, we would suggest you do that first.

Gary Taubes is an investigative science journalist who has spent the last 40 years covering controversial science. Back in 2002, his New York Times Magazine piece "What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?" led Taubes to gain recognition as one of the few reporters taking on the challenge of questioning the conventional dietary wisdom. In the first episode of a two-part series, Taubes discusses how questioning “pathological science” has caused him to bump heads with the scientific community.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in men and women alike, but the symptoms, causes, and outcomes differ among the sexes. Women tend to get blockages in the small vessels, whereas men have plaque build-up in their large arteries. Cardiologists Dr. Janet Wei of the Barbara Streisand Women's Heart Center and Dr. Giulia Sheftel of Newton-Wellesley Hospital discuss how these blockages happen, Yentl Syndrome, and the interplay of estrogen and heart health.

We spend a great deal of time on Empowered Health discussing how sex differences affect culture and science, but accounting for gender identity is key to an all-encompassing understanding of health issues. Author and activist Sarah McBride joins us to discuss the complexity of gender identity. McBride is a transgender advocate who works as the press secretary of the Human Rights Campaign.

In Italy, pregnant women are likely to enjoy a glass of wine once a week. In Japan, sushi remains a staple for dinner even during the third trimester. In America, women are told over and over again that these items must be restricted during pregnancy. Economist Emily Oster breaks down the typical pregnancy recommendations with data-driven research in "Expecting Better." Oster's "Cribsheet" weighs the pros and cons of sleep training, breastfeeding and many other decisions parents make during...

A girl's first period marks the beginning of womanhood; an exciting milestone that unfortunately leads to years of stigmatization. For low-income menstruators, the financial burden of menstrual products makes the monthly occurrence even worse. Nadya Okamoto of PERIOD. and Kate Sanetra-Butler of Dignity Matters break down why every woman deserves to have access to menstrual products. Rep. Leslie Herod explains what it's like to get your period in prison and how she changed those conditions.

In November 2018, Chinese scientist He Jiankui announced the birth of the first CRISPR babies. You may have seen CRISPR popping up in science news over the past few years, but still don't really understand what it is. This week, bioethicist Francoise Baylis breaks down what exactly this gene-editing technology could mean for humanity, from futuristic super senses to disease-resistant babies.