Podcast: Daily Habits to Age Well

Courtney: Welcome to Health Matters, your weekly dose of the latest in health and wellness from NewYork-Presbyterian. I’m Courtney Allison.

We had so many great episodes in May that touched on women’s health, so we are taking a moment to listen back and spend a little more time on topics that impact women’s health every day.

From navigating perimenopause and protecting your brain to supporting strong bones and understanding the simple ways to take care of our skin, our experts shared a lot of practical advice.

To help me recap the highlights, I’m joined by my friend and colleague, Angelique Serrano, our multimedia editor here at Health Matters.

Great to have you back, Angelique.

Angelique: Hi Courtney. It’s great to be back with you.

Courtney: It’s always so great to have you on.

Angelique: These topics were really interesting. I loved these conversations and even though they happened in May, I mean to me, every day is Women’s Health Day. We should be having these conversations every single day.

Courtney: Whether it’s our kids, our parents, our friends, our loved ones. We’re always trying to make sure everyone is taken care of. And I think all these experts did a really amazing job of showing us how we can prioritize our health, particularly as women.

Angelique: I really believe that the more we talk and demystify topics like perimenopause and brain health, the more empowered we’re going to become to have better conversations in the doctor’s offices. So I think it’s personally important to me, but also important to say out loud to each other.

Courtney: It is so important. And with that, let’s get into it! Let’s start with brain health. This first clip is from our conversation with Dr. Sonja Blum.

Dr. Sonja Blum: There are key links between cardiovascular health and brain health. Exercise is linked to preservation and optimization of our heart health, also our blood vessels. This is really, really important because when we have issues with our blood vessels in our heart, it can translate into silent strokes that injure the brain over time.

But I also want to highlight, as it relates to memory, that long standing line of research that make some links between exercise and the health of the hippocampus, which is a brain structure, very core to our memory making. And even birth of new neurons. So hippocampus is a rare place in the brain where we actually get new neurons. And so exercise supports that process as well through some hormones in the brain. So we really love exercise for the brain. It really helps in preservation of good brain health.

Courtney: I literally, like, booked an exercise class after the interview because you just hear how important it is. Like, what a thing to think about when you go for a run.

Angelique: Yes. I would be lying if I told you that I knew exercise had anything to do with brain health. I think I knew maybe a few crossword puzzles might be helpful, but outside of that, I just really did not make the connection between exercise and the brain. It makes all the sense in the world. So I might have booked the same class you did, Courtney. I am hitting the yoga mat hard.

Courtney: Well, like you said, memory. I think we’re all concerned about trying to keep our memory as we get older and to hear that exercise has a connection. You know, it’s not just trying all the things you, you really hear about, but, but exercise.

Angelique: And another thing that really struck me in this episode was a quote about how a life that retains complexity, that’s a life that can really help exercise the brain and keep the mind sharp. That resonated so much and it really, it also motivates me to, you know, keep up not only my exercise and healthy eating, but keep up with habits and things that make me happy. All of that richness to know that that feeds the brain. It just, it’s really good to know and it’s really motivating.

Courtney: And I like too that she said that games and everything could be good for brain health, but games you like. So don’t worry if you don’t like Sudoku. But go do something you like ’cause your brain actually knows when you like it.

Angelique: Definitely. And it’s all empowering to know that all of these things that we’re doing really are making an impact on our minds in the short term and the long term.

Courtney: So, moving on to skin health, which I think a lot of people think about when there’s, you know, so many things on social media, there’s influencers…

Angelique: You’re absolutely right and I think now we have so much information at our fingertips and we are following people and we’re having all these great conversations, but I think a byproduct of that is that it can make it seem kind of complicated to take care of your skin. So this conversation was really excellent in reinforcing how simple it can be.

Courtney: We dove in with Dr. Shari Lipner to just hear straightforward tips on how to take care of our skin.

Dr. Shari Lipner: Just like we’re used to brushing our teeth every day, we can do a simple skincare routine that fits into the morning, and doesn’t cause you to be late for work. And so what I recommend is washing your face with a gentle cleanser that’s fragrance-free, and then applying a vitamin C serum in the morning. Let that dry. Then applying a moisturizer with a sunscreen, SPF 30. That’s really all you have to do.

Courtney: What is it about the vitamin C serum that’s so good for your skin?

Dr. Shari Lipner: So there’s two features of vitamin C that’s helpful for people’s skin. One is that it’s an antioxidant. So theoretically, it can prevent skin aging. And the second thing is, it is a blocker of the UV rays. So both of those things will help you look and feel younger.

For those patients that are not pregnant or intending to become pregnant, it’s a good idea to apply a retinoid at night. There’s actually evidence that it can help fade some of those subtle wrinkles, those fine lines. They also have acne fighting capabilities. So if you’re prone to acne, that’s kind of a double whammy for you. But in general, recommend consulting with a board certified dermatologist to really get your regimen that’s individualized for you.

Angelique: I think Dr. Lipner really hit on the three ingredients or three products that can really make up a skincare routine. You have your sunscreen, you have your vitamin C, and then the retinoid. And I think those simple routines can go such a long way for your skin.

Courtney: Right and like she said, speak to a board certified dermatologist to get your routine down.

Angelique: Yes. And I also think it’s good for people to know that seeing a dermatologist is not solely a cosmetic decision. And so I appreciated all of the advice collectively too, because we should be approaching our dermatologist as a healthcare provider, and skin is our largest organ, so how best do we take care of that?

Courtney: And I think it’s sometimes hard to remember to prioritize yourself. So something like the yearly dermatologist visit to do the annual skin check is one of those things. I mean, I’m guilty of this. I actually had one scheduled and I had to cancel it because something came up. But as we’re talking, I’m like, I need to go put that back on the calendar.

Angelique: I’m texting you right now. I’m texting you to reschedule your dermatologist appointment right now.

Courtney: Making those appointments is like the best thing we can do for ourselves and the people we love and the people who love us so that we can keep kind of caring for our health as time goes on.

Angelique: This next clip is from our episode on perimenopause with Dr. Mary Rosser. And we hear Dr. Rosser talk about one of the more frustrating but also more common experiences and that is disrupted sleep.

Dr. Mary Rosser:You can start having some of the more classic or hallmark symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats. They’re called the vasomotor symptoms. People wake up, they can’t go back to sleep, they’re restless. They start thinking about their day that has passed, the day coming up, all the issues that are going on, whether it’s with their children, aging parents, their relationships, the outside world.

And so it’s hard really to let your mind release so you can fall back to sleep. And so it’s important to try to help people through that. I tell women, don’t stay in bed and just be restless. Get up. Find a great book, without the screen and a book that’s not going to be too enticing and sit in a chair with soft light. And then hopefully you’ll feel like you need to fall back asleep.

Courtney: That’s beautiful. I love how you painted that. That actually sounds quite cozy.

Dr. Mary Rosser:Yeah. At least you’ll be comfortable and you won’t be thinking about your list.

Courtney: Yes, exactly. The list.

Angelique: Not only was it, it’s validating to hear these things said out loud, but I love how she approached it from such a practical place. It might sound counterproductive at first, but if I get up, I won’t fall back to sleep. But it’s actually so productive. You get yourself in a different setting, and you get sleepy again, and that helps you go back to sleep.

So I appreciated that practical piece of advice while understanding what a frustrating symptom this can be for so many women.

Courtney: And she just seemed. So enthusiastic about helping women lead better lives and educating women on their health. Like, we don’t need to suffer in silence about this big thing that maybe wasn’t talked about as much when we were growing up.

And now it’s out there and maybe we don’t need to be so scared. I think of that Mr. Rogers quote: What’s mentionable is manageable. Like if we name it, maybe we can manage it more and maybe not be so scared.

Angelique: I completely agree with you and I know that so many women are living with these different symptoms and during perimenopause, they might be shrugging them off or they might be just dealing with them while wondering if the experience is even valid.

Like, am I really having trouble concentrating or am I just having a bad day? And so it’s really important to have these conversations out loud.

Angelique: Our final clip is all about bone health.

Courtney: So the bone health episode stuck with me and I think with others on our team too. She had that great tip about, pretending there’s a credit card behind your shoulder blades to kind of pull yourself up, which I’m doing right now. I would like to protect my bones. I know as women we’re more vulnerable to our bones getting weaker over time.

Angelique: I didn’t realize I could be so proactive about my bone health and throughout my life, so I found this episode so informative, so helpful, and I too am practicing the credit card trick, standing up really straight, pulling back my shoulder blades.

Courtney: I think she also talked about things we can eat, you know, things that you hear about calcium.

Angelique: Yes. I thought Dr. Eldon was so fantastic because she really focused on the proactive measures that we can all take to improve our bone health.

Courtney: I really agree, and she offered so many really helpful ways of thinking about how the health of our bones impacts our lives. At one point in the conversation she said something that didn’t make it into the episode—she described why it’s so challenging if you break your hip.

So I really want to hear your thoughts on this one. Let’s listen.

Dr. Erica Eldon: So think about the things that you do every day. Right now I’m sitting at a desk. I’m sitting on my hip. You know, after this I’m gonna get up and I’m gonna walk to the bathroom.

Courtney: Right.

Dr. Erica Eldon: I have to walk through my hip. So if you have low bone density, they may recommend not doing surgery, just letting it try and heal on its own. And that can take time, and then while you’re waiting for that hip fracture to heal, your cardiovascular endurance goes down, right? Your muscle mass goes down, you get weaker. Now you have a steeper hill to climb, getting back to your normal health, right? So prevention is better than treating it after it’s happened.

Angelique: So I know that sounded maybe a bit sad, but I truly hear the takeaway of what I can do about it, and this idea that you can strengthen bones and also prevent them from becoming more brittle or more delicate, that feels really good to know that I can do something about it.

Courtney: Yes, I totally agree.

Angelique: And I think it’s another point in the column for weight training and doing some exercises that strengthen muscle, strengthen bone, not just focusing all on cardio. So I think that’s another through line. A lot of these episodes really focus on the importance of weight training, and it’s incredible to hear how much that can contribute to bone strength and bone health.

Courtney: So we’ve talked about so much today. Do any of these clips stick with you the most or any takeaways, even one we didn’t cover in the clips, but maybe just in thinking about women’s health or all these episodes we’ve had?

Angelique: You know, I think one of them was from Dr. Blum, and it was when she said that the brain continuously needs to process in order to stay vibrant. And I think again, that speaks to awareness. We need to continuously be present and active in life. That means so much to staying vibrant, healthy, and active.

Courtney: Vibrant, healthy, and active. I love that. And I think I’m just so grateful’cause I feel like we get to just kind of be in these doctor’s offices and hear so much. And you know, I take it all home with me. I’m always like, okay, gotta get some more vegetables in today.

Gotta go get my sleep.

Angelique: Gotta stop at the store and get another face serum.

Courtney: Yeah.

Angelique: Just kidding.

Courtney: Just the vitamin C. Yeah. But I think just demystifying all these things, there’s just so much out there and I feel like our doctors do an amazing job of drilling it down to what’s important.

Angelique: Happy Women’s Health Month.

Courtney: Happy Women’s Health Month. Go make the appointments you need! I’m gonna keep enjoying my crosswords and do my best to retain, what was it? Do you remember what she said?

Angelique: Yes. She said, a life that retains complexity.

Courtney: Lives that retain complexity. Thank you so much Angelique. It is always such a treat to talk to you.

Angelique: Thank you, Courtney. It was an absolute pleasure.

Courtney:  Thank you to our amazing roster of experts: Dr. Sonja Blum, Dr. Shari Lipner, Dr. Mary Rosser, and Dr. Erica Eldon.

Health Matters is a production of NewYork-Presbyterian. The views shared on this podcast solely reflect the expertise and experience of our guests. To learn more about our doctor’s work with patients, check out the show notes. NewYork-Presbyterian is here to help you stay amazing at every stage of your life.

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