The entire longevity conversation forgot about female bodies, so we are fixing that today. It turns out your ovaries are the fastest aging organ you have, declining measurably in your mid 30s, and researchers now consider ovarian aging one of the most important longevity markers we have for women. In this episode we break down why your ovaries age more than twice as fast as the rest of you, how ovarian aging connects to your heart, bones, and brain, what AMH and your family menopause timeline can tell you, and the everyday habits that actually protect your ovarian longevity. Smart, fun, and something you can actually act on this week.

I'm Dr. Kelsy Vick, a board certified orthopedic Doctor of Physical Therapy and women's health PT, and this is Wellness Big Sis: The Pod, expert led, science backed wellness girl chats for women in their 20s and 30s.

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Links/Resources:

RESOURCES:

Ovaries age more than twice as fast as the rest of the body and are the fastest aging organ. This is the Columbia work led by Yousin Suh. Columbia University Irving Medical Center: Studying Ovaries to Understand How We All Age. https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/studying-ovaries-understand-how-we-all-age Underlying research: Molecular and genetic insights into human ovarian aging from single nuclei multi omics analyses (2024). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39578560/ Accessible longevity framing: https://time.com/collections/the-age-of-longevity/7338546/ovaries-unlock-secrets-longevity/

Low AMH is linked to cardiovascular and metabolic risk markers. de Kat, A. C., et al. and related work: Low antimullerian hormone levels may be associated with cardiovascular risk markers in women with diminished ovarian reserve. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26613901/ BMI nuance: https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/105/3/e555/5581647

Later menopause and a longer reproductive lifespan are associated with greater longevity. Shadyab, A. H., et al. (2017). Ages at menarche and menopause and reproductive lifespan as predictors of exceptional longevity in women: the Women's Health Initiative. Menopause. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5177476/

Accelerated ovarian aging is driven by oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and inflammation, and smoking is directly toxic to ovarian reserve.. Ovarian aging review: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11332606/

Welcome to Wellness Fixes the Pod, a

by Maven Media production, where we

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believe you deserve real education

from real experts, delivered

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in a way you can actually use.

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I'm Dr.

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Kelsey Vick, your board certified

orthopedic doctor of physical therapy, and

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this podcast was built for the girl who

is done feeling overwhelmed and frustrated

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by conflicting health noise and is ready

for something she can actually trust.

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Every week we have honest science-backed

conversations about your health,

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your hormones, your brain, your

body, and everything in between.

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No fluff, no fear-mongering,

just the truth.

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Because understanding your

body is the most powerful

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thing you can do for yourself.

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A table full of experts built for

the curious girl who wants the truth.

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So welcome.

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Your seat is waiting for you.

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So there is one organ in your body

that is aging almost twice as fast

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as every other organ in your body

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And it's not your skin, it's

not your gut, it's your ovaries

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And scientists now think that how

fast your ovaries age might predict

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how long you live

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If longevity is the group chat that

everyone is obsessed with right now, then

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the ovaries just got added to the thread.

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Welcome back to Wellness Fixes the Pod.

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I'm your host, Dr.

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Kelsey Vick, a board-certified

orthopedic doctor of physical therapy

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and a pelvic floor physical therapist

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And as soon as this newer research came

across my desk, my metaphorical desk, AKA

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my email, I knew we had to cover the topic

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The longevity space is having a

full-blown cultural moment and

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probably has been for the last five,

six years maybe since COVID and since

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the big sort of Huberman lab push.

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Longevity is this buzzword that seems to

be in the health and wellness space and In

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all the products that we see on our feeds

and all of the conversations that we have,

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it is such a trending topic right now And

when we hear of longevity, a lot of us

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probably think of some of the biohacking

things like the cold plunges, the saunas.

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We hear about our VO2 max, our

cardiovascular health, which

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all of that is super important.

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But what I haven't heard about when

it comes to longevity are the ovaries

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And today we are fixing that because

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researchers are now calling ovarian aging

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one of the most important longevity

markers that we have So let's get into

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why your ovaries are the main character

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Think of your body as the group

of girlfriends that you entered

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preschool with, and you're all

aging at the same exact time.

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You're going through kindergarten

together, first grade, second grade.

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You have all of the same

toys, all of the same trends.

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You're aging through the

decades at the same rate

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But then there's that one girl who

seems to hit certain milestones before

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everyone else, whether they are growth

spurts, whether they are menstrual cycle

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or reproductive related, whether it is

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getting some of the more female

characteristics, like maybe she's

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the first one to have to wear a

bra, Or maybe she was even the

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first one to get a cellphone

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That friend is similar to your

ovaries They run on their own timeline

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Ovarian function starts its measurable

decline in your mid thirties

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And it's not a reason to panic

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It's a reason to pay attention early

while you have the most leverage

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Researchers, including a

well-known group out of Columbia,

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have shown that the ovaries

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age more than twice as fast as other

tissues and organs within our bodies

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which makes them

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the fastest aging organ

we have, and ironically

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one of the least studied when it

comes to aging and longevity research.

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We hear so much about the heart, so

much about our cardiovascular health,

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but I don't know about you guys, I have

rarely if ever heard about the ovaries

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as they relate to my own longevity

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So why do our ovaries actually

matter for our full body longevity?

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Ovarian follicles are a

major source of estrogen

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And estrogen plays a lot of

different roles in a lot of

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different systems in our body

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It helps regulate bone density, heart

health blood sugar, and cognitive function

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So when ovarian aging speeds up, the

effects ripple far past just fertility

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You guys know I'm big into prevention.

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It's one of the reasons I started

this podcast, was trying to share the

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education and information that I have

through the years and years of both

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education on our physiology, our brain

health, and then also the clinical

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practice that tags along with it.

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There are so many things I wish I knew

earlier on, and a lot of the time for

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me, that has revolved around strength

training, bone mineral density, heart

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health, endurance, VO2 max, all of

these very typical things that we

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think of in the longevity realm.

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But now that I understand that ovarian

aging and my ovaries age almost twice

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as fast as any other organ in my body,

it makes me want to start to implement

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certain things that actually help

my ovaries while I still have the

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chance to positively impact them and

impact the speed in which they age

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So I'm adding it as another reason why

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to start treating your 20s and 30s

as the window where your daily habits

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strength training, blood sugar stability

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And sleep actually shape the

trajectory of our overall lifespan

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Awareness of all of these

things now is like the cheapest

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intervention we will ever get

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So ovarian aging is not just

a reproductive story It's a

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whole body endocrine story

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When your ovaries slow estrogen drops

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And a bunch of dominoes start to tip

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Earlier ovarian aging is linked

to heart disease, osteoporosis,

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and cognitive decline

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And this is exactly why the

longevity world is starting to treat

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reproductive timing as more of

a vital sign versus a footnote

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A key lab measure here when

talking about ovarian aging is

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AMH or anti-Müllerian hormone

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which is a value that

reflects your ovarian reserve

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Emerging clinical research has

linked declining AMH levels

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to increased cardiovascular

risk and insulin resistance

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Meaning that an ovarian marker

is quietly telling us something

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about our cardiovascular

health and our metabolic health

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Research has also found that women

who reach menopause later on in life

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tend to live longer.

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And studies suggest that lengthening

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a woman's reproductive window

may track with extended lifespan

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itself Some of the mechanisms being

studied behind all of this include

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Mitochondrial function and inflammation

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the same things that a lot of

longevity scientists look at already

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So some of the things you can do

to understand your own ovarian

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aging and the characteristics that

you might have limited control

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over, know your family timeline.

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Ask when the women in your lineage

started menopause so that you have this

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idea of the age of onset for them that

might also genetically predispose you

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to that timeline of menopause onset

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And if you want further data on

yourself, get your AMH levels checked

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It's a simple blood test that you can

ask about, and it's not something to

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act on dramatically, but it

can give you a good indication

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So I look at all of those things as the

part of ovarian aging that are more out

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of your control, more related to genetics

and just the stage of life that you're in.

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So what are the things that we

can all do to help our ovarian

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aging through behaviors and

actions that positively impact the

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speed at which those ovaries age?

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The good news here is that the levers that

you might pull to positively impact your

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own ovaries are probably the levers you

guys are already pulling every single day

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to positively impact your overall health

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The things that impact your ovaries

positively are the same powerful,

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unglamorous habits that impact the

entirety of your health and wellness

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The boring greatest hits of daily habits

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Some of the core drivers of accelerated

ovarian aging in the research are

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oxidative stress mitochondrial

dysfunction, and chronic inflammation

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So the goal of these

everyday habits are simple.

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Decrease the inflammatory load on your

body and support your mitochondria

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behaviors like strength training

and getting enough protein

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in your diet help to support

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metabolic health and insulin sensitivity

Which matters because insulin resistance

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is part of that link between AMH

and cardiovascular health Sleep

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and stress regulation help to lower

that chronic systemic inflammation

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And quitting smoking is one of the

most consistently documented ways

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to protect your ovarian reserve

since smoking is directly

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toxic to those follicles

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See, a lot of those things I'm

sure you guys are probably already

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incorporating into your routine.

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But if you're not, maybe pick one of

the levers this week to positively

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impact your own ovarian aging.

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If you have such a great strength

training routine, maybe try

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and reach those protein goals.

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If you get five hours of sleep, that's

the lever that I might try and adjust.

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Ovarian longevity is not

built on a biohacking weekend

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It is built in the habits that

your future self inherits.

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So as a little recap, one

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Your ovaries are the fastest aging

organ in your body And they start

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their decline in your mid-30s

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So this is a conversation for

right now you, not future you

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Two, ovarian aging is not just

a reproductive marker, but a

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whole body longevity marker

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connected to your heart health,

bone health, and brain health

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And AMH plus your family

menopause timeline

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are two ways to know your starting

line when it comes to ovarian aging

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But lastly, number three, there are

some things that you can actually

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have a little bit of control over that

positively impact your ovarian timeline

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Strength, protein, sleep, quitting smoking

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are some of the behaviors with the

highest amount of research behind them

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to impact your ovaries specifically

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So I hope you guys enjoyed this

unique, viewpoint when it comes to

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longevity, talking about a reproductive

organ or an organ that we think of

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primarily in regards to reproduction,

but how our ovaries are actually

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a measure of our full body health

and wellness and our longevity.

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So I hope you guys learned

something this week.

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I'll see you guys again on the next

episode of Wellness Big Sis the pod