Age, Attitude, Image, and Our Health with Louann Brizendine MD & Becca Levy Ph.D.
Original Air Date Wednesday, September 14, 2022
The over-publisized belief that we lose our value in society as we age can wildly diminish our quality of life. During a time of life that should be celebrated, women in their 50s are bombarded by the media with ideas of reconnecting to their youth. But, should they want to reconnect?
To discover tools to keep us hearty and healthful as we ripen, Positive Psychology Podcast Host Lisa Cypers Kamen speaks with two expert authors about how attitude can affect a healthy, happy, aging process. Dr. Louann Brizendine is a researcher, clinician, and professor who founded the Women’s Mood and Hormone Clinic at UCSF. She highlights the research at the core of her book, The Upgrade: How the Female Brain Gets Stronger and Better in Midlife and Beyond, and describes ways women can make the most of the second half of their lives. Dr. Becca Levy is a psychologist credited with creating a field of study that focuses on how positive and negative age stereotypes can have beneficial and adverse effects. She discusses the central theme of her book, Breaking the Age Code: How Your Beliefs About Aging Determine How Long and Well You Live, and shares her vision for The Age Liberation Movement.
Louann Brizendine — The Upgraders:
- During the Upgrade, women in their 50s are finally free from the ups and downs of hormones that soaked their brains every month. [1:56]
- Women who don’t understand their biology are at its mercy. [6:18]
- The difference in the sex drive between age-matched males and females. [9:07]
- Louann describes different options for women to increase libido. [14:55]
- In her book, The Upgrade, Louann includes an informative chapter on body hacks for the mind. [20:41]
- How the Women’s Health Initiative study set hormone therapy research for women back 20 years. [22:17]
Dr. Louann Brizendine MD completed her degree in Neurobiology at UC Berkeley, graduated from Yale School of Medicine, and did her internship and residency at Harvard Medical School. She has served on the faculties of both Harvard and UC San Francisco, where she founded the Women’s Mood and Hormone Clinic at UCSF. She is the New York Times bestselling author of The Female Brain, and its follow-up, The Male Brain.
Book: The Upgrade: How the Female Brain Gets Stronger and Better in Midlife and Beyond
Louann Brizendine
@drlouann on Twitter
Dr. Louann on Facebook
@louannbrizendine on Instagram
Becca Levy — Age, Attitude, Image, and Health:
- Becca’s book, Breaking the Age Code, addresses 14 negative assumptions and common myths often associated with aging. [31:30]
- While doing research for her book, Becca went to Japan to see if cultural beliefs affect longevity. [36:39]
- Becca describes how positive age beliefs directly correlate with preventative health behaviors. [40:15]
- The influence and impact of the media on age beliefs in the United States. [43:41]
- The Age Liberation Movement celebrates aging and reinforces the value of older members in society. [46:09]
Dr. Becca Levy received her Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard University and held a National Institute on Aging postdoctoral fellowship at the Division of Aging and Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Credited with creating a field of study that focuses on how positive and negative age stereotypes can have beneficial and adverse effects, respectively, on the health of older individuals. Dr. Levy has given invited testimony before the United States Senate on the effects of ageism and contributed to briefs submitted to the United States Supreme Court in age-discrimination cases.
Book: Breaking the Age Code: How Your Beliefs About Aging Determine How Long and Well You Live
Becca Levy
@BeccaLevyPhD on Twitter
Becca Levy PhD on Facebook
@BeccaLevyPhD on Instagram
This episode of Harvesting Happiness Talk Radio about age is sponsored by:
Are We Happy Yet? Eight Keys to Unlocking a Joyful Life — A boot camp manual for greater emotional fitness. Happiness waits for no one and sometimes we all need support. What is getting in the way of your happiness right now?
H–Factor: Where is Your Heart? — Lisa’s documentary film explores the journey of human happiness. Emotions are contagious and happiness is a universally desired state. We tend to forget we all have the freedom to be happy or the liberty to be miserable each day.
“One of the things I value about the aging process is I am less apt to get aggravated or aggressive.” @LisaKamen on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet “So, the people pleasing is not so much about the role of being the catering truck but about being the desired vixen?” @LisaKamen on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“If we change the way we view aging it impacts our health.” @LisaKamen on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“The words menopause and peri-menopause are kind of fossil words.” @drlouann on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet “Once you are finished with the procreation stage you have the whole second half of your life.” @drlouann on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“The highest sex drive for a woman in terms of her life span is age 19.” @drlouann on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet “For males, sperm is made all day, every day 24/7 until the end of life.” @drlouann on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet “Males, on average, how about three times the sex drive as an age-matched female.” @drlouann on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet “Testosterone can make women’s orgasms come really fast.” @drlouann on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“Thin, white women are the ones who tend to have osteoporosis starting in their 40s.” @drlouann on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet “Keeping your muscles strong will keep your mind strong.” @drlouann on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“The WHI study set hormone replacement therapy research for women back 20 years.” @drlouann on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet “Some women have hot flashes for up to 15-20 years.” @drlouann on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet “Research suggests a quality that can improve in later life is the ability to think about meaningful events in one's history and putting them together in a way that brings growth in one's current life.” @BeccaLevyPhD on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet “People who have more positive age beliefs are more likely to engage in preventive health behaviors.” @BeccaLevyPhD on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“Of the Facebook groups with a focus on older individuals, 37% of them advocate banning older people from participating in different types of public activities.” @BeccaLevyPhD on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet “A goal of The Age Liberation Movement is that individuals of different ages would work together to strengthen and promote human rights of people of all ages.” @BeccaLevyPhD on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“25% of longevity and healthy aging is determined by genes.” @BeccaLevyPhD on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet
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