Understanding Your Brain Through Perimenopause and Menopause with Dr. Louisa Nicola
2/3/20261 hr 21 min
An estimated 7.2 million Americans age 65 and older are currently living with Alzheimer's dementia. The part that should alarm every woman listening is this: almost two thirds of them are women.
In this episode, Dr. Mary Claire Haver sits down with neurophysiologist and Alzheimer's researcher Dr. Louisa Nicola to unpack what's really happening to women's brains during perimenopause and menopause and what we can do about it. Louisa Nicola is a neurophysiologist, human performance coach, and founder of Neuro Athletics, a consulting firm that works with elite athletes and high-level professionals to optimize brain health and performance. A...
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First 90 secondsLouisa Nicola· Guest0:00
Let me tell you, for every woman listening, and by the way, women represent 70% of all Alzheimer's disease cases, cases. So two out of three cases are female of Alzheimer's disease. The small percentage that isn't is like Betty. If you have been given a, you've got a genetic mutation in three genes, the pr- presenilin 1, presenilin 2, and the amyloid precursor protein. That's only, like, 2 to 3% of the population.
Mary Claire Haver· Host0:23
Tiny percent.
Louisa Nicola· Guest0:23
Very percent.
Mary Claire Haver· Host0:24
Yeah.
Louisa Nicola· Guest0:24
Okay? Small percent. So the other 95%, why are they getting it? It's, it's through lifestyle interventions, life's, the way that you live your life. So we know that we have agency over it. So the 70% and then the, the rest of, you know, there's another very small portion that then has to care for... They're becoming caretakers. So re- really women are at the mercy of this disease.
Mary Claire Haver· Host0:47
[upbeat music] The views and opinions expressed on Unpaused are those of the talent and guests alone, and are provided for informational and entertainment purposes only. No part of this podcast or any related materials are intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. As many of you know, I am obsessed with the science of women's midlife health, but there's one piece that keeps women up at night more than anything else: the fear of losing themselves, the fear of cognitive decline, and the fear of dementia. The facts