368. Brains and Hormones

You Are Not Broken

Kelly Casperson, MD

Medicine, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 26 April 2026

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Unlocking Brain Health: Insights with Dr. Louisa Nicola. Explore the fascinating world of neuroscience and preventative health with Dr. Louisa Nicola, a neurophysiologist dedicated to understanding and combating neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. This episode dives deep into brain biology, the impact of hormones, lifestyle factors, and cutting-edge research on neuroprotection. Top takeaways: How neural networks and algorithms sparked her love for the human brain The critical distinction between dementia and Alzheimer’s disease Recent advancements in understanding amyloid beta and tau proteins The role of lifestyle, hormones, and genetic factors in preventing dementia The influence of sex differences and hormone levels on neurodegenerative risk The impact of sleep, inflammation, and infections like shingles on brain aging Emerging research on preventative strategies, including vaccines and supplements like creatine https://www.instagram.com/louisanicola_/ Listen to my Tedx Talk: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Why we need adult sex ed⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Take my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Adult Sex Ed Master Class:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠My Website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Interested in my sexual health and hormone clinic? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Waitlist is open⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To learn more about Via vaginal moisturizer from Solv Wellness, visit ⁠⁠via4her.com⁠⁠ and get 20% off your first order. For an additional $5 off, use coupon code DRKELLY5. Clinicians can request patient materials or samples at ⁠⁠hcp.solvwellness.com⁠⁠. Thanks to our sponsor ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Midi Women's Health⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Designed by midlife experts, delivered by experienced clinicians, covered by insurance. Midi is the first virtual care clinic made exclusively for women 40+. Evidence-based treatments. Personalized midlife care.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.joinmidi.com⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to You Are Not Broken, the podcast that challenges everything we've been taught about midlife, hormones, and sexuality.
0:09.8	I'm Dr. Kelly Casperson, board-certified gerologist, author, and a leading voice in women's sexual and hormone health.
0:15.9	Enjoy the show.
0:17.4	Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the You're Not Broken podcast. Super excited to have my friend, Dr. Louisa Nicola. I feel like we met on stage. I don't know. We don't even know where we met. And thank you for coming on the podcast. Oh, no. Thank you so much. I always admired you and loved you. And I think that the day that we met, I was really nervous. And now I can call you my friend, which is so cool. See how quickly that
0:38.3	happens? When you're a good, smart person, you're like, sweet. You're one of the more well-connected
0:44.6	people in the universe, Dr. Nicola. Why do you say that? You know everybody. I mean, I try to.
0:53.0	You generally love humans. You love science. You love
0:56.5	conversation. It just makes you very easy to want to be friends with. I know. I have a mission.
1:02.1	And you're part of that mission too. And I love that. And I love the human brain. And you have one
1:08.4	of those, a really beautiful one. Yeah, I want to keep it good.
1:12.2	So that's what we're going to talk about today of like,
1:14.5	how do we keep the brains braining in a good brain fashion?
1:19.4	So tell me about, like, tell me about your schooling and your, catch us up to like,
1:23.7	why brains?
1:25.3	So I first started off with exercise physiology and then moved into a master's of mathematics,
1:33.0	believe it or not.
1:33.9	I was quite the mathematician.
1:35.5	And that's actually where I got my first real look at algorithms and neural networks.
1:41.9	And so my thesis really looked at like neural networks and algorithms.
1:45.7	I then fell in love with the human brain.
1:48.5	I saw my first cadaver at the age of, I think I was around 20,
1:53.3	and I got to actually see a human brain in flesh and obviously look at the coronal sections,
	...

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