They Lied About Women’s Brains: The Truth Every Woman Needs to Know | Dr. Lisa Mosconi (Fan Fav)

Women of Impact

Impact Theory

Education, Society & Culture, Mental Health, Relationships, Health & Fitness

4.7 • 657 Ratings

🗓️ 8 June 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This is a Fan Fav episode. Dr. Lisa Mosconi joins me on Women of Impact to completely reframe how we think about the female brain—and debunk the damaging myth that “bikini medicine” (the idea that women are just men with breasts and ovaries) should guide our health and treatment. We dig into why women are almost twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s, the striking gaps in research and medical care, and the massive ways that hormones, lifestyle, and stress impact women’s cognitive health, starting from puberty through menopause and beyond. Dr. Mosconi unpacks the science behind everything from sleep and exercise to diet, stress, and pregnancy’s overlooked impact on brain plasticity. With practical advice, radical truths, and real hope, this episode is the playbook for every woman who wants to understand—and fiercely protect—her own mind. SHOWNOTES Why women are nearly twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s—and why no one’s talking about it 00:01:04 – The myth of “bikini medicine” and the failure to study women’s brains How Ambien became a dangerous example of ignoring female biology in medical research 00:07:11 – XX brain basics: Why women’s brains don’t age—or respond—like men’s The unique risks women face: anxiety, depression, migraines, stroke, and autoimmune disorders Puberty, pregnancy, perimenopause: How women’s brains transform across a lifetime The impact of diet, exercise, caffeine, and hormones on the female brain (and what to do) Why exercise lowers dementia risk by 30% for active women after 35 How stress sabotages women’s brains more than men’s—and real strategies to fight back CHECK OUT OUR SPONSORS Vital Proteins: Get 20% off by going to https://www.vitalproteins.com and entering promo code WOI at check out. BIOptimizers: Head to https://bioptimizers.com/impact and use code IMPACT for 10% off. OneSkin: Get 15% off with code LISA at https://oneskin.co Shopify: Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at https://shopify.com/lisa FOLLOW DR. LISA MOSCONI:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr_mosconi/Website: https://www.lisamosconi.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:51.3	And on top of all these, women are twice as likely as men or almost twice
0:56.0	as likely as men to develop Alzheimer's disease, which is the most common form of dementia on
1:01.8	the planet, which means that for every man with Alzheimer's disease, there are two women. And no one
1:10.5	talks about it.
1:11.6	But the bottom line is that a woman in her 60s
1:14.6	is almost twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease in her life
1:18.6	than she is to develop breast cancer.
1:21.6	Women who are physically active
1:24.6	after the age of 35 have a 30% lower risk of dementia in old age the women who are
1:35.5	sedentire.
1:40.3	Welcome to the show Lisa Mascone, neuroscientist and author of the XX Brain.
	...

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