Atria Health and Research Institute

The cardio debate continues: HIIT or zone 2? The answer is both. In this week's Future of Health, we break down how to balance high-intensity interval training with zone 2 cardio, based on guidance from Atria's own physicians and movement experts. Cardiorespiratory fitness is one of the best-validated predictors of a long, healthy life, and HIIT and zone 2 get you there via different paths. Zone 2 builds the aerobic base that lets you recover faster between HIIT intervals, while HIIT delivers gains zone 2 alone can't match. A good starting prescription for most people: 3 hours of zone 2 per week, plus 2 shorter high-intensity sessions. Jump into the newsletter for more of the details. Also in this issue: ➔ Encouraging new data on teen mental health ➔ A win in the fight to limit environmental toxicants ➔ What new research on biological aging actually means for you (and why some popular tests aren't worth buying yet) Read the full issue at the link in the comments. #PreventiveHealth #Longevity #HIIT #Zone2Cardio #HealthyAging #PublicHealth #WellBeing #FutureOfHealth #Fitness #HealthTech

Most of what we know about cannabis and the brain comes from studies of young, recreational users. But this group’s motivations, doses, and neurodevelopmental stage is very different from people starting medical cannabis use in midlife. We’re re-sharing a listener favorite episode of Decoding Women’s Health (lnk.to/AtriaDWH-cannabis), in which Dr. Elizabeth Poynor talks with Dr. Staci Gruber, a neuroscientist, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and creator and director of the Marijuana Investigations for Neuroscientific Discovery (MIND) Program at McLean Hospital, about what the research actually shows for women navigating perimenopause and menopause. In this conversation, they cover: → Cognitive declines linked to cannabis use are concentrated in people who start young, while Dr. Gruber’s longitudinal data on adults beginning medical cannabis in midlife shows stable or improved performance over time, including increased white matter coherence →  The top three reasons midlife women use medical cannabis are chronic pain, mood or anxiety, and sleep disruption, and what that means → Product type, dose, and route of administration meaningfully change the effect, which is why Dr. Gruber recommends starting with a small amount and increasing gradually → Cannabis can interact with common midlife medications, including SSRIs, benzodiazepines, and anticoagulants, so it’s important to speak with a clinician before starting → What to do about inaccurate labels and how a certificate of analysis can help confirm what is actually in a product before you try it #WomensHealth #MedicalCannabis #BrainHealth #Perimenopause #PreventiveMedicine

Magnesium is involved in more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body, and estimates show nearly half of Americans fall short of the recommended intake. But closing that gap isn’t as simple as picking up any supplement. The mineral comes packaged in a dozen different compounds, and each one behaves differently once it enters the body. This week's Future of Health (sign up here https://bit.ly/44Egxk3!) breaks down what the research actually shows, with guidance from Dr. Robert Kachko, ND, LAc, Director of Integrative Medicine at Atria Health Institute, and Dr. Marc Benton, MD, Director of Sleep Medicine at Atria Health Institute. What to know before you buy: ▪️ Ignore the front label. Check the “Supplement Facts” panel for the line that says "Magnesium (as magnesium ______)” — that number of “elemental magnesium,” not the total compound, is what counts toward your daily goal ▪️ Form matters most. Magnesium glycinate is a top option for sleep and anxiety, oxide and citrate are commonly used for constipation, taurate for cardiovascular support, and L-threonate for potential brain benefits. But evidence varies for each type, and it’s important to talk with your care team about what makes sense for your circumstances ▪️ The evidence is strongest for migraine prevention, where the Canadian Headache Society endorses magnesium supplementation for both standalone and combination use ▪️ A standard blood test won’t tell the whole story. Less than 1% of the body’s magnesium circulates in the bloodstream, meaning blood serum tests only capture a tiny fraction of total magnesium that fluctuates day to day. If you have signs of deficiency, your clinician should order a red blood cell (RBC) magnesium test, which measures the average of your body’s actual stores over about 120 days, much like an A1C test tracks blood sugar Bottom line: While magnesium is a low-risk supplement with targeted benefits, it works best as part of a broader health strategy rather than a standalone cure. It's best to start with fundamentals like magnesium-rich food and lifestyle changes, and then consult your care team before finding a supplement that aligns with your goals. Also in this issue: Dr. Elizabeth Poynor sits down with Dr. Eric Verdin, President and CEO of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, to talk through which longevity practices hold up to scrutiny — and which ones he skips. Read the full newsletter at the link in the comments. #FutureOfHealth #PreventiveMedicine #Magnesium #Longevity #Supplements

One of the world’s leading NAD researchers doesn’t take NAD supplements. Neither does he take rapamycin anymore, despite studying it for years. On the latest episode of Decoding Women's Health (https://lnk.to/AtriaDWH-22), Dr. Elizabeth Poynor MD PhD sits down with Dr. Eric Verdin , President and CEO of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging — the world's first research institute dedicated solely to understanding and extending human lifespan. Dr. Verdin has published more than 250 papers on the immune system, the molecular mechanisms of aging, and epigenetics, and he's remarkably candid about what he has and hasn't found convincing in his own self-experimentation. Some of what they cover: ➔ NAD precursor supplements (NR, NMN) have shown mostly disappointing results in clinical trials. Dr. Verdin himself stopped taking NMN after watching a cardiovascular risk marker rise and then normalize once he quit ➔ Rapamycin increases lifespan by 20–30% across multiple animal species, but Dr. Verdin stopped taking it during the pandemic over immunosuppression concerns. Now new trials are exploring its potential effect on ovarian function in women ➔ The potential benefits of GLP-1 medications beyond weight loss, including possible protection against heart disease and cancer ➔ Why estrogen may help premenopausal women age more slowly than men, raising questions about earlier use of hormone therapy for longevity, not just symptom relief ➔ The most reliably evidence-backed longevity strategy is still lifestyle habits such as resistance training, consistent sleep, reduced ultra-processed food intake, and stress management The conversation is a useful resource for anyone navigating the Wild West of social media wellness content and looking for what the evidence actually supports. #WomensHealth #Longevity #PreventiveHealth #FutureOfHealth #HealthyAging #EvidenceBasedHealth

You don’t always need a gym session to protect your heart. Sign up for our newsletter (https://bit.ly/44Egxk3) to learn how four minutes of hard effort spread across your day (microdosing movement, if you will) can make a meaningful difference in your health. That's the idea behind what researchers call vigorous-intensity lifestyle physical activity (VILPA), and it's the focus of this week’s Future of Health newsletter. We all know that sitting for prolonged periods of time is profoundly bad for us. But movement doesn’t have to be a scheduled, hour-long commitment to count. A few minutes here and there, woven into an ordinary day, can significantly lower long-term health risks. Here are some key takeaways from this week’s newsletter: ➔ People with no regular exercise routine who got just 4.4 minutes of daily VILPA (think: sprinting up the stairs, carrying groceries at a brisk pace) had a 27% lower risk of all-cause mortality ➔ “Exercise snacks” (less than a minute bursts like 10 air squats or a 30-second plank) can improve metabolic health when done throughout the day, according to a meta-analysis of 17 trials ➔ Interval walking (alternating fast and comfortable paces) is linked to improved VO2 max and better-regulated blood pressure and blood glucose ➔ Regular exercisers benefit too: adding movement throughout the day builds on, rather than replaces, a structured workout routine Traditional aerobic exercise remains the foundation, and none of this replaces national activity guidelines. But if a full workout isn’t happening today, a few minutes can still move the needle. The newsletter also includes a tool for choosing the right air purifier for their space, useful as wildfire smoke continues to affect air quality across parts of the country. Full newsletter link in the first comment. 👇

PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder), postpartum depression, and perimenopausal depression are often treated as three separate problems. For many women, they’re the same underlying sensitivity to hormonal change, showing up at different points in life. On the newest episode of Decoding Women's Health, Dr. Elizabeth Poynor MD PhD, Chair of Women's Health and Gynecology at Atria Health and Research Institute, talks with Dr. Ruta Nonacs, MD PhD, a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital and faculty member at Harvard Medical School, about reproductive psychiatry: the specialty focused on how hormonal shifts across a woman’s life affect her mental health. This episode unpacks: ➔ How to tell PMS from PMDD: about 80% of women have some premenstrual symptoms, and while 3 to 5% meet the criteria for PMDD, roughly 20% have symptoms serious enough to warrant treatment ➔ Why women who are sensitive to hormonal change at one life stage often are at other stages, too, and what that suggests about a shared underlying vulnerability ➔ Why hormone support is often the strongest first option at perimenopause, since it can address physical and mood symptoms together ➔ The treatment options that exist beyond hormone therapy, including SSRIs, oral contraceptives, and lifestyle changes that have robust evidence behind them ➔ The case for daily symptom tracking as a tool women can bring to their doctor to make an often-dismissed problem visible Dr. Nonacs's larger point: women are frequently left to self-advocate through hormonal transitions that medicine has historically underresearched. Tracking symptoms and asking direct questions can change that conversation. Listen to the full episode of Decoding Women's Health. Link in the comments. #WomensHealth #PMDD #PMS #ReproductiveHealth #MentalHealth #Perimenopause

Roughly 1 in 7 GLP-1 users say they’ve tried microdosing — well ahead of any clinical trial data on whether it works. (Sign up for the newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/ge2BVzPk) Full-dose GLP-1s have strong evidence behind them. Microdosing, or using doses below those approved for diabetes or obesity, is still catching up. This week’s Future of Health newsletter looks at what the science actually shows and safety considerations around going off-label. What we know so far: ➔ Full-dose trials are well-documented: in the STEP 1 trial, semaglutide produced nearly 15% average weight loss over 68 weeks; in SURMOUNT-1, tirzepatide produced 16% to 21% ➔ Microdose protocols circulating online have not been studied in randomized trials, so claims about longevity, cognition, or inflammation are largely extrapolated from full-dose research in adults with obesity or type 2 diabetes ➔ Response to lower doses varies: in the SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN trial, patients reduced to 5 mg (an FDA-approved maintenance dose, not a microdose) preserved 67.9% of their weight loss, compared with 96.5% on the full dose ➔ For Dr. Daniel Angerbauer, a preventive medicine physician at Atria Health Institute, a small weight loss goal alone is rarely reason enough to prescribe a GLP-1. Instead, he recommends establishing lifestyle strategies (resistance training, adequate protein, and quality sleep) before starting a GLP-1 and tracking a variety of metabolic health metrics in addition to weight ➔ Dr. David Dodick, Atria's Chief Science & Medical Officer, cautions that a dose strong enough to change appetite is strong enough to change biology, and that a lack of data does not mean a lack of risk Also in this issue: a look at the science of chronic pain, from a recent Atria lecture challenging the idea that pain is simply a signal of physical damage. Read the full newsletter. Link in the comments. #FutureOfHealth #PreventiveHealth #GLP1 #WeightLossScience #MetabolicHealth #EvidenceBasedMedicine

I spend most of my time helping to build this show rather than talking on it, but not this week! For our second AMA on Decoding Women's Health, I sat down with my friend Elizabeth Poynor MD PhD, the woman we all wish was our doctor. We went through the mailbag and answered the questions we keep getting from our listeners. (I also reveal what I had for breakfast that day.) Atria Health and Research Institute We got into whether perimenopause can really begin in your mid-30s, why PCOS was just renamed PMOS and what that changes about how it's treated, what actually prevents recurrent UTIs, where GLP-1s might help and might not, and whether hormone support can help you feel more like yourself again. We also talked through what to make of breast self-exams and what a Tyrer-Cuzick score can tell you about your cancer risk. You don't need me to tell you how much conflicting (and bad) information is out there for women! Here's the good stuff. https://lnk.to/AtriaDWH-20

Women weren’t required to be included in U.S. medical research until 1993. Female animals weren’t required in federally funded studies until 2016. That history has left women with a lot of outstanding questions about their health—which is exactly why the latest episode of Decoding Women’s Health is dedicated entirely to listener questions. In this Ask Me Anything (AMA) episode, Dr. Elizabeth Poynor, Chair of Women’s Health and Gynecology at the Atria Health Institute, answers the gynecologic health questions listeners are navigating in real life, grounded in current evidence and her clinical experience: ➔ Why PCOS was recently renamed PMOS (polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome)—and how the new name reflects that it’s so much more than a reproductive condition ➔ How perimenopause can affect anxiety, sleep, digestion, and brain health, and why it can begin as early as 35 ➔ What "breast awareness" means now that monthly self-exams are no longer the standard recommendation, plus why you should know about something called a Tyrer-Cuzick score ➔ Why hormone support is more nuanced than "everyone" or "no one"—and which methods are right for different people ➔ Where GLP-1s, pelvic floor therapy, and everyday supplements fit in to your health The thread running through all of it: women’s health questions deserve current evidence and individualized answers, not assumptions. New episode out now. Link in the comments. #WomensHealth #Menopause #Perimenopause #HormoneHealth #PCOS

Your cholesterol panel can look perfectly normal while plaque is quietly building in your arteries. For decades, heart health has largely come down to one number: LDL, the so-called “bad” cholesterol. But preventive cardiology has moved on—and the 2026 dyslipidemia guidelines, while an improvement, still trail the science. This week's Future of Health newsletter lays out a more sophisticated way to think about your risk, with guidance from Dr. Jaime Burkle, a preventive cardiologist and Chair of Cardiology at Atria Health and Research Institute. What the newest science shows: ➔ LDL alone misses risk. Apo-B counts every harmful particle in your blood and predicts cardiovascular risk more accurately—and it can be elevated even when your LDL looks healthy. ➔ A genetic risk factor most people never get tested for. Up to 20% of people have elevated Lp(a), which Dr. Burkle treats as roughly a 1.5 times risk factor for heart disease (on par with smoking or diabetes) yet it isn’t on a standard lipid panel. ➔ Don’t wait for a calcium score to act. By the time calcified plaque shows up, soft plaque has been accumulating for years. Imaging can spot subclinical atherosclerosis far earlier, when intervention matters most. ➔ Women need a different lens. Plaque tends to calcify later in women, so a calcium score can read zero even when soft, unstable plaque is present. ➔ The right target is personal. For someone with established plaque, Atria often aims for an LDL below 55 rather than below 70, because below 55, some existing soft plaque can actually dissolve and go away. The bottom line: the future of heart health isn’t a single number on a lab report. It’s a clear, personalized picture of your arteries, captured early enough to change the story. Also in this issue: Dr. Elizabeth Poynor answers the women’s health questions our audience actually wanted answered—from perimenopause and menopause to hormones, breast imaging, and finding a provider who listens. Read the full newsletter. Link in comments. #HeartHealth #Cardiology #Cholesterol #WomensHealth #PreventiveMedicine #FutureOfHealth