I’m spending $2.6 million on female health… Here are 5 facts most women don’t know #1 Your labia minora folds can fuse together after menopause. When estrogen declines, vaginal tissue tends to thin and dry out… it’s rare, but this can lead to fusing. More commonly, this hormonal decline can affect lubrication, urinary function, and/or sex. Many women don’t realize these conditions are treatable. #2 Your voice may change every month… The vocal folds have receptors for sex hormones, and estrogen and progesterone levels are constantly rising or falling Researchers have measured differences in pitch, voice quality, vocal cord movement, etc. across the menstrual cycle It’s debated because not all studies agree on the size or direction of these changes #3 Women metabolize some drugs differently… For example, Ambien. Studies found that women had around 45% higher blood concentrations of ambien (zolpidem) than men after the same dose. Women also cleared the drug from the bloodstream more slowly. In 2013, the FDA cut the recommended starting dose for women in half. #4 Your brain changes during pregnancy… And some parts shrink The extreme hormonal changes are linked to the brain remodeling itself. Gray matter volume and cortical thickness both decrease In a 2016 human study, changes occurred in regions involved in social cognition. #5 A lot of female anatomy is named after men. It was common to name body parts after a person associated with describing or studying it. So we ended up with… Fallopian tubes --> Gabriele Falloppio Bartholin’s glands --> Caspar Bartholin the Younger Skene’s glands --> Alexander Johnston Chalmers Skene Gartner’s ducts --> Hermann Treschow Gartner Müllerian ducts --> Johannes Peter Müller -- Female health is severely understudied… this is why I am becoming the world’s most measured woman. I’m gathering 14 million data points on my menstrual cycle and collecting 1,900 biomarkers across skin, brain, microbiome, smell, taste, etc. I’ll be sharing all the results here