WHEN IT COMES TO LONGEVITY, WOMEN ARE NOT JUST LITTLE MEN: 3 PILLARS FOR OPTIMIZING FEMALE LONGEVITY
DR. VONDA WRIGHT
APRIL 2025
Microplastics in Human Brain
The average human brain contains 7mg!
CODE Health
Innovative Formulas
Wellness Pioneers
Join the cast of sHEALed
Daryl Gioffre
Your gut is under attack
Peer Review Revolution
From misinformation to integrity
LATEST STORIES
Living an average of 5-7 years longer than their male counterparts, it may seem that women already enjoy a longevity advantage. The reality is, living longer does not necessarily mean living well. The last decade of a woman’s life is often fraught with the ravages of chronic illnesses that account for 36% of deaths from cardiovascular disease, 70% of Alzheimer's dementia, and 80% of osteoporosis and fractures.
While the allure of cutting-edge biohacking and evidence-influenced longevity innovations is understandable, the foundational pillars of optimizing female longevity are hormonal health, equalizing the gender health gap, and funding the gender research gap.
ADVERTISEMENT
.jpg)
Women do not age in a linear manner. Unlike men, whose hormones plateau after puberty and decline at a slow, steady rate, women experience a chaotic and rapid nadir of estrogen in perimenopause and menopause. This contributes to multiple and significant increases in disease risk if left unaddressed. Every organ system is affected by the loss of estrogen, leading to metabolic changes which mimic pre-diabetes, adipose redistribution, changes in lipid profile, loss of lean muscle and bone mass, and a decline in cognitive acuity, to name a few. All these lead to rapid aging in midlife and a decade of suffering in the last years.
Fortunately, there is a solution. Estrogen is the elixir of longevity for women, and hormones must be the first focus of addressing disease prevention and longevity for them. This is not to say that the pillars of a healthy lifestyle and the biohacking innovations in this realm are not important; however, if we are taking a root cause approach to aging and longevity, we must start with the fundamental accelerant in the rapid aging of midlife women, her hormones. The estimated preventive impact of hormone therapy on all-cause mortality in women is 30-40%. These data alone should focus our attention on providing each woman an individual hormone replacement risk assessment, based on science, to allow her to exercise agency in deciding her future instead of being a victim of the passage of time and decline in estrogen.
Women do not age in a linear manner
Estrogen is the elixir of longevity for women.
Women are not little men. They face unique health concerns that require gender-specific approaches from the whole-person level to tissue and cellular levels. The fact of the matter is, however, that male bodies have always been the default in product development to medical care and research. Nothing highlights this more than the fact that until 1993, clinical research studies were not required to include females, and it took until 2016 for the NIH to require researchers to account for the role of sex as a biological influence in studies. Only 1% of global health care research and innovation is spent on conditions specifically affecting women, and only 50% as much funding is given to research for diseases that primarily affect women. All in spite of the fact that women are the majority of people. Accounting for 51% of the population.
.jpg)
ADVERTISEMENT
Our top picks
Dr. Steve Gundry
Health through gut wellness
MHI
The myths around testosterone
Weber Medical
Multi-wavelength light therapy
Dr. Todd Ovakaitys
Why you should save the umbilical cord
ADVERTISEMENT
The gender health gap leads to delayed diagnosis as women often present with illness differently than men. Increased adverse events from traditional pharma treatments and poorer outcomes of care lead to an estimated loss of 75 million years of life due to unhealth or early death per year in women. In addition, fewer than 50% of medical schools have a curriculum that includes the whole lifespan health of women beyond fertility. This education gap leads to women encountering implicit biases in healthcare settings, affecting diagnosis accuracy and treatment timeliness. As innovators, educators, and investors, this leads to an estimated 1 trillion-dollar opportunity to improve the lives of women via foundational interventions and education.
Dr. Vonda Wright
Dr. Vonda Wright is an orthopedic surgeon and expert in active aging, specializing in mobility, sports medicine, and longevity science.
There is a need to focus on fundamental health strategies, such as hormonal health optimization, before exploring advanced wellness interventions like biohacking or alternative therapies. Medical evidence must not only include females in population-based studies but also specifically address the contribution of two X chromosomes to the female genotype, phenotype, and downstream biology.
Finally, course corrections for providing women equal access to competent, specific, and timely care require recognition of implicit bias in attitudes of and access to all aspects of health care, biohacking, and longevity. This approach ensures that foundational health needs are addressed, thereby offering a more robust 3 pillar framework for enhancing women’s longevity and quality of life.
Dr. Vonda Wright, MD is an Orthopaedic Sports surgeon, longevity doctor, CEO of Precision Longevity, and the author of "UNBREAKABLE."
