Longevity Optimization with Kayla Barnes-Lentz

Dr. Elizabeth Yurth, co-founder of Boulder Longevity Institute, is one of the rare physicians who spent 30 years in orthopedic and sports medicine before pivoting to longevity and regenerative medicine. This episode covers joint health in women, osteoarthritis, bone density, peptides, perimenopause, hormones, mitochondrial health, and the regenerative protocols most women have never been offered....

Sleep is not just something women need more of. It is something women struggle with in ways that are fundamentally different from men and almost nobody explains why. Dr. Wendy Troxel, PhD is one of the most respected sleep scientists in the world. Her research has shaped sleep policy in the US military. Her book, Sharing the Covers, is one of the most practical and science-backed guides to partner...

Avoiding stress at all costs may actually be making you less resilient. In this episode, Dr. Sharon Horesh Bergquist reframes stress as one of the body’s most overlooked tools for longevity. The right kind of challenge can activate repair, strengthen resilience, improve metabolic health, and help the body adapt in ways that support healthier aging over time. Rather than trying to eliminate stress...

Heart disease is not only a man's disease. It is the number one killer of women, responsible for ten times more deaths than breast cancer. And yet most women have never had a real conversation about their cardiovascular risk, because the medical system was not built to catch it in them. Dr. Martha Gulati is the Director of Preventive Cardiology and Associate Director of the Barbra Streisand Wo...

Women are often told that painful periods, irregular cycles, bloating, mood changes, fatigue, brain fog, postpartum symptoms, and hormonal shifts are “normal.” But common does not mean something should be ignored. In this episode, Dr. Jolene Brighten, ND joins me for a practical deep dive into female-specific conditions that are too often missed, minimized, or treated in isolation, including endom...

Less than 25% of people with IBS get real relief from conventional medicine. That number tells you everything about how the current approach is failing. Most people with IBS have been told it is stress, told to take medication, and sent home. But irritable bowel syndrome is not one condition, it is a label applied to a cluster of symptoms that can have 20 to 40 completely different root causes. An...

There is a state where the body gets locked in sympathetic activation and mitochondrial dysfunction at the same time and no matter what supplements you take, no matter what protocols you run, nothing actually works. Dr. Scott Sherr calls it the sympathetic spiral of doom, and in this episode we break down exactly what it is, why so many people are stuck in it without knowing it, and the right sequ...

Most women have had bloodwork done. What most women haven't had is the right bloodwork.  In this episode, Dr. Poonam Desai, double board certified in lifestyle and emergency medicine, NAM certified in menopause care, and founder of Longevity Place and Her Longevity, breaks down the five labs she runs on every female patient, the optimal values most physicians aren't targeting, and why the...

Most women are not thinking about their bones until a fracture happens or a scan comes back alarmingly. By then, the window for the most impactful intervention has often been narrowing for decades. Bone density peaks around age 18, not 30 as widely believed and the slow decline that follows is largely silent until it isn't. Professor Belinda Beck, PhD has spent more than two decades studying e...

In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. Dawn Mussallem, DO, an integrative oncologist, lifestyle medicine specialist, cancer survivor, heart transplant recipient, and the newly appointed Chief Medical Officer of Fountain Life. We talk about why cancer rates are rising, what we actually know about prevention, and why early detection matters so much when it comes to long-term outcomes. We also discuss th...

Brian Kennedy is one of the world’s leading researchers studying the biology of aging. In this conversation, we break down what longevity science actually shows about extending healthy lifespan and the everyday habits that appear to influence how we age. Dr. Brian shares insights from decades of aging research, explaining how scientists study longevity, how interventions like rapamycin and biologi...

We're back with Dr. Szal! Today we are discussing a variety of topics: Gut health, peptides, hormone health , GLP-1's, bone health and so much more! In this conversation, Dr. Sara G dives into the gut-brain connection and explains how disrupting the microbiome can directly affect mood, anxiety, and overall mental resilience. She breaks down why even a single course of antibiotics can shift...

Bérénice Benayoun, PhD, explains why ovarian aging may be one of the earliest and most important drivers of female aging, influencing the brain, immune system, metabolism, and long-term disease risk far beyond reproduction. She breaks down what we actually know so far, including DNA damage, mitochondrial dysfunction, fibrosis, hormonal signaling, and why the ovary appears to age faster than other...

Most people can feel when stress is affecting them. Far fewer know whether their body is adapting well or quietly being pushed toward dysfunction. In this episode, Dr. Deb Rivera, PhD in neuroengineering, explains the hidden biological system that helps determine how well your body handles stress. Her research focuses on redox balance and the glutathione ratio, a biomarker that may reveal whether...

Brain health problems rarely begin where most people look. Memory issues, low mood, poor focus, anxiety, and even early cognitive decline can be driven by hidden inflammation and root-cause imbalances long before they show up the way most people expect. In this episode, Dr. Eboni Cornish explains how chronic infections, mold, toxins, hormones, gut dysfunction, and oral or nasal microbial imbalance...

Blood sugar stability may be one of the most important levers for long term health, yet most people never look at it. In this episode, I am joined by Jessie Inchauspé, widely known as the Glucose Goddess, to examine what glucose spikes are actually doing inside the body and why they matter even if you are not diabetic. We unpack how glucose spikes can influence your mood, focus, cravings, and ener...

Women are told to fast, cut carbs, eat high protein, avoid seed oils, and track macros, but most of that advice ignores female physiology. In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. Deanna Minich, PhD, certified functional medicine practitioner and nutrition scientist. We walk through the Female Longevity Nutrition Protocol she created, including circadian timing, macro ranges by life stage, and how to st...

Cold exposure is not a badge of toughness. It’s a stressor. And if you do it wrong, you can absolutely overdo it. In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. Susanna Søberg, PhD, scientist and educator specializing in metabolism, cold and heat exposure, and longevity. We break down what cold exposure is actually doing in the body, why brown fat matters for metabolic health, and how women should think about...

Pelvic floor problems are not a “just do more kegels” issue. For a lot of women, kegels are either not specific enough, or they make symptoms worse. In this episode, Dr. Stephanie Riley Hahn, pelvic floor physical therapist and founder of Longevity and Pilates, breaks down what pelvic floor dysfunction actually is, how to tell weakness from tightness, and why pressure management and breathing mech...

Longevity isn’t just workouts, supplements, and recovery tools, it starts with nervous system health.  In this episode, Dr. Aimie Apigian explains what trauma actually is (not a label, but a measurable physiological response), how the body shifts from stress into overwhelm, and why “pushing through” often turns into years of avoidance, numbing, and hidden internal strain. She breaks down the biolo...

For the first time in history, ovarian biological age can be measured, and I became the first woman in the world to take the test. Until now, women have had no real way to understand how their ovaries are aging beyond rough estimates like AMH. But this new machine-learning algorithm, trained on over 40,000 real women across different life stages, analyzes hormone biomarkers, body composition, and...

Perimenopause is not just about hormones, it’s a metabolic transition that affects insulin sensitivity, gut health, stress tolerance, and long-term disease risk. In this episode, Cynthia Thurlow, board-certified nurse practitioner and functional medicine expert, explains how women’s metabolism changes in midlife and why insulin resistance, poor stress resilience, and gut dysfunction often appear y...

When cellular energy production is impaired, no diet, supplement, or health protocol can work as intended. In this episode, Dr. Chris Masterjohn , nutrition scientist and expert in micronutrients and metabolism, explains why mitochondrial function is the limiting factor behind stalled progress, persistent fatigue, and supplements that stop working over time. He breaks down why vitamin D supplement...

In this episode, Dr. Jessica Shepard, board-certified OB/GYN and Chief Medical Officer of Hers, shares that the FDA just removed the black box warning on hormone replacement therapy after 23 years. We discuss what actually happened with the WHI study that created all the fear around estrogen and breast cancer, and why the research never actually supported that narrative. Dr. Shepard explains why y...

What if your blood is what’s making you sick and the key to reversing it is removing it? In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Khanh Nguyen, a regenerative and anti-aging physician, to explore therapeutic plasma exchange and the rising use of young plasma. We talk detox, autoimmune disease, aging, peptides, and why your blood might be holding you back. Join the most comprehensive *female-specific c...