The XX Brain: The Groundbreaking Science Empowering Women to Prevent Dementia

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Studies of brains pre- and post-menopause show that activity decreases as estrogen levels drop. At the same time, a key indicator of Alzheimer’s disease – the level of amyloid plaques in the brain – increases. Memory centers in the brain also shrink. It turns out that menopause increases the risk of dementia in 80 percent of women. The XX Brain is an exciting and empowering read for all women. Dr. Mosconi provides actionable advice to protect your brain and thrive throughout your lifetime! I highly recommend making your brain a priority now and taking charge before the inevitable hormonal shifts of perimenopause. In this book, Dr. Mosconi will show you how." —Dr. Jolene Brighten, NMD, author of Beyond the Pill The female neuroendocrine system: Pregnancy and the onset of menopause both have the potential to disrupt the balance of the female neuroendocrine system. Affected parts include: the thyroid, the thymus, the adrenals, the pancreas, the ovaries, the frontal cortex, the thalamus, the posterior cingulate cortex, the limbic cortex, the pituitary gland, the hypothalamus, and the brain stem.

A Heartful Arrival (not sure why this heading is used in the book) It is used to indicate pregnancy changes After age 35, variable amounts of progesterone and estrogen during each monthly cycle, cause insomnia, anxiety, migraines, miserable periods, irritability, rage and bloating (p.43). Also if women have low testosterone they can get loss of libido, weight gain and low energy. (p.43). If they have polycystic ovary syndrome they can have high testosterone linked to irregular periods, difficulty sleeping, and insulin resistance. (p.43)Reality: Don’t believe that genes are destiny. Do believe that our medical health, our environment and the choices we make, are important. (p.17). The exception is for about 1-2% of people who are likely due to genetics to get early onset dementia. But that means about 98-99% of people are not in this group. (p.17) Women’s brains have unique risk factors for dementia that until now have been ignored by science. Lisa Mosconi’s path-breaking work changes this paradigm to show women how they specifically can protect and enhance brain function throughout life. Essential reading!” —Max Lugavere, New York Times bestselling author of Genius Foods On p. 6 there was the fiirst reference to women with children (in comparison to men) in regards to the limbic system which includes the hippocampus and the amygdala. No comparison or discussion about how the limbic system in women with children compares to women without children….a trend of not including women without children that will continue throughout the book.

To support your body in processing all these nutrients, you also need to optimize the good bacteria in your gut. That means eating lots of prebiotics like onions, bananas, and garlic that act as a kind of “fertilizer,” as well as probiotics found in food like yogurt. Dr. Mosconi boldly takes the question of what differentiates men from women away from just the reproductive organs and focuses on the unique characteristics of the female brain. And it is about time! When 2/3 of Alzheimer’s patients are women, clearly a manifestation of the female brain’s uniqueness, we must take notice. The XX Brain is fully empowering, leveraging the very best science allowing women to enhance cognitive health and gain control of their brain’s destiny.” —David Perlmutter, MD, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Grain Brain Women’s brains have unique risk factors for dementia that until now have been ignored by science. Lisa Mosconi’s path-breaking work changes this paradigm to show women how they specifically can protect and enhance brain function throughout life. Essential reading!" —Max Lugavere, New York Times best-selling author of Genius Foods Women have 11 percent more neurons in the primary auditory cortex, resulting in better hearing than men.Our minds depend on food to replenish energy and to help essential functions. If you want to keep your brain healthy, diet is the first thing you need to work on. Examination of this myth: under more examination the main reasons why men live shorter lives have been in the past: alcoholism, smoking, gun violence, road accidents and poor diet. (p.19) And also implied on p.20, is occupational stress. As many of you may already know (but in case if you don't), here is a little bit of scientific fact about our brains from this book: "Hormones are made by our DNA, and as we know, our DNA is different depending on our sex. However, not many people know that the X chromosome is actually much larger than the relatively tiny Y chromosome, containing a lofty 1,098 genes as compared with the Y chromosome’s 78. This means that a woman, wielding her double X, possesses over 1,000 more genes than a man, many of which are critical for both hormonal production and brain activity." From here, you can kinda guess, just how important it is to approach our brain and overall health from a gender specific view where for centuries, studies, researches and medical practice are mostly (now known as the common knowledge) based on male bodies. And as the author of this book - Lisa Mosconi puts it - even the female specific medicine are mostly focused on "Bikini Medicine" - meaning our breasts and ovaries - excluding our most important organ - the brain.