My partner, Berk, and I have been together for over 10 years. We met in a cycling club in Connecticut and were friends for a couple of years before we started dating. Our relationship has always had an easy flow to it. We’re both very independent and we respect each other a ton. I think that’s been a big key to our success.

However, there is this one thing…

Berk is close to his older sister, Heather. She lives in Florida and they talk on the phone almost every day.

She’s retired now but she spent her career as a Nurse Practitioner.

He always talks on speakerphone so I can hear them and she is “western medicine” all the way. Every little health problem has a pharmaceutical solution.

“I haven’t slept well the last couple of nights”
“Have you seen your doctor? She can prescribe meds to help you sleep.”

“My labs came in. My cholesterol is a little high.”
“Did your doctor give you a statin? You need a statin.”

It makes me crazy.

In my world, drugs are a last resort after lifestyle changes have been made and then didn’t work.

To me, they exist as a chemically created safety net for when you’ve reached the point that there is literally nothing else that you can do.

I have empathy for Berk over this conflict in points of view. Heather and I are the two most important women in his life, he’s influenced by both of us and we couldn’t be more opposite on this topic.

To be clear, I think western medicine is miraculous and saves lives, there is no doubt about that.

Unfortunately, western medicine has also become the pharmaceutical model of medicine, where drugs are the first line of defense. I see drugs as a safeguard to be used only when absolutely needed (and then hopefully only short term).

I certainly don’t see them as the first course of action when your body is already unbalanced and has developed the symptoms that cause doctors to prescribe drugs.

And regardless of what you hear on commercials, there are some health problems that just don’t have a drug that can “fix” them.

One of them is cognitive decline. Even though the pharmaceutical industry has spent billions of dollars researching cognitive decline, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, none of the drugs have yet been found to work.

They may slow down progression, but once you’re diagnosed, that’s it. There is no cure.

Except….. Prevention.

We can prevent cognitive decline, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, with our lifestyle choices.

Over the past few years, I’ve taken a deep dive into women over 50 and cognitive decline from both a daily-habit-for-prevention perspective and an energy perspective.

Women have a higher risk, not because we live longer but because of our hormones.

And hormones are influenced by lifestyle.

Sedentary lifestyles and western dietary patterns affect your hormonal environment thereby increasing your risk of cognitive decline. Your lifestyle is even more powerful than your genetics.