Hi everyone,
Hope you’re well. I've been deep in planning mode this week, pulling together a run of women's health episodes for the podcast that will be released later in the summer. It's a subject I keep returning to, partly because the gap between what women experience and what gets taken seriously medically is still so wide, but that gap does seem, slowly, to be narrowing. Advocates, clinicians, and a lot of honest podcast conversations are doing good work here.
One of the stories in this week's health news touches on that directly: new developments that could make endometriosis diagnosis faster in the UK, which feels genuinely significant given how long that process can take for so many women.
Ahead of recording, I'd love to hear from you. If there's a women's health question you've been curious about — something you'd want to put to an expert — do email me and i’ll get it in one of the recordings. emily@thehealthreview.com
Emily x
🧠 Could We Stop Alzheimer's Before It Starts?
🧬 Why deep sleep shapes your body and brain
Early-stage research in mice suggests that deep sleep doesn't just rest you — it activates a brain circuit that releases growth hormone, which helps build muscle, burn fat, and may support sharper thinking after you wake. UC Berkeley scientists publishing in Cell also uncovered a feedback loop: too little sleep reduces hormone release, while too much can push the brain back toward wakefulness. It's a finely tuned system. This is animal research and hasn't been tested in humans yet, so there's nothing to act on directly. But it does add biological weight to something most of us already sense — that the quality of your sleep matters as much as the hours you clock.
🧠 Could vitamin C help protect your ageing brain?
Older adults with lower vitamin C in their blood tended to have less grey matter and weaker connections in the brain network responsible for memory and attention — that's the finding from a Japanese study of more than 2,000 adults over 64. It's observational research, so it can't prove cause and effect, and the researchers are clear that more work is needed. But it does suggest that keeping vitamin C levels healthy — through fruit, vegetables, and a varied diet — could be one way to support your brain as you get older.
🩸 Endometriosis Diagnosis Could Finally Get Faster with new tests
If you or someone you know has spent years chasing an endometriosis diagnosis, this one is significant. NICE has this week published draft guidance backing two new non-invasive tests for use in NHS primary care — a meaningful step toward ending the average nine-year wait women currently face before getting answers. The first, Endotest, uses a saliva sample to detect tiny biological markers called microRNAs that are linked to endometriosis. The second, EndoSure, measures electrical activity in the gut via sensors placed on the abdomen. Both are designed to support GPs in making faster referral decisions — particularly for women whose imaging has come back normal or inconclusive despite ongoing symptoms. Neither test replaces laparoscopy as a definitive diagnostic tool, and the draft guidance approves them for three years while further evidence is collected.
🧬 Your BMI Doesn't Tell the Whole Story
If you've ever been told your weight is fine so your health must be too, a large new analysis in The Lancet suggests that's an oversimplification. Researchers drawing on national population data across industrialised countries found that metabolic traits — blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol — don't map neatly onto body size. Some people with obesity have healthy metabolic profiles; some at a normal weight don't. It's observational, so it can't confirm cause and effect. But it does reinforce what many clinicians have argued for years: a number on the scales is a starting point, not a verdict.
Today's issue is supported by SONA
Today's newsletter is supported by SONA, an AI-powered vagus nerve stimulator that sits comfortably inside your ear. Earlier this year I had SONA's founder, Jane Ollis, on the podcast for a proper deep dive into the nervous system — one of my favourite conversations on the show, and well worth a listen if you haven't already. The device itself targets the auricular branch of the vagus nerve via the ear and adapts its stimulation in real time to your body, rather than using a fixed setting — built by a genuinely brilliant team of neuroscientists, astrophysicists, researchers and engineers. The Health Review readers get 15% off with code THR at checkout.
Why nervous system regulation may need to come first
If your digestion is unreliable, your sleep is broken and your energy is erratic despite doing all the right things, it may not be that the right things aren't working. It may be that the system running underneath them hasn't been addressed yet. That's the argument at the heart of my conversation with Lauren Vaknine on this week's episode, Wheelchair-Bound at 18 to Holistic Health Expert. Her recovery from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis rests on a single reordering: nervous system first, then everything else.
The order of operations most of us don’t try
Most people start with food, or supplements, or a new protocol, and wonder why the results are patchy. The case Lauren makes, and one I keep hearing from practitioners who work with chronic illness, is that the nervous system isn't one item on the checklist. It's the prerequisite. When you're exhausted or in pain you want a concrete fix, which is exactly why this reordering feels counterintuitive. A breathing practice sounds trivial next to a targeted supplement. The stress physiology makes it less trivial than it sounds. This is a sequencing argument that's difficult to test in controlled conditions, so treat it as a working hypothesis, not a law.
Chronic stress rewires digestion and immunity
The stress response evolved for predators, not deadlines, and the body doesn't distinguish reliably between the two. When that response stays switched on, digestion, immune signalling and sleep can all become less efficient. Over months and years, the effects show up as gut symptoms, low-grade inflammation and a fatigue that no amount of magnesium quite touches. Some of the theoretical scaffolding for why this matters comes from work on autonomy and self-concept as drivers of physiological state, including Deci and Ryan's foundational 2000 paper on self-determination, which clinicians in this space still return to when explaining why felt safety changes the picture.
Gut symptoms are often a stress response
The enteric nervous system is closely wired to the autonomic nervous system, which is part of why anxiety and IBS travel together so reliably in the clinical literature. When digestion falters under chronic stress, the body isn't malfunctioning. It's deprioritising a system it doesn't need for immediate survival. Treating the gut without addressing state may be managing symptoms rather than resolving them. The caveat matters: gut symptoms can have structural or microbial causes that warrant proper investigation, and a stress framing should never replace a GP appointment when something is wrong.
Regulation is not the same as relaxation
A bubble bath might relax you for an evening. Regulation is a slightly different skill: the capacity to move between sympathetic and parasympathetic states with some fluency. The evidence-backed entry points are unglamorous. Slow nasal breathing with an extended exhale, somatic movement, brief cold exposure, vagal work. What matters more than the modality is frequency. Five minutes daily beats ninety minutes on a Sunday.
Meditation may work on structure, not just state
Neuroimaging in long-term meditators has shown increased white matter integrity across the corpus callosum, the bridge between the brain's hemispheres. It's one of the few practices with evidence of a structural effect, not only functional calming. Aerobic exercise and musical training show similar white-matter benefits.
Identity keeps the system in threat
The piece most programmes skip is identity. For some people, repeatedly rehearsing an illness story may keep the body closer to threat than safety. This isn't a suggestion that people are responsible for their illness. A disabling condition is not a mindset problem, and framing it that way causes real harm. But noticing the language you use about your body, and what your body does when you tell your story, is a legitimate entry point. In her episode, Lauren frames that shift as part of her own recovery, not a universal prescription.
How to actually start
Pick one five-minute daily practice for four weeks. Box breathing, or a 4-7-8 exhale before bed. Consistency is the variable, not intensity.
Before adding another supplement, ask whether sleep, breath and daily state have been addressed. If not, sequence regulation first, then nutrition, then deeper somatic work.
If gut symptoms persist, or involve bleeding, weight loss or severe pain, see a GP. A stress framing is a lens, not a diagnosis.
This feature is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult your own doctor before making changes to your health..
Wheelchair-Bound at 18 to Holistic Health Expert — Lauren Vaknine's Extraordinary Journey
