Female Hormone Health, Fertility & Vitality | Dr. Natalie Crawford

**Andrew Huberman** (0:00)
Welcome to the Huberman Lab podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life.
I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. My guest today is Dr. Natalie Crawford. Dr. Natalie Crawford is a medical doctor specializing in obstetrics and gynecology, reproductive endocrinology and infertility. She also holds a degree in nutrition science. Dr. Crawford runs a clinical practice, seeing patients daily, as well as being actively involved in public education, both through social media and through her popular podcast entitled As a Woman. Today, Dr. Crawford teaches us about all aspects of female hormones and hormone health and fertility, beginning as far back as in utero, when we were still in our mother's womb and extending as far forward as menopause. We discuss topics such as the timing of puberty and what the timing of puberty in girls means for their fertility. And we discuss birth control, both hormonal and non hormonal forms of birth control and how birth control may or may not relate to long-term fertility and different aspects of female health. We also talk extensively about measuring fertility, that is egg count. We also talk about egg retrieval, aka freezing one's eggs, as well as in vitro fertilization. And we also take a deep dive into the popular and important topics of nutrition and supplementation as they relate to fertility, as they relate to pregnancy, but also how they relate to female hormone health generally. Indeed, Dr. Crawford provides us with a master class on female hormones and fertility. One that I know that all women ought to benefit from and that men would benefit from listening to as well. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost to consumer information about science and science related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast. Our first sponsor is Maui Nui Venison. Maui Nui Venison is the most nutrient dense and delicious red meat available. I've spoken before on this podcast in solo episodes and with guests about the need to get approximately one gram of high quality protein per pound of body weight each day for optimal nutrition. There are many different ways that one can do that, but a key thing is to make sure that you're not doing that by ingesting excessive calories. Maui Nui Venison has the highest density of quality protein per calorie, and it achieves that in delicious things like ground meats, venison steaks, jerky and bone broth. I particularly like the ground venison. I make those into venison burgers probably five times a week or more. I also like the jerky for its convenience, especially when I'm traveling or I'm especially busy with work and know that I'm getting an extremely nutrient dense, high quality source of protein. If you'd like to try Maui Nui Venison, you can go to mauinuivenison.com/huberman and get 20% off your first order. Again, that's mauinuivenison.com/huberman to get 20% off. Today's episode is also brought to us by Helix Sleep. Helix Sleep makes mattresses and pillows that are tailored to your unique sleep needs. Now sleep is the foundation of mental health, physical health and performance. When we are sleeping well and enough, mental health, physical health and performance all stand to be at their best. One of the key things to getting a great night's sleep is to make sure that your mattress is tailored to your unique sleep needs. Helix Sleep has a brief two-minute quiz that if you go to their website, you take that quiz and answer questions such as, do you tend to sleep on your back, your side of your stomach? Do you tend to run hot or cold in the middle of the night? Maybe you don't know the answers to those questions, and that's fine. At the end of that two-minute quiz, they will match you to a mattress that's ideal for your sleep needs. I sleep on the Dusk, D-U-S-K mattress, and when I started sleeping on a Dusk mattress about two years ago, my sleep immediately improved. So if you're interested in upgrading your mattress, go to helixsleep.com/huberman, take their two-minute sleep quiz, and they'll match you to a customized mattress for you, and you'll get up to $350 off any mattress order and two free pillows. Again, if interested, go to helixsleep.com/huberman for up to $350 off and two free pillows. I'm pleased to announce that we will be hosting four live events in Australia, each of which is entitled, The Brain Body Contract, during which I will share science and science related tools for mental health, physical health and performance. There will also be a live question and answer session. We have limited tickets still available for the event in Melbourne on February 10th, as well as the event in Brisbane on February 24th. Our event in Sydney at the Sydney Opera House sold out very quickly. So as a consequence, we've now scheduled a second event in Sydney at the Aware Super Theater on February 18th. To access tickets to any of these events, you can go to hubermanlab.com/events and use the code Huberman at checkout. I hope to see you there. And as always, thank you for your interest in science. And now for my discussion with Dr. Natalie Crawford. Dr. Crawford, welcome.