Sleepless nights can be more than just an occasional inconvenience—they often come with exhaustion, frustration, and confusion about why nothing seems to help. If you’ve (or your patients have) tried different remedies but still struggle to get quality rest, understanding the specific nature of insomnia is the key to unlocking deeper, restorative sleep.
Protecting your skin from UV radiation isn’t just about minimizing sunburns—it’s about slowing a significant accelerant of biological aging that triggers oxidative stress, immune suppression, and cellular senescence. While traditional sunscreens are a barrier to limiting UV exposure, they aren’t perfect alone. They can wash or rub off easily, degrade when exposed to heat and sunlight, and don’t address the downstream photodamage that continues long after exposure. That’s where antioxidants come in—they target oxidative stress, support cellular repair, and fortify your skin’s intrinsic UV defenses. Let’s explore the mechanisms of antioxidant-driven photoprotection and how integrating these compounds into your regimen can enhance skin longevity and resilience.
Starting and growing an integrative medical practice is a transformative journey that requires careful planning, commitment, and adaptability. Often, integrative and functional medicine providers are great clinicians when it comes to helping their patients, but feel inadequately prepared to run the business side of their practice. Dr. Linda Matteoli, at Origins Incubator, has the solution to this conundrum, walking physicians through the process to increase confidence, maintain authenticity, and achieve outcomes. The strategies they share in this article are valuable for all of us. – DrKF
By the end of my book tour in 2022—one of the most amazing but intense experiences of my life—you could scrape me off the floor. (Who knew? I certainly didn’t expect it.) I was wiped out. My Oura data corroborated what I was feeling, and, particularly devastating, my HRV was stuck in the low teens. Thank goodness I’d layered an extremely needed vacation into the book experience, and we headed off to Baja California Sur. It was this vacation—and my almost immediate HRV rebound—that prompted me to trade the high-stress East Coast lifestyle for a more balanced, nurturing environment in Mexico longer term.
Mitochondria are crucial for life, and increasingly research is finding that they hold the key to better aging and longevity, as a critical hallmark of aging. While optimising mitochondrial health through exercise, diet, and stress management is essential for maintaining their function, targeted, research-backed mitochondrial solutions are proving effective at unlocking a new level of longevity-focused results.
This month: Yes, yes, yes: intensive lifestyle interventions (4 papers); omega-3 fatty acids and exercise all WORK on preventing and/or reversing cognitive impairment, including in those with genetic risk (including APOE4). Do adipocytes house epigenetic memory leading to the inevitable weight regaining phenomenon we have long seen? The longevity potential of phytonutrients (you know I am bullish here!). And what about that wildly popular Nature Aging paper on aging happening in two bursts—am I hanging up the towel when I hit 60? (Short answer: no.)
Happy holidays everyone! As you enjoy the festive season, I wanted to take a moment to share with you below some of the highlights from this past year here at Dr. Kara Fitzgerald. It’s been quite a 12 months, and I’ve been so honored by the participation and contributions of those who continue to work so hard to deepen our understanding of functional medicine, epigenetics, and longevity. I would like to call out some notable highlights for me including my conversations with the legendary Drs. Greg Fahy, Janine LaSalle, Artemis Simopoulos, and Vittorio Sebastiano. However, there were so many other heavy-hitters and I encourage you to look back over all the year’s content to see what you may have missed.
Hippocrates is said to have stated “All diseases begin in the gut.” 2000 years later, advancement in gastrointestinal testing, like the GI360™ stool profile from Doctor’s Data, allows medical professionals to ascertain what is in the gut, and how it might be contributing to health and disease. The gastrointestinal tract (GI) is a person’s first line of defense and the largest interface between the outside world and our bodies. The microbial ecosystem in the GI, referred to as the gut microbiome, is partially responsible for maintaining human health and is also associated with various diseases. A healthy gut microbiome needs greens, beans and berries to steer clear of dysbiosis.
Since my time in a laboratory at the start of my career in 2006, where I was a contributing author to Laboratory Evaluations for Integrative and Functional Medicine (including principal author on the Nutrient & Toxic Elements chapter), I have had lead on the brain, as it were. Given the fact that the research is pretty clear that ANY lead exposure is a problem (especially in kids and in pregnancy), I pay attention to lead – in all of my patients, in myself and my daughter. In my wider family. I am a firm believer that we need to make, at a minimum, an annual sweep of general toxin status in the body. And when we identify something, move forward with appropriate steps for removal and treatment.
This month, we are sharing short summaries of some of the key research and news pieces that we have been paying attention to. Our focus spans intriguing questions about health and nutrition, from the potential risks of fish oil supplementation to the role of grip strength in aging. We also dive into the effectiveness of different protein sources, the temporary aging effects of pregnancy, and the controversial impact of multivitamins on longevity. These five topics shed light on emerging findings and the need for a nuanced understanding of nutrition and health. Join us as we explore these important insights!