Oxytocin: How To Naturally Induce Your MIRACLE Hormone | Anna Cabeca : 1493

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey – Episode 1493

Oxytocin: How To Naturally Induce Your MIRACLE Hormone | Dr. Anna Cabeca

Release Date: June 30, 2026
Host: Dave Asprey
Guest: Dr. Anna Cabeca (Triple board-certified OB/GYN, hormone and longevity expert)

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into the “miracle hormone” oxytocin with Dr. Anna Cabeca, a recognized leader in hormone health, women’s longevity, and sexual wellness. Dave and Dr. Anna unpack the science, psychology, and real-life applications of oxytocin—covering its profound impact on intimacy, aging, emotional bonding, trauma, muscle regeneration, and even spiritual experience. They also address biohacking strategies for naturally optimizing oxytocin, hormone replacement for aging, the importance of “clean” products for sexual health, and the deeper connection between body, spirit, and intuition.

Tone: Insightful, candid, energetic, with an openness to sexuality, science, and integrative health.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Real-Life Impacts of Oxytocin and Sexual Health (00:00–03:30)

• Dr. Anna shares a patient story:
  • Marilyn, 74, after 50 years of marriage, experienced her best year sexually and relationally after hormone intervention.
  • “Sexual energy is more than about sex, it’s creativity.” (Dr. Anna, 15:27)
• Dave adds research:
  • 20% of people report “meeting God” during orgasm at least once in their life, most often after multiple orgasms. (02:22, 34:11, 35:29)

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2. What Does Oxytocin Actually Do? (03:44–06:27)

• Dr. Level View:
  • Oxytocin is both a neurotransmitter and hormone.
  • Used medically as “pitocin” to induce labor; also acts as an analgesic during childbirth and creates the powerful mother-child bond.
  • Facilitates a “regenerative,” alkalinizing, anti-inflammatory role throughout the body.
  • Oxytocin inversely mirrors cortisol: higher oxytocin reduces stress and aids muscle repair (referencing Berkeley study on muscle in aging). (04:07–06:27)
• Dave’s playful practical advice:
  • “Bodybuilders should spend more time snuggling so they get more oxytocin so they could put on more muscle.” (06:27)

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3. Hormones, Orgasms, and Gender Differences (06:42–09:43)

• Distinct experiences for men and women post-orgasm:
  • Men: Ejaculation triggers prolactin (causing fatigue, drop in motivation—“post-nut clarity”), and lowers testosterone.
  • Women: Largely have a positive feedback loop with oxytocin; no upper limit for orgasm is documented.
  • “It’s a positive feedback loop. There’s no negative feedback. So, yeah [on multiple orgasms].” (Dr. Anna, 09:25)
  • Dave shares biohacking tip for men: Consider not ejaculating every time to avoid prolactin surge and energy loss. (08:15)

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4. Sexual Wellness Products—Clean Lube and Medical System Shortcomings (09:49–15:02)

• Dr. Anna discusses development of a non-toxic, clean, water-based lubricant (“Velve”), compared to mainstream/gyno lubes often containing aspartame, parabens, petroleum, and hormone disruptors.
  • “...to make a lube without propylene glycol...those are things that are part of the manufacturing process...it’s more expensive to create products this way.” (Dr. Anna, 13:43)
• Dave: “Why do you think it’s 100% of the time the medical version is toxic?” (13:38)
• Clinical note: Vaginal and bladder microbiome disruption is an underappreciated concern, especially as women age, impacting sexual health and comfort. (12:49)

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5. Oxytocin and Relationships Across the Lifespan (15:05–18:11)

• Dr. Anna: “There’s no age limit on learning this...Sex and intimacy...we’re closer, we’re more connected, we’re having more fun. And that’s oxytocin, right? That’s that connection, that peace...”
• Dave: “If you fix their hormones, then all of a sudden it reignites something. And I think it affects how long they’re gonna live.” (17:55)
• Both agree: Sharing connection and boosting oxytocin is life- and longevity-enhancing, regardless of age.

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6. Biohacking Oxytocin: Exogenous vs. Endogenous Approaches (21:04–23:04)

• Dave playfully admits to using oxytocin nasal spray from his biohacker’s stash.
• Dr. Anna: Natural oxytocin-boosting is best (“microdose oxytocin throughout the day with oxytocin increasing practices”), but exogenous (prescription) oxytocin can be useful for extreme stress, PTSD, or medical scenarios.
  • Examples: ER physicians shifting states after work, PTSD therapy (oxytocin + ketamine), autism, long COVID.
  • “Being able to use it on an as-needed basis can be very...beneficial in those circumstances.” (Dr. Anna, 21:42–23:04)

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7. Hormone Replacement Therapy: Science, Politics, and Personalization (23:04–30:18)

• Dave and Dr. Anna address the shifting medical consensus on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for women.
  • Outdated warnings (Women’s Health Initiative) led to generational harm by discouraging bioidentical hormone use.
  • The FDA now recommends HRT earlier post-menopause, as professionals like Dr. Anna have advocated for decades.
    • “For 23 years, the FDA was wrong...now removing the black box warning, recommending [HRT] ASAP after or even during perimenopause.” (Dave, 23:56)
  • Dr. Anna: “There’s so much misinformation...but it takes more than hormones to fix our hormones. We’ll do this safely.” (24:48)
  • Women left on their own, trusting intuition and seeking education, fare much better with personalized approaches.

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8. Pharmaceutical Polypharmacy vs. Precision Medicine (28:05–30:29)

• Cautionary notes on treating symptoms with multiple meds (“polypharma”), especially in older women—leads to poor health and vitality.
• Both advocate “lifestyle first” then targeted pharma or supplements for specific, measurable anti-aging benefits. (Dave describes his own microdosing regimen for longevity pathways—29:09)

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9. Intuition, Quantum Biology, and Female Wisdom (45:22–50:42)

• Dr. Anna on intuition: Grew up in an environment where intuition was acknowledged, believes strongly in nurturing it in herself and other women.
• Dave’s theory: Female intuition is physically linked to their ovarian mitochondria (“600,000 in your ovaries”), hypothesizes this biological basis gives women deeper energetic sensing. (47:01–49:23)
  • "That's why I trust the intuitive women in my life. When they tell me something, I'm like, that sounds dumb. But if three intuitive women tell me the same thing, I don’t care if it sounds dumb. That’s my problem, not their problem." (Dave, 48:53)

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10. Spirituality, Dark Retreats, and Oxytocin’s Higher Potential (31:38–41:37)

• Dr. Anna recounts her four-day “dark retreat”—a spiritual reset that triggered intense dreams, deep healing, and possibly past life recall, as well as increased DMT and oxytocin production.
  • “Just doing that shows you how powerful your body is in the absence of distractions.” (Dr. Anna, 32:16)
• Discussion of orgasmic spirituality:
  • Orgasms, especially multiple or heightened ones, may stimulate DMT release via the pineal gland, leading to “meeting God” experiences. (35:29–36:03)
  • Ancient practices like yoni massage, orgasmic meditation, and bodywork as profound healing tools for sexual and overall well-being.

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11. Female Sexual Recovery & Energetic Practices (37:37–41:37)

• Value in ancient sexual healing practices (e.g., yoni massage, orgasmic meditation) for reconnecting, trauma release, and restoring sensation.
• Fascia, lymphatic massage, and internal pelvic health as overlooked but vital areas for women as they age.

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12. Heart Health, Emotional Healing, and Oxytocin Beyond Sex (50:41–55:59)

• “Broken heart syndrome” is real (Takotsubo cardiomyopathy): Emotional events can cause physical cardiac symptoms/risks.
  • Dr. Anna shares personal journey healing from loss; blending supplements, exercise, and oxytocin-boosting strategies to lower cardiac markers by 90% in a year.
  • “When I lost our son…you hear ‘I had pain in my heart.’” (Dr. Anna, 51:13)

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13. Hormone Biomarkers and Advanced Testing (55:20–57:42)

• Post-menopause, Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) monitoring is key—levels too high or too low indicate risks to brain and bone health, not just hormone deficiency.
  • “High levels are neuroinflammatory...brain loss and bone loss with high levels of FSH...monitor postmenopausal hormone therapy.” (Dr. Anna, 56:46–57:42)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“Sexual energy is more than about sex; it’s creativity.” – Dr. Anna Kabeca (15:27)

“There’s no age limit on learning this… That’s oxytocin, right? That’s that connection, peace, intimacy. And that’s good medicine.” – Dr. Anna (16:24)

“Bodybuilders should spend more time snuggling so they get more oxytocin so that they could put on more muscle.” – Dave Asprey (06:27)

“For 23 years the FDA was wrong… now recommending [HRT] ASAP after or even during perimenopause.” – Dave (23:56)

“Our bodies are designed for pleasure and just from the functional, structural, and energetic aspects of our body, moving those channels... disease is because we’re stuck in a certain area.” – Dr. Anna (41:37)

“That’s why I trust the intuitive women in my life… If three intuitive women tell me the same thing, I don’t care if it sounds dumb.” – Dave (48:53)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Patient story: Longevity & great sex at 74 — 00:00–00:38, 15:05–16:56
• Oxytocin deep dive (childbirth, muscle, stress) — 03:44–06:27
• Male vs. female orgasm hormone differences — 06:42–09:43
• Clean sexual wellness products/Lube — 09:49–15:02
• Real-life HRT advocacy, medical system failings — 23:04–30:18
• Intuition, quantum biology & mitochondrial theory — 45:22–50:42
• Dark retreat, DMT, orgasmic spirituality — 31:38–41:37
• Fascia, yoni massage, body-based sexual healing — 37:37–41:37
• Broken heart syndrome & emotional healing — 50:41–53:36
• Advanced hormone testing: FSH & longevity — 55:20–57:42

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Practical Biohacks & Tips Discussed

• Increase oxytocin naturally: laughter, touch, dance, pets, music, connection.
• Advocate for and personalize hormone replacement (especially postmenopause).
• Focus on “clean” products—read labels in sexual/women’s health; avoid toxins and artificial ingredients.
• Use advanced lab testing (including FSH) to guide your longevity approach.
• Address emotional trauma and cardiac risk holistically—including spiritual/energetic work.
• Don’t outsource health decisions purely to doctors/insurance; trust your intuition and track your results.

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Final Thoughts

This episode is a wide-ranging, high-level, and practical conversation unpacking oxytocin’s total-body impact, the evolving landscape of hormone therapy, and why intimacy, intuition, and intentional self-care are at the center of longevity. Dr. Anna and Dave blend humor, cutting-edge research, and open discussion of sexual wellness—proving biohacking isn’t just techy, it’s deeply human.

For further resources or to contact Dr. Anna Kabeca: dranna.com
Dr. Anna’s clean lube: Velve
Free resources: dranna.com/tribe

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Prepared for listeners seeking actionable longevity insights, advanced hormone optimization, and a welcome blend of science, sex, and spirit.

Transcript

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

So my Beautiful patient Marilyn, 74 years old, is in my office and married 50 years. And I said, how is your sex life now? And she goes, Dr. Ann is seriously been married 50 years. And this last year since we fix everything, you know, down there and everything has been the best year of our marriage. Sex and intimacy is better. We're more connected, we're enjoying each other more, we're having more fun.

[Dave Asprey]

One of the studies I came across says that 20% of people report meeting God during orgasm at least once in their life. It's usually after eight or nine orgasms, right where there's a lot going on.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Women in their 60s, 70s and beyond are having sex with their partner.

[Dave Asprey]

Life wants us to go have sex. So what's the upper limit for orgasms for women? You're listening to the Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey. How many nights have you stared at the ceiling counting the hours until morning? Maybe you tried a sleep supplement, but it knocked you out and left you groggy like you created one problem for another. Poor sleep doesn't just make you tired, it kills your performance, slows your brain down and speeds up aging. Kill Switch from Switch supplements solves that problem. It works with your biology instead of against it. It contains five gut friendly, extensively researched ingredients like Gaba, magnesium glycinate and tart cherry extract to help you fall asleep naturally, stay asleep and wake up clear. And it's in the form of a delicious, sugar free, no BS hot cocoa drink. Sleep tracking data proves how well it works. People consistently hit 90 sleep scores and more than double their REM sleep in only three days with kill Switch. If you're ready for the best sleep of your life, order [e-mail] and use code DAVE for 20% off. If you don't sleep better, you get your money back. Kill Switch works with your biology. Your body does the rest. Your doctor said your labs look normal. Okay, then why don't you feel like yourself? Why are you exhausted all the time? Why has your body stopped responding to the things that used to work? That's why Gatlin exists. Gatlin is a physician led optimization program for people who know something is off even when the conventional system says everything looks fine. It's also for people who want more energy, better recovery, better sleep and long term performance. Because the current system often waits for disease, Most people get 10 minutes with a doctor, a basic blood panel and a vague everything looks normal. Even when they still feel off. Gatlin does things differently. You speak with a Licensed medical provider. You get comprehensive labs and depending on your needs, your plan may include hormone support, thyroid support, peptide therapy, and longevity focused care personalized around your actual biology. Not one size fits all medicine. Feeling off shouldn't be dismissed just because it's common. Start your journey [e-mail] Dave and. And use code Dave. That's G-A-T L-A N.com Dave. Code Dave. My good friend, Dr. Anna Kabeca is joining us again. Triple board certified OB GYN and mistress of oxytocin. You're a master of longevity and hormone replacement. And I would say the. The psychology and physiology of what happens in women's bodies at different phases of life. And one of the more knowledgeable people about this, who I've had a chance to interview. So thank you for coming back on the show.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Always a pleasure. Thank you. I always look forward to our conversation. A little bit of anxiety, too, because I never know what you're going to say or ask.

[Dave Asprey]

Well, you know, triggering people is my love language.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Is that right? I feel loved.

[Dave Asprey]

Let's talk about oxytocin, please. Okay. Many years ago, I had a guy named Paul Zak on the show. Dr. Love. They called him Zagreo. Oxytocin. And since that time, we know oxytocin is a neurotransmitter. And it seems like maybe we simplify what it does in the body. Give me the Dr. Level view of what oxytocin actually does to different systems in the body.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Yeah, well, it's so powerful. And first, you know, we know as an obgyn trained at Emory, as an obgyn, what's one thing that we give women? We give women oxytocin to augment labor, called pitocin. Right. So many people have had oxytocin exogenously, they never even realize it. Pitocin is oxytocin. But one of those that's like, if we think about some of the. This is a foundational mechanism of oxytocin is to induce labor. So high levels of oxytocin help with contractions. Now you deliver this baby, oxytocin's an analgesic, a pain reliever. So intuitively in the body, when you're having those contractions, you're producing this pain reliever and also this incredibly bonding hormone. So when you deliver this beautiful child, which may look really ugly at this time and caused you so much pain for days and months, and now you're like, oh, my God, this is the best thing ever. This Child. Oh my God, I would die for you. Right? That is, that's that emotional, powerful bonding hormone of oxytocin.

[Dave Asprey]

Does oxytocin actually make women forget how painful. Actually, it's not always painful, but how arduous childbirth is. So they want to have another one. Is that part of its role?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

I definitely think it's definitely part of. It's part of that role or we would never have a second baby.

[Dave Asprey]

I remember after catching my daughter at home when she came out, her mom, Lana, saying, I don't think I want to do that again. And year and a half later, we're doing it again. So there has to be some hormone that's mind controlling us.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Amnestic. It has that amnesic type of effect too. And then we found more work, you know, more with oxytocin. It is in ways, it's a regenerative hormone. It's one of the most alkalinizing hormones in our body. And if we think about. I looked at the oxytocin cortisol connection, right? So cortisol goes up, oxytocin goes down, Oxytocin goes up, cortisol goes down. So it's a natural hormone stabilizing hormone, alkalinizing, rebuilding, regenerative. There was study out of Berkeley that looked at oxytocin and aged muscle, and that showed that increasing oxytocin increased repair and rebuilding of muscle. Plus, yeah, so much more long Covid for autoimmune. It's a powerful, powerful hormone neurotransmitter.

[Dave Asprey]

Bodybuilders should spend more time snuggling so they get more oxytocin so that they could put on more muscle.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

As I were saying, they should definitely. And especially after sex, don't just roll over. Oxytocin makes you sleepy and prolactin. So take that time to snuggle. Pick that time to snuggle afterwards.

[Dave Asprey]

Okay? I, I like that for sure. When guys ejaculate, relaxin goes up. Relactin makes you tired and unmotivated. It's that, will you respect me in the morning after? It's like, well, actually, I'm too tired to respect you. Like, I'm like, meh, I've post nut clarity. What causes Post nut clarity? Dr. Anna?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Post nut clarity?

[Dave Asprey]

Yeah.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

What do you mean, post nut clarity? Like what? So like post ejaculation?

[Dave Asprey]

Post ejaculation. This is when guys are like, why did I do all these crazy things right there? There's a mom of either. Well, I, I know what it is. It's high prolactin, and you're basically blown out. So then you're sort of, like, a little bit depressed almost, but just like, yeah, I don't want to engage. So a lot of guys. In fact, I tracked this for a year. A lot of guys actually, you know, the. The day after that, they. They ejaculate, Their energy is off, and you look, their testosterone's lower, and their prolactin is higher. And just the. The word on the street for that is, oh, yeah, like, you know, I was so happy to do this. And you're like, why did I go ahead and get drunk and, like, bring this person home? And. And you start, like, questioning your reality. There's a hormone thing behind it. So prolactin. Is that what causes it?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Sounds like there's definitely part of it. Well, the. The prolactin, the low testosterone, the lowering of dopamine. But very interesting because, again, women are my specialty. Not so much men.

[Dave Asprey]

Women, usually.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

But it sounds like it creates that, like, especially if consciousness wasn't used pre ejaculation, a situation of regret. Like, what the heck was I thinking?

[Dave Asprey]

Well, okay. Men and women both can get horny, right?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Yes.

[Dave Asprey]

And when we're really horny, at least in my work, you know, our body's processing reality, it's like, oh, there's nothing scary. I'm not too hungry. Oh, let's put energy towards making babies. And then that's why we feel lust and we feel all this libido because life wants us to go have sex. System kind of takes over. And then after ejaculation, specifically in men, we're like, why did I do that again? Sort of like, if you eat all the cake and you're like, why did I eat all the cake? Very similar way of thinking. And it's not the same with women because you don't have the prolactin surge that men do. Right. So this is one reason I tell guys, not ejaculating every time might be really good for longevity, because you don't want hyperlactin or blocking it with a drug. But I'm getting into the male side of sex. So guys, take Cabergoline. Half a dose if you ejaculate, and then you won't have a refractory period, and you won't have that. That morning after bl. That can actually happen.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Is that cafagoline decreasing that prolactin?

[Dave Asprey]

It blocks prolactin? Yeah.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

So. So that's like the male recipe but women, as the DA would say, they walk away undiminished after orgasm. So you can have orgasm. After orgasm, oxygen levels go up. Doesn't seem like there's an upper limit, is there?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

It's a positive feedback loop. There's no negative feedback. So, yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Okay, so what's the upper limit for orgasms for women?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Good question. I think still have to. I think that still has to be studied. I think it's indefinite.

[Dave Asprey]

I have to ask you, you are a triple board certified OB gyn. If anyone on earth knows, it's you.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

I do not know.

[Dave Asprey]

Because you don't just study, like vaginal health and microbiome stuff. You actually study pleasure pathways.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Tell me about the new lube you made.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Ah, so when I created a new clean lubricant. Because you think about what, you know, all the chemicals. We're so careful about what we put on our body, in our body, but yet lubes are like, toxic and especially to vaginal mucosa. Anyway. Aloe vera with hyaluronic acid and in a water base, no chemicals, really clean. It's really nice.

[Dave Asprey]

You sent me like an early. Was it an early version of that that you sent me? Yeah, that was really slippery and worked really, really well. According to. According to the people who might have had access to.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Might have had access. Do you know. Do you know when you're doing loop? Because we went through the whole 5, 10K F clearance procedure and you know, there's like a certain slip sign, like if you put a lube in your hands and you, you know, it has to be at least 15 usually, you know, it's good. Ours is like 30 slits, so that's a good. And for a water base, that's really

[Dave Asprey]

hard to achieve because it dries out, right?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

It dries out.

[Dave Asprey]

So there's actually an FDA test where you put lube in your hands and rub how many times before it stops being so.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

FDA test. It was a test for a good lubricant.

[Dave Asprey]

Okay, got it.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Yeah. And then we know. I thought that was very fascinating because we're looking at the viscosity. Are we there yet?

[Dave Asprey]

You're really scientific in the way you approach things. And you are. We've had like lots of conversations about pathways and hormones and things.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

I love hormones.

[Dave Asprey]

So. All right, so you've got a lube and the clean lube is important because most of the stuff that's out there is really toxic for men and women. What's in a typical lube that we should avoid?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Yeah. So things you should definitely avoid are parabens are, you know, petroleum jellies are chemicals like food artificial sweeteners in lube. So in lube, aspartame is very commonly in lube. And like. Yeah. So sweet and low. Right. Aspartame. It was toxic. And so you'll see aspartame in lube. You'll see something to make a sweet taste versus really wanted it colorless, tasteless and clean. But the other thing too that you see, and I thought about this because I'm doing all this work to create a clean lube. And I'm a gynecologist, so I'm doing an exam on my patient. Our lubes that we use for pap smears. And every once in a while there'd be a patient said, you know, got an irritation from that. So I started using my new lubricant as part for my exams and pap smears. But because I looked at the ingredients on what were standard medical cleared.

[Dave Asprey]

Garbage.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Garbage. No. It's so toxic.

[Dave Asprey]

Do you have like a functional. A functional ob GYN practice?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Absolutely.

[Dave Asprey]

Oh, my gosh.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Well, one thing too is that many people don't realize some of the chemicals and the preservatives that are in these and even in vaginal hormone creams like estrogen Estrogel, for instance, you look at that and you're thinking, okay, this is. There's toxic hormone disruptors in this hormone cream. Doesn't make sense. We can do better as a medical system. But when you look at these ingredients, some of them actually cause drying and disruption of the vaginal microbiome.

[Dave Asprey]

So.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Which is already so, you know, delicate as we age. And we have to do everything to replenish it. Vaginal and bladder microbiome.

[Dave Asprey]

So if the lube needs aspartame in it, that means the microbiome is off. Because things shouldn't be unpleasant. Right. Like it was. If the vagina is healthy, you don't need artificial sweetener in it.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

You don't need artificial sweetener. And that concept for oral sex. Yeah. You look at these ingredients and it's okay. Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

It's not good.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

It's not good.

[Dave Asprey]

And why do all of these magical companies choose the most toxic ingredients and their stuff, all the pharmaceuticals, like you could put anything in there. And they put crappy binders and all. And then you get things like your mighty maca and the other products you make. And you don't use anything bad in them.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

No.

[Dave Asprey]

So why do you think it's 100% of the time the medical version is toxic.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Well, it's more expensive to create products this way. I mean, it took me, you know, really over two years to create this lube and a water base clean two, three years and then go through all the testing for the fda. But something that's like, for example, to make a lube without propylene glycol. So it's propranodiol instead of propylene glycol. And so, you know, you think about stability and shelf life. And I mean those are things that are part of the manufacturing process that you definitely have to think of. So it's much easier. And this is why companies use some of these chemicals. Number one, the cost of goods and then shelf life, shelf life stability for long term. And rather than continuously replenishing fresh product and ingredients.

[Dave Asprey]

What's the name of your new lube? Velve Velvet. How do you spell it?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

V E L V E. Accent Grave.

[Dave Asprey]

Okay, but what was Axon grave? Is that some French thing?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

But yeah, it's the E. Like, like that.

[Dave Asprey]

Okay. So listeners, and as a friend and I trust her to speak the truth and to really know what she's doing. So if you're looking for water based lube, this will be the least toxic, best performing that there is. I have no question about it. So yeah, it's not a pain episode, I think, just, just because it's good.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Thank you.

[Dave Asprey]

Yeah, we, we need more health in all the parts of the body.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Yeah. Well, I think one of the things in sexual health and wellness, especially as we age, we think about one of the issues is vaginal dryness. So addressing that issue, microbiome, hormones and lubricant can make a good sex life even better. And yes, women in their 60s, 70s and beyond are having sex with their partner. I gotta share this. I just so on my mind. So I had a patient in my office this week who is 74 years old. She's been married 50 years. So I was like, you know, well, I wanted to ask because I had actually been interviewed on an earlier podcast and this young, this man in his 30s, 40s, married 10, 15 years, like, well, doesn't sex drop off? And don't you get too old for sex? I'm like, you should never. Sexual energy is more than about sex, it's creativity. So I had to explain him and tell him to put his phone away and stop rolling over after sex. And then maybe he could reignite with his, his wife too. So. Yeah, but so my Beautiful patient Marilyn, 74 years old, is in my office and married 50 years. And I said, well, you know, how is your sex life now? And she goes, Dr. Anna, seriously, been married 50 years. And this last year, since we fix everything, you know, down there, hormones and everything has been the best year of our marriage.

[Dave Asprey]

Oh my gosh.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Has been the best year. After 50 years, I'm like, the sex and intimacy is better. And she goes, outside of that, we're closer, we're more connected, we're enjoying each other more, we're having more fun. And that's oxytocin, right? That's that connection, that peace and that intimacy. And when you. And there's no age limit on learning this. And that's, that's good medicine. That's powerful. I was so, you know, I was so happy to hear her say that. It gives me hope.

[Dave Asprey]

I, I see it a lot where you get people in their 60s and, and since we last connected, I've been doing a lot of work with Unlimited Life, which is a concierge, vip, like all in long medical mastermind for extending life to very successful people. A lot of them married, some single come in at work with a medical doctor and look at $40,000 worth of labs and personal development coaches, and they get 40 years of zone, like everything you can do, from the spiritual down to the genetics. And it's like, I'm a kidney candy store. It's like, what's the problem? And sometimes. But can they use qi? Life force energy, that is libido. It's like a zest that's there. And if you have someone who's in their 60s or 70s and they feel like that's waning and it drops into friendship, it's not a bad thing. But if you fix their hormones, then all of a sudden it reignites something. And I think it affects how long they're going to live.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Absolutely.

[Dave Asprey]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

And I think there's certain things we can biohack but increasing oxytocin, increasing connection piece can make. It makes all the difference. And there's no age limit on it.

[Dave Asprey]

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[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

I just have no saline with it.

[Dave Asprey]

I mean, it was, it was powder, so I put saline in it. Okay. But it's probably a larger dose of oxytocin. So if it's good for us and we're single, couldn't we just take a little hit of oxytocin?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Well, you can absolutely take a hit of oxytocin. It's always better that you train and work with your body to make as much oxytocin as possible. Like microdose oxytocin throughout the day with oxytocin increasing practices. So things you enjoy, Laughter, dance, playing with your pet, caress, laughing with a friend.

[Dave Asprey]

Let's have someone around to do that with. But if not, can you just take a couple of puffs on your inhaler and get back to AI?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

So this is all right, not ideal, but you can, absolutely. So the reason that I would prescribe oxytocin is a couple fold. And so for example, I think of a ER physician. She's 47 years old, she's coming from her ER shift, she's got two young teens at home and a husband. And she's stressed out from shift. Right. She can't shift her physiology. No amount of playing music on the radio, is working through traffic, et cetera. So she does for her, I did troches of oxytocin. She would do a troche of oxytocin 50ius on her way home. So when she got in the door, all of a sudden she's relaxed, she feels back in her body and she can enjoy her kids and her family. So it's quick acting, it's a quick shift out of that high stress physiology. And for those of us too with ptsd, with trauma, I've used oxytocin and ketamine combined to really help break some of those patterns and pathways. So initially as a crutch, being able to use it on an as needed, you know, basis can be very, can be beneficial in those circumstances. I've used it in certainly in kids with autism and long Covid. There's many wow, off label medical indications. The only FDA approved use of oxytocin is for the induction of labor and to stop bleeding postpartum.

[Dave Asprey]

It's funny that people still seek FDA approval for things, but I know you have to because you're a doctor. I'm kind of kidding. The FDA just shifted gears in my brain a lot. I still don't seek their approval. I don't seek anyone's approval for taking care of my health. That's my job. Yes, But I was on stage with the head of the FDA, Dr. Marty Mackere, and it was actually the week that they announced, actually got it right during the interview and said, well, for 23 years, the FDA was wrong. The previous regimes limited women's access. I'm paraphrasing to life saving. Life enhancing biological hormone replacement is starting now. We're removing the black box warning. We're recommending this as soon as possible after or even during perimenopause. And I, I kind of shook my head like, is this real? Because every longevity dog and you have been recommending this forever.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

It stopped. Yeah. Yeah, stopped. The Women's Health initiative trial kept 30 years now.

[Dave Asprey]

Yeah. Why? Why was everyone wrong about hormone replacement for women?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

You know, I think there's definitely some geopolitical reasons for that, because the science was clear that even the oral estrogen, not an ideal form, was beneficial. And even back in early 1990s, from the Hearst trial, we knew that the progestin, a toxic form of progestin, not

[Dave Asprey]

progesterone, purified horse urine sold at high margins. Urine. Yeah. That's not, that's not bioidentical.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

It's, you know, there's over 30 estrogens.

[Dave Asprey]

Yeah. And so it was, it was just bizarre. And so they said that's bad for you. Therefore, the stuff that has always worked and it's been in most of my books. So how do you think about identical?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

And that's so important. And I really want to emphasize that because there's so much misinformation in the media. But way back in 2002, when the women's Health Initiative trial was released, I mean, I read the original research and I wrote, you know, wrote a newsletter about it to all my patients. And I can't think of any that decided to come off their hormones. I'm like, we are on bioidentical. We're on this realm we'll continue to follow because it takes more than hormones to fix our hormones. But we'll do this safely. And I recently, just this last weekend, we had our ribbon cutting ceremony for my warehouse, my mission driven warehouse in Brunswick, Georgia. Congratulations, square feet. Yep. Any prodding you get from us is delivered with love. Yeah, all women run. And so, but I had patients, I delivered their babies, you know, in the, you know, what, 26 years ago and 20 years ago, many years ago. Anyway, patients that were a long time, and they were like, thank you. Because, you know, I'm doing so much better than my friends who were never offered these options on, you Know that they kept on and stayed following the program and things like that. I mean, that makes a difference because, and that just touched me because sometimes you don't see the ripple effect you have on people's lives.

[Dave Asprey]

That's, that's so incredible. And women in their 60s now who took charge of their health and decided that they would look at science and have access to different opinions and decided they would stay on hormone replacement, they are so much better off than the women who just did what they were told. Right. So thanks for being one of the early voices just saying this matters.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Well, and thanks for talking about it because ultimately it's the individual's responsibility and we have done really good job in the medical system, let's say in our pharma and insurance based medical system, take away the power of women and men and you know, take away their power and say, oh, you need this, you don't need this. I'm the best judge of what you need. That is never the case. And that autonomy, that individual autonomy is so powerful and only through education and conversations like this can people make informed decisions.

[Dave Asprey]

It's true. And there's something that happens in all humans. We, we unconsciously give away that power and you find yourself thinking, oh, I can't do that. My doctor didn't say, my insurance company didn't say, my employer won't pay it. And the government says it's good or bad or whatever, well, who's your health daddy? Like, it's not any of it. It's not your boss, it's not your mom, it's not your. It's just you. And all those people, they work for you and they can tell you whatever their opinion is. But ultimately, if your body is screaming, don't do that, you might want to listen. And if you do something that makes you feel really good and there's evidence that there's a reason it's doing that, well, then keep doing it. And who cares if some guy in a white lab coat or a woman in a white lab coat says, no, you have to stop. No, you don't have to stop. And putting butter in coffee, you know, many doctors just hated on me for that. It works.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Yeah. And they're doing it now.

[Dave Asprey]

If they told, you know, slim fast now has butter and MCT in it, like, I hacked Slim fast. How funny is that? Yeah, I wouldn't recommend it. There's other crap in there. But like, they switched the formula to work better based on.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

That's interesting. About time, but still.

[Dave Asprey]

Yeah, for sure.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

But I Think if you choose to give your power away, you always have the option to get it back.

[Dave Asprey]

Right? Amen.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

And so that is so powerful because sometimes, and it's true, like, we just, you know, we have that opportunity, we have that choice. What is never okay is all the polypharma and I see this in patients all the time. And first goal, when a client comes in, I had someone in recently with 13 prescription medications and all, like, she just doesn't feel good. She can hardly have energy to do anything. I'm like, okay, you know what? All these medications are treating side effects of something else. So let's work to get off of this. But I've never seen a healthy, vibrant individual on Polypharma.

[Dave Asprey]

I take about eight pharmaceuticals for longevity. I'm microdosing them. And there are 12 pharmaceuticals that hit specific aging pathways that are associated with increases in longevity. Right. Including extending lifespan. Not just health Spanish. So I'm.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Are you including peptides in that? No, actual prescription drugs like metformin, Remdesivir,

[Dave Asprey]

Thomas Artin is one. Right? Yeah. So Thomas Hardin is a blood pressure drug, but it turns out it also stops tissue fibrosis. So you take a low dose of that stuff, not enough to lower your blood pressure. And there's studies on all this. So depending on genetics and all that, I'm not opposed to Polypharma or the many supplements I take, but it has to be understanding your goals and understanding your genetics and dialing it in. But I don't want to throw pharmaceuticals out the door because they're powerful. But I want to start with lifestyle and food and exercise and sleep and then put a bit of frosting on top.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Well, and recognizing is something you're taking causing a side effect.

[Dave Asprey]

That's the big one.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

That's the big one. That's when there's, this is when that becomes the problem. And often for women more so than men, that's just, oh, well, let's give you another medication for that. Well, now you're on a statin and a high blood pressure medicine and a medicine for indigestion. So now you need a antidepressant or anti anxiety medication. I mean, this is the cycle. And of course you need thyroid medicine and of course you need, I mean, these other things. But when we look at, okay, what are we doing? Why that's, that's the polypharma. That's not okay.

[Dave Asprey]

Correct.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

When we're using, when we're using, you know, even our own stem cells, when we're using peptides, when we're using nutrition lifestyle hacks. I mean, that's really important.

[Dave Asprey]

Yeah.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

And I was listening to your podcast. Was it Arthur?

[Dave Asprey]

Arthur Brooks, yeah. He's speaking at the biohacking conference. And so are you coming up here? Yeah, yeah, May 27th, this book, the.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

The Meaning of Life, or Life.

[Dave Asprey]

You know, I forget the name of the book, but yeah, Arthur Brooks is brilliant. Studying happiness, right?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Studying happiness. So I, I loved your podcast with him and one of the things he talked about was doing the Camino de Santiago and you' do I have.

[Dave Asprey]

Oh my gosh.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

And I thought that was really profound. And then I wanted to talk about another biohack because when we talk about all this pharmacy. Right. The best pharmacy in the world is the one within us. Right? This is true. So tapping into that, yes, we can take oxytocin, but we can make oxytocin. And the other thing. And you talk about this in your book, Heavily meditated. DMT is a great book, Dave, really great book. And thank you again for being on the cutting edge and making us think a lot further. But you talk about dmt. Yeah, so I did, I tried to do something spiritual and for me every year and I did the four Day dark retreat. Did I tell you about that?

[Dave Asprey]

No, it's been on my list for like 10 years. I never did about four days. But okay, how was it?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

So it was a fascinating because, okay, no phone, you're complete blackout. And now you're relying on your body to make whatever hormones. And so all of a sudden your brain's seeing light, right? So you're making high levels of melatonin, high levels of oxytocin. Many people, I mean it can affect people differently, but can come out with this incredible feeling of love and connection and high levels of dmt. So you're like, you're seeing, you're seeing vision, your brain's creating light. So just doing that shows you how powerful your body is in the absence of distractions.

[Dave Asprey]

Did you see like spiritual things? I did God and all that sort of stuff.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

I didn't see. I didn't see God. I had the most vivid dreams ever and maybe even like a past life recollection. Okay, I'll tell you a weird story. Is your audience okay with it?

[Dave Asprey]

They're totally okay.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

This is weird. So during this four, you know, four night dark retreat, I started having knee pain. So knee pain in my left knee. And, and so meditating. Then they say when you feel pain, pain will come up in the dark. Just release it, breathe into it, and finally I'm like, okay, what are you trying to tell me? So I see this vision of myself, Middle Ages, with this cloak, running, limping. And I go up to her, this vision of me, of whatever, and this woman. And I said, well, what's, you know, She's. I'm running because I'm a healer and they're trying to kill me. And so I look at her knee and there's a hook in it. So I take it to the. Take her to this inn, fix her knee, and that's it. And my knee pain went away. It was still like a little bit aching, but pretty much gone at that point. But when I got out of the retreat center, this is the Godwinks moment. Got out of the dark retreat, and I went into town because I wanted steak and eggs, because, you know, nothing for four days or vegetarian mush for four days. And so I get my steak and egg. I'm sitting outside an outside cafe. I've been there an hour. And then a guy comes up with all these herbs and leaves, and he has, oh, I have this in Spanish. I have this grapefruit for you, and it's good for your knee pain. Oh, wow. I'm sitting like you haven't seen me move. I'm not limping. I'm not anything. I mean, you look at me at my age, you think, oh, maybe shoulder pain, neck pain. But he points to my left knee and says, this root is good for your knee pain. So I thought that was. That was like a little bit weird

[Dave Asprey]

when people meditate or just go in any of these deep states. A lot of the altered states, it's routine to have experiences like that. And no one talks about it. But I'm happy that you're willing to talk about it on the show because, I mean, I've had past life experiences without any drugs, and they're. They're very clear when they happen. And you deal with breath work. But there's another experience that can bring you past lives in really heavy altered states. It was one of the chapters in heavily meditated. That kind of ties in with your work. And this is a serious question, even though it's kind of naughty. One of the studies I came across says that 20% of people report meeting God during orgasm at least once in their life. What's happening neurochemically?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Well, I think it has a lot to do with where you have your increase. Let me go back to thinking of what gland? The pineal gland. Right. The stimulation of the pineal gland. And this is like the Most activating command center for ecstasy, for that higher spiritual connection feeling. So being able to activate the pineal gland which will get calcified, you know, which will, you know, get fibrosed, et cetera. So it's important to do whatever you can meditation, health wise to keep it healthy. But the pineal gland, I think that that command center being able to increase oxytocin, dmt, these type of hormones. What did you find in your research?

[Dave Asprey]

Well, that research was just about people report it. But my understanding of why that happens, this happened in men and women is that this is especially when it's usually after eight or nine orgasms, right. Where, where there's a lot going on and, and men, if you're ejaculating every day, it's probably not going to happen. But there's a tightening at the pelvis and there's a rhythmic tightening that moves up the spinal cord and it creates a pressure wave in the spinal cord that goes up and basically Shakespeare the DMT out of the pineal gland.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Well, and that's like with the meditation, the pineal gland meditation are the blessings of your energy centers. Meditation, Joe Dispenza's work and that's in the chakra work right back to ancient contracting and trying and working to stimulate that pineal gland. And what's interesting is, you know, are those times when you combine that with fasting to really increase that ability to do that. And again, I don't with meditations I have not been able to stimulate my. To have that experience of ecstasy yet.

[Dave Asprey]

Including with breath work.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Yeah, I'm still, still working on it.

[Dave Asprey]

Really? Have you done a Dispenza retreat?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

I have three.

[Dave Asprey]

Wow. And you never once had a DMT activation?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

No.

[Dave Asprey]

Okay. Without getting too personal, had the bedroom experience of that?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Yes.

[Dave Asprey]

Okay, so you have experienced that?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

I have experienced that, yeah. Well, yeah. And also that type of like orgasmic meditation experience. Right. Being hematic or gasic meditation experience like

[Dave Asprey]

with Nicole Dayton and all.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Okay. Have you tried that?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Oh my gosh. I always wanted to be a stroker. It seemed like the best job on earth.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

You would be amazing.

[Dave Asprey]

And Nicole and the One Taste team used to come to the biohacking conferences very, very early days because it can be a little uncomfortable to talk about, but this is a really important drive in humans and it's tied to creation, like creation of life, creation of companies. So just acknowledging this is an important variable in how you, how much you love your life is your love life. And so we talk about it and

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

that piece of getting connected. Now, one taste got a little bit, like, cultish. And yeah, that was a problem. But the practice itself, I still teach that in my sexual CPR course because just to be able to reawaken that sensation, the nerve ending. So like, so orgasmic meditation. And Nicole Dayton's book Slow Sex, she describes it, but it's that light clitoral touch and also gives the voice and instruction to the woman. So it's a sexual practice, not sex, but gives the voice to the woman to say, I want lighter. You know, circle to the right, circle to the left. And you start learning to communicate what you like, paying close attention to what you feel. And. And for many people, they've never had that opportunity. And also to reawaken the nerve endings of the clitoris, because it can be from bicycle or trauma, childbirth or vibrator trauma that those can feel deadened. So to be able to reawaken and heighten that, it's a very valuable practice.

[Dave Asprey]

I learned yoni massage the last couple of years, which is the word yoni kind of makes me laugh. It's like, can we just, like, call it what it is? But if you have lots of beads and flowy skirts, it's a yoni. But these are very ancient techniques that are not about sex. But, you know, there probably will be an orgasm involved. But the amount of. Just if it's trauma release, physical release from, you know, not. Not the clitoris, but just. Just the sides, all the numb parts. Just when. When it's just like if someone does deep body work on your leg, you're like, ah. But no one ever seems to do deep body work in one of the most important regions.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Even the test for women doesn't get, you know, in other countries you will. But I think that's so important because the fascia, you know, as. Especially because we're now more sedentary, but between childbirth and that can create some fascial strictening. Now, especially as women age and we lose hormone fascia, which is another organization, gets tighter, less flexible. So continuing to massage. Lymphatics, lubricants, right? Like, you know, from the inside out. Healthy fats, healthy oils. This is so important for us. Low inflammation and stretching and massage and lymphatic massage can make a really big difference. I mean, pelvic health, vaginal health, bladder health, these are areas that are, you know, need to be talked about more and addressed. And there's no age limit.

[Dave Asprey]

Again, I love that you talked about the. The chest as part of that. The. The predominant Move in. Yoni massage is you start the abdomen and move your hands up between the breasts and then around the top and then back down and you just kind of do it rhythmically. And it's all the stuff you just said, but, you know, ancient Indian stuff and, or ancient tantric stuff. And then you're not even touching the yoni area for quite a while and already like there's altered states happening. Right. And then you eventually get there, but the hips are involved. And so it's like a whole body practice. And it's not about having sex at all. It's. It's like a healing thing. But I was really blown away to just see how, how relaxed and how deepening that is because, like right here, no one ever works the tissues on the sternum and in men or women. And it's, it's. It's a place where it's right in like your Dante's right in here. Like, you gotta, you gotta let those fascia tissues go so well.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

An energy center. Right. So our four chakra. That's fascinating. I know you always give me a to do list. Now I've gotta experience yoni massage.

[Dave Asprey]

I will introduce you to by the best person, Austin, if you, if you'd like. She's, she's very, very good at teaching you guys. We get along excellent. So. And I would say her name, but I don't know if she's. If she wants me to say her name. So I'm not going to just because I want to have her. Her permission. As, you know, sometimes people who are in that field can be persecuted. Even though she's not a sex worker at all. She's just teaching this.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Yeah, well, and I think it's so important to understand because they're safe. Like, you want to experience something with a safe person versus going on and porn and whatever, you know, deviate. You know, you want to be safe, ethical and conscientious. Your body's designed for pleasure and just from the functional, structural and energetic aspects of our body moving those channels. I mean, so many times disease is because we're stuck in a certain area. Energy is stuck in a certain. I'm a scientist. Like, I'm a scientist. I'm a published scientist. I did research. And even all these things I experience, whether it's, you know, it's fascinating for me, for example, the dark retreat. I want to understand the science behind what is happening. What is the pharmacokinetics as well, you know, being beyond behind this because, you know, that's Very interesting. Makes me curious, but I really want to understand what's happening or am I making this up? And sometimes some things are fun just to make up, but really there's so much science and understanding and sometimes it is traditional. Traditional wisdom. We have to look into other practices and other philosophies to understand or to hear. Okay, yes. This isn't just. This isn't something new. This has been something that was implemented by monks thousands of years ago. Part of this retreating. I mean, even if you think of Noah in the Bible, you know, post the ark went into complete solitarity, solitary confinement, basically in a cave. So completely dark. Sensory deprivation in order to, I guess regain his humanity again. So I don't know. That's awful. For Unicave was not in a cave, but had been. It was a. It was a red brick shelter.

[Dave Asprey]

Okay, I was just asking. I am. I fasted in the cave for four days, but it wasn't a darkness retreat. It was just all by myself. And I was heavily. No, that was fastest way. I wrote about that in that book. It was the first time I did a long fast, kind of more of a spiritual fast versus an intermittent fasting and get shit done. I've noticed a pattern in the last maybe two years. And this could be the. The gift of. Of COVID is a lot of really well credentialed medical doctors from big schools are willing to talk about a darkness retreat or talk about the. The spiritual and energetic side or energy centers. And so thanks for being willing to put it out there because I think there's a lot of fear that if I talk about stuff that I see in my practice all the time and that I practice on myself, if I talk about it in public, somehow it's going to be. Make you less credible. I think in the eyes of certainly our listeners, it makes you more credible.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Well, I think what I've seen over time now we have the benefit of our voice being able to be amplified. Because when I started out in medicine and I'm delivering babies in the dark to keep their nervous system calmed down and I'm using hormones and supplements despite the black box warnings. Right? There's a lot of criticism. There's a lot of criticism. It's been over 20 years now and people are like, oh, teach us what you're doing. Right? And so the reason I'm curious, I know I'm intuitive and this is important information that oftentimes women are like, I felt better on this, but then it was taken away from me. I'm like, you have a say, you demand for your health, and you find someone who's willing to work with you again, everything has to go, you know, you have to do it safely. But the same thing, women trust, you know, have been made to distrust their intuition. And I want them to trust it. I want them to listen to their calling, to find their voice to be part of this greater compassion, this higher vibration. And we can't do that if we're consistently not using our voice. I think that's part of all the thyroid disease too. And that definitely will work on thyroid in many ways. But I want you to speak your truth.

[Dave Asprey]

You mentioned that you're intuitive. And most of the really good healers that I've worked with are not running spreadsheets in their head. They're running intuition. Where do you think it comes from?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

I was raised in a way to that recognized when, you know, I felt something, said something, it was acknowledged and appreciated. Like, I thought everyone could tell who was calling before they answered the phone. Right. Like, I thought that was normal. I thought, you know, my mom, for instance, knew that her brother had died before she ever got the phone call. So the spirit visited me. I thought that was normal. And I grew up in a strong faith practice. I'm Catholic from, you know, hundreds. Palestinian Catholic from hundreds of years. Right. So I grew up in a strong faith practice and family. So I think that was, I don't know, that was part of it.

[Dave Asprey]

It was just normal for you growing up. It was normal raising our kids to acknowledge intuition as something that's real versus something to be made fun of.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Right. Like when I would say to people now, like when you're. When my granddaughter says something, I listen, you know, I'm like, you know, okay, well, is this, you know, where, where, you know, I'm curious, where is this coming from? Where did you, you know, where are you feeling about this? And you know, it's fascinating kids will to not stagnate them, to allow them. What did Einstein say? Creativity is better than our imagination is more important than intelligence.

[Dave Asprey]

Yeah, right. I think the second part was. But it's nice to have both.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Yeah, it's true.

[Dave Asprey]

I've noticed that women on average are more intuitive than men. Would you agree with that?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

I think so, yes.

[Dave Asprey]

Okay. I think I know why.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Why?

[Dave Asprey]

And it has to do with parts of your profession. So in my little corner of reality, we interact with the quantum field. Now some people will say, oh, you're going to get. No, I'm not talking about woo woo, quantum potatoes. I'M talking about hardcore physics, the kind of physics that lets quantum computing chips work like this is real. You just don't see quantum with your eyeballs, and neither do I. In fact, it's very hard to sense the parts of our physiology that they were called microtubules. And I look at these, like little antennas, like the SETI dishes, an array of, of these things. And you say, well, what aims the antenna dishes? Well, at the base of every microtubule, there's an unusual concentration of mitochondria. The mitochondria are the frontline intelligence, observing reality. And they aim these dumb little antenna things around going, what the heck is going on in the world? Not the world we see, but the world that they're processing. The world that's stripped away because our brains couldn't process a quantum reality because we would be kind of dysfunctional. Then I say, where do we have the most mitochondria? Weird. In our brains and hearts. So where do we feel things? Right. In our brains, Hearts. But that's about 15,000 mitochondria in, in the cells there and a couple hundred to a thousand everywhere else. But in women, ovaries. 600,000 in your ovaries. And I truly think that female intuition is different. Men do have intuition, but it's very different and it's very powerful. And it's because, well, your ovaries are scanning the world going, I need to know a lot about it because I have to decide which egg to drop. Right? So they're going to send you a signal more than men. I, I really, truly think that's why women, on average, have more intuition. That's why I trust the intuitive women in my life. When they tell me something, I'm like, that sounds dumb. But if three intuitive women tell me the same thing, I don't care if it sounds dumb. That's my problem, not their problem.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Right.

[Dave Asprey]

And I'll listen. It took me a while to get that lesson. And I also have my own intuition, but it's, it doesn't process the same way.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Interesting.

[Dave Asprey]

And what I've noticed, and this is where I'm stuck, so your ovaries become less active, and then you go through perimenopause, and then they're not active. But intuition remains. The mitochondria remain. But I know women who don't have their ovaries who are still very intuitive. And it could just be that it's in their entire field. But that's the one little thing that might argue against it.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

No, I think because there's the energetic. Just if someone lost their leg, you have the phantom leg. Right. You know, after hysterectomy and ovaries remove, women may still feel cramps. Right. Where is that coming from? So energy never dies.

[Dave Asprey]

Right. In the field.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

It's in the field. It's absolutely in the field. What took it there, what happened? And then also, if we never. As a gynecologist, if the reason I'm doing a hysterectomy or removing someone's ovaries very. I haven't done that in, in decades now. Empower the body to heal itself. But if I was doing that, I would look at. Okay, what's causing this problem to begin with? Because if we take out the uterus, take out the ovaries, and never address what caused the problem, what caused the fibroids or the endometriosis or the cystic. If we never address that, then it's going to manifest some route. Right. That makes sense. So you have to. Even if you have these procedures. And one of the other things I want to tell you, because we talk about oxytocin and oxytocin receptors are all over our body. So we have oxytocin receptors in our skin. And we produce, you know, in our heart as well as in our placenta, in our uterus and our ovaries and testes. In men, there are oxytocin receptors in our brain, certainly, but that also the heart produces oxytocin. And so the other areas besides the brain, we make oxytocin in our heart too.

[Dave Asprey]

Oh, wow.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

So it's an ult, you know, it's the ultimate intelligent organization, you know, organ. And also vagal nerve. Why it's important. Now I'm so excited to hear more vagal nerve conversations. Improve vagal tone, Improve your vagal nerve. Because in that way also we are able to increase our oxytocin production, decreased cortisol production. So vagal tone is important. But in the case and really studying this lately is the broken heart syndrome.

[Dave Asprey]

Oh, I did an episode about that.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Did you?

[Dave Asprey]

Author of a book about it. Oh, my gosh. Tell me more.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Okay, so no, but it's very interesting because when I had, when I lost our son, I, I, you know, you hear I had pain in my heart.

[Dave Asprey]

Yeah.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

And so that always stuck with me because, you know, you. We say things like, I have a broken heart. Like, absolutely, a broken heart. So what is this then? Broken heart syndrome. And a couple years ago, Cause I was, you know, feeling. So it's no it's been 20 years since I lost my son. But a few years ago, I, you know, was feeling like, okay, I need to do a cardio workup. And I had markers nt probnp that was quite elevated, surprisingly, considering how otherwise healthy and everything else I am. And so that's, you know, can be a marker. And that's the question I want to ask a specialist in this area. That's a marker of broken heart syndrome because it creates like a congestive heart failure type feeling a broken heart.

[Dave Asprey]

Yeah, that was pretty much what we talked about in the episode. In that episode, there was a woman who experienced this. She actually had a heart attack after a bad breakout. It's like, what happened? And she goes through all the research and all the things, yeah, emotional pain is. It's real, it's in the body, and it can happen. This is why processing grief and just understanding it's. It's in the body. I mean, it's really important. And if you're into longevity and biohacking, you probably are because you're listening to the show or just consciousness thinking your way through pain doesn't work very well because it's not in your head.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Right, right.

[Dave Asprey]

Yeah. So what did you do when you had these high levels of cardiac risk?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

So. Well, definitely it's recognizing that there's more to be done. Right. So, of course, there's my supplement. So, you know, fan of Arteracil and Vascanox from Kyroy. Love the vascular fan of those. So added those onto my regimen regularly. More cardiac work. So, you know, weighted fast health, you know, brisker pace, occasional jogging. I hate cardio. And so working on doing some more of that. And high intensity interval training. Always CoQ10 and Carnitine. Because I also know my, my genetics. So CoQ10 and carnitine. Absolutely. Omegas. And so to increase nitric oxide too, increase my mighty Maca supplement and the polyphenols to add more polyphenols into it. So that really helped. And yeah, my markers went down by 90%.

[Dave Asprey]

And how long?

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

A year.

[Dave Asprey]

Wow.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

So a year.

[Dave Asprey]

It's entirely, entirely doable. And a lot of people, oh, no, I have high. Whatever. It's a dust. No. If the check engine light comes on in your car, you don't have to pull over and panic.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Yeah, right.

[Dave Asprey]

You're like, all right, I need to work on this. And if it starts flashing and says there's smoke coming out of the hood, then you don't need to panic, but you need to stop right then and Most of these things are just, it's a warning. So then I, I'm going to address it. You figure out how serious it is. But if you, if you get worried and panic and lose sleep, it doesn't work either.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

It works against you.

[Dave Asprey]

Yeah.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

And then the things that we know to do to increase oxytocin. Right. To focus on the things that matter most and simplify life. Cleaning up our, you know, energetic spaces, our home environment. Like I interviewed Marie diamond on her your life as your vision work. She's hysterical. But now my house is really organized and clean.

[Dave Asprey]

Oh my gosh.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

And do all that. It makes a difference in turn. Like your external environment can affect your internal environment and so. And vice versa. So paying attention to those things can make a difference. When I think of patients, when I work with patients, especially with complex medical illnesses, you know, one of the. And they've had, you know, toxic issues. Sometimes you can't get well in the same environment you got sick in. Right? Yeah. So you have to pay attention to that because it does make a difference.

[Dave Asprey]

I've seen more than a few people who just won't let go of metals or toxins with binders and then they have a profound healing experience, whether it's neurofeedback, 40 years Zen kind of things, or breath work, or it could be a psychedelic journey or just good emvr and suddenly their pee is full of mercury. Like their body wasn't ready to let go until the person let go. Right. And then suddenly detox works again.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

It's fascinating. It's fascinating. And I think when it comes, you know, I'm going to circle back to women in menopause and beyond menopause. It's the, the hormonal therapies. Right. Being able to use hormonal therapies, but remembering takes more than hormones to fix our hormones and to be really an advocate for your own hormonal balance. Right. So nutrition, detox, heavy metal clearing, you know, things that can disrupt our hormones and monitor FSH levels, you know, post menopause, that's something that's not being done in medical practices, but it really needs to be as a guide to see, okay, are we, you know, are we at healthy levels or what's going on?

[Dave Asprey]

I love it that you're bringing up this advanced stuff. So if you're listening, FSH is a follicle stimulating hormone. And this is something that men and women have. And for guys it makes us create sperm and for them it makes you get ready to release an egg and you're not releasing eggs if you're in menopause. But studies in men and women have shown that low levels of FSH are an independent risk factor for all cause mortality and other high levels of oh, high, high, low or high.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

So I've seen low or high, but high because for reap, like when we're looking at cycle day two perimenopause or premenopause, we want FSH to be below 10.

[Dave Asprey]

Oh, interesting. So below 10, there's a, there's a, it's kind of like cortisol. Not high, not low. Because I know low like 0fsh is

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

not good, not good, not good. Then you know, you have a imbalance in the HPA axis. But as we get towards menopause, FSH goes high and high levels are neuroinflammatory. Oh, so maybe a contra. You know, we get brain loss and bone loss with high levels of FSH. But often, Dr. Women are told, and this is why I wanted to bring up to your audience is that, you know, advocate to get these, to get this testing because you could be on your patch and your progesterone pill and your FSH still be in the hundreds and that is causing brain loss and bone loss. And it could be high not because of, not enough hormones. It could be high because of inflammation in your body or MPAs or histamine. So, you know, so really as we start to learn and more physicians are coming on board and more patients are using hormonal therapy, better ways to monitor post postmenopausal hormone therapy is going to be very important.

[Dave Asprey]

Wow. It feels like we're just cracking, cracking the beginning of this new book because we have AI, we have lab testing and we have people like you who are willing to ask the really difficult questions and do things that were kind of impossible without a lot of compute power to go. You know what? I have this intuition. Let's check it out. And you realize, oh, that's real. And then you address it at whatever level. Whether your patient meditate or you tell them to increase progesterone like you, you can actually finally do it.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Yeah. Well, Dr. Anna Kabeca, who is@doctor Anna.com, thank you for just your tireless work. I mean it, it's. There aren't a lot of triple board certified anythings and you've, you've been on this path for so long and helped many, many people. So thanks for sharing your wisdom on the show.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

My pleasure. Thank you for having me.

[Dave Asprey]

Of course, if you go to dranna.com tribe she will send you some free jalva.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

Yes.

[Dave Asprey]

See you next time on the Human Upgrade Podcast.

[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

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[Dave Asprey]

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[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

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[Dave Asprey]

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[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

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[Dave Asprey]

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[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

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[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

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[Dave Asprey]

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[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

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[Dave Asprey]

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[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

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[Dave Asprey]

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[Dr. Anna Kabeca]

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