The scientific community has long overlooked women's health. So just how big is this knowledge gap, and how is it affecting women’s health today? Thanks to Rainbow Light for sponsoring this episode. Editor's Note: At Seeker, we recognize that people of many genders and identities have vaginas and uteruses, and are affected by the topics that fall into women’s health. For this first episode, we interviewed experts who generally referred to people with vaginas and uteruses as women. » Subscribe to Seeker! http://bit.ly/subscribeseeker (then hit the little 🔔 icon and select "all.") » Visit our shop at http://shop.seeker.com This is Body Language, where we’re gonna talk about all the stuff the world usually tells us not to. I mean, we know so little about female reproductive systems in the first place that when things seem a little off, issues like ovarian, uterine, cervical cancer, can go undiagnosed for way longer than they would if we like...actually understood what ‘normal’ is supposed to be. There’s a gap between our common understanding of ‘health’, and what that means for bodies that aren’t, well…male. When we talk to you about the difference between women and men, it's not just the cells in our body and how our organs interact with each other or how our systems work together within our bodies, but it's also about how we experience the environment. The more data we have, the more we’ll understand about all these essential questions, like what kind of birth control do you need, how is it going to affect your specific body, or how can you better understand your own menstrual cycle to take more control of your health? So in this new series I hope we can all get a little more comfy with asking some of those questions, and I’m so excited that you’re along for the ride as we explore the answers we do have, and highlight the places that need more. Our bodies are awesome. And I hope you think so too. #womenshealth #healthgap #health #wellness #seeker Read More: Why Is Endometriosis So Poorly Understood? The Gender Health Gap May Explain https://www.endofound.org/why-is-endometriosis-so-poorly-understood-the-gender-health-gap-may-explain “Studies have found that women are less likely to feel listened to and taken seriously, and are assumed to have a higher pain threshold. One of the main side effects of endometriosis is chronic pain...not having their pain believed can be particularly harmful.” ‘It’s infuriating and shocking’: how medicine has failed women over time https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jun/08/unwell-women-elinor-cleghorn-book “...the legacy of disenfranchisement and discrimination persists even today, resulting in the underrepresentation of women in medical trials, prevailing ideas that women’s pain is psychological or emotional, and an inadequate, at times hostile system that’s more likely to offer women antidepressants and tranquilizers than referral for further diagnosis and more targeted care.” The Gender Health Gap Is Seriously Impacting Reproductive Healthcare, Suggests New Study https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicebroster/2021/04/29/the-gender-health-gap-is-seriously-impacting-reproductive-health-suggests-new-study/?sh=179dc2a21ad0 “Going to your doctor about intimate health issues can be nerve-wracking but a recent study has highlighted that women, trans men and non-binary people with gyne organs are five times more likely to feel not listened to when seeking medical help for their reproductive health.” ___________________ Body Language is Seeker’s latest series diving into the world of women’s health, and their bodies. For so long, the medical field only used men to conduct research, creating a gap in terms of what we know about women’s bodies. So in this series, we'll be talking to experts to get a better understanding of some of these issues, and what we actually know about them. So join us as we discover how incredibly cool the female body is and how much more we still have to learn about it. Seeker empowers the curious to understand the science shaping our world. We tell award-winning stories about the natural forces and groundbreaking innovations that impact our lives, our planet, and our universe. Visit the Seeker website https://www.seeker.com/videos Subscribe now! http://www.youtube.com/subscription_c... Seeker on Twitter http://twitter.com/seeker Seeker on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SeekerMedia/ Seeker http://www.seeker.com/

Millions of people around the world take birth control for many different reasons. So, how exactly does birth control work? » Subscribe to Seeker! http://bit.ly/subscribeseeker (then hit the little 🔔 icon and select "all.") » Watch more Body Language! http://bit.ly/BodyLanguagePlaylist » Visit our shop at http://shop.seeker.com When I first started taking birth control at 17, it actually wasn’t to avoid pregnancy…it was to treat my acne. But as I grew up, started using the pill as a contraceptive, and became a scientist myself, I started asking more questions about what exactly the pill is doing in our bodies. Because not only do I take it, but millions of people around the world do too. Now, there are a ton of different methods of birth control out there. We’ve got the hormonal ones, like the pill, IUDs, shots and implants, to physical barriers like condoms and diaphragms. The list of choices is growing and frankly, it’s kinda overwhelming. So I figured we could focus on two of the most popular ones: the pill and the hormonal IUD, both of which have a myriad of interesting effects on the bodies of people who menstruate…some of which we’re still figuring out. #womenshealth #birthcontrol #thepill #IUD #wellness #seeker Read More: Reversible Birth Control Can’t Cause Infertility or Affect Future Pregnancy https://www.healthline.com/health/birth-control/can-birth-control-cause-infertility “But, due to the delayed fertility of some modern methods, some people still believe that today’s contraceptives can lead to infertility.” Why Don’t We Have Birth Control For Men? https://interestingengineering.com/why-dont-we-have-birth-control-for-men “Another promising product was announced in 2020. UC Davis Health in Sacramento, California asked for participants to join phase two of clinical studies for a gel-based form of male contraception. A small amount of the gel is placed on the shoulder every day.” A Vaccine Side Effect Leaves Women Wondering: Why Isn’t the Pill Safer? https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/30/health/coronavirus-vaccine-birth-control-clots.html “The comparison was intended to reassure women of the vaccine’s safety. Instead it has stoked anger in some quarters – not about the pause, but about the fact that most contraceptives available to women are hundreds of times riskier; and yet safer alternatives are not in sight.” Editor's Note: At Seeker, we recognized that people of many genders and identities have vaginas and uteruses, and are affected by the topics that fall into women’s health. Body Language is Seeker’s latest series diving into the world of women’s health, and their bodies. For so long, the medical field only used men to conduct research, creating a gap in terms of what we know about women’s bodies. So in this series, we'll be talking to experts to get a better understanding of some of these issues, and what we actually know about them. So join us as we discover how incredibly cool the female body is and how much more we still have to learn about it.

Today, you don’t need to be photoshopped for a magazine or airbrushed for a billboard to alter your appearance—with digital photo filters and editing apps, a new face is just one click away. So, experts are asking what effects that can have on people with BDD, a condition in which people think there’s something wrong with their physical appearance. » Subscribe to Seeker! http://bit.ly/subscribeseeker (then hit the little 🔔 icon and select "all.") » Watch more Body Language! http://bit.ly/BodyLanguagePlaylist » Visit our shop at http://shop.seeker.com You can completely alter your online image from the one staring back at you in the mirror. But that disconnect, the gap between real flesh and blood human to modified, idealized online persona, is starting to have an effect on how we see ourselves. And researchers are asking more questions about what these digital manipulations are doing to our perception of our bodies and self-image IRL. A growing number of studies show that social media can have a measurable negative impact on body image and self esteem. Some studies suggest that scrolling through altered photos, videos, and filters on social media feeds has also been found to be a trigger for more serious mental health conditions like anorexia, bulimia and body dysmorphic disorder. Body dysmorphic disorder, BDD, is a condition in which people think there's something very wrong with their physical appearance. People with BDD obsess about these perceived imperfections. It's not just a fleeting thought, or a few minutes a day. They think about it and worry about it a lot, typically between three and eight hours a day. And unfortunately, there’ve only been a handful of nationwide studies into how common BDD is in the general population. But these early studies reveal startling numbers--it’s estimated that BDD affects close to 2 to 3 percent of the population, that’s somewhere between 5 to 10 million people in the U.S. alone. #womenshealth #BDD #bodydysmorphicdisorder #wellness #seeker Resources: https://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/body-dysmorphic-disorder/resources https://bdd.iocdf.org/ Read more: The complicated truth about social media and body image https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190311-how-social-media-affects-body-image That being said, using social media does appear to be correlated with body image concerns. A systematic review of 20 papers published in 2016 found that photo-based activities, like scrolling through Instagram or posting pictures of yourself, were a particular problem when it came to negative thoughts about your body. Conformity to masculine norms and symptom severity among men diagnosed with muscle dysmorphia vs. body dysmorphic disorder https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0237651 One BDD subtype is muscle dysmorphia (MD). There are limited data on the prevalence of MD; however, one study found 22% of men diagnosed with BDD met criteria for MD [9]. MD is described as a preoccupation with the thought that one is not muscular enough, coupled with a pervasive fear of muscle loss [8]. Isolation, Zoom calls amid coronavirus worsen body dysmorphic disorder symptoms for some https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/body-dysmorphic-disorder-tk-n1235481 Amal and Joseph’s shared diagnosis also foregrounds what is perhaps one of the most misunderstood aspects of BDD: It is a spectrum disorder, meaning that although people who experience it can share feelings of shame, self-loathing and emotional distress over nonexistent or minimal defects, their BDD can manifest to different degrees. ___________________ Editor's Note: At Seeker, we recognized that people of many genders and identities have vaginas and uteruses, and are affected by the topics that fall into women’s health. For this episode, we interviewed experts who generally referred to people with vaginas and uteruses as women. Body Language is Seeker’s latest series diving into the world of women’s health, and their bodies. For so long, the medical field only used men to conduct research, creating a gap in terms of what we know about women’s bodies. So in this series, we'll be talking to experts to get a better understanding of some of these issues, and what we actually know about them. So join us as we discover how incredibly cool the female body is and how much more we still have to learn about it.

Cancer and cancer treatment take a major toll on a patient's health, including their fertility. Luckily, fertility preservation techniques are ever-evolving, and there are lots of options for people with cancer to reduce the risk of infertility. » Subscribe to Seeker! http://bit.ly/subscribeseeker » Watch more Body Language! http://bit.ly/BodyLanguagePlaylist » Visit our shop at http://shop.seeker.com » Sign Up for Seeker's Newsletter! https://www.seeker.com/newsletters To learn more about The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, check out these resources: · Donating at LLS.ORG(https://bit.ly/3HJOh1J) to help more patients and families. · Learning more about blood cancers and LLS’s free education and support at www.lls.org (https://bit.ly/3HJOh1J). · Becoming an advocate(https://bit.ly/3n7Oh3P) or exploring volunteer opportunities (​​https://bit.ly/3HLrwdO). · No matter how you choose to get involved, you’ll help blood cancer patients receive the best treatments and support possible. When we say chemotherapy, that actually means any drug used to treat any kind of illness, but in the context of cancer treatment, these are drugs that are targeted to eradicate cancer cells. And these drugs may not only affect active eggs but can also degrade the backup pool that’s stored in the ovaries for future ovulation. Radiation in the pelvic area can also directly harm your eggs. And any destruction of hormone-regulating parts of the body, like the ovaries, can trigger some pretty drastic changes, including the onset of menopause-like symptoms before age 40. For male reproductive equipment—chemotherapy can damage sperm and sperm-generating parts of the body, so before treatment, he needed to consult a fertility specialist. For those with testes, that means deciding whether you want to collect and store a sperm sample. #bodylanguage #wellness #seeker #fertility #cancer #health Read more: Fertility https://www.lls.org/managing-your-cancer/fertility The term “fertility” is used to describe the ability to conceive a child naturally. Some cancer treatments affect fertility in males and females. The risk of infertility from cancer treatment is based on several factors, including the patient’s age and the type and dosage of treatment received. Preserving Fertility in Adolescent and Young Adult Women with Cancer https://www.curetoday.com/view/preserving-fertility-in-adolescent-and-young-adult-women-with-cancer But there’s still a lot of work to be done in oncofertility, a term coined in 2006 to bring the fields of oncology and fertility medicine together to help children, adolescents and young adults who have cancer. That same year, the American Society of Clinical Oncology issued guidelines urging oncologists to discuss the possibility of infertility as a cancer treatment side effect and to refer patients to fertility specialists when needed. Three years later, a national survey found that fewer than 50% of people with childhood and gynecologic cancers were aware of these infertility risks. Ovarian transplant technique extends fertility in cancer patients https://news.yale.edu/2021/11/17/ovarian-transplant-technique-extends-fertility-cancer-patients With this method, ovarian tissue is removed from the patient, frozen until their cancer treatment is complete and then retransplanted, providing a new “window” of fertility and a chance at conception. The procedure, known as ACOTT (autologous cryopreserved ovarian tissue transplantation), has continued to evolve. Editor’s Note: At Seeker, we recognize that people of many genders and identities have vaginas and uteruses, and are affected by the topics covered in Body Language: not only women. Where gendered language does appear is in reference to specific language used within the scientific studies cited. ___________________ Body Language is Seeker’s latest series diving into the world of female health. For so long, the medical field only used male bodies to conduct research, creating a gap in terms of what we currently know about female bodies. In this series, we'll be talking to experts to get a better understanding of some of these issues, and we discover how incredibly cool the female body is and how much more we still have to learn about it. Seeker empowers the curious to understand the science shaping our world. We tell award-winning stories about the natural forces and groundbreaking innovations that impact our lives, our planet, and our universe. Visit the Seeker website https://www.seeker.com/videos Subscribe now! http://www.youtube.com/subscription_c... Seeker on Twitter http://twitter.com/seeker Seeker on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SeekerMedia/ Seeker http://www.seeker.com/ Thanks to Maren Hunsberger for hosting this episode of Body Language. Follow Maren here: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marenhunsberger/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marenhunsberger YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MarenHunsberger