Why Didn't Anyone Tell Me This‪?‬ Joyce Harper

Tessa is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the University of Sydney School of Public Health. Her research focuses on the psychosocial impacts of disease labels, overdiagnosis and evidence-based reproductive healthcare for women. Her PhD research examined the benefits and harms of a polycystic ovary syndrome diagnosis, and this research has been published in high impact journals in the field. In this episode Tessa explains what women’s health tech and Femtech are, and ideally how they should be developed, with a basis on evidence-based medicine. Health tech companies probably have two aims – to improve health and to make money but maybe along the way, they get hijacked by making money. There is a saying that health tech fakes it until they can make it. Which is what happened with Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos, who is now in prison for fraud. Tessa explains that regulation of tech is inadequate, and it may confirm that a test is testing what it says it is, but it does not mean that the test is of any use to the public. With social media and celebrities endorsing health tech, it makes it difficult for people to know what will be valid. But does it matter – surely health tech does no harm, except on the wallet? Tessa explains that it can do harm, using the example of Anti Mullerian Hormone (AMH) testing. Tessa discusses her recent paper titled Marketing empowerment: how corporations co-opt feminist narratives to promote non-evidence based health interventions. We also discuss period tracker apps, IVF add-ons and menopause. Will anyone take any notice of research such as Tessa’s, or will marketing take over allowing unproven health tech to thrive? 
Transcription link: www.joyceharper.com/podcasts
 Date of episode recording: 2024-04-11T00:00:00Z Duration: 00.56.49 Presenter: Joyce Harper Guests: Dr Tessa Copp Producer: Joyce Harper 

Dame Lesley Regan is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Imperial College, St Mary’s Hospital, London. Having graduated from the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London in 1980, Professor Regan pursued her career at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, where she first became enthused by clinical & laboratory research, completing an MD on miscarriage, the commonest complication of pregnancy. She went on to set up the world’s largest recurrent miscarriage clinic at St Mary’s. Professor Regan was the 30th President (2016-2019) of the RCOG, during which time she co-chaired the national Women’s Health Task Force and published the RCOG Better for Women report which highlighted the need for an NHS led women’s health strategy. Lesley was awarded a DBE for her services to women’s health in the 2020 New Year’s Honours List. She was appointed chair of the WoW charity in October 2020 and became the first ever Women’s Health Ambassador for England in July 2022, to help implementation of the Government’s recently launched Women's Health Strategy to improve the health and wellbeing of girls and women nationally. 
In this episode we discuss some of the key topics in women’s health as Lesley’s interests span from the cradle to the grave. As well as her pioneering work on miscarriage, Lesley has been helping women with menstrual issues, fertility and infertility and menopause. She has been trying to deal with the many obstacles and myths around women’s health. In 2009 she presented a TV series called Professor Regan Investigates looking into how some companies use science to sell. This issue is even more important now, as women’s health tech has become a booming industry. Through her work, education has been key for Lesley to ensure all women lead their best and healthiest lives. 
 Date of episode recording: 2024-03-15T00:00:00Z Duration: 01.14.35 Language of episode: English Presenter: Joyce Harper Guests: Professor Dame Lesley Regan Producer: Joyce Harper 

Lavina Mehta, MBE, is an award winning personal trainer, wellness coach, mum of 3, was awarded an MBE in 2020 for her work in health and fitness over the pandemic and she is on a mission to help all ages feel good physically and mentally. Her slogan is Exercise for sanity not vanity. She has also done a great TED talk in a school to encourage young people to exercise. And is a patron of menopause mandate and an ambassador for diabetes UK, the Alzheimer’s society and Wellbeing of Women. The Feel Good Fix by Lavina Mehta is publishing on 30th May 2024 and is available for pre-order now (Penguin Life, £16.99) Follow Lavina on social media: @feelgoodwithlavina Lavina has not always been into exercising. She was the arty kid at school and had a very successful career in the corporate world. But over recent years she has been doing a huge amount of work to encourage everyone to exercise – exercise snacking whenever they can: whilst cleaning your teeth, cooking, on an aeroplane. Her work has also taken her into schools to talk about how exercising can help reduce mental health. Of course we talked about the importance of exercising during the perimenopause and beyond. And the importance of exercising outside, with friends. We can all do this – exercise snacking works and helps lead us to the Feel Good Fix. 
 Date of episode recording: 2024-02-20T00:00:00Z Duration: 00:47:44 Language of episode: English Presenter: Joyce Harper Guests: Lavina Mehta. MBE Producer: Joyce Harper Transcription link: www.joyceharper.com/podcasts

Mike Tipton, MBE, PhD, MSc, FTPS is Professor of Human & Applied Physiology, In the Extreme Environments Laboratory, School of Sport Health & Exercise Science, University of Portsmouth, UK. Mike has worked at the University of Surrey and University of Portsmouth. In addition, he was based at the Institute of Naval Medicine (INM) from 1983 to 2004 and was Consultant Head of the Environmental Medicine Division of the INM from 1996. He has published over 800 scientific papers, reports, chapters, abstracts and books in his research areas of drowning, thermoregulation, environmental and occupational physiology, and survival in the sea. He is an honorary life member of Surf Lifesaving GB and was a Trustee/Director for ten years, he is a member of the Council of the RNLI as well as a Consultant to the Medical Director of the RNLI. He has been a consultant in survival and thermal medicine to the Royal Air Force, UKSport and the English Institute of Sport (EIS). He chaired UKSport’s Research Advisory Group and sat on the EIS Scientific and Ethics Advisory Group. He sits on the QinetiQ ethics committee. Prof Tipton as edited several scientific journals including The Physiological Society’s “Experimental Physiology”. Mike is a visiting Professor at King’s College, London, and an Adjunct Professor at Waterford Institute of Technology. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and The Physiological Society. He was awarded his MBE for services to physiological research in extreme environments; the Ireland Medal for saving lives from drowning worldwide; and the H&L Swiftwater rescue lifetime achievement award from the USA. 
Why do people swim in cold water – and what are the benefits and dangers? Mike explains what happens to our body when we immerse ourselves in cold water and if this is good for our health. It can make us ill and even cause death. He gives important tips for those who are thinking of starting. As always there are many myths. Cold water swimmers religiously drink a hot drink after swimming. Mike says it is a myth that it is warming us up. And eating cake is lovely, but we do not need it! And the best way to warm up after cold water swimming? A warm bath or sauna. We discuss our latest research on cold water swimming and menstrual and menopause symptoms. And what’s it like training for Ironman when you are in your mid 60s! 
 Date of episode recording: 2024-02-23T00:00:00Z Duration: 01:08:20 Language of episode: English Presenter: Joyce Harper Guests: Professor Mike Tipton Producer: Joyce Harper Transcription link: www.joyceharper.com/podcasts

Philippa is a GP, author, journalist and mother. She is a Londoner and only moved away for three years while studying at Downing College Cambridge, before returning to Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’ medical school for her clinical training. Once qualified she started having babies all in the midst of training in paediatrics, gynaecology, care of the elderly and acute medicine, psychiatry and then general practice. She now works as a GP in both privately and for the NHS, before running home to the chaos of a house with a husband and three children. She is the author of 8 books, including: Doctors Get Cancer Too is her memoir of being 39 years old, a busy doctor and mother when she was diagnosed with bowel cancer and was an Amazon bestseller, and The M Word: Everything you need to know about the menopause which reached number 2 in the Amazon charts. Breasts: An Owner’s Guide was released in 2023. She is the medical expert for Woman, Woman & Home, That’s Life and My Weekly Special magazines and regularly contributes to the print and online press as well as having a role as the Ann Summers sexual health GP. She is regularly seen on the sofa on television on This Morning, Talk TV and various news programmes on both radio and television. Below is a link to Dr Philippa explaining what happens during cervical screening, a smear test. The clip has been viewed worldwide more than 15.4 million times! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-42774652/what-happens-during-a-smear-test The M word - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Word-Everything-Need-About-Menopause-ebook/dp/B0BRQWQJLX/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=philippa+kaye&qid=1706691623&s=instant-video&sr=1-2 Breasts, an owners guide - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Breasts-Owners-Guide-Philippa-Kaye-ebook/dp/B0B92JXBX7/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=philippa+kaye&qid=1706691772&s=instant-video&sr=1-1 
What a pleasure to release this podcast on International Women’s Day 2024 with the theme of inspire inclusion. Being a GP has allowed Philippa to work in all the areas of medicine she is interested in. Writing books, and being on social media and TV, has allowed her to reach a wider audience to share her immense knowledge. In this very powerful podcast, we discuss a better world for women. Education is key, so they can understand their health and know when to contact their GP. Women often wait too long to visit their GP putting up with painful periods, miscarriage, menopause symptoms and more. She says we should not feel we are disturbing our GPs – “The time for you to bother me is the time when it bothers you.” We discuss Philippa’s advice on infertility, menopause, breasts, cervical screening and cancer. And what it is like to juggle being a working mother. 
 Date of episode recording: 2024-02-09T00:00:00Z Duration: 01:04:22 Language of episode: English Presenter: Joyce Harper Guests: Dr Philippa Kaye Transcription link: www.joyceharper.com/podcasts

Dr Neil Stanley started working on sleep when he was 16 – working at the neurosciences division of the RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine in Farnborough. Since then he has been involved in numerous research studies, a notable one being a study in Pakistan where the team recorded sleep in 8 people for 6 nights at 18500 feet. In 1993 Neil took up a position in the human psychopharmacology research unit, university of Surrey, where he became the director of sleep research. There he created and ran a 24 bed trials sleep laboratory, primarily doing clinical trials into the effects of medications on sleep. He also set up and developed the sleep service at the London Clinic. If Neil is not talking about sleep, he is writing about sleep, if he is not writing about it, he is reading about it, and if not reading about it – he is probably asleep. He is author of the book – How to sleep well. The science of sleeping smarter, living better and being more productive which I highly recommend – as well as being full of evidence-based information about sleep – it is very funny. His latest book is coming out on 24th Feb 'Sleep Divorce: How to Sleep Apart, Not Fall Apart'. Everyone needs to sleep. Virtually every major disease has been linked to sleep. Sleep affects our work, school performance, relationships, emotional wellbeing and our health. But in today’s society we take in so much information - the need for good quality sleep is key to our wellbeing. In this podcast we discuss what happens when we sleep and how much sleep we should get - 8 hours a night is a myth. We are all individual and what works for us is what is important. What is your sleeping environment like and what do you do before you go to bed? How can coffee, alcohol and tech affect our sleep? Neil says that the issue with blue light is a myth. What about sleep during the life course? Should babies cry themselves to sleep? Are teenagers nocturnal? What about the perimenopause? And do we need less sleep as we age? There were so many questions to discuss, this is my longest podcast to date. Sleep well. 
 Date of episode recording: 2024-02-22T00:00:00Z Duration: 01.23.46 Language of episode: English Presenter: Joyce Harper Guests: Dr Neil Stanley Producer: Joyce Harper Transcription link: https://joyceharper.com/podcasts/