Wake up your glutes

🙌 Happy Friday! 

On this day next week is Day One of the Livelong Women’s Health Summit, and I’m so excited to meet you in person.

This newsletter has always been about community, learning, and translating the science of a healthy and good life — I can’t wait to see what this looks like for you. 💛 

Today, we’re highlighting the glutes, one of the most important muscles for aging. Did you also know that glute shape can also function as a ‘metabolic mood ring?’ 💍

Let’s dive in.

Don’t miss this last opportunity to see Dr. Mark Hyman, Jane Fonda, and Dr. Stacy Sims live alongside 70+ of longevity’s top experts to learn about hormone optimization, improving memory and cardiovascular health, and to explore the new companies shaping women’s health. 💫

→ Explore vendor opportunities.

Artist T-Paine once sang about making that ‘booty work.’ Unfortunately, for millions of people, the glutes don’t do their job, resulting in a condition nicknamed “Dead Butt Syndrome” (DBS), or gluteal amnesia. 

When glutes weaken, other muscle groups like the hamstrings, lower back, and hip flexors have to overwork, often leading to pain, stiffness, and faster mobility loss. 🙁 The culprits are both common and unexpected:

High stakes for strong glutes: Called the ‘unsung hero of longevity’ by The New York Times, strong glutes help maintain balance, protect joints, and are linked to life expectancy.

They help you stand as you age, lower fall and hip fracture risk, and indicate total-body strength and bone health. 💪

Targeted exercises can reactivate your glutes. Try these three expert-recommended exercises today: 

Despite the playful nickname, the case for strong glutes is serious, and they could be the difference between pain and decades of independence and mobility.

Want more mobility: Try seven glute stretches for better hip mobility

White tea may be the most delicate of teas, but don’t let its mild flavor fool you. Early research suggests it could have a robust impact on longevity. A recent study in the Frontiers in Nutrition found that concentrated white tea extract increased fruit-fly lifespan up to 30% 🪰 .

💮 Why white tea? Derived from the Camellia sinensis plant (just like green and black tea), white tea is the least processed of the teas. This helps preserve antioxidants, polyphenols, and other compounds that can fight inflammation, regulate metabolism, and may slow certain aging processes in animals. 

The study: Researchers aimed to determine if white tea extract could combat the lifespan-shortening effects of a high-sugar diet. Without changing their diet, male fruit flies lived about 15% longer, and females lived about 30% longer. 

What’s the tea? 🫖 A 2024 study suggests that people who drink 3-5 cups of tea daily could have a 21% lower risk of dying compared to non-tea drinkers. Fruit flies also share roughly 70% of disease-related genes with humans, making them a strong candidate to study human aging.

Going forward: No single study proves that tea increases lifespan. But for most people, a daily cup of white tea can be a simple way to get more antioxidants and healthy-aging nutrients into their diet.

Tumor cores are often harsh, oxygen-starved, and nutrient-dense places that fuel the growth of cancer cells. Good thing some bacteria thrive in these places, too. 🦠

In a study from the University of Waterloo, scientists genetically modified the bacterium Clostridium sporogenes, a bacterium that grows without oxygen, to inhabit tumor environments and fundamentally eat cancer from the inside out. 

👀 Looking ahead: This is a promising, biological approach to targeting cancer. The next steps would be preclinical trials, which would be an important move toward solving one of longevity’s biggest threats.

→ Ask LIV: Get personalized longevity insights with our updated AI feature.

It’s never too late to make a difference. Dale Steele, a 100-year-old World War II vet from Nebraska, proves that by becoming the oldest organ donor reported in US history ‼

Just one day after his death, Dale’s liver was transplanted into a patient on the organ wait list, which currently numbers over 100,000. 

⁉ How? Biologically, Dale’s liver is ‘young.’ Liver cells can regenerate around every three years, and healthy livers can stay functionally young for many more.

Kyle Herber, president and CEO of Live On Nebraska, told Live On Nebraska that Dale’s story reflects “a life of service that didn’t end at death.”

“That generosity continues in a way that will impact lives for years to come.”

Beyond the weight with GLP-1s: Join our upcoming studio session about GLP-1s and women's long-term health with Katie Sorensen, NP-C Bio

→ Become a Circle member to access replays of recent sessions with Dr. Stacy Sims and Dr. Vonda Wright.

Last week, we talked about the Dutch Method for sleep. We asked: Do you get morning sunlight?

Top answers: 

If you’re like some of our readers who are lucky enough to have east-facing bedrooms, morning sunlight is easy. For those of us who don’t, put on some shoes (or don’t) and go outside for 5-10 minutes (or don’t. A lightbox works, too).