High Performance Health

Why Wearing Sunscreen All Day May Be Doing More Harm Than Good for Women Over 40

In this thought-provoking episode, Angela Foster sits down with renowned beauty expert and author Liz Earle MBE to challenge conventional wisdom about sunscreen and sun exposure. Liz discusses why current public health messaging around universal, all-day SPF use might be too extreme, potentially robbing us of vital Vitamin D and other essential benefits of natural daylight.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Many people assume they still get Vitamin D while wearing sunscreen. However, Liz points out that this only happens because most people apply it too thinly or miss spots. 

Applying high SPF when it is completely unnecessary, like on a dark winter morning during an underground commute, is a sign that public health messaging has become too broad. 

Our skin isn't just a physical barrier; it actively receives light and communicates with the body's immune system. 

Exposing your skin to gentle, early-morning sunlight (when the UV index is low) acclimatizes it. 

Medical professionals and researchers are beginning to speak out against extreme sun avoidance. 

BEST MOMENTS

"When people say, 'Yes, you get Vitamin D from the sun when you're using sunscreen,' yeah, because you're not using your sunscreen properly. You're actually allowing some of that UVB to come through the skin."

"The worst thing that we can do is stay indoors all year and then rush out for our two-week summer beach holiday and fry ourselves on the beach... That's because our skin has not got used to the sunlight."

"The skin is actually an organ of light reception. This is what we're just beginning to understand, that the skin has light receptors on it for reasons—they're signaling, it's not just blocking and keeping our insides intact."

"I don't know if you take collagen supplements, I do, but actually by going out in early morning light, I'm telling my body to make more collagen. So it's preparing the skin."

"He says that he thinks that we will look back at this time and our lack of sun exposure as being as damaging to our health as smoking."

VALUABLE RESOURCES

• Take the BioSyncing Quiz to help you understand what’s actually happening in your body — and how to fix it.

👉 https://biosyncing.scoreapp.com/

A BIG thank you to our sponsors who make the show possible:

• Timeline - Support your mitochondrial health: Timeline Mitopure delivers Urolithin A at the clinically studied dose to support cellular renewal and energy production, helping counter the natural decline in mitochondrial function that comes with age.

👉 Get 20% off Mitopure when you visit http://timeline.com/ANGELA and use code ANGELA.

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Most women in perimenopause are training hard, eating well, and still dealing with joint pain, stiffness, and injuries that never fully heal. Juliet Starrett, New York Times bestselling author and co-founder of The Ready State, joins me to reveal why the joint pain and stiffness so many women write off as ageing is actually a specific syndrome nobody warned you about. We get into what 30 minutes of floor sitting a day can do for your hips and low back, why most exercise routines are silently narrowing your range of motion, and the five weekly movement non-negotiables Juliet recommends for every woman over 40.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• Why perimenopause triggers joint pain, frozen shoulder, and mobility loss

• How 30 minutes of floor sitting a day rewires your hips and reduces pain• Best movement habits for women over 40

• How strength training may be stealing your flexibility over time • How to train through injury without making it worse

• The HRV myth debunked and what to track instead

VALUABLE RESOURCES

• Take the BioSyncing Quiz to help you understand what's actually happening in your body and how to fix it.

👉 https://biosyncing.scoreapp.com/

A BIG thank you to our sponsors who make the show possible:

• Timeline - Support your mitochondrial health with Urolithin A at the clinically studied dose to support cellular renewal and energy production, helping counter the natural decline in mitochondrial function that comes with age.

👉 Get 20% off Mitopure when you visit http://timeline.com/ANGELA and use code ANGELA.

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Juliet Starrett is a New York Times bestselling author and co-founder of The Ready State, where she and her husband Dr. Kelly Starrett have spent decades helping people move better, hurt less, and stay physically capable as they age. Their work focuses on making mobility and strength training practical and accessible for anyone dealing with pain, stiffness, or the feeling that their body is working against them.Website: https://thereadystate.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julietstarrett/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheReadyState

Whittling your diet down to five "safe" foods isn't healing your gut — it's masking a deeper imbalance that declining estrogen may be driving. Nutrition expert Cynthia Thurlow joins Angela Foster to unpack why so many women suddenly can't tolerate foods they once ate freely, and what's really happening behind the bloating, palpitations and brain fog.

The conversation explores the link between estrogen loss and a leaky small intestine, the histamine-hormone "perfect storm" that can trigger hives and cramping, and why bloating during perimenopause is so often multifactorial. Cynthia also explains when bloating becomes a red flag worth investigating.

You'll learn how to identify your personal food triggers without cutting entire food groups, why eating in a parasympathetic state matters, and which gut supports — from fibre and hydration to TUDCA — can help as progesterone and estrogen decline.

If you've ever felt like your body suddenly turned against your favourite foods, this episode will help you understand why.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Stop eliminating food groups as your default fix. Whittling your diet down to a handful of "safe" foods signals an underlying gut imbalance that needs support — not an ever-expanding exclusion list.

Recognise food sensitivities as a likely leaky gut symptom. As estrogen declines it acts like failing "mortar" in the small intestinal lining, letting food particles leak into the bloodstream and provoke an immune response.

Watch the histamine-estrogen "perfect storm." During high-estrogen days, loading up on high-histamine foods (leftovers, kombucha, fermented items) can trigger hives, congestion, cramping and diarrhoea — so keep histamine foods low or infrequent during those windows.

Eat in a parasympathetic state. Sit at a table, remove distractions, and take four to five deep breaths before meals rather than eating standing, in the car, or on the move.

Always get persistent bloating evaluated. Bloating from morning to night is different from bloating that appears after meals, and persistent symptoms should be checked because, in rare cases, they can signal something serious like ovarian cancer.

QUOTES

"The goal is to never get to a point where you're excluding entire classes of foods."

"If we look at the small intestinal lining as like a brick and mortar system, the mortar is the estrogen."

"I literally was talking to a podcast host and I broke out in hives head to toe because I was high estrogen, high histamine stress. And it was like the perfect storm."

"It's not really that you need to cut out all these food groups. We just have a nuanced conversation. Don't go overboard with any one food."

"I've just seen too many people blow off symptoms for a year or two that end up being bigger issues than they would have been had they been addressed up front."

VALUABLE RESOURCES

• Take the BioSyncing Quiz to help you understand what’s actually happening in your body — and how to fix it.

👉 https://biosyncing.scoreapp.com/

A BIG thank you to our sponsors who make the show possible:

• Timeline - Support your mitochondrial health: Timeline Mitopure delivers Urolithin A at the clinically studied dose to support cellular renewal and energy production, helping counter the natural decline in mitochondrial function that comes with age.

👉 Get 20% off Mitopure when you visit http://timeline.com/ANGELA and use code ANGELA.

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

You're training consistently, eating well, sleeping as best you can and yet the energy isn't there, recovery is taking longer, and something just feels off. 

Brad Currier, one of the leading researchers in mitochondrial science, gets into why mitochondrial decline is the hidden driver behind low energy, slower recovery, and reduced muscle performance in women over 40 and what the latest clinical research shows you can actually do about it. If you want to train hard, recover well, and feel genuinely energetic into your 40s and beyond, this one is worth your full attention. 

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

• Why mitochondria decline with age and what it means for energy and recovery after 40

• What mitophagy is and why most active women in their 40s should know this

• How urolithin A triggers mitophagy and what the clinical data actually shows

• What rep range builds strength and longevity for women in their 40s

• How exercise improves skin health and collagen from the inside out

VALUABLE RESOURCES

• Take the BioSyncing Quiz to help you understand what’s actually happening in your body — and how to fix it.

👉 https://biosyncing.scoreapp.com/

A BIG thank you to our sponsors who make the show possible:

• Timeline - Support your mitochondrial health: Timeline Mitopure delivers Urolithin A at the clinically studied dose to support cellular renewal and energy production, helping counter the natural decline in mitochondrial function that comes with age.

👉 Get 20% off Mitopure when you visit http://timeline.com/ANGELA and use code ANGELA.

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Brad Currier, PhD, is a Senior Clinical Scientist at Timeline and completed his PhD at McMaster University, where his background as an elite athlete led him into muscle physiology and performance nutrition research. He co-authored the new ACSM resistance training guidelines and leads clinical trials on urolithin A and mitochondrial health. His work sits at the intersection of cellular science and real-world performance, helping active women understand why energy, recovery, and muscle function change after 40 and what the clinical evidence says they can do about it.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brad_currier/

LinkedIn: https://ch.linkedin.com/in/brad-currier

Navigating midlife body changes can feel like waking up in a completely different body, even when your routine hasn't changed. Around 15% of active women transition through menopause without experiencing significant weight gain, finding that standard calorie deficits and exercise still work. However, the vast majority notice that previously effective fitness and nutrition habits suddenly stop yielding results. This shift is highly associated with a changing hormonal environment—specifically decreasing estradiol and declining progesterone levels—rather than just the natural ageing process. While it seems logical that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) would be the perfect fix, the reality is much more complex. HRT yields highly variable results for body composition; it helps some lose fat, has no impact on others, and can even cause weight gain.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Approximately 15% of active women navigate menopause without significant weight gain and can still successfully lose weight using standard calorie deficits.

For many women, the fitness and nutrition strategies that worked five or ten years ago become noticeably less effective during midlife.

Accelerated fat gain during menopause is heavily associated with decreasing estradiol and progesterone levels, alongside rising follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH).

Distinguishing between weight gain caused by natural ageing and weight gain caused specifically by menopause remains a complex challenge for researchers.

Hormone therapy does not offer a universal solution for weight management, with individual results varying wildly from fat loss to unexpected fat gain.

VALUABLE RESOURCES

• Take the BioSyncing Quiz to help you understand what’s actually happening in your body — and how to fix it.

👉 https://biosyncing.scoreapp.com/

A BIG thank you to our partner who makes the show possible:
• Timeline – Support your mitochondrial health and muscle strength with Mitopure®, the only clinically validated Urolithin A supplement backed by 15+ years of research. Use code ANGELA for 20% off 👉 https://www.timeline.com/promotions/exclusive-offer-for-angela-foster-s-community