How To Benefit From Bio-Hacking Your Hormones

Lauren Berlingeri

Well, thank you for having me. I’m so excited to dig in with you today.

Sharon Stills, ND

Obviously, she practices what she preaches because look at her like, perfect. So we’re like, okay, we want to learn. I always start and ask a typical question, but like, how did you end up here? Like, why did you get into red light and Higher Dose? There’s maybe even other things you have that I don’t even know about yet because I just have gotten obsessed with the couple of things I do know about. But how did you get here to be so involved with health and wellness and women? 

Lauren Berlingeri

So my passion has always been health, wellness and fitness. About 15 years ago I was a fitness model and I was a TV presenter. I used to have my own show called Women Versus Workout. It was a really cool show where I did all sorts of crazy, physically challenging things from 24 hour hell night with Navy SEALs, NASCAR driving, motocross, firefighter training, 360 on wakeboard, you name it, I did it. But you probably can tell from that show that I was an extreme fitness person and dealt with all sorts of hormonal problems from working out too much. So I was definitely beyond a fitness junkie at that point. I’m also a nutritionist and health coach. I actually used to take clients at Wilhemina. They were always my first clients, was working with models and just trying to educate them on how to eat and think about nutrition and supplementation and taking care of yourself, which was something that I never had as a young model in the modeling world. I went through it where I did all sorts of crash diets and the cigarette and Diet Coke diet for many years too, as well. So I had to learn the hard way and wish I had that kind of support when I was younger. So that was where I really first started working as a nutritionist. Then about ten years later, I started working for a health and wellness startup. It was called Aloha, and my job was product development and picking the brains of the most influential doctors that past fitness experts, people within the wellness space to try to figure out what products we should be creating, what ingredients we put in our products, what technologies to reconsider. 

During my time there at research, I was interviewing a doctor, Dr. Frank Lipman. He’s such a great doctor around, just all around longevity. He told me about the infrared sauna. This was back when no one knew what an infrared sauna was. Traveling around the world, modeling, I lived in all sorts of places all through Europe. I lived in Turkey, I lived in South Africa, Australia, everywhere I went, there was always such a strong practice in sauna culture and even cold culture. Moving to New York, I couldn’t find a hot sauna if my life depended on it. We were just talking about Germany before. I mean, living in Germany, that’s what everyone did on Sundays is is go to the spa or you go to Finland and everyone has a sauna in their house and still goes to the sauna spa’s on the weekends. So when I was working with Dr. Frank Lipman and he was telling me that he literally uses something called an infrared sauna with every single one of his clients. I was like, infrared. I’ve never heard of that. What is that? He was like, It’s a much more gentle, yet effective way to heat the body and focus more on detox and relaxation, down to Cortisol levels, helps you sleep at night and gives you amazing skin. I was like, Wait a minute, these sound like those things that those, I would say moneymaking benefits that we were trying to hit on when creating products at Aloha. So I looked up the only infrared sauna that existed in New York City, and it was there was only one and it was in a clinic center in a basement behind a curtain, really dodgy experience. But I went and tried it and was just blown away by the efficacy and just how I felt all of those benefits in one session.We all know in the health and wellness world, you usually don’t see immediate benefits with anything that you do, let alone in the first session.

So that night, I went and I started researching it and I was like, NASA created infrared. It’s been around for over 30 plus years. It’s so gentle and safe. They literally use the technology and baby incubators when babies are premature, it’s life force. Then I started looking into that, the detoxing and detoxes heavy metals and radiation, environmental pollutants and like I said, works on the parasympathetic system downs to cortisol levels. It was just like mind boggling that no one knew what an infrared sauna was back then because I felt like everyone in New York City needed an infrared sauna. So I decided to start my company around infrared. I first had the thought of I do hot yoga all the time. I love hot yoga. Why aren’t yoga studios using infrared heat, which is much better than conventional heat when you’re doing that? So we started Higher Dose. I met my business partner. She had a very fancy business background, was everything that I was not. But we started off installing infrared heating systems in the yoga studios, and that was nine years ago. From there, we decided that we wanted to open up these infrared spa locations and create more of a brand around it, more of an experience around it. So we launched our first location in the basement of the Bowery, and that was eight years ago. We just saw it take off. People would come in, try it, see the same benefits come out feeling brand new, say things like, I’m addicted and coming back tomorrow. It just like was wild. We joked that we never needed to market it because everyone would come in and feel so good and start to take all these like sexy sauna selfies in their and they just spread the word about Higher Dose. It was from there that we decided that we were going to open more infrared sauna locations, and that’s how we got started.

Sharon Stills, ND

Wow. So I’m learning some things. So do you still have these locations?

Lauren Berlingeri

Yeah. So we still have one location. It’s in 11 Howard Hotel. We have a floor of five different hotel rooms. So you can imagine no hotel bed. But we’ve decorated the rooms and there’s a sauna instead of a bed and you can go and you do the sauna, and then you do a cold water shower afterwards, and then you check out. We also have two extra rooms now for our get lifted and get sculpted lymphatic treatments, which is a full body lymphatic and a face lymphatic with all of our wellness tech. But I’m jumping like really far ahead and letting the cat out of the bag that we don’t really focus on opening locations anymore. So at one point we had 11 locations when the pandemic hit. But when the pandemic hit and we were forced to close all of our locations overnight, that really allowed us to focus on how do we bring the infrared sauna to people’s homes, How do we bring red light therapy into people’s homes and make it accessible for people? That was the next iteration of Higher Dose was bringing these biohacking technologies, making them accessible. We launched many other products from there. So there’s been a lot that’s happened in the last nine years. But let’s just say we’re a very different company than we were eight years ago when we launched the sauna spa.

Sharon Stills, ND

Interesting. I’m from New York, too. I used to have a clinic on the island, and I had a little infrared sauna like we cut a hole in the walls, like I have to have one of them there in the clinic, because I’m always saying, like, there’s no magic bullet. But if you got to come close, the infrared sauna is pretty close to, like, the magic bullet when it comes to healing your body and biohacking and stuff. So I totally agree with everything you just said. That’s fantastic. I didn’t know that.

Lauren Berlingeri

Well, it doesn’t really matter what your health goals are or where you’re at in your health journey. You’re going to see benefits from the sauna. Every single time you use it, you’ll experience different benefits from it. It’s really probably still to this day, my favorite biohacking out there or technology out there or thing that I just get the best bang for my buck.

Sharon Stills, ND

I because I’m also a hot yoga junkie and addicted to. So I’ve always thought that. So I didn’t know that that was actually happening. I have to go to hot yoga and I still got to use my infrared. I’m like, Can’t they just combine them? So I love that you are. Are they still doing that?

Lauren Berlingeri

Yes. Y7 when they first launched, they just had a space heaters in the corners of their yoga studios. So that was our first partner was Y7 and then we did all of yoga videos studios too as well. But we quickly learned that it’s not a great business model. Most yoga studios don’t have a lot of money to change over their systems. It was really hard to build a brand. It was just really hard for us to really bring it to the masses, which is what we wanted to do, which is why we wanted to open up our own spot locations. Then the pandemic. The pandemic just allowed us to do that on an even bigger scale, because when you close the locations that really gave us the ability to focus on our at home infrared sauna, which was our sauna blankets, which is virtually a much more easy, accessible, affordable version of the infrared sauna that most people don’t have the space for or don’t want to take care of. So that allowed us to launch our first product, which was our sauna blanket.

Sharon Stills, ND

So let’s talk. I’m just writing notes here. I want to forget because we’re going to talk about red light, but let’s talk about the sauna blanket, because that is my latest obsession. Then I’m a big fan of the lymph system. So I want to hear a little bit more about that. But let’s talk about the sauna blanket, because it truly is like my happy place. I love my sauna blanket.

Lauren Berlingeri

It’s so good to hear. I do too.

Sharon Stills, ND

I got it. A lot of times I’m doing it. I’m just alone. But I’m like, I got to get someone to like, take a picture of me while I’m in it and just see the joy on my face and my little head sticking out. But it’s just it’s like you’re just so cozy. You just like a sauna. A sandwich.

Lauren Berlingeri

Some people use it just before bed and don’t even put it to the point of sweating or don’t sit in it for 50 minutes. It really can even just help your sleep so much because there’s so much research around using heat just before bed and it helps you stay asleep and sleep. It helps fall asleep quicker too as well. So like you said, it’s cozy. It’s so cozy. The first 20 or 30 minutes are the coziest thing ever. If you’re tired, you will fall asleep. But then the next 20 minutes of the session, that’s when your body temperature really heats up. You really sweat like a traditional sauna and your heart rate starts really pounding. You’re it’s like a passive workout where increasing blood flow and circulation, but you literally sweat like you’d never sweat before on the sun, on a blanket in the last 20 minutes of that session.

Sharon Stills, ND

So why a sauna blanket? Why not a little house Sauna? 

Lauren Berlingeri

A little dome?

Sharon Stills, ND

What made you decide to do a blanket? Is it just for ease or are there other benefits to it?

Lauren Berlingeri

I mean, multiple reasons. I feel like the domes. I used to have one of those, and it was like a clunky experience, and you’d sit there and your head would be out and it would take up so much room in your space. So the problem is it’s just a much more comfortable version of the dome. You’re laying down, you’re relaxed, you can even like work from your computer, you can watch TV you’re laying down so you could fall asleep if you wanted to. But we just like to experience a lot more. Then we also felt like it was still just that much more accessible to people. They’d want to use it a lot more because of the experience. Then also with the sauna blanket, we wanted to layer in other technologies that we felt were very important with the sauna. So our sauna blankets don’t just have infrared. They also have crystal layers in there too as well. So we have amethyst amd tourmaline. When you heat those two stones, they promote a natural form of infrared, which is really amazing. We added a magnetic layer which increases blood flow and circulation. So you want to get that circulation moving even more, especially when you’re sweating out toxins to move out the toxins, we have a charcoal layer, which we grounded our infrared and the charcoal layer. So it’s grounded. So it has no EMF, no E.L.F. I say no very lightly, because there’s always has to be a tiny little bit when a product plugs into the wall. But we have less than 0.03 milligrams of EMF, which is virtually nothing and virtually no ELF as well. So we wanted to add in all these other technologies in there and layers in there that really complemented the experience and made this sauna blanket much more enjoyable.

Sharon Stills, ND

I didn’t know that. Wow, that’s very interesting. I love the amethyst and the tourmaline. That’s super cool. So for women who are dealing with hormone imbalances or the natural course of going through menopause and the hormones dropping, how do you see the sauna blanket as a part of their wellness journey?

Lauren Berlingeri

I mean, I personally have always struggled with my hormones. Like I was saying, I used to work out too much and that made my nervous system all of out of whack. I had a hard time sleeping at night and always had skin issues. I also genetically don’t detoxify estrogens, so I was on the birth control pill for seven years. So when I got off the birth control pill, my hormones were really, really bad. Then just from being aware of when I started to want to get pregnant and was very aware of what I was putting into my body, I started to learn about endocrine disruptors and ingredients in our food and plastic and washing powders and our clothes and everything like that. That could really affect my endocrine system even more. As someone that doesn’t detox of estrogens became very aware of not putting in any more phytoestrogens into the body. But the sauna blanket is by far one of the best tools or infrared in general, or sweating in general. One of the best ways to remove toxins from the body, which is why I love it. When you look into infrared, it detoxes of heavy metals, radiation, environmental pollutants for so long I would literally see black on my towel after getting out of the sauna blanket because I had so many toxins within my body. So I became like obsessed with using the sauna blanket to really just get my hormones back into place. Also, I was that fitness junkie, but I realized that I was obsessed with the sweat and the feeling of it more than it was sometimes the actual, like, grinding of working out on my body. The sauna blanket really allows me to have those days off of recovery and working out while still getting the benefits of a workout. It’s like a light passive workout for your heart. You’re burning calories while you’re in there, but you’re sweating and you’re getting that euphoric feeling that you would through a workout. Also, it’s worth noting that infrared is a light therapy. You release a ton of happy chemicals, which is why our name is Higher Dose. 

Dose stands for dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins. So you can imagine I’m all about releasing those happy chemicals and feeling good. So you release endorphins when you’re in that sauna, just like you do the sauna blanket, which I really love. You also release a ton of serotonin, too, when your eyes picks up on that invisible light spectrum. So you get all these, like, feel good chemicals. So for people that can’t always work out like they used to, or maybe are starting to notice that it’s getting your hormones off balance or those two later phases in your cycle when your past ovulation and you’re getting ready to get your period. It’s also really good to do less intense workouts. That’s when the sauna blanket really comes in because it’s very recovery focused down in cortisol levels, putting your hot body back into a state of relaxation. It helps with sleep. So it’s just become such a tool for me to really like help me stay ahead of balancing my hormones and then also detoxing those estrogens out of the body so that my hormones have just been so much better since doing a daily detoxification and really focused on recovery and not always going so hard all the time.

Sharon Stills, ND

I’ve had patients who, for whatever reasons, injuries or pain complexes where they couldn’t exercise and getting them in the sauna gets them that cardiovascular experience. I didn’t know what dosed and first and foremost more so because there I was coming up to my happy place What does that mean? Oxytocin is favorite. That makes sense. Yes,it is. I’m always like, if you’re going to be addicted to something, it might as well be something that’s good for you.

Lauren Berlingeri

That’s our whole thing. Our slogan is Get high naturally. So it’s all about getting out high off your own supply and doing things that make you feel good and self care. Supercharge self care. It really speaks for itself. If there’s one benefit that everybody feels, you always feel better after using the sauna blanket.

Sharon Stills, ND

I mean as a physician for over 21 years now. I’m always it’s like I am prescribing yes, you’re getting your bioidentical hormones, but you have to sweat. It’s like and I love that you said the sauna culture because I was just in Germany and I study over there frequently and it is, it’s a culture. It’s every hotel you stay in. Of course, they have a sauna. It’s not even like a question. Of course there’s a sauna because it’s in the culture. My vision and part of my mission is to make that part of our culture here. Like I was saying not too long ago, like when you do a new house, build it like like, why isn’t a sauna automatically in it? Because we need to detox. We like you were saying, all the chemicals and the petrochemicals and everything that’s coming at us. We have to be sweating. We have to be keeping up with it. We’re not going to avoid it. We live in this world that has plenty of toxins. It’s not necessarily getting better. It’s getting worse not to be a Debbie Downer, but so we have to be empowered. Why not do it through like a yummy blankie, like where you’re feeling good? That’s why I’m so glad you’re a part of this, because to me, it’s medicine. I always say like hashtag not all medicine comes in a pill bottle and sauna and sweating and having a way of detoxing regularly, not just like, well, I’m going to do a week detox once a year.

Lauren Berlingeri

It’s a lifestyle.

Sharon Stills, ND

We’re way beyond that at this point. It is a lifestyle. So I love that. I think it’s for everyone.

Lauren Berlingeri

I mean, I think when people think about building their home or having a home, having a sauna in there is a complete luxury. They’re expensive. They’re hard to take care of. I remember wanting to move out of New York City just so I could have a house, just so I could put one of my saunas in there. Because, like, having the space for it is even a thing to as well, which is why I really just love the sauna blanket. It’s also great for traveling in it too, easy to store away. I personally have dealt with a little bit of rosacea over my years too as well which I also think has to do with my hormones because definitely around my period it flares up. I definitely think it has to do with not detoxing of estrogens and whatnot. But heat is not always good for or at least direct heat in the sauna. But I love sauna blanket because I have my head exposed in there and I always put like a cold towel on my head or on my cheeks and keep that heat out of my skin. So anyone that having any sort of hormone issues where you get dark spots on your face, that’s all heat related too as well. You want to stay out of the sun and and the sort of like it is for you, because you could literally be in the bottom like it and put that cold towel on your face and it doesn’t flare up your skin issues and rosacea and dark spots more too as well.

Sharon Stills, ND

You’re saying that you’re just reminding me from an ayurvedic perspective because I’m Pitta.

Lauren Berlingeri

Yes, me too. I’m Pitta, like right now I’m like, Oh.

Sharon Stills, ND

But when I was in India doing parts of cancer karma and like, I am sweating hot yoga addict and he was like, It’s too hot for you. He was like, At the very least, don’t let your head. I was like, I’m not going to bring my head to yoga class. But like the and I’m like, Oh yes, good. I can write him and say, Look, see this? I’m I’m doing what you said. There are benefits to having your head not exposed. Oh, yes. So let’s move on because I could just talk about your sauna blanket all day, but I want to talk about red light and your because that’s how I first connected with you is your amazing red light.

Lauren Berlingeri

Yeah.

Sharon Stills, ND

So let’s just talk about first, red light, why it’s so important, why you went into product development with red light? Just for the listeners who need a little bit more to know or maybe have never even heard of Red light.

Lauren Berlingeri

Yeah, it’s funny because the biohacking world, which I consider myself a biohacker, is this amazing community of people that are in the pursuit of optimization. They really talk a lot about these technologies like red light, like infrared, like EMF, and you just don’t hear about that in mainstream anymore unless you go to a alternative practitioner like yourself and you know about it because you learn about it in your world. But day to day, most people don’t know about infrared and pants and red light therapy. So we discovered red light from this amazing community of people. We have amazing advisors by us to as well. Much like infrared, when you look into the research behind red light therapy again is like, why is everyone not using red light therapy? Then you look at it and right now there’s a lot of knowledge within the beauty space of red light being great for your skin, which it is. Again, I think that’s where you see the difference immediately because you put on a red light face mask as soon as you take it off, your skin is just like glowing, dewy, like plump, like so healthy looking. But there’s so many other benefits to red light therapy that most people don’t know about it, like the mitochondria function feeds every cell in your body and it produces something called ATP, which is energy, which means every cell in your body is functioning better. 

It has amazing hormone balancing properties or boosting testosterone in men, but also really good at balancing your circadian rhythm, too as well, which we’re all out of whack with our circadian rhythm, with all the stimulants and blue light and stress and so hard for us to sleep at night and red light actually balances that and puts your circadian rhythm back into balance because it mimics sunlight. When the sun goes down, that’s when you see the most red and infrared, which tells your body to relax, calm down, go to sleep. What happens when we sleep is that that’s the time to heal and restore. You really need to have good sleep in order to have good hormones, in order to have your body and everything functioning better. So it helps with sleep, which is amazing. It has mood boosting benefits, too, as well. So there are just so many reasons why we felt like we needed to launch a product within the red light. We wanted to do the math because we thought it was a great add on. You have your head exposed when you’re on the sauna blanket. Might as well be getting your red light therapy while you’re in the sauna blanket. So we launched the red light face mask over two years ago and it just became such a huge thing it was beyond our wildest dreams. I mean, we’ve always been an infrared sauna company, very much focused on the sauna, but the red light, it’s just been it’s crazy, the amount of demand. 

I also think more people are educated about red light because of the skin enhancing benefits. So it’s become this Trojan horse for us into the beauty space, which has been a really interesting experience for me as well, because now we’re at like these beauty summits and conferences and talking with other big beauty brands. We realize that the beauty space is actually not wellness at all and it really needs to be that way. Yeah. Were like turning beauty on its head because we actually have something that focuses on beauty from within because, again, it’s not just topicals and your skincare, it’s a lifestyle. When you’re improving someone’s sleep and their hormones and their mood and the mitochondria is functioning better, not only is your skin better, but your energy levels are better. You just show up better. Sleep is where everything is better. So we’re now talking about beauty from within. So now we’ve become these like beauty biohackers, which is pretty cool. But I’m trying to get people to understand is when you focus on vitality and health and wellness and feeling good, that’s when you look good. So it’s been a really an interesting experience for us. But if you’ve never tried red light therapy before, I highly suggest you do. It’s one of my favorite things. If you have any hormonal thyroid issues, putting it on your thyroid, there’s so much research around that, exposing your whole body to it, but your eyes to it. Oh my gosh, You just have to try the red light therapy.

Sharon Stills, ND

What about hair and red light?

Lauren Berlingeri

Oh, my gosh. That’s another thing most people think about hair loss, only to do with men, because I think we see it a lot more. But as we age and as our hormones change, like thinning for women has become something that happens to a lot of us. Again, not something we talk about. It’s such a weird thing. Menopause is such a weird thing. I feel like no one really addresses that. It’s just like most of your doctors are like, Oh yeah, you’re going through menopause. Like, go back. There’s nothing we could do for you when there’s so much you can do. It’s just like wild to me. But red light therapy has so much research around hair growth because again, feeds the mitochondria, the cells are working better, increase blood flow and circulation, stimulating that hair growth back to what it once was. Then again, I really truly believe you focus on your health from within, balancing hormones, sleep. That’s also where your hair is going to thrive too as well. It’s definitely from internal.

Sharon Stills, ND

So if you’re having issues with your hair, can you put the mask on your head?

Lauren Berlingeri

Yes. I was just explaining to Dr. Sharon that my husband steals my red light face mask all the time because he just sits there watching TV with the red light face mask on top of his head. So we have to fight over it. But now I have the red light neck and dec, which is just virtually a red light face mask for your neck and dec as we also age here and again covers around your thyroid, which I love for hormones. But now he can use the red light neck and dec on his head. But he’s seen so much hair growth from just derma rolling and then using our copper peptide serum and then the face mask for hair growth. Again, these are things that we learned about in the biohacking world because they’re really about optimization. I feel like more wellness needs to be focused on optimization and not just okay, now you’re sick. How do I get you to be? Well, again, the biohacking world really does focus on optimization and prevention, which is in the space that I just really thrive on.

Sharon Stills, ND

So we’re all about prevention here.

Lauren Berlingeri

We’re all about prevention. 

Sharon Stills, ND

I love the biohacking mindset the naturopathic mindset because it’s really about understanding your body. Your body is your laboratory, and every thought you choose to have or not have or anything that’s on your fork or whether you’re moving all these things contribute. So it really empowers you. You’ve got the power, my friends, to really make a difference. So I just want to ask some practical questions like, do you recommend doing the red light facemask at bedtime in the morning? Does it not matter? Are there any like, rules?

Lauren Berlingeri

Yeah, there’s actually no rules. That’s why I really love infrared. Red light therapy is because it’s so gentle and safe and effective. Like I have a full body red light panel that my kids sit in front of. Of course, there’s no research on kids and red light therapy, but I know that it’s just mimicking sunlight and that is not a problem, especially when I was pregnant, too, as well. But again, I’m not suggesting that you do that, but I love technologies that are safe for everybody. So what’s the red light face mask is no one way to use it. I personally use it whenever I have time. I love our red light face mask because it’s cordless. You don’t have to stay plugged into a wall. It has three straps. So I can literally be doing a yoga flow or my breathwork and it doesn’t fall off my head. Then it has the exposed eyes too as well. So a lot of times if you’re talking on the phone to me or I’m on my zoom call, I have my face mask on because you literally can use it any time, which is why I love ours so much in the design, but I personally like to use mine before bed. I try not to look at my phone, computer or TV past 7:00. That’s my time to wind down. Sleep is such a focus of mine, so I like to use my red light face mask and my neck and dec when I’m laying in bed and I just notice my sleep has enhanced so much, I have such better sleep and it’s so relaxing and it’s like that time from switching from go, go, go to relaxation. So that’s what I personally love to use it, but you can use it any time of the day whenever you get a chance.

Sharon Stills, ND

So, the red light addict in me is like, Oh, can I do it in the morning and at night? Is, is there such a thing as too much red light?

Lauren Berlingeri

There is, yeah. There’s a point of diminishing returns with red light therapy. So it’s good that you did ask that. We have a ten minute session and a 20 minute session, you can use it for up to 20 minutes once a day. You’re supposed to you can use it every day for two weeks, but then you want to take a break from it for a week and then you can go back to it. Or even like three days would be good, but you don’t want to overuse it.You do want to just use the session times that we provide in the manual. But once a day you’re going to get the most benefits that you possibly can from it. Use it on different body parts if you want to use it on your head instead of the face that you already did in the morning. That’s fine, but you don’t want to be using it on the same area for more than 20 minutes a day.

Sharon Stills, ND

Okay. So are there other tools that you have that I don’t know about? What is this limp thing? Yeah.

Lauren Berlingeri

What do we have so many tools? My favorite tool is our copper dry brush for draining lymphatic system detoxification. I use before my sauna blanket. I use it every day. It’s like such a great ritual that again, ancient wisdom they’ve been using ayurveda forever. It’s stood the test of time. So those are always my favorite tools and things to look into amongst these new science and technology. So we have a copper dry brush that has copper bristles when you brush the skin, the negative ions. It’s also antibacterial too as well. Just seeing the dry brush with the copper, but it exfoliates the skin, increases blood flow and circulation, and you just brush your skin lightly towards your lymph nodes. Great detoxifier, great addition to your sauna blanket, every day when you’re just really focused on your skin as your largest organ. So I love draining the lymphatic system. I talk about the lymph system forever too as well. We have two services that Higher Dose get and get lifted, which is a manual lymphatic on our infrared PEMF mats, which is another product with our red light face mask on with our organic cold pressed castor oil that we massage into the skin. I’m sure you love castor oil too as well. All the benefits that. We could talk forever about all of our products. I think that’s been something I personally am very passionate about is product development and really bringing these more like obscure technologies or ancient wisdom tools back into our everyday, much like sauna, like how do people not know about this kind of stuff? So that’s what our mission is at Higher Dose is just to make this lifestyle accessible, make it easier for you, for you to do, and to supercharge self-care.

Sharon Stills, ND

I love that so much because that’s my mission too. I just need someone who’s making the products so I can prescribe them to my patients. So it’s just like perfect. It really is. I mean, I just I brought Lauren on here. She’s supporting the summit because this is medicine. I do I want it makes it palpable and something you can do. I lie down in my blanket, I put it on. I always have to move my ponytail because the wherever the three straps grow go. So I got to, like, get my ponytail out of the way so I can be flat. It’s not just about it. It’s one of the main reasons I host this summit every year is because, yes, bioidentical hormones are the bomb diggity. I love them. I prescribe them, but it’s not enough. You have to put these hormones into a body that’s detoxing, that’s flowing, that’s draining, that’s moving, that has lymphatic activity. And so these are our tools. These are our medicines. It’s not medicine where you’re getting a pharmaceutical, that it’s the lifestyle and you deserve to have a 20 minute break or a 15 minute break to do something that’s going to support your body and give you, like Lauren said in the beginning, all these benefits that are palpable that you feel and I feel the difference. I do my red light face mask and my sauna blanket often. But I don’t get to do it every single day, but I do it more days than I don’t at least five days a week, six days a week, some days seven. But like, I didn’t get to do one today. I just had a very out the gate from early in the morning and I can notice it. It’s like, oh, well, when I get to go to bed, I’m going to get my little daily dose. Now I know it does more so..

It really makes a difference. You really feel it. I just want you all to understand the power of the red light and the sauna and the sweating and start thinking about your health journey and what tools you’re going to incorporate. That healing so multifactorial, we talk about hormones, we talk about diet, we talk about meditation. I never came on here and said healing was one, two, three. It’s a lifestyle. It’s a commitment to a lifestyle. But this meets this peace call it the biohacking peace, the detox piece, whatever, however you want to think about it is a crucial piece. It’s in my  main chi of things we need to be doing. It’s things that I personally do. That’s why I know the benefits and I prescribe for my patients. I wanted you all to know about. So thank you so much, Lauren, for coming and sharing her feeling. You and I could talk for like 18 hours. Is there any other blips of wisdom you just want to share with the ladies before we’re done? Then where can they learn more?

Lauren Berlingeri

Yeah. I think a lot of people are hesitant to get into this biohacking lifestyle because they think it’s not attainable. I just want you to know some of my favorite biohackers are the ones that are free. We were just talking about some of them just now, but like breathwork and meditation and even water fasting or intermittent fasting is a big one too as well, starting off with intermittent and working your way up, grounding, walking barefoot, watching the sun come up, go, go down, staying away from it. It’s just like there’s just so much in it and the most powerful ones are the ones that are accessible. So I would definitely encourage you guys to educate, learn more about a Higher Dose. That’s a big focus for us. We focus a lot on content. I mean, my background in content, being a TV presenter, I wanted to talk more about the lifestyle and not just always be selling products. It’s one thing if I just sit here and talk about all the benefits of infrared and I could sell you on it and but I really want people to get more into the lifestyle of what Higher Dose means and getting high naturally and releasing those happy chemicals. So we have a show called Biohack-Hers about female biohacking that’s on YouTube. We have a series called Hot Seat where we interview people in the sauna and then do coal plunge afterwards. Very much focused on like how to videos and these rituals of how use product before your sauna blanket drying after how to open those detox pathways. Education has always been a big one for me, so definitely follow us @higherdose on Instagram, go to our website, higherdose, and then you can see our content series there and then yeah, sign up for these summits. I think these are so huge, especially around menopause, that, my gosh as I’m almost turning 40, I’m starting to think about it and how do I delay it? How do I get my hormones in place? How do I even just know where my hormones are at? I just think there needs to be more information about menopause. I personally just being a woman and going through all these different phases in my life, from the teenage years to detoxing from all the exposure that I had in my twenties to trying to get pregnant, to getting pregnant, to having the baby, having the baby it’s just like there’s so many phases that it needs to be a lifestyle at the end of the day. I’m just here to encourage you to get into it because there’s nothing more important than your wealth and your health and feeling and looking your best.

Sharon Stills, ND

So I say that all the time, too. Yes, that’s right. That is why I did the summit, because it’s all about pre gaming prevention preview. I talk about it as pre gaming, I pre game to my menopause. So when I went through menopause I never even had a hot flash. It’s all that mindset of how do we keep our body healthy at all the stages and it’s never too early, it’s never too late and we can see when we’re younger, if we’re having fibroids, endometriosis or estrogen issues or infertility those are signs that your hormones are out of balance and that is a look into the future that you’re going to have a more difficult menopause. Wherever you’re at, it’s getting balanced, it’s getting the lymph flowing, it’s getting the liver and the gallbladder and the bile moving and getting the mindset and the lifestyle. That’s when it all kind of flows, when your life is flowing, when you’re in flow, your physical body will follow suit. So and thank you for bringing up I’m glad you brought up those. There are lots of free ways, too. So not to leave anyone out. Yes, I just want a second. If you’re not in a position to start making purchases of products now, get outside, put your feet on the ground. Lots of sunrise. If you’re not in Arizona like I am, hug a tree, don’t hug a cactus and watch the sunset. Get your cold in your shower. 

There are things you can be doing. I do those things also. Those are those are the medicines supplements are that they’re supplements. They supplement your lifestyle. We’ve been because we grew into this culture of pharmaceutical driven, we’ve been brainwashed and just it’s how it is that, if we’re sick, we have to take a pill. I notice even when patients come me and they’re coming on the holistic doctor and I’m not going to use pharmaceuticals and I’m going, but it’s still the mindset of “Dr. Stills is what vitamins should I take? What herb can I take? What remedy can I take? That’s all fine and dandy. I mean, trust me, I take a ton of supplements, but I want to shift that mindset. This is all we’ve been talking about today. This is medicine. It’s not just what’s in the pill. So I hope, if nothing else, what you’ve taken from this conversation is that lifestyle is medicine and that you have control over that and you go hug a tree and you ground and you watch the sunrise and that will give you ginormous benefits. Then if you take it to the next level, check out the sauna blanket in the morning. So thank you. I love what you’re doing even more after this conversation with you. Thanks, everyone for being here. A lot of food for thought and things to think about. So be well and we’ll be back.