How To Rewind Your Biological Clock

Introduction to Dr. Katherine Zagone 0:00

Welcome back to The Super Fertility Summit. I have an incredible guest with me today, Dr. Katherine Zagone. She's the founder of Clockwize, and she has been supporting women and couples to conceive their healthiest babies for almost a decade. She bridges cutting edge science with tried and true methods for exceptional results. After having her own success rewinding her biological clock, she's now on a mission to support women everywhere and having healthy babies on their timeline. And she's excited to bring Affective Science, a warm heart and an industry changing approach to the world through Clockwize, which I cannot wait for you to learn about today.

Welcome,Dr. Katherine Zagone, we're so happy to have you here. Thank you so much, Dr. Cleopatra. It's a pleasure and an honor. Yes, for me too. Okay. There's so much that we want to talk about. We share a love and obsession. Love foreign obsession with biological age and how to reduce our reproductive, epigenetic, biological age or our fertility age. And that's our zone of genius that the Primemester Protocol. And I love your Clockwize tool so much because it helps people to document their process.

So it helps them to see how old they are from a fertility perspective when when they come into the Primemester. So at baseline and then after they Primemester, so that they can see the effect of all of the amazing work

Biological Age and Fertility Outcomes 1:51

and love that they've poured into their fertility and pregnancy system. So I cannot wait for you to share about biological age, and also share about this amazing tool and algorithm that you are working on. And I always love to start from the beginning, and so I would love to ask you, what's the one thing that you want? a woman men, human of any gender, who's listening to our interview today to be able to take away from this interview. That it is possible to rewind your biological clock and that that will improve your fertility.

And there's so much hope. So whatever situation you're in now, whether you're planning for ten years ahead or you've been trying for ten years already, change is possible. Hope is possible. And we're we're all rooting for you as far as when you get to have your super baby. That's so true. We are rooting so big and so hard in the best way possible for you. So thank you so, so much for that. I love that for people who aren't exactly clear what we're referring to when we talk about biological age, can you tell us what's the difference between chronological age and biological age, and why is that good news for fertility?

If you're quote unquote older when you're wanting to have your super baby. So maybe 30 plus 35 plus 40 plus 45 plus. Absolutely. So chronological age is the age that we say we are based on our birthday, how many revolutions around the sun, all that sort of fun stuff. Biological age is the age of our cells. And this is actually different than chronological age in almost every case. And that biological age, that age of our cells can be older, younger or the same. And that biological age is changeable in either direction.

Typically we want to go, we want to rewind, we want to go backwards. Chronological age. Obviously, you cannot change unless you're going to like get a fake driver's license or, you know, you know, forge some papers or whatever, but, biological age, the age of our cells, the health of our cells is in provable. And that translates into better fertility outcomes. And I like to give some numbers so that you can kind of understand what that means. Yes. Thank you. Typically we we in the research IVF is a very easy thing to track outcomes with.

So there's a lot of outcome data on IVF. So for example when we look at chronological age women who are over 42, we have about a 3% chance of success in any given round of IVF. the 41 in 42 age group is just under 10%. The 38 to 40 age group is about 20%. The 35 to 37. It goes on and goes on with this. So that's chronological age. What we found in the research is that biological age is actually more important than chronological age when it comes to fertility. So let's look at this, these numbers.

If you have somebody who's 42, let's say they have that 2.9% chance of success with a given round of IVF. If we can reduce their biological age by even two years and get them in that 38 to 40 group, their chance of success goes up to 20% in a given round. That's, you know, almost a ten fold improvement in chance of success. If we take somebody from that 38 to 40 group and get like three years off the clock into that 35 age range, they've got a 44 plus percent chance of success. So more than double their chance of success.

So even just taking off 2 to 3 years of that biological clock, which I've seen many women do and myself do within 8 to 12 weeks, like totally doable. And it's worth waiting that 3 to 4 months if you can double, triple, quadruple or even ten x, your chances of success with that one round and maybe not even need it after that. I know that's what we're all going for. We don't tell the IVF clinics this, but,

Why Fertility Timing Matters 5:57

the natural conception piece improves as well. we just don't have as much published data on what that exactly looks like number wise. But I've absolutely seen it in practice. I know you've seen it a thousand times over. Yes. So that's that's hope right there. That is hope right there. And I, I love this so much for so many reasons. First, I want to say that when we talk about the likelihood of or odds of success in any one given IVF cycle or any one given menstrual cycle, if you're looking at natural conception, we also have to remember that it's not cumulative across cycles, and in fact, the because it's easy to misconstrue or to make a draw the conclusion that it will be.

So if it's a 2% chance in one cycle, then after four cycles it's 4% chance. That's that's not true. So actually what we see both in natural conception and in IVF is the more cycles needed, the lower the odds of success become. And when it comes to natural conception, if you are, if you've been actively trying for three months and you reach the fourth month and you're not pregnant yet, we know that the odds of success get lower and lower, such that the likelihood of getting pregnant between month four and month 12 only less than one out of four, will go on to get pregnant in that time.

And similarly with IVF after six cycles or six rounds of IVF, a woman 42 plus still only has, I believe, a 4% chance of taking home a baby according to the scientific data. So I think that's a really, really important thing to underscore and to and to really just reiterate how important it is to be able to slow and reverse your the checking of your biological clock. And you said something really important. Dr. Zagone you said it's worth taking that 3 to 4 month Primemester 120 days. As we think of it, even when you feel like, oh my God, no, I'm 42, I don't have time to take this time to work on my biological age.

But yes, you do, because by taking the time to Primemester, you're buying yourself more time on your biological clock. And that's what that's what you're looking for. And it also increases the likelihood that you get to have your super baby. You're healthy as possible, baby. In addition to getting pregnant in the first place and staying pregnant. So I just wanted to underscore those things because that's hugely, hugely important. And I know we're talking about pretty complex concepts that sometimes it's not immediately obvious or easy to understand how the dots are connected.

So I want to make sure that we're really, really connecting the dots for everybody. So tell us, Dr. Zagone. You have been involved in, releasing a tool that allows us to measure our biological age and so that we can see what do we look like before we we start Prime mestering and what do we look like after we've probably Primemestered So tell us about that tool. Yes. So we have the fertility wise test and the we use three three big markers. The first is that biological age. And we measure it using what's called DNA methylation.

And this is how epigenetics work. And anybody who's followed you knows all about epigenetics. and it is the only biological age test that's actually directly linked to fertility outcomes in the research. So there's other, you know, biological age tests and algorithms and things. There's cheek swabs and, you know, where they take other like blood markers and calculate them out together. Those have not been connected to fertility outcomes in the data. So it is important to know that this particular method with DNA methylation using blood is what has been shown to be predictive of those fertility outcomes.

Clockwize Testing and Biomarkers 10:11

So that we've got that biological age marker, we've got the pace of aging. And that's like the speedometer. That's how fast your cells are aging in this moment. And what's so cool is that that's the fastest marker to change. So your biological age, we can absolutely take yours off the clock. but about 30% of that age is genetics. And another percentage of that is your history. So if you had a traumatic childhood, if you had serious toxin exposures, if you had Hashimoto's for ten years, some of that we can't reverse some of it.

We can. But I've seen lots of lots and lots of women and men be able to take years off the clock. but that aging speedometer is going to tell us is what you're doing in this moment working for you. And then as you make changes, that's going to change more rapidly. Like you can go you. So for the numbers 1.0 on that range and it goes from, 0.6 to I think 1.4, 1.0 is you're aging at the same rate as time, which is fine, but you're getting older. then if we reverse that and slow down that clock, slow down the ticking of the biological clock, let's say you come back at .8.9.6.

that means that at there's a rate where those years are going to fall off that biological age, basically, you're aging backwards at that point. You're slowing the rate of aging. So every year that you have another birthday, you're only aging, you know, less than half year or you're rewinding the clock even more. Like I personally rewound my biological clock. I went from four years older to almost four years younger. So about a seven year difference in just about one calendar year. So totally possible.

So we've got the biological age, we've got the aging speedometer. And the last section of our test is our clock talks panel or testing for fertility toxins for a couple of reasons. One, these do accelerate that biological clock and that rate of aging. But they're also their own risk factor for fertility outcomes on their own. We look at parabens, phthalates, BPA and BPF. there's studies on them individually, some studies on them combined. But what we see across the board is that this toxin section, and there's a lot of other things out there too, but this is what we can test with that DNA methylation.

And all of this is literally done through a couple of drops of blood. A finger prick at home, super easy, super simple, totally doable. But those toxins impact time to natural conception. So there's about a 30% increase in time to conception when these toxins are present, they impact the health of the pregnancy. So some of these toxins increase the risk of preterm birth, both in mom and what's even crazier, but not crazy to you, because we know about epigenetics, is even when dad is exposed before conception, there's increased risk to these toxins, increased risk of preterm birth.

And then that that generational epigenetics piece, some of these toxins are linked to cognitive issues in children at seven years old to, obesity, eczema, behavioral issues. So some for moms, some for dad when with mom there's also typically some perinatal exposure. But the crazy part is with dad. With dads being exposed to during pregnancy is not impacting that baby's epigenetics anymore. So this is a preconception thing that sperm was exposed to a toxin and it's having an effect when that child is seven, ten, 11 years old.

I have such goosebumps listening to you. And so we we actually know now that the sperm epi genetically programed the house and the function of the placenta, to which is one of the primary pathways through this is which this is occurring and and can account for a certain up to 19% greater risk of miscarriage of stillbirth and can also contribute to preterm birth because the placenta is very much involved in the maintenance of the pregnancy and the health of the pregnancy. So I'm so glad you brought this up because it just reminds us, and I don't think we need reminding anymore because I think we we get it now, but it reminds us how of how time mastering and ensuring that we have healthy fertility, healthy pregnancies and our super babies isn't just the work of mamas during pregnancy.

It starts in the Prime Master, at least at the 120 days leading up to conception. And it's not just her work, it's the person providing sperm sperms work as well. And you know, if that's the dad, our sperm donor. So thank you so much for reiterating that. And we also know that, phthalates are linked to and some of these other toxins to programing in fertility or fertility challenges in the next generation. So exposures perinatal and leading up to conception

Toxins, Epigenetics, and Generational Impact 15:20

affect the fertility of male children and female children. So this is not a small thing. We really, really want to feel empowered to understand our status the way that we can through this testing, and also to be able to make changes which we guide you through in the most incredible amount of detail in the Primemester Protocol. That and, you know, a thousand other things that are relevant to programing. You're a fertility and you're the health of your super babies. So thank you so much for saying this.

Is there something else that you want to add about what we are just talking about? Yeah, I. Do, I want to add while we're on this toxins topic. So we've, you know, so yes, generations down the line, it impacts the fertility of our babies. And if that lineage will even continue and then if we back it up even further, I think today a lot of women, I mean, women are waiting longer to conceive it. It is what it is. And these toxins are also like on the other end of the spectrum, associated with premature ovarian insufficiency, premature ovarian failure, early menopause, decreased egg quality, decreased egg count, and so addressing these ten years before you even think you want to conceive, or for every woman whether or not you know, if you want to be a mom.

Yet if you even want that as an option, this needs to be a conversation among women, as a group of these toxins are, maybe leading cause, maybe just a cause, but definitely a contributing factor to this ovarian decline. And in rapid ovarian aging, that is, and resulting in fertility struggles resulting in infertility. And there's so much prevention that can happen, but these things are so ubiquitous that we really need to have like that. And I think we're seeing it like in social media. I think there's a lot more talk about toxins.

I've even seen reproductive endocrinologists talking about toxins. And I'm like. Yeah. Yes. So there's that, you know, prevention aspect for maintaining our own fertility decades before we want to conceive all the way through how this can impact our lineage. That's so beautiful, so important. Dr. Zagone. This has been incredible. And I have 100 more questions that I want to ask you. So I know this conversation is to be continued. And you and I are going to be doing a lot of work together, which we're very excited about.

So those of you listening, stay tuned. But before we go, tell us, Dr. Zagone, what's the one thing that you want to encourage people to do in order to take care of their fertility and the health of their super babies, their future super babies? If there were just one thing that you had to focus on, what would that one thing be? I would say get into alignment. And what that means to me is to get your thoughts, your emotions, your actions all on the same page for your goal. And with those thoughts and those emotions, figuring out what you need to do.

So those things are fertility promoting meaning, managing stress, taking time for yourself, feeling love, feeling joy. the mind body component I see is, is what we see both in, you know, the when we're testing, but also just in the fertility couples that I worked with that mind body component

Alignment and Super Fertility 18:38

far outweighs any of the other components that I've seen. and so that's the place where I would start is get into alignment with mind, body, heart, soul, all of that so that you're on track for your vision. I love that so much, getting into alignment so that all of these things are fertility promoting instead of hindering for you. So beautiful. And last question, it's one of my favorite questions. What does Super Fertility mean to you? What is it? What feelings does it evoke? What what embodies Super Fertility for you?

Super Fertility for me is vitality. It is life force. It is juiciness, it is pleasure, it is joy and it is trust. pleasure. Joy and trust. Life force. Vitality. So good. And I always say, treat your fertility. Treat pleasure as if your fertility and your life depend on it because they do so. Thank you so much for that. It is juicy. It is pleasure. It is joy. It is life force. Thank you so much Dr. Zagone. I cannot wait to continue this conversation very soon. And thank you to all of you who are here at this very moment, taking the time to listen, to, engage with and learn from us and allow us to learn from you as well.

And I'll see you back here for our next Super Fertility Summit interview. Thank you so much.