On Health

By Aviva Romm MD

Alternative Health Medicine

What's On Health about?

From the stuff your mother never told you, to the stuff your doctor never learned, On Health features taboo-busting conversations that demystify and de-stigmatize our bodies, all while bridging the gap between conventional medicine and wellness. Join Yale-trained MD & midwife Aviva Romm and her line-up of expert guests as they discuss everything from periods to menopause, sex to reproductive health politics, and motherhood to mental health. Each week, Dr. Romm will be exploring the science and wisdom of how our bodies work, what makes us well, what gets in the way, and how we can live our best lives on our terms, authentically and bravely. You can expect to learn more about topics such as women's brain health, cesareans, microbiome seeding, women’s sexual health, and much more. Plus, you'll get Aviva’s musings, tips, and guidance from 35+ years of helping women take back their health—and their lives. The new medicine for women is here!

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LAST EPISODE

Toward a New Model of Mater...

05.24.2023

In a recent development, the US Preventive Services Task Force sounded the alarm about the increasing prevalence of hypertensive disorders among pregnant women. They have advised monitoring blood pressure throughout pregnancy since these disorders have doubled in the last three ...

On Health episodes:

05.24.2023 Toward a New Model of Maternal Health in the US with Neel Shah, MD In a recent development, the US Preventive Services Task Force sounded the alarm about the increasing prevalence of hypertensive disorders among pregnant women. They have advised monitoring blood pressure throughout pregnancy since these disorders have doubled in the last three ...
05.17.2023 Intermittent Fasting and Time-Based Eating: Is There Evidence for Women’s Health and Weight Loss? In the ever-changing landscape of trends and choices, it's important to separate the fleeting fads from the timeless practices. Today, we embark on an insightful journey, shining a light on two prominent trends that have taken center stage: Intermittent Fasting ...
05.10.2023 Re-Owning Yourself: A 360 Approach to Menopause with Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz Over the course of her twenty-year medical career, my guest today, Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz, noticed a shocking dearth of information and support for women beginning and experiencing menopause. For too long, this crucial stage in women’s lives has been given ...
05.03.2023 How to Choose the Best Birth Control for You Are you overwhelmed by the number of birth control options available and wondering which one is right for you? Are you confused about the safety of various contraceptives? Confused about whether to use the Pill or another contraceptive method for ...
04.26.2023 What's a Normal Period, Really? with Kate Clancy, PhD In this episode of On Health, I dive deep into the science and culture of our menstrual cycles with Kate Clancy, PhD, period researcher and expert in the field of reproductive biology who has dedicated her life’s work to advocating ...
04.19.2023 How Social Media Censorship is Impacting Women's Sexual Health CONTENT WARNING: Sexual assault Did you know that it takes only 3.5 years to sail around the world but up to 10 years to get an endometriosis diagnosis? That three out of four women experience pain during intercourse at some ...
04.12.2023 Hormonal Hot Housing: On Why We Need to Understand and Prevent Early Puberty in Our Daughters As parents, it’s instinctual that our number one priority is to ensure that our daughters grow up as happy and healthy as possible. So with the very real phenomenon of early puberty on the rise, it's understandable that many of ...
04.05.2023 Dismissed: On the Way Bias May Be Affecting Your Healthcare with Dr. Angela Marshall Here’s the uncomfortable truth: Ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, body size, and other factors have a significant bearing on whether you will be diagnosed and treated correctly. And health-care bias can mean the difference not just between suffering and relief ...
03.29.2023 On What We All Need to Know About Living with Long COVID Have you wondered if you or someone you know has Long COVID? It's VERY possible! As of 2023, the CDC estimates that 1 in 5 people, as many as 1 in 3 college students, and a preponderance of menopausal women ...
03.22.2023 On Period Pain in Teens - A 6th Vital Sign That You Don’t Want to Miss If your teen daughter is struggling with period pain and you're looking for answers - or you're a teen here for yourself - this episode is for you. Period pain, or what’s medically known as dysmenorrhea, has become such a ...
03.15.2023 On Family Secrets with Dani Shapiro Imagine opening an email that contains a revelation that rocks your world to the core, forcing you to completely rethink your origin and your identity- this is exactly what happened to my guest on today's On Health Podcast episode, Dani ...
03.08.2023 On How to Have a Safe, Empowered Miscarriage at Home: What Every Woman Needs to Know TRIGGER WARNING: Miscarriage and pregnancy loss. Both physically and emotionally, there is very little that can prepare a woman for something 1 in 4 of us will experience in our lifetime: miscarriage. Early pregnancy loss is a complex topic that ...
03.01.2023 On Invisible Illness: Living at the Edge of Medical Knowledge with Meghan O’Rourke From chronic fatigue to Lyme’s disease to COVID to autoimmune conditions, "invisible" illnesses and those who suffer from them are often disbelieved. It's often a struggle to receive a diagnosis, and more often than not, sufferers do not receive the ...
02.22.2023 On Vaginal Dryness and Painful Sex in Menopause An estimated 6,000 women in the U.S. reach menopause every single day—that’s over 2 million each year! And an average of 27 million women between the ages of 45 and 64 experience menopausal symptoms. All this to say, you are ...
02.15.2023 Thinx Again: On What We Need to Know about PFAS in Our Period Products As thoughtful consumers, we try to make the best decisions for ourselves and our families. And the bottom line is that we shouldn't have to twice about the possibility that the everyday products we use, from the cookware in our ...
02.08.2023 On the History of the Migraine Personality with Joanna Kempner Sensitivity to light, sounds, and sometimes smells, nausea, vomiting, and sometimes hours spent in darkened rooms. If you suffer from migraines, then you're all too familiar with these symptoms, which may affect you infrequently or as often as several times ...
02.01.2023 Let’s Chat About That: On Supporting Optimal Immunity In Pregnancy Motherhood is a lifelong role, during which there will be no shortage of opportunities to worry. Even before you give birth, your mama-bear radar is engaged, and you’re suddenly motivated to do all you can to protect this precious being ...
01.25.2023 On the Big Letdown: A Radical Conversation on Birth and Breastfeeding with Kimberly Seals Allers Content Warning: In this episode, we will be talking about maternal mortality, infant mortality, and the impact of racism on maternal health. 60% of all maternal deaths are fully preventable, and the complications women experience are not inherent to black ...
01.18.2023 Pt. 2 On Alcohol and Women's Health from Fertility thru Menopause Welcome to the second half of our alcohol miniseries! In part one, I focused on how alcohol metabolizes differently in women than men and how this increases women's alcohol-related health risks. I also talked about how alcohol can effect puberty, ...
01.11.2023 On Women, Alcohol, Our Hormones and Menstrual Cycles Alcohol. It's the kind of frenemy that many women have a love-hate relationship with. It may make us feel good in the moment—relaxed, more social, less anxious—but many women find that after a drink or several, they’re moody, irritable, don’t ...
12.21.2022 Why Creating & Setting Boundaries is Essential for Our Health At some point, too many of us internalized the belief that being a woman means complete self-sacrifice, not setting healthy boundaries for our well-being, and not taking care of our fundamental needs – even for sleep, quality food, and relaxation. ...
12.14.2022 How Being a “Good Girl” is Hazardous to Your Health From a young age, we’re taught to be "good girls." We’re told to be polite, to be nice, not to interrupt, and to say thank you—even when we don't mean it. As little girls, we're best "seen", not heard and ...
12.07.2022 Come as You Are with Emily Nagoski This week, I'm sharing a replay of my interview with New York Times bestseller, Dr. Emily @Nagoski, author of Come as You Are, because she's so interesting and because as we shift through seasons of our lives (and through pandemic ...
11.30.2022 Women’s Top Thyroid Questions, Answered (Part 2): Thyroid Antibodies + Thyroid Treatments The thyroid is such a complex part of our endocrine system, involved in hundreds of processes that affect nearly every aspect of our health, so naturally there’s plenty of ground to cover. I’m so thrilled to be picking up where ...
11.23.2022 Healing Our Food Relationship with Mindfulness How many times have you sat down to a meal already worried about the calories in the food you’re eating? Or plagued by feelings of guilt and feelings of loss of control instead of the pleasure and nourishment of eating? ...
11.16.2022 How to Boost Your Immunity for Cold and Flu Season This year, staying well and preventing colds and flu is more important than ever. Not only is it expected to be a worse-than-average flu season, but we’re also entering another COVID winter. But what is it that you can do ...
11.09.2022 Blood Sugar Balance with the Glucose Goddess Blood sugar balance. It's the starting place in my patient care, and it's the one core thread, other than eating 'whole foods,' that runs through how I personally think about what I eat. Why? As your body’s preferred energy source, ...
11.02.2022 Women's Top Thyroid Questions, Answered (Part 1) The thyroid is one of the most important and complex glands in our body. And as women, we need to know a thing or two about it because, statistically, 1 in 8 of us will suffer from thyroid issues during ...
10.26.2022 Who’s Afraid of Fever? Every year, over 5 million parents visit the ER because their child has a fever and they're worried.. Sometimes those visits are necessary. But more often than not, we assume that we unnecessarily fear fever, and assume we have to ...
10.19.2022 Optimizing Immunity Through the Gut-Immune Axis With Robynne Chutkan MD What do sleep, mucus, and, plant diversity have in common? They're all important aspects of a healthy gut and immune system, which is what I connect the dots on today with my guest-friend and sister MD, Dr. Robynne Chutkan. In ...
10.12.2022 Negativity Bias: Why We Expect the Worst and How to Change That Human brains do a lot of thinking - to the tune of about 6200 thoughts per day! Most of these are just passing thoughts, but according to researchers, a lot of those that reach our consciousness can be classified as ...
10.05.2022 Enough Already: Protecting Kids from Environmental Toxins Every time you're fuelling your car or walking into your home and don’t have to worry about lead exposure, it’s thanks to my guest today, no less than one of my heroes, Dr. Phillip Landrigan. But the question still remains— ...
09.28.2022 How Doulas Make a Difference with Tracie Collins George Floyd, Brianna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery—these are names you know. I hope. But what about Kira Dixon Johnson, Yolanda Kadima, and Tatia Oden French? These are names that you may not have heard. They are the names of Black women ...
09.21.2022 Why We Need Birthing Centers Despite years of evidence about the incredible outcomes, safety, and cost-effectiveness of midwives, midwifery care is still not the standard for pregnancy and birth in the US, and access to birthing centers remains limited. Yet, studies show they are associated ...
09.14.2022 Perfectionism: Healing the Shadow Side Perfectionism. It's a common relentless inner stress that I know I'm not alone in experiencing. What you might not realize is that it's a common symptom of being stuck in mode of survival mode. In this episode I invite you ...
09.07.2022 Vaginal Seeding After Cesarean: Is It Safe and Recommended for Your Baby? Curious about vaginal seeding and whether it is safe and recommended for you and your baby? To date, more than 20 studies have found that the microbiome in cesarean-born babes is different than that of vaginally born infants. These differences ...
08.31.2022 Too Many Cesarean Sections: What You Need to Know We are facing what continues to be a global cesarean section crisis. The overuse of cesarean sections, especially in the United States, is not new, but it has continued to become more prevalent here and globally over the past 30 ...
08.24.2022 Eight Medical Myths Keeping Women from Getting Proper Diagnosis and Treatment "It’s all in your head." "It’s normal for women to suffer." "We just don’t know what causes that." Chances are you’ve heard one of these medical myths before, and it has kept you from receiving important diagnoses and timely treatment. ...
08.17.2022 Teen Sexual Health + Abortion Pills & Body Autonomy Let’s talk about abortion pills. This week, I am joined by the partnerships and engagement manager at Plan C, Imani Wilson-Shabazz. Imani is a beacon of light in the reproductive health and sexuality awareness space who, through education and empowerment, ...
08.10.2022 The Lowdown On Pap Tests, HPV, and Pelvic Exams This week, I hop on the mic solo to fill you in on everything you need to know about the Pap test, HPV, and pelvic exams. I cover why we can finally say bye bye to routine annual pelvic exams ...
08.03.2022 The Hidden Motherhood Struggle with Catherine Birndorf and Paige Bellenbaum It’s not just you. You're not crazy. You're not a bad mom. You're not alone. These are words and deep beliefs that resonate through and form the backbone of today’s guests, Catherine Birndorf, MD, and Paige Bellenbaum, LMSW. Catherine and ...
07.27.2022 Calling In the Call-Out Culture with Loretta J. Ross We're living in a time when collective solutions and open dialogue are needed more than ever, but the rise of call-out and cancel-culture has left many important conversations silent. This week, I welcome the absolutely iconic feminist and activist, Loretta ...
07.20.2022 Fertility Awareness Is Power with Lisa Hendrickson-Jack This week we are diving deep into fertility awareness, body autonomy, and cycle tracking with the author of The Fifth Vital Sign, Lisa Hendrickson-Jack. With forms of contraception at risk of becoming harder to access in a post-Roe world, now ...
07.13.2022 How to Thrive When All You Feel is Turmoil Even before the pandemic, we were facing a cultural epidemic. It goes by a lot of different names—anxiety, depression, overwhelm, burnout. Chances are you’ve felt it before. Currently, as a collective, we are experiencing a feeling of global overwhelm and ...
07.06.2022 Optimizing and Protecting Your XX Brain with Dr. Lisa Mosconi Did you know researchers estimate that nearly two thirds of those living with Alzheimer’s in the United States are women? This week, I am joined by the Mona Lisa of Neuroscience, bestselling author, and one of the most influential scientists ...
07.01.2022 What We Must Do NOW to Save Reproductive Freedom with Kathryn Kolbert & Julie Kay The new medicine for women is here—I’m back with a new season full of taboo-busting conversations about all things women’s health. As a woman in her wisdom years, I’m bringing together the four decades of work I’ve done as a ...
06.29.2022 Introducing: On Health Welcome to the new medicine for women! From the stuff your mother never told you, to the stuff your doctor never learned, On Health is what happens when a midwife + a Yale trained MD shares about all things women’s ...
11.10.2021 167 How to Choose the Best Birth Control for You There are so many options available for contraception, and so much conflicting information about what’s safe, that it can be overwhelming to choose. Add to that, if you’re here on my website, there’s a good chance you’re someone who wants ...
09.29.2021 166 The Gut-Hormone Connection with Robyn Chutkan The connection between my love of quiet introspective time and my highly chatty nature is that I love to learn, gather information, make sense of it, digest it, and then share it with you, my course students, my patient, and ...
09.24.2021 165 The PCOS Diet - Why Food Matters While there’s a clear relationship between diet, nutrition, and PCOS, most doctors aren’t talking about it enough, or at all with patients, beyond women with PCOS being told all too often, and sometimes in a shaming, blaming way, to just ...

Older episodes

On Health

What's On Health about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

On Health episodes:

Toward a New Model of Maternal Health in the US with Neel Shah, MD

Intermittent Fasting and Time-Based Eating: Is There Evidence for Women’s Health and Weight Loss?

Re-Owning Yourself: A 360 Approach to Menopause with Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz

How to Choose the Best Birth Control for You

What's a Normal Period, Really? with Kate Clancy, PhD

How Social Media Censorship is Impacting Women's Sexual Health

Hormonal Hot Housing: On Why We Need to Understand and Prevent Early Puberty in Our Daughters

Dismissed: On the Way Bias May Be Affecting Your Healthcare with Dr. Angela Marshall

On What We All Need to Know About Living with Long COVID

On Period Pain in Teens - A 6th Vital Sign That You Don’t Want to Miss

On Family Secrets with Dani Shapiro

On How to Have a Safe, Empowered Miscarriage at Home: What Every Woman Needs to Know

On Invisible Illness: Living at the Edge of Medical Knowledge with Meghan O’Rourke

On Vaginal Dryness and Painful Sex in Menopause

Thinx Again: On What We Need to Know about PFAS in Our Period Products

On the History of the Migraine Personality with Joanna Kempner

Let’s Chat About That: On Supporting Optimal Immunity In Pregnancy

On the Big Letdown: A Radical Conversation on Birth and Breastfeeding with Kimberly Seals Allers

Pt. 2 On Alcohol and Women's Health from Fertility thru Menopause

On Women, Alcohol, Our Hormones and Menstrual Cycles

Why Creating & Setting Boundaries is Essential for Our Health

How Being a “Good Girl” is Hazardous to Your Health

Come as You Are with Emily Nagoski

Women’s Top Thyroid Questions, Answered (Part 2): Thyroid Antibodies + Thyroid Treatments

Healing Our Food Relationship with Mindfulness

How to Boost Your Immunity for Cold and Flu Season

Blood Sugar Balance with the Glucose Goddess

Women's Top Thyroid Questions, Answered (Part 1)

Who’s Afraid of Fever?

Optimizing Immunity Through the Gut-Immune Axis With Robynne Chutkan MD

Negativity Bias: Why We Expect the Worst and How to Change That

Enough Already: Protecting Kids from Environmental Toxins

How Doulas Make a Difference with Tracie Collins

Why We Need Birthing Centers

Perfectionism: Healing the Shadow Side

Vaginal Seeding After Cesarean: Is It Safe and Recommended for Your Baby?

Too Many Cesarean Sections: What You Need to Know

Eight Medical Myths Keeping Women from Getting Proper Diagnosis and Treatment

Teen Sexual Health + Abortion Pills & Body Autonomy

The Lowdown On Pap Tests, HPV, and Pelvic Exams

The Hidden Motherhood Struggle with Catherine Birndorf and Paige Bellenbaum

Calling In the Call-Out Culture with Loretta J. Ross

Fertility Awareness Is Power with Lisa Hendrickson-Jack

How to Thrive When All You Feel is Turmoil

Optimizing and Protecting Your XX Brain with Dr. Lisa Mosconi

What We Must Do NOW to Save Reproductive Freedom with Kathryn Kolbert & Julie Kay

Introducing: On Health

167 How to Choose the Best Birth Control for You

166 The Gut-Hormone Connection with Robyn Chutkan

165 The PCOS Diet - Why Food Matters

Other shows like On Health: