On May 12th, 2026, a landmark paper published in The Lancet officially renamed polycystic ovary syndrome to polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome — PMOS. The result of 14 years of work, 56 international organizations, and 22,000 voices from around the world.

This is not a cosmetic rebrand. This is a clinical correction — and it changes how this condition affecting 170 million women worldwide will be diagnosed, treated, and researched for generations to come.

In this episode, Dr. Kelsy Vick breaks down everything:

• Why the old name PCOS was clinically inaccurate and actively harmful
• What PMOS actually stands for and why every word matters
• The real biology of this condition — far beyond ovarian cysts
• Why 70% of women with PMOS are undiagnosed — and how the name contributed to that
• What changes in diagnosis, treatment, and research globally
• What this means practically if you have a diagnosis, suspect you might, or have ever been dismissed

This is the episode 170 million women deserve to hear.

• Teede et al. (2026) — The Lancet — Official global consensus name change 📎 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)00717-8/fulltext
• STAT News (May 12, 2026) — Full renaming process coverage 📎 https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/12/pcos-now-called-pmos-polyendocrine-metabolic-ovarian-syndrome/
• University of Colorado Anschutz (May 12, 2026) — U.S. researcher involvement 📎 https://news.cuanschutz.edu/news-stories/pcos-new-name
• Endocrine Society — Official statement on PMOS 📎 https://www.endocrine.org/news-and-advocacy/news-room/2026/pcos-name-change
• Contemporary OB/GYN — Clinical implications of PMOS 📎 https://www.contemporaryobgyn.net/view/global-consensus-renames-pcos-to-polyendocrine-metabolic-ovarian-syndrome-pmos-
• CNN Health — Patient-facing reporting on the name change 📎 https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/13/health/pcos-name-change-pmos-wellness
• PMC — From ovarian to endocrine-metabolic roots 📎 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12748392/

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#PMOSNotPCOS #PCOSNameChange #PolyendocrineMetabolicOvarianSyndrome #WomensHormoneHealth #WomensHealthPodcast

Welcome to the Hottest Version season. Dr. Kelsy Vick is pulling back the curtain on her most personal health journey yet — optimizing her body, mind, relationships, and spiritual health in what she's calling "trimester zero."

In this episode she shares her real DEXA scan results from 2015 vs. April 2026, breaks down exactly what the numbers mean, and gets honest about what she's working on — from fueling patterns and body recomposition goals to skincare, sleep, cycle health, and intentional mindset work.

What you'll learn:

• What a DEXA scan actually tells you and why it's the gold standard for body composition tracking
• Her real body composition data and what changed over 11 years of training
• How she's using AI to identify fueling gaps and optimize her nutrition
• Her current training split and body recomposition goals
• The daily habits she's building across physical, mental, relational, and spiritual health
• Why "trimester zero" might be the most important season of your life — whether or not pregnancy is on your radar

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Dr. Kelsy Vick interviews Dr. Abigail about pregnancy and postpartum mental health. They discuss common struggles like first-trimester fatigue while trying to function normally, body comments, and the sudden shift from “not pregnant” to pregnant—often kept secret early on—which fuels comparison and self-doubt. Dr. Abigail explains how she helps moms challenge comparison by questioning its purpose and identifying needs for external versus internal validation, emphasizing motherhood as delayed gratification. They cover parenting and mom guilt, reframing kids’ mistakes as not reflecting a parent’s worth, and the need to parent each child differently. Postpartum, they stress flexible planning and adjusting expectations. Dr. Abigail describes brain changes in early motherhood (“mom brain”) as adaptive, and shares calming tools like paced breathing, the “parental pause,” co-regulation, and postpartum nutrition basics (broth-based foods, balanced meals, protein-first, and snacks for breastfeeding).

Links/Research Articles:

Dr. Abigail’s Website: https://www.villagepsychllc.com/ , https://theaviationtherapist.com

Dr. Abigail’s Booking Link: https://book.carepatron.com/Village-Psychology/Dr--Abigail?p=gZVWZTPfSt6PI3UhjLIQjg&s=r8XMQN4z

Dr. Abigail’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/villagepsychllc , https://www.instagram.com/theaviationtherapist

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Dr. Kelsy Vick introduces a live bonus episode recorded at Erin’s April book launch for Do The Thing, following Erin’s earlier Wellness Big Sis The Pod appearance about behavior change and habit formation. Erin explains why she became an author after years of coaching clients who struggled to follow through outside sessions, leading her to study behavioral science and co-found Habit Coach Professionals. She shares the book’s writing and editing journey, including using AI for tone and audience guidance, relying on beta readers and a human editor, and navigating a major title change late in the process. Erin describes building her own writing habit by starting with a consistent 20-minute daily commitment and emphasizes using the book’s action prompts and assessment tool to apply strategies, treating failures as feedback. The launch team helped the book briefly hit #1 on Amazon in Business Mentoring & Coaching and Cognitive Psychology.

Links/Research Articles:​​https://www.erinlaverone.com/ https://www.habitcoachpro.com/ Book: Do The Thing: A Science Backed Process To Help You Take Action Even When Motivation Fails and Life Gets Messy: https://www.amazon.com/Do-Thing-Science-Backed-Process-Motivation-ebook/dp/B0GS98TXBT

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Miranda Priestly didn't just stress Andy out emotionally. She was actively dysregulating her HPA axis. And if you've ever worked a job — or lived a life — that felt anything like that, this episode is for you.

In honor of Devil Wears Prada 2 hitting theaters, Dr. Kelsy Vick is breaking down one of the most misunderstood hormones in women's health: cortisol. Not to demonize it — but to completely reframe it. Because cortisol is not the villain. A dysregulated cortisol rhythm is. And those are two very different things.

In this episode you'll learn:

• What cortisol actually does for you every single day — and why you'd be in serious trouble without it
• How the HPA axis works and why the rhythm matters more than the level
• What a "Miranda Priestly environment" does to your body over time
• How to recognize if your own cortisol rhythm might be off
• 5 evidence-based tools to restore your cortisol rhythm — even in a high-demand life

All backed by peer-reviewed research. Zero fear mongering. Just the science you actually deserve to have.

🎧 Part of the Spring Cleaning Series — check out our episodes on the lymphatic system, glymphatic system, and liver health linked below.

The Glymphatic System Episode (pod episode 96)

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Sources:

• Knezevic et al. (2023) — Cells / PMC — Cortisol physiology, HPA axis & chronic stress dysregulation 📎 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10706127/
• Lengton et al. (2024) — Clinical Obesity / PMC — Cortisol, HPA axis & body weight 📎 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11907100/
• Li, Huang & Zhu (2025) — Sports / PMC — Optimal exercise modality for cortisol reduction across 44 RCTs 📎 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12736704/
• Liu (2024) — Sleep / PMC — Cortisol-sleep bidirectional relationship in young women 📎 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11381560/
• Meta-analysis — PMC — Mindfulness-based interventions & salivary cortisol 📎 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5069287/

Your brain's dopamine system wasn't designed for infinite scroll, autoplay, and variable notifications. It was designed for earned rewards — and social media is engineered to exploit the gap between those two realities.

In this episode, Dr. Kelsy Vick closes out the April Spring Cleaning Series by breaking down what dopamine actually does in the brain, how social media platforms are specifically built to trigger tolerance and receptor downregulation, and why real life starts to feel flat when your reward system has been worn down.

Plus — the personal story of traveling with her phone on airplane mode and what it revealed about how automatic scrolling had actually become.

What you'll learn:

• Why dopamine is your brain's engine for motivation, not just pleasure
• How infinite scroll, pull-to-refresh and variable notifications exploit your reward system
• What "dopamine scrolling" actually is — and why researchers named it a public health concern in 2025
• The science behind why real life feels flat after chronic overstimulation
• 5 evidence-based ways to restore your dopamine system starting this week

This is the spring cleaning your brain actually needs.

🎧 Miss the rest of the series? Start with our episodes on the lymphatic system and glymphatic system linked below.

Dopamine System Episodes:

The Female Brain, Dopamine, Motivation, & Our Menstrual Cycles!: https://youtu.be/vp5mqJNcXmQ?si=QCtMbHgz7sVSe_HW

Spring Cleaning (Dopamine Detox!): https://youtu.be/IKAUeugRBbc?si=nitogU1bmaSoCCWR

Build Your Own Dopamine Menu: https://youtu.be/NkBMiiMG_mw?si=LuvBj_sTUPa_hVx1

The Summer I Turned Pretty & Your Dopamine System: https://youtu.be/wnkYARrPL8o?si=S5jUC8WJLd-OSSC8

The Female Brain on Motivation & Discipline: https://youtu.be/ckrbPK9mmgs?si=oJOqno8srn-d5hay

Lauretani et al. (2024) — International Journal of Molecular Sciences — Dopamine as neuromodulator

Dresp-Langley (2023) — Biomedicines — Dopamine, anhedonia & anti-reward brain state

Sharpe & Spooner (2025) — Perspectives in Public Health — Dopamine-scrolling as public health concern

Internet addiction & dopamine tolerance — PMC — Receptor downregulation mechanism

Emotional Reinforcement & Social Media (2023) — PMC — Intermittent reinforcement & dopamine sensitization

Tyler et al. (2023) — Frontiers in Public Health — HIIT & dopamine D2 receptor upregulation

Bastioli et al. (2022) — Journal of Neuroscience — Voluntary exercise & striatal dopamine release

Desai et al. (2024) — Cureus — Dopamine fasting & mindfulness evidence

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Dr. Kelsy Vick continues the spring cleaning series by focusing on the liver and how alcohol uniquely affects female physiology. She explains that women experience more severe alcohol-associated liver disease at lower levels than men due to differences in first-pass metabolism, estrogen-related sensitivity to liver damage, and immune activation in the liver. Regular drinking can raise estradiol while also making the liver prioritize alcohol over estrogen clearance, potentially contributing to estrogen dominance symptoms like heavy or painful periods, bloating, mood swings, breast tenderness, and sleep disruption; alcohol may also interfere with brain-to-ovary signaling and progesterone production, with evidence strongest for the estrogen effects. She discusses how timing in the luteal phase may increase sensitivity, clarifies that alcohol sedates rather than improves sleep, and recommends practical liver support without “detox” cleanses: cruciferous vegetables, fiber diversity, hydration, and quality sleep.

RESOURCES:

https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(20)30926-5/fulltext

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/gastroenterology/articles/10.3389/fgstr.2022.1005729/full

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00737-024-01483-9

https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/cncr.35391

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4729640/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6676690/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8594041/

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Dr. Kelsy Vick continues the April “spring cleaning” series on Wellness Big Sis The Pod by revisiting the glymphatic system—discovered in 2012—which functions as the brain’s waste-clearing system and works primarily during deep, non-REM sleep. She explains how cerebrospinal fluid helps transport and remove metabolic waste into the venous system, and notes animal research suggesting brain cell spaces expand during sleep to improve clearance. The episode links poor deep sleep to symptoms like brain fog, irritability, headaches, memory lapses, and difficulty concentrating, and discusses findings on sleep quality, norepinephrine fluctuations, and how sleep aids can impair restorative cleaning. She highlights research connecting sleep disruption to Alzheimer’s biomarkers and reviews early evidence suggesting menopause, estrogen, and sleep changes may affect women’s glymphatic efficiency. Practical takeaways include prioritizing deep sleep, limiting alcohol and blue light, keeping consistent sleep schedules, considering side sleeping, exercising, hydrating, and managing chronic stress.

Menopause Episode: https://youtu.be/HE7niP8P9iI?si=_EH-DzwJrazmAH1R

Glymphatic System Episode (episodee 5): https://player.captivate.fm/episode/06bd8798-6d74-4a02-873f-e9778063ec7b/

RESOURCES:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3880190/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8821419/

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(24)01343-6

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2025.1543725/full

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-68374-8

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7698404/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11835678/

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.3233/JAD-230527

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37034667/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4524974/

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Dr. Kelsy Vick kicks off a body “spring cleaning” series by explaining the lymphatic system’s role in waste clearance, immunity, fluid balance, and puffiness, and why many wellness trends (like gua sha and dry brushing) are often done incorrectly. She breaks down lymph fluid, vessels, nodes, and organs, emphasizing key traits: the system runs throughout the body, is low pressure with no pump, lies close to the skin (so light pressure works), and requires clearing lymph nodes closer to the trunk before working on distal swelling. She shares a story about a “nothing” feeling lymphatic massage being appropriate, outlines practical ways to support lymph flow (hydration, exercise, self-massage sequencing, compression on flights), notes when to see certified lymphedema specialists, discusses how vibration plates may help via muscle activation, and explains cycle-related puffiness, including a luteal-phase creatine loading protocol mentioned by Dr. Katie Hirsch.

RESOURCES:

Gua Sha & The Lymphatic System:

https://player.captivate.fm/episode/7147a1b1-5e61-4fcc-82df-4c929ed6a0cf/

4:: spring cleaning: body detox! Part I https://player.captivate.fm/episode/f50a5c40-7377-4710-a9a8-44b03022a1f8/

49:: female-specific fueling, training & performance with Dr. Katie Hirsch https://player.captivate.fm/episode/077def9c-370a-4963-b662-8d1f61256f73/

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Vibration plates are all over everyone’s feed, so Dr. Kelsy Vick (board-certified orthopedic doctor of physical therapy and pelvic floor PT) dives into what they actually are, why people are buying them, and what the research on “whole body vibration therapy” really examines. She walks through how studies test different positions and exercises on the plate, explains why systematic reviews matter, and unpacks the big categories researchers track—strength, power, bone mineral density, body composition, and even differences across training status and menopausal status. You’ll also get a quick, girly “smart science” moment on the proposed reflex-style mechanism behind vibration, plus what to consider if you’re shopping (protocol length, frequencies, amplitudes, and why specs matter). She closes with practical recommendations for who might want one versus who can focus on building an at-home routine without extra gadgets.

Jump Training Episode (74): https://youtu.be/DCwnnEYOYtA?si=CS3S-9aY2flW2Kfb (also on Spotify & Apple!)

Resources:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12124539/#pone.0322010.ref039

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40391029/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6944803/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14750005/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4697776/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30142802/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6944803/

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