The Equinox Women’s Health Advisory Board member answers your FAQs.
Discussions surrounding women’s health rarely get the care they deserve. Social media is flooded with long-disproved myths and baseless hacks meant to go viral. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence chatbots — which roughly one third of adults use for health information and advice — offer tips that can be inaccurate or, worse, put your health at risk.
It’s time to cut through the noise. Each month, the Equinox Women’s Health Advisory Board is opening up its inbox and addressing your most pressing wellness questions. Consider this your direct line to a group of leading women’s health experts across specialties.
In this installment, Advisory Board Member Amy B. Killen, M.D., a physician specializing in women’s longevity, hormones, and reproductive aging, answers your FAQs.
Have a wellness question for the Women's Health Advisory Board? Submit your query here.
What are the biggest lies women have been told about exercise and longevity?
Dr. Killen: Two big ones. First: Do more cardio. Grind away on the treadmill in "fat-burning mode.” “Stay small.”
The bigger lie underneath is that the ideal body for long-term health is a very skinny one. Here's what the cardio-obsessed, “lifting makes you bulky” messaging misses: Muscle isn't just for aesthetics or athletics. It's a glucose sink, an inflammation buffer, a fall-prevention system, and a reservoir of amino acids your body draws on when fighting cancer, sepsis, or surgery. Lose it, and you lose your physiological safety net. The women who age the best aren't the leanest. They're the strongest.
The second myth: You need to be at the gym every day for at least an hour to see real longevity benefits. Also not true. Research shows that all-cause mortality risk in women declines by 18 percent when they perform 140 minutes (less than two and a half hours) per week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity; to achieve the same risk reduction, men need to perform 300 minutes (five hours) a week, according to a 2024 study of more than 412,000 U.S. adults. Women also achieve the same risk reduction from one weekly session of resistance training that men experience in three weekly sessions, per the study.
If a woman only has three hours a week to train for long-term health, how should she spend it?
Dr. Killen: This will vary by age and goals, but here's the template I'd start from:
• Spend 60 to 90 minutes on progressive overload resistance training. Compound movements: squats, deadlifts, rows, presses. Multi-tasking done right.
• Spend 90 to 120 minutes on moderate-intensity aerobic training with your heart rate in zone 3 (between 64 and 76 percent of your max heart rate). You can speak but not sing.
• Add the secret ingredient: at least five minutes of high-intensity bursts during each workout, plus another five minutes scattered through your regular workday. I call these "spicy snacks." One minute each. Jump squats between Zoom calls, sprinting up the stairs before lunch, or a minute of burpees. Nobody ever said longevity was dignified.
RELATED: You Need Movement Snacks
What are women getting fundamentally wrong about metabolic health in their 30s and 40s?
Dr. Killen: They're not thinking about it. That's the fundamental problem. In my experience, most women don't pay attention to metabolic health until something visibly shifts. By then, the shift has been underway for years.
Estrogen isn’t just a reproductive hormone; it’s a metabolic regulator. When levels start to fluctuate in perimenopause, and the hormone eventually makes its grand exit at menopause, the metabolic fallout can be enormous. Fasting blood glucose might creep up. Lipid panels can change. Visceral fat — the type that surrounds your organs and is linked with cardiometabolic diseases and other health concerns — might appear out of nowhere.
Most of it goes completely undetected because women might get labs just once a year, if that. You wouldn't check your bank account once a year and expect to catch fraud. Your metabolism deserves the same attention.
If you could suggest one recovery ritual for longevity, what would it be?
Dr. Killen: Get outside for a mellow hike in the sunshine. That's it. It's my recovery ritual, my stress-reduction ritual, and my help-me-not-pull-out-my-hair ritual. The biology is solid: Low doses of sunlight produce nitric oxide (a molecule that tells muscles in the arteries to relax, helping to improve circulation) and may increase mood-regulating serotonin production. The same benefits are seen with aerobic exercise. In my experience, you come back feeling like a different person. If the outdoors aren’t accessible, red and near-infrared light therapy might give you similar mood and blood flow benefits indoors (though the scientific findings on the latter perk are currently mixed).
RELATED: Time Outdoors is More Important Than You Know
What supplements do you recommend for women playing the long-term game on their health?
Dr. Killen: I'll start with the basics that I think most women should be on: magnesium glycinate, vitamin D3 with K2, and methyl-B vitamins (especially B2, B6, B12, and folate). These cover common gaps that show up again and again in the women I work with.
But the ones I get most excited about are the lesser-known players: dihydroberberine for potential blood sugar regulation and GLP-1 activation, tributyrin as a postbiotic for gut health and inflammation, and hyaluronic acid for skin and joints.
Full disclosure: I'm the founder of HOP Box, a supplement company built specifically around women's longevity. So yes, I'm into this stuff — professionally, personally, and probably a little obsessively.
Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for length, clarity, and accuracy. The views expressed are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent.