Estrogen: The Powerful Longevity Biohack Hiding in Plain Sight
4 minute read
The biohacking movement has taken off in recent years, with people investing in protocols and gadgets, such as red light therapy, cold plunges, continuous glucose monitors, supplements, sunlight exposure, and intermittent fasting. All in pursuit of sharper focus, better sleep, stable mood, more energy, and a body that performs and feels its best.
But here’s the part that rarely gets talked about: Women already have access to one of the most powerful biohacks. It’s been around for decades. It’s evidence-based, FDA-approved, and highly effective. It’s called estrogen therapy.
The Unsung Hero of Human Optimization
While modern biohackers spend thousands of dollars chasing marginal gains from gadgets and trendy protocols, estrogen quietly supports almost every system in a woman’s body: brain, bones, metabolism, heart, sleep, and mood. In fact, it delivers the same benefits many biohackers are after—only better, and with more clinical backing.
“If estrogen therapy was labeled a supplement or tech device, it’d be the hottest product on the market,” says Anne Fulenwider, co-founder of Alloy. “But because it’s ‘medical,’ it’s been overlooked by the wellness industry for decades. The truth is, estrogen is the original biohack for women. It restores what the body naturally loses and helps protect everything from bone density to brain health. It’s time we reframe it as the powerful tool for longevity that it truly is.”
Estrogen plays a crucial role in cognitive function, bone strength, metabolic regulation, and cardiovascular health. When estrogen declines during perimenopause and menopause, women often experience significant changes in body composition, energy, sleep, and overall well-being. Estrogen therapy can help restore balance.
Why Estrogen is the Original Biohack & Belongs in Every Woman’s Wellness Toolkit
Here’s what the science shows:
Cognitive Clarity: Estrogen supports memory, focus, and processing speed—results many people hope to get from pricey nootropics. Hormone therapy improved verbal memory and cognitive processing in recently postmenopausal women, in a recently published, randomized clinical trial published in the journal Neurology.
Metabolic Health: It helps maintain a healthy weight, improve insulin sensitivity, and preserve lean muscle mass. A review of gold-standard studies in Endocrine Reviews emphasized estrogen’s role in regulating glucose homeostasis and body fat distribution.
Sleep Architecture: Rather than tracking your sleep or supplementing it, estrogen improves its quality at the root level. Estrogen therapy positively influences REM sleep and reduces nighttime wakefulness, according to a study in Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Mood Stability: Estrogen influences neurotransmitters like serotonin, supporting a more even emotional baseline. Estrogen therapy significantly reduced depressive symptoms in perimenopausal women, per a study in JAMA Psychiatry.
“Estrogen therapy isn’t just about easing hot flashes, it’s one of the most powerful tools we have for protecting women’s long-term health,” says Dr. Sharon Malone, Chief Medical Advisor Alloy Women’s Health. “Estrogen touches nearly every system in the body from the brain to the heart to the bones. Replacing it at the right time can reduce the risk of chronic disease, preserve function, and truly change lives.”
Biohacking Without the Hype—or the High Price Tag
What makes estrogen therapy stand out in the crowded optimization space? It’s accessible. You don’t need to spend thousands on tech or overhaul your lifestyle to benefit. And unlike many popular wellness trends, it’s been studied for decades with robust safety data.
“Estrogen is one of the most powerful, misunderstood tools in women’s health and too many have been told to fear it,” says Monica Molenaar, co-founder of Alloy. “Hormone therapy should be something women feel empowered to access, not intimidated by. We created Alloy to change that narrative. Our mission is to replace confusion with clarity, fear with facts, and make expert-backed hormone therapy accessible to every woman who needs it.”
Time to Change the Narrative
The biohacking world has done a great job normalizing the idea that we can improve how we age. But it’s time to bring that same energy to women’s health and reframe hormone therapy not as a last resort, but as a proactive strategy for thriving.
Too often, hormone changes in midlife are seen as something to just suffer through. But brain fog, energy dips, mood swings, and sleep issues aren’t just “part of the deal” they’re signs your body could benefit from support.
If biohacking is about reclaiming agency over your health, then estrogen therapy deserves a spot at the top of the toolkit.
The Future of Biohacking Is Female
As the optimization space expands, it must evolve to reflect the unique physiology of women, especially in midlife, when hormone shifts can impact every aspect of health—physically, mentally, and emotionally
Estrogen therapy is just the beginning. But it’s a powerful reminder that sometimes, the best and most effective solutions aren’t new. They’re just overlooked.
Ready to explore the original biohack? Learn more about personalized hormone therapy with Alloy and discover how optimizing your hormones can help you show up stronger, sharper, and more like yourself every day.
Take the Alloy Assessment to get started. It only takes a few minutes and once completed, a menopause-trained doctor will review your answers and send you a personalized treatment plan based on your symptoms, health history, and goals.
FAQs About Estrogen
Is estrogen therapy safe?
Yes, when prescribed appropriately estrogen therapy is considered safe for most women under 60 or within 10 years of entering menopause, according to the gold standard, leading research orgs. The benefits for healthy women in that window include easing symptoms like hot flashes and helping to protect bone and heart health, per the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). It’s also backed by the North American Menopause Society (NAMS), which published a 2022 review in Menopause concluding that hormone therapy has a low risk profile and can be highly effective when started early in the menopause transition.
Can women over 60 start menopause hormone therapy?
Yes. Healthy women over 60 can start hormone therapy with appropriate counseling and shared decision making with our menopause trained doctors. If you are already on hormone therapy, there is no age at which you must stop nor is there a limit on how many years you can take them. And of course, women of any age can use vaginal estrogen to relieve vaginal dryness, discomfort and decrease the risk of urinary tract infections.
Does hormone therapy cause weight gain?
No. In fact, estrogen helps regulate fat distribution and preserve lean muscle mass. It can be a powerful ally in maintaining a healthy metabolism.
Is it only for hot flashes?
Definitely not. While it’s great at relieving vasomotor symptoms, its full benefits extend to brain, bone, heart, sleep, skin, and beyond.
What if I’m not sure it’s right for me?
That’s what Alloy is here for. With evidence-based care and menopause-trained clinicians, you’ll get a plan that’s built for you.
Sources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3321648/
https://academic.oup.com/edrv/article/34/3/309/2354631
https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/101/10/3847/2764955
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26018333/
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