PRIME MEMBER EXCLUSIVE | 3 Months Free Trial

Auto-renews at INR 199/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offer ends 15 July, 2026.
Wellness Big Sis: The Pod cover art

Wellness Big Sis: The Pod

Wellness Big Sis: The Pod

Written by: Dr. Kelsy Vick
Listen for free

Wellness Big Sis: The Pod (By Maven Media) includes wellness girl chats by host, Kelsy Vick, a board-certified orthopedic Doctor of Physical Therapy. Join us as we learn about our female bodies and all aspects of wellness, creating a sisterhood of empowered wellness big sisters... without the clothes-stealing ;) @wellnessbigsispod @dr.kelsyvickdptDr. Kelsy Vick, PT, DPT, OCS Biological Sciences Hygiene & Healthy Living Science Self-Help Success
Episodes
  • 109:: Performing under pressure & the neuroscience of why we choke

    109:: Performing under pressure & the neuroscience of why we choke
    Jul 13 2026

    It is World Cup season, so we are doing a two part series on performing under pressure. Part I is the science: what actually happens in your brain and body the second the stakes spike. We meet your amygdala (the alarm) and your prefrontal cortex (your working memory and calm decision maker), and we find out why pressure can dim the exact system you need most. We break down what choking really is, why it hits the most talented people hardest, and why women's stress wiring, thanks to oxytocin and estrogen, can play out differently. Part II is the toolkit for training through it.

    Hosted by Dr. Kelsy Vick, a board certified orthopedic Dr. of PT and women's health PT. Expert led, science backed wellness girl chats for women in their 20s and 30s.

    Smart Girl Newspaper, her weekly newsletter and growing media universe, is linked below.

    82:: The science of female friendships: https://wellness-big-sis-the-pod.captivate.fm/episode/pod-82/

    loving the pod? click the follow button, & we'd love if you could leave a review! thank you x 1000 :)

    sign up for the free Smart Girl Newspaper!

    insta:: @dr.kelsyvickdpt & @wellnessbigsispod

    youtube:: @dr.kelsyvickdpt

    tiktok:: @dr.kelsyvickdpt & @wellnessbigsispod

    RESOURCES:

    Stress can sharply reduce prefrontal cortex function and working memory. Supports the "up to 50 percent" blanking claim and the amygdala versus prefrontal cortex framing. The strongest citation is Arnsten's review rather than a single "50 percent" stat, so frame it as stress dramatically weakening the prefrontal cortex rather than a hard number if you want to be safe. Arnsten, A. F. T. (2009). Stress signalling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and function. Nature Reviews Neuroscience. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2907136/

    Choking is a working memory glitch, and high working memory people choke hardest. Supports Segment 2. Beilock, S. L., and Carr, T. H. (2005). When high powered people fail: Working memory and choking under pressure in math. Psychological Science. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00789.x

    Related follow up on pressure reducing working memory and fluid intelligence: Beilock, S. L., and DeCaro, M. S. (2007). Choking under pressure and working memory capacity. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17484426/

    Women's stress response can lean toward tend and befriend, driven by oxytocin and estrogen. Supports Segment 3. Taylor, S. E., et al. (2000). Biobehavioral responses to stress in females: Tend and befriend, not fight or flight. Psychological Review. https://taylorlab.psych.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2014/10/2000_Biobehavioral-responses-to-stress-in-females_tend-and-befriend.pdf
    Show More Show Less
    16 mins
  • 108:: Being in the same moment with a million strangers (the science behind the World Cup & America's 250th birthday!)

    108:: Being in the same moment with a million strangers (the science behind the World Cup & America's 250th birthday!)
    Jul 6 2026

    Two things are happening simultaneously right now: America's 250th birthday and the World Cup on American soil. And the intersection of those two things raises a genuinely interesting health and wellness question — what does the research actually say about shared experiences across cultural lines?

    In this episode Dr. Kelsy Vick brings her honest, all-angles approach to one of the most talked-about cultural moments of 2026. The science of collective sporting experiences, cross-cultural contact, social connection and longevity, team sport vs. individual sport, and 250 years of women in American sport — all covered with the complete picture, not just the highlight reel.

    What you'll learn:

    • What the research consistently supports about shared experiences and collective events
    • The contact hypothesis — what it says AND what it doesn't
    • Why the South Korean and Mexican fan moment at the World Cup is both real and more complicated than the coverage suggests
    • What a systematic review of 29 studies and 239,000 adults found about team sport vs. individual sport and mental health
    • 250 years of women in American sport — the real numbers on both the progress and the gaps
    • Where the honest limits of the "shared experiences change you" narrative actually are

    loving the pod? click the follow button, & we'd love if you could leave a review! thank you x 1000 :)

    sign up for the free Smart Girl Newspaper!

    insta:: @dr.kelsyvickdpt & @wellnessbigsispod

    youtube:: @dr.kelsyvickdpt

    tiktok:: @dr.kelsyvickdpt & @wellnessbigsispod

    Resources
    • Holt-Lunstad (2024) — World Psychiatry / PMC — Social connection and health
    • https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11403199/
    • Eather et al. (2023) — Systematic Reviews / PMC — Sport, mental health & social outcomes in adults
    • https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10286465/
    • Pluhar et al. (2019) — Journal of Sports Science & Medicine / PMC — Team vs. individual sport and mental health
    • https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6683619/
    • PMC (2025) — Frontiers in Psychology — Memorable tourism & psychological richness
    • https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11995712/
    • Oishi & Westgate (2022) — Psychological richness framework
    Show More Show Less
    22 mins
  • 107:: How Ozempic affects your fertility! A quick dive into the newest research!

    107:: How Ozempic affects your fertility! A quick dive into the newest research!
    Jun 29 2026
    There's a new headline going around claiming Ozempic might help with fertility — so Dr. Kelsy Vick (board-certified Doctor of Physical Therapy) went straight to the source: the actual research presented at ENDO 2026, the Endocrine Society's annual conference.In this episode, we break down two separate findings — one in women with PMOS (formerly known as PCOS) and one in men — and what they actually mean. Spoiler: it's not "Ozempic cures infertility." It's something more specific, more mechanistic, and honestly more interesting than the headlines suggest.We cover the RESTORE trial out of University of Colorado Anschutz and what it found about semaglutide, weight loss, and ovulation in women with PMOS. We also cover a separate UK-based review of male fertility data — including some genuinely surprising findings about sperm quality and testosterone. Plus, the bigger pattern connecting both: why metabolic health and reproductive health are far more linked than most people realize.This episode is educational, not medical advice. If semaglutide and fertility are relevant to your life right now, this episode is designed to help you have a smarter, more informed conversation with your provider — not to replace one.In this episode:What ENDO 2026 actually presented on semaglutide and fertilityThe connection between PMOS, insulin resistance, and ovulationWhat the RESTORE trial has found so far — and what it hasn't proven yetSurprising new data on GLP-1 medications and male fertilityWhy metabolic health and reproductive health are more connected than you thinkThe honest caveats nobody's headline is includingNew to PMOS? Go back and listen to our full deep-dive episode on the PCOS-to-PMOS renaming and what it means for diagnosis — linked below.If this episode helped you make sense of the headlines, I'd love for you to leave a review — it helps another woman who needs to find this podcast.102:: PCOS is dead. Meet the new & improved PMOS. https://player.captivate.fm/episode/f2f7f219-c9c5-46ae-8cd3-cb1f05467302/loving the pod? click the follow button, & we'd love if you could leave a review! thank you x 1000 :)sign up for the free Smart Girl Newspaper!insta:: @dr.kelsyvickdpt & @wellnessbigsispodyoutube:: @dr.kelsyvickdpttiktok:: @dr.kelsyvickdpt & @wellnessbigsispodResourcesMedical News Today (June 18, 2026) — Full reporting on both ENDO 2026 studieshttps://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/glp-1-drugs-show-promise-improving-fertility-males-femalesENDO 2026 Conference Presentation — Male fertility & GLP-1 RAs https://endo2026.endocrine.org/fsPopup.asp?efp=RkVJT0NBS1UyNTg5OA&PresentationID=1843535&mode=presInfoEndocrine Society Press Release (2026) — GLP-1s and male fertility https://www.endocrine.org/news-and-advocacy/news-room/2026/natesh-press-release-endo-2026Fertility and Sterility — Semaglutide & PMOS reproductive outcomes (RESTORE trial preliminary analysis)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0015028226004784RESTORE Trial — University of Colorado Anschutz / Cree Labhttps://medschool.cuanschutz.edu/pediatrics/sections/endocrinology/endocrinology-research/cree-lab/research-projects
    Show More Show Less
    16 mins
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet