Claudia von Boeselager: Welcome to the Longevity & Lifestyle Podcast, Amy, it's such a pleasure to have you on today. 

Amy Killen: Thank you. I'm excited to be here. 

Claudia von Boeselager: I'd love to start with a story I hear you have. Asked by Dave Asprey about a superpower you have while you were at a dinner party, can you tell us some more? 

Amy Killen: Yeah. So the first time I met Dave Asprey was back in 2016 and I had just done a procedure on him and his wife Lana earlier that day, but I had, I did not know them at all prior to that.

And they invited us to this dinner party up in Park City. And it was all of these people that I did not know. There were all these very influential sort of health and wellness people, very successful, you know, at this work. And there was about 20 people in this dinner party. And so Dave had us all stand in a circle and he said, I want to go around the room and have each of you introduce yourself and then tell us your superpower.

So these people started and it was like, you know, one person was like, I have the power of personal transformation. I can transform people into their best selves. And the next person was like, you know, I have the power of, you know, gratitude, I can help people find gratitude, it was all these, like, very high level answers, right? Like, all of these things that were just super inspirational kinds of things, I have the power of inspiration.

So, so it comes around to me. And all I could think about was what my actual superpower is. And so I said, I'm Dr. Amy Killen, and I have the ability to be the first person to feel rain.

And I said this, and everyone just, like, looked at me, like, who is this weirdo? Then they were like, what? And I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't predict rain, and I can't create rain, but I'm always the first person to feel it on my skin. So that's my superpower. And this group of people thought I was the biggest bozo in the world. But I thought it was hilarious. So I started laughing and it was, it was like my favorite thing. And of course, Dave still thinks I'm an idiot, but it's fine. Years later, we're still friends. 

Claudia von Boeselager: But, I mean, is it just feel it on your skin or do you have it, like, you feel it in your bones, you know, the way some people can actually predict when the weather's going to-.

Amy Killen: I really do think it's just that I can feel it on my skin, and it's not really a super power, but for some reason, whatever we're outside and it's like almost rainy, I'm always a person who is like, it's raining, it's raining. And everyone is like, no, it's not. And then, like, two minutes later, they're like, oh wait, it is raining.
So, this hasn't really served me all that well in life, I got to say, but I do think it's a superpower. 

Claudia von Boeselager: Maybe it's like a native American, feeling the rain coming, or whatever, as well. 

Amy Killen: Who knows? 

Claudia von Boeselager: Who knows, exactly. And I hear you've a, that wasn't your first funny encounter with Dave, that he caught you on camera unexpectedly. What happened there?

Amy Killen: So, yeah, so the first time I ever treated Dave, I, you know, I walked in the room and I introduced myself. And again, this is years ago, six years ago. I didn't know really much about him, but I was supposed to do some facial injections, some hair injections and some penis injections with stem cells and PRP.

And so I did the face and the hair, you know, we're just kind of chatting the whole time. And then I move on to do the penis injections. And I have my syringe, and my needle, and, like, I have his penis in my other hand, and I'm just about to inject. And I look up and Dave is filming the entire thing and he has his camera right there and he didn't warn me or anything.

It's just, like, he was just recording me. And I was just like, what are you? And this is like, you know, six years ago, it was kind of before social media was, like, all that prevalent. And so I was completely taken aback, like, what is happening? 
But he did, he filmed me, and then he later, at his next Bulletproof conference, he didn't show his actual, like, penis.

Claudia von Boeselager: I know, I was going to say, that's pretty out there. 

Amy Killen: He showed the whole thing, like, on the big screen with all the people. And I was just like, oh my gosh. 

Claudia von Boeselager: Well, what a way to become famous, right? 

Amy Killen: I mean, I guess!

Claudia von Boeselager: So cool. And so, Amy, from training you're an emergency room, ER, physician. What made you change in that spectrum from being in the ER and the emergency state to going into regenerative and preventative medicine? What inspired your passion now? 

Amy Killen: It was kind of like a little mini midlife crisis I feel like that I had. I had three kids within two years, so I had twins and then I had another baby 20 months later.

And right after that, my son was born like a week later, my husband moved out of state to work on a project. And so I was, you know, like a single mother to three very small children, and I was working in the ER and I had to be at work at four in the morning every day. And so I was just, you know, as you can imagine, just like sleeping three hours a day, super stressed, not eating well, you know, drinking a hundred ounces of Diet Coke and 80 ounces of Monsters every day. Like, no joke. It was so much. 

And I was just kind of like unraveling. And so, and I also started to see these same symptoms in the people who were coming in to see me in the ER. Like, they may be coming in for abdominal pain, but it was really that they were not sleeping and not eating and stressed.

And like, you know, they just had all the same kind of things happening and they were manifesting at all these, you know, physical complaints that eventually brought them into the ER. And so when this kind of clicked in my head, I just realized like, I don't know what else to do except I have to quit this job and learn something else that can make me healthier and make these people healthier.
So I became interested in longevity medicine, anti-aging, functional medicine, like whatever you want to call it, but essentially this preventative medicine, and eventually regenerative medicine, to try to help make me and other people healthier. 

Claudia von Boeselager: I love that. And can you talk about, for people perhaps, because we've got an audience around the globe and obviously in the U S I think preventative and regenerative medicine is more well-known, but for people maybe not that familiar with it, what is the difference between let's call it traditional Western medicine and regenerative and preventative medicine.

Amy Killen: You know, I think that Western medicine wants to do a better job than it's doing, first of all. I have a lot of friends who are still, you know, I'm still a medical doctor and I still use a lot of those tools. So I think that we can take from that. But the problem with a lot of it is that you're just treating diseases and you're treating illnesses as they come up.

And, for whatever reason, whether it's lack of time or lack of money or resources, we're not doing the education and the prevention to prevent these things from happening, which we know at this point that almost all disease could be prevented if we started early enough, right? Not everything, but most things, we could prevent with lifestyle changes, with good choices, et cetera.

So I think that the ability to help to educate people, and then sort of to use some of the higher level stuff, you know, that's coming out of the longevity field and try to really start to, kind of, reverse aging potentially. I think it's also super interesting, but that's the idea behind it. 

Claudia von Boeselager: Okay. Excellent. Thank you. And we're going to dive into a few of those in a minute, but could you just explain for some people, so they understand, like, what would be a typical patient journey for you? 

Like, what is your typical patient that comes in? What are their issues that they want addressed? And how do you help them? 

Amy Killen: So I have a couple of different practices. In my one practice, it's more like integrative medicine. We see a lot of patients for hormone replacement therapy. So bio-identical hormones. You know, so people in their 30s to 60s, 70, like it, basically kind of, in that age range who are having, concerns could be anything. It could be weight gain. It could be depression, lack of motivation. It could be, you know, problems with sex drive, like these kinds of things. 

But they oftentimes come to see us because they want to get their hormones checked. They want to see if we can start them on some healthier diet, healthier lifestyle, bio-identical hormones. And then as they're going on that journey, a lot of times, my specialty is, sort of, sex and skin.

So as they start to go on that journey, when they get to the point where they're like, you know, I'm feeling a little bit better, but now can you help me with, you know, skin rejuvenation, hair restoration, sexual optimization, then I'll see those patients, kind of, take them on myself. So I have a whole staff of doctors and providers that work with me and, kind of, help those patients along the journey.

Claudia von Boeselager: Yeah, love that. 

And so, you said it there that you're known as the skin and sex specialist, so what a fun area. And I'd love to quote from a study that I saw on your Instagram. So I'm just going to say it here to listeners. So at the point, when the groups number of orgasms per year equal to 100, or about two a week, the death rate was significantly lower. 68% less mortality than that, of the lowest frequency group, less than 1% per month. So, I mean, it's such an important area and I love that connection. Can you talk about why you decided to specialize in sex and skin and why is it so important for longevity? 

Amy Killen: You know, I started getting interested because people just care about these things. They started asking me, you know, like, no one's helping me with this, can you help me? And aside from some of, you know, men have Viagra, women don't, you know, I didn't really think they had a lot of tools. And so I was like, is there more that we can offer these people? Because I started to realize that sexual health is such an important part of health.

And then I just realized that I just love talking about it. Like I love trying to make this subject a little bit more accessible and a little bit less like it's cringy. Like so many people, you know, it's either talked about in a, like, you know, weird sort of pornographic way where people become uncomfortable or it's talked about in a super clinical way where people are just like bored, and so I'm, I was trying to kind of find like a happy place where we can talk about it, like, you know, in a fun way, but it's also educational. And I realized that I just liked doing that. 

And there is, yeah, that study that you mentioned is a Welsh study. And they looked at a large population of Welsh men and they essentially, you know, matched the two groups, you know, based on, like, age and other risk factors, and things like that.

And the group that was having sex regularly, one or two times a week, over a 10 year period, they had a significantly reduced rate of death, as well as just decreasing cardiovascular disease and many other things. But the overall mortality in that group was about half what it was and the group that wasn't having sex.
This may not be a cause and effect, or maybe, sort of, a, more of a, we're seeing some trends, but I think it's really important. We've seen similar things in women. We've seen some research that shows that women who are more sexually active can have longer telomeres. We've seen a lot of research around, you know, sexual activity decreasing blood pressure, improving sleep, decreasing stress, decreasing, you know, depression, anxiety.

There's some studies in older individuals that show that those who are sexually active tend to have less cognitive decline as they get older. They actually see preservation of the hippocampus in the brain. So there's all of this interesting data, and we need more, but that shows us that sexual health and these relationships and this activity is actually really important for us.

Claudia von Boeselager: I love it. And just out of curiosity, with the cognitive decline, especially because my mother suffers from dementia and I've spoken with Dale Bredesen as well, and Dr. Kristen Willeumier who you'll know as well, what is happening in the body, the physiology around the prevention and cognitive decline, is it a hormonal thing or what's going on?

Amy Killen: I don't think we know. And again, I don't know that it's necessarily causative. It just may be a correlation. But, you know, if you think about, there's a couple of things going on. When you have an active sex life, first of all, you have to be generally healthy to do so, especially if you're a man, because you can't have erections if you have a lot of cardiovascular disease, if you have a lot of inflammation, like, all of these things will actually prevent that from happening. So you have to be at a baseline kind of level of health. 

And then there's also the fact that, you know, sex is exercise, so that's beneficial. Which is going to be good for your brain, as well as the rest of you. You also have a lot of good hormones like oxytocin and dopamine and serotonin and some of these things, that come into play when you're having sex. And you also are maintaining a social relationship with someone else, right? And we know that that relationship can also be very powerful when this, one of the, you know, having social interactions is one of the powerful things that can help with healthy aging as well.

So I don't know that it's one thing, it's probably several, but I think that those all can be helpful. It's obviously difficult because, you know, what if you don't have a sexual partner, like what do you do then? And I don't think that we necessarily know how much more beneficial sex with a partner is versus, you know, just self pleasure. Like, I don't think that the studies have been done, but I think it's a fascinating field. 

Claudia von Boeselager: Yeah, well, you'll have to pioneer those studies, Amy. 

Amy Killen: I know. Oh my goodness.

Claudia von Boeselager: I'll volunteer! 

Let's talk about, if someone, say, is suffering from low libido, what would be your typical step-by-step analysis for us to get to the root cause? Like, what would that look like? Say someone in my audience might be wondering about this. 

Amy Killen: So we'd start with just, you know, taking a good history, just talking to the patient.

A lot of low libido is going to be, especially in women, is going to be related to what's happening in the environment, whether it's happened previously with sexual trauma or with, or, you know, with guilt or shame or, you know, things like that, that maybe come out of religious beliefs or family beliefs or things like that.

It could be about the person that you're with that maybe you're not attracted to them anymore. And that's the problem. I mean, so there's a lot of things that are, sort of, what I call, like, you know, kind of mind. Things that are in the mind that can contribute in a big way, because you know, our brain is our biggest sex organ. 

And I'm not a sex therapist. So if something like that is going on, I recommend strongly that people talk to a sex therapist or someone who has a lot of experience, you know, getting to the bottom of those issues. 

But then once we, kind of, get past that, the first thing I usually start off is just get a lot of blood tests, look at all the liver and kidneys and hormones. And that would include things like the sex hormones, like estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, as well as thyroid, and some of the other hormones that are out there. But just get a whole panel of labs and see where they are from a metabolic standpoint. Because that's going to be important. You know, low libido is often tied to things like low testosterone in men or low testosterone or estrogen in women. So that's something that we can relatively easily fix, but it's not always the only thing going on. So that's kind of where we generally start. And then, you know, obviously doing a good physical exam and see if there's anything structural going on after that. But it's kind of a long process. 

Claudia von Boeselager: I know, but it must be so rewarding, right? I mean, somebody comes to you, sort of, semi broken or not in the best state and being able to transform them. And I think with all the tools that are available nowadays, I mean, you're really at the cutting edge of everything that you must have so many happy patients fly in, I'm sure, from other places in the world, just to see you, Amy. So really, really incredible. 

I'd love to talk about the full body stem cell makeover that you and your colleague pioneered. Dr. Harry Adelson. Can you talk about what it is and what you actually do with it? 

Amy Killen: Yeah, so Dr. Adelson and myself, we have a procedure, we've been doing it for about four years. And actually Dave Asprey was one of our first patients for this as well.

So what we do is we have the patient come in and we put them to sleep. We have an anesthesiologist there, so they go to sleep for the whole thing. And it's usually about a three hour procedure. We'll get the patient's stem cells, we'll get some stem cells from the patient's bone marrow. And we were doing fat before as well, but essentially get stem cells from the patient, and then we'll add in some exosomes, which are going to be coming from like birth tissue, like amniotic fluid exosomes. And then at this point we're also doing some photobiomodulation of PRP to activate some other stem cells called V cells, which are, kind of, a new thing. 

So essentially combine all of these things together. And then we do, my partner does injections of the, all of the major joints in the body, including all down the neck and back and all of the major joints, nose, shoulders, elbows, wrists, thumbs, hips, knees, ankles, like basically all the joints. 

And then while that's happening, I do all the cosmetic injections. So I do facial injections, microneedling of face and neck. I do scalp injections for hair restoration. And then I do sexual injections as well as either like a vaginal laser or shockwave therapy for men. 

And then we wake them up and they've had, you know, hundreds of injections, but basically don't even need pain medicine afterwards because it's actually very restorative. So that's the full body stem cell makeover. 

Claudia von Boeselager: That's so incredible. And what are some of the benefits that patients notice afterwards, and how quickly do they notice them? 

Amy Killen: So it depends on what they're coming in with. About half our patients don't really have a lot of problems to begin with. They're just coming in because they're trying to, kind of, get, you know, this sort of an upgrade or, or trying to help prevent, you know, potential problems later on.

And we get people from all over the world, at this point, for this procedure. And then about half our patients do have some kind of problems. So, you know, if it's a joint problem, usually within three to six months is how long it tends to take for these treatments to start to see benefit. Sometimes a little earlier than that, but three to six months for the actual regeneration, 'cause you're trying to increase blood flow and increase blood vessel formation and repair tissue, and, you know, some of these things that take a little bit of time. 

For my procedures, you know, I'm looking for the facial injections to improve skin health, so to increase collagen and elastin production, hyaluronic acid.

So essentially improving skin texture, tone colors. You know, if you have pigmentation or scarring helping with that kind of thing. We can also, you know, try to help regrow some hair. And then, for the sexual procedures, we're trying to increase blood flow, which can help with, you know, men, help with erections, firmness, and staying power, and sensation. And women to help with things like vaginal lubrication, sensation, you know, orgasm pleasure things like that.

Claudia von Boeselager: I'd love to touch on a topic that I know for many women, especially mothers, suffer from and, sort of, pelvic floor issues and laxity, et cetera. And you talked about some of the lasers that you use. Can you talk about the methods that you recommend for women who suffer from pelvic floor issues, potentially post childbirth, but just in general. I know some older women as well, sort of, over, sort of, 60 who have huge incontinence issues. What are some things that can be done there? And what do you do to treat your patients? 

Amy Killen: So I think a good starting point, if you have those issues, is to go see your physician and then, and/or a pelvic floor physical therapist. Because they know, they can actually really dial in on where the specific areas of weakness are and give you exercises and help you work through that in a very strategic way. So I guess that's the first thing. 

But, you know, for people who have, kind of, more mild to moderate symptoms. You know, don't need surgery. Don't have prolapse, things like that. There are some things that we can do. The injections, like the PRP or stem cell injections that I do in women, the vaginal injections, can help with incontinence because it, kind of, helps to support the urethra a little bit by building up that tissue.

Especially with stress incontinence, which is the kind where, like, if you jump or sneeze or jump on a trampoline, you know, you have a little bit of urine leakage. So we can help with that. 

Some of the vaginal lasers that we can use in the office, like a CO2 laser, or a radio frequency, which is, kind of, use heat in a little bit different way. But the two of those are in-office procedures or treatments that are super easy, super simple, not painful. And we do a series of them. And that can definitely help with mild to moderate incontinence. 

And then I also have some home devices that I like a lot. Kegels, of course, can be helpful at home, which you can do on your own. And you should. But there's also some sort of gamified kegels devices that you can get, like the LV as one of them. 

Claudia von Boeselager: How do you spell it? 

Amy Killen: So, E-L-V-I-E, I believe. And then you put this like little like device inside. And then you have, like, an app and it's kind of like you're playing a video game with your vagina. Like you're doing kegels, like, to, you know, make the guy on the app jump or, you know, it's like Frogger with your vagina kind of thing. 

Claudia von Boeselager: So the stronger you are, the higher he jumps? 

Amy Killen: Yeah, exactly. So it's measuring, like, it's actually measuring the force and it's kind of a fun way to do it. Or there are other devices that are, like, intra-vaginal tens units, you know, a tens unit, where you put it on your muscles and it like makes your muscles contract- 

Claudia von Boeselager: Oh yeah. 

Amy Killen: You have transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulators.

So they have those for inside the vagina, which are home products that you can use that basically cause the muscles of the pelvic floor to, like, you know, kind of vigorously contract. And those can be really awesome for helping with the muscles as well. 

Claudia von Boeselager: That's really helpful. Thank you for those recommendations.
Before we jump into some further questions, I wanted to throw some rapid fire . Questions at you, Amy, just in general, my audience loves. 

So what is your favorite quote or piece of advice that you've received that was a real game changer for you? 

Amy Killen: My favorite quote is it's better to be brave than perfect. 

Claudia von Boeselager: I love it. And do you live by that? 

Amy Killen: I try to. I've been trying more and more. 

Claudia von Boeselager: I know. And I agree as well. Imperfect action, but just keep moving, right? 

Amy Killen: Yep. 

Claudia von Boeselager: Amy, thinking of the word successful, who is the first person that comes to mind and why? 

Amy Killen: Oh gosh. Peter Diamandis for some, for some reason comes to mind, because he's so smart and he's so successful and he's just a great human.

Claudia von Boeselager: Do you have any particular morning routines to start your day as a success? 

Amy Killen: The main thing that I do is sit in the dark on my couch and look at the city every morning. There's like, I can see all the little lights twinkling, and I spend a few minutes just, kind of, sitting there and relaxing and soaking in like, sort of, the beauty of the world before I get started with all the other things I have to do.

Claudia von Boeselager: So it's like a presencing exercise. Do you have any gratitude practice or anything you say to yourself? Any mantra or something that you do? Or just- 

Amy Killen: I really just try to, kind of, I think about the day ahead, and I think about all the good things that are going to be coming in the day ahead and, you know, try to, kind of, focus on how it's going to be so successful and so amazing, but really just soaking in just the beauty around me.

Claudia von Boeselager: I love that.
In the last five years, Amy, what new belief, behavior or habit has most improved your life? 

Amy Killen: Ooh, that's a hard one. I think it really does go back to this idea that I don't have to be perfect. Because I, kind of, grew up thinking I needed to be perfect. To have perfect grades, you know, do all the perfect things, like, stay on the straight and narrow.

And I've gotten to the point now where I realize that that's ridiculous. And I don't have to be, I don't want to be, that person. And that has really changed, kind of, how I approach everything. 

Claudia von Boeselager: Yeah, I agree. And same with me. I have my sort of OCD perfectionism as well. I used to work in investment banking at Goldman Sachs where you have to, like, triple check everything. I mean, like, it was all about perfection as well. And now it's so much more fun to let your hair down and just be human, right? 

Amy Killen: Yeah. 

Claudia von Boeselager: On the flip side of it, Amy, what failure, or apparent failure, set you up for success later? Do you have a favorite failure? 

Amy Killen: I feel like I failed, like, when I was transitioning from emergency medicine to what I'm doing now, the thing that led to that was this, like, serious failure that I felt like I had as a wife, as the mother, you know, all the things that - I have one little short story I'll share with you. When I was, at this time period, my husband, he was living out of town. He would only come home, you know, weekends. And I just saw him occasionally. And at one point we had a lice outbreak in my kids. Like my kids were, like, three or, you know, three or four, they had this curly hair, they had - my girls both got lice.

We could not get rid of the lice. Like, we kept trying. It was awful. Like, we're just like having, it's like a disaster, like, I'm just barely surviving and now we have lice. 
And we had this woman come to our house, this, like, lice whisperer lady. And her whole job is that she helps people get rid of lice. And so she sits my girls down, and eight hours later they're lice free. 

So she tells us, though, she teaches all of us to do these lice checks on each other, like, me and my husband, my kids, like every day, check your hair. And so, anyway, one day I'm sitting with my husband and we're on the playroom steps and he's behind me and I'm, kind of, between his legs and he's looking for lice eggs in my hair. And I- 

Claudia von Boeselager: Very romantic. 

Amy Killen: Right? Right?

But it struck me in that moment that this was actually the most intimate that we had been in, like, months, like, six months, while he was looking for lice eggs in my hair. And I was just, like, oh my gosh, we are failing. We are failing at being married. I am failing at being a mother. I don't like my job. Like, I'm just failing. 
And that was a big turning point for me. Just like, okay, this is actually not acceptable. 

Claudia von Boeselager: I love it. And what a low point, right? Like, looking for lice eggs, right? To realize, actually, hang on a second, like, what's actually going on here? So well done for like, onwards and upwards from there. 

Amy Killen: Yeah. 

Claudia von Boeselager: And changing the world. So thanks to the lice, right? So maybe, maybe the lice have something to contribute to this. 

You were speaking, you were speaking about your busy schedule, Amy. How do you juggle building this amazing empire, the kids and family and wife, and having a good sex life as well, because you have to practice what you preach, right? So how do you balance that? What are your secrets to balancing that successfully? 

Amy Killen: Sometimes I don't balance it successfully, first of all. But I think that, you know, the main thing is just, like, taking, like, I was thinking the other day about how, you know, I have all of these hats that I'm trying to wear. Like, I feel like I'm trying to wear, like, 20 different hats all the time, like, and I'm always, you know, moving them around. 

But then I had this moment and I was like, yeah, but you chose every single one of these hats. Like, these hats were purchased by you. They've been developed by you. And if you don't like one of the hats then, then give it away. But like, if you want to keep the hats, then you just figure out a way to wear them.

And for some reason, the idea that I had actually chosen all of these things, it made it okay. It was like, okay, well I can do this. It's my own fault for choosing them. And so I actually get to wear all these hats. 

Claudia von Boeselager: I heard the other day someone said, replace the word 'have to', like, I have to pick up my kids. I have to do this, with 'I get'. So I get to pick up my kids. I get to go to work. I get to help my patients. And I really like that. It's, sort of, shifting from the sort of stress state to the gratitude state, and then it just feels a little bit less busy. So I really like that. 

Amy Killen: I do too.

Claudia von Boeselager: What are some of the current projects and treatments that you are working on that you're most excited about?

Amy Killen: Oh, I have a couple of things. I think you probably saw on Instagram I have a new peptide supplement that I just came out with. Only here in the US, sorry guys. But that is pretty fun. And I like that a lot. 

And then I have another kind of longevity supplement based project that I'm working on that I think will launch early next year.

And then I also have a decentralized autonomous organization, like a blockchain based project with a couple of people that I'm also working on to try to-

Claudia von Boeselager: I saw your MIT certificate. 

Amy Killen: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So I did that course. And I've hooked up with some smart blockchain people. And so we have a pretty big, you know, pie in the sky kind of project that we're also working on.

Claudia von Boeselager: Super exciting. And tell us a little bit more about the supplements and why they're going to be game changers I'm sure. 

Amy Killen: What we have going and it's, you know, we haven't launched it yet, so we're, kind of, a little bit early stage, but essentially creating a way to take all of the, sort of, must have longevity supplements that are out there in one, sort of, easy way, that it will also provide a lot of education and fun and, sort of, spiritedness with it.

So it's, kind of, a combination of some supplements that make it easy for you to do, to take those instead of having to open a thousand bottles, but then add to that, or infuse with that, a lot of, sort of, festivity and education. 

Claudia von Boeselager: Oh, I love it. Yeah. I love your energy and I love your happiness. You just glow, sort of, this positivity, Amy.

So I'm really excited and I'll definitely have to sign up for that. 

Amy Killen: Yes, thank you. 
Yes, of course. 

Claudia von Boeselager: What excites you most about the future of anti-aging and longevity medicine developments that are happening, new treatments that are coming, what are things where you just can't wait for them to come? 

Amy Killen: Ah, there's so many things.

I'm working with a company in the bioelectricity space right now as an advisor and they have a lot of really cool, sort of, therapies down that pipeline where essentially just using electricity, applied to the skin, to, the signals will specifically increase certain proteins. So you can essentially create this almost recipe of proteins that you want to have increased in different parts of the body.

So this technology is going to be used, I'm trialing it right now for erectile dysfunction, but, you know, we'll use it for skin regeneration, we'll use it for hair restoration, we'll use it for, potentially, organ regeneration, there's all different applications for that. 

I'm also just really excited about, you know, the things that a lot of the big researchers are doing.

You know, David Sinclair and his cellular reprogramming research, I think is so mind blowing. The fact that we literally could reverse age in humans, probably in the next, you know, five years, ten years. So that's also super exciting. And all the things, you know, that Greg Fahy, who is doing some of the work, some of the other trials in aging, and George Church and all those guys that are the big names.

Claudia von Boeselager: So exciting.

Amy, if you had to give someone top five tips on looking and feeling younger, increasing health span for longevity, what would be your top five tips that you would share? 

Amy Killen: You know, I think it's the foundational stuff. The stuff that everyone already knows, but we just don't do. I think number one is sleeping, sleeping seven to eight hours. Like, you cannot beat that. No matter what else. Number two, I think, is mindset and I'd like, you know, that sort of gratitude and the acceptance. I think that that is so powerful and it makes all the difference. 

Number three, I think, is establishing a community of people that you love, that you, you know, friends, family, people that you want to be around. It's hard to beat, you know, the benefits of that. The next one is daily exercise, whether that's weightlifting, et cetera. And then the last one is what you put in your body as far as food and fueling yourself the right way.

Claudia von Boeselager: And hydration and supplements, I guess, as well, right? 

Amy Killen: Right, right. 

Claudia von Boeselager: A few more rapid fire questions for you, Amy, before we finish up.

So what are some bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area? I mean, a lot of people hear biohacking, like, this is great, but, you know, how do you know that it's a bad recommendation? 

Amy Killen: I think that there are a lot of recommendations that, you know, people will read one thing and then they'll come out and be like, oh, this is a good idea. And then they'll just do it. 

So, like for instance, I did an Instagram post today about Jade eggs, you know, how Gwyneth Paltrow and the Jade eggs and people were putting these Jade eggs in their vaginas because Gwyneth said you should, but it turns out that they're full of bacteria. And it's also bad for your pelvic floor muscles, because then they contracted the whole time and then you can get, like, pelvic floor tension problems, and constipation, and back pain, and all these things. I think just because an influencer says do it, maybe that doesn't necessarily mean you should do it.

Claudia von Boeselager: Yeah. I saw the post as well. That's really helpful. 

What are some learnings and insights that your clients have found most valuable? 

Amy Killen: I think the biggest thing is that there actually are options out there, especially when it comes to sexual health and declining, you know, sexual interest and performance and such. That you don't have to live with it. So, you know, there are options, whether it's hormones, whether it's medications, peptides we can use. You know, actual technologies for home or in the office, injections. Like, there are so many options out there. You don't have to just be okay with this lack of sex drive or lack of sexual function. 

Claudia von Boeselager: And for someone who is, say, not in the US or doesn't have access to it, what is the best way to get up to speed on, or what type of practitioner would you recommend that they can find? Obviously following you and we'll get to those details, but how can someone educate themselves a bit more to know what options are? 

Amy Killen: I would like to say that OB-GYNs, urologists, people like that, you know, obviously dermatologists, plastic surgeons for the skin piece of it, are going to have a lot of high level information. And they definitely do. They definitely know what's going on. 

But some of them are not quite as open to some of the newer things that are out there. Or maybe they are, they just haven't heard about them or don't have access. So I think that the best thing is to find local doctors that you trust, if you can. And, but then also really it's just reading and, you know, going on social media, but to a degree. Reading articles, attending conferences, if you can. I'm trying to listen to people who are doing, you know, kind of, really exciting things in those spaces. 
Agree. 

Claudia von Boeselager: What has been your most exciting purchase in the last six months?

Amy Killen: My hot tub! 

Claudia von Boeselager: And why? 

Amy Killen: My husband made us get a hot tub 'cause he used one for years. And I was very resistant to it. But I find myself sitting in the hot tub, like, just all the time for no reason. Like, I'll go out there and, like, work on my talks for conferences. I'm like, you know, talking to myself. I'll go out there and, you know, of course, relax.
I'll bring one of my kids out there and we'll just have like 20 minutes of, like, one-on-one conversation, which- 

Claudia von Boeselager: Nice. 

Amy Killen: We wouldn't normally do. And so I feel like it's just this amazing little, like, box that just facilitates all these great things. 

Claudia von Boeselager: I love it. Is it a certain temperature? Is there certain water that you use? Is there any specifics to it?

Amy Killen: It's just a regular, I mean it's 104 degrees. It's just a regular, like, regular hot tub. It's not anything fancy. But I think that it's the idea that when you're in there, you, you can't, it's not easy to have your devices. Like, if you just, kind of, it kind of facilitates, like, being with yourself or being with someone else in a very intimate way that is great for conversation. It's great for thinking. You know, it's different than just sitting at home with your phone. 

Claudia von Boeselager: What a beautiful place, and I'm sure you have a beautiful view as well if you spend your mornings looking at it, right? So you can- 

Amy Killen: We do. 

Claudia von Boeselager: I love it. What is the book that you've gifted most often, Amy?

Amy Killen: Oh, wow. That's a good one. 

I have a lot of books that I love. I'm trying to think about when I gifted a book last time, I don't think I've even gifted a book in a while. I've read a lot of, a lot of Dave Asprey's books we've gifted for different, for patients and people because our clinic is in a lot of those books. And so we'll get to those to people for that reason. 
I've gifted The Giving Tree, you know, the kid's book, The Giving Tree a lot, just because I love that story. And it makes me super happy. Those are probably the main ones. I read a ton, but I actually haven't given a lot of books away, which is kind of sad.

Claudia von Boeselager: Amy, in the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to, be it distractions, invitations, and what new realizations and/or approaches helped? Any other tips you may have. 

Amy Killen: Yeah, I definitely have gotten better at saying no. I have to say no to a lot of podcasts and interviews just because I just, otherwise I would spend all day doing those things. And just other projects, you know, I used to, if someone said, hey, we'd love to collaborate with you. Like, we think you're awesome. Will you come help us with this? I would be like, ooh, you think I'm awesome? And then, you know, like, I would just get sucked into it. And now I realize that just because they want me doesn't mean it's necessarily something I have to do. And I think that that's true for all of us, right? Like you don't have to do something just because someone thinks that you'd be good at it.
It has to also be good for you. So I'm getting a lot better at saying no. 

Claudia von Boeselager: And how do you assess it? Do you have a protocol? Do you have, you know, a very clear mission for the year and you say, okay, does it align with that mission? What is your decision-making process when you're deciding? 

Amy Killen: You know, I have these other projects, aside from my clinics, I have these other projects that I mentioned. And so the first thing I say is, is it going to help with any of these projects? And if it's not going to directly help with these projects, then will it take away from those projects? And obviously if the answer is yes, then I won't do it. And then my other criteria is, you know, if someone asked me and if my answer is not, you know, "hell yes, that sounds amazing", then I have to default to no. If it's just like a lukewarm response, then I just have to say, actually that's not a "hell yes", so, sorry. 

Claudia von Boeselager: I love that as well, yeah, from Derek Sivers' interview. I know the "Hell Yes" one, exactly. Yeah. And I love also his analogy around if you know how busy you are at the moment, you know what you're doing next week on Tuesday. So if you don't have time on next week on Tuesday, you shouldn't say yes if it's six months out, because you're going to be just as busy then. 

Amy Killen: That's true. That's so good. Yeah, I like that. 

Claudia von Boeselager: I really like that as well. 

Amy, what advice would you give to a smart, driven, 20 year old about to enter the real world? And what advice should they ignore? 

Amy Killen: Ooh. There's a lot to be said for getting out there, for meeting people, for networking, for being open to learning from other people and new ideas. And I think that one of the things that we might be seeing with this younger population is that they are not as good at doing those things because they're so used to being on their devices. And they're so used to short conversations and emojis and texts. But there's something so valuable about one-on-one conversations. Ideally in person, but certainly, you know, even over the computer, that you can't emulate that with anything else. And so to cultivate those skills, because you will need them if you want to succeed.

Claudia von Boeselager: I love that. Very, very important. 

If there's one message, Amy, you could get out to the world and you could reach a billion people. What would it be? 

Amy Killen: That you have complete power about how you feel and how you go about your day. Like, how your health, how your body looks and feels, that you don't have to rely on anyone else. Whether that's doctors or pharmaceutical companies or any of your family or anyone else. It's, like, you literally have the power to create your own health destiny. And you just have to wield power the right way.

Claudia von Boeselager: I love it. Take your power back. Yeah. And it empowers people from being, kind of, a victim to the other side of being the creator, right? 

Amy Killen: Yeah. 

Claudia von Boeselager: I love it. 

What was one of the best or most worthwhile investments you've ever made? It could be an investment of money, time, energy.

Amy Killen: Ooh, these are hard questions. I feel like I'm on the hot seat over here. 
I was going to say that my crypto investments, but I'm not sure that they're doing that well, so maybe I shouldn't say that.

I actually think that investing in my family and investing in my, you know, my husband and my kids, and continuing to come back to them, because I keep getting pulled out to do other things, which I love, but when I come back every single time, I'm like, you know, yes, this is actually really important and I need to spend time here, and I need to give them as much energy as I'm giving everyone else out in the world.

Claudia von Boeselager: I love that.

For my listeners interested in understanding sex, anti-aging and longevity better, what online resources or books would you recommend they start with? 

Amy Killen: One of my favorite books is Come As You Are, which is by Emily Nagoski, about sex, especially for women. I love that book for women. But that's a great one. You know, for, there's so many other great sex books, there's a lot of great sex podcasts. Sex With Emily is a fun podcast if you like, you know, kind of, learn about, sort of, sex therapists and her point of view. 

For skin, I have a lot of, like, plastic surgeons and dermatologists that I follow. I don't know if that's - I like to watch, like, procedures and things, so that's probably not what people like. 

Claudia von Boeselager: Me too, but yeah. 

I kind of take a look and see, like, wow, what you can do.

Amy Killen: I'm so mesmerized by, like, the befores and afters and the surgeries and all of that. But that's kind of a little bit gross for some people. 

Claudia von Boeselager: I love it. Where can people follow what you're up to on social media and website? Where's the best place for people to follow you? 

Amy Killen: So I'm pretty active on social media, and Instagram, specifically, @dr.amybkillen. I also do some Facebook, but not that much. I have a few YouTube videos at Amy Killlen MD. And then I have several websites, dramykillen.com, biorestoration.com, and docereclinics.com.

Claudia von Boeselager: I'll link them in the show notes. 

Amy, do you have a final ask or recommendation or any parting thoughts or message for my audience?

Amy Killen: Yeah. I don't really have an ask. I thank you guys for listening. And I think the main thing is to stay positive and, you know, that there's always help out there. And if you need it, just make sure you ask the right people for it. 

Claudia von Boeselager: Amazing. Thank you so much, Amy, for coming on today, it's been such a pleasure.

Amy Killen: Thank you.