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Piers Morgan Live
Interview with Madeleine Stowe; Interview with Cyndi Lauper; Interview with Lisa Loeb
Aired March 01, 2013 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. MEHMET OZ, GUEST HOST: Tonight, I'm making a house call. Giving Piers a rest after that flu shot.
PIERS MORGAN, PMT HOST: Ooh!
OZ: And the news that left even him speechless.
Your blood pressure.
MORGAN: It's high.
OZ: It's high.
MORGAN: How high?
OZ: It's 147 over 89.
Now, I'm here for you. Together, we're finding health in America -- doing the right things to stay fit and fabulous, helping me, my superstar friends.
How many push-ups can you do?
MADELEINE STOWE, ACTRESS: Not enough.
OZ: Madeleine Stowe is spectacular at 54.
STOWE: Fifties, to anybody who worries about reaching that age, it feels great -- where life has all kinds of possibilities.
(MUSIC)
OZ: The one and only, Cyndi Lauper.
CYNDI LAUPER, POP ICON: Sleep. Biggest killer. If you don't get sleep, it will kill you.
OZ: And new mom again, Lisa Loeb.
Were you nervous about getting pregnant that late?
I'm Dr. Oz, and this is a special edition of PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OZ: Good evening. Welcome. I'm Dr. Mehmet Oz, in for Piers tonight.
We've got a very special hour ahead, one that you won't want to miss. It's all about finding health in America, from staying fit, to food, to sleep, and sex, we're bringing you the answers you need to know. Listen, I get it, it's not easy, but we can do it together.
Tonight, I'm going to show you exactly how.
To help me out are pop icon Cyndi Lauper and musician and author Lisa Loeb.
I want to begin with actress Madeleine Stowe, because she'll be featured in dozens of movies and television shows and currently she is starring in "Revenge" on ABC.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STOWE: My son floats through life unable to make his own decisions. You could have dissuaded him at any point. Why didn't you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I guess I wanted to see him win.
STOWE: You selfish little girl. In doing so, you may have cost him his greatest loss.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OZ: Playing mean every week -- I mean does that bring you joy?
MADELEINE STOWE, ACTRESS: It does.
(LAUGHTER)
STOWE: You know, because we -- I think we all have a real dark streak in us and --
OZ: Sure.
STOWE: -- and because we're just not allowed to act on that, unless you're a total sociopath, you know, a borderline personality, which is actually think Victoria is. I've been doing a lot of reading about borderline personalities.
You just can't do it. And so it's -- it's cathartic. It's wonderful.
I -- I actually think we're living in very interesting times right now, where there is a celebration of the self. And I think that people are constantly self-advertising and self-promoting.
I -- I see, essentially, nothing wrong with it, but I don't tweet, I don't Facebook, I don't do any of those kind of things, because I know I would be checking every two seconds.
And I -- and I'm getting kind of worried that we're all going to have some kind of a society that has a narcissistic disorder, you know?
OZ: Yes.
STOWE: I -- I'm being heavy here.
But it's really interesting because, you know, each time one checks their phone, there's the -- there's this kind of instant gratification. And it's like a rat with a pellet, you know, the --
OZ: It is.
STOWE: -- the kind of --
(CROSSTALK)
OZ: Well, you know, part of the reason I wanted you to act -- to join us tonight was to talk about how wonderfully you have aged, all right?
STOWE: Oh.
OZ: And I understand I'm allowed to mention your age, although --
STOWE: You can mention my age. I'm 54 years old.
OZ: Fifty-four. Thank you.
(LAUGHTER)
OZ: Just confirming. It's a dangerous thing to do otherwise.
STOWE: No.
OZ: So, you know, I would predict that your body thinks you're a lot younger than that. And I -- I must point this out to everybody. I -- I didn't realize this as I was preparing for this show, but I'll read this so I don't get it wrong.
"People" magazine's Most Beautiful issue, in 1994 and in 2012. That's an 18-year span.
STOWE: Uh-huh?
OZ: How do you stay so youthful? What's the secret?
STOWE: If you're just talking about pragmatic things, I like to hike. You know, it is really important. But I also believe in not over-exercising, which I -- I don't follow any of the doctor's rules about that. I think that it places too much strain and stress on the body.
I think you have to do things that you enjoy.
But more than anything, I'm really engaged in -- in sort of what I like to think is, my life's work. I mean I love my work as an actor. But I'm involved with an -- with an organization in Haiti since 2008, since before the quake. And they're these remarkable people, led by a man who's a -- a doctor and a Catholic priest named Father Rick Boucher (ph).
And they serve, probably, about 250,000 people a year through education, through health care, you know, through labor programs, all kinds of things --
OZ: You get your purpose, in part, from doing that.
STOWE: Well, they give it to me.
OZ: Yes.
STOWE: They give it to me. And when I go down there, there is a sense of euphoria I feel, in spite of the fact that you're surrounded by very difficult situations.
I mean, there are people who have been all over the world and when they go to Haiti, they're in -- in a bit of --
OZ: Right.
STOWE: -- a bit of shock.
But the people are incredibly vibrant. They've embraced me. They've allowed me to partially heal a deep wound that happened when I was a -- a child, that went on for many years. My father had multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's at the same time. He deteriorated very rapidly and I was helpless.
But when I go there, there are things that I can do to help these people and they help me in return. And it, you know, they -- they heal these psychic wounds.
So when I'm not doing it, I feel as if I'm imploding. You know, it's just something in my character. I feel as if I'm starting to go into a bit of a depression. But when I feel I can be effective --
OZ: Yes.
STOWE: -- then I feel vibrant and alive and I'm -- and engaged with the world. I think that's the most important thing.
OZ: This deep psychic wound you refer to, is this the powerlessness you felt during your father's illness?
STOWE: Yes. He was -- I mean, I don't want to be very dark here, but when I was 6 years old, he had completely lost all ability to walk, his mental faculties. He had real violent tendencies, and so, we had to live kind of secret lives.
And I developed, I think, over time, a pattern of keeping secrets very well. And it's very important not to do that. It's important not to lie in life, you know, because even if you're telling small lies, larger ones start to happen.
OZ: Yes.
STOWE: And I feel that -- that you're no longer true to yourself, you know. And -- and it affects your relationships. I'm not saying I was a pathological liar or anything like that. But I think you tend to draw that in --
OZ: Yes.
STOWE: -- from the outside world. And the most important thing you can do is to make your life as real as possible and ground yourself in -- in work that's -- that's really meaningful.
OZ: How's your temperament?
STOWE: My temperament?
It's interesting. Well, most people would say I'm quite, uh, even. It's very interesting. I was having a conversation with a man last night who, uh, Christopher Stone, who runs the Soros Foundation, the Open Society Foundation.
And we were talking about a particular incident that happened in Haiti where, um, I was at -- at a rice -- a place where they stored rice. And it was right after the quake. And gun shots were going off.
OZ: Right.
STOWE: And I had no reaction. I had zero reaction. The men were pulling me to the ground and there was sort of no fear.
But what I do have is a lot of anxiety. Like --
OZ: Yes.
STOWE: -- things whirl through my mind a lot. My brain goes a mile a minute. So I'm not a great sleeper.
OZ: Sleep?
STOWE: You have suggestions for that.
OZ: We have --
(LAUGHTER)
OZ: We help -- STOWE: Please bring them on.
OZ: You know, if everyone, Madeleine, if you and everyone at home, sleep is a major issue, obviously --
STOWE: It's huge.
OZ: -- half the population over the age of 50 has an issue with it. And we're going to spend a whole segment later in this show focused on that.
Let me focus back on you and your checklist, if you don't mind.
STOWE: Yes.
OZ: You seem pretty feisty to me.
STOWE: Yes.
OZ: You seem like you can --
STOWE: Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes.
OZ: -- you can --
STOWE: Yes, yes, yes.
OZ: -- you can get what you want. So I'm going to quiz you --
(LAUGHTER)
OZ: -- on how -- on how you deal with some of these issues, because, obviously, you know, the fifth decade of life is supposed to be our -- our happiest decades.
OZ: Do you find yourself in a happy place?
STOWE: Can I tell you that the moment I turned 50, I walked into my morning coffee shop and I -- you know, I never celebrate my birthdays. I said I'm 50 and it feels great.
Fifties, to anybody who worries about reaching that age, it feels like that marvelous time in your early 30s, you know --
OZ: Yes.
STOWE: -- where life has all kinds of possibilities. You've come into your own. And it's -- it's wonderful.
Forties are -- are tricky. You know, 40s, you're doing a lot of questioning.
But 50s, you feel like you have to put the burn on and accomplish the things in life that you always dreamed of, because there's not that much time.
OZ: Yes.
STOWE: We're not here -- maybe I'll live to be 90. My grandmother was 98. But that still doesn't seem like enough time.
OZ: Yes. And it's been studied, actually. Everything you say is -- it resonates with so many folks, because you -- you work some of the craziness out of your life --
STOWE: Right.
OZ: -- but you're still healthy enough to enjoy life.
OK, to your checklist.
STOWE: Yes.
OZ: You mentioned activity.
STOWE: Yes.
OZ: Do you think you're active for 30 minutes a day?
STOWE: Yes, for the most part. For probably about five times a week, I do an hour hike.
OZ: Perfect.
Do you floss your teeth?
STOWE: Yes.
OZ: You do?
STOWE: I love my dentist. I love my dentist and I love getting my teeth cleaned.
OZ: All right.
Do you supplement?
STOWE: Say again?
OZ: Do you take -- do you take supplements?
STOWE: Not as much as I should. I take fish oil capsules --
OZ: Good.
STOWE: -- with COQ whatever that is.
OZ: Yes.
STOWE: -- COQ 10. And then I take a -- a powder supplement that has all your B vitamins.
OZ: So let's go -- first of all, with a father who had issues -- STOWE: MS.
OZ: -- with MS.
STOWE: Yes.
OZ: And did he have any other neurologic issues besides that?
STOWE: Yes, he did. He used to have grand mal seizures.
OZ: OK.
STOWE: Yes.
OZ: So there's -- there's a neurological history. So it's obviously worth focusing on potentially you having some of those genes or weaknesses in those areas. So Vitamin D is important for MS.
STOWE: Yes.
OZ: The omega 3s are hugely important for any brain health. In fact, if I get one thing across today, omega-3 fats --
STOWE: Big time.
OZ: -- the fish oils.
STOWE: Yes.
And also, can I just say, they're just wonderful benefits. It leaves your skin --
OZ: Oh, look at this. Look at this, folks.
STOWE: It's from that.
OZ: It's only (INAUDIBLE) skin.
(LAUGHTER)
STOWE: That's what it does, so all vanity.
OZ: Omega-3 fats.
STOWE: Right.
OZ: The multi-vitamins, including a little extra B.
STOWE: Yes.
OZ: And then calcium/magnesium.
STOWE: Yes.
OZ: All those -- STOWE: Essential. Essential. Also, I -- I do, uh, take Synthroid. So it's very, very important, in terms of bone loss, to -- to have that supplement.
OZ: OK.
Do you meditate?
Do you take time to yourself?
STOWE: Hell, no.
OZ: OK. I'm just making sure you don't.
(LAUGHTER)
OZ: No. Five minutes of time that's your time. You know what, go to the bathroom, Madeleine. Don't tell anybody you're there. Hide out there. No one will bother you because you're in the bathroom. Even those five minutes make a difference.
How many pushups can you do?
STOWE: Not enough. I do -- I do Pilates.
OZ: Perfect.
STOWE: Which is really wonderful. Yes.
OZ: But roughly 10 pushups is sort of the goal --
STOWE: Yes, no, no, no, I can do more than that.
OZ: And the final test, stand for me.
STOWE: Yes.
OZ: It's the balance test.
STOWE: Oh, God.
OZ: Please join me.
STOWE: I have the worst balance on the planet.
OZ: The ballerina in you --
STOWE: All right.
OZ: -- is going to step forward.
STOWE: All right.
OZ: Someone our age ought to be able to stand on one foot -- go on one foot, OK?
STOWE: Um-hmm.
OZ: But then you have to close your eyes.
STOWE: Uh, I'm -- we're so (INAUDIBLE).
OZ: I'm going to --
STOWE: I'm not so scared.
OZ: You need 20 seconds, I'm holding you up.
STOWE: Oh, 20 seconds.
OZ: Right here.
STOWE: OK.
OZ: Three, four --
STOWE: I'm not --
OZ: Oh, upright --
STOWE: I'm not even --
OZ: Well, four seconds is not bad.
STOWE: No, no, we're going to do it again. Wait, wait, wait, wait.
OZ: All right.
STOWE: But can I lightly hold on --
OZ: Yes, you can hold me.
STOWE: -- to you because I'm on high heels.
OZ: Yes. Go ahead. Go. One, two --
STOWE: Terrible. Terrible.
OZ: Exactly. All right.
Have a seat.
Yes, you know, a lot of folks don't realize it, but balance is an acquired art. There are three parts of your brain that have to work together for balance.
STOWE: Right.
OZ: You have to know where your body is. You're -- you can use your eyes or you can use your ears. And those three have to dance together. And when we lose our sense of balance, that's when falls and the like happen. But people have to do what we just did there, practice on one leg up with an eye closed and yoga -- there's many other ways of teaching it, but you can do it.
STOWE: OK.
OZ: Fair enough.
Now, the general -- those general keys to success, let me get back to the one fundamental issue --
STOWE: Yes.
OZ: -- that of purpose. And I -- it's striking to me how you've been able to accomplish that purpose in your life. And I applaud you, because that's probably the most important tip of all. If your heart has a reason to keep beating, it will.
But you mentioned sleep.
STOWE: Yes.
OZ: And I've read (ph) some of your work and you were talking about dreams --
STOWE: Yes.
OZ: -- which you --
STOWE: Insane. Insane dreams, I have. It's so --
OZ: Yes?
STOWE: -- oh, God, they're incredibly vivid and they don't stop, which must mean that I'm not having a certain quality of sleep, is that correct?
OZ: Yes, later in the show, we're going to walk you through dreams -- why so many of us aren't having the right kinds, so all are troubled by the dreams that we have.
STOWE: OK.
OZ: I have high hopes you're going to benefit. So will everybody at home.
STOWE: OK.
OZ: All right. I'm going to remind our audience of one of the greatest moments in film history.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STOWE: You've done everything you can do. Save yourself. If the worst happens --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You stay alive. If they don't kill you, they'll take you north, up to Huron land. Submit, do you hear? You're strong, you survive. Stay alive, no matter what occurs. I will find you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OZ: Wasn't that fabulous?
STOWE: Oh, I remember that day. I was smashed.
(LAUGHTER)
OZ: You were smashed?
STOWE: It was so cold. It had just hit winter and we were filming in this cave. And I think it was about 22 degrees. And I was liquored up.
(LAUGHTER)
STOWE: I'm sorry to tell you.
OZ: What --
STOWE: But I remember it very vividly because it was so cold.
OZ: What an iconic moment. I get goose bumps --
STOWE: Thank you.
OZ: -- looking at it.
STOWE: I love that movie.
OZ: All right.
"Revenge" airs Sundays on ABC. It's fabulous.
Next, age is not just a number. Grammy award winner and music icon Cyndi Lauper is getting ready to celebrate a very big birthday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
OZ: She has sold more than 50 million albums and had some of the greatest hits of the '80s, including "Girls Just Want To Have Fun."
We just heard "Time After Time" and "True Colors."
Grammy winner Cyndi Lauper is joining me now and she has graciously allowed me to announce that she's turning 60 in June.
Congratulations. LAUPER: Really?
OZ: Yes. Really.
(LAUGHTER)
LAUPER: Wow! I've been a little busy. I didn't think about it.
OZ: The issue with age in general, though, is a lot of folks aren't happy with their age, but they don't realize they can change how old their body thinks they are, because, frankly, the chronologic age -- if I did your mathematical test and subtracted your -- your birth date from today's date and figured out that you're almost 60, who cares?
What really matters is how old does your heart think you are? How old does your lungs or your brain think you are?
LAUPER: Yes.
OZ: Because that's much more of an important reflection of not only how long you'll live, but how well you feel today.
LAUPER: I'm a little tired today, I'll be honest with you. I was up very early.
OZ: Why is that? Just doing stuff?
LAUPER: I was doing work, you know, meet and greeting and looking like a painting.
(LAUGHTER)
OZ: Well, when you look -- or think back upon that video we saw at the outset --
LAUPER: I'm very proud. I'm proud to be part of it. I'm proud for all the things that I fought for, to have all different races of women with me so that every little girl, no matter who she was or what color she was, would look in -- at that screen and realize that she, too, was entitled to have fun, because a joyful existence is in -- everyone is entitled to, not just some.
OZ: So if you could give advice to that young dancing girl we just saw, what would you tell her?
LAUPER: Well, I was so busy working then that I couldn't think. I was just trying to get it done and get the artistic part of it --
OZ: Right.
LAUPER: -- to look like a Jacques Cartie (ph), so that the foreground, the background, the comedy, how it would affect people, the color, you know?
But I don't know, I would probably say it's not anything what you think. And that life is going to be a roller coaster. You're going to be up. You're going to be down. You're going to be up. You're going to miss a step (ph).
It's really the ride. And I was down so long that when I went up, I was like, whoa, it's going to always be like this. Not always.
OZ: No.
LAUPER: And it depends on what you're willing to do if you want to be there always, you know. I've got a very strong feeling of integrity.
OZ: Um-hmm.
LAUPER: I have a very strong feeling of endurance, because I come from a -- Sicilian women --
OZ: Ooh.
LAUPER: -- who teach you to endure.
OZ: Yes.
LAUPER: So in other words, the last man standing really wins. Well, actually it's woman.
OZ: Sure.
LAUPER: And, you know, you dig your heels in and you stand and you endure. And you keep going.
OZ: But that's part of the life struggle that actually gives us purpose. And, again, part of the reason I wanted you to come join us is, to me, you represent someone who's found vitality at many different stages of your life. And that vitality came across in -- in those iconic songs I spoke of earlier, when -- when I was in med school. And they're still present today, as you continue to reinvent yourself.
And I just want to get, you know, tease beneath the surface to understand how that happened.
Take, for example, your voice, right, this voice that is, you know, so beloved by so many --
LAUPER: It's a big gift.
OZ: It is a big gift. But there are times when our voice goes away. There's threatening -- sometimes we threaten our voice by not treating it right or things we don't understand happen to our voice.
LAUPER: No, you have to be very clear about what you want, you know?
You want to eat this (EXPLETIVE DELETED) that's no good for you, it's going to burn everything. You want to eat late at night -- well, you're going to have that kind of voice.
You want to have a good voice, be a little strict. Think about the sound. There's nothing equal, honestly, than being able to ride on that sound. And you feel your lungs compress and the sound where you can just float away, soar off bravely into the blue. That's what it's like.
And as a kid, it was always my voice that helped me. I mean, to this day, I take vocal lessons.
OZ: Yes.
LAUPER: Because I'm so busy, I'll be doing the vocal exercises all wrong. I study vocal therapy, so if you're tired, that's the other thing, sleep is the biggest killer. If you don't get sleep, it will kill your voice.
OZ: I'm so happy you mentioned that, because we're going to spend a whole segment on sleep later in the show. But let me take --
LAUPER: There you go.
OZ: But let me take you through your test checklist.
Are you ready?
LAUPER: OK. Am I taking tests, because I don't do good on tests --
OZ: No. Here, you want a -- you want a pencil? Here. Or a pen?
LAUPER: OK. Wow! Look at that. It's even got one of those --
(CROSSTALK)
LAUPER: -- things on it.
OZ: -- you like that?
LAUPER: (INAUDIBLE).
OZ: There's a snake, by the way. Those are two snakes around that stuff.
LAUPER: Snake is good. OK.
OZ: That's good.
All right, do you get your blood pressure checked annually?
LAUPER: Yes, well, sometimes. It depends on if I have to go for something else. Yes, I get my blood test.
OZ: Do you know your blood pressure? LAUPER: It usually sits around -- I don't know, 60 to 80 below or above. I don't know, there's one thing above, one thing below. I don't know.
OZ: But if any of your numbers are --
LAUPER: See, it's really kind of low.
OZ: But you're (INAUDIBLE) poor Piers. He did not do so well when I checked his blood pressure on this set a few months ago.
And your heart rate, do you know your heart rate?
I -- I'll check that while you -- can you get your --
LAUPER: Well, I'm nervous now.
OZ: Well, of course --
LAUPER: Look how I did.
OZ: -- but I don't want to make you nervous.
Do you get your.
(CROSSTALK)
OZ: Do you get oral exams?
Do you have doctors look in your mouth at all?
LAUPER: Yes, when I go to the dentist. I mean I go a little every year, I try.
OZ: Well, that's good.
LAUPER: Sometimes it's two years. Not so good. But I go to a Chinese doctor. They always look at your tongue.
OZ: Yes, the Chinese -- there's lots you can learn. And, you know, one of the things I love about --
LAUPER: I look at my tongue, too. If it's all white --
OZ: Yes.
LAUPER: -- I'm in trouble. Not enough water, not enough, you know, you've got to change everything.
OZ: But one big insight I'll share with you is that a lot of the alternative approaches, it's really --
LAUPER: Yes?
OZ: -- it's representative of the globalization of medicine. Now we're taking tips from China and using them with Ayurvedic tips from India and some from Africa and South America, and that all comes together.
And part of our challenge, I think, in life -- and this is for everyone at home, as well -- is to keep checking off these items so you know about them.
So, for example, your pulse right now is actually in about 70, which is good. So a pulse with 70 is a good number to have, because when women have pulses that are above 90 when they're just sitting down doing nothing, it's -- it's a bad issue. That means your heart pitter patter -- you spoke about Sicilian women digging their heels in. When your heart is going pitter-patter, pitter-patter, pitter- patter and can't keep up, that's an issue.
LAUPER: Oh, no. Sicilian women, you know, you know Sicilian mentality. Remain calm.
(LAUGHTER)
OZ: On the outside.
LAUPER: After -- after, when it's least expected.
(LAUGHTER)
LAUPER: No. I always think to myself, when I'm really down, I, honestly, I think about what it feels like to be happy, what it feels like to be well, what it feels like to have everything work out smoothly, even if it's not, because if you can't feel it, how are you going to ever get it?
And -- and even if you don't -- can't -- don't have it right now, I like to feel it anyway.
OZ: Well, you have a new reality show.
LAUPER: Yes, I do.
OZ: I want to show it to everybody.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAUPER: It went much smoother than I thought. I was able to do those steps. I mean, one time I think I was on the wrong side of the stage, but I knew I could sing. So you know, if all else fails, sing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OZ: Cyndi Lauper, "Still So Unusual," airs Saturday nights on WE tv.
When we come back, singing the joys of motherhood -- I'll talk to singer and author Lisa Loeb about having a baby in her 40s.
LAUPER: Oh, my God. You know what? (MUSIC)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
OZ: Her music made her a hit with fans. Her glasses are her trademark. And with me now, musician Lisa Loeb. She's also an author, an eyewear designer and a new mom, again, at age 44.
A new mom?
LISA LOEB, MUSICIAN: I know.
Can you believe it? My baby is eight months old, almost eight months old.
OZ: And you have another one that's three?
LOEB: Three, yes, my daughter Leila (ph) and my son Emmitt (ph).
OZ: So what does that do to your body, at age 44, to have to have those beautiful miracles come out of you and have to --
LOEB: Come out of you.
(LAUGHTER)
LOEB: Literally.
OZ: And go back to -- to being your old self?
LOEB: You know, it's -- it's pretty amazing. I -- people always ask me about my age and having kids at such an -- a risky age. I -- it's funny, I don't feel really old. So I didn't really think about it so hard. I was trying to get to the perfect place in my life when I had a partner, who's actually my husband, and, was ready to have kids and I happened to be in my 40s.
So, you, I -- I don't know what to compare it to, because I'm just where I am.
OZ: Yes.
LOEB: You know?
OZ: Well, let me ask you a question.
You -- you took the real age test, right?
LOEB: I did. You know, I was actually in the computer from before when I had taken it.
OZ: You have?
LOEB: About five years ago. Yes. OZ: Well, what's your real age?
LOEB: My real age is 37.9 or something. But I have to say, I wasn't sure if it was right, because it asked me a question about smoking in the workplace. I don't smoke, but as a musician, I played so many clubs, especially before smoking was banned everywhere.
OZ: Right.
LOEB: I would play clubs sometimes where people were smoking. And I would actually insist that we do a smoke-free show. And sometimes the club owners would get angry.
OZ: Sure.
LOEB: The fans loved it. But I was, unfortunately, especially in Europe, around smoke.
So I think that might have skewed things.
OZ: But that's -- that's a wonderful number. And just to give a, you know, some texture to this, you know, obviously, the real age is what your body thinks you're doing, how old --
LOEB: Right.
OZ: -- how old your body thinks you are.
So, and, again, it's a simple little test. You took it.
LOEB: Right.
OZ: What I like about the test is it gives you sort of a barometer of how you're doing in life. So if your body thinks that you're 37.9 --
LOEB: Right.
OZ: -- it makes those pregnancies a little bit easier.
LOEB: Yes, the pregnancies, they were totally healthy. They were natural. You know, not -- I mean I head some drugs when I was having the babies. At a certain point, I needed it -- it's -- it's a crazy experience.
OZ: Yes.
LOEB: But, luckily, I was able to do it, you know, without any special magic. I will say, though, because people ask me a lot on my Web site, like are -- you know, is it true, did you really have them, are they your kids and all that?
But I think it's so important, because one -- a lot of women in their 30s and 40s talk to me and I think it's so important to find out what's going on with your body. Because even if you're not married or you're not sure if you're going to do it on your own or -- there's all these different things that people go through when they get later in life, in their late 30s, early 40s, and they're thinking about having kids, but they're too scared to go to the doctor and find out what's going on with their own body or what their options are. And there are a lot of different things people can find out.
OZ: Were you nervous about getting pregnant that late?
LOEB: I didn't feel nervous. I knew I should be nervous. Like I knew I should be really focused on it. Again, I didn't feel old. But, again, the doctor said you might look young but you don't know how your body is working. So I did the research. I kept -- you know, as the years started to go by, I started to find out what I could do to find out about my own body and if it was possible and what my options were.
But luckily, in the end, like I said, I just got pregnant.
OZ: I'm just going to throw this out here, because we have done lots of shows on fertility and the fact that it drops precipitously after age 35.
LOEB: I know.
OZ: Which people don't appreciate. The optimal age to get pregnant, believe it or not, if you actually marry the health of your body with the socioeconomic issues, having a job, getting your career going, it's age 30.
LOEB: That makes sense. I mean, but being a person who is 30 and not being in a relationship that's leading to having children, as another doctor said to me -- they said, well, you are where you are. You are where you are, so you have to deal with where you are.
Now, you know, it's frustrating to hear when you're 38, oh, you know, you would have been better off having a kid eight years ago. What are you going to do? So it's important -- you know, , you're great about this, about educating people, and about people learning about their own bodies so that they can figure out what they actually -- what their options actually are.
OZ: Let me tease into your life. Let's find out where you are right now. I have a little quiz for you. First we'll talk about just general health habits. What's a typical breakfast you might have?
LOEB: Every day, I have two breakfasts. I have Ezequiel bread, which is a very great sprouted grain bread with almond butter. That's my first breakfast with a cup of coffee with two percent milk and a little sugar.
OZ: I love this. You're very precise.
LOEB: That's my morning. Then my second breakfast -- and my dad is Dr. Loeb. He's a stomach doctor. OZ: You're kidding.
LOEB; Yes. But then my second breakfast, because I get hungry again a few hours later, is usually fruit and cheese, or fruit and Greek yogurt, which I love because it tastes like whipped cream, some kind of protein and fruit and carb combo.
OZ: Eye health, since you design eye ware? What do you do to protect your eyes?
LOEB: I put drops in my eyes when I'm traveling because I have to keep them moist. Sometimes I put something over my eyes when I'm sleeping because sometimes you open your eyes a little bit when you're sleeping. I'm supposed to take Lutein, which I don't. I'm terrible at taking extra things.
OZ: Well, Lutein is a vitamin, obviously, a nutrient that you can take. But you can get it from leafy green vegetables. There's lots of natural --
LOEB: Then I'm fine. I live on kale. I'm obsessed with kale.
OZ: Coffee, I understand you use it to get your brain going. Do you have mommy brain at all?
LOEB: I thought I didn't, but I think I do. I'm not sure if it's -- people say it's mommy brain when you get confused or you -- I definitely have mommy brain. I will go to a birthday party an hour later than it was supposed to start or I'll think it's a different day. But I think it's also generally trying to juggle the lives of two children, a family, seven different -- having records out and books out and traveling and doing a lot of different things. And every once in a while, all of my computers and cell phones, they don't all sync up.
I get a little cloudy.
OZ: Lisa's new album is called "No Fairy Tale." It's in stores right now. When we come back, we are talking about sleep. Are your dreams of a good night's sleep only a fairy tale?
Before our break, take a look at Lisa's new music video.
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(SINGING)
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OZ: For men, the liver is really powerful. And it immediately takes that medication and begins to metabolize it, so quickly that you don't get the mental fog. You don't get the coordination, the weakness, the dizziness, even the exhaustion. It all goes away quickly because the liver is metabolizing the medication so quickly.
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OZ: That's what happens when a guy takes a sleep aid. Now I want you to watch carefully at what it does to a woman.
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OZ: The exact same pill that the guy took over here, your liver goes to work. But your liver functions at a very different pace and metabolizes it much slower. So the side effects of exhaustion left over, they'll begin to sort of go away, but they'll stay intact. Dizziness, it will get a little less. Weakness, it will still be there in the morning.
So will your lack of coordination that women begin to complain about. That pill lingers and lingers inside the body until even the mental fog that we assume will be gone by the morning, it's still there.
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OZ: Back now with my three fabulous guests, Cyndi Lauper, Madeleine Stowe and Lisa Loeb. Let's get right to the sleep problem. So what I was demonstrating there was what happening to women all across this country.
LAUPER: That's a medical fact? You did research and that's true, that men digest quicker than women?
OZ: Not all things, but we're specifically talking about Ambien type drugs. And Ambien type medications are metabolized slower by women than by men. In fact, this recently -- they were covering this on a show which is why it's current news. We actually have gotten notice from the FDA that they're going to have the allowable dose that we prescribe to women. And they're actually advising us to reduce it for men, too. But for women, it's the rule.
They want us to give less of it, because Ambien and that family of drugs -- it's not just that one -- it seems to last in women, so women get up in the morning and the drug still is on board. Think about it, what is sleep really telling you?
LOEB: You're tired.
OZ: Right.
LOEB: You have to sleep. It's not time for more coffee. It's time to sleep, take a nap.
OZ: So it creates problems with dreams. It causes issues with not being awake during the day time. And it's a barometer of how we're dealing with life. If we're stressed out, if the kids are keeping us up, if we haven't organized our life right, if there are medications we've got on board -- caffeine is an example because it's such a problem for us, for both genders in the afternoon. Most people think if it's in lunch time, I can have some coffee, but it's a problem for sleep.
Let's take dreams, Madeleine. Let me go to your point that you made earlier. Describe your dreams to me. What do they signify to you? And are you a good sleeper?
STOWE: I am not a great sleeper. That probably stemmed from childhood because there was a lot of activity in the middle of the night because of my father's illness. So that never really kind of stopped. When I have that eight hours, which happens maybe four times a year, the world is a completely different place. When I raised my daughter, I made sure she got plenty of sleep. She's 16 now. I notice huge mood alterations, mood swings when they don't have it.
I think it's essential to mental health. But my dream life is insane. My husband used to say that I would talk in my sleep or I'd sit bolt up right and practically sleep walk, that kind of thing. And I have recurrent dreams of planes crashing or watching them taking off. And I don't what that means. An analyst could probably tell you, but it happens repeatedly.
This sounds so ridiculous and far fetched, but a lot of precog dreams, precognitive. And they're never about anything important. And the next thing you know, those images have appeared in life. And it's insignificant, but there's something. There's something in the ether out there.
LAUPER: You might be psychic. We believe that dreams tell you things.
OZ: I've had dream analysts on. And there's a clear meaning to planes crashing. But let me go back for a second to these precognitive. You'll dream of something that then happens in real life?
STOWE: Yeah, yeah. I mean, again, but they're not significant events, necessarily. It's nothing Earth shattering. They're just small things. I don't know what is going on out there.
OZ: What do you do to sleep better?
STOWE: I try -- this is such an old lady thing. I try to get in bed before 10:00 p.m. I find if I stay up until 11:00, then I'm really, really wired. I think that there's some research that indicates that the liver is more active at that particular period of time. Is that true?
OZ: No question. I don't think it's just the liver. The sleep we get before midnight is much more valuable than the sleep we get after midnight. Lisa, new mom. How is sleep for you?
LOEB: Sleep is actually fine. Sleep is one of my number one priorities other than my kids themselves -- themselves. Sleep is my top priority. As a singer, I have to sleep or I'll get sick. So I was familiar with the idea that sleep is the most important thing. Eight hours is perfect, seven hours is doable, six is OK, but not for too many days in a row. I take naps. And again, I'm a person that -- like I said, I'll drink my one cup of coffee in the morning. But if I'm really tired in the afternoon, I really try to get a nap. Every once in a while, I have the extra little cup, but unless my work really needs me to be there or my kids really need me to be there or my husband, I really try to -- even if I can just fall asleep and then wake back up again --
OZ: A power nap?
LOEB: In fact, when I was pregnant with my daughter, I would carry ear plugs with me in my car. I would pull over to the side of the road, some place safe, put my ear plugs in, lie back, and fall asleep. It's like you need your sleep.
OZ: You never got arrested?
LOEB: No.
(CROSS TALK)
OZ: Question for all three of you, do any of you take sleep medications?
LAUPER: I sometimes take melatonin.
OZ: Melatonin?
LAUPER: Because -- but you know, a natural doc told me once to take 20 milligrams of it, up to 20. I was like, that's a lot of melatonin. But I was sick. And she wanted me to go to sleep.
OZ: Can I give you advice on Melatonin, since you brought it up. The biggest problem we make with melatonin is we take it for the wrong reasons and we take too much. The right dose of Melatonin is not 20 milligrams or even five, which is how it is often sold. It's half a milligram. And you have to take it at least an hour and a half to two hours before bedtime, so there's time for your body to absorb it.
It's particularly valuable when you're time shifting, not just time zones. But sometimes you sleep later on a weekend, you have to get up earlier on the week day. All that sorts of adds up and becomes a problem. So less Melatonin, and -- again, I'm going to announce it clearly, we're taking too many sleep medications. If anyone out there especially at home is taking medications for more than two or three months at a time, it's a big problem.
LOEB: Being a musician, again, traveling to Japan, some place where immediately you have to be up the next morning working or on television and singing and you need your sleep, I have taken Ambien before. I would take half an Ambien. I had to stop doing that because I almost burned my kitchen down in New York City cooking a tortilla in the middle of the night.
(CROSS TALK)
LOEB: And I gained ten pounds.
OZ: Next, we're talking about toxins in our food. Where are the biggest problems? You're not going to believe what I found.
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OZ: Imagine these -- the orange level of fluid here are the orange drops that flavor your favorite drinks. If you didn't have brominated vegetable oils, it would look just like this. The flavor would clump to the top. It would coalesce here, and you wouldn't want to drink that, would you?
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OZ: Just how safe is your food? I have some disturbing news for you and my guests, Cindy Lauper, Madeleine Stowe and Lisa Loeb. I have been doing a lot of research in the toxins we have in our food. What you just saw there was an example of something called brominated vegetable oil or BVO. You probably haven't heard of it. It actually is related to flame retardants in sofas and carpets, bromination.
(CROSS TALK)
OZ: And they add it to citrus flavored soft drinks, the Mountain Dews, the Gatorades. There's a whole bunch of products like that.
LAUPER: Oh, my God. My kids.
LOEB: Toothpaste?
OZ: Toothpaste have other things in them, but I don't know if -- I haven't seen it in there. But there's a little girl, Sarah Cavannagh (ph). She's 15 years of age, not little. She's becoming a woman. What she did was she read the label of her favorite drink, her favorite beverage, which was Gatorade. And she found this BVO in there and said, what is that doing in there? What I was just demonstrating is that clip is the reality that if you don't have this artificial stuff in there, you can't make the rink coalesce. You can't make it a single cloudy, sort of citrusy color.
So companies have been adding it in there. When you guys think about toxins in your food, what do you do about it? How do you process that? Do you keep track of these different things in literature, Madeleine?
STOWE: I don't think about them. I live in Santa Monica. We live close to a farmer's market. We have wonderful access to -- I drink dairy. I love it. But I like to buy milk that -- they say that they go out to the pasture and milk the cow out there.
OZ: That's right.
STOWE: Those kind of things.
LAUPER: Isn't it a great taste? Everybody says it's great.
STOWE: It's a really, really wonderful thing.
(CROSS TALK)
LOEB: I'm just one of those people. I read your books. I watch TV. I love chips. You can really great tortilla chips that are chips, that are cornmeal, oil, salt.
LAUPER: There's a lot of corn that has genetically modified -- they genetically modify everything.
OZ: Are you worried about that?
LAUPER: Yeah. When I take a tomato and I eat in Europe and it tastes different from when I come home, and I cut up a tomato and eat it, and it tastes like fish, because they have to cross -- take the shell of the shrimp and leak it with the tomato so that it has a longer shelve life, I have a problem with that.
LOEB: That' gross. I like eating just real food.
OZ: By my concern is that more and more we are creating an environment -- we can blame toxins for a lot of things. You can blame autism and hyperactivity disorders and cancers and dementias. But we don't actually have those connection that we've clarified. But as a physician, I worry about it. That's why we focus on it a lot in the show.
This little girl, Sarah Cavannagh, what she did was she created a petition and she got Gatorade -- we did the show on it last week, soon after I heard that Gatorade decided to take it out of their drinks.
(CROSS TALK)
OZ: Exactly. We have I think the control to do this, but to live the long, healthy lives that we're promising our viewers tonight, part of the challenge is identifying where these toxins are. You mention you like chips.
LOEB: I eat them in moderation. I'm one of those people who like, you know, I eat a handful of chips and a handful of steamed broccoli.
OZ: The broccoli is a very smart move because it's the easiest way to detoxify your body. All the cruciferous (ph) vegetables, they go to your liver, which we've been talking about a lot tonight. And the liver is a filter. It takes all the toxins out of your body. So if you can feed it the right stuff, those cruciferous vegetables allow the liver to hypercharge to get toxins out.
But I look at chips for a sec, and I think about the browning of bread even. The darker -- when you crisp bread, crilomize (ph)
STOWE: What's that? OZ: It's a chemical compound that is linked to all kinds of bad stuff, including cancer. So when we eat foods that have been charred a little bit -- there's a whole -- anything you -- any super- carbohydrate that you overheat so that it becomes crispy, you're making it crilomize. And you can't blame anybody else for that.
(CROSS TALK)
LOEB: Can you eat -- like I said, my balance is I don't like good and bad food. The good food I like -- is the food that I like. And bad food is the food that I don't like. But I like to think some of the things that people consider junk food that I eat, you know, can I actually balance it out with a bunch of kale? Like is there -- can you -- is that safe to think or is that crazy to think?
OZ: It's rational to think. But you can't have Kielbasa every day and then hope to get away with it.
LOEB: Right
OK. We'll be right back.
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OZ: Cindy Lauper joining us, Madeleine Stowe and Lisa Loeb are all here. Let me transition elegantly and daintily to the dancing and the role that it plays in music as well, in health and wellness. Madeleine, how has that been an issue for you? Do you find --
STOWE: My mother is soon to be 90 years old, and she ballroom dances four times a week, and goes all over the place and does this. We come from a family of musicians, so I think that there is something in all of that, in music and in dance that enlivens people. You see so many of them live, long, active lives. And their memory is always sharp.
LAUPER: It's all them lyrics you've got to remember, and all them notes.
OZ: How about music itself? How does that -- Lisa, how does it make you feel younger or live longer?
LOEB: It's funny. It's kind of an abstract thing. I was thinking about it while you were talking, that it actually helps you metabolize emotions and feelings, even if it's not necessarily the actually lyrics, just like the -- or it is the lyrics. The feeling just listening to it makes you live through those experiences. And sometimes, especially if it's negative ones or even exciting ones, it can helps enhance your excitement and be more -- you know, be more joyous in life.
OZ: What I love about music is that it bypasses the cortex. The sounds go right into the part of your brain that processes them. So you don't get caught up in all the thoughts. When you think about great music, you are in the moment, which is such a big challenge. Each of you, in your own way, has described so artfully and elegantly how you find that space.
Even when are you tired and doing 10 things at once or having a new baby, the ability to get to that Zen moment where you are in the moment is ultimately I think what we in this country look for. It helps us with our sleep. It helps us become aware of things around us. It helps us deal with stressors. It also helps us focus on so many of the other things that we have talked about today.
So it easier for us to do the right thing.
LAUPER: Hell, I kicked the garbage can around this country for a whole year. I felt a lot better. I was singing and gigging again.
OZ: I want to thank Madeleine Stowe, Cindy Lauper and Lisa Loeb for joining me tonight. And of course, a big thanks to Piers for letting me fill in. "AC 360," it starts now.
