Parents monitor countless details in their children’s lives, from sleep and nutrition to school progress and screen time. Yet many of us know surprisingly little about the environmental factors surrounding our families every day. Dr. Manish Arora wants to change that.

An environmental epidemiologist and exposure biologist, Dr. Arora is the Edith J. Baerwald Professor and Vice Chairman of the Department of Environmental Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He is also the founder and CEO of LinusBio and, as he proudly shared during our Trust Me Mom conversation, the father of teenage triplet daughters. In the interview, he told me, “My biggest achievement is that I’m a dad.”
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His work explores the exposome, which the National Institutes of Health describes as the full set of environmental exposures a person encounters throughout life, along with the body’s biological responses. While our genes remain largely fixed, our exposures change constantly through the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the products we use, and the places where we live.

For Dr. Arora, one question has guided decades of research: Can the body preserve a record of those changing exposures, and can scientists learn to read it?

A Childhood Shaped by Environmental Questions

Dr. Arora’s interest in environmental health began long before he entered a laboratory. He spent part of his childhood in a remote region of Africa during a civil war and a malaria epidemic. He remembers trucks driving through communities and spraying DDT while conflict unfolded around him.

His father, a chemical engineer, taught him that chemicals could move through soil, water, and air. Those early lessons helped him see that human activity can alter the environment and, in turn, affect health.

Dr. Arora initially trained in dentistry and oral surgery. Later, while studying public health in Australia, he encountered research by scientists Herbert Needleman and David Bellinger, whose work helped establish the serious effects of childhood lead exposure. Their use of baby teeth to study exposure history immediately captured his attention.

He was a dentist fascinated by environmental health. Suddenly, the two paths belonged together.

Why the Timing of an Exposure Matters

Environmental health research presents a difficult problem. Measuring how much of a substance is present is only part of the story. Scientists must also ask when the exposure occurred.

“It’s not just how much you’re exposed to,” Dr. Arora explained. “It’s when you’re exposed.”

An exposure during fetal development or infancy may affect the body differently than the same exposure later in life. Individual susceptibility also varies. Age, health, genetics, nutrition, and the timing of exposure can all influence how a person responds.

That makes reconstructing the past especially challenging. If a health concern appears when a child is 10, researchers may need to understand exposures that occurred years earlier, perhaps even before birth.
Dr. Arora began searching for what he calls a biological time machine.​

The Tree-Ring Moment That Changed His Research

The breakthrough came while Dr. Arora was looking at the growth rings inside a tree. One ring appeared thinner and more distorted than the others, suggesting that the tree had experienced drought or another stress during that year. “This was just nature showing me the way,” he recalled. 

He wondered whether the human body contained a similar chronological record. Baby teeth, he realized, begin forming during pregnancy and develop in layers. Those layers can preserve information about nutrients, chemicals, and biological stress over time. Dr. Arora compares them to the grooves of a vinyl record. Instead of storing music, they hold a sequence of biological information.

Testing that idea required technology far beyond traditional dentistry. As a PhD student in Australia, he connected with physicist Chris Ryan, who gave him access to specialized equipment attached to a nuclear reactor. Because the machine was expensive to operate, Dr. Arora learned to use it overnight after the regular workday ended. His early studies included children living near a mining community. In their tooth-growth patterns, he could see exposure levels change as families moved from one location to another. The record was there. The next challenge was making that record available much earlier in a child’s life.

When the Science Became Personal

Around the same time, Dr. Arora and his wife became parents to triplet daughters after being told that having children was unlikely. One daughter experienced developmental and learning differences, and autism was one of the possibilities the family was asked to consider.

Dr. Arora was surprised that the evaluation relied so heavily on questionnaires and behavioral observations. His clinical and laboratory training had conditioned him to look for objective biological measurements. He began asking whether autism might leave a measurable biochemical pattern. His research team studied hair and teeth from children in multiple countries, including twins who shared the same genes but had different developmental outcomes. They examined patterns in how the body processed essential and toxic elements over time.

Hair offered an important advantage. Children usually do not lose baby teeth until age five or six, but hair can be collected during infancy. Using robotic and laser technology, the researchers analyzed tiny points along a strand of hair to map biological patterns across time.

A peer-reviewed study published in 2022 evaluated hair samples across cohorts in Japan, Sweden, and the United States. In a blinded analysis involving 486 participants, the algorithm identified a biomarker associated with later autism with 96.4 percent sensitivity, 75.4 percent specificity, and 81.4 percent overall accuracy. The authors reported that the pattern could be detected in samples collected as early as one month of age. 

The Birth of ClearStrand-ASD

LinusBio has translated this research into ClearStrand-ASD, a prescription laboratory test intended to help health care providers rule out autism when it is a concern in children from one month through 10 years of age.

The distinction between screening, ruling out, and diagnosing is important. According to the current ClearStrand-ASD information, the test returns either a negative or non-negative result. A non-negative result does not confirm autism. It indicates that the child may need a more comprehensive evaluation. The test should be considered alongside developmental history, behavior, and professional clinical judgment.

The test is performed in a CLIA-certified laboratory, but it has not yet been cleared or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. An earlier version of the technology received an FDA Breakthrough Device designation, which allows closer communication with the agency and prioritized review during development. As the FDA explains, that designation is part of the review pathway and is not the same as FDA approval or clearance.

For Dr. Arora’s family, ruling out one possibility helped them investigate others. His daughter was ultimately treated for other conditions, including ADHD and anxiety. He described the transformation with unmistakable pride. A child who once struggled to speak when nervous later stood onstage and delivered a 20-minute presentation about Neil Armstrong. “Ruling out an incorrect diagnosis is often as good as finding the right diagnosis,” he said.

For parents, the larger message is not to wait if something feels different. The CDC recommends that developmental concerns lead to further evaluation and, when appropriate, early intervention. No single laboratory result should replace a full developmental assessment. ​

What if a strand of hair could reveal a timeline of environmental exposures?

In this episode of Trust Me Mom (Season 2, episode 45 available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts), Dr. Manish Arora, environmental epidemiologist, exposure biologist, founder and CEO of LinusBio, professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and father of triplet daughters, shares the personal and scientific journey behind his groundbreaking research.

Dr. Arora explains how growing up during a civil war and malaria epidemic sparked his interest in environmental health. He later discovered that the growth rings inside baby teeth and hair can preserve biological information about nutrients, chemicals, and environmental exposures over time.

We discuss the exposome, why the timing of an exposure can be as important as the amount, and how Dr. Arora’s experience with his neurodivergent daughter inspired his search for more objective ways to help families find answers earlier. Dr. Arora also explains the science behind ClearStrand-ASD, a hair-based laboratory test intended to help health care providers rule out autism, and Traced, a consumer wellness test that maps patterns involving essential and toxic elements.

​Reading the Environmental Record in Hair

Dr. Arora’s team has also developed Traced, a direct-to-consumer wellness test designed to map patterns involving 15 essential, non-essential, and toxic elements across a 30-day period. The current test uses a small sample of hair and reports elements such as zinc and copper, as well as lead, arsenic, and cadmium.

Unlike ClearStrand-ASD, Traced is not a medical diagnostic test and does not require a prescription. Its purpose is to provide information about environmental exposure patterns and help people consider practical changes in their homes and routines. If you’d like to try the test, use promo code TRUSTMEMOM at checkout to receive 30% off.

Dr. Arora believes the time-based pattern is what makes the approach useful. A blood test usually captures a particular moment. Hair grows over time, allowing his platform to examine a sequence and look for repeated changes that may correspond with a routine, location, or recurring activity.

The report is meant to guide questions, not provide a diagnosis. If a result suggests possible lead exposure, for example, a parent should speak with a health care professional. The CDC recommends a blood lead test to determine whether a child has been exposed to lead and to guide appropriate medical follow-up.

From Invisible Worry to Practical Action

Conversations about toxins can quickly become frightening, especially for parents already carrying a heavy mental load. Dr. Arora does not want families to panic or attempt to eliminate every possible exposure. Most homes are monitored for temperature and smoke, he noted, but not for the many other environmental factors families encounter. Better information can help parents focus on specific concerns instead of worrying about everything at once.

Potential sources vary widely. Lead may be found in deteriorating paint or contaminated dust in older homes. Cadmium can come from tobacco smoke and certain industrial sources. Pesticides may enter the home through lawn care, pest control, or residues. PFAS and other chemicals have been used in some nonstick, stain-resistant, and water-resistant products.

The goal is not perfection. It is informed, manageable action.

Parents can start by:

1. Talking with a pediatrician promptly about developmental concerns rather than waiting for certainty.
2. Asking about a blood lead test if a child may have been exposed, particularly in an older home or through another known risk factor.
3. Keeping the home and car smoke-free.
4. Addressing peeling paint and dust safely, especially in homes built before 1978.
5. Following product labels carefully and reducing unnecessary pesticide use when practical.
6. Improving ventilation during cooking, cleaning, painting, or home projects.
7. Making one realistic change at a time instead of trying to overhaul the entire household overnight.

Dr. Arora uses a business metaphor that feels surprisingly reassuring: “Everybody is the CEO of their own house.” Parents cannot control every part of a child’s biology or environment. They can, however, make thoughtful decisions about many of the products, habits, and conditions inside their homes.

A More Empowering Way to Think About Environmental Health

One person may experience significant effects from an exposure that appears to have little impact on someone else. That does not make the risk imaginary or the science irrelevant. “Humans are different,” Dr. Arora said. “There is a range of responses to these environmental toxins.”

It is equally important not to turn environmental health into parental blame. Research into the exposome is an effort to understand complex interactions, not a reason for mothers or fathers to believe they caused a child’s developmental differences. Good environmental health is not about raising children inside a perfect bubble. It is about replacing invisible worry with better questions, reliable clinical testing when it is indicated, and practical changes that a family can sustain.

For Dr. Arora, that is where decades of science and his experience as a father meet. His work began with a child’s view of chemicals drifting through the air, continued through long nights beside a nuclear reactor, and became deeply personal when his own daughter needed clearer answers. Now he hopes the tools developed from that journey will help other families move from uncertainty toward informed action.

Motherhood has a way of changing the shape of a woman’s life. Sometimes the change is joyful and tender. Sometimes it is disorienting, exhausting, and humbling. Often, it is all of those things at once.

I recently sat down with Makena Sage and Gigi Sage, a mother-daughter coaching duo, co-authors of The Wisdom That Raised Me, and co-founders of Way of the Muse, a resource and podcast that helps women pursue their dreams with more clarity, courage, and intention. Their story is unique because they speak from both sides of the motherhood journey. Makena is a new mother navigating the early months of life with her baby daughter, while Gigi is a mother of five who has spent decades coaching women, couples, families, and leaders through personal transformation.
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Together, they offered a thoughtful, honest, and deeply practical conversation about becoming a mother, protecting your dreams, communicating with your partner, and remembering that the hardest seasons are still only seasons.

From a “Shadow Career” to the Work She Really Wanted

Before becoming a coach, Makena had a successful career in marketing. On the outside, it looked like she was doing well. But internally, something felt off. “I was going through basically burnout and a lot of questioning,” Makena shared. “I was having anxiety and panic attacks and wasn’t really sure what was going on.”

With Gigi’s support, Makena began looking more honestly at what she wanted. She realized that marketing had been what she described as a kind of “shadow career,” work that was close to her true calling, but not quite it. “I was doing marketing for coaches, so I was very close to the industry that I loved,” she said. “But it wasn’t quite it. I was hiding a little bit.”

Deep down, Makena had always wanted to coach women, work with her mother, and lead retreats around the world. Over the past eight years, that vision has become her real life. That idea of a shadow career may resonate with many mothers, especially those who feel successful on paper but quietly wonder whether they are living the life they actually want.

The Joy and Shock of Early Motherhood

Makena’s daughter was under a year at the time of our conversation, and she described herself as still very much in the middle of the transformation. “My daughter is nine months old,” she said. “She hasn’t even been out of my belly as long as she was in there.”

What surprised her most was the delight. “It brings out this just such a loving, nurturing side of yourself,” Makena said. “She’s fun, and she’s goofy, and we play together.”

At the same time, she was honest about the challenges, especially the loss of sleep, freedom, and personal time. “The lack of sleep, the lack of time freedom, any kind of time to yourself, especially if you’re nursing, it’s full on 24/7,” she said.
For Makena, one of the hardest parts was not only the physical adjustment of having a baby, but the impact on her marriage. She and her husband had been together for 10 years, and the first few months of parenthood tested their relationship in a new way. “It was the most challenging thing we’ve gone through in our 10 years together,” she said.
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Her husband loved their baby, but parenthood was a major shock. Makena also experienced postpartum anxiety in the beginning, and both of them had to adjust to the sudden loss of freedom, lack of sleep, and new roles at home.

Why Couples Need Space to Talk Honestly

Around four months postpartum, Makena and her husband visited Gigi in Houston. Gigi led them through an immersive coaching day, giving them space to talk openly about what was happening in their relationship. “They were having a very difficult time with communication, with intimacy, with every part of the relationship,” Gigi said.

Rather than jumping in with advice, Gigi created a space where both could be honest without judgment. Makena and her husband were able to express their worries and concerns through Gigi’s guidance and say things like, “This is what I’m feeling,” or “There are moments in this that I don’t really like, even though we love our kids.” That kind of honesty can be hard for parents to admit. We are often expected to feel only gratitude after having a baby. But the truth is that love and overwhelm can exist at the same time.

Makena said the experience helped them remember they were on the same team. “They both want the same thing,” Gigi said. “They have a beautiful little girl. It just gave them the place to open up and communicate.”

For parents who are struggling, Gigi emphasized the importance of creating space for open dialogue, ideally with support from a coach, therapist, or neutral third party.

Money, Marriage, and the Conversations Couples Should Not Avoid

One of the most vulnerable chapters in The Wisdom That Raised Me is about marriage and money. Makena said it was the hardest chapter to write and the one that almost did not make it into the book. “Money is one of those topics in relationship. It is one of the make or break topics for people,” she said.

Makena does not believe there is one perfect financial system for every couple. What matters is that both partners are honest about what they want and willing to talk about it before resentment builds. “So much of the time people try to go, ‘No, it’s fine. It’s not important,’” she said. “If you push that stuff down and you’re not honest about it, then it creates much bigger issues down the road.”

This becomes especially important after a baby arrives. Costs increase. Sleep decreases. A mother’s ability to work may change dramatically during pregnancy, birth recovery, breastfeeding, and postpartum healing. Roles that once felt equal may suddenly shift.

Gigi’s advice is to remember that partners are not opposing teams. “You’re on each other’s team,” she said. “There’s a way for everybody to get what they want, even though if it’s not talked through and really worked through, it feels like opposing teams.”

Gigi’s Unconventional Path as a Mother of Five

Gigi became a mother young. Her oldest and youngest children are 20 years apart, which means she has parented through many different decades and life stages.

Her life was not traditional. She built a career in personal development, led workshops around the world, homeschooled her children with support, traveled with them, and created a family life centered around learning through experience. “I’ve built and lived a very unconventional life,” Gigi said. “I didn’t do things the way most people did them.” Her children traveled internationally, learned from different cultures, participated in workshops, and grew up inside a family system that valued flexibility, communication, service, and personal growth. Makena said the beauty of her childhood was also in that unconventionality. “Gigi lived life on her terms in so many ways, and that’s what I write a lot about in the book,” Makena said.

At the same time, Makena acknowledged that every parenting choice has both gifts and tradeoffs. If she were to take one lesson into her own motherhood, it would be to keep the inspiration and adventure while adding a little more stability.

That honesty is one of the most refreshing parts of the conversation. Even beautiful childhoods are not perfect. Even loving parents make mistakes. Even thoughtful choices affect different children differently. “You’re going to mess up,” Gigi said. “You’re not going to get it right. You’re not going to please every child, and every child is different.”
Her advice to mothers is simple but powerful. “Be a loving mother,” she said. “If you’re a loving mother, you’re doing a great job.”

The Family Meeting That Starts with Acknowledgement

One of the most practical tools Gigi shared was the family “team meeting.” In her family, meetings were a way to build communication, connection, and teamwork.

The first step is not criticism. It is acknowledgement. Each person answers the question: What would you like to be acknowledged for? A child might say, “I made my bed.” A parent might say, “I got up early and made breakfast.” Everyone claps.

It sounds simple, but Gigi said it helps children and adults feel seen. “Often what happens is we’re running in our lives, or our kids are doing things, and we are saying, ‘Don’t do this, don’t do this,’” she explained. “If they have the chance to come to the table and say, ‘Hey, I did this and I’m really proud of it,’ everybody claps. There’s this kind of ownership and feeling of being seen and appreciated.”

Over time, families can also add acknowledgements of one another. A parent can acknowledge a child. A child can acknowledge a sibling. Partners can acknowledge each other.

Only after trust is built does Gigi suggest adding the next layer: sharing something that did not work. The key is that each person shares about themselves, not someone else. A child might say, “I cried when I was told to clean my room.” Everyone still claps.

The point is not shame. The point is awareness. “What did you do that worked, and what did you do that didn’t work?” Gigi said. “They learned to be able to see where they maybe had an attitude or messed up, but in a way that got the same amount of attention as what they did that really worked.”

Makena now uses this practice with her own growing family and nanny. She said it creates a place where people can talk before small issues become bigger ones.

The Power of Appreciating Your Partner

For couples, Makena and Gigi suggested a simple 30-day practice: acknowledge one thing your partner did each day. It does not have to be dramatic. It just has to be real. Makena gave an example: “When you took the baby so I could take a nap for 30 minutes, that changed my whole day.” The practice helps rebuild trust and connection, especially during the exhausting early stages of parenthood when both people may feel unseen.

Makena also shared one more piece of advice Gigi gave her and her husband during their difficult postpartum season: cuddle for five minutes every day. “That touch and that kind of physical intimacy, so much goes out the window when you have a kid,” Makena said. “It doesn’t even have to be intimacy, intimacy. Even just the touch, having that physical contact for five minutes each day starts to build a bridge.”

For exhausted parents, five minutes may be more realistic than a date night, a long conversation, or a weekend away. Sometimes rebuilding connection begins with something small enough to actually do.

Asking for What You Want Without Blaming

Acknowledgement does not mean pretending everything is fine. Makena and Gigi were clear that healthy communication is not about people pleasing, avoiding conflict, or going along with everyone else’s expectations. Instead, it creates a foundation for harder conversations.

One of the skills they teach is asking for what you want without complaining, blaming, or criticizing. For example, instead of saying, “Your family is too much,” a person might say, “When we visit your family, sometimes I feel overwhelmed. I love your family, and I’m also longing for us to create some of our own rituals. How could we do that?”

That distinction matters. One approach creates defensiveness. The other opens a door. “What do you want?” Gigi said. “It needs to be really what do you want. In your heart and soul, what do you want? That’s what you communicate to your partner.”

For the Mother Who Feels Like She is in the “Goo”

Toward the end of our conversation, I asked Makena and Gigi what they would say to new moms who had careers and dreams before having a baby, but now feel exhausted, sleep deprived, overwhelmed, or even hopeless.

Gigi’s first response was grounding. “It’s a season,” she said. When you are in it, it can feel like the rest of your life. But the newborn stage, the sleepless stage, the disoriented stage, and the “Who am I now?” stage will not last forever.
Gigi encourages mothers to begin gently asking: What do I want now? What brings me alive? What kind of support do I need?

Makena described this transition as being in between worlds. “You have one foot in one world and one foot in another world, and you’re not quite yet in either,” she said.

She calls this stage “being in the mush,” like the caterpillar that has not yet become a butterfly. “You’ve just turned into goo,” Makena said. “And you’re like, I hope there is a world out there. I hope I emerge from this goop someday.”

That image may be exactly what many mothers need. Not every season is a blooming season. Some seasons are messy, unclear, and uncomfortable. Some seasons are about dissolving an old identity before a new one has fully formed.

Makena connected this to matrescence, the process of becoming a mother. “We’ve got to become the goo before we can grow our wings and become the butterfly,” she said.

For the mothers who feel stuck in the goo right now, Makena and Gigi’s message is not to rush, force, or shame yourself back into your old life. Instead, recognize the transformation, ask for support, stay connected to what brings you alive, and trust that this season is not the end of your story. It may be the beginning of a new one.