- The speaker, Gary Precker, is a human biologist and researcher who has spent 20 years in the life insurance industry predicting life expectancies.
- He believes that most people are functioning at only 55-60% of their true potential due to a missing element in their bodies.
- This missing element leads to various health conditions that are often attributed to aging, stress, or environment, but are actually a result of deficiencies.
- Precker shares a story of a patient who experienced a significant improvement in his health and life expectancy after addressing his deficiencies.
- He claims that by identifying and addressing these deficiencies, individuals can thrive in ways they never thought possible.
- Precker explains that the insurance industry has access to a database that contains detailed information about the cause and time of death for millions of people, which could revolutionize modern medicine if made public.
- He argues that the most common ailments are not diseases but rather a result of deficiencies and lack of oxygen in the body.
- By supplementing the missing raw materials in the body, individuals can experience remarkable improvements in their health and unleash their superhuman potential.

- The speaker believes that everyone has the potential to thrive if they address deficiencies in their body through genetic testing and methylation.
- The speaker's passion for biohacking and disease stems from his childhood experiences on a farm and witnessing veterinarians fix animals.
- The speaker has a clinically photographic memory, which allows him to recall vast amounts of information.
- He studied biology and human biology in college and considered going into orthopedic medicine.
- He then worked in mortality science, using medical records to predict life expectancy.
- Eventually, he realized the impact of his work on real people's lives and decided to use his knowledge to help people live healthier and longer lives.
- He manipulated medical records to see the impact of interventions on life expectancy.
- The speaker's work involved predicting death based on a person's current health status and factors like deficiencies and body composition.

- The speaker discusses how insurance companies quantify health risks based on various factors such as liver function, vitamin deficiencies, and body mass index.
- They express their realization that they wanted to use their knowledge of human physiology to make a positive impact in the wellness or functional medicine industry.
- The speaker challenges the way modern medicine defines conditions like depression and ADHD, suggesting that they are often misdefined and treated with ineffective methods.
- They explain the importance of methylation in the body and how it can impact serotonin levels, leading to conditions like depression and anxiety.
- The speaker emphasizes the role of the gut in mental health and suggests that addressing deficiencies and restoring adequate levels of neurotransmitters can help alleviate symptoms.
- They discuss how anxiety can be triggered by both real and perceived fears, and how understanding this can help in finding effective solutions.
- The speaker proposes using genetic testing to identify methylation deficiencies and supplementing accordingly to promote overall well-being.

- Anxiety can be triggered by both external factors and internal physiology
- Cortisol levels measure the body's reaction to stress, not the amount of stress in one's life
- Resilience to stress and anxiety attacks varies among individuals
- Generalized anxiety or idiopathic anxiety, of unknown origin, is common in many people
- Treatment for anxiety involves addressing deficiencies in certain genes and supplementing with specific substances
- People with low serotonin levels often experience gut issues and depression
- Gut motility, the pace of the gut, is affected by gene mutations and can be restored through supplementation
- Many allergies and gut issues are not true allergies but rather related to the motility of the gut
- Disease and pathology are often overemphasized, leading to a lifetime of medication
- Modifiable risk factors are factors that, if changed, can have a significant impact on one's health trajectory
- Anemia, low hemoglobin and red blood cell count, can worsen various conditions.

- Low hemoglobin, low red blood cell count, and low oxygen transport in the blood can worsen various conditions.
- Modifying anemia and increasing oxygen transport can make individuals more resilient to different health conditions.
- Vitamin D3 deficiency is estimated to affect around 50% of the global population.
- Vitamin D3 is the only vitamin that humans can produce on their own and has various important functions in the body.
- Darker skin pigmentation is associated with lower levels of vitamin D3, which can compromise the immune system.
- Spending more time in sunlight can help increase vitamin D3 levels in individuals with darker skin.
- Depletion of vitamin D3 can lead to symptoms similar to rheumatoid arthritis, and misdiagnosis and mistreatment can have severe consequences.
- Medical errors, including misdiagnosis, are the third leading cause of death in the United States.
- Many prescription medications have unknown long-term side effects and mechanisms of action.
- A gene mutation called C-O-M-T can affect sleep patterns and can be addressed with specific supplements.

- Genetic mutations can cause deficiencies in the body, leading to various conditions and symptoms.
- Methylation genes are responsible for converting materials into usable forms in the body.
- A common gene mutation called MTHFR impairs the conversion of folic acid into methylfolate, leading to potential postpartum depression.
- Synthetic supplements, such as folic acid, can be ineffective or harmful compared to natural forms found in nature.
- Understanding genetic mutations can help target supplementation to address deficiencies.
- Taking a genetic test can provide valuable information about individual genetic makeup.
- Attention deficit disorder and procrastination can be linked to deficiencies in methylated nutrients.
- Humans are not broken, but certain families may have an inability to refine certain raw materials.
- Providing the body with the necessary raw materials can have a profound impact on health and well-being.

- The speaker came across the work of the person being interviewed through a clip involving Dana White, the president of UFC.
- Dana White had multiple health issues and was on several medications, including for blood pressure and thyroid problems.
- The speaker conducted blood and gene tests on Dana White and found that he had extremely high triglyceride levels and was insulin resistant, pre-diabetic, and had high cholesterol.
- The speaker flew to meet with Dana White and explained his health conditions and their potential outcomes.
- Dana White committed to following a prescription ketogenic diet and making lifestyle changes.
- After 10 weeks, Dana White had significant improvements in his blood work, lost weight, and was off all medications.
- His life expectancy almost tripled, and he reported feeling amazing.
- Dana White also started using magnetism, oxygen, and light therapy as part of a superhuman protocol.
- Listeners can try earthing and grounding by walking barefoot on soil, grass, or sand.

- Gary Precker, a human biologist and researcher, believes that most people are only functioning at 55-60% of their potential due to a missing element in their bodies.
- This missing element leads to health conditions often attributed to aging, stress, or environment, but are actually deficiencies.
- By addressing these deficiencies, individuals can experience remarkable improvements in their health and unleash their potential.
- Precker suggests that the insurance industry's database of cause and time of death could revolutionize modern medicine if made public.
- He argues that common ailments are often a result of deficiencies and lack of oxygen in the body, rather than diseases.
- Genetic testing and methylation can help individuals address deficiencies and thrive.
- The speaker challenges the way modern medicine defines conditions like depression and ADHD, suggesting they are often misdefined and treated ineffectively.
- Methylation deficiencies and gut health play a significant role in mental health.
- Supplementing with specific substances and addressing gene mutations can help alleviate anxiety and other conditions.
- Modifying anemia and increasing oxygen transport can make individuals more resilient to various health conditions.
- Vitamin D3 deficiency affects a significant portion of the global population, and addressing it is important for immune function.
- Gene mutations, such as MTHFR, can impair the body's ability to convert certain materials, leading to conditions like postpartum depression.
- Genetic testing can provide valuable information about individual genetic makeup and help target supplementation.
- Deficiencies in methylated nutrients may be linked to attention deficit disorder and procrastination.
- Providing the body with necessary raw materials can have a profound impact on health and well-being.
- Gary Precker conducted blood and gene tests on Dana White, the president of UFC, and helped him improve his health through diet and lifestyle changes.
- Listeners are encouraged to try earthing and grounding by walking barefoot on soil, grass, or sand.

- The idea that drinking alkaline water can make you alkaline is a marketing myth
- Being alkaline can be achieved by contacting the surface of the earth and doing breath work
- Breath work involves specific series of breaths and can have profound impacts on mood
- Exposing yourself to natural sunlight in the morning can help reset your circadian rhythm
- Mild exercise while breathing 95% O2 can have positive effects on health
- Cold water plunges can activate cold shock proteins and have benefits for muscle repair and fat loss
- Challenging the body with stressors like thermal stress, weight-bearing exercise, and breath work can strengthen the body
- The pursuit of comfort can accelerate aging and weaken natural defense mechanisms
- Learning to be comfortable with discomfort can have positive effects on overall well-being.

- Controlling our emotional state is crucial for controlling our future
- The amygdala, where emotions are experienced, is the gateway to the hippocampus, where memories are held
- Emotions linked to memories can be recalled accurately
- Emotional state determines future outcomes
- Maintaining an elevated emotional state can be achieved through proper nutrition and breath work
- Preserving the sleeping window and fasting during travel can help adjust to different time zones
- Eating carbohydrates during flights diverts blood from the brain to digestion, resulting in fatigue and lack of focus
- Energy is equivalent to oxygen in the blood
- Optimal health is found in the basics, such as magnetism, oxygen, light, and whole foods
- Struggles with guilt when wanting to have enjoyment while being committed to authenticity.

- The speaker discusses their commitment to their craft and authenticity, but struggles with guilt when indulging in simple pleasures like having a cocktail or eating birthday cake.
- They acknowledge that being overly disciplined is not sustainable in the long run.
- The speaker admits to being hard on themselves and their own worst enemy, but believes that being less hard on themselves would make things easier.
- The speaker praises the person they are speaking to for their work and resources on living a healthy life.
- They express gratitude to Huel for their support and for helping them stay nutritionally complete during their busy schedule.
- The speaker encourages listeners to try Huel and share their thoughts.

- Drinking alkaline water does not make you alkaline, it is a marketing myth
- Being alkaline can be achieved through grounding and breath work
- Breath work can have a profound impact on mood
- Exposing yourself to natural sunlight in the morning can reset your circadian rhythm
- Mild exercise while breathing 95% oxygen can have positive health effects
- Cold water plunges can activate cold shock proteins and benefit muscle repair and fat loss
- Challenging the body with stressors like thermal stress, weight-bearing exercise, and breath work can strengthen it
- Pursuing comfort can accelerate aging and weaken natural defense mechanisms
- Being comfortable with discomfort can improve overall well-being
- Controlling emotional state is crucial for controlling the future
- The amygdala and hippocampus play a role in emotions and memory
- Emotional state influences future outcomes
- Maintaining an elevated emotional state can be achieved through nutrition and breath work
- Preserving the sleeping window and fasting during travel can help adjust to different time zones
- Eating carbohydrates during flights can cause fatigue and lack of focus
- Optimal health is found in basics like magnetism, oxygen, light, and whole foods
- The speaker struggles with guilt when indulging in simple pleasures while committed to authenticity
- Being overly disciplined is not sustainable in the long run
- The speaker acknowledges being hard on themselves and believes being less hard would make things easier
- The speaker praises the listener's work and resources on living a healthy life
- The speaker expresses gratitude to Huel for their support and helping with nutrition during a busy schedule
- The speaker encourages listeners to try Huel and share their thoughts.

Gary Brecka is one of the world’s foremost experts on how breathwork can transform your life, and how thinking differently about nutrition can protect us against disease and make us the best version of ourselves. In one of my favourite ever conversations, Gary takes through every facet of how we get health wrong, and we can start if we want to get it right. An incredibly engaging communicator and unmatched in his expertise, Gary takes the most advanced research in the world, and translates it into human. He's come a long way from the world he's left behind. For years, Gary’s job was to work for insurance companies and predict how long it was going to be before their clients were going to die. He’s left that life behind, now his job is to tell people how long they can really live for. Topics: Why you should watch this episode Why are you so passionate about this? ADHD & Anxiety Gut motility Vitamin deficiencies Gene mutations Saving Dana White's life Breath work Cold water plunging Comfort Travel Last guest’s questions Gary: Instagram: http://bit.ly/3IVf6Dw Twitter: http://bit.ly/41w492P Gary Brecka: http://bit.ly/3Iwemn2 Watch the episodes on Youtube: https://g2ul0.app.link/3kxINCANKsb Follow: Instagram: https://bit.ly/3CXkF0d Twitter: https://bit.ly/3wBA6bA Linkedin: https://bit.ly/3z3CSYM Telegram: https://g2ul0.app.link/SBExclusiveCommun Sponsors: Huel: https://g2ul0.app.link/G4RjcdKNKsb
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you want to strip fat off your body, there is nothing, no type of cardiovascular or weight training that comes anywhere close to it.

He spent 20 years working in life insurance, predicting when people were going to die to the nearest month.

And Now he's on a mission to extend your life.

Most people, they're walking around right now at about 55% of their true state of normal.

There is an element missing from their body that would make the difference between them being an average person and being a superhuman.

Everything that we put into our bodies gets converted into the usable form.

If you cannot make this conversion, you have a deficiency.

And it is this deficiency that leads to these conditions.

They have accepted something as either a consequence of aging, stress, or their environment.

It's not a consequence of any of those things.

I'm gonna tell you exactly how to find out what it is that's missing, so you can thrive in a way that you probably never thought possible.

So LabCorp calls us, so it says, hey, we have a life-threatening alert on a patient.

I've been talking to doctors, none of them could fix any of my problems.

He said, I'm surprised he could even sleep through the night without choking, gagging.

And I said, if you don't do what we're going to ask you to do, you have a life expectancy of 10.4 years.

And in 10 weeks, he has such a material change, and he was like, I had no idea I could feel this good.

Someone who's just heard that at home, where do they start?

This is the first time I've started this podcast in this particular way, but I was, but this is where I wanted to start it.

It's with a slightly curious question, which is, there's people that have just clicked onto this podcast to listen now, right?

YouTube, Spotify, Apple, wherever they're listening.

Why should they stay and listen to the message that you have committed your life to spreading?

Because everybody wants to be better, right?

I mean, everybody wants to improve their health.

And most people, especially young people, probably don't realize that they're walking around right now at about 55%, maybe 60% of their true state of normal.

There is a nutrient, an amino acid, a substrate, a compound, an element missing from their body that if they knew what it was, would make the difference between them being an average person and being a superhuman.

They have accepted something as either a consequence of aging or a consequence of stress or a consequence of their environment, something like brain fog or repeated poor sleep or weight gain or water retention or not the healthiest response to exercise or brain fog or poor short-term recall or any number of things that they've accepted as consequence of life, of aging, of stress, or what have you, that's not a consequence of any of those things.

It's a consequence of missing raw material.

And I'm going to describe that in detail and tell you exactly how to put that raw material back into your body and how to find out what it is that's missing so you could thrive in a way that you probably never thought possible.

I'm a human biologist and a researcher, biohacker.

My background is in, of all things, mortality science.

My undergraduate degrees were in biology.

My postgraduate degrees are in human biology.

I'm fascinated by the human body, its form, its function, how it can improve its performance.

You know, I spent 22 years as a mortality expert in the insurance industry, which meant that if we got 5 years of demographic data on you and 5 years of medical records, we could tell the insurance company how long you had to live to the month.

People say, oh, if you could predict death to the month, you'd win a Nobel Prize, or only God can tell you when you're gonna die.

I mean, obviously, if we do a mortality prediction on it, it doesn't mean December 12th, 2065, you're gonna drop dead on that day.

If you think of the most successful financial institutions on the planet as a category are insurance companies.

If you look at the failures during the 2008, 2009 financial crisis, which was a global crisis, in the US we had 364 banks fail.

You didn't have a single life insurance company fail.

No other financial institution, no other investment enterprise, hedge fund, angel investor, venture capital firm would ever put tens of millions of dollars at risk on any kind of investment on 1 single variable.

Yet every time a life insurance company bets on your life or issues an annuity or a reverse mortgage or any number of other financial services instruments that are based on mortality, they're only betting on 1 factor.

They don't care where you are on a mortality curve.

They wanna know how many more months does this person have left on earth.

And it is some of the most accurate science on the planet.

And the good news is that this science is very accurate and I'm going to share a lot of the details of that today, but the downside of this industry and the reason why I left it was that during my tenure in this career I was not allowed to have any contact with the patient or any contact with the treating physician.

Now I'm not licensed to practice medicine, I'm a human biologist, but if I was reading a medical record and saw a life-threatening drug interaction, I could not contact the patient.

And this database, where this information is drawn from, If this database could see the light of day, I believe it would permanently change the face of humanity.

It would upend modern medicine in a way that would be completely catastrophic.

Because you see, they have information that no other database has, no other research study, no other financial institution, no other university has.

And that is that they know the day, the date, the time, the location, and the cause of death for hundreds of millions of people that they have all of these records on.

You know, If I'm a cardiologist and you come in to see me and I put a heart stent in your heart, well, when you leave my office, I don't know what happens to you 2 months later, 2 years later, 12 years later.

I don't know if you died as a consequence of something that went wrong with the procedure I did, or if you died of something completely different.

I don't know exactly what kind of impact on your life that procedure had or didn't have unless it's contained in a very short-term clinical study.

And not that I want to go into the whole science of mortality but if you had access to this database you would realize the most common ailments that we suffer from are not diseases and pathology that are happening to us.

They are things that are happening within us.

You know, I always say that if I was to boil my entire career down to a single sentence, it would be that the presence of oxygen is the absence of disease.

And nothing is more impactful than that statement.

The presence of oxygen is the absence of disease.

I have yet to find a single disease ideological pathway, something that's happening in the human body, causing pathology, causing disease, dysfunction, that doesn't have its roots in a lack of blood oxygen or its roots is not aggravated by something called hypoxia, lack of oxygen.

In fact, all human beings die of the same thing.

We all leave this earth the same way, right?

We all die of hypoxia, lack of oxygen to the brain.

Only we tend to think of it as an event, right?

A gunshot wound, a bus, car, stroke, heart attack.

But the truth is we are on a hypoxic curve, meaning we are accelerating quickly or accelerating slowly towards the grave.

And the second thing that we discovered in this voluminous data-driven industry was that when you deplete certain raw materials in the human body you get the expression of that deficiency.

So what I mean is, you know, we've all heard that disease, you know, travels in families, or you might have genetically inherited hypertension, or genetically inherited hypothyroid, genetically inherited drug and alcohol addiction, diabetes, depression, anxiety, these things tend to run in families.

So we've accepted the myth in most cases that these are genetically inherited diseases.

But think about this, the next time 1 of your listeners gets told that, oh, you have genetically inherited hypertension, what we call idiopathic hypertension, or genetically inherited hypothyroid, or if you have this genetically inherited disease, or that genetically inherited disease, Stop your physician and say, well, wait a minute, we've mapped the entire human genome.

Can you tell me what disease I inherited from my ancestor that's actually causing this condition?

Because in the majority of cases, we have accepted that disease travels in families when it's actually not the disease being passed from generation to generation, it is the inability for their body to refine a certain raw material, which causes a deficiency, which leads to that disease.

So in other words, there's not a single compound known to mankind, not 1, no mineral, vitamin, amino acid, protein, carbohydrate, no nutrient of any kind, no element known to man that enters the human body and is used in the format that we put it in.

Everything that we put into our bodies gets taken in by the body and converted into the usable form.

And so if you go hunting for that deficiency and you supplement, not for the sake of supplementing, but you supplement for the sake of deficiency, magic things happen in human beings.

There is a superhuman inside of every person listening to this podcast.

And if they actually were able to test themselves, do a genetic test, and look at what's called their methylation, how their body refines raw materials, and they were able to replace the deficiency that is holding their body back from creating adequate levels of neurotransmitter and achieving normal mood, moving contents through the gut and achieving normal gut function, elevating emotional state, deepening their sleep, quieting their mind, all of these conditions that society has labeled different pathologies and disease, then they would begin to thrive in a way that they just never thought possible.

It's so blatantly clear how passionate you are about this subject matter which begs the question,

you know, I remember when I was reading through your story I uncovered that you'd read hundreds of peer reviewed papers.

I think the quote was something along the lines of, if there's a peer reviewed paper on the subject matter of biohacking and disease and longevity and those kinds of things, you've basically read it.

So this begs the question to me, like why is 1 individual so unbelievably passionate about this subject matter?

And I would like you to take me as early as you possibly can to answer that question in your own life.

Where did your obsession, passion, where was it fostered and nurtured so that you spent and committed your life to this subject matter?

So it actually began, I grew up on a very large tobacco farm.

My father was a Navy captain, my mom was a flight attendant, she worked for the airlines.

But we had a farm that we leased out to other farmers and surrounding this 300 acre tobacco farm were all kinds of animal farms.

There were cattle farms, there were chicken farms, there was horse farms.

In fact, from my home, you couldn't even see another house from my parents' house until I was in my early twenties.

And so for me to play with another child, I had to get on a bike and spend half an afternoon bike into their house.

So I got very familiar with the farm and I was always just fascinated by the veterinarians that would come onto these farms and fix horses and fix cattle and fix sheep and fix chickens.

And I always thought it was so cool that these animals could be laying on the ground seemingly about to die and the veterinarian would come on board and do a bunch of stuff and the next thing you know this horse was up and a few days later it was galloping back in the field or You had all kinds of strange things that would happen on this farm, and there was always someone arriving to just fix it.

And I started to get fascinated with medicine, I guess, in that way.

I always found it as a way to take something that was sick and helpless and sort of help it get back to normal function.

And I found out in the eighth grade, sometime during my eighth grade year, that I was clinically photographic.

So I have a clinical level of photographic recall, which is different than just having a visual memory.

I'm clinically photographic, so I have a voluminous capacity to recall things that I read, even if I don't understand them, which is why I never read for pleasure.

I'm very cautious about what I look at, because I record everything.

So I can't be flying on American Airlines and take the seat back magazine out and read the seat back magazine because 3 months later, I'll tell you where the sales center is for a condo project in Buenos Aires.

So I can fill my brain with senseless things like that and record it and regurgitate it, or I can fill it full of things that fascinate me.

And so I naturally gravitated towards science.

Is that what they call a photographic memory?

Photographic memory is usually someone that can remember 7 numbers in sequence.

They have extremely good recall for things that they visualize.

Clinically photographic is being able to regurgitate voluminous amounts of information with incredible accuracy.

I still remember, you know, section 15-2, subparagraph B of my first employment contract that I signed 28 years ago.

It was actually with a trading firm that I signed it with.

So you know, when I read peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals, it doesn't make me more intelligent than someone because very often I can recall information that I don't understand.

So I can regurgitate voluminous amounts of information.

So subjects that rely on rote memorization like chemistry, biology, neurobiology, microbiology, A lot of these sciences don't actually make sense, right?

That you just have to memorize how they operate.

Chemistry in a lot of ways doesn't make sense, right?

You just have to remember what happens when you put these 2 elements together, they create this.

So when you pull a carbon bond or you double a carbon bond here or a hydrogen bond there, that the molecule shifts in this way.

I got my undergraduate degree in biology.

You know, when I was an undergrad, my biology and chemistry were considered the toughest majors.

And I went to Branch Campus University in Maryland.

A lot of my roommates were political science, not busting on political science majors at all, or philosophy or psychology.

And I had really intense classes, morphology of thalaphytes and chemistry and biomechanics and science and a lot of plant biology courses and human biology courses.

But I was able to have the same kind of social life that they were because I would record a lecture and then I would regurgitate the lecture when I needed it during a test.

Because with all things in life that appear to be gifts, there's often some kind of hidden curse.

Well, the curse is that I rarely read for pleasure.

It's very difficult to read for pleasure because I record all of that information.

So when I'm going in to read a book, you know, a lot of people read a book that they didn't really like.

Or they read a fiction novel, it doesn't really give them any benefit.

It's not, doesn't feed them, but they do it to relax or they do it for entertainment.

So there's no need for me to have that information in my possession.

I'd find other ways to relax and meditate and unwind.

But Reading for pleasure, just not 1 of them.

But then I went to grad school for human biology.

I went to another 4 years of school for human biology.

And then I was either going to go into chiropractic or into orthopedic medicine.

I really liked the idea of orthopedics because again, an orthopedic surgeon was somebody that fixed people.

And an internist was somebody that just managed disease.

They took a obese, hypertensive, diabetic patient and they just kind of managed their case throughout their lifetime.

But I felt like an orthopedic was somebody that, you know, you came in and you had a broken leg and they fixed your broken leg and you were back to normal.

I liked the idea of fixing things and kind of returning function back to people.

And I took some time off, you know, after I got my human biology degree and I ended up going into a rare area of science, this mortality science for life insurance and secondary life insurance, where you would take medical records and demographic data and you would use this in what's called a probabilistic model to predict life expectancy.

And I was fascinated by it because I love the big data nature of it and for years I actually subscribed to the fact that this was just data and that I had no influence on this person's outcome.

I didn't put them in this position nor am I responsible for getting them out of this position.

But eventually I think as both my faith grew and my awareness of the fact that there were human beings on the other side of these spreadsheets, I finally made a conscious decision to say, what am I doing?

I'm gonna spend the rest of my life just predicting death for the monetary gain of an investor versus taking this information and helping people live healthier, happier, longer, more fulfilling lives.

Because by studying medical records and I read 8 to 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, thousands and thousands and thousands of medical records and extracted from those how it would impact somebody's outcome of their life.

You know, how it would impact the length of or the shortness of the duration of their life, their health span or their lifespan.

And once you realize there's human beings on the other side of the spreadsheet, you start to feel like you're sitting behind a thick glass wall, just watching blind people walk into traffic.

And towards the tail end, I used to artificially kind of manipulate the record.

I would say, well, what if I artificially fixed this person's D3 deficiency?

What if I actually noticed that they had a gene mutation called MTHFR, and instead of trying to fix them with folic acid, I fixed them with methylfolate, and you would just see the life expectancy jump.

Right, and this model was based on very large data.

So it was very likely to have a real life impact.

And when I say we predicted death to the month, it was based on that patient's current position.

And it doesn't mean that you couldn't walk out the next day and get hit by a bus or die in a commercial airline disaster or something like that, but there were standard deviations that would account for those kinds of risks.

What the insurance company wanted to quantify or the annuity company or the reverse mortgage company wanted to quantify was based on this person's, everything that we know about this person right now, the function of their liver, the slightly hypoxic anemic profile that they have, the deficiencies that they have in vitamin D3, the suppressed immune system, the elevated visceral fat, the body mass index, the bone mineral density.

Based on all of these things, when do these things all meet and actually cause a catastrophic event?

And there were things called mortality debits and comorbidity debits.

And we put all these together and I really liked the data of it.

But realizing that there were human beings on the other side, the spreadsheet just woke me up and I said, you know, I have this chasm of knowledge, even though I'm not a physician, I have a fundamental understanding of human physiology.

I'm fascinated by human physiology and ways that we can improve lifespan and healthspan.

And so why wouldn't I take this gift and get into an industry like wellness or functional medicine where I could actually make a difference?

Where instead of predicting death, we could extend life.

And in doing so, help people have healthier, happier, longer lives, more fulfilling lives, get rid of a lot of the ailments that people suffer from.

I mean, when you start to peel back the way that modern medicine defines a lot of conditions that we have, you know, take depression or anxiety or ADD or ADHD, because a lot of your listeners are probably entrepreneurs, and a lot of entrepreneurs have very active minds and they've been told they have attention deficit disorder, right, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Well, attention deficit disorder is not an attention deficit at all.

It's an attention overload disorder Because you see in the human brain, we don't just create thought, we also dismantle thought.

It is just as important for you to be able to create a new thought or feeling as it is to dismantle it, right?

And if you don't degrade thought, called catecholamines, if you don't degrade them, then there's a gene that governs this, catechol-O-methyltransferase.

If you create thought at a faster rate than you degrade thought, then the mind gets very clouded.

And so attention deficit disorder is attention overload disorder.

It's too many windows open at the same time.

So modern medicine says, well, if the mind's racing, let's put an amphetamine into the body, race the central nervous system to match the pace of the mind.

Because eventually this will burn you out.

It can actually change the neuroplasticity of the brain, rather than put the right amino acids back into the body, the right B-complex blend, the right methylated folates, so that the mind can actually begin to quiet.

What would you say to someone that says that ADHD is also in some ways a result of some early trauma?

Well, you know, trauma is always fascinating to me.

Trauma can interrupt the methylation cycle, right?

But the idea in modern medicine that you have some kind of trauma, you have a disrupted relationship with your mother, for example, and that somehow we're going to go and put neuroplasticity-altering chemicals into the brain, and it's gonna fix this 30-year broken relationship you have with your mother.

And so it's not at all to poo-poo trauma, to put trauma down.

Depression really exists, anxiety really exists.

But if you actually look at how we define these conditions, take depression, for example, we define depression, at least in America, we define depression as an inadequate supply of serotonin, right?

So if you are low in serotonin, you're by definition depressed.

So then you would think that the solution would be to raise serotonin, right?

If we define depression as low serotonin, you'd think that the solution would be to raise serotonin, but that's not what we do.

We take people that are depressed and we put them on SSRIs, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

And what these do is they ration what little serotonin these people have.

So by definition, it never raises serotonin.

So by definition, it never ends depression.

I mean, I have clients come in to see me all the time and our clinical team, and then I'll say, well, how long have you been on antidepressants?

And my first question is, well, when did you think it was gonna kick in?

So if we understand that serotonin is actually methylated in the gut, this process that I'm talking about is called methylation.

We actually make serotonin from an amino acid called tryptophan, the 1 that's famous for making you sleepy after Thanksgiving dinner.

See all The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett transcripts on Applepodcasts

E225: The Man Who Predicts How Long You Have Left To Live (To The Nearest Month): Gary Brecka