Stronger Medicine Podcast

DAN DWORKIS, MD PhD, is a clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine at USC's Keck School of Medicine, a board-certified emergency medicine physician at Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, and a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians. He trained at Brigham and Women's Hospital / Massachusetts General Hospital Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency. Dr. Dworkis built The Emergency Mind platform and podcast to help individuals and teams perform better under pressure in and out of the emergency Department. After reading his book, The Emergency Mind, I wanted to speak to Dan more about some of the ideas that he had explored in his writing. Expect to hear about how to approach emergency and high pressure situations, as well as failure, craftsmanship, challenges and teamwork. LINKS:  The Emergency Mind ProjectGrab the book: The Emergency Mind; Wiring your brain for performance under pressureThe Emergency Mind TwitterDan’s IG LISTEN TO THE STRONGER MEDICINE PODCAST ON: Spotify: http://bit.ly/stmdspotify iTunes: http://bit.ly/stmditunes Stitcher: http://bit.ly/stmdstitcher–Get in touch: julian@strongermedicine.com www.strongermedicine.com

Will is a Certified Strength and Conditioning coach who runs his own facility, Powering-Through, in Essex, UK. He works with athletes and individuals across all backgrounds, but specialises in MMA fighters, grapplers, motor sport athletes, and golfers. He is a Strength and Conditioning consultant to the PGA European Tour, and spends much of his time abroad working closely with professional golfers. He practices what he preaches, and pushes himself in his own training as much as he does his own athletes. I sat down with Will to talk about his approach to Strength and Conditioning, and his views on pragmatism, iatrogenics, skin in the game, being a ‘do-er’, and dealing with imposter syndrome, amongst other aspects. He also shares his own experience with severe depression, how he got through this, and the psychological journey this involved. We finish up with Will giving us some timeless concepts and principles that he has garnered through his work in S&C, that we can all apply to our own lives. WILL’S ARTICLES:The Pragmatists Approach to Strength and Conditioning: https://simplifaster.com/articles/pragmatic-coaching-strength-conditioning/Grappling with Depression: http://www.powering-through.com/grappling-with-depression/–LINKS:  Powering Through website: http://www.powering-through.comInstagram @poweringthroughTwitter @WSWayland–LISTEN TO THE STRONGER MEDICINE PODCAST ON: Spotify: http://bit.ly/stmdspotify iTunes: http://bit.ly/stmditunes Stitcher: http://bit.ly/stmdstitcher–Get in touch: julian@strongermedicine.com www.strongermedicine.com

In September 2015, Nick put his generalised muscular aches down to his keen squash playing, but soon after, other unexplained symptoms started to appear. On Christmas eve of 2015, Nick was found to have inoperable cancer on a CT scan, being diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer the following month. At 625 ng/ml, his PSA (a prostate tumour marker) was 150x the upper limit, and he was given a gleason score of 9/10 (the most aggressive rating for prostate cancer). Since that time, Nick has taken an extremely proactive approach to his cancer and health. He has assembled around him a multi-disciplinary team, including Cancer Buddies, complementary oncologists, yoga masters, psychotherapists, nutritionists, Chinese herbalists & acupuncturists, strength & conditioning experts, buddhists, GPs, nurses, conventional oncologists and his wife. Alongside this, Nick has been on a mission to share what he has found through his own journey, and has been writing and speaking about the undeniable impact of lifestyle on our health and, as he sees it in his case, his own experiences with cancer. Thank you Nick for your generous time on the show. LINKS: Nick’s website: https://thecancerjourneyman.co.ukHis Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/thecancerjourneymanHis Twitter: https://twitter.com/CansaJourneyMan LISTEN TO THE STRONGER MEDICINE PODCAST ON: Spotify: http://bit.ly/stmdspotify iTunes: http://bit.ly/stmditunes Stitcher: http://bit.ly/stmdstitcher Get in touch: julian@strongermedicine.com www.strongermedicine.com

Aaron Stark was almost a school shooter. He experienced a childhood of relentless violence, trauma and being told he was worthless. Moving from school to school, with a chaotic family constantly evading social services and the police, he plummeted deeper and deeper into despair and depression. Despite reaching out a number of times, he remained mostly alone until, driven to ‘annihilation’, he resolved to buy a gun and attack a school. An almost banal, everyday act of human touch from his friend, Mike, was the turning point that averted a catastrophe. Listen as Aaron discusses his childhood experience, how he ended up in that dark place, how he narrowly missed an atrocity, and his journey of recovery that has lasted decades. He tells us about how surreal life has been since he started to talk openly about his experiences, and the thousands of people that have contacted him and, ultimately, how this despair can happen to any of us; not just monsters. LINKS: YOU ARE NOT ALONE: https://www.facebook.com/groups/589481718072201/Aaron’s Ted Talk: https://youtu.be/azRl1dI-Cts LISTEN TO STRONGER MEDICINE PODCAST ON:Spotify: http://bit.ly/stmdspotifyiTunes: http://bit.ly/stmditunesStitcher: http://bit.ly/stmdstitcher Get in touch: julian@strongermedicine.com www.strongermedicine.com

Professor Sabina Brennan is the author of the book ‘100 Days to a Younger Brain‘, which details how we can maximise our cognitive and brain health for as long as possible, through lifestyle. She is a neuroscientist with specific interest in the risk factors and impact of lifestyle on dementia, cognition and brain health across the lifespan. Currently as a Research Assistant Professor in the Neuroscience department at Trinity College Dublin, she made her move into this field through studying her psychology undergraduate degree at the age of 42, after leaving her previous career in acting (a leading role on Ireland’s soap opera, Fair City). As well as her work in lifestyle and neuroscience, Sabina is passionate about challenging the stereotypes that pervade ageing in the West, asserting that there is much to celebrate in our later years and that we are capable of much more than society would allow us to think. She has created around 30 short animations in multiple languages across the globe to share education on brain health and lifestyle. In this episode, we discuss: Why Sabina wrote the book (2:33) Why we are not doomed to decline despite our brains shrinking with age (8:25)How even a brain that appears to be ravaged by Alzheimer’s dementia may not result in any outward appearance of disease (10:25)Sabina gets into the difficult area of how best intentions can sometimes steal independence from loved ones and patients (20:30)The concepts of brain resilience and reserve (22:55)The odd lack of awareness about our brains (29:14)Sabina does a deep dive into how sleep is perhaps the most important thing for our brain health (32:20)Learn why stress can be both bad and good for us (47:50) How your attitude and approach to life can make or break you (56:26)We close with reflecting on how we are absolutely sabotaging ourselves as we age through how society views the process of getting older (01:06:09). Links ‘100 Days to a Younger Brain’ is available in all good book stores. Check out Sabina’s website at http://www.sabinabrennan.ieFollow her on Twitter @Sabina_Brennan. Also take a look at her (excellent) animations on dementia, ageing and brain health at http://freedemliving.com [DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_SOCIAL_ICONS]

I’d never before put into perspective that the ten year survival of type 2 diabetes is worse than many cancers. Today, we get into what can be done about this, once and for all. Mike Lean MA, MB, BChir, MD (Cambridge), FRCP (Edinb), FRCPS (Glasgow), FRSE holds the chair of Human Nutrition, is an acute medicine consultant physician, and has completed extensive research in obesity, nutrition and diabetes. In more recent years, his work as joint Principle Investigator with Prof Taylor and team has uniquely proven that diabetes is a reversible disease process. The DiRECT trial is the first of its kind to have focused on remission of diabetes as its outcome, by calorie restriction alone. Almost 50% of those recruited reversed their diabetes, with 9 in 10 people who lost 15kg achieving complete remission and coming off all diabetes medication. In this episode, Prof Lean tells us where he thinks we have gone wrong with diabetes and its management. We learn what actually causes diabetes, the relation of body weight and fat to this disease, and why those who seem to be of a normal weight can still get diabetes. Prof Lean tells us why just focusing on good blood sugar control may not be adequate, the findings of the DiRECT trial, and how YOU or your patients can actually reverse your diabetes, and come off medications completely. We hear about the ins and outs of approaches such as low carbohydrate, fasting and calorie restriction for diabetes management, and is there such a thing as a ‘healthy food’? This was a real privilege as Prof Lean is at the absolute forefront of diabetes research and management, and is in great demand internationally to share his work. He was kind enough to steal some time to talk with me during a busy working day when he had just finished his morning ward round, and so I’m grateful for the opportunity. Let me know what you thought! Do you have diabetes? Do you care or work with people with diabetes? Get in touch at julian@strongermedicine.com Further links: https://www.directclinicaltrial.org.uk where the ‘no doubts diet’ and other resources can be found, as well as Prof Taylor’s area on https://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/reversal/#publicinformation.

Dr Mike Banna is a GP Partner in the south of England, Regional Director of the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine, a co-host on the Fitness Unfiltered Podcast, and proactively brings much needed balance and realism to topics across medicine and fitness. His transformational journey that began around ten years ago resulted in him almost halving his bodyweight. He has a passion for mental health and realistic, achievable lifestyle change, whilst bringing his own skin in the game and transformational experience to his interactions with his patients. In this episode we discuss his work (6:22) the psychology, practice and challenges inherent in his transformation (10:26), and the narratives we tell ourselves (27:30). We also deep dive into how Dr Banna’s work with patients was impacted (33:10) the complexity of lifestyle (36:30), and how areas such as weight loss can be made way over-simplified to our detriment. We discuss the danger of echo chambers in the fitness industry (45:25), the pros and cons of utilising a ‘call-out’ approach (52:45), and the direction and some potential concerns of the lifestyle medicine field (59:27). A big thanks to Dr Banna, who can be found at the following places:Instagram and twitter @drmikethe2nd Also check out his excellent co-hosted podcast, Fitness Unfiltered

Dr Sullivan was an Emergency Medicine physician for 25 years before deciding to become a full-time strength coach. He works predominantly with older adults, and is a major force within the strength and fitness industry as an advocate of strength training as a ‘medicine’. A diverse and varied career, he was previously in the Marine Corps, an associate professor of EM, a PhD, a science fiction writer, and physiologist. He joins me today to delve into why barbell and strength training is a potent medicine, perhaps even an antidote, against decrepitude and ‘human apoptosis’. We hear about clients in their 90’s deadlifting, how we can fight against the entropy of ageing, and how we can ‘prescribe’ barbell training as a medicine. Clinicians stand up and take notice. This man is prescribing his clients with a more powerful prescription than you may realise. His gym: www.greysteel.org His book (co-authored with Andy Baker): ‘The Barbell Prescription’ is available at Amazon. His youtube channel: Greysteel

The Rockett’s are two medical doctors with a difference, based in Boston, US. Sean is an orthopaedic surgeon and has been Head Dr of the Ortho team at the Crossfit Games since 2012. Ronda was a practicing family physician, or GP, for 12 years, before she decided to leave medicine and become a full-time Crossfit coach. Both Ronda and Sean were kind enough to speak with me about their work in medicine, Crossfit, the overlaps and stories between these two areas, and why Ronda eventually decided that she was better able to help people, and follow her passion, by leaving medicine to coach Crossfit full-time.

Arthur Boorman is an ex-paratrooper with over 200 jumps to his name. After retiring from active duty, plagued with injuries from his time in service, he went into a downward spiral that resulted in him weighing 340lbs, being riddled with chronic pain, suffering from depression, being sleep deprived through obstructive sleep apnoea, and a gamut of other issues. Desperate, Arthur reached out to ex-wrestler named Diamond Dallas Page, who had set up his own Yoga practice system (DDPY). As Arthur puts it, Dallas “called [him] out”, and ultimately became an instrumental catalyst for the change that transformed Arthur into a completely new man. His subsequent transformation video posted on youtube in 2012 has garnered more than 28 million views. This conversation with Arthur explores the turmoil he was in, and the driving forces that enabled and sustained his transformation. We cover: How empathy from Doctors gave him the excuse to dieThe brutal routine of his knee wraps, necrosing flesh, and agonising joint painHow Arthur’s students thought he had died one day in classThe yoga studios that turned him away…and then tried to take credit for his successThe moment that Arthur realised he “was full of shit”, and what he did about thisThat Arthur is not special, and that anyone can do incredible things for themselves if they identify their own ‘why’ Links: Arthurs Transformation video Diamond Dallas Page Yoga Website