In the first Q&A episode of the Gladden Longevity Podcast in 2025, Dr. Jeffrey Gladden and Steve Reiter discuss various aspects of health optimization, including new developments in dementia treatment going on at Gladden Longevity, the importance of thyroid health, challenges in cancer screening, and a holistic and mind-shifting approach to getting in the best shape of your life in 2025. The conversation emphasizes actionable insights for listeners to enhance their youthfulness, lifespan and overall well-being.
FOR THE AUDIENCE
· Use code 'Podcast10' to get 10% OFF on any of our supplements at https://gladdenlongevityshop.com/ !
Takeaways
· New trials are exploring effective treatments for dementia.
· Thyroid health is crucial for cognitive function and overall health.
· Cancer screening methods are often inadequate and need improvement.
· It’s impossible to get truly in shape in a gym.
· A holistic approach to fitness involves training the nervous system, not just muscles.
· Daily physical activity is essential for maintaining health and fitness.
· Understanding individual health markers can lead to better health outcomes.
· Nutrition, including iodine and minerals, plays a significant role in health.
· Engaging in diverse physical activities can enhance overall fitness.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Age Hacking and Longevity
02:00 New Developments in Dementia Treatment
08:06 Thyroid Health and Cognitive Function
14:51 Cancer Screening and Prevention Challenges
25:50 Getting in Shape for 2025: A Holistic Approach
41:24 Goodbye
Articles, News and Supplements mentioned
Cervical Cancer
CERVICAL SCREENING KNOWLEDGE GAP ‘COSTING LIVES’ https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg44pr28ywo.amp?xtor=AL-%5B72%5D-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Bsmart.news%5D-%5Bheadline%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D
Thyroid
DOCTORS WORRIED THAT IODINE DEFICIENCY – A PROBLEM FROM THE PAST – IS COMING BACK https://nypost.com/2025/01/21/health/doctors-warn-that-iodine-deficiency-a-dietary-problem-from-the-past-is-coming-back/?utm_source=smartnews&utm_campaign=nypost&utm_medium=referral
Supplements
IODINE https://gladdenlongevityshop.com/products/upgraded-iodine-thyroid-support?_pos=1&_psq=iodine&_ss=e&_v=1.0
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY SHROOM FORMULA https://gladdenlongevityshop.com/products/anti-inflammatory-adaptogenic-mushrooms?_pos=2&_psq=shroom&_ss=e&_v=1.0
SHROOM IMMUNE https://gladdenlongevityshop.com/products/shroom-immune-60ct?_pos=1&_psq=shroom&_ss=e&_v=1.0
TRACE MINERALS https://gladdenlongevityshop.com/products/trace-minerals-60caps?_pos=1&_psq=mineral&_ss=e&_v=1.0
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Welcome to the Gladden Longevity Podcast with Dr.
Jeffrey Gladden, where our passion is helping you become an age hacker.
On this show, we want to help you optimize your life energy, longevity, health, and humanperformance with impactful and actionable information by answering four questions.
How good can we be?
How do we make 100 the new 30?
How do we live well beyond 120?
(00:24):
And how do we live young for a lifetime?
I'm Steve Ryder and Dr.
Gladden, we're back with Q and A's starting out 2025.
2025.
What do know?
It's good.
were your holidays?
My man?
they were relaxing.
got to Costa Rica for a couple of weeks.
Kind of decompressed down there which was Mukti and I were down there.
(00:45):
It was yeah it was good.
It was restorative you know okay so.
That's wonderful.
What kind of stuff did you do while you were there?
Restoring.
Well you know some ocean time, some mountain time, some volcano time, some coffeechocolate tour time, some you know
Eating some actually surprisingly amazingly good Indian food in Costa Rica.
(01:06):
Really?
A places.
Yeah.
What?
Pretty nice.
Yeah.
So yeah, some beach time got a little body surfing in, a little bit of hiking around.
So yeah, it was good.
It's fun.
How about you?
we just relaxed here in Colorado.
after Thanksgiving, my mom was getting a ton of work done on my childhood home.
(01:27):
Okay.
And so new doors trim.
whole new kitchen flooring.
Oh, Uh, downstairs was getting a bunch of stuff done.
And so she's been here for the last ever since Thanksgiving.
So my brother, one of my brothers came out from, okay, from Minneapolis and we just had anice easy family Christmas.
(01:48):
Oh, cool.
Got outside and yeah, that's nice.
Hard to beat them.
Winter hiking.
And so yeah, it's been good for you.
It's been good.
Where are you at right now?
Are you with Dallas?
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Back in Dallas.
I've moved.
I've moved from Puerto Rico back to Dallas.
So I'm here pretty much full time now.
(02:09):
Really?
Mm hmm.
Really?
Yeah.
Lots of new stuff going on at Gladden as 2025.
Yeah.
Tons of stuff.
Tons of new stuff going on here.
Fascinating things going on here.
We just really got into a trial looking at a new molecule that treats all forms ofdementia.
(02:31):
yeah, it's effective.
Like most of the, most of the dementia drugs, dementia trials, you know, that are focusedon treating beta amyloid or, know, trying to inhibit, the breakdown of acetylcholine.
those were the first drugs that came out.
None of those work quite honestly.
yeah.
And we have found some therapies that are certainly helpful, you know, optimizing, healthyfats in the blood cause plasmal agents and things like that can be super helpful.
(02:59):
cleaning up diet hormones, making sure thyroid's operating functionally.
But this is a monoclonal antibody that targets a molecule called galectin-3, which issomething we measure on all of our clients and have been for years.
And it's a general inflammatory marker that drives fibrosis and it drives immune cellactivity in the brain, microglial activity in the brain, which is when there's a lot of
(03:25):
inflammation in the brain.
cognitive decline occurs.
There's a pruning of neural synapses to where connections aren't made the way they used tobe.
Nerves tend to shrivel up.
The inflammation is really, it's almost like a fire burning in the brain.
It's almost like, you know, we just had the California fires, which were so devastating,right?
(03:47):
So, I mean, what an unbelievable tragedy.
I know people in both locations, you know, the Altadena area, the Palisades area, justunbelievable.
And so,
The point is though that in your brain, you can have different levels of fire.
You can have a smoldering fire.
You can have a brush fire.
You can have a more rampaging fire.
(04:09):
And one of the ways to try to decrease that, that fire in the brain, that inflammation ofcourse, is to do all the things we talked about, know, treating the gut, changing your
diet, their inflammatory foods, decreasing things that
increased glutamate in the brain that tends to stifle cognitive ability, optimizingacetylcholine and phosphatidylcholine and optimizing plasmalogens and all the different
(04:36):
things that go into this hormones and thyroid, estrogen is terribly important for thebrain.
But then after you do all that, you're still left with some issues, right?
And even when you're using things like stem cells or you're using things like peptides or
no tropics or things like that, all of which are again helpful, but you're still manytimes can bump into a wall.
(05:03):
And so we've been doing something here with brain frequency, which is transcranialmagnetic stimulation, which can take you another mile, right?
In terms of restoring the brain function, super exciting stuff.
So if anybody's listening to this and you have cognitive decline, memory loss, you'reworried about your own health or somebody you love.
(05:24):
We now have access to all those things, of course, but we now have access to this newmolecule, this monoclonal antibody that's injected through an IV every 28 days, plus or
minus five days.
And in order to qualify, somebody has to be able to fail a memory test.
Right.
So there's a basic memory test.
(05:45):
It's not a long or protracted or difficult memory test.
But for folks that are unable to pass that,
And then they have some other restrictions or qualifications that we would walk throughwith each person to see if they're a candidate or not.
But the bottom line is if they do qualify and most people would, then they become acandidate for this.
(06:07):
And the results have been, you know, nothing short of pretty encouraging.
Let's just say that we're not making any claims here in public.
All we're saying is that there's been some very encouraging results and we have slideswith some data on it and things like that.
I'm going to be giving some talks.
Maybe I'll share that information further.
But, but if people are interested to learn more about it, now they can reach out to us atGladden Longevity.
(06:31):
We'll be happy to have a conversation with them about this, but this is, this is turningout to be in our mind, something very worthy of people's consideration.
I'm being very conservative in my statements here, but it's definitely extremely worthyof.
consideration.
So without question, mean something I've too many family members, extended family membersthat I've seen just decline, decline.
(06:56):
Well, my father died with dementia, right?
So this is was one of the reasons that I got into this whole field in the first place.
And I've been able to, you know, rebuild my brain and do a lot of different things.
Right.
So I feel good about that.
But it's always nice to have, you know, more arrows in the quiver.
It's always nice to have, you know,
bigger bullets in the gun, to speak, that you can, or maybe a more effective fireextinguisher is really what it boils down to, right?
(07:21):
So, and that's what this appears to be.
So I will say this, let me just say this, there are 4 % of the population that will notrespond to this therapy.
And that's predetermined by a genetic test.
So if you're interested, you could reach out to Gladden Longevity.
We could send you the genetic test.
there's a 96 % chance that you would qualify based on that.
(07:42):
That's one of the disqualifiers is if you don't have the right genetics.
And again, only 4 % of the population don't have the right genetics.
But if you, if you, if you don't have the right genetics and we would, you know, then wewould need to decline you for the study.
so, but, yeah, I, I just think of the years of cumulative wisdom that can be poured backinto our society.
(08:07):
my gosh.
Right.
a dent in this.
Right.
Right.
I mean, if you reactivate people's brains that have all this life, life experience andwisdom and enter and now reenergize that, right?
I mean, what's the contribution of that to their families or communities?
You know, everything is quite beautiful.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, you, this is thyroid awareness month and you did mention thyroid health as one ofyour, one of your
(08:35):
arrows that you have in your quiver to deal with this.
Well, this is a really important topic because we have found that many people withcognitive decline are hypothyroid for one of two reasons and they don't actually realize
it.
In other words, there's such a thing as subclinical hypothyroidism, which is what I hadyears ago.
(08:59):
And it turns out that when you're
Thyroid is tested in the blood with a TSH test, which is thyroid stimulating hormone,which is basically they're measuring the brain molecule that's telling the thyroid to make
thyroid.
So if that is really elevated, then it means the brain is screaming for more thyroid,right?
(09:20):
So, and the thyroid is not producing it.
So the TSH goes high to say, please make more thyroid, right?
We're begging you to make more thyroid.
That's a high TSH.
And
And yet we know that there are many people that have a normal quote unquote, you know, we,you know, we can have conversations about what is normal, but have a quote unquote normal
(09:42):
TSH, and are still hypothyroid for a couple of other reasons.
One is they have less thyroid activity inside the cell than their blood work would leadyou to believe.
Right.
And so that's called subclinical hypothyroidism.
That's detected with a resting metabolic rate.
which is not a blood test.
(10:04):
You basically wear a mask.
We do it here in the office almost every day.
And you breathe in and out through the mask for 20 minutes.
You're sitting in a chair relaxed and we measure how much oxygen you consume and how muchcarbon dioxide you produce.
And that is a true measure of your resting metabolic rate.
In other words, metabolic activity at the cellular level, which is a direct measure ofthyroid activity at the cellular level.
(10:29):
So if that's low,
then people are hypothyroid.
And interestingly enough, when thyroid is optimized, you get younger.
There's a test out there called glycan age, which is a test that we can talk about anothertime in detail, but essentially it's looking at the way our body attaches endogenous
(10:56):
sugars.
sugars that our bodies make, not sugars that we eat.
So endogenous meaning coming from us to proteins in the immune system that modulate thoseproteins activity.
if you're a DNA, let's say you're trying to build a, let's say you're trying to build acity and DNA is your blueprint.
Well, you know, if you had to have a DNA sequence for every single paint color and everysingle toilet cover and every single desk and chair, you would need a ton of DNA, right?
(11:27):
So the way the body does that is it has DNA for office furniture.
And then you, the body adds a sugar molecule to that protein that's built to say, this isa desk.
This is a chair.
This is a seat cover.
This is a window.
This is a paint color.
And so by modifying a single protein, you can get it to do a lot of different things.
(11:48):
And so that's called glycosylation where you're adding these endogenous sugars to modifythese proteins to get them to do a lot of different things.
So it turns out that you can measure the status of these like, oscillated proteins, and itbecomes a direct measure of your age.
And I won't go into all the details.
It's it's a little too much for right this second, but the point is when you optimizethyroid and optimize estrogen and optimize a few other things, um, you can actually make
(12:16):
your age go quite a bit younger.
Um, and it turns out that bovine colostrum, um, which is colostrum from, from cows.
as it actually contains a molecule that actually makes you younger also.
yeah, it's pretty exciting stuff.
Anyway, back to the thyroid.
So you can have subclinical hypothyroidism.
(12:38):
And then the other thing that happens is you need to have your genes tested to see ifyou're able to convert inactive thyroid to active thyroid in your brain.
Right.
So when the thought when the TSH is coming out of the brain saying, please make morethyroid, then the thyroid gland pushes out T4.
It's a thyroid hormone molecule attached to four different iodine atoms, right?
(13:01):
So you've heard about iodine is important for the thyroid.
Well, that's why there's four of them attached to each to each thyroid molecule.
So then what the body has to do is it has to take off one of those iodine, right?
That's kind of like thyroid in the resting state.
When it takes off one iodine now becomes T3, right?
Thyroid with three iodines, T3.
(13:23):
And that's the active form of thyroid.
And that will go into the cell, into the nucleus and do the work it's supposed to do.
And there are a few other things to consider, but that's basically it.
It turns out that there's a different system inside the brain for removing that fourthiodine to activate the T3 in the brain.
It has its own separate system.
(13:44):
So even if you do a resting metabolic rate, which is measuring the total body thyroidactivity, systemic activity, even if you
You know, have a normal TSH, even if you have a normal T three, if you don't know yourgenetics related to your brain, you can still have hypothyroidism in the brain that you
(14:05):
still wouldn't know about.
Right.
And so it's very important to have a test on that looks at a gene called D I O two D IOdenase two, right?
Because it's an enzyme that removes that iodine from T four to make T three.
So you're, you're D I Odenating or
taking off an iodine.
And so when you do the genetics on that, then you find out that some people areheterozygous, which means they may have up to a 40 % reduction in their ability to do it.
(14:35):
And some people are homozygous like I am and may have up to a 60 to 80 % reduction intheir ability to do it.
So I have a really decreased ability to make active thyroid in my brain.
So if I don't take T3 along with T4, you know,
I'm toast, but when I do, then my brain works.
(14:56):
And so it also makes me younger based on the glycan age, right?
So it all sort of loops together.
So you really want to get thyroid right.
And it's gotten wrong so many times over and over and over and over and over again,because the doctor, normal doctors, we were all trained this way.
I was just look at the TSH.
If the TSH is in range, don't worry about it.
(15:19):
If they complain about it, it's in their head.
You know, it's all this silliness, right?
It's really silliness.
And so we've been able to move well beyond all that, which is very exciting for clientsbecause we were able to fix problems that they struggled with for years by really kind of
deconstructing the situation and understanding what's going on for them and then puttingtogether the fix.
(15:41):
So, yeah.
So contact gladden longevity to get your brain fixed and double check all of these markersand work with dr gladden and the team because yeah, it's a man.
it's, it's, mean, it's wonderful.
It's wonderful to, get your life back.
That's the point.
It's wonderful to get your brain back.
It's wonderful to get your energy back.
Right.
So there's, are many things that factor into all these things, but, but I'm giving youreally the heavy hitters in the, the area, right?
(16:08):
If we get these things right, you know, 90 % of people are going to be
where they want to be.
that's, that's really exciting.
So anyway, back to brain optimization.
Thyroid is important, but then being able to use some of these novel therapies, if you, ifyou qualify for them and stuff like that can be super helpful.
So again, if you're interested, we'd be happy to talk to you and see if you're, see ifyou're a candidate, see if you qualify.
(16:30):
There is a charge for this, infusion.
It's some thousands of dollars to get it each time.
So just be aware of that.
The number of infusions you might need might be anywhere from two to three to fivesomewhere in there.
So I'm just spaced out over 28 days.
There could be some maintenance after that.
Um, you know, the way I look at it though is what does it, what does it cost?
(16:53):
What does it cost?
And you know this, Steve, what does it cost to send a kid to college?
Right.
What's it for one semester of college?
What does it cost to send them?
Well, it depends on where they go, of course, but you know, you go to an Ivy leagueschool, that's a, you know, that's 40, 50 K right there.
Right.
And this is, this is.
not costing you that to get your brain back online.
Right.
So think of it that way.
(17:14):
It's a, it's a, it's a chief education.
You get your whole brain back.
Right.
So anyway, think it's think of how productive you could be after in your business and yourwork and whatever.
Right.
And people pay for this with pre-tax dollars for the most part.
Also there are ways to do it with our health savings account and other things like that.
There are creative ways to get it done.
(17:35):
They can borrow against a life insurance policy.
They can do all kinds of things to get this, you know, really brings them back online.
It's life-saving.
So, well, this month is also cervical health awareness month.
Okay.
And we have an article that our producer Leo sent about how cervical screening knowledgegap costing lies, costing lives.
(18:04):
Yeah, I mean, I think that in general, and it's true, right?
It's not being done enough is the bottom line.
I've read the article and in essence, people are not having it done.
And one of the reasons is that it can be uncomfortable, right?
It's uncomfortable to have your cervix scraped like that, or it can be.
There are ways for people to numb that up ahead of time.
They can put on a topical, they can do some other things, but nonetheless, they like to goin and get kind of a fresh sample that's not clouded by anything.
(18:31):
And so it can be uncomfortable.
There are probably other ways to get at this.
I'm not a cervical cancer specialist, but I think it raises a bigger question of cancerscreening in general.
Really, what constitutes adequate cancer screening?
And how do you actually go about that?
(18:54):
So I think it's really handled poorly in general because we have...
you know, whole body MRI scans, right?
And if that comes back negative, well, you don't have cancer.
Well, number one, that's not true because the resolution on an MRI scan is not that, it'snot that great, right?
(19:15):
So, you know, the resolution on your camera has just gotten better through the years,right?
How many pixels are we up to now, right?
I don't know what it is, 20,000 pixels or whatever, 20 million pixels.
don't even know the number, but it's a bunch of them.
And you know that when you had a camera that had, you know,
A 10th of that, that the images were fuzzy.
Well, the MRI scan is kind of a fuzzy camera.
(19:37):
In other words, its resolution is not that high to the point where you can actually see amicro tumor or see a cancer.
So you can not do that.
Right.
So you have to understand that you're using a fuzzy camera to decide whether or not youmight have cancer.
And so it's not adequate.
Right.
I mean, you need to know.
And so if you have a fuzzy camera and it comes back negative, it's like,
(20:00):
I guess you're negative.
Well, I don't know, maybe you're not.
So it's not good enough for us.
And then there are other imaging tests like CAT scans, right?
CT scans, which have higher resolution, but don't necessarily differentiate the tissues aswell as an MRI.
So they're somewhat handicapped.
And then you have ways to augment a CAT scan where you combine it with, it's called apositron emission tomography test, which is basically where you're giving radioactive
(20:28):
glucose because
Cancer cells like two fuels, they're fueled by glutamine and they're fueled by glucose.
So if we give it a radioactive glucose, they'll suck it up and then the tumor cells becomeradioactive for a brief period of time and they're emitting light because of that, right?
So you put them under a camera that can detect that light coming off of them and you canlocalize where the cancer may be.
(20:52):
Super helpful test.
Again, the resolution, it's still a fuzzy camera.
So if you see it, you see it, but if you don't,
you're still not sure, you see.
And so you start to look at, OK, well, what are the molecular markers for cancer?
Right.
And there are a number of them that are tested routinely for individuals like CEA andcancer, you know, different ones that basically are have been what's been considered PSA's
(21:19):
for that matter have been considered routine cancer testing.
But those are nonspecific.
they can be elevated for reasons other than cancer and they can be suppressed even inpeople that do have cancer.
Like PSA is a terrible test for actually detecting if you have prostate cancer.
It's a good test for actually tracking prostate cancer if you've been diagnosed, but it'sa terrible test to diagnose it, right?
(21:46):
you're constantly wondering, you know, am I actually adequately screening myself?
Mammograms, again, you know, well,
Fibrocystic, we're not quite sure, right?
Maybe we should biopsy, maybe we shouldn't, maybe you should come back in six months andwe'll repeat it.
We'll see if something changes, right?
MRI of the breast, similar, such ultrasound of the breast, similar thing, right?
(22:10):
So you have so many things that kind of limit our ability.
And so there is a test that's coming out that we'll have access to later this year.
It's not here yet.
It's coming out of India that appears to have.
a much higher sensitivity and actually be able to predict even if you're going to developcancer before you develop it.
(22:31):
And then pick it up if it's stage zero, stage one, stage two, stage three, stage four.
But the idea with cancer, and everybody's heard this, that if cancer is detected early, wecan treat it.
What we can't do is really win the battle when it's detected late.
And yet the problem with cancer is that it's almost universally always detected late.
(22:52):
It's like, my gosh, she was super healthy.
And then now she's got stage two B she's three a it's this, you know, and it's like, nowwe're into chemo radiation, surgery and she's got a clean bill of health.
And then four or five years.
no, it's back all over the place.
It's in her bones.
It's in her brain.
And here we go.
(23:13):
I'm so sorry.
We're going to lose you.
Right.
And how many times have you heard this story?
It's like, it's just like on autoplay, right?
It's over and over and over again.
So.
Clearly we're not doing a good job of detecting cancer preemptively.
And we're certainly not good at determining whether somebody is actually in remission ornot, because we're still not looking adequately, right?
(23:34):
We're relying on the scans.
We're relying on fuzzy cameras to tell us what's happening.
So with cancer, you can't be wrong.
You can't literally can't be wrong.
So you can't count on a fuzzy camera or fuzzy tests.
So some of the newer tests that are coming out,
looking for circulating tumor cells, they're not perfect.
(23:55):
You know, they're probably 85 to 90%.
If there's a cancer, they'll pick it up, but you're picking it up at stage zero, right?
And if you see circulating tumor cells, you know it's cancer because you can do DNAsequencing on those cells and show that they're actually cancer cells, that they have the
(24:16):
actual cancer markers are set up.
These are actual cancer cells.
It's not a false positive.
Right.
So that becomes super helpful.
And we've been doing that for a long time.
And that leads to a whole line of therapies that can be done that are outside the Bermudatriangle of surgery, radiation, chemotherapy.
Right.
So it's not to say that those aren't, aren't indicated sometimes.
(24:38):
Sometimes they clearly are helpful, but you want to have a more broader approach to it.
And then with some of the newer tests coming out, you know, looking at exosomes andcirculating tumor DNA and
circulating cells and a lot of those like some of the tests are not good at all.
Like grail is a terrible test.
I'll come out and say that online.
(24:59):
It's an absolutely terrible test.
It really has very poor sensitivity early on and their data, their recently published datashows that it's really almost useless.
It's like they can pick up 3 % of stage one cancers.
It's like, well, how useless is that?
So, you know, so you have to really be
(25:20):
careful about what you're doing with this cancer screening.
And it's really important to work with people that can screen things appropriately.
So are colonoscopies helpful?
Yes, they should be done.
Can Cologuard be useful to look for circulating tumor DNA from colon cancer?
Yes, it can be helpful.
know, can you looking for occult blood?
(25:40):
Yes, that can be helpful too, right?
So you want to be looking at this through a number of different lenses.
You don't want to put all of your eggs in one basket, but you have to understand that
the routine testing that's recommended is pretty much categorically not adequate.
So.
(27:40):
Well, I assume that a big part of cancer prevention is overall health.
And since we are in still in January, what about how to get into the best shape of yourlife?
Yeah.
So, that's a great topic.
You know, I will just say that,
there was an overlap between cancer and thyroid that we talked about, and that's iodine,because iodine's really boosts your immune system also.
(28:06):
So every year.
have been regularly supplementing since I found a really good supplement.
And just like anything else, you can overdo it.
Yeah.
Right.
So too much iodine will crash your thyroid.
Right.
So you don't want to do that either.
So if it's like, iodine, let me get as much of that as I can.
That's not the answer either.
Biology is an economy of balance.
(28:27):
You want to take maybe
a few drops of iodine once or twice a week.
That's probably what you need.
Use some iodinated salt, know, some Morton salt that has iodine in it and mix it in withyour sea salt or your Celtic salt or whatever you like.
So you're getting some iodine that way, right?
I think, you know, a lot of people have moved away from iodinated salt and for goodreason, because there's many other minerals in these other salts that your body needs and
(28:52):
we need minerals, right?
So anyway, there's over...
overlap between the eye dying stories there.
When it comes to getting in the best shape of your life for 2025, what I'd like to say isthat I think it's important to understand what does it mean to be in great shape and what
does it mean to be to you?
(29:14):
Or what does it mean to you?
Right.
So I think for a lot of people, it's how they look in the mirror.
And I think that's super admirable.
Right.
I want to have a six pack.
I want to
Look good.
want my hips to be here, my shoulders to be there, my chest to be here, my legs to behere, you know, whatever it is.
Right.
And that in fact is really more about body composition than it is shape.
(29:40):
and the reason I say that is because I've come to understand that being in shape is reallyabout training your nervous system.
Right.
draining your nervous system.
And so I'll go out and make this statement and say that I think it's impossible to everget truly in shape in a gym.
(30:06):
You can't really get in shape in a gym.
Now, if you are, well, I'll explain it to you in a second.
If you, if you have an exceptional insight into training, I believe you can use a gym andactually get in shape.
But I would say 99 % of people that use gyms are not getting in shape.
(30:27):
And the reason is this.
They are lifting a weight.
They're running on a treadmill.
They're pedaling a bike.
They're, you know,
doing their squats, all that sort of stuff.
Yoga classes, yoga class, all of that.
Right.
And yet what happens is that the environment is too predictable.
(30:48):
The weight rack is always the same.
The dumbbell is always the same.
The treadmill is always the same.
The bicycle is stationary.
It's always the same.
Right.
Yeah.
There is no challenge to the nervous system.
If you're going to get in shape,
You want to, what does it mean to be in shape when you can ski down a black diamond hill,when you can run down a trail, when you can run up a trail, when you can mountain bike
(31:13):
through more difficult terrain, right?
When you can navigate crossing a stream, you know, to catch a trout in another, you know,pool over there.
This is what, this is your nervous system that enables you to have balance, to haveagility, flexibility, the ability to navigate really.
(31:33):
lots of unseen and unknown obstacles that will be thrown in your way.
That's actually getting in shape.
Like I think the people that are doing the tough mutters, they're actually training theircardiovascular system and their strength.
And they're also training their nervous system, right?
Because they've got to get over and under and through and all this kind of stuff, right?
That's, that's training right there, but that's not in a gym.
(31:54):
You're outside.
I think you want to feel the air.
You want to feel the coolness or the heat.
You want to feel the wind.
You want to feel.
The terrain is somewhat irregular.
It's like we're hiking this, but we're not on a sidewalk.
You know, we're navigating roots and trees and stems and we're doing that going up andwe're doing it jogging down.
This is how your brain gets in shape.
(32:17):
And I think because the goal of being in shape is to be fast, agile, strong, quick,balanced, right?
With great cardiovascular capacity, reserve, recovery, and flexibility.
And to do that, you've got to train all that.
And what I find is that people that are only quote unquote, gym rats, they never get thevariety that it takes.
(32:38):
so they can look good in a mirror, but still not be in very good shape, if that makessense.
So anyway, that's, that's my take on it.
So the first thing is to understand what are you going for in 2025?
And I would encourage you, if you're listening to this, to really think about what do Ineed to do to get in the best shape of my life?
Right.
Am going to take up surfing?
(32:58):
Am I going to take up, you know, running a trail running?
What, am I going to do?
What am I going to do to get out of the gym so I can challenge my nervous system?
Variety is key.
love writing.
I love cross-country skiing.
love rock climbing.
love working out here at home on my tonal, sitting in my sauna, cold plunge on my Carolbike.
(33:19):
mean, that's, that's one of the things I try and just do variety.
Yes.
And some of the equipment that you mentioned is gym equipment.
And that certainly has a place.
Like you can do things on the Carol bike in a controlled situation that you might not bewilling to try outside.
And so that can be good.
It can build other things.
what I found is that when I focus on training now, I no longer focus on my muscles.
(33:47):
I never focus on the muscles.
I used to focus on the muscles.
It's like, well, this feels like
some resistance or this or this is yeah, or this is this is I've got a burn now in mymuscle, right?
Or I've got this or that, right?
And I actually stopped doing that.
I only focus on the nervous system.
What and if you think about it, what is what is this?
(34:10):
What does this movement feel like when it's As you know, with my nervous system completelyaligned?
What does that feel like?
And all of a sudden is like, it just shifted.
I'm actually going deeper here and I'm going further there and I'm, you know, the nerve,my whole body's better aligned.
Right.
And so if you'd think about your nervous system and set of your muscles, you'll actuallyget a big clue.
(34:32):
The other thing is that when you don't pay attention to your muscles and you pay attentionto your nervous system, you can go much faster.
So when you're paying attention to your muscles, it's like, it's hurting, it's burning.
It's this, it's that.
So I'm going to, I'm going to back off a little bit when you don't care about the muscles.
And I don't say that you don't care about them.
But what I'm saying is you're not focused on the muscles and you're focused on the nervoussystem.
(34:55):
It's like, I think my nervous system could go faster.
I think I could go harder here.
Right.
And your muscles come along for the ride.
Guess what?
They come along for the ride and you get in shape faster and your nervous system getsstronger.
it's really, it's really quite phenomenal.
So yeah.
Well, you mentioned the importance of iodine and minerals.
(35:18):
before we started recording, I mentioned to you that I was watching Zach Efron on Netflixand he did one specifically about water.
Yeah.
On it, he had an expert that was talking about, the importance of minerals in your water.
Well, was December of 2023 when my boys and I were in Wisconsin for Christmas with my momand dad.
(35:42):
And because the water tastes so bad, even out of the filter at my parents' house,
We got a zero water filter with strips, everything out, brought that home.
And I'd started drinking zero water consistently.
And I noticed over the course of 2024, my ability to do what I normally would do in termsof hiking, cross-country skiing, et cetera, decline, decline, decline to the point where I
(36:06):
got COVID twice in August and September, came out to see you, did an Ibu treatment.
And all of a sudden this, in watching that a light went off and you were like, yeah.
good call in abandoning that and also adding trace minerals.
got a trace mineral product drop product to put into my water every day.
And I've been noticing since I've been doing this the last couple of weeks that I'mstarting to feel like myself again, even though I take a daily multivitamin and other
(36:37):
supplements.
I think with all the sauna that I do and
Just everything.
I'm just hydrating so much and I'm not putting in the kind of minerals that my body needs.
I would assume.
Yeah, the minerals are critical.
I mean, they're critical to cofactors for enzymes.
They're they, you know, they manage oxidative stress.
If they're out of balance, they can increase oxidative stress.
(36:58):
Here's the problem.
If you're drinking, let's call it de-iodinated water where they take all the minerals out,right?
Demineralized water, right?
You can get that at Whole Foods, right?
Think of it as distilled water, right?
If you're drinking distilled water all the time and you put it in your body, if you everdid the science experiment or the chemistry experiment where you put salt water on one
(37:22):
side of a membrane and regular water on the other side, well, what happens?
Right.
The regular water rushes through the membrane over to the salt water to try to to try tobalance out the osmolality or the concentration of salt on both sides.
Right.
And so when you.
put in pure water with no minerals, you're going to be pulling minerals out of your bodyto try to put minerals back into that water, right?
(37:48):
Because the water that your body doesn't have water that doesn't have minerals in it.
So you're going to be using up your reserves of minerals to try to mineralize that water,if you will, which is depleting you of things that are
critical for your health, right?
So this is why you do want minerals in your water.
And can you overdo it?
Yes, you can.
You can overdo it.
Although typically if you get too many minerals, you're just going to pee them out.
(38:12):
So, you know, your kidneys do a good job of balancing things for you, but you do wantthose minerals in there for sure.
Super important.
Any other tips for 2025 in terms of getting in the best shape of your life?
Well, I think it's very important to do something every single day.
The other thing I think that people make a mistake with is that they commit to doingsomething three days a week or four days a week.
(38:37):
And then the problem is when they wake up, they have to decide if today's the day.
And whenever you introduce a decision into a process like that, the failure rate is ahundred percent, right?
It's a hundred percent.
So I think if you want to get in the best shape of your life, you should commit to doingsomething every single day.
Even if you're injured, even if you're sick, even if you can always do something, even ifyou're standing on one foot for two minutes here and one foot for two minutes there and
(39:05):
you got the balance board training.
I did something today, right?
And, and really you're engaging your nervous system and you're allowing yourself to kindof go forward.
And when you, you know, when you look at your whoop or your aura ring or whatever, and seeyour recovery score, I think it's super important.
Not to go for a personal record every day, but to actually do the training that your bodyis, you know, geared up for that particular day.
(39:30):
If you had a, you know, flew on a flew back at night and you're depleted and you know,blah, blah, blah.
And you wake up the next day and your recovery score is low.
It's not a day for a PR.
It's a day to go to the gym, do some stretching, do some balance training, do some, youknow, some light aerobics, do some get outside, go for a walk, but do something every
single day.
(39:50):
And when you make that commitment and you reinforce it, you know, by taking your sneakerswith you when you go on the trip and you architect not only home, but your office, your
business travel and vacation travel to where you can actually do something everywhere yougo.
You pick a hotel with a gym, you carry your sneakers, you take your resistance bands soyou can do a workout in your hotel room in 12 or 15 minutes.
(40:14):
You know, you have some way to actually get this done all the time.
This is how you get in the best shape of your life.
Understanding your training, your nervous system and understanding that you're going tocommit to doing something every day.
And that's the beginning of it, right?
There's a lot more we could talk about, but if you just nail those two things, you arewell on your way, really well on your way.
Dr.
(40:34):
Jeffrey Gladden.
Thanks for being on this month's question and answer.
I appreciate you, my man.
It's always so much fun when we hang out and talk and get your insights.
Need to do it more often.
So
Deal.
Deal.
All right.
Listeners, if you have a question for Dr.
Gliden, submit it to podcast at GlidenLongevity.com.
(40:57):
Just email us podcast at GlidenLongevity.com.
Link will be in the show notes for that if you're driving and yeah, we'd love thosequestions and we'd love to answer them.
So if you have any questions about your 2025, any other health issues, just contact us.
podcast at gladdenlongevity.com.
Dr.
Gladden, I'll see you next month.
(41:19):
All right.
See you later, Steve.
Welcome to the Gladden Longevity Podcast with Dr.
Jeffrey Gladden, where our passion is helping you become an age hacker.
On this show, we want to help you optimize your life energy, longevity, health, and humanperformance with impactful and actionable information by answering four questions.
How good can we be?
How do we make 100 the new 30?
How do we live well beyond 120?
(00:24):
And how do we live young for a lifetime?
I'm Steve Ryder and Dr.
Gladden, we're back with Q and A's starting out 2025.
2025.
What do know?
It's good.
were your holidays?
My man?
they were relaxing.
got to Costa Rica for a couple of weeks.
Kind of decompressed down there which was Mukti and I were down there.
(00:45):
It was yeah it was good.
It was restorative you know okay so.
That's wonderful.
What kind of stuff did you do while you were there?
Restoring.
Well you know some ocean time, some mountain time, some volcano time, some coffeechocolate tour time, some you know
Eating some actually surprisingly amazingly good Indian food in Costa Rica.
(01:06):
Really?
A places.
Yeah.
What?
Pretty nice.
Yeah.
So yeah, some beach time got a little body surfing in, a little bit of hiking around.
So yeah, it was good.
It's fun.
How about you?
we just relaxed here in Colorado.
after Thanksgiving, my mom was getting a ton of work done on my childhood home.
(01:27):
Okay.
And so new doors trim.
whole new kitchen flooring.
Oh, Uh, downstairs was getting a bunch of stuff done.
And so she's been here for the last ever since Thanksgiving.
So my brother, one of my brothers came out from, okay, from Minneapolis and we just had anice easy family Christmas.
(01:48):
Oh, cool.
Got outside and yeah, that's nice.
Hard to beat them.
Winter hiking.
And so yeah, it's been good for you.
It's been good.
Where are you at right now?
Are you with Dallas?
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Back in Dallas.
I've moved.
I've moved from Puerto Rico back to Dallas.
So I'm here pretty much full time now.
(02:09):
Really?
Mm hmm.
Really?
Yeah.
Lots of new stuff going on at Gladden as 2025.
Yeah.
Tons of stuff.
Tons of new stuff going on here.
Fascinating things going on here.
We just really got into a trial looking at a new molecule that treats all forms ofdementia.
(02:31):
yeah, it's effective.
Like most of the, most of the dementia drugs, dementia trials, you know, that are focusedon treating beta amyloid or, know, trying to inhibit, the breakdown of acetylcholine.
those were the first drugs that came out.
None of those work quite honestly.
yeah.
And we have found some therapies that are certainly helpful, you know, optimizing, healthyfats in the blood cause plasmal agents and things like that can be super helpful.
(02:59):
cleaning up diet hormones, making sure thyroid's operating functionally.
But this is a monoclonal antibody that targets a molecule called galectin-3, which issomething we measure on all of our clients and have been for years.
And it's a general inflammatory marker that drives fibrosis and it drives immune cellactivity in the brain, microglial activity in the brain, which is when there's a lot of
(03:25):
inflammation in the brain.
cognitive decline occurs.
There's a pruning of neural synapses to where connections aren't made the way they used tobe.
Nerves tend to shrivel up.
The inflammation is really, it's almost like a fire burning in the brain.
It's almost like, you know, we just had the California fires, which were so devastating,right?
(03:47):
So, I mean, what an unbelievable tragedy.
I know people in both locations, you know, the Altadena area, the Palisades area, justunbelievable.
And so,
The point is though that in your brain, you can have different levels of fire.
You can have a smoldering fire.
You can have a brush fire.
You can have a more rampaging fire.
(04:09):
And one of the ways to try to decrease that, that fire in the brain, that inflammation ofcourse, is to do all the things we talked about, know, treating the gut, changing your
diet, their inflammatory foods, decreasing things that
increased glutamate in the brain that tends to stifle cognitive ability, optimizingacetylcholine and phosphatidylcholine and optimizing plasmalogens and all the different
(04:36):
things that go into this hormones and thyroid, estrogen is terribly important for thebrain.
But then after you do all that, you're still left with some issues, right?
And even when you're using things like stem cells or you're using things like peptides or
no tropics or things like that, all of which are again helpful, but you're still manytimes can bump into a wall.
(05:03):
And so we've been doing something here with brain frequency, which is transcranialmagnetic stimulation, which can take you another mile, right?
In terms of restoring the brain function, super exciting stuff.
So if anybody's listening to this and you have cognitive decline, memory loss, you'reworried about your own health or somebody you love.
(05:24):
We now have access to all those things, of course, but we now have access to this newmolecule, this monoclonal antibody that's injected through an IV every 28 days, plus or
minus five days.
And in order to qualify, somebody has to be able to fail a memory test.
Right.
So there's a basic memory test.
(05:45):
It's not a long or protracted or difficult memory test.
But for folks that are unable to pass that,
And then they have some other restrictions or qualifications that we would walk throughwith each person to see if they're a candidate or not.
But the bottom line is if they do qualify and most people would, then they become acandidate for this.
(06:07):
And the results have been, you know, nothing short of pretty encouraging.
Let's just say that we're not making any claims here in public.
All we're saying is that there's been some very encouraging results and we have slideswith some data on it and things like that.
I'm going to be giving some talks.
Maybe I'll share that information further.
But, but if people are interested to learn more about it, now they can reach out to us atGladden Longevity.
(06:31):
We'll be happy to have a conversation with them about this, but this is, this is turningout to be in our mind, something very worthy of people's consideration.
I'm being very conservative in my statements here, but it's definitely extremely worthyof.
consideration.
So without question, mean something I've too many family members, extended family membersthat I've seen just decline, decline.
(06:56):
Well, my father died with dementia, right?
So this is was one of the reasons that I got into this whole field in the first place.
And I've been able to, you know, rebuild my brain and do a lot of different things.
Right.
So I feel good about that.
But it's always nice to have, you know, more arrows in the quiver.
It's always nice to have, you know,
bigger bullets in the gun, to speak, that you can, or maybe a more effective fireextinguisher is really what it boils down to, right?
(07:21):
So, and that's what this appears to be.
So I will say this, let me just say this, there are 4 % of the population that will notrespond to this therapy.
And that's predetermined by a genetic test.
So if you're interested, you could reach out to Gladden Longevity.
We could send you the genetic test.
there's a 96 % chance that you would qualify based on that.
(07:42):
That's one of the disqualifiers is if you don't have the right genetics.
And again, only 4 % of the population don't have the right genetics.
But if you, if you, if you don't have the right genetics and we would, you know, then wewould need to decline you for the study.
so, but, yeah, I, I just think of the years of cumulative wisdom that can be poured backinto our society.
(08:07):
my gosh.
Right.
a dent in this.
Right.
Right.
I mean, if you reactivate people's brains that have all this life, life experience andwisdom and enter and now reenergize that, right?
I mean, what's the contribution of that to their families or communities?
You know, everything is quite beautiful.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, you, this is thyroid awareness month and you did mention thyroid health as one ofyour, one of your
(08:35):
arrows that you have in your quiver to deal with this.
Well, this is a really important topic because we have found that many people withcognitive decline are hypothyroid for one of two reasons and they don't actually realize
it.
In other words, there's such a thing as subclinical hypothyroidism, which is what I hadyears ago.
(08:59):
And it turns out that when you're
Thyroid is tested in the blood with a TSH test, which is thyroid stimulating hormone,which is basically they're measuring the brain molecule that's telling the thyroid to make
thyroid.
So if that is really elevated, then it means the brain is screaming for more thyroid,right?
(09:20):
So, and the thyroid is not producing it.
So the TSH goes high to say, please make more thyroid, right?
We're begging you to make more thyroid.
That's a high TSH.
And
And yet we know that there are many people that have a normal quote unquote, you know, we,you know, we can have conversations about what is normal, but have a quote unquote normal
(09:42):
TSH, and are still hypothyroid for a couple of other reasons.
One is they have less thyroid activity inside the cell than their blood work would leadyou to believe.
Right.
And so that's called subclinical hypothyroidism.
That's detected with a resting metabolic rate.
which is not a blood test.
(10:04):
You basically wear a mask.
We do it here in the office almost every day.
And you breathe in and out through the mask for 20 minutes.
You're sitting in a chair relaxed and we measure how much oxygen you consume and how muchcarbon dioxide you produce.
And that is a true measure of your resting metabolic rate.
In other words, metabolic activity at the cellular level, which is a direct measure ofthyroid activity at the cellular level.
(10:29):
So if that's low,
then people are hypothyroid.
And interestingly enough, when thyroid is optimized, you get younger.
There's a test out there called glycan age, which is a test that we can talk about anothertime in detail, but essentially it's looking at the way our body attaches endogenous
(10:56):
sugars.
sugars that our bodies make, not sugars that we eat.
So endogenous meaning coming from us to proteins in the immune system that modulate thoseproteins activity.
if you're a DNA, let's say you're trying to build a, let's say you're trying to build acity and DNA is your blueprint.
Well, you know, if you had to have a DNA sequence for every single paint color and everysingle toilet cover and every single desk and chair, you would need a ton of DNA, right?
(11:27):
So the way the body does that is it has DNA for office furniture.
And then you, the body adds a sugar molecule to that protein that's built to say, this isa desk.
This is a chair.
This is a seat cover.
This is a window.
This is a paint color.
And so by modifying a single protein, you can get it to do a lot of different things.
(11:48):
And so that's called glycosylation where you're adding these endogenous sugars to modifythese proteins to get them to do a lot of different things.
So it turns out that you can measure the status of these like, oscillated proteins, and itbecomes a direct measure of your age.
And I won't go into all the details.
It's it's a little too much for right this second, but the point is when you optimizethyroid and optimize estrogen and optimize a few other things, um, you can actually make
(12:16):
your age go quite a bit younger.
Um, and it turns out that bovine colostrum, um, which is colostrum from, from cows.
as it actually contains a molecule that actually makes you younger also.
yeah, it's pretty exciting stuff.
Anyway, back to the thyroid.
So you can have subclinical hypothyroidism.
(12:38):
And then the other thing that happens is you need to have your genes tested to see ifyou're able to convert inactive thyroid to active thyroid in your brain.
Right.
So when the thought when the TSH is coming out of the brain saying, please make morethyroid, then the thyroid gland pushes out T4.
It's a thyroid hormone molecule attached to four different iodine atoms, right?
(13:01):
So you've heard about iodine is important for the thyroid.
Well, that's why there's four of them attached to each to each thyroid molecule.
So then what the body has to do is it has to take off one of those iodine, right?
That's kind of like thyroid in the resting state.
When it takes off one iodine now becomes T3, right?
Thyroid with three iodines, T3.
(13:23):
And that's the active form of thyroid.
And that will go into the cell, into the nucleus and do the work it's supposed to do.
And there are a few other things to consider, but that's basically it.
It turns out that there's a different system inside the brain for removing that fourthiodine to activate the T3 in the brain.
It has its own separate system.
(13:44):
So even if you do a resting metabolic rate, which is measuring the total body thyroidactivity, systemic activity, even if you
You know, have a normal TSH, even if you have a normal T three, if you don't know yourgenetics related to your brain, you can still have hypothyroidism in the brain that you
(14:05):
still wouldn't know about.
Right.
And so it's very important to have a test on that looks at a gene called D I O two D IOdenase two, right?
Because it's an enzyme that removes that iodine from T four to make T three.
So you're, you're D I Odenating or
taking off an iodine.
And so when you do the genetics on that, then you find out that some people areheterozygous, which means they may have up to a 40 % reduction in their ability to do it.
(14:35):
And some people are homozygous like I am and may have up to a 60 to 80 % reduction intheir ability to do it.
So I have a really decreased ability to make active thyroid in my brain.
So if I don't take T3 along with T4, you know,
I'm toast, but when I do, then my brain works.
(14:56):
And so it also makes me younger based on the glycan age, right?
So it all sort of loops together.
So you really want to get thyroid right.
And it's gotten wrong so many times over and over and over and over and over again,because the doctor, normal doctors, we were all trained this way.
I was just look at the TSH.
If the TSH is in range, don't worry about it.
(15:19):
If they complain about it, it's in their head.
You know, it's all this silliness, right?
It's really silliness.
And so we've been able to move well beyond all that, which is very exciting for clientsbecause we were able to fix problems that they struggled with for years by really kind of
deconstructing the situation and understanding what's going on for them and then puttingtogether the fix.
(15:41):
So, yeah.
So contact gladden longevity to get your brain fixed and double check all of these markersand work with dr gladden and the team because yeah, it's a man.
it's, it's, mean, it's wonderful.
It's wonderful to, get your life back.
That's the point.
It's wonderful to get your brain back.
It's wonderful to get your energy back.
Right.
So there's, are many things that factor into all these things, but, but I'm giving youreally the heavy hitters in the, the area, right?
(16:08):
If we get these things right, you know, 90 % of people are going to be
where they want to be.
that's, that's really exciting.
So anyway, back to brain optimization.
Thyroid is important, but then being able to use some of these novel therapies, if you, ifyou qualify for them and stuff like that can be super helpful.
So again, if you're interested, we'd be happy to talk to you and see if you're, see ifyou're a candidate, see if you qualify.
(16:30):
There is a charge for this, infusion.
It's some thousands of dollars to get it each time.
So just be aware of that.
The number of infusions you might need might be anywhere from two to three to fivesomewhere in there.
So I'm just spaced out over 28 days.
There could be some maintenance after that.
Um, you know, the way I look at it though is what does it, what does it cost?
(16:53):
What does it cost?
And you know this, Steve, what does it cost to send a kid to college?
Right.
What's it for one semester of college?
What does it cost to send them?
Well, it depends on where they go, of course, but you know, you go to an Ivy leagueschool, that's a, you know, that's 40, 50 K right there.
Right.
And this is, this is.
not costing you that to get your brain back online.
Right.
So think of it that way.
(17:14):
It's a, it's a, it's a chief education.
You get your whole brain back.
Right.
So anyway, think it's think of how productive you could be after in your business and yourwork and whatever.
Right.
And people pay for this with pre-tax dollars for the most part.
Also there are ways to do it with our health savings account and other things like that.
There are creative ways to get it done.
(17:35):
They can borrow against a life insurance policy.
They can do all kinds of things to get this, you know, really brings them back online.
It's life-saving.
So, well, this month is also cervical health awareness month.
Okay.
And we have an article that our producer Leo sent about how cervical screening knowledgegap costing lies, costing lives.
(18:04):
Yeah, I mean, I think that in general, and it's true, right?
It's not being done enough is the bottom line.
I've read the article and in essence, people are not having it done.
And one of the reasons is that it can be uncomfortable, right?
It's uncomfortable to have your cervix scraped like that, or it can be.
There are ways for people to numb that up ahead of time.
They can put on a topical, they can do some other things, but nonetheless, they like to goin and get kind of a fresh sample that's not clouded by anything.
(18:31):
And so it can be uncomfortable.
There are probably other ways to get at this.
I'm not a cervical cancer specialist, but I think it raises a bigger question of cancerscreening in general.
Really, what constitutes adequate cancer screening?
And how do you actually go about that?
(18:54):
So I think it's really handled poorly in general because we have...
you know, whole body MRI scans, right?
And if that comes back negative, well, you don't have cancer.
Well, number one, that's not true because the resolution on an MRI scan is not that, it'snot that great, right?
(19:15):
So, you know, the resolution on your camera has just gotten better through the years,right?
How many pixels are we up to now, right?
I don't know what it is, 20,000 pixels or whatever, 20 million pixels.
don't even know the number, but it's a bunch of them.
And you know that when you had a camera that had, you know,
A 10th of that, that the images were fuzzy.
Well, the MRI scan is kind of a fuzzy camera.
(19:37):
In other words, its resolution is not that high to the point where you can actually see amicro tumor or see a cancer.
So you can not do that.
Right.
So you have to understand that you're using a fuzzy camera to decide whether or not youmight have cancer.
And so it's not adequate.
Right.
I mean, you need to know.
And so if you have a fuzzy camera and it comes back negative, it's like,
(20:00):
I guess you're negative.
Well, I don't know, maybe you're not.
So it's not good enough for us.
And then there are other imaging tests like CAT scans, right?
CT scans, which have higher resolution, but don't necessarily differentiate the tissues aswell as an MRI.
So they're somewhat handicapped.
And then you have ways to augment a CAT scan where you combine it with, it's called apositron emission tomography test, which is basically where you're giving radioactive
(20:28):
glucose because
Cancer cells like two fuels, they're fueled by glutamine and they're fueled by glucose.
So if we give it a radioactive glucose, they'll suck it up and then the tumor cells becomeradioactive for a brief period of time and they're emitting light because of that, right?
So you put them under a camera that can detect that light coming off of them and you canlocalize where the cancer may be.
(20:52):
Super helpful test.
Again, the resolution, it's still a fuzzy camera.
So if you see it, you see it, but if you don't,
you're still not sure, you see.
And so you start to look at, OK, well, what are the molecular markers for cancer?
Right.
And there are a number of them that are tested routinely for individuals like CEA andcancer, you know, different ones that basically are have been what's been considered PSA's
(21:19):
for that matter have been considered routine cancer testing.
But those are nonspecific.
they can be elevated for reasons other than cancer and they can be suppressed even inpeople that do have cancer.
Like PSA is a terrible test for actually detecting if you have prostate cancer.
It's a good test for actually tracking prostate cancer if you've been diagnosed, but it'sa terrible test to diagnose it, right?
(21:46):
you're constantly wondering, you know, am I actually adequately screening myself?
Mammograms, again, you know, well,
Fibrocystic, we're not quite sure, right?
Maybe we should biopsy, maybe we shouldn't, maybe you should come back in six months andwe'll repeat it.
We'll see if something changes, right?
MRI of the breast, similar, such ultrasound of the breast, similar thing, right?
(22:10):
So you have so many things that kind of limit our ability.
And so there is a test that's coming out that we'll have access to later this year.
It's not here yet.
It's coming out of India that appears to have.
a much higher sensitivity and actually be able to predict even if you're going to developcancer before you develop it.
(22:31):
And then pick it up if it's stage zero, stage one, stage two, stage three, stage four.
But the idea with cancer, and everybody's heard this, that if cancer is detected early, wecan treat it.
What we can't do is really win the battle when it's detected late.
And yet the problem with cancer is that it's almost universally always detected late.
(22:52):
It's like, my gosh, she was super healthy.
And then now she's got stage two B she's three a it's this, you know, and it's like, nowwe're into chemo radiation, surgery and she's got a clean bill of health.
And then four or five years.
no, it's back all over the place.
It's in her bones.
It's in her brain.
And here we go.
(23:13):
I'm so sorry.
We're going to lose you.
Right.
And how many times have you heard this story?
It's like, it's just like on autoplay, right?
It's over and over and over again.
So.
Clearly we're not doing a good job of detecting cancer preemptively.
And we're certainly not good at determining whether somebody is actually in remission ornot, because we're still not looking adequately, right?
(23:34):
We're relying on the scans.
We're relying on fuzzy cameras to tell us what's happening.
So with cancer, you can't be wrong.
You can't literally can't be wrong.
So you can't count on a fuzzy camera or fuzzy tests.
So some of the newer tests that are coming out,
looking for circulating tumor cells, they're not perfect.
(23:55):
You know, they're probably 85 to 90%.
If there's a cancer, they'll pick it up, but you're picking it up at stage zero, right?
And if you see circulating tumor cells, you know it's cancer because you can do DNAsequencing on those cells and show that they're actually cancer cells, that they have the
(24:16):
actual cancer markers are set up.
These are actual cancer cells.
It's not a false positive.
Right.
So that becomes super helpful.
And we've been doing that for a long time.
And that leads to a whole line of therapies that can be done that are outside the Bermudatriangle of surgery, radiation, chemotherapy.
Right.
So it's not to say that those aren't, aren't indicated sometimes.
(24:38):
Sometimes they clearly are helpful, but you want to have a more broader approach to it.
And then with some of the newer tests coming out, you know, looking at exosomes andcirculating tumor DNA and
circulating cells and a lot of those like some of the tests are not good at all.
Like grail is a terrible test.
I'll come out and say that online.
(24:59):
It's an absolutely terrible test.
It really has very poor sensitivity early on and their data, their recently published datashows that it's really almost useless.
It's like they can pick up 3 % of stage one cancers.
It's like, well, how useless is that?
So, you know, so you have to really be
(25:20):
careful about what you're doing with this cancer screening.
And it's really important to work with people that can screen things appropriately.
So are colonoscopies helpful?
Yes, they should be done.
Can Cologuard be useful to look for circulating tumor DNA from colon cancer?
Yes, it can be helpful.
know, can you looking for occult blood?
(25:40):
Yes, that can be helpful too, right?
So you want to be looking at this through a number of different lenses.
You don't want to put all of your eggs in one basket, but you have to understand that
the routine testing that's recommended is pretty much categorically not adequate.
So.
(27:40):
Well, I assume that a big part of cancer prevention is overall health.
And since we are in still in January, what about how to get into the best shape of yourlife?
Yeah.
So, that's a great topic.
You know, I will just say that,
there was an overlap between cancer and thyroid that we talked about, and that's iodine,because iodine's really boosts your immune system also.
(28:06):
So every year.
have been regularly supplementing since I found a really good supplement.
And just like anything else, you can overdo it.
Yeah.
Right.
So too much iodine will crash your thyroid.
Right.
So you don't want to do that either.
So if it's like, iodine, let me get as much of that as I can.
That's not the answer either.
Biology is an economy of balance.
(28:27):
You want to take maybe
a few drops of iodine once or twice a week.
That's probably what you need.
Use some iodinated salt, know, some Morton salt that has iodine in it and mix it in withyour sea salt or your Celtic salt or whatever you like.
So you're getting some iodine that way, right?
I think, you know, a lot of people have moved away from iodinated salt and for goodreason, because there's many other minerals in these other salts that your body needs and
(28:52):
we need minerals, right?
So anyway, there's over...
overlap between the eye dying stories there.
When it comes to getting in the best shape of your life for 2025, what I'd like to say isthat I think it's important to understand what does it mean to be in great shape and what
does it mean to be to you?
(29:14):
Or what does it mean to you?
Right.
So I think for a lot of people, it's how they look in the mirror.
And I think that's super admirable.
Right.
I want to have a six pack.
I want to
Look good.
want my hips to be here, my shoulders to be there, my chest to be here, my legs to behere, you know, whatever it is.
Right.
And that in fact is really more about body composition than it is shape.
(29:40):
and the reason I say that is because I've come to understand that being in shape is reallyabout training your nervous system.
Right.
draining your nervous system.
And so I'll go out and make this statement and say that I think it's impossible to everget truly in shape in a gym.
(30:06):
You can't really get in shape in a gym.
Now, if you are, well, I'll explain it to you in a second.
If you, if you have an exceptional insight into training, I believe you can use a gym andactually get in shape.
But I would say 99 % of people that use gyms are not getting in shape.
(30:27):
And the reason is this.
They are lifting a weight.
They're running on a treadmill.
They're pedaling a bike.
They're, you know,
doing their squats, all that sort of stuff.
Yoga classes, yoga class, all of that.
Right.
And yet what happens is that the environment is too predictable.
(30:48):
The weight rack is always the same.
The dumbbell is always the same.
The treadmill is always the same.
The bicycle is stationary.
It's always the same.
Right.
Yeah.
There is no challenge to the nervous system.
If you're going to get in shape,
You want to, what does it mean to be in shape when you can ski down a black diamond hill,when you can run down a trail, when you can run up a trail, when you can mountain bike
(31:13):
through more difficult terrain, right?
When you can navigate crossing a stream, you know, to catch a trout in another, you know,pool over there.
This is what, this is your nervous system that enables you to have balance, to haveagility, flexibility, the ability to navigate really.
(31:33):
lots of unseen and unknown obstacles that will be thrown in your way.
That's actually getting in shape.
Like I think the people that are doing the tough mutters, they're actually training theircardiovascular system and their strength.
And they're also training their nervous system, right?
Because they've got to get over and under and through and all this kind of stuff, right?
That's, that's training right there, but that's not in a gym.
(31:54):
You're outside.
I think you want to feel the air.
You want to feel the coolness or the heat.
You want to feel the wind.
You want to feel.
The terrain is somewhat irregular.
It's like we're hiking this, but we're not on a sidewalk.
You know, we're navigating roots and trees and stems and we're doing that going up andwe're doing it jogging down.
This is how your brain gets in shape.
(32:17):
And I think because the goal of being in shape is to be fast, agile, strong, quick,balanced, right?
With great cardiovascular capacity, reserve, recovery, and flexibility.
And to do that, you've got to train all that.
And what I find is that people that are only quote unquote, gym rats, they never get thevariety that it takes.
(32:38):
so they can look good in a mirror, but still not be in very good shape, if that makessense.
So anyway, that's, that's my take on it.
So the first thing is to understand what are you going for in 2025?
And I would encourage you, if you're listening to this, to really think about what do Ineed to do to get in the best shape of my life?
Right.
Am going to take up surfing?
(32:58):
Am I going to take up, you know, running a trail running?
What, am I going to do?
What am I going to do to get out of the gym so I can challenge my nervous system?
Variety is key.
love writing.
I love cross-country skiing.
love rock climbing.
love working out here at home on my tonal, sitting in my sauna, cold plunge on my Carolbike.
(33:19):
mean, that's, that's one of the things I try and just do variety.
Yes.
And some of the equipment that you mentioned is gym equipment.
And that certainly has a place.
Like you can do things on the Carol bike in a controlled situation that you might not bewilling to try outside.
And so that can be good.
It can build other things.
what I found is that when I focus on training now, I no longer focus on my muscles.
(33:47):
I never focus on the muscles.
I used to focus on the muscles.
It's like, well, this feels like
some resistance or this or this is yeah, or this is this is I've got a burn now in mymuscle, right?
Or I've got this or that, right?
And I actually stopped doing that.
I only focus on the nervous system.
What and if you think about it, what is what is this?
(34:10):
What does this movement feel like when it's As you know, with my nervous system completelyaligned?
What does that feel like?
And all of a sudden is like, it just shifted.
I'm actually going deeper here and I'm going further there and I'm, you know, the nerve,my whole body's better aligned.
Right.
And so if you'd think about your nervous system and set of your muscles, you'll actuallyget a big clue.
(34:32):
The other thing is that when you don't pay attention to your muscles and you pay attentionto your nervous system, you can go much faster.
So when you're paying attention to your muscles, it's like, it's hurting, it's burning.
It's this, it's that.
So I'm going to, I'm going to back off a little bit when you don't care about the muscles.
And I don't say that you don't care about them.
But what I'm saying is you're not focused on the muscles and you're focused on the nervoussystem.
(34:55):
It's like, I think my nervous system could go faster.
I think I could go harder here.
Right.
And your muscles come along for the ride.
Guess what?
They come along for the ride and you get in shape faster and your nervous system getsstronger.
it's really, it's really quite phenomenal.
So yeah.
Well, you mentioned the importance of iodine and minerals.
(35:18):
before we started recording, I mentioned to you that I was watching Zach Efron on Netflixand he did one specifically about water.
Yeah.
On it, he had an expert that was talking about, the importance of minerals in your water.
Well, was December of 2023 when my boys and I were in Wisconsin for Christmas with my momand dad.
(35:42):
And because the water tastes so bad, even out of the filter at my parents' house,
We got a zero water filter with strips, everything out, brought that home.
And I'd started drinking zero water consistently.
And I noticed over the course of 2024, my ability to do what I normally would do in termsof hiking, cross-country skiing, et cetera, decline, decline, decline to the point where I
(36:06):
got COVID twice in August and September, came out to see you, did an Ibu treatment.
And all of a sudden this, in watching that a light went off and you were like, yeah.
good call in abandoning that and also adding trace minerals.
got a trace mineral product drop product to put into my water every day.
And I've been noticing since I've been doing this the last couple of weeks that I'mstarting to feel like myself again, even though I take a daily multivitamin and other
(36:37):
supplements.
I think with all the sauna that I do and
Just everything.
I'm just hydrating so much and I'm not putting in the kind of minerals that my body needs.
I would assume.
Yeah, the minerals are critical.
I mean, they're critical to cofactors for enzymes.
They're they, you know, they manage oxidative stress.
If they're out of balance, they can increase oxidative stress.
(36:58):
Here's the problem.
If you're drinking, let's call it de-iodinated water where they take all the minerals out,right?
Demineralized water, right?
You can get that at Whole Foods, right?
Think of it as distilled water, right?
If you're drinking distilled water all the time and you put it in your body, if you everdid the science experiment or the chemistry experiment where you put salt water on one
(37:22):
side of a membrane and regular water on the other side, well, what happens?
Right.
The regular water rushes through the membrane over to the salt water to try to to try tobalance out the osmolality or the concentration of salt on both sides.
Right.
And so when you.
put in pure water with no minerals, you're going to be pulling minerals out of your bodyto try to put minerals back into that water, right?
(37:48):
Because the water that your body doesn't have water that doesn't have minerals in it.
So you're going to be using up your reserves of minerals to try to mineralize that water,if you will, which is depleting you of things that are
critical for your health, right?
So this is why you do want minerals in your water.
And can you overdo it?
Yes, you can.
You can overdo it.
Although typically if you get too many minerals, you're just going to pee them out.
(38:12):
So, you know, your kidneys do a good job of balancing things for you, but you do wantthose minerals in there for sure.
Super important.
Any other tips for 2025 in terms of getting in the best shape of your life?
Well, I think it's very important to do something every single day.
The other thing I think that people make a mistake with is that they commit to doingsomething three days a week or four days a week.
(38:37):
And then the problem is when they wake up, they have to decide if today's the day.
And whenever you introduce a decision into a process like that, the failure rate is ahundred percent, right?
It's a hundred percent.
So I think if you want to get in the best shape of your life, you should commit to doingsomething every single day.
Even if you're injured, even if you're sick, even if you can always do something, even ifyou're standing on one foot for two minutes here and one foot for two minutes there and
(39:05):
you got the balance board training.
I did something today, right?
And, and really you're engaging your nervous system and you're allowing yourself to kindof go forward.
And when you, you know, when you look at your whoop or your aura ring or whatever, and seeyour recovery score, I think it's super important.
Not to go for a personal record every day, but to actually do the training that your bodyis, you know, geared up for that particular day.
(39:30):
If you had a, you know, flew on a flew back at night and you're depleted and you know,blah, blah, blah.
And you wake up the next day and your recovery score is low.
It's not a day for a PR.
It's a day to go to the gym, do some stretching, do some balance training, do some, youknow, some light aerobics, do some get outside, go for a walk, but do something every
single day.
(39:50):
And when you make that commitment and you reinforce it, you know, by taking your sneakerswith you when you go on the trip and you architect not only home, but your office, your
business travel and vacation travel to where you can actually do something everywhere yougo.
You pick a hotel with a gym, you carry your sneakers, you take your resistance bands soyou can do a workout in your hotel room in 12 or 15 minutes.
(40:14):
You know, you have some way to actually get this done all the time.
This is how you get in the best shape of your life.
Understanding your training, your nervous system and understanding that you're going tocommit to doing something every day.
And that's the beginning of it, right?
There's a lot more we could talk about, but if you just nail those two things, you arewell on your way, really well on your way.
Dr.
(40:34):
Jeffrey Gladden.
Thanks for being on this month's question and answer.
I appreciate you, my man.
It's always so much fun when we hang out and talk and get your insights.
Need to do it more often.
So
Deal.
Deal.
All right.
Listeners, if you have a question for Dr.
Gliden, submit it to podcast at GlidenLongevity.com.
(40:57):
Just email us podcast at GlidenLongevity.com.
Link will be in the show notes for that if you're driving and yeah, we'd love thosequestions and we'd love to answer them.
So if you have any questions about your 2025, any other health issues, just contact us.
podcast at gladdenlongevity.com.
Dr.
Gladden, I'll see you next month.
(41:19):
All right.
See you later, Steve.
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