Full Scope Human Longevity

Quote: “The greatest wealth is health”

- Virgil, Roman poet < 2000 years ago

Higher VO2 Max = Much Lower Risk of Dying…….Get off your ass! Let's illustrate this point:

ICU Patient

68 year old man with diabetes type 2 presenting with weakness and shortness of breath found to have sepsis due to pneumonia. This man is critically ill with sepsis. 

His vitals:

Heart Rate 150 (100% of estimated max heart rate: 220 – Age)

Respiratory Rate 54 breaths per minutes

Sweating and looks exhausted.

This man is literally fighting for his life. Can you see why fitness matters so much? How long can he hold on? Many of us will have to fight for our lives in this way at some point. FITNESS REALLY REALLY MATTERS

The Gold Standard for measuring cardiorespiratory fitness = VO2 Max

What is VO2 Max

VO2 Max = the maximum volume of oxygen that can be utilized per kilogram of body weight during maximal exertion

Most often Expressed as: 

ml/kg/min (milliliters per kilogram of body weight per minute) [1ml = 1cm3]

This is the gold standard for measuring cardiorespiratory fitness in medicine, exercise science, and research. 

Humans range from of VO2 max of 5 (bedbound) to 90s (elite endurance athletes)

Hummingbirds VO2 max = 600 ml/kg/min

Exercise training will improve VO2 Max

So, I hope since listening to part 1 you have gotten “off your ass”

 
Check out Longetrics.org or Fullscope.org for the complete post!

Title: VO2 Max, Part 1

This is just the 101 course:

Quote: “If you don’t make time for exercise, you will probably have to make time for illness”

- Robin Sharma, Attorney, Writer, Consultant

What is VO2 Max

Perhaps the most important metric for longevity and health in 2024

V=Volume (actually volume per unit time in this case)

O2= oxygen

VO2 = volume of oxygen that can be utilized per unit time

VO2 Max = the maximum volume of oxygen that can be utilized during maximal exertion

Most often Expressed as: 

ml/kg/min (milliliters per kilogram of body weight per minute)

This is the gold standard for measuring cardiorespiratory fitness in medicine, exercise science, and research. The best way to measure VO2 max is with a cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET test). This is performed by hooking a person up to a closed breathing circuit via a facemask and measuring both inhaled and exhaled O2 and CO2. Other methods for estimating VO2 Max also exist. We will discuss measuring VO2 Max more thoroughly in part 2.

VO2 Max Record Holders

Check out Longetrics.org or FullScope.org Blogs for the complete post

Title: Health Report Cards

Quote: 

“what gets measured gets managed”

- unknown source

When you measure something you become aware of it and can objectively manage it.

Potential Pitfalls: The right things must be measured. Measurement must be accurate.

What is a Report Card:

- an evaluation of performance

Benefits of Report Cards: 

- attempts to measure strength and weaknesses

- allows for awareness of weaknesses (so they can be targeted and improved)

- provides objective measures of performance normalized to the rest of the group (lets one know exactly how they measure up)

- allows outsiders to evaluate and make decisions

Negatives of Report Cards

- can hurt feelings (who fucking cares, life is tough, competitive, and requires constant improvement)

- can leed to discrimination (of course….people, companies, and things with bad reports should be discriminated against). Discrimination = pressure to improve

- the wrong things are often measured or given too much importance. If not, you will manage things that don’t matter. Importance of asking the right questions.

- the things measured may be wrong or inaccurate. This is a big deal! Measuring things inaccurately is probably worse than not measuring things at all

- subject to the bias of those creating report cards. We all remember that teacher that just didn’t seem to like us…..

 
See the full post on the Longetrics.org blog

Title: Longevity Conferences (ARDD and Dublin Longevity)

Quote: “Its not what you know but who you know”

Said by many across multiple cultures

Today we review:

The Aging Research and Drug Discovery Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark

The Dublin Longevity Summit in Dublin, Ireland

3 Plugs

- keep moving until you find your place and your people

- go to places where you can be useful and contribute

- try not to lose what makes you, you along the way. 

Hallmarks of Both Conferences

- I highly recommend attending both of these events (and conferences in general)

- Europe was a blast. People are out and about. The downtowns I went to were generally flourishing 

- Work Hard Play Hard – Lots of lectures, lots of late nights at the bar

- All Day Every Day

- Leaders in the field of Longevity Research (highly research focussed)

- Research Focused, Less Clinical (but still some clinical content)

- Startups and Funding/Funders was a big focus

- Eccentric Personalities

- Lots of Fun! Met a lot of great people

 
See full blog post at fullscope.org and longetrics.org

Quote: “The best physician is also a philosopher” – Galen (Claudius Galenus)

Reflection is key! What can I do better and why am I doing it in the first place? Harness failures as the great teachers that they are and constantly improve.

Why this person is important:

Roman and Greek Physician, Surgeon, and Philosopher (129-216 AD, 87 years). Used anatomy based care (from observing the corpses of dead gladiators) and this allowed him to outperform his piers. 

Bags the Question: What are we not using right now in medical practice that will be obvious to future doctors that we should be using?

- I think about bedside ultrasound in this light

-I also think about capturing more exam data through photos, sound clips, and videos and then harnessing new technology and big data insights to learn things not previously known

- photos, sound clips, and videos have so much more data than a written physical exam in a note.

Philosophy Take: Asking the right questions is the key

In a changing world, answers, like epidemiology, are always changing. So in some ways all we will ever have are questions.

The Longevity Physician

We are going to talk about medical providers and physicians in this discussion. But the ideas may be useful for multiple other disciplines within healthcare. Everything from coaches, to personal trainers, physical therapists, pharmacists, etc. There is plenty of room for everyone in longevity and it will take a village to solve aging.

 
See Fullscope.org for the complete post

Quote: “Death gives meaning to our lives. It gives importance and value to time. Time would become meaningless if there were too much of it”

- Ray Kurzweil

Too much time…..

Why this person is important:

Computer scientist, inventor, and futurist (one of the greatest of the modern era)

What is Longevity

-              Dictionary – long existence or service

-              Medicine and Science – long duration of individual life

What is Geroscience: 

-              Gero (Greek - old)

-              A field of biomedical research that focusses on understanding the biology of aging and how aging contributes to disease

-              Geroscience, geroscientist, geroprotective, gerontocracy, gerontophobia

Why Longevity

- Longer Life? People want to live longer and better? More time young. Not more time old.

- live forever? Scares many. Plasticity of youth would be so important in this case

- look good and do the things we love for longer? Yes!

I believe: Longevity and understanding/controlling aging are key to human advancement and long-term success.

 
See FullScope.org blog for complete post

Death is coming for you, me, and all of this.

If you seek Longevity, stop avoiding this, assess your risks, and make a plan.

Blog post about this podcast available at: https://www.wondermedicine.com/wonder-medicine-blog

How to assess death

-       What are my current medical problems, risks, and exposures. Advanced diagnostics and biomarkers can help with this. But just asking some simple questions like:
a.     What medical problems do I have?
b.     How is my current level of fitness and where will it likely be in the final 1 to 2 decades of my life on my current trajectory.
c.     What do my behaviors put me at risk of dying from (e.g. smoking tobacco or junk food addiction = multiple forms of cancer.
d.     What environmental risks am I exposed to (e.g. polluted air = COPD and lung cancer)

-       How have genetically related family members have died. These people share your genetics and often times your environment. They are a window into your own mortality.
a.     What things have killed my 1st and 2nd degree relatives?
b.     At what age did these problems begin and at what age did they result in death.
c.     Do I have a genetic predisposition to certain medical problems?

-       What things am I most worried about regarding death. People have strong intuitions that when trained can be incredibly accurate. Intuition is simply your brain analyzing a huge amount of data and coming to a conclusion that seems as if it came from a higher knowledge or being. The brain is a powerful supercomputer.  If program members are worried about something, I am worried too, full stop. Granted, if someone is worried about everything due to severe anxiety they are essentially worried about nothing. If you goal is everything, it will in fact become nothing by default.

Live Better, Longer
A Longevity Physicians Secrets to Health and Fulfillment
Available for free at: wondermedicine.com

See full written episode description on our blog available at:
https://www.wondermedicine.com/wonder-medicine-blog

4 Amazing Ways Ketamine Will Change Your Brain

Ketamine is an amazing medication. It is an anesthetic, painkiller, mental health treatment, and entheogen all wrapped into one. We have successfully treated hundreds of patients with depression, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, suicidal ideation, and addiction using ketamine at Wonder Medicine. Greater than 90% of the people we treat get better.  But, having the right plan for therapy will greatly increase your odds of success. 

What is an Entheogen?

An entheogen is a mind-altering substance that helps people develop spiritually. Ketamine causes a profoundly mind-altering experience that expands consciousness, understanding, and connectivity when used with intention in the right therapeutic setting. 

Why do some Patients Not Respond to Ketamine? 

Some people do not respond to ketamine treatments. Most often there is an identifiable reason. Some of these reasons include:

-       Abusing substances actively while undergoing therapy (e.g. going home and drinking a bottle or two of wine after therapy)

-       Not enough treatments received (major illness requires more therapy, sometimes > 6 treatments for response)

-       Trauma or Mindset roadblocks that prevent patients from continuing therapy.

-       Some people just don’t respond. This may be due to their underlying biology (estimated < 2%)

Why do > 90% of Ketamine Patients Experience Benefit

Ketamine does 4 amazing things that help people get their lives back on track.

Executive Summary

          The Longevity and Performance Program at Wonder Medicine is a physician directed-proactive healthcare program for high performing individuals. Its principle aims are health optimization, disease prediction and prevention, exceptional performance, emotional wellness, and longevity.

            The program is anchored by a full day executive physical that we refer to as a program members “Biological Birthday”. On this day, program members subjective and objective biomarkers most strongly linked to health, performance, and longevity are collected and fed into a robust data structure. A report is then generated that predicts biological (functional) age and predicted death age. The report utilizes proprietary algorithms and technology to inform both patients and their care team regarding overall health status and disease risks. The Biological birthday is performed every year and information is tracked in real time so that any health issues can be identified at the earliest stage possible.

            A multidisciplinary team including a physician, longevity coach, exercise physiologist, technician, registered nurse, and member concierge execute the program. This small team is in constant communication and reviews all patients as a group multiple times a year. Patients in the program will have encounters with each team member at least 3 to 5 times a year. These team members will know you and care deeply about your success.

            Every year, program members have a 90-minute Longevity Visit with the physician. At this visit all data obtained is reviewed and a personalized longevity and performance plan is provided to be executed over the following calendar year.

            Wonder Medicine is a research-based institution that runs clinical trials on all patients at all times with the goal of discovering those inputs that deliver exceptional longevity and performance. All program members have the opportunity to enroll in additional longevity focused clinical trials that include pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, regenerative therapeutics, and lifestyle protocols. Additionally, many chronic medications can be managed through the program. But optimizing mindset, behaviors, and environment to align with program member current and future goals is Wonder Medicine’s principle aim.

            Being enrolled in the program affords members several additional benefits and add on services. These include movement therapy, behavioral change therapy, additional testing, and discounts on all Wonder Medicine services including IV infusions, ketamine therapy, and aesthetic services.

            If exceptional health, longevity, disease prevention, emotional wellness, and high performance are desired, this is the program for you. If data, research, and the advancement of knowledge in longevity are important to you, this is your Center. The Program is capped at 360 members every year so that outstanding attention, communication, and collaboration can be provided to all members. Wonder Medicine is healthcare that performs at the same level you do. Join today and become exceptional!

Thanks,

Bill Brandenburg, MD

Holiday Season

October 31 – January 2nd

Halloween to New Years

-       Tough time of year

-       Loved ones, memories of past loved ones, relationships gone bad, events, obligations, good memories, bad memories, and even trauma.

-       Can be the best time of the year or a time of pain.

-       Take care of yourself, set an example for loved ones, and double down on pro-longevity behaviors during this holiday season.

Remember

Longevity = Health over a lifetime

By striving for longevity you must become the best, most-high performing version of yourself right now.

Ok so 4 tips. Plus two very important bonus tips at the very end that you will not want to miss!

 
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