Peptides are everywhere right now—marketed as fat-loss shortcuts, anti-aging hacks, and miracle compounds. But what are they actually doing inside the body?
In this episode, Todd Vande Hei sits down with Regan Archibald, founder of Ageless Future and host of the Unreasonable Health podcast, to strip away the hype and talk honestly about peptides: how they work, when they help, and where people get into trouble.
This is a grounded, responsible conversation about peptides as biological signals—not lifestyle replacements—and how they fit into the future of longevity medicine.

In This Episode, We Cover:
• What peptides really are (and what they are not)
• Why peptides work best as signals, not shortcuts
• GLP-1s, metabolic health, and why misuse causes problems
• The risks of “research-use-only” peptides
• Why labs are non-negotiable before using peptides
• Cycling vs. long-term peptide use
• Peptides, brain health, recovery, and longevity
• Where peptides, stem cells, and gene signaling are heading next

Key Takeaway
Peptides don’t replace discipline or lifestyle—but when used responsibly, they can reveal what your body is capable of and help you build momentum toward long-term health.

Learn More
Regan Archibald: agelessfuture.com
Stark: https://stark.health
If you enjoyed this episode, please like, subscribe, and share it with someone who’s curious about peptides—but wants the truth, not the hype.

Your health is a skill you can build. Start with the free resources at podtodd.com or explore team-based health optimization at stark.health

What happens when someone stops guessing about their health and fully commits to a system?
In this episode, Todd Vande Hei sits down with Stark student Matt Cook, host of The Pull Hook podcast, to unpack a seven-month transformation that reshaped Matt’s body, energy, sleep, digestion, athletic performance, and even fertility. What started as fatigue, weight gain, gut issues, and poor sleep turned into strength, clarity, resilience, and a completely different relationship with food and health.
This is a real-world case study in what happens when coachability meets data-driven health optimization — and why most people don’t realize how unhealthy they are until they feel truly well.

In This Episode
• How Matt lost 30+ pounds and reversed years of fatigue in months
• Why “eating healthy” isn’t the same as being healthy
• The role of gut health in energy, immunity, and hormone balance
• How sleep apnea resolved without a CPAP
• Why strength, mobility, and cardiovascular health unlocked athletic performance
• The connection between optimal health and fertility
• What “coachability” really means in a health journey
• Why health optimization becomes easier — not harder — over time

Key Takeaway
You don’t realize how much you’ve been surviving until your body finally starts working the way it was designed to.
To learn more about Stark and health optimization, visit stark.health.

Your health is a skill you can build. Start with the free resources at podtodd.com or explore team-based health optimization at stark.health

What if your anxiety, fatigue, joint pain, or low testosterone isn’t a motivation problem or a discipline problem, but a toxicity problem?

In this episode, Todd sits down with Kyle Hulbert, co-founder of Longevity Centers of America, to unpack his personal journey through severe mercury toxicity and what it revealed about heavy metals, hormones, and modern chronic disease. Kyle shares how mercury poisoning nearly derailed his health in his early 20s, why standard lab testing often misses the problem, and how proper detoxification helped him reclaim his body, mind, and performance.

This conversation dives deep into mercury exposure sources, why some people are more vulnerable than others, and what actually works when it comes to testing and treatment.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn

• How mercury toxicity can masquerade as depression, anxiety, low testosterone, gut issues, and chronic pain
• Why blood, hair, and standard urine tests often fail to detect heavy metal burden
• The difference between unprovoked vs provoked testing and why it matters
• How mercury disrupts the brain, hormones, and nervous system
• Why some “detox supplements” can make mercury toxicity worse
• The role of dental amalgams, fish, pesticides, and generational exposure
• What safe, physician-guided chelation actually looks like
• How detoxification fits into optimization, not just illness recovery

Key Takeaway

If you know something feels off in your body despite “doing everything right,” there may be a deeper root cause. With the right testing, the right guidance, and patience, there is real hope for healing and optimization.

Learn More

• Longevity Centers of America: www.thelcoa.com
• Stark Health: stark.health

Your health is a skill you can build. Start with the free resources at podtodd.com or explore team-based health optimization at stark.health

In this episode, Todd Vande Hei sits down with Thoryn Stephens, co-founder and CEO of BrainOne, to explore a simple but powerful idea: most people aren’t unhealthy because they lack data — they’re unhealthy because they lack structure.

Thoryn shares how a personal injury and a disappointing recovery plan from elite orthopedic care sparked his mission to standardize human health protocols using neuroscience, biometrics, and behavior change. Together, Todd and Thoryn unpack how structured micro-habits, wearable data, biomarkers, and even voice analytics can be used to optimize brain health, performance, and long-term resilience.

This conversation spans everything from dementia prevention and sleep optimization to stress, community, masculinity, and why modern life is quietly working against human biology — and what we can do about it.

In This Episode, Todd & Thoryn Discuss:

• Why more data doesn’t equal better health without a protocol
• How BrainOne uses biometrics, biomarkers, and behavior to drive change
• The role of micro-habits in brain optimization and longevity
• Dementia risk factors — and how 30–40% may be modifiable
• Stress, sleep, and the hidden cost of high performance
• Social isolation, technology, and declining brain health in young people
• Why community, nature, and routine matter as much as supplements

⚡ Final Takeaway
Health isn’t about guessing — it’s about structure. When you give the brain a clear protocol, performance and resilience follow.

Your health is a skill you can build. Start with the free resources at podtodd.com or explore team-based health optimization at stark.health

What if your genes weren’t your fate — but a starting point?
In this episode of Health Is a Skill, Todd Vande Hei sits down with Jeffrey Mark Gaal, co-founder of Genetic Lifespan, to explore how genetics, epigenetics, and lifestyle choices intersect to shape aging, disease risk, and long-term health. This conversation bridges cutting-edge diagnostics with personal responsibility, reframing health as something you actively steer — not something that happens to you.
Jeffrey explains how modern genetic testing goes far beyond DNA reports, revealing how daily choices influence gene expression, biological age, and the pace at which individual organ systems age.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
• Why genetic predisposition does not equal genetic destiny
• The difference between genetics, epigenetics, and methylation
• How lifestyle choices influence which genes turn “on” or “off”
• Why biological age matters more than chronological age
• How intracellular nutrient testing reveals what blood tests miss
• The role of inflammation, mindset, and environment in aging
• Why true prevention starts with better data, not more treatments
• How personalized diagnostics empower better decisions — not fear

Your body isn’t broken — it’s adaptive.
With the right information, you can change how you age, how you feel, and how your genes express themselves.

About the Guest
Jeffrey Mark Gaal is the co-founder of Genetic Lifespan and a former aerospace engineer with decades of experience in genetics, epigenetics, and integrative wellness. His work focuses on giving individuals and practitioners actionable data to optimize healthspan, longevity, and performance.
Learn more at: agecode.bio/healthspan

Your health is a skill you can build. Start with the free resources at podtodd.com or explore team-based health optimization at stark.health

In this conversation, Todd Vande Hei sits down with Mollie Eastman, founder of Sleep Is a Skill, to explore how AI, wearables, circadian rhythms, and daily habits are transforming the way we understand and improve sleep.
Mollie breaks down how AI is expanding access to insomnia treatment, how wearable data can reveal hidden sleep disorders, and why “sleep age” may soon matter more than chronological age. They also dive deep into circadian-aligned living, morning light exposure, movement, caffeine timing, and why modern environments are quietly sabotaging deep sleep.
You’ll learn how small, repeatable behaviors throughout the day compound into better sleep at night — without perfection, gimmicks, or pills.

Topics include:
• AI-powered sleep coaching and CBT-I
• Wearables, sleep disorders, and data accuracy
• What “sleep age” really means
• Circadian rhythm basics most people miss
• How light, food timing, movement, and stress shape sleep
• Why resilience matters more than perfect sleep scores

Learn more about Mollie’s work at sleepisaskill.com
Learn more about Stark at stark.health

Your health is a skill you can build. Start with the free resources at podtodd.com or explore team-based health optimization at stark.health

Todd Vande Hei is joined by Dr. Mark McDonald — psychiatrist, author, and one of the sharpest, most unapologetically clear voices on the psychological development of young people today. Dr. McDonald has spent decades working with children, adolescents, and families, and his work centers on how our modern culture is reshaping the minds, identities, and emotional resilience of the next generation.

Author of The United States of Fear and Freedom From Fear, Dr. McDonald brings a rare combination of clinical insight and cultural analysis. Together, he and Todd explore whether boys are still becoming men, whether girls are developing into healthy women, and how factors like social media, pornography, video games, ultra-processed food, and sedentary lifestyles are driving a psychological and physiological crisis.

In this episode, Todd and Dr. McDonald break down:
• Why boys are becoming physically weaker, emotionally fragile, and socially isolated
• The rise of narcissism and identity confusion in girls
• How algorithm-driven technology is rewiring young brains
• The collapse of real-world skill building and risk-taking in boys
• Why decentralization, community, and structure are the antidote
• What healthy parental boundaries actually look like today
• The deep link between physical health, emotional regulation, and identity
• Whether young people are still developing into functional adults — and what happens if they don’t

This conversation is a wake-up call for parents, educators, and anyone who cares about the future generation. As Dr. McDonald puts it, we’re not just dealing with boy problems or girl problems — we’re dealing with a civilization problem.

⚡ Final Takeaway
Decentralize your home life. Reconnect your kids to reality. Set boundaries. Young people can still become strong, capable men and emotionally grounded women — but only if we lead.

Your health is a skill you can build. Start with the free resources at podtodd.com or explore team-based health optimization at stark.health

In this episode of Health Is a Skill, Todd Vande Hei sits down with Katie, founder of MyPeak, to unpack why so many driven, health-conscious people feel stuck despite “doing all the right things.” From constant grazing and over-cardio to poor recovery and misunderstood lab data, this conversation reveals why effort alone isn’t the answer — personalization is.
Katie shares her journey from corporate sales and athletics into health, performance psychology, and culinary education, and explains how bio-individuality, functional testing, and practical kitchen skills create sustainable energy, better digestion, and long-term results. This episode bridges science, mindset, and real life — without extremes, fads, or perfectionism.

In this episode, Todd and Katie cover:
• Why “eating healthy and working out” often still leads to fatigue, weight gain, and frustration
• The hidden cost of constant cardio, grazing, and under-recovering
• Bio-individuality in practice — why one-size-fits-all plans fail
• Cortisol patterns, stress resilience, and why timing matters more than effort
• The role of intentional recovery, sleep, and micro-resets throughout the day
• Why salads, gluten-free foods, and raw meals can backfire for some people
• Cooking as a performance skill — not a chore
• How ghee, protein-forward meals, and simple prep support hormones and energy
• Mindset, visualization, and why focusing on what you want beats avoiding what you fear

⚡ Final Takeaway:
Real health isn’t about trying harder — it’s about listening better. When recovery, nutrition, movement, and mindset are personalized to your physiology, progress stops being exhausting and starts becoming sustainable.

Your health is a skill you can build. Start with the free resources at podtodd.com or explore team-based health optimization at stark.health

In this episode, Todd Vande Hei sits back down with “the magnesium guy,” Dr. Robert Fredrickson, to go deeper into one of the most underrated levers in health optimization: magnesium.

Dr. Fredrickson explains why magnesium isn’t just a lab value to glance at — it’s a central regulator of stress, sleep, hormones, cardiovascular health, and performance. He shares how he personally needs ~1,000 mg per day to stay in balance as a high-output entrepreneur, clinician, dad, and coach, and why most people are dramatically underestimating their true needs.

In this episode, they cover:
• Why magnesium is a “stress buffer” and how allostatic load (work, kids, training, stimulants) determines your real dose.
• The role of magnesium in mitochondrial function and ATP production — and what low levels feel like.
• Links between magnesium, testosterone, thyroid, cortisol regulation, and sleep quality.
• How deficiency shows up as tight muscles, twitching, restless legs, low stress tolerance, cravings, and mood issues.
• Why our food has less magnesium than it used to — and what that means for supplementation.
• Serum vs RBC magnesium testing, and why “normal” on a lab doesn’t always mean optimal.
• How meds like diuretics and even high-dose vitamin D can quietly drain magnesium.
• Magnesium’s support role in long COVID recovery and autonomic balance.
• Forms vs fundamentals: why people over-fixate on glycinate vs threonate and under-focus on simply getting enough.

⚡ Final Takeaway:
 Magnesium is low-hanging fruit for better health and longevity — but only if you get enough for your lifestyle, not just a generic maintenance dose.

Your health is a skill you can build. Start with the free resources at podtodd.com or explore team-based health optimization at stark.health

In the third and final part of his Young Men series, Todd Vande Hei shifts from diagnosis to strategy: how do we actually help boys become strong, grounded, purpose-driven men in a world of endless comfort and distraction?
Building on parts one and two — where he unpacked culture’s confusion about masculinity and the biological/psychological damage modern life is doing to young men — Todd lays out a path forward centered on purpose, community, and disciplined living.

In this episode, Todd covers:

• Why purpose is the antidote to drifting, distraction, and quiet despair.
• How to use “good misery” — hard workouts, scary conversations, challenging goals — to build confidence.
• The role of tribe and mentorship — why boys need older men and strong peer groups.
• Discipline vs. punishment — using structure, standards, and honest feedback to shape character.
• How parents and leaders can model strength: self-care, boundaries, and receiving criticism well.
• Why emotional language matters for men — naming feelings to deepen relationships and resilience.
• How physical, emotional, and spiritual health are different expressions of the same system.
• Todd’s warning about a coming divide: healthy, purposeful young men vs. distracted, depleted ones.

Your health is a skill you can build. Start with the free resources at podtodd.com or explore team-based health optimization at stark.health