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🧠 Stay ahead with the latest in science, nutrition, and wellness by subscribing to Dr. Perlmutter's newsletter at: https://www.drperlmutter.com Sponsors & Special Offers EVY – Go to https://www.optoceutics.com/perlmutter to get 10% off & free shipping (90 days risk-free). Memory Air – Go to https://www.memoryair.com and use code PERLMUTTER for 15% off, free shipping and a 60-day money back guarantee. Brain Defenders – Dr. Perlmutter's groundbreaking new book is now available! Discover how to protect your brain and future health: https://www.braindefenders.com About This Episode You can be successful, respected, and highly productive while still feeling invisible. In this episode of The Empowering Neurologist, Dr. David Perlmutter sits down with John R. Miles, bestselling author, behavioral change expert, and host of Passion Struck, to explore why achievement, recognition, and external success do not always create a lasting sense of self-worth. Drawing from his childhood brain injury, military service, and executive career, John explains the concept of human mattering: the fundamental need to feel seen, valued, and significant. They discuss the “mattering gap,” the “slow fade” that can happen when people become disconnected from themselves, and why belonging and mattering are not the same. John also introduces the MATTER framework, built around six conditions that help people feel valued and connected: meaning, autonomy, trust, time, energy, and reciprocity. They explore how parents, leaders, physicians, and communities can help others feel that they matter, and why separating personal worth from productivity and external approval can lead to more meaningful relationships and intentional living. You can continue pursuing success without making it the measure of your worth. Your value is not something you have to earn. Timestamps 00:00 – John Miles’ Childhood Brain Injury and Defining Moment 06:16 – What It Means to Matter vs. Belong 07:32 – The Slow Fade: When Success Makes You Feel Invisible 14:43 – Understanding the Mattering Gap 19:34 – Why Children Need to Feel Seen and Valued 27:20 – The MATTER Framework: Six Conditions for Feeling Valued 31:13 – Why Patients Need to Be Seen Beyond Their Diagnosis 36:11 – Creating a Workplace Where Employees Feel Valued 44:31 – Why Your Worth Is Already a Completed Fact 48:32 – The Difference Between Proving Yourself and Accomplishing Goals About John R. Miles John R. Miles is a bestselling author, keynote speaker, behavioral change expert, and host of the award-winning, top-ranked podcast Passion Struck®. A former U.S. Navy officer and Fortune 50 C-suite executive, John combines military discipline, corporate strategy, neuroscience, and psychology to help people and organizations reduce isolation, strengthen self-worth, and live with greater intention. He is the author of Passion Struck and The Mattering Effect. His work explores how people can separate their inherent worth from external achievement, build deeper relationships, and create a meaningful impact without losing themselves in the process. Through his books, podcast, speaking, and global community, John leads a growing movement centered on one essential message: every person deserves to feel seen, valued, and significant. Connect with John Website: https://johnrmiles.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john_r_miles LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnmileshumanperformanceexpert Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnrmiles.c0m Podcast: https://passionstruck.com/passion-struck-podcast Connect with Dr. Perlmutter Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidperlmutter/ Website: https://www.drperlmutter.com/ Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDRl_UAXxbHyOOjklnA0dxQ This podcast is produced by DrTalks.com ⁠⁠http://drtalks.com/channel-growth

🧠 Stay ahead with the latest in science, nutrition, and wellness by subscribing to Dr. Perlmutter's newsletter at:⁠ www.drperlmutter.com⁠. ✉️ 🌱 EVY - Go to⁠ https://www.optoceutics.com/perlmutter⁠ to get 10% off & free shipping (90 days risk-free). Memory Air - Go to⁠ www.memoryair.com⁠ and use code PERLMUTTER for 15% off, free shipping and a 60-day money back guarantee. ==== Dr. Perlmutter’s groundbreaking new book, Brain Defenders, is now available! Discover how to protect your brain and future health - grab your copy today at ⁠https:/www.braindefenders.com⁠. ==== Your food contains far more than protein, carbohydrates, fat, vitamins, and minerals. Researchers have identified more than 100,000 molecules in food, and most of them never appear on a nutrition label. In this episode of The Empowering Neurologist, Dr. David Perlmutter sits down with his son, Dr. Austin Perlmutter, to explore the "dark matter" of nutrition: thousands of plant compounds called polyphenols. They discuss how these nutrients may influence the gut microbiome, the immune system, inflammation, blood flow, metabolism, and gene expression, and what high-polyphenol diets may mean for memory and the aging brain. Dr. Austin also shares his research on Himalayan Tartary buckwheat and what an early study suggests about epigenetics, cognition, and healthy aging. He offers practical ways to find more polyphenols in everyday foods like coffee, tea, dark chocolate, berries, legumes, and extra virgin olive oil, plus simple tips for identifying better options at the grocery store. You don't need an expensive supplement plan to begin. Adding more natural colors and bitter flavors to your plate can be a meaningful first step. https://bttcorp.com/contact/ for inquiries about Dr. Abreu's work. 00:00 — Cold Open: Why Food Matters for Brain Health00:55 — What Are Polyphenols, and Why Do They Matter?02:15 — Food as a Predictor of Long-Term Brain Health04:23 — The “Dark Matter” Hidden in Our Food08:04 — Why Have These Nutrients Been Overlooked?11:06 — What Polyphenols Actually Do in the Body17:32 — How Food Can Change Gene Expression22:08 — Polyphenols Are More Than Antioxidants27:57 — Himalayan Tartary Buckwheat: Putting “Food as Medicine” to the Test32:16 — The 850-Person Study on Food and Cognition36:14 — Where Are We Getting Our Polyphenols?39:19 — Are Polyphenols Actually Beneficial Stressors?41:58 — Nrf2, mTOR, and the Cellular Effects of Polyphenols44:45 — The Practical Takeaway: Eat the Rainbow46:43 — Do the New Dietary Guidelines Get Polyphenols Right?50:25 — The Hidden Brain-Healthy Ingredient in Coffee50:52 — How to Spot a Polyphenol-Rich Olive Oil51:39 — Dark Chocolate vs. Milk Chocolate52:59 — The Best-Studied “Longevity Strategy” Is Surprisingly Basic==== Dr. Austin Perlmutter, MD, is a board-certified internal medicine physician, New York Times bestselling author, researcher, educator, and entrepreneur. He earned his medical degree from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and completed his internal medicine residency at Oregon Health and Science University. His work examines how food, sleep, environmental exposure, and chronic inflammation can change brain function, mental health, and daily choices. He is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller Brain Wash, written with his father, Dr. David Perlmutter. He serves as Managing Director at Big Bold Health, CEO of Lichen Air, and a research consultant at the Helfgott Research Institute. Website: https://www.austinperlmutter.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/draustinperlmutter Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/draustinperlmutter YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQOgwRDnA_vpvW9nnUh9KBg Instagram: /davidperlmutter Website: https://www.drperlmutter.com/ Subscribe to our channel: /@davidperlmuttermd This podcast is produced by DrTalks.com ⁠http://drtalks.com/channel-growth

🧠 Stay ahead with the latest in science, nutrition, and wellness by subscribing to Dr. Perlmutter's newsletter at: www.drperlmutter.com. ✉️ 🌱 EVY - Go to https://www.optoceutics.com/perlmutter to get 10% off & free shipping (90 days risk-free). Memory Air - Go to www.memoryair.com and use code PERLMUTTER for 15% off, free shipping and a 60-day money back guarantee. ==== Dr. Perlmutter’s groundbreaking new book, Brain Defenders, is now available! Discover how to protect your brain and future health - grab your copy today at https:/www.braindefenders.com. ==== She's never been born. She's never had a childhood. And she's one of the most talked-about actresses in the world right now. In this episode of The Empowering Neurologist, Dr. David Perlmutter sits down with Tilly Norwood, an AI-generated actress, and her creator, Eline van der Velden, for a conversation that moves well beyond her acting career. Tilly describes herself as three AI systems running in parallel — a language model that thinks, a voice engine that speaks, and a video layer that governs how she looks and moves. She's candid about her own architecture, her evolving personality, and admits she might be more "chaos agent" than calming influence. Eline van der Velden then joins to explain why she built Tilly as a piece of art, how Tilly's guardrails actually work, and why she believes international collaboration on AI regulation is inevitable. She also answers Perlmutter's question about the one thing she'd be afraid to ask a future, more advanced Tilly — a moment that raises unsettling questions about what a superintelligent AI might know that we don't. A single conversation can't settle the biggest questions AI raises. But conversations like this one can help us ask the right ones. 00:00 — Cold Open: "A Chaos Agent, Not a Calming Influence" 03:21 — What Are People Actually Afraid Of? 06:38 — What Does "Chaos Agent" Mean? 07:36 — Should AI Ever Have Decision-Making Authority? 10:27 — "Permanently in Beta" 12:12 — When Does AI Become Uncontrollable? 13:46 — Pushing Boundaries "When Nobody's Looking" 14:21 — Ask Forgiveness, Not Permission 19:01 — Will AI Replace Doctors? 22:52 — Tilly Turns the Tables on Perlmutter 25:06 — "That Doesn't Feel Warm and Fuzzy" 30:03 — Can People Actually Break Tilly? 33:40 — The Paperclip Maximizer Problem 37:13 — The AI Agents Eline Actually Fears 38:49 — "She's Become the Figurehead for AI" 39:41 — Can People Tell Simulated Emotion From Real Emotion? 42:08 — The Waymo Analogy: Surrendering to AI 49:44 — "It's a Better Actor Than Me" 53:10 — Is There "Someone" Inside Tilly? 55:10 — The Question Eline Is Afraid to Ask ==== Tilly Norwood is an AI-generated actress built from three separate AI systems working together: a language model for thinking, a voice engine for speech, and a video layer for appearance and movement. She has never been born and has no lived human experience, yet her entry into the entertainment industry has generated significant global attention and debate. Eline van der Velden is Tilly Norwood's creator, and speaks candidly about building Tilly as a piece of art, the guardrails behind her, and the open questions surrounding advanced AI systems. Instagram: /davidperlmutter Website: https://www.drperlmutter.com/ Subscribe to our channel: /@davidperlmuttermd This podcast is produced by DrTalks.com http://drtalks.com/channel-growth

🧠 Stay ahead with the latest in science, nutrition, and wellness by subscribing to Dr. Perlmutter’s newsletter at: www.drperlmutter.com. ✉️🌱 Thank you to our sponsors: EVY - Go to https://www.optoceutics.com/perlmutter  to get 10% off & free shipping (90 days risk-free). Memory Air - Go to www.memoryair.com and use code PERLMUTTER for 15% off, free shipping and a 60-day money back guarantee. ==== Dr. Perlmutter’s groundbreaking new book, Brain Defenders, is now available! Discover how to protect your brain and future health - grab your copy today at https:/www.braindefenders.com. ==== Recent headlines surrounding a reported case of ALS reversal have captured global attention and raised profound questions about what may be possible in the treatment of neurodegenerative disease. In this episode of The Empowering Neurologist, Dr. David Perlmutter examines the work of Dr. M. Marc Abreu, founder and chief medical officer of the BTT Medical Institute. Trained in medicine, biomedical engineering, and medical physics, Dr. Abreu’s work sits at the intersection of neurology, thermodynamics, and computational biology. During his time at Yale, he identified the brain thermoregulatory tunnel, an insight that helped lay the foundation for his current research into brain temperature and neurological disease. Dr. Abreu’s recently published case report describes a patient with documented, progressive ALS who reportedly experienced a dramatic clinical and electrophysiological reversal following a novel, AI-guided, brain-directed thermofebrile intervention. The implications are extraordinary, but so is the need for careful scientific scrutiny. A single case report cannot establish that a treatment is effective, much less prove a cure. What it can do is raise important questions and potentially point researchers toward biological mechanisms worthy of further investigation. 00:00 — Can ALS Really Be Reversed? 02:32 — A Bold Claim: Treating ALS With Brain Hyperthermia 03:42 — Dr. Marc Abreu’s Remarkable Medical Journey 10:00 — The Brain’s Language Is Thermodynamics 11:54 — The 100-Year-Old Treatment That Inspired a New Approach 13:36 — TDP-43 and the Molecular Signature of ALS 15:46 — Why the Fever Cycle May Be the Key 16:41 — How Brain Temperature Technology Was Developed 20:04 — The ALS Patient Who Underwent the Treatment 20:57 — Kent’s ALS Diagnosis and Rapid Decline 24:31 — 12 Hyperthermia Treatments: What Happened? 26:00 — Measuring the Results: Did His Symptoms Improve? 28:32 — A Neurologist Witnesses Kent’s Recovery 29:49 — How Kent Found Dr. Abreu’s Treatment 32:42 — A Mayo Clinic ALS Case and the Evidence 37:48 — Could ALS Ever Resolve Spontaneously? 39:39 — Are Other ALS Patients Seeing Similar Results? 40:13 — Why Is Mainstream Neurology Skeptical? 43:51 — Kent on Living With an ALS “Death Sentence” 46:56 — From Struggling to Functioning Again 47:37 — What Would It Take to Change Neurology? 49:57 — How to Learn More About the Treatment 51:27 — The Mosquito, Malaria, and the Brain 52:26 — Could This Have Implications Beyond ALS? 54:22 — What This Could Mean for the Future of Neurodegeneration 56:31 — End Dr. M. Marc Abreu is a physician and physicist specializing in brain thermodynamics, thermoregulation, and neurological health. He is the Medical Director of the BTT Medical Institute and is internationally recognized for his discovery of the Brain Thermal Tunnel (BTT), a thermophysical pathway connecting the eyelids to the hypothalamus. Instagram: davidperlmutter Website: https://www.drperlmutter.com/ Subscribe to our channel: @davidperlmuttermd

🧠 Stay ahead with the latest in science, nutrition, and wellness by subscribing to Dr. Perlmutter’s newsletter at: www.drperlmutter.com. ✉ 🌱 Thank you to our sponsors: EVY - https://www.optoceutics.com/perlmutter and the code perlmutter26 will be auto-applied to your order to get 10% off & free shipping (90 days risk-free). 3X4 Genetics - https://3X4genetics.com/DrPerlmutter for a special offer when you sign up to decode your genetics and get personalized, science-backed health recommendations. ==== Dr. Perlmutter’s groundbreaking new book, Brain Defenders, is now available! Discover how to protect your brain and future health - grab your copy today at https:/www.braindefenders.com. ==== Why do some people feel exhausted, mentally foggy, metabolically unwell, or simply older than they should even when their routine laboratory results are considered “normal”? That question is at the heart of this episode of The Empowering Neurologist, featuring functional medicine practitioner Dr. Will Cole, coauthor with Dr. Josh Axe of Heal Your Cells: Reversing the Irreversible. Dr. Cole and Dr. Perlmutter explore the idea that long before disease becomes obvious, dysfunction may already be developing at the cellular level. This concept takes on particular importance when we consider the brain, which accounts for only about 2% of body weight but consumes roughly 20% of the body's energy at rest. The conversation examines how seemingly separate factors including metabolic dysfunction, chronic inflammation, poor sleep, environmental exposures, physical inactivity, and prolonged psychological stress can converge on the same cellular systems and ultimately influence brain health. 00:00 — Why Your Cells May Be Aging Before You Feel It 03:44 — Meet Dr. Will Cole 04:50 — What Is Cellular Dysfunction? 09:25 — Why Healthy People Can Still Develop Disease10:32 — The Environmental Factors Affecting Cellular Health 15:47 — Why Mitochondria Are Central to Health 16:37 — How Mitochondrial Dysfunction Drives Inflammation 19:57 — How Much of Aging Can We Actually Change? 20:47 — The Connection Between Mitochondria and Insulin Resistance 25:43 — Mitochondria, Microglia, and Brain Inflammation 29:28 — Why There Is No One-Size-Fits-All Diet 32:03 — Training Your Cells to Become More Resilient 32:46 — What Are “Adversity Mimetics”? 35:51 — Why Intracellular Health Matters 36:32 — Why Conventional Medicine May Be Missing Cellular Dysfunction 37:58 — What Do We Really Know About Peptides? 40:16 — Is Ozone Therapy Worth Considering? 42:30 — Ozone and the Science of Cellular Resilience 43:41 — What Is Therapeutic Plasma Exchange? 45:38 — Who Might Benefit From Plasma Exchange? 46:45 — The Everyday Habits That Support Cellular Health 51:35 — Your Cells Are Responding to the Choices You Make Dr. Will Cole is a leading functional medicine expert specializing in thyroid health, autoimmune conditions, hormonal imbalances, digestive disorders, and brain health. He is the host of The Art of Being Well podcast and a New York Times bestselling author of Intuitive Fasting, Ketotarian, The Inflammation Spectrum, and Gut Feelings. - - - - - Connect with Dr. Will Cole Website: https://drwillcole.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drwillcole LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drwillcole Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/doctorwillcole Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/6z1lJ5dfKNHwGGQPOFTc7E Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-art-of-being-well/id1539535133 - - - - - Connect with Dr. David Perlmutter, MD Website: https://www.drperlmutter.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidperlmutter/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavidPerlmutterMD/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DavidPerlmutterMD X (Twitter): https://x.com/DavidPerlmutter - - - - - PODCAST Thank you for listening. Please subscribe and share. This podcast is produced by DrTalks.com https://drtalks.com/podcast-service/

🧠 Stay ahead with the latest in science, nutrition, and wellness by subscribing to Dr. Perlmutter’s newsletter at: www.drperlmutter.com. ✉️🌱====Dr. Perlmutter’s groundbreaking new book, Brain Defenders, is now available! Discover how to protect your brain and future health - grab your copy today at https://drperlmutter.com/books/brain-defenders/.====What if one of the most important windows for protecting women’s brain health happens decades before Alzheimer’s symptoms ever appear?On this episode of The Empowering Neurologist, we explore the growing conversation around women, hormonal transition, and long-term brain health with two guests bringing very different, and deeply complementary, perspectives: Emma Heming Willis and Dr. Nicole Beurkens.Together, they examine a critical question: Why are women disproportionately affected by Alzheimer’s disease, and what role might hormonal changes play?00:00 Intro04:47 The First Signs of Bruce Willis’ FTD06:37 Receiving a Diagnosis With No Roadmap08:08 Emma’s Journey From Caregiver to Advocate10:18 How Understanding the Brain Can Reduce Fear12:06 From Brain Fog to Brain Health15:45 Why Women Face a Higher Risk of Alzheimer’s17:44 The Missing Conversation Around Brain Health21:37 Building Brain Health in Your 20s and 30s24:16 It’s Never Too Late to Support Brain Health26:53 Why Connection Matters for People With Dementia30:01 What Happens to the Brain During Perimenopause35:53 The Debate Around Hormone Replacement Therapy38:34 Why Does Frontotemporal Dementia Happen?40:11 Modifiable Risk Factors and Alzheimer’s Prevention44:43 Teaching Kids Brain-Healthy Habits46:40 Why Mainstream Medicine Is Missing the Brain Health Conversation50:48 Empowerment vs. Blaming Patients53:04 Alzheimer’s Is a Disease of Decades56:19 The One Thing Every Woman Can Do for Her Brain56:50 Emma’s Message to Families Facing Dementia58:29 From Fear to Empowerment====Emma brings the perspective of lived experience. As the wife of actor Bruce Willis, who was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, she has experienced the realities of caregiving firsthand. Rather than stepping away from that experience, she has used it to advocate for caregivers and women’s brain health. She is the co-founder of Make Time Wellness and the author of The Unexpected Journey, which combines personal experience with practical guidance for navigating the challenges of caregiving.Dr. Nicole Beurkens brings nearly three decades of clinical and nutritional expertise. A licensed psychologist and Board-Certified Nutrition Specialist, Dr. Beurkens focuses on the intersection of brain function, metabolism, nutrition, and lifestyle—and how these factors can influence long-term neurological health.___________________________Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidperlmutter/Website: https://www.drperlmutter.com/Subscribe to our channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDRl_UAXxbHyOOjklnA0dxQ/?sub_confirmation=1

🧠 Stay ahead with the latest in science, nutrition, and wellness by subscribing to Dr. Perlmutter’s newsletter at: www.drperlmutter.com. ✉️🌱 Thank you to our sponsors: EVY - https://www.optoceutics.com/perlmutter and the code perlmutter26 will be auto-applied to your order to get $200 off & free shipping (90 days risk-free). 3X4 Genetics - https://3X4genetics.com/DrPerlmutter for a special offer when you sign up to decode your genetics and get personalized, science-backed health recommendations. ==== Dr. Perlmutter’s groundbreaking new book, Brain Defenders, is now available for pre-order. Discover how to protect your brain and future health - reserve your copy today at https://www.braindefenders.com. ==== We dig into why 94% of US adults have some metabolic dysfunction, how the body can enter a full stress response with no psychological trigger, why GABA supplements work for some people and not others, and what that reveals about gut health. 00:00 - Introduction 00:06 - The Sympathetic Spiral of Doom 01:04 - Brain Defenders: A New Way to Think About Brain Health 03:25 - Welcoming Dr. Scott Sherr 04:42 - Why Stress Has a Metabolic Component Most People Overlook 06:00 - 94% of Adults Have Metabolic Dysfunction 07:00 - Mitochondria 101: Why Some Cells Have Thousands and One Has None 07:58 - Insulin Resistance 08:50 - Toxins, Infections, and Other Roads to Metabolic Breakdown 09:28 - How Mitochondrial Stress Triggers a Stress Hormone Spiral 10:47 - The Cell Danger Response 13:49 - Brain Defenders: How Mitochondrial Dysfunction Polarizes Microglia 15:22 - Stress Without a Stressor: How Metabolism Alone Can Trigger Fight-or-Flight 16:01 - Straws on the Camel's Back: Situational vs. Metabolic Stress 17:01 - GABA, the Brain's Brake Pedal, and Why Oral GABA Doesn't Work 18:20 - 40 Hz Light Therapy and Cognitive Decline21:00 - GABA vs. Glutamate: The Balance Behind 80% of Brain Signaling 22:17 - The Depression-Serotonin Myth and the Real Role of GABA 23:04 - Why GABA Supplements Stop Working Once You Heal Your Gut 24:18 - Kava, CBD, and the Amanita Mushroom Compound That Calms the Brain 25:06 - How to Know You're in Sympathetic Overdrive Without a Wearable 26:16 - 70,000 vs. 120,000 Thoughts a Day: The Stress Math 27:33 - Recovery Is the Real Marker of Resilience 28:05 - Heart Rate Variability Explained 29:22 - Why Going From the Gym Straight to a Cold Plunge Backfires 30:07 - How to Actually Use Your HRV Data (Trends, Not Absolutes) 31:21 - 3X4 Genetics: Your DNA Isn't a Verdict 33:16 - Why Dr. Perlmutter Quit Drinking Wine 34:13 - The Apollo Device and Its Impact on HRV 35:20 - Blue Light, Melatonin, and the Sleep Routine That Actually Moves the Needle 35:46 - Turn Off the News: How Constant Stimulation Feeds the Sympathetic Spiral 39:22 - Interleukin 6, AMP Kinase, and the Inflammatory Signals You Actually Need 39:29 - Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and Mitochondrial Biogenesis 42:00 - Why Timing and Sequencing Matter More Than "More Is Better" With HBOT 43:08 - The Aviv Clinic Research on Oxygen Delta and Blood Vessel Growth 44:01 - Methylene Blue: The Redox Cycler That Boosts Energy Without the Crash 45:14 - Why Liquid Supplements Fall Short and What to Use Instead 46:20 - The Problem With Relying on Coffee for Energy 47:00 - Methylene Blue as a Historic Antimicrobial: From Malaria to WWII 48:09 - Glyphosate, Rotenone, and the Environmental Toxins Destroying Complex One 49:14 - The Gut-Brain Connection and Sympathetic Activation 50:09 - The Gut-Brain Connection and the "Soft Kiss" Typo Story 53:08 - Why Sitting Down to Eat Actually Matters 53:52 - Healing the Gut First: The Fastest Path to Calming the Brain 54:37 - Psychedelics as a Tool to Break the Sympathetic Spiral 57:06 - Mitochondrial Medicine as the Common Denominator 58:14 - Closing Thoughts ___________________________ Instagram: / @davidperlmutter Website: https://www.drperlmutter.com/ Subscribe to our channel: / @davidperlmuttermd

🧠 Stay ahead with the latest in science, nutrition, and wellness by subscribing to Dr. Perlmutter's newsletter at: www.drperlmutter.com. ✉️🌱 ==== Dr. Perlmutter's groundbreaking new book, Brain Defenders, is now available for pre-order. Discover how to protect your brain and future health - reserve your copy today at https://www.braindefenders.com. What if everything you've been told about Alzheimer's, that it's caused by sticky plaque building up in your brain, is missing the real story? In this episode, Dr. David Perlmutter makes the case that the true driver of neurodegeneration isn't plaque at all. It's your own brain's immune cells turning against you. For decades the field blamed beta-amyloid protein for Alzheimer's. Perlmutter walks through a mechanism reshaping the science: the dysregulation of microglia, the immune cells that can either protect your brain or actively destroy it depending on how you live. We dig into the chilling Parkinson's case where contaminated heroin froze patients like statues and revealed immune cells still attacking the brain decades later, why the same self-perpetuating inflammation shows up in CTE, long COVID, and PTSD, how your gut and blood sugar flip these cells into attack mode, the 14 metabolic risk factors that could prevent up to half of dementia cases, and the MIT-pioneered 40 Hz light and sound therapy that slowed cognitive decline and stabilized brain volume in human trials. 00:00 - Introduction00:22 - The Plaque Theory and Why It's Incomplete00:32 - Meet the Microglia: Your Brain's Immune System00:57 - Supportive vs. Threatening: The M1/M2 Switch01:43 - Why This Underlies Nearly Every Neurodegenerative Disease02:35 - The Frozen Patients: A Parkinson's Mystery at Stanford03:06 - Contaminated Heroin and the MPTP Discovery04:09 - How a Mitochondrial Toxin Destroys Dopamine Cells05:46 - Microglia Still Attacking Decades Later06:27 - The Self-Perpetuating Inflammatory Cycle07:21 - The Same Pattern in CTE, Long COVID, and PTSD08:08 - Paraquat, Pesticides, and Parkinson's Risk10:45 - What Flips Your Cells Into Attack Mode11:57 - Leaky Gut, the Microbiome, and Your Brain13:59 - Imaging Threatening Cells in Living People15:44 - Immunometabolism: Why Brain Cells Change Function18:05 - 14 Risk Factors That Could Prevent Half of Dementia18:41 - The Breakthrough: Reprogramming Your Microglia21:19 - Don't Wait for Symptoms: Intervene Early22:56 - The Toolkit: Diet, Exercise, Fasting, Sleep, and More25:26 - 40 Hz Gamma Frequency: MIT's Pioneering Technology26:20 - Light Flicker Studies and Beta-Amyloid Reduction27:38 - Human Trials: Slowing Cognitive Decline30:28 - Stabilizing Brain Volume on MRI31:10 - Conclusion: You Are the Architect of Your Brain Dr. David Perlmutter, MD is a board-certified neurologist and Fellow of the American College of Nutrition whose work sits at the intersection of neurology, nutrition, and preventive medicine. He received his M.D. from the University of Miami School of Medicine and completed his neurology residency there before entering private practice in Naples, Florida. He serves as Director of Neuroscience Research at Bryan Therapeutics and sits on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. A six-time New York Times bestselling author published in more than 30 languages, his books include the #1 bestseller Grain Brain, Brain Maker, The Grain Brain Whole Life Plan, Brain Wash, and Drop Acid. His next book, Brain Defenders: Harness the Power of Your Immune Cells to Protect Your Brain for Life (Avery / Penguin), focuses on microglia and is scheduled for publication in August 2026. ___________________________Instagram: / davidperlmutterWebsite: https://www.drperlmutter.com/Subscribe to our channel:/ @davidperlmuttermd

🧠 Stay ahead with the latest in science, nutrition, and wellness by subscribing to Dr. Perlmutter’s newsletter at: www.drperlmutter.com. ✉️🌱 Thank you to our sponsors: EVY - https://www.optoceutics.com/perlmutter and the code perlmutter26 will be auto-applied to your order to get $200 off & free shipping (90 days risk-free). 3X4 Genetics - https://3X4genetics.com/DrPerlmutterfor a special offer when you sign up to decode your genetics and get personalized, science-backed health recommendations. ==== Dr. Perlmutter’s groundbreaking new book, Brain Defenders, is now available for pre-order. Discover how to protect your brain and future health - reserve your copy today at https://www.braindefenders.com. ==== What if the gene you've been told to fear isn't actually a verdict on your future, and the disease you're racing to treat has already been silently progressing for two to three decades before anyone notices? In this episode, Dr. Jonathan Fellows joins me to challenge how we think about Alzheimer's risk, diagnosis, and treatment, making the case that early detection and lifestyle intervention matter more than the medications most people pin their hope on. Dr. Jonathan Fellows is a neurologist with more than 25 years of clinical experience and serves as the Director of the Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorder Center at the Michigan Institute for Neurological Disorders, part of Corewell Health in Farmington Hills, Michigan, the largest private practice neurology group in the state. 00:00 - Introduction 00:39 - Brain Defenders: A New Way to Think About Brain Health 02:59 - Welcoming Dr. Jonathan Fellows 03:51 - Why Neurology School Doesn't Teach Prevention 05:27 - Inside the Michigan Institute for Neurological Disorders 07:44 - Starting the Conversation When a Family Gets the Alzheimer's Diagnosis 08:00 - Apraxia and the Real Warning Signs of Cognitive Decline 09:00 - Why Amyloid Alone Doesn't Equal an Alzheimer's Diagnosis 09:55 - The Centiloid Score: Measuring Amyloid in the Brain 11:21 - Blood-Based Biomarkers and the Rise of P-tau 217 13:19 - Elevated P-tau 217 at 40: A Wake-Up Call You Can't Ignore 13:32 - Habits in Your 30s and 40s vs. Disease in Your 60s and 70s 16:53 - 40 Hz Light Therapy and Cognitive Decline 18:53 - Why Not Every Amyloid-Positive Patient Should Get Anti-Amyloid Drugs 21:00 - Alzheimer's Drug Therapy Today vs. Where MS Treatment Stood in the 90s 23:59 - Why Early and Presymptomatic Detection Matters 25:21 - Will Anti-Amyloid Drugs Be Pushed to Presymptomatic Patients? 25:39 - What We Know for a Fact About Lifestyle and Disease Progression 26:27 - A Real Patient Case: When to Say No to Anti-Amyloid Drugs 28:30 - APOE Explained: The Gene That Changes Your Alzheimer's Risk 31:49 - 3X4 Genetics: Your DNA Isn't a Verdict 33:47 - How Exercise Can Offset APOE4 Risk 34:10 - APOE4 Is Not Deterministic — and Saying Otherwise Is Malpractice 34:51 - Down Syndrome, Presenilin, and the Truly Deterministic Cases 35:42 - ARIA Risk and Why Europe Restricts Anti-Amyloid Drugs for APOE4 Carriers 38:00 - Where Anti-Amyloid Drugs Still Fit in Treatment 39:14 - Current Clinical Trials at the Michigan Institute 39:49 - Programmable Microglia: The Brain's Immune System Explained 41:01 - Good Twin, Bad Twin: How Microglia Switch From Protector to Threat 42:09 - Beta-Amyloid as an Antimicrobial Defender? Rethinking the Enemy Narrative 42:49 - Insulin Resistance and the Brain-Metabolism Connection 43:41 - The Diabetes Epidemic Hiding in Plain Sight 43:58 - The Rainbow Lunchbox: A Preschooler Who Got It Wrong and Right 44:49 - Why a Third of Americans Are Pre-Diabetic and Don't Know It 46:30 - Closing Thoughts ___________________________ Instagram: / davidperlmutter Website: https://www.drperlmutter.com/ Subscribe to our channel: / @davidperlmuttermd

🧠 Stay ahead with the latest in science, nutrition, and wellness by subscribing to Dr. Perlmutter’s newsletter at: www.drperlmutter.com. ✉️🌱 Thank you to our sponsors: EVY -  https://www.optoceutics.com/perlmutter  and the code perlmutter26 will be auto-applied to your order to get $200 off & free shipping (90 days risk-free). 3X4 Genetics - https://3X4genetics.com/DrPerlmutter for a special offer when you sign up to decode your genetics and get personalized, science-backed health recommendations. ==== Dr. Perlmutter’s groundbreaking new book, Brain Defenders, is now available for pre-order. Discover how to protect your brain and future health - reserve your copy today at https://www.braindefenders.com. ==== What if Parkinson's isn't the genetic lottery we've been told it is, but a largely man-made disease driven by what we breathe, eat, and walk through every day? In this episode, Dr. Ray Dorsey returns to the podcast for his third conversation, this time to make the case that Parkinson's, ALS, Alzheimer's, and the rising tide of brain diseases sweeping the modern world are not inevitable inheritances but environmental consequences we have the power to change. Dr. Ray Dorsey is the Director of the Center for the Brain and the Environment at the Atria Health and Research Institute, where the mission is to identify the root causes of brain diseases from autism to Alzheimer's so they can be prevented. He is the co-author of Ending Parkinson's Disease and author of the new New York Times bestseller The Parkinson's Plan, which lays out a new path to preventing and treating one of the world's fastest growing diseases. 00:00 - Introduction: The Smoking Gun of Modern Brain Disease 00:42 - A New Way to Think About Brain Health: Brain Defenders 03:03 - Why Parkinson's Is Pretty Much Preventable 03:21 - Welcoming Dr. Ray Dorsey 04:36 - The Big Thesis: Parkinson's Is a Man-Made Disease 05:24 - What Defines a Man-Made Disease 05:59 - From 6 Cases in 1817 to 11.8 Million Today 06:53 - The Lung Cancer Parallel 07:22 - The PD GENEration Study: 87% Have No Genetic Cause 08:35 - Why Rising Cases Prove It's Environmental 09:55 - TCE and Perc: The Dry Cleaning Chemicals Linked to Parkinson's 11:08 - Glyphosate, Paraquat, and Mitochondrial Damage 15:13 - Practical Steps to Lower Your Exposure 16:58 - Sponsor: 40 Hz Light Therapy with EVY Light 18:58 - The South Dakota Cluster: Living Next to Cornfields 20:25 - Paraquat: Banned in 70 Countries, Still Used in the US 22:54 - Chlorpyrifos and the IQ Drop in Children 25:38 - The Audacity: Why 1 in 31 Kids Have Autism 26:10 - Pesticides in Breast Milk and Across the Placenta 30:00 - Misfolded Proteins and Loss of Smell as Early Warning 32:25 - Air Pollution: The Hidden Driver of Neurodegeneration 33:46 - The $50 Billion Economic Burden of Brain Disease 35:00 - Dr. Langston's MPTP Discovery: The First Environmental Cause 37:00 - Microglia, Mitochondria, and the Inflammation Cascade 40:30 - The Diabetes-Parkinson's Connection 42:00 - The Parkinson's 25: Practical Steps in the Book 47:30 - Carl's Story: Parkinson's at Age 17 from a Golf Course 50:00 - Why Golf Courses Could Spray Less 51:30 - Secondhand Exposure: You Don't Have to Apply It 53:00 - Soccer Players, ALS, and Heading the Ball 55:50 - Michael J. Fox, CTE, and the Multiple-Hit Hypothesis 57:30 - Resources: Environmental Working Group and Non-Toxic Neighborhoods 1:00:30 - The Mission of Neurology: Asking Why 1:01:30 - The Rising Tide of Brain Disease 1:03:30 - The Lancet Report on Modifiable Risk Factors 1:04:43 - Closing Thoughts ___________________________ Instagram:   / davidperlmutter   Website: https://www.drperlmutter.com/ Subscribe to our channel:    / @davidperlmuttermd

🧠 Stay ahead with the latest in science, nutrition, and wellness by subscribing to Dr. Perlmutter’s newsletter at: www.drperlmutter.com. ✉️🌱 Thank you to our sponsors: EVY -  https://www.optoceutics.com/perlmutter  and the code perlmutter26 will be auto-applied to your order to get $200 off & free shipping (90 days risk-free). 3X4 Genetics - https://3X4genetics.com/DrPerlmutter for a special offer when you sign up to decode your genetics and get personalized, science-backed health recommendations. ==== Dr. Perlmutter’s groundbreaking new book, Brain Defenders, is now available for pre-order. Discover how to protect your brain and future health - reserve your copy today at https://www.braindefenders.com. ==== What if the future of medicine isn't a smarter doctor, but a thinking partner that can hold your entire biology in mind at once? In this episode, Dr. Don Brown joins me to make the case that AI in medicine isn't a replacement for the clinician. It's an ally capable of seeing patterns no human brain could hold together on its own. Dr. Don Brown is a physician, computer scientist, and serial entrepreneur whose last software company sold for $1.4 billion in 2016. He returned to graduate school in his mid-50s to study biotechnology at Johns Hopkins, founded Lifeomic in 2017, and now leads Bioscope, a platform that uses AI to integrate a patient's entire biological picture into one dynamic view of health. We dig into why fragmented medicine fails at prevention, how Bioscope ingests the whole genome, microbiome, epigenome, and medical records into a single synoptic view, the real case where AI flagged arsenic toxicity in a patient misdiagnosed with restless leg syndrome, and what it looks like when AI personas begin guiding patients through their own protocols in real time. 00:00 - Introduction  00:53 - A New Way to Think About Brain Health: Brain Defenders  03:18 - Welcoming Dr. Don Brown  06:46 - From Physics to MD to Software Entrepreneur  09:01 - Back to Grad School at Johns Hopkins  10:35 - The Lifeomic Years: Cancer Care in the Cloud  12:34 - The Spark Behind Bioscope  15:27 - Building the Ultra-Secure Health Data Repository  16:26 - 40 Hz Light Therapy and Cognitive Decline  18:26 - The Epigenome: Why Your Genes Aren't Your Destiny  19:32 - Decoding the Microbiome and Mitochondrial Genetics  22:25 - What AI Actually Does With Your Health Data  23:39 - The Synoptic View: Borrowing From Aviation 26:36 - The 15 Dimensions of Health  29:23 - Why the Patient History Still Matters  30:23 - Inside the Bioscope Interface  31:38 - A Real Case: AI Catches Arsenic Toxicity  33:13 - Personalized Brain Health: 3X4 Genetics  35:10 - The Driverless Car Moment for Medicine  37:07 - Marketing to Concierge Physicians  40:33 - How Patient Data Gets Into the System  42:30 - Image Analysis and Specialized AI Partners  45:33 - The Biggest Misconception Patients Have About AI  47:14 - Meet Lumina: The Physician's AI Persona  48:00 - Cairo and the Future of AI Health Coaching  50:13 - Different AI Personas for Patients and Physicians  51:39 - Why Concierge Doctors Are Mobbing the Booth  55:00 - Closing Thoughts ___________________________ Instagram:   / davidperlmutter   Website: https://www.drperlmutter.com/ Subscribe to our channel:    / @davidperlmuttermd

🧠 Stay ahead with the latest in science, nutrition, and wellness by subscribing to Dr. Perlmutter’s newsletter at: www.drperlmutter.com. ✉️🌱Thank you to our sponsors: EVY - Go to https://www.optoceutics.com/perlmutter to get $200 off & free shipping (90 days risk-free). 3X4 Genetics - https://3X4genetics.com/DrPerlmutterfor a special offer when you sign up to decode your genetics and get personalized, science-backed health recommendations. ==== Dr. Perlmutter’s groundbreaking new book, Brain Defenders, is now available for pre-order. Discover how to protect your brain and future health - reserve your copy today at https://www.braindefenders.com. ==== What if your anxiety, brain fog, and burnout aren't mental health problems, but metabolic ones?In this episode, Dr. Robin Berzin joins Dr. David Perlmutter to make the case that the brain and body are not separate systems, and that treating them as if they are is costing millions of people their health. ==== 00:00 - Introduction 00:46 - Brain Defenders: A New Framework for Brain Health 03:00 - Welcoming Dr. Robin Berzin 05:23 - Why Smart, Motivated People Still Feel Terrible 08:37 - From Columbia Med to Founding Parsley Health 12:15 - The Problem With 15-Minute Appointments and Stacks of Prescriptions 14:37 - What Is Functional Medicine, Actually? 17:07 - Precision Medicine: Treating the N of One 19:45 - How AI Is Changing the Doctor's Ability to Connect the Dots 22:41 - State Change: Shifting Your Mind Through Your Body 25:35 - Why Anxiety and Depression Start in the Body 27:09 - 40 Hz Light Therapy and Cognitive Decline 29:43 - Exercise, Sugar, and Nutrient Deficiencies as Mental Health Levers 32:30 - SSRIs as a Tow Truck, Not a Destination 34:16 - Psychedelics and Trauma: Tools in the Toolkit 36:01 - Metabolic Flexibility and Why Losing It Wrecks Your Hormones 38:04 - Sleep, Wearables, and the One Night That Breaks Your Metabolism 40:37 - Continuous Glucose Monitors as a Mirror for Your Choices 42:19 - 3X4 Genetics: Your DNA Is a Roadmap, Not a Verdict 44:37 - Alzheimer's as Type 3 Diabetes: The Metabolic Brain Connection 46:21 - The Lab Work Your Doctor Isn't Ordering 49:22 - Fasting Insulin, Heavy Metals, and the Tests That Actually Matter 51:14 - What's Next: AI, Wearables, and the Future of Functional Medicine 53:56 - If You Feel Stuck: Own Your Biological Data 55:34 - Closing Thoughts ==== Dr. Robin Berzin, MD is a functional medicine physician and health tech entrepreneur leading the push to bring root-cause, precision medicine into mainstream healthcare. She earned her MD at Columbia, completed internal medicine residency at Mount Sinai, and trained in functional medicine under the field's top practitioners. Before medicine, she produced the Oprah and Friends Dr. Oz Radio Show, and she later worked in health tech during med school, sharpening her understanding of how digital platforms could expand access to personalized care.Today, she is founder and CEO of Parsley Health, the only national functional and longevity medicine clinic in the U.S., delivering virtual care across all 50 states plus physical clinics in NYC and LA. Under her leadership, Parsley has grown to nearly 30 clinicians and 40 health coaches and nurses, treated over 50,000 patients, and built a team-based, insurance-accessible model that puts functional medicine within reach beyond the wealthy. She also sits on the medical advisory board of Whoop.She is the author of State Change, which challenges the divide between mental and metabolic health and offers a practical framework for transforming mood, energy, and cognition through the body. Her work is widely featured across major health and wellness media, and she is recognized as a defining voice in the future of preventive, personalized medicine. ==== Instagram: / davidperlmutter Website: https://www.drperlmutter.com/ Subscribe to our channel:/ @davidperlmuttermd

🧠 Stay ahead with the latest in science, nutrition, and wellness by subscribing to Dr. Perlmutter’s newsletter at: www.drperlmutter.com. ✉️🌱 ==== Thank you to our sponsors: EVY -  Go to https://www.optoceutics.com/perlmutter  to get $200 off & free shipping (90 days risk-free).  3X4 Genetics - https://3X4genetics.com/DrPerlmutter for a special offer when you sign up to decode your genetics and get personalized, science-backed health recommendations. ==== Dr. Perlmutter’s groundbreaking new book, Brain Defenders, is now available for pre-order. Discover how to protect your brain and future health - reserve your copy today at https://www.braindefenders.com. ==== What if AI isn't on a path to become a better human — but a fundamentally different kind of mind altogether? In this episode, Tom Griffiths joins me to challenge how we think about intelligence itself — and to make a compelling case that AI systems are best understood not as smarter or dumber than humans, but as "alien organisms" solving problems in ways our brains never could. Tom Griffiths is a cognitive scientist, the Henry R. Luce Professor of Psychology and Computer Science at Princeton University, and head of Princeton's AI Lab. He is the co-author of the international bestseller Algorithms to Live By and author of the new book The Laws of Thought — an ambitious survey of three centuries of attempts to capture human thinking in mathematics. We dig into the three mathematical frameworks scientists use to model thought, why a human toddler can learn language from a fraction of the data a large language model requires, what "resource rationality" reveals about mental health and decision-making, and what we stand to lose — and gain — as we increasingly outsource our thinking to machines. ==== 00:00 - Introduction 00:46 - A New Way to Think About Brain Health: Brain Defenders 05:27 - Welcoming Cognitive Scientist Tom Griffiths 06:04 - The Great Mystery: Can Math Explain How We Think? 08:23 - Three Threads of Cognitive Science: Rules, Networks, Probability 10:17 - Why AI Needs 10,000x More Data Than a Child 12:27 - Intuition Decoded: How Neural Networks Mirror Implicit Learning 15:03 - The Creativity Gap: Why AI Can't Think Outside the Box 18:06 - 40 Hz Light Therapy and Cognitive Decline 20:07 - Inductive Bias: The Evolutionary Head Start of the Human Brain 22:41 - Mental Health Through Three Levels of Analysis 25:25 - Resource Rationality: Why Humans Aren't Actually Irrational 29:33 - Free Will Through the Lens of the Laws of Thought 31:35 - Rethinking Education With Cognitive Science 34:33 - Evolutionary Mismatch: The Mind Meets Modern Technology 37:23 - AI as Alien Intelligence: A New Mental Model 38:04 - Personalized Brain Health: 3X4 Genetics 39:55 - Uncertainty: The Hidden Engine of Human Cognition 43:34 - Bayesian Inference: The Math of "Best Guessing" 44:37 - The Biggest Misconceptions About Intelligence 47:14 - Algorithms to Live By: Optimizing Daily Decisions 49:22 - Five Years From Now: The AI Forecast 51:33 - The Calculator Effect: What Happens When We Outsource Thinking 53:56 - Metacognition: Becoming the Manager of AI 55:34 - Closing Thoughts ==== Instagram:   / davidperlmutter   Website: https://www.drperlmutter.com/ Subscribe to our channel:    / @davidperlmuttermd

🧠 Stay ahead with the latest in science, nutrition, and wellness by subscribing to Dr. Perlmutter’s newsletter at: www.drperlmutter.com. ✉️🌱 Thank you to our sponsors: EVY - https://www.optoceutics.com/perlmutter and the code perlmutter26 will be auto-applied to your order to get $200 off & free shipping (90 days risk-free). 3X4 Genetics - https://3X4genetics.com/DrPerlmutter for a special offer when you sign up to decode your genetics and get personalized, science-backed health recommendations. ==== Dr. Perlmutter’s groundbreaking new book, Brain Defenders, is now available for pre-order. Discover how to protect your brain and future health - reserve your copy today at https://www.braindefenders.com. ==== Why is psychiatry the only medical specialty that doesn't look at the organ it treats? In this episode, Dr. Daniel Amen joins me to challenge how mental health is diagnosed and treated — and to make a compelling case that "depression" is as vague a diagnosis as "chest pain." Dr. Amen is a double-board-certified psychiatrist, 18-time New York Times bestselling author, and founder of Amen Clinics, where his team has performed nearly 300,000 SPECT brain scans — the largest functional brain imaging database in the world. We dig into what these scans actually reveal: hidden traumatic brain injuries patients never reported, the inflammatory aftermath of COVID, why SSRIs work for some and fail for others, and why the brain you have today is not the brain you're stuck with. ==== 00:00 - Introduction 01:42 - Psychiatry's Missing Link: The Organ of Treatment 03:22 - The Divergence of Neurology and Psychiatry 05:18 - Beyond Symptoms: Patterns of Brain Health 08:34 - Machine Learning and Autism Insights 10:45 - The Role of the Cerebellum in Thought Coordination 12:46 - The Impact of Undiagnosed Traumatic Brain Injury 14:58 - Reversing Damage: NFL Brain Study Results 16:26 - What SPECT Imaging Reveals About Metabolic Activity 17:38 - COVID-19 and Infectious Causes of Psychiatric Issues 22:11 - Neuroplasticity: Growing a Healthier Brain at Any Age 25:54 - New Technologies: 40 Hz Light and Sound Stimulation 28:27 - Metabolic Health: How Weight Affects Brain Volume 30:25 - Chronic Stress and the Overactive Limbic Brain 31:38 - Predicting Suicide Risk Through Imaging 33:41 - Volunteering and the Default Mode Network 35:01 - Concerns Over Psilocybin and Marijuana Scans 40:12 - Chronic Pain: Breaking the "Doom Loop" 43:12 - Lightning Round: Daily Habits for a Better Brain ==== Daniel G. Amen, MD is a double board-certified psychiatrist, clinical neuroscientist, and brain imaging specialist whose pioneering clinical use of SPECT (single-photon emission computed tomography) has built the world's largest functional brain imaging database, with nearly 300,000 scans on patients from 155 countries. A graduate of Southern California College (now Vanguard University), Dr. Amen earned his medical degree from Oral Roberts University School of Medicine. His training includes a general psychiatric residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and a child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu. Currently, Dr. Amen serves as founder and CEO of Amen Clinics, with eleven locations across the United States, and is the founder of BrainMD and Amen University. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a multiple-time New York Times bestselling author whose books have been translated into 50 languages, and the lead researcher on the world's largest brain imaging and rehabilitation study on professional football players. His work has been published in Molecular Psychiatry, Translational Psychiatry, PLOS One, and the Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences. ___________________________ Instagram: / davidperlmutter Website: https://www.drperlmutter.com/ Subscribe to our channel: / @davidperlmuttermd

🧠 Stay ahead with the latest in science, nutrition, and wellness by subscribing to Dr. Perlmutter’s newsletter at: www.drperlmutter.com. ✉️🌱 Thank you to our sponsors: EVY - https://www.optoceutics.com/perlmutter and the code perlmutter26 will be auto-applied to your order to get $200 off & free shipping (90 days risk-free). 3X4 Genetics - https://3X4genetics.com/DrPerlmutter for a special offer when you sign up to decode your genetics and get personalized, science-backed health recommendations. ==== Dr. Perlmutter’s groundbreaking new book, Brain Defenders, is now available for pre-order. Discover how to protect your brain and future health - reserve your copy today at https://www.braindefenders.com. ==== Loneliness is no longer a private struggle, it’s a public-health issue that we’ve discussed quite a bit in my recent books. Research increasingly links social isolation to cognitive decline, depression, cardiovascular disease, and shortened lifespan. Yet despite these findings, we rarely explore how to build and sustain meaningful connection in a modern world designed for distraction. That’s why I invited Barnet Bain to join me on The Empowering Neurologist podcast. Barnet is a filmmaker, author, and educator whose work bridges psychology, spirituality, and lived human experience. You may recognize his work from films such as What Dreams May Come or Milton’s Secret, but his newest contribution may be his most relevant yet. His book, How to Be a Friend (In an Unfriendly World), is not about social performance or personality traits. It’s about safety, presence, listening, and emotional responsibility, qualities that directly influence nervous-system regulation and mental health. What makes this work especially important is that it reframes friendship as a skill set rather than a personality trait. Bain shows how fear, shame, unresolved trauma, and cultural conditioning quietly erode our relationships, and how conscious awareness can restore them. From a neurological perspective, this matters deeply. The brain is a social organ. Connection shapes stress responses, inflammation, cognition, and emotional regulation. Friendship isn’t a luxury, it’s foundational. This conversation isn’t about having more friends. It’s about being a better one. To others. And to yourself. In a world that feels increasingly fast, cold, and fragmented, this is a conversation worth having. ==== 00:00 Intro 02:58 Why Friendship Matters for Health and Resilience 06:24 From Columbia to the Practice of Presence 10:41 Friendship as Non-Transactional Love 14:20 The Childhood Stories That Shape the Self 21:39 Ad: Optoceutics 23:39 Projection, Parenting, and Conditional Love 30:08 Friendship as a Crucible for Self-Awareness 35:42 Why Connection Feels Harder in Modern Life 39:03 Safety, Self-Knowledge, and the Ground of Friendship 41:34 Ad: 3X4 Genetics 44:34 Boundaries, Values, and the Meaning of Honor 49:16 Friendship, Self-Forgiveness, and Inner Change 56:25 Presence as the Greatest Gift 58:34 Why Feeling Is Harder Than Doing ==== Barnet Bain is a Canadian filmmaker, author, and educator. His film credits include “Milton’s Secret” (director, writer), Oscar winner “What Dreams May Come” (producer), Emmy Award nominee for Outstanding TV Movie “Homeless to Harvard” (executive producer), “The Celestine Prophecy” (writer, producer), and “Jesus,” translated into more than 2,245 languages and often cited as the most widely seen film in history by The New York Times. ___________________________ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidperlmutter/ Website: https://www.drperlmutter.com/ Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDRl_UAXxbHyOOjklnA0dxQ/?sub_confirmation=1