Obstructive sleep apnea can stop or sharply reduce your breathing dozens of times an hour without you remembering it, which is why eight hours in bed can still leave you foggy, with morning headaches and blood pressure that is hard to control.

• What to do: Do not diagnose yourself from a podcast or a smartwatch. If you snore loudly, wake with a dry mouth or headache, or feel exhausted after eight hours, ask your doctor for a home sleep test or a night in a sleep lab.
• Why it matters: Untreated apnea is associated with high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation, heart failure, coronary disease, stroke, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and trouble with memory and focus. Mark Hyman describes a patient who lost 50 pounds without trying after starting treatment.
• How to apply it: Use CPAP now and investigate causes at the same time. If the mask leaks or dries your mouth, try a nasal mask or pillows, heated humidity, a heated tube or a different pressure setting. Limit alcohol, stop smoking, review medications such as opioids and treat nasal congestion.
• Metrics: Doctors track the AHI, the apnea hypopnea index, which counts breathing events per hour of sleep. Retest after weight loss or surgery to confirm it improved.
• Tools: Function Health offers over 160 lab tests for $365 a year, including insulin and glucose, useful because thyroid and metabolic problems can contribute.
• Risks: Mouth tape is not a treatment for suspected sleep apnea, and stopping CPAP because you feel better can hide a problem that is still there.
• Exceptions: Being thin or fit does not rule it out, and women often show fatigue, headaches or insomnia instead of loud snoring.

Sauerkraut is not a probiotic: a probiotic is a specific strain with a known genome and clinical or randomized trial evidence, while the live microbes in sauerkraut, kimchi or kombucha are just live microbes, and only some yogurt brands list strains backed by evidence.

• What to do: Pick supplements or yogurts that print the strain name, take them with food and swap products if you notice no change after a trial period. Eat varied fiber and a mix of ferments such as yogurt, kefir, sourdough, tempeh and sauerkraut.
• Why it matters: Strains of the same species can act oppositely (EHEC E. coli vs the harmless E. coli in your gut), and a 37 study review of fermented dairy found benefits for gut symptoms, serum TNF alpha and gut barrier function.
• How to apply it: Store probiotics cool, dry and away from oxygen. If you avoid dairy, use plant-based yogurt, water kefir or kvass, whose microbes also survive in the gut. Treat commercial stool tests as information, and talk to a doctor or dietitian about persistent symptoms.
• Metrics: 37 fermented dairy studies; kimchi vs cabbage over 3 weeks; fecal calprotectin for inflammation and zonulin for gut wall function.
• Tools: Strain labels and the US probiotic guideline; stool tests only to detect pathogens such as C. diff.
• Risks: Wrongly handled food can carry Clostridium botulinum, and washing produce does not remove all pathogens.
• Exceptions: Most microbes pass through rather than settle, so the benefit depends on regular intake.

An average American spends about 12.5 of their final years sick, disabled or in a nursing home, and this video blames chronic inflammation and chronic disease rather than age, which ten habits can push back.

• What to do: Pick one to three of the ten habits and start tonight: get labs, eat fat and animal protein first, cut sugar, grains and seed oils, lift something heavy two or three times a week and sleep at least 7 hours.
• Why it matters: Visceral fat is the most dangerous fat, and in a British Medical Journal study the weakest grip carried about one and two thirds the risk of death of the strongest grip.
• How to apply it: Measure your waist and height with a tape, take private photos every one to three months, fast 12 to 14 hours before blood tests, skip snacks, stand up and sit down every 10 to 15 minutes and raise the head of your bed.
• Metrics: Hemoglobin A1C, fasting insulin, triglycerides, HDL, hs-CRP, vitamin D 25, sex hormones, waist-to-height ratio, five timed floor rises and 10 seconds on each leg.
• Tools: A tailor's tape, light dumbbells, red bricks or 2 by 4 blocks under the bed legs and the Proper Human Diet community for accountability.
• Risks: Snacks of any kind, seed oils, alcohol and sugary breakfasts keep insulin and inflammation high.
• Exceptions: Some people do fine on 6.5 hours of sleep, and a first step can be as small as walking to the mailbox.

A family physician with 22 years of practice says a keto carnivore diet, which they call a proper human diet, can heal down to the mitochondrial level and in many cases put severe mental health disorders into complete remission, based on patient stories rather than trials.

• What to do: If you live with anxiety, depression or brain fog, talk to your doctor and consider a time-limited trial of a keto carnivore diet built on meat, eggs and animal fat.
• Why it matters: The physician has seen patients on a handful of medications with side effects such as lost sexual desire, and reports hope returning once they changed how they ate.
• How to apply it: Eat the meat without buying supplements or products, note your mood, anxiety and mental clarity week by week, and do not change psychiatric medication without professional supervision.
• Metrics: Stories in the video include Todd, who describes symptoms gone in three weeks, and a person with schizophrenia discharged within a month or two after decades in an institution.
• Risks: These are testimonies, not controlled studies, so stopping prescribed medication on your own could be harmful.
• Exceptions: The approach is not only a weight loss diet, and people without a formal diagnosis but with constant fog and fatigue are also part of the picture.

Dr. Berry argues that bacon nitrates are harmless because your salivary glands concentrate them tenfold and mouth bacteria turn them into nitrite and then nitric oxide, a vasodilator that relaxes blood vessels; in a study of 19 adults, an antibacterial mouthwash cut salivary nitrite by 90% and raised blood pressure within a day.

• What to do: Understand the nitrate to nitrite to nitric oxide pathway before fearing the word "nitrate". Berry notes that celery, beet greens and many vegetables carry 5 to 10 times more nitrates than Berry's bacon.
• Why it matters: Berry's point is that your body would not concentrate nitrates 10 times in saliva, and your kidneys would not hold on to them, if they were a poison. Berry links the nitric oxide effect to lower blood pressure.
• How to apply it: Stop using antibacterial mouthwash if you want to keep the mouth bacteria that convert nitrate into nitrite. Read the label: in the United States "uncured" or "no nitrates added" bacon can still contain nitrates from celery or beet greens.
• Metrics: 19 healthy adults took chlorhexidine twice a day, their salivary nitrite dropped 90% and their blood pressure rose within a single day. Berry also cites two drug company attempts at nitrate pills or inhalers that did not deliver enough benefit.
• Risks: This is one physician's view and it runs against mainstream guidance. The WHO's cancer agency classifies processed meat, including bacon, as carcinogenic to humans, and most health authorities advise limiting it.
• Exceptions: Berry says to watch oxalates if you rely on celery and beet greens for nitrates, which is not a concern with bacon, bologna or hot dogs. Chlorhexidine, not every mouthwash, was the product in the study.

Bone mineral density predicts only about 70% of fracture risk because a two-dimensional DEXA misses bone shape, and lifting challenging loads can thicken the femoral neck cortex even when hip density barely changes.

• What to do: Do two strength sessions a week built on a squat, hinge, push, pull and carry, add balance moves and keep up daily activity such as walking, dancing or shoveling.
• Why it matters: Bone mass peaks in your 20s and about 5% of the skeleton is remodeled every year, so the goal after 65 is to hold on to bone and prevent falls.
• How to apply it: Use 8 to 12 repetitions, pick difficulty rather than maximum weight, try walking lunges and step-ups, and add a few sets of 10 to 12 small hops if your joints allow.
• Metrics: BMD explains about 70% of fracture risk, FRAX estimates 10 year fracture probability, and CTX and P1NP track bone resorption and formation.
• Tools: DEXA with 3D hip analysis, FRAX, a machine circuit for beginners, Function Health tests, Prolon and Momentous creatine appear in the episode.
• Risks: Calling an X-ray bone on bone can scare people away from exercise, and heavy loads with poor form raise injury risk for beginners.
• Exceptions: For someone using a walker with severe arthritis, the goal is function and fall prevention, not bone density.

A registered dental hygienist names four 2026 favorites they use and recommend to patients: the Quip Rev oscillating toothbrush, GUM Professional Clean floss picks, Sensodyne Clinical Repair toothpaste and the Quip rechargeable cordless water flosser.

• What to do: Choose an affordable oscillating toothbrush, durable floss picks that do not fray and a sensitivity toothpaste with enamel remineralization, then add a water flosser if you want extra cleaning.
• Why it matters: Technique decides results. Guide an electric brush slowly from tooth to tooth and never scrub, and floss by hugging the tooth up and down on each side.
• How to apply it: Subscribe to brush head refills every 3 months, keep floss picks in your bag, car and desk, and start the water flosser on its gentle mode before moving to deep clean pressure.
• Tools: Quip Rev, GUM Professional Clean Floss Picks, Sensodyne Clinical Repair and the Quip water flosser.
• Risks: The Sensodyne version they use contains SLS, which can irritate some mouths. Check the label for an SLS-free option if you have irritation.
• Exceptions: Sensodyne costs more than some pastes, and the water flosser category is crowded, so compare options if budget matters.

Fasting feeds Akkermansia, a gut bacterium that eats the intestinal mucus layer, and with no fiber or polyphenols competing for its attention it can overgrow and thin that lining, which fits a Swedish study of about 4,200 people linking high Akkermansia on a low fiber diet to higher type 2 diabetes odds.

• What to do: Stay in the Goldilocks zone. Pair fasting with polyphenol and resistant starch foods such as berries, apple peel and crucifers, and vary your foods instead of repeating the same ones every day.
• Why it matters: Biology follows a U shaped curve, so even a good thing like fasting can drift out of balance over time through accumulation, degradation, attenuation and compensation. Akkermansia is good in balance and harmful when it has only the gut lining to eat.
• How to apply it: Eat foraging style foods the day before a fast (berries, resistant starch, crucifers, lower protein), keep fasts shorter, and treat a small handful of berries during a fast as acceptable. Do not take probiotics daily as a rule. Consider a few weeks only after antibiotics.
• Metrics: About 20 types of mucin are produced in the body. Apple peel carries very long procyanidin chains of roughly 30,000 units. Count calories weekly if at all, not daily.
• Tools: Element 500 mg sodium cans, with 100 mg potassium and 30 mg magnesium, no sugar and no caffeine, sipped through a fast. A CGM and ketone monitor can show how small foods affect you.
• Risks: Repeated long fasts can trigger hyperphagia, a binge urge that grows with a big meal. Daily antioxidants may blunt useful signaling after exercise, and carnivore style diets can raise Akkermansia without fiber to balance it.
• Exceptions: Akkermansia works best when your levels are low. Older adults tend to have more Akkermansia but fewer Bifidobacteria, which can strain the immune system.

GLP-1 medications quiet the constant mental chatter about food that doctors call food noise, and when people stop them, in roughly 60% of the people studied blood sugar, blood pressure and waist circumference climb back up as hunger returns.

• What to do: Treat obesity as a medical condition, not a character flaw. Ask your doctor why you do or do not qualify for a GLP-1, and combine medication with strength training, protein, fiber and a registered dietitian rather than waiting to "earn" treatment.
• Why it matters: Hunger is biology shaped by genes, hormones and environment, so shame does not work. The guest says some antidepressants, antipsychotics and steroids drive appetite, and menopause changes how fat is stored.
• How to apply it: If you feel nauseous or constipated on a GLP-1, aim for 25 g of fiber a day for women and 30 g for men, spread protein and fiber across the day, drink around 1.5 liters of fluid and do not raise the dose until symptoms settle. Struggling to reach your protein minimums usually means the dose is too high.
• Metrics: The new lipid guidelines for 2026 aim for LDL under 100, under 70 if lipoprotein(a) is high, and total cholesterol under 200, with screening from age 30. Roughly 1 in 10 women of reproductive age has PCOS.
• Tools: Cost Plus Drugs buys directly from manufacturers and GoodRx finds the lowest prices. The guest paid about $35 at CVS for Repatha with a GoodRx coupon.
• Risks: Compounded GLP-1s skip the FDA approval process and some are mixed with other ingredients. Stop the drug straight away if you become pregnant, and plan a two month washout before conception.
• Exceptions: Not everyone who asks for a GLP-1 qualifies. Someone with a BMI around 23 and PCOS may do better with metformin or a lower impact option.

Yes, you can be insulin resistant with normal blood sugar, because glucose is the last marker to rise while fasting insulin climbs first, and a fasting insulin under 5 is the target almost nobody tests.

• What to do: Ask for fasting insulin, hemoglobin A1C and fasting glucose, then check your waist to hip ratio and body composition instead of trusting glucose alone.
• Why it matters: One patient had glucose under 110 after two colas worth of sugar yet an insulin near 300, and doctors who test only glucose miss many cases.
• How to apply it: Cut starch and sugar, eat protein, fat and 30 grams of fiber, walk 10 to 20 minutes after meals, lift weights, sleep well and fast 12 to 14 hours overnight.
• Metrics: Fasting glucose 70 to 90, fasting insulin under 5, A1C about 5.0 to 5.2, post meal glucose under 110 to 120, waist to hip ratio under 0.8 for men and 0.9 for women.
• Tools: Function Health tests with an insulin resistance score from 0 to 100, a continuous glucose monitor for a few weeks and a tape measure.
• Risks: Statins, sleep apnea, chronic stress and artificial sweeteners can worsen insulin resistance or cravings.
• Exceptions: A glucose spike after eating is normal, and thin people can still carry hidden fat, so body composition matters more than weight.