251. Dr. Labib Ghulmiyyah: How to Improve Sperm Count and Fertility Naturally

Sperm count has dropped roughly 1% every single year, and most men have no idea their lifestyle choices are the driving force. I’m back today with Dr. Labib Ghulmiyyah to get specific about what young men can do to protect and improve sperm quality, from eliminating environmental toxins to the measurable impact of just six months of consistent exercise. What would it mean to take your future family’s health as seriously as your own performance? CLICK HERE TO BECOME GARYS VIP!: https://bit.ly/4ai0Xwg Get Dr. Labib Ghulmiyyah’s book, “Gen Tox Live Clean“ here: https://bit.ly/4opv8rC Connect with Dr. Labib Ghulmiyyah Website: https://bit.ly/3XiOFOt YouTube: https://bit.ly/4hJ9oEP Instagram: https://bit.ly/48ZtLLD TikTok: https://bit.ly/43fivXJ LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/4or3R8o Thank you to our partners A-GAME: “ULTIMATE15” FOR 15% OFF: http://bit.ly/4kek1ij AION: “ULTIMATE10” FOR 10% OFF: https://bit.ly/4h6KHAD AIRES: "ULTIMATE20 " FOR 20% OFF: https://bit.ly/4a3Duze BAJA GOLD: "ULTIMATE10" FOR 10% OFF: https://bit.ly/3WSBqUa BODYHEALTH: “ULTIMATE20” FOR 20% OFF: http://bit.ly/4e5IjsV CARAWAY: “ULTIMATE” FOR 10% OFF: https://bit.ly/3Q1VmkC COLD LIFE: THE ULTIMATE HUMAN PLUNGE: https://bit.ly/4eULUKp GENETIC METHYLATION TEST (UK ONLY): https://bit.ly/48QJJrk GENETIC TEST (USA ONLY): ⁠https://bit.ly/3Yg1Uk9 GOPUFF: GET YOUR FAVORITE SNACK!: https://bit.ly/4obIFDC H2TABS: “ULTIMATE10” FOR 10% OFF: https://bit.ly/4hMNdgg HEALF: 10% OFF YOUR ORDER: https://bit.ly/41HJg6S PEPTUAL: “TUH10” FOR 10% OFF: https://bit.ly/4mKxgcn RHO NUTRITION: “ULTIMATE15” FOR 15% OFF: https://bit.ly/44fFza0 SNOOZE: LET’S GET TO SLEEP!: https://bit.ly/4pt1T6V WHOOP: JOIN & GET 1 FREE MONTH!: https://bit.ly/3VQ0nzW Watch the “Ultimate Human Podcast” every Tuesday & Thursday at 9AM EST: YouTube: https://bit.ly/3RPQYX8 Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3RQftU0 Connect with Gary Brecka Instagram: https://bit.ly/3RPpnFs TikTok: https://bit.ly/4coJ8fo X: https://bit.ly/3Opc8tf Facebook: https://bit.ly/464VA1H LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/4hH7Ri2 Website: https://bit.ly/4eLDbdU Merch: https://bit.ly/4aBpOM1 Newsletter: https://bit.ly/47ejrws Ask Gary: https://bit.ly/3PEAJuG Recommended Supplements for Better Sperm Quality: Zinc, Selenium, Methylated B Vitamins, Methylfolate, Omega-3, Vitamins C & E, CoQ10, Lycopene Timestamps 00:00 Intro of Show 03:52 Biggest Factors of Infertility 06:06 1000 Days of Pregnancy 07:44 Road to a Healthy Pregnancy 11:14 How to Have the Healthiest Sperm? 14:24 Women and Genetic Methylation Testing 20:27 Health Span Starts in the Womb 22:56 Is Supplementation Necessary for Pregnancy? 25:44 Vaginal Birth vs. Cesarean Birth 35:00 Importance of Breastfeeding 41:37 Hormone Replacement Therapy Benefits 49:35 Lesser Anxiety Risks from Children Sleeping with their Parents 54:07 Effects of Migration 58:10 How to Live Healthily 1:01:49 Impact of Lifestyle in One’s Health 1:07:55 What does it mean to you to be an Ultimate Human? Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not provide medical advice. It is not intended for diagnosing or treating any health condition. Always consult a licensed healthcare professional before making health or wellness decisions. Gary Brecka is the owner of Ultimate Human, LLC which operates The Ultimate Human podcast and promotes certain third-party products used by Gary Brecka in his personal health and wellness protocols and daily life and for which Ultimate Human LLC and / or Gary Brecka directly or indirectly holds an economic interest or receives compensation. Accordingly, statements made by Gary Brecka and others (including on The Ultimate Human podcast) may be considered promotional in nature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  For me, I always say health span starts in the womb because the maternal environment is what the fetal environment is. It's going to be your early stages of life and then eventually your adult diseases.

• 0:11Gary Brecka?

  1% year-over-year reduction in sperm count, 2% year-over-year reduction in fertility rates. When you start to combine these statistics, 1% doesn't sound like a big deal until you realize, okay, well, in 10 years, we're down 10%.

• 0:24Speaker 00

  If you look at the sperm count dropping and at the same time you see, for example, the production of plastic and other chemicals is going up. Small dosages that can accumulate and cause problems with time.

• 0:34Gary Brecka?

  What are some of the must haves or must dos that society, men and women both, need to be engaged in on a regular basis?

• 0:43Speaker 00

  So I think it's always a good opportunity to...

• 0:58Gary Brecka?

  What if I told you that the health of your future child is being decided right now, before you even conceive? Today's guest is someone I met halfway around the world in Saudi Arabia at the Xenos Longevity Summit. We recorded a podcast there and it got so much traction, we had to bring him back to finish the conversation. Dr. Labib is a board-certified OB-GYN specializing in maternal fetal medicine, fertility, and women's health. But what makes him different is how he approaches pregnancy, not as a 280-day event, but as a 1,000-day journey that starts long before conception and extends throughout the first two years of a baby's life. In this episode, we're diving into the fertility crisis no one's talking about, plummeting

• 1:39Gary Brecka?

  sperm counts, rising miscarriage rates, and why lifestyle, not just genetics, is programming the next generation. We're also getting into the black box warning the FDA just lifted on hormone replacement therapy, why 50 million women needlessly suffered, and how migration, stress, and even sleep debt are secretly sabotaging fertility. This is for the young couples trying to conceive, the parents who want healthy, resilient kids, and anyone who wants to understand how the first 1,000 days of life set the stage for longevity. So, welcome. Welcome to the Ultimate Human Podcast. I'm your host, human biologist Gary Brecka. And today, we're going down the road of fertility, pregnancy, hormones, and how to give your kids the ultimate shot at a long, healthy life.

• 2:22Gary Brecka?

  Hey, guys. Welcome back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. I'm your host, human biologist Gary Brecka, where we go down the road of everything anti-aging, biohacking, longevity, and everything in between. And today, we're actually catering to those young couples trying to conceive, looking at how they have a healthy pregnancy. And listen up, men. It's not just for the ladies anymore. I have a doctor here today to talk about how couples can prepare for pregnancy, fertility, healthy sperm counts, and really healthy, happy babies that are going to live a long time. And we're going to go down the road of nutrition, pregnancy, wellness. I'm so excited for this podcast. We actually started this podcast in Saudi Arabia.

• 3:03Gary Brecka?

  We were short on time, and we had so many positive comments that I brought this guest back today. So, welcome back to the podcast, Dr. Labib Gomay.

• 3:10Speaker 00

  Thank you, Gary. Thank you. I'm so ready excited for round two of the discussion.

• 3:15Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, so am I. And ironically, we both live in Miami.

• 3:17Speaker 00

  Exactly. Yeah. So, I don't know why we did that. It's a sign. We should do it again.

• 3:21Gary Brecka?

  I don't know why we did the podcast in Saudi Arabia. We had to go halfway around the world. But we were both at the Xenos Longevity Summit. It was an amazing summit. I mean, that side of the world is really waking up to wellness, longevity. It's just astounding what's going on over there with development and their commitment to health and wellness and keeping people out of the system. But I really enjoyed the podcast. I felt like we were just getting into the meat, and then we had to cut the time short. So, I'm really excited to run this with you today. You know, I remember you talking about this pregnancy being 1,000 days of pregnancy. You know, the 365 days plus another 700 days.

• 4:04Gary Brecka?

  And, you know, I'm concerned about fertility rates, the drop in sperm counts. You know, when I was at a Maha meeting recently, and they were talking about the 1% year-over-year reduction in sperm count.

• 4:23Gary Brecka?

  Two percent year-over-year reduction in fertility rates. And you start to combine these statistics. One percent doesn't sound like a big deal until you realize, okay, well, in 10 years, we're down 10%

• 4:33Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 4:33Gary Brecka?

  in sperm count and another possibly 20% in fertility. And what do you think is the biggest contributor to these things?

• 4:43Speaker 00

  Well, I think lifestyle is absolutely a risk factor for how sperm counts are dropping. If you look at the sperm count dropping and at the same time, you see, for example, the production of plastic and other chemicals is going up. So one curve is coming down, one is going up. I mean, it's probably a contributing factor, maybe not the only factor, but there is something there. There is fire happening, the sperm counts are dropping. And also, we can, we're seeing more miscarriages. We're seeing more couples going to, you know, artificial reproductive technologies like IVF. Not only

• 5:19Gary Brecka?

  And it's not an easy process.

• 5:21Speaker 00

  Yes, it is. It is a complicated process. But today, there's, you know, more advanced technology that would probably make it easier on couples. But again, it is time consuming, it's stressful, it would cause anxiety. And then plus you have the women grow, go through testing, injections, the retrieval process and all of that. And then, of course, then you have the pregnancy, which could sometimes be twins and triplets and, you know, which are, which makes things more complicated.

• 5:49Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, you can't get pregnant, then all of a sudden, it's like bam, there's three for you.

• 5:52Speaker 00

  Exactly. So a lot of people criticize and say, oh, people are going to IVF very quickly and not being patient. But there is more infertility out there.

• 6:01Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 6:02Speaker 00

  And I think you mentioned the thousand days. Yes, the pregnancy is usually 280 days, 40 weeks. But I call it the thousand days because there's the before, which is super important.

• 6:14Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 6:14Speaker 00

  And then the pregnancy itself, the two, and then the first two years of life, which I think dictates a lot of our biology and how we're going to become, you know, later on, if we're going to develop diseases. So even the first two years of life, whether you're being breastfed, whether, depending on what you're eating, what are you being exposed So in the first two years of life, your epigenetics will change. And this is where the biology is, you know, programmable in the best way. Of course, we can change things later on. But the earlier you do it, the better you're gonna be able to cope with life and the stresses of life.

• 6:48Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, you know, I have this theory that in this whole longevity biohacking, anti-aging movement. What I've seen as kind of an underlying theme, nobody really talks about is a lot of what we're doing is just getting back to the basics. Whole food diet, sleep, mobility, sunlight, grounding, you know, sense of community, sense of purpose. And if couples are listening to this podcast right now, and I really would encourage, especially young couples that are trying to conceive, to listen to this. You know, I have two kids that are coming into this age, my son Cole, he's 25. And he's getting married in September and he and his fiancee have been together a long time and are starting to have this conversation.

• 7:32Gary Brecka?

  And, you know, I know there's a lot of people in their peer group, my daughter's 27 and she's starting to think about this too. So this is something that's very near and dear to my heart. And so for young couples that are listening to this, you know, I think that we think of pregnancy and conception and birth and what happens to the fetus and the child during this two-year period as largely being the woman's role. Right? She gets pregnant, she has the baby, she cares for the baby, she breastfeeds the baby. But I liked what we began to talk about in Saudi because you were really talking about it as a couple's journey. And like the contribution that men can make to ensuring, or at least increasing the odds that they have really healthy, happy,

• 8:15Gary Brecka?

  amazing children with strong immune systems that are really prepared for life's journey. So I wonder if we could back up a little bit from the event of pregnancy and so talk about this road to a healthy pregnancy for young couples, men and women.

• 8:31Speaker 00

  Yeah, I think what your son Cole is doing is super important. He's, you know, talking about it and preparing for it. And I think you are also excited to become a grandfather. Although you don't look like one, but. Yeah, I think it's not only the parents, the grandparents also get, you know, excited. And I think, you know, I haven't felt this yet, but I'm sure the feeling of a grandfather or, you know, having son of a son or a daughter of that's, it's probably gives you the utmost joy in life.

• 8:58Gary Brecka?

  And so weird, cause I never wanted to be a granddad and now I'm like so excited to be. It just makes me sound old. I feel old.

• 9:06Speaker 00

  And Lebanon, we say like the, the son of the son is more precious than your son. So I think, you know, the next generation is so important. So that's why I think we need to take care of ourselves before going to that journey. So preparing is super important. And yes, the dad gives half of the genetic material.

• 9:24Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 9:24Speaker 00

  So how come, you know, people say he doesn't have a role. He has a huge role. I think 50% of the genes are from the dad. So therefore it's super important for the dad to be in a good health.

• 9:36Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 9:36Speaker 00

  The problem is like when we're 20, 25, we think we're invincible. Nothing's gonna.

• 9:41Gary Brecka?

  My son doesn't think he can be killed by a bullet right now.

• 9:43Speaker 00

  So, so we might not be careful. And I think a lot of people just go with the flow, you know, maybe get into drinking, exploring things in life, which is fine. But I think when you're ready for the pregnancy, you need to back up a little bit, go back to the basics, what our ancestors did in the past. Today, we're doing the same thing, like you said, but maybe with more advanced technology and trying to get results a bit faster. But, you know, thinking of your nutrition, your sleep, your energy levels, your focus, coming, all these. If you, if you work on few things and you don't have to work on all of your, your pillars. And actually this is where, where I, you know, thought about what I call the vitality formula.

• 10:24Speaker 00

  And for me, that's basically a very small, simple approach because people get overwhelmed. I'm, I'm fatigued, I'm not healthy, I'm broke. And actually, those are only signals that your body is telling you about. And you need to start working on one of those pillars. If you work on your sleep, your nutrition, all at the same time, initially you, you, you might not get good results. So I think starting on one pillar at a time and then maybe stacking them together at some point. And that's how, that's how you will change your lifestyle. But this should be for men and women, because they're uniting their, you know, their gonads and their, their, their sperm and their eggs in order to create a human. So you have to prepare.

• 11:09Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, it's such a, it's such a miracle and. You know, I like some of the simple advice. I want to hit, touch on some of those that I know you've spoken about, but moderate exercise, resistance training, something you call the critical window, six months of consistent exercise, actually showing measurable improvements in sperm count, sperm motility, morphology of sperm, and reducing DNA fragmentation. So this is like new even for someone like me, that male, a young man can have that much influence over the caliber of his sperm, which obviously is 50% of the way to creating

• 11:50Gary Brecka?

  this human life. So, you know, talking specifically to the men, what are some things that young men can do? Stop drinking probably right off the bat, and then the obvious drugs, smoking, but you know, maybe limit or discontinue the drinking, but to have the healthiest sperm, you know, you hear, well, you shouldn't get into a hot tub and, you know, you probably shouldn't be an ultra endurance athlete, which sadly for my, my son Cole is not, he's not going to want to hear that. He's running 100 miles in like 10 days.

• 12:21Speaker 00

  Yeah, you told me this is amazing.

• 12:22Gary Brecka?

  He's doing the 10 Ironmans at the end of the year, but he, so we'll do it next year. But, you know, if, if, if young men are listening to this, like, what are, you know, some simple shifts that they can make to really sort of prepare their body to be producing healthy sperm that, you know, improve the morphology, sperm count, motility?

• 12:42Speaker 00

  I mean, the sperm is the output of what your endocrine organ, which is the testes, produce. So it's going to reflect a lot of, if there's inflammation in your body, if you're not sleeping well, you know, you have high insulin levels, if you're not hydrated well, all this is going to show up. So for me, sperm count is like kind of one of the vital signs of our body. I tell a lot of my, you know, friends or like patients that, you know, get tested, do a sperm count. You can do a home sperm count. I know there's, the guidelines don't, you know, recommend a certain age, but why not? Why not see where you are? Because you don't want to be surprised later on when you're ready to have kids. Check your sperm count. If it's good, it means you're doing the right things.

• 13:25Gary Brecka?

  Hmm.

• 13:25Speaker 00

  Uh, if it's starting to get worse, maybe you need to look back at your lifestyle and start, you know, changing things. Like you said, hot tubs, putting your laptop on your, you know, lap for hours and hours because of all this, you know, emission that comes out and the heat.

• 13:39Gary Brecka?

  E M F.

• 13:40Speaker 00

  Uh, our cell phones are in our pockets a lot of times. Uh, but I think toxins and what we're eating, what we're putting in our bodies, on our skin, because you know, men are using most personal care products today and so, so everything can play a role.

• 13:54Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 13:54Speaker 00

  And it, it accumulates, those small doses of toxins, uh, can accumulate and become cumulative. So you don't have to be poisoned by, by mercury or lead to, to, to get affected. You can have small dosages that can accumulate and, and cause problems with time.

• 14:11Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 14:11Speaker 00

  So definitely exercising, we know how much it will decrease the inflammation, improve your insulin, uh, your muscle mass. All this will reflect on what's coming out of your body.

• 14:21Gary Brecka?

  That's so.

• 14:22Speaker 00

  Which is sperm.

• 14:23Gary Brecka?

  Yeah. And in, you know, a lot of, um, women, I'm, I'm, I'm a big fan of genetic methylation testing and I've been pounding that soapbox for, for years. But there is a correlation between gene mutations in women, especially, um, like M T H F R and frequency of miscarriage and, um, and even infertility and, and certain birth defects. And I won't say that they're causal, but there's certainly a, a, a high correlation. Listen, there's what I share on this podcast and then there's what I share with my inner circle. If you've been following me for a while, you know how I hold nothing back here. But my V I P community, that's where the real magic happens. Picture this, you're struggling

• 15:07Gary Brecka?

  with energy crashes, brain fog, or just feeling like you're not operating at your peak and you don't know where to get real answers. But here's what really sets this apart. You're not just getting my insights. When I have incredible guests on the podcast, V I P members get to submit questions for our private podcast segment. So that world renowned expert we just interviewed, you get exclusive access to their knowledge tailored to your specific situation. Section is under the private podcast section in the ultimate human community. And speaking of exclusive, you're getting my personal protocols, the exact tools I use for water fasting, gut optimization and morning routines that have taken me decades to perfect. This isn't theory. This is what works in the real world. The community launches challenges throughout the year where you get direct access to me and my network of experts.

• 15:52Gary Brecka?

  It's like having a personal health advisory board for less than a hundred dollars a month. Your health is your wealth and this investment pays dividends for life. Join the VIP community at theultimatehuman.com forward slash VIP and step into your ultimate potential. Now let's get back to the ultimate human podcast. So would you recommend that young women get methylation testing and then maybe start to address some of those methylation deficiencies by supplementation or dietary changes?

• 16:20Speaker 00

  I mean, if I answer this question, a lot of people are gonna, you know, also put me in the controversy standpoint, but I do agree fully with you that yes, those could play a role. They're not maybe the major thing. If you go by the guidelines today of our, you know, ACOG and other things, they do not recommend to do those on everyone, even with women that have miscarriages. But again, I think it's logical.

• 16:42Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 16:43Speaker 00

  Sometimes, you know, the studies, you know, could be not well designed. So you can criticize a lot of those things. If it's a simple test and it can make a difference and the treatment is, you know, folate or, or, or changing their diet, why not in certain situations?

• 16:59Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 17:00Speaker 00

  So I wouldn't say test everybody today. I mean, I, next year, if I come back to your podcast, I might say, I might say differently. But today, based on what data we have, I wouldn't like screen everyone. But yes, maybe someone with, you know, multiple miscarriages, a family history of neuroto defects, we might, you know, check those, but not across the board. I would definitely supplement them and make sure, you know, they are well, their nutrition has enough folate, choline, omega three, all these things in order to improve the outcome of the, of the pregnancy.

• 17:34Gary Brecka?

  I'm gonna, I'm gonna list in the podcast show notes, some of the, some of the supplements, or at least key nutrients that you talk about for sperm quality, zinc. Selenium, methylated B vitamins, huge fan, methylfolate, omega threes, antioxidants like C and E and CoQ10 and lycopene.

• 17:54Gary Brecka?

  Which is like in tomatoes and watermelon, bell peppers. What's lycopene's role in improving sperm quality? That's kind of a new one.

• 18:02Speaker 00

  They're also a very potent antioxidant. So, so anything that could lower your oxidation will improve how the DNA or how the sperms, you know, multiply and divide. And that will have less fragmentation. Of course, the data is not robust on, you know, just lycopene supplementation. But it comes as part of the, you know, multi nutrient or the rainbow that men and women should eat in order to improve their gametes.

• 18:29Gary Brecka?

  I, I love this idea of couples going into this and coming out of this together, right? I mean, I, I have three children and, and I can tell you when, when we had our first child at 27. And, you know, I really did view this as really being my wife's role at the time. And not really realizing the impact that I could have had. And by the grace of God, we had three very healthy children and they're all doing amazing as adults. But, you know, I wish I'd had this information then because I was already doing some of those things. I was fairly healthy. I wasn't drinking a lot. I was exercising. I was eating a pretty decent diet. But, you know, had I, had I known this, I think, you know, it would have been a little different going through this

• 19:13Gary Brecka?

  with my wife at the time to, as, as a couple, instead of it being such a unilateral journey.

• 19:19Speaker 00

  Yeah, I, I think also to simplify things, we, we don't want couples to, to worry much about, about this and cause anxiety. But today, you know, we're, we're, we're living in a toxin, in a soup of toxins. So we have to be more careful. Maybe, you know, our ancestors didn't worry much about this. Because they were, you know, having healthier food, less processed food, less toxins. But today there is some, there's an enemy that's hitting us. So we have to be careful. Men and women before, during, and then especially after the pregnancy. Pregnancy, I think the support from the man, uh, helping, you know, raise the kid, all the habits that we have.

• 19:58Speaker 00

  There's a lot of studies if the, if the father is athletic and he likes sports, your, your kids automatically will, will mimic and will, will, will, will see things that you do at home.

• 20:06Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, isn't that amazing? Like, it's like, i- i- it's like some kind of genetic programming that,

• 20:11Speaker 00

  Absolutely.

• 20:11Gary Brecka?

  You know, where characteristics are passed on.

• 20:14Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 20:15Gary Brecka?

  And even though you can't point to this gene causes you to have this outcome. If you have this gene, you're going to like sports. If you like to have this gene, you know, you're, you're in it. You're, you're going to be more cerebral or left brained or right brained. But it is kind of fascinating how characteristics are passed from gen- generation to generation. And I've actually been um, um, reading and studying about trauma even being passed from generation to generation embedded in our, um, you know, our, our, our genetics, which is really fascinating.

• 20:43Speaker 00

  Trauma, stress, all these, you know, change how our genes are expressing. And if you're pregnant during that time and you're under so much stress, then this could affect, you know, because for, for me, I always say health span starts in the womb.

• 20:57Gary Brecka?

  Hmm.

• 20:58Speaker 00

  Uh, so it even starts before birth. So whatever the mom is feeling, if she's chronically stressed and she's not happy, this will reflect into the blood flow to the placenta and therefore nutrients will be less, you know, given to the baby and then their genes is going to be expressed in a different way. So when they're born, they might be born at a lower weight than they're supposed to be. And this is gonna, you know, lead to other chronic maybe diseases later on. So, so yeah, everything is related. And the more you read, the more you learn, the less you know, you know? It's so, it's so complicated how the genes interact among each other. We are what our environment is. So I think it's, uh, it, it goes both way. Whatever we give our environment, it gives us back.

• 21:41Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 21:41Speaker 00

  And I think that, that relationship we should control because the maternal environment is what the fetal environment is.

• 21:48Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 21:49Speaker 00

  And it's gonna be your, your early stages of life and then eventually your adult diseases.

• 21:55Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 21:56Speaker 00

  Today, we talk a lot about trying to live, you know, longer or healthier, better. And we, most of people start in their 40s or 50s. Oh, today I want to start living better. And, you know, whatever I've done in the past, let's forget it. No, I mean, like, I know we have to prepare for our, you know, last 10 years or marginal decades that a lot of experts talk about. This is important, but I think starting early. And I see a shift, the new generation.

• 22:22Gary Brecka?

  I do too, yeah.

• 22:22Speaker 00

  The new generation are, are more health conscious than, than what maybe we were. Uh, so I'm, I'm happy that there's more, you know, awareness of that. But simplifying things, not complicating things, not causing anxiety, empowering women and men and couples. Um, anybody that wants to have a kid, even if you're going through IVF or egg freezing, you wanna freeze your eggs to maybe later on use them. Also, you have to go through that process, make sure your gut is healthy.

• 22:49Gary Brecka?

  Before you start freezing your eggs.

• 22:50Speaker 00

  Yes, of course, of course.

• 22:52Gary Brecka?

  You know, I, um, I, I, I, I really love this concept. So, you know, prepping for the pregnancy, then, then you conceive. And where, where do you fall on supplementation during the actual pregnancy? Methylated multivitamins or, um, you know, methylated prenatals or non-methylated prenatals? I don't wanna put words in your mouth. Um, you know, for, for a woman to be supplementing with during, during that time of pregnancy for adhesion and, and, and healthy fetal growth, where, where do you fall in that?

• 23:22Speaker 00

  Well, there's a couple of, you know, nutrients that are super important, you know? Including iron, for example. I think that's the number one, uh, metal that, you know, people think about because the placenta needs iron. Uh, the baby needs iron, the, the.

• 23:35Gary Brecka?

  You can see it in the color of the placenta.

• 23:36Speaker 00

  Exactly.

• 23:37Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 23:37Speaker 00

  And, and the woman's blood volume almost doubles, you know, during pregnancy. So she becomes a little bit anemic or what we call hemodilution. So you're gonna need, you know, more iron for multiple things in pregnancy. So iron is number one. If you are iron deficient or you have an issue with your iron absorption or metabolism, you will have a higher risk of developing a smaller baby, what we call fetal growth restriction. So iron is, is key, especially if you don't get it in your diet or you're not absorbing it well. And then. And of course, you have the B vitamins, which are basic frameworks for DNA synthesis. You have to have those. Vitamin D, there's a lot of data about vitamin D levels and developing diabetes in pregnancy, pre-eclampsia.

• 24:20Speaker 00

  Of course, it's important for the bone. So vitamin D is, actually, it's considered like a hormone. So vitamin D is super important.

• 24:28Speaker 00

  But again, you know, you have to supplement the right amounts. So checking labs, supplementing them with the right dose, with a good quality supplement. If you can give them those through a diet, it will be even better absorbed. But unfortunately, the diet is not always available for everyone to have the optimal levels in pregnancy. So that's why we have to supplement. So yeah, a good prenatal vitamins that have those, including choline, DHA for brain development. All of those are important today to take the right supplement. I think in the very near future, and I think there's a couple of companies now working on

• 25:05Speaker 00

  like very specific tailored prenatal for every single patient. So for example, a woman might not need that much vitamin D, but she needs more iron, she needs more choline. So based on testing, on nitrogenomics, we can tailor a specific supplement for, you know, Mrs. X and Mr. X, instead of us taking the same multivitamin across the board.

• 25:27Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, yeah, that's another thing.

• 25:28Speaker 00

  I think this is coming very soon and it makes sense.

• 25:31Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, it makes a lot of sense.

• 25:32Speaker 00

  If you don't have, for example, the NTHF R mutation, you might not need, let's say, that much folate versus someone who has it, for example.

• 25:40Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So you know what? There, I've read a lot of literature around vaginal versus cesarean section delivery. And I know there's confusion around this, just people that fall into both camps, people say it doesn't matter at all. There are OB-GYNs, like the one that was or is our clinic director, that's a big believer in trying to have a vaginal birth to the extent that you can. And a lot of that has to do with how the fetus is inoculated, you know, through the vaginal canal. Where do you fall in that, you know, conundrum of cesarean versus vaginal birth? And if there was a preference, you know?

• 26:19Speaker 00

  Well, my straight answer is the way we're supposed to be born is vaginal. That's how God created us. But of course, with advancement in science, C-section became available and they do save a lot of lives. They can make a huge difference in certain situations. But the goal is always to try to have a normal delivery. As long as it's safe for the mom and safe for the baby. This is the way to go because there's a lot of benefits from the way the baby, you know, moves in the canal. All these cardinal movements of labor. And then eventually the inoculation from the vaginal flora, the skin to skin touching that happens. There's definitely a lot of benefits. Otherwise, I don't think God would have created us to deliver that way.

• 27:03Gary Brecka?

  Right, right.

• 27:04Speaker 00

  I mean, but the C-sections have a role. And I think, like I said, they save lives. But the problem is like everything in medicine, people abuse them. And I think a lot of-

• 27:16Gary Brecka?

  Use them more for convenience.

• 27:17Speaker 00

  For convenience for the patient, I'm not talking about doctors. I mean, I've done plenty of C-sections. But those were done for indications. But a lot of times the patients would come to use like, I want the C-section because I don't want to go through labor. It's a long process. I don't, I want to keep my pelvic floor, you know, healthy because I heard vaginal delivery can cause damage to my pelvic floor. And we know if it's done the right way, the right, right timing, it will not cause sexual dysfunction or, or, or other things. And yes, it is a stressful time. You will rehab eventually your pelvic muscles through special, you know, treatments and therapies with specialists. But it's way less risky than a C-section. At the end, a C-section is a surgery. So there is bleeding, infection, you could injure organs.

• 28:02Speaker 00

  So we keep C-sections when it's needed. And I, you know, my message to people, don't abuse it.

• 28:07Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 28:08Speaker 00

  Not just because you want to deliver on a certain day of the year.

• 28:11Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, I want to pick the birthday. Yeah. I want to deliver on the sixteenth at two o'clock in the afternoon and you can't now.

• 28:16Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 28:16Gary Brecka?

  That's the thing.

• 28:17Speaker 00

  Because one C-section after another is going to lead to more complications. Now we know after, let's say, a third C-section, if you have an issue with your placenta, you can end up, you know, having what we call placenta accretta. And that can lead to death and complications. So- C-sections are great when needed, but our ultimate goal is to deliver normally in a safe way for the mom and for the baby. That's, that's, I, I agree fully with, you know, any physician. And I think this is the oath that we, we swear by to make sure, you know, moms are safe and babies are safe without being heroic and then using the C-section when needed.

• 28:55Gary Brecka?

  Right, you know, and, and, you know, so you go through this birth process and then you have this brand new fetus in the world. For someone that has a birth that was non-vaginal, that was through C-section, are there things we can do to mitigate some of those consequences of having not had a vaginal birth like prebiotic or probiotic supplementation or trying to inoculate the baby's, you know, gut flora so they're not so colicky and, and have some of these other, you know, skin conditions and others because what's fascinating to me lately is, is, you know, the impact that gut microbiome has even at a fetal level.

• 29:37Gary Brecka?

  I mean, we know that adults, when they do long course of antibiotics or other things to actually destroy their gut flora, they have all kinds of consequences that we don't draw back to the gut. And now we know the importance of the gut microbiome.

• 29:53Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 29:53Gary Brecka?

  And so if they miss that inoculation period vaginally, are there ways for, you know, young parents to actually supplement these kids with?

• 30:05Speaker 00

  I think the first step, the most important first step is to do skin to skin. Put the baby on the mom's skin and if the mom can't, let's say she's in a C-section and it's not feasible sometimes, then the dad. So even our skin flora can help inoculate. There are, you know, few trials, more trials doing like inoculating the vagin flora or smearing the babies. I don't think, you know, there is any, you know, proof yet that it will make a huge difference in the long term, but those are still ongoing studies. But I think starting with the skin, putting the baby, even in the C-section, they can put the baby on the mom's skin while the obstetrician is finishing the C-section. That will help a lot, calm the baby's nervous system. You know, because the baby will start hearing the mom's heartbeat, which he or she was hearing when they were in utero.

• 30:51Speaker 00

  So putting the baby there on the skin will improve breastfeeding chances. Plus, they would, of course, get inoculated by the mom's skin. And then dads can do it. So I'm sure you've seen a lot of pictures of dads putting the kids on their chest. Of course, if they have a lot of hair too, you know.

• 31:10Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 31:10Speaker 00

  Shave it so that the skin, but touching the skin to skin.

• 31:14Gary Brecka?

  That's such a great.

• 31:15Speaker 00

  So important, like from the first, you know.

• 31:17Gary Brecka?

  The pheromones.

• 31:18Speaker 00

  Yes, the first minute or two minutes of life are critical. So as soon as you remove the baby, you put the baby on the mom's skin. In a C-section or a normal delivery, I think that's one of the first steps that will make a huge difference.

• 31:32Speaker 00

  Probiotics and other things, I'm not really aware of any, you know, robust studies on that. But it makes sense is to replace, you know, whatever the probiotics needed. But nothing like the probiotics of the mom. Because her vaginal flora will change based on the trimesters of pregnancy. And then at the time of the delivery, it will be exactly, the composition of her bacteria will be exactly what the baby needs.

• 31:56Gary Brecka?

  That's so wild.

• 31:57Speaker 00

  Yeah, so supplementing with probiotics, I don't know which one, you know. So I don't think we're there, but maybe in the in the future, we can maybe test the probiotics of the mom and then tailor or create a probiotic specific and give that to the baby, maybe. So all these, all this precision medicine, I think, is on the way. But today, I think doing the skin to skin immediately is probably the best thing you can do for your kid.

• 32:24Gary Brecka?

  I am so proud of this pillow and let me tell you why. When I started to do the research on the amount of chemicals, glues, synthetics, volatile organic compounds, jet fuels that you find in pillows and mattresses, it made me sick. And those things actually will show up in your urine. This is not a petroleum-based foam pillow. This is organic wool and organic cotton. It is so comfortable and you can actually change the size by just by removing some of the wool. Completely organic, made right here in the USA. Head over to theultimatesnnews.com and start sleeping chemical-free tonight. Now let's get back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. So amazing. You know, I had a Harvard scientist on my podcast, actually when we were in Dubai,

• 33:07Gary Brecka?

  Dubai, and they do, in his laboratory, they do these customized probiotics where they take a stool sample and they culture your flora and they look at, you know, the different strains of bacteria and which ones you're deficient in, which ones you have in excess in. And what's really fascinating was how much they could predict about the person having nothing other than their gut flora, their, their, their actual profile of their gut flora. Like this is somebody who gets seasonal flus more frequently than the average. This is somebody who doesn't have a lot of endurance. This is somebody who is very likely to have skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis. It was incredible, the mapping that they've done from specific gut flora,

• 33:52Gary Brecka?

  both in excess and in deficiencies, to like these manifestations in the real world.

• 33:57Speaker 00

  You are, you are, you are what you eat.

• 33:59Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 33:59Speaker 00

  And you are what, you know, you're surrounded with, you know, your friends, your community, you eventually blend into it. So whatever you're surrounded with, it becomes you. And yeah, I believe the gut is so important. And, you know, especially in pregnancy, because it, there's a lot of, you know, interaction between the gut, the vagina, the gut and the uterus. And I'm sure there's a gut placental connection somehow, which we still probably don't know about. But this is amazing to be able to, let's say, tailor a specific probiotic, maybe to give to the baby eventually. So maybe we should test pregnant patients and tailor a probiotic for them so that in case they end up with a C-section, we give it to the baby. Yeah. I mean, I don't know, that might be, it'd be a nice project, you and I, maybe we can, we can create.

• 34:43Gary Brecka?

  All right.

• 34:45Speaker 00

  So.

• 34:46Gary Brecka?

  New probiotic coming soon, guys.

• 34:48Speaker 00

  So I think skin to skin is the best thing you can do for your kid in minute one of life.

• 34:54Gary Brecka?

  Yeah. And then in the, in the precious, important months immediately after delivery, I think the consensus is in that if you can breastfeed, you should be breastfeeding. And for whatever reason, a lot of women can't, either for anatomical reasons or other reasons they can't. And so now they fall back on having to feed babies formula. And I had the

• 35:20Gary Brecka?

  Health and Human Services Secretary, but I also had a gentleman named Kyle Diamantis, who's the head of Human Foods at the US FDA. And one of the big focuses and projects that he's aligned with and they're they're really researching right now are infant formulas. And do we really need to put pro-inflammatory seed oils in as the, you know, sole means or major means of of of fat of these, you know, these these fatty acids? So if a woman has to, it can't breastfeed for whatever reason. You know, I know a lot of the young pregnant women, especially in my circle, I've got two in my company right now.

• 36:05Gary Brecka?

  You know, they're ordering their infant formulas from Europe. Because they've gone down the rabbit hole of the research and they're like, they're just better quality formulations there. They're seed oil free. And here, there's some regulatory guidelines that force different ingredients to have to be in there because it has to meet a certain profile. So where do you fall on infant formula? And is there, I've seen both sides of the spectrum, you know.

• 36:29Gary Brecka?

  Dr. Barbara O'Neill, or she's not a doctor, but Barbara O'Neill, saying, well, goat's milk is very close to mother's milk. And then I've had other people say that there's nothing wrong with infant formula. And some people say that you should only get it from Europe.

• 36:43Speaker 00

  I don't think there's anything like the breast milk.

• 36:46Gary Brecka?

  I agree with that.

• 36:46Speaker 00

  Because like, you know, the vaginal microbiome, for example, the microbiome, your milk consistency changes, you know. So if you deliver, let's say at 27 weeks, the consistency of the milk that comes out is going to be different than if you deliver at term. So it's made in a way to give the baby what the baby needs at that age.

• 37:06Gary Brecka?

  Oh, wow.

• 37:06Speaker 00

  Yes, the antibodies that are in it, there's no way a formula can mimic breast milk. And unfortunately, yes, like you said, there might be a lot of things added to the milk to make it maybe more tasty for the for the baby that might be hurting. I'm not an expert, I'm not a pediatrician, so I cannot comment that. But yes, my. To go first is milk, is breast milk. Um, the other option, of course, to try to get the least amount of, you know, formula that's not inflammatory or causes gas. And you can know, like, for example, in my experience, my wife breastfed for three months, then she couldn't anymore, so we moved to formula. We had to change ten formulas.

• 37:45Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 37:45Speaker 00

  In order for the kid to not have gas and colics. So, which is not normal to have, you know, colics and, and, and why that severe colics. So it might be one formula not working for, for that specific kid. But yeah, the world of formula is, you know, is a, is a huge problem. A lot of hospitals are shying away from having formulas on board. Uh, some, some hospitals used to give away formulas on discharge.

• 38:10Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 38:11Speaker 00

  A lot of them stopped that because, you know, they don't want to promote those formulas. So it's, it's, it's a difficult situation, but again, the first two years of life, if you give the baby those inflammatory components, you're gonna make things worse.

• 38:25Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 38:25Speaker 00

  So, um, try to find the most natural, you know, way. There are, you know, donor milks, uh, that, you know, women donate some milk. It could be, it may be a better option. Not everybody accepts those. But yeah, breastfeeding should not be difficult. I think, um, putting too much pressure on the woman is gonna make her maybe not like to breastfeed or feel this, you know, social pressure. By the way, doing skin to skin in the first minute will improve your, your breastfeeding rates.

• 38:56Gary Brecka?

  Really?

• 38:57Speaker 00

  I've seen it firsthand, a patient telling me, I don't wanna breastfeed. Please don't even open the, the, the, the subject. I don't wanna breastfeed. Don't even tell me the benefits I know. I'm doing formula from minute one.

• 39:08Gary Brecka?

  Really?

• 39:09Speaker 00

  And then I remember we're doing rounds and the baby was in the room and the pediatrician was talking to the woman and she's like, can I try something? And just put this baby next to your breast. And she took off, of course, her blouse and put the baby. The baby just crawled to the nipple and started sucking.

• 39:24Gary Brecka?

  Really?

• 39:25Speaker 00

  Yeah, and the, and the mom started crying. She's like, I wanna breastfeed. You know, so, so, so, so really, like, with, before trying, you have a lot of oxytocin that comes out, which will make you calm and bond you with the baby. I'm not, we don't pressure women, we empower them to try to breastfeed. Yes, there are sometimes anatomical things that will not let you breastfeed. But if you can breastfeed, try, even a month, even two weeks, even a few days will make a huge difference in the baby. But going back to formula, I really don't have an opinion about it because I know there's so many formulas out there and each one says they're the best and, but they can never mimic breast.

• 40:06Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, yeah, you know, I'm, I'm deep down the rabbit hole of this right now. So when I, when I come to some conclusions, I'll, I'll, I'll share them with you. I'd love to get your.

• 40:14Speaker 00

  Yeah, and then maybe we can eventually, like I said, do tailored or, or, or specific formulas for each baby depending on their, on their gut microbiome. So maybe we need to look into that in the future.

• 40:27Gary Brecka?

  I, I, I love that. I love that concept. So now they, these couples are on this journey together. The man still, you know, plays, plays a huge role. I mean, the father's presence, we know, especially in young children is critically important. Breastfeeding critically important. But, uh, yeah, I've been deep down the rabbit hole of this whole toxic exposure and pro-inflammatory compounds and a lot of, um, in, in a lot of different infant formulas. But, you know, the sad thing is it's restricted by the regulatory guidelines, like you have to have this and you can't have that. And so it limits the capacity to, to, to structure these in ways that might be healthier for babies. I think you're going to see a lot of that change because, you know, human foods, the US FDA is really

• 41:09Gary Brecka?

  open to widening these lanes to the extent that there's evidence, you know, that, to, to, to say that.

• 41:15Speaker 00

  This is priority. I think this should be, you know, the number one priority.

• 41:18Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 41:19Speaker 00

  Because we are what we eat and, you know, we need to have a nice, you know, clean, you know, food supply. Like you said, some people are going to other countries to get, you know, different type of food. So, no, I think this should be our priority because a lot of the diseases are related to, to, to food. We know, we know that.

• 41:36Gary Brecka?

  And so as a newbie GYN, you're not only dealing with deliveries. Obviously, you're also dealing with women's health issues. And there was a big announcement by the FDA recently removing black box warnings from female hormone therapy. And they corrected the narrative around the Women's Health Initiative study that incorrectly was, you know, when they, they didn't, most people don't read a published study. And so they take the narrative

• 42:04Speaker 00

  And the headlines.

• 42:05Gary Brecka?

  That comes from the headlines. And they intentionally or unintentionally, I mean, I have to think that it was intentional, you know, redirected women away from hormone therapy. And, you know, if you talk to Marty McCary, the head, the commissioner for the FDA, he'll say that 50 million women needlessly suffered because they were told that, you know, hormone therapy increased their risk of breast cancer, when in fact, it actually decreased their risk of breast cancer. There was not even, there was certainly nothing causal. And there was a correlation between taking these, you know, having hormone therapy and increasing your rate of breast cancer. What I find fascinating is, you know, menopause for a lot of women is beginning earlier and

• 42:50Gary Brecka?

  earlier, right? It can start in their late 30s. So you start to have these weird symptoms, mood changes, weight gain, water retention, fatigue, brain fog, you know, mood and emotional issues. And immediately, I think most women look to their outside environment and go, okay, it's either my spouse or my career or my, my job, my kids, my stress. But very often, this, these are the hormonal changes going on. And, you know, it's my belief that they can benefit very often from, from hormone therapy. But where, where do you fall in that, you know, whole debate on?

• 43:27Speaker 00

  Well, I think today it's not a debate anymore. I think the WHO misled not only women, but misled physicians.

• 43:35Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, happy to hear you say that.

• 43:36Speaker 00

  So when, when the WHO came out, I was still a resident, that was 2001, 2002. And, you know, we discussed it in our journal club and, you know, there was a robust study. You know, we should not be giving, you know, women, you know, HRT. And even though like in our residency as an OB GYN, we don't see a lot of menopausal women. Right, right. Add to that, you know, the training and and and post-menopausal treatment is not as robust as it should be. And I think this is changing very soon. So we did not, you know, have a lot of experience with, you know, giving HRT. Plus, we were like afraid. Right. In my first few years of practice, I would tell women, yes, take HRT just to treat your hot flashes.

• 44:17Speaker 00

  Five years and then that's it, you would stop them because we don't know the risk of breast cancer or cardiac diseases. And if you want to continue, it's at your own risk. I used to make actually few patients sign consents like they're taking it at their own risk. Because that's what the data told us and we're following evidence based. But yeah, if you want to talk about the W H I, the type of estrogen that was used, the the design of the study, the age of the woman. We can talk for two hours, but it was some some sort of, it doesn't reflect what the real problem is. Right. Now, women are going into menopause maybe a little bit earlier. Yes, they would benefit from from from hormone replacement, especially the newer bio. Or I I call them body identical because they're identical to the to the body.

• 45:01Speaker 00

  They're still, you know, manufactured in a way. Yeah, yeah, and other things, but but they're chemically very similar to the own their own estradiol and progesterone and testosterone. Yes, women will benefit on multiple levels, you know, from from from their skin. All the way down to their to their organs and bones and and vaginal health, sexual health, mental health. Mental health, yeah. So there's a lot of benefits, you know, for HRT. But also I think we should always kind of, you know, personalize things. Right. The dosages, who should benefit, when to start, when to stop. Work on the pillars initially, that inflammation, their gut, their toxins, before throwing in hormones. Without, you know, thinking and it becomes like a like a recipe. It should not be a recipe.

• 45:47Speaker 00

  It should be a tool that we have to give women those those those medications that I think are just replacing what.

• 45:56Speaker 00

  They lost. We're not giving them super physiological doses.

• 46:00Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 46:01Speaker 00

  Just, you know, optimize.

• 46:01Gary Brecka?

  Bring them back to optimal levels.

• 46:02Speaker 00

  Bring them back where they are because they deserve to be functioning, you know. The work, the workforce today is almost fifty fifty men and women. You have CEOs that are women. So imagine a CEO in a, in a, in a meeting and she's sweating and she forgot what she thought about. I mean.

• 46:18Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 46:18Speaker 00

  It's so important.

• 46:19Gary Brecka?

  Well, this happened to my wife. We just did a podcast on it. I mean, I, I, I lived it day to day. I mean, like it just, over a period of, slowly over a period of several months, my wife was becoming kind of a different person. And, and what really drew my attention to it was when she got frozen shoulder. She had a heat of capsulitis and.

• 46:39Speaker 00

  It's typical.

• 46:40Gary Brecka?

  So, yeah, I didn't realize how typical it was and there's not a lot of literature on it. And so I started going deep down the rabbit hole of it and, and, you know, all of this, the symptomology, including the frozen shoulder, was linked back to menopause. And then, of course, then when she started having hat flashes, that was the big flashing red light. And we did a test called a Dutch test. It's twenty four hour urine test. And it gave us so much information that her OB GYN was able to tailor her hormone treatments. And, and if you're a woman and you want to see that podcast, we actually give Sage's exact hormone dosages on there. We go through the, the Dutch test in detail. But what was astounding to me.

• 47:23Speaker 00

  She became a different person, I'm sure.

• 47:25Gary Brecka?

  In, in three weeks, a completely different human being. It was like the woman I met, you know, ten years prior, I mean, mood improved, sleep improved, libido came back.

• 47:37Speaker 00

  Of course.

• 47:37Gary Brecka?

  Thank you very much.

• 47:37Speaker 00

  Of course.

• 47:38Gary Brecka?

  And that was, that was a nice plus. Libido came back like a freight train. Her, you know, her waking energy improved. She, she would tell me, she's like. I'm sitting down to send a wire from my bank to pay this bill. And I've done this a dozen times and I literally can't figure it out.

• 47:57Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 47:58Gary Brecka?

  She's like, I feel stupid.

• 47:59Speaker 00

  It's not me, like I feel a different person. So yeah, definitely hormones play a role.

• 48:05Gary Brecka?

  But even the frozen shoulder.

• 48:06Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 48:07Gary Brecka?

  Which I was like, you know, she went from being able to only raise her arm to here to went right straight up, straight up in the air.

• 48:12Speaker 00

  And of course, you know, it's not only, you know, your musculoskeletal system, your cardiovascular system, your skin, which is so important, you know, for women and their beauty. You know, they start aging very fast if they're without HRT. I see a lot of women undergoing, let's say, you know, facelifts. And the ones that are not on hormone replacement, the results are usually weaker and last less. So it can help on all levels and I'm so happy that they removed this, you know, stigma on estrogen causing cancer. Cause I think we're in the right directions, using them the correct way for the right patient, the right dose, the right route is what's important.

• 48:53Speaker 00

  And that's where, you know, physicians and healthcare workers, midwives, those are the people that can, you know, help those women. And at least the help is there now.

• 49:04Gary Brecka?

  You know, I, I try not to get my information from TikTok and Instagram. I try to get it from, from clinical studies and then put it on Instagram and TikTok. But I, I've been reading a lot lately about, because we, we, we struggled with this when we were young parents. You know, with having the kids sleep with you, right? And it's the best. I mean, let's just be honest, having your baby in the bed with you or your young child in the bed with you and they're all snuggled up. You do not want to just get up and go dump them in the crib or give them away. But now there seems to be some evidence emerging that, you know, kids that actually do break that law and sleep with their parents early on. I mean, you don't want your 50 year old sleeping with you, but you know.

• 49:47Speaker 00

  That's look who you're.

• 49:49Gary Brecka?

  Gets a little weird when they're your size. But, um, you know, that there's some evidence that this bond and this unity actually.

• 49:58Gary Brecka?

  Creates um children and adolescents that have less incidents of anxiety.

• 50:04Speaker 00

  Absolutely. I saw that study.

• 50:05Gary Brecka?

  Did you?

• 50:06Speaker 00

  It was out not, you know, a few weeks ago.

• 50:08Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, a few weeks ago.

• 50:09Speaker 00

  Yeah. Yeah, because, you know, our son is like six, he sleeps in our bed.

• 50:13Gary Brecka?

  There you go. It was just like that.

• 50:15Speaker 00

  But the problem is that a lot of nights he comes in, we put him, he sleeps in his bed, but then I would say every night he would come.

• 50:20Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 50:20Speaker 00

  A lot of nights he would kick me out.

• 50:24Speaker 00

  Yeah, I mean, I wake up, I wake up very early, but sometimes.

• 50:26Gary Brecka?

  Your wife kick you out or did the kid kick you out?

• 50:28Speaker 00

  No, it's him. It's him. At three, at three AM, four AM, he starts, you know, kicking me out.

• 50:31Gary Brecka?

  No room for you, Dad.

• 50:32Speaker 00

  But, but yeah, and then we thought, oh, we need to break this, this cycle, keep him in the room. But when I saw the study, it makes sense. But like everything, you have to have a balance. There's, there should be a point, yeah, a point where, you know, he has to have his independence. He will probably, or she will probably won't wanna sleep in your bed anymore. They want their own room and blah, blah, blah.

• 50:50Gary Brecka?

  Exactly.

• 50:50Speaker 00

  But definitely this bonding, this connection, there, there's some chemistry that goes on, pheromones, or I don't know what they are, or the energy that goes between humans when they are sleeping next to each other that could, you know, maybe help the kids have less anxiety. They will feel safe. So it's, it's all connected.

• 51:08Gary Brecka?

  My wife used to accuse me of being lazy because, you know, we would take turns when, when our first born, my, my daughter would, would wake up in the middle of the night, start crying. And my solution was go pick her up, bring her back to the bed, because I was so exhausted.

• 51:21Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 51:21Gary Brecka?

  Just lay down and she would go back to bed. And I'm like, this, this is working, right?

• 51:25Speaker 00

  The easy way, the easy way, but.

• 51:27Gary Brecka?

  Not have a little chair next to the crib and I would try to, you know, get her back, just leave and sneak her back into the crib. She'd start crying again. I'm like.

• 51:34Speaker 00

  But if you think about it, you know, the baby was connected to the mom through the umbilical cord. They were in their uterus. The suddenly putting them alone in a crib is weird. Like same thing with twins, you know, they were used to being, you know, close to each other. There's a lot of debate whether you should separate them and what, what age you should separate them or keep them sleeping next to, next to each other. I think it's important to keep the internal environment kind of the same when you're out and slowly, you know, disconnect them from each other, for example, or disconnect the kid from you. So it's okay if you're, I guess, kids. Sleeps in your bed. I'm sure a lot of people comment on this saying, yes, no, it's controversial. Uh, but at the end, whatever works for you.

• 52:15Gary Brecka?

  But I think, yeah, I think you should just make the decision as a parent and quit worrying about the rest of it. You know, it's mother nature has a way of kind of taking care of itself. You know, one day your kids are not going to wake up and just come running into your bed. You know, I used to, I used to hear the like the pitter patter of the feet coming down the hallway.

• 52:33Speaker 00

  Or the running sometimes.

• 52:33Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sometimes they run. Cause you know, kids will wake up alone. I mean, if they've got high catecholamines or something, they, they go right to worst case scenario. You know, there's an alligator under the bed, there's a monster in the closet and they beeline for your, for your bed. And it's, it's kind of hard to just carry them back into.

• 52:49Speaker 00

  Like I said, the body will adjust. Uh, you know, the, the nice thing about the body, it, you know, it puts priority to what it needs to fix first. So that's why I tell people to try to, you know, fix one thing at a time. Because if you overwhelm the body to fix everything in different directions, it's going to get overwhelmed. But the body knows, like now my priority is let's say sleep. So it will fix your sleep in a way. Now my priority is to reproduce. So you will fix your, your gonads. So yeah, the, the body is amazing machine, I would say.

• 53:21Gary Brecka?

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• 54:07Gary Brecka?

  I've also heard you talk about a topic that might be somewhat controversial, about migration as a health disruptor. And because we have such mixed cultures and mixed migratory patterns all over the world. And it's, you know, that migration, adapting to a new culture, language, new social norms, has its set of stressors.

• 54:36Speaker 00

  Absolutely.

• 54:37Gary Brecka?

  And you talk about some of the statistics in migrant population, right? And I wonder if you might touch on that for, you know, what does that look like for people that are either relocating to a new country, new culture? What does it look like for people that are coming from another culture and trying to assimilate?

• 54:59Speaker 00

  I mean, today, there's around 300 million people around the world that migrate. Some of them migrate across borders, some people migrate in the same, you know, country, but different regions. So, but humans migrate in search of food, career, family safety. Some are forced to, let's say, migrate, some just do it by choice for other, you know, more opportunities in life. So migration is common and it's increasing today because it's easy, it's easy to migrate today. But yes, I think migration is not only, you know, changing geography, it's changing your physiology. And honestly, I learned this, you know, from myself, from my own experience, because I migrated a few times in my life and it takes time to, for your body to adjust.

• 55:44Speaker 00

  Your, your microbiome changes from one country to another.

• 55:47Gary Brecka?

  Really?

• 55:47Speaker 00

  Because that's the water you're drinking, the food you're eating. Like, for example, now when I go back, let's say, to Lebanon in the summertime, if I eat something there, I might have an upset stomach because my flora changed, living in Miami and using the water of Miami, for example.

• 56:02Gary Brecka?

  Sure.

• 56:02Speaker 00

  So your physiology changes.

• 56:04Gary Brecka?

  Water in Miami is not that good, by the way.

• 56:05Speaker 00

  Yeah, I know.

• 56:06Gary Brecka?

  Don't get me started on that.

• 56:07Speaker 00

  Yes, yes.

• 56:07Gary Brecka?

  Municipal water here.

• 56:08Speaker 00

  Yeah, I just saw your reverse osmosis system. So I think this is also another message to people, clean their water without, before drinking it. So yeah, your physiology changes by migrating, not only your geography, your physiology. Your friends might change, a new job. So I think it's always a good opportunity to, to, to use migration in a positive way, not to make it, you know, dramatic, even if you had. To be forced to to migrate, but your circadian rhythm will change. But the body, like I said, is amazing and it will adapt to this migration. And people need to to be aware of it, that if you're migrating, it might take you three or four months to adapt to your society.

• 56:48Gary Brecka?

  Would you refer to it as the healthy immigrant effect?

• 56:50Speaker 00

  Yes, yes, yeah, yeah. And you need to be positive about it. And even if you've lost everything and you move to a different country, it should be an opportunity to start from, you know, from scratch. Any, any, any bad thing that happens, I think in everybody's life should be taken in a positive way and try to build on it. And this all reflects in your physiology and your energy will change, your sleep patterns will change. So, yeah, I think migration is a topic that not many are talking about, but it plays a role in our health. Because we are constantly, you know, migrating and traveling around the world.

• 57:29Gary Brecka?

  You know, it wouldn't be the ultimate human podcast if we, if we didn't talk about some of the fixation that people have on longevity and anti-aging. And not just for women, but for, for men as well. Knowing what you know, experiencing what you've experienced as a physician, everything from delivering babies to managing female hormone therapy to, you know, your, your, your lens on, on, on migration. What are just some of the must haves or must do's that society, men and women both, need to be engaged in on a regular basis?

• 58:09Speaker 00

  Yeah, I think first, you mentioned the, the obsession with, like, say, longevity and health span. I think we should not, you know, have this obsession. Unfortunately, you know, people now are so obsessed on doing everything at the same time. And, and it's, this is what's causing sometimes more anxiety.

• 58:28Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 58:28Speaker 00

  Sometimes doing more labs can cause more anxiety. So I think we should use labs more as a framework to help us improve things, not, you know, to do so many labs, because this is gonna make you more anxious. You mentioned the beginning, basics.

• 58:44Gary Brecka?

  Mm hmm.

• 58:44Speaker 00

  You know, your sleep, your food and your stress levels. I think those are the first thing that we need to do.

• 58:50Gary Brecka?

  Mm hmm.

• 58:51Speaker 00

  Um, because, you know, being obsessed with uh like longevity and you you might miss things in life that

• 58:58Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 58:58Speaker 00

  you need to enjoy. So you have to have a good balance in in improving your health, enjoying life, but at the same time, living, you know, in a healthy way uh so that you can function, have good energy and transmit this to your kids and to to your environment.

• 59:12Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 59:13Speaker 00

  Um, so yeah, the first thing is not to obsess about, you know, longevity and and and living longer, just obsess about living healthier now.

• 59:21Gary Brecka?

  Right, right, right.

• 59:22Speaker 00

  I think that's and and if you like to do this certain hobby, do it in a healthy way. If you like to do uh play paddle or you like to play tennis or soccer, do it, but in a way that you will enjoy it. And um don't don't obsess about, you know, hacks that might not work for you, might work for some other people. And uh like I said, sleep is so important.

• 59:43Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 59:43Speaker 00

  I'm I'm discovering this every day uh because I have issues with sleep and and and I'm trying to fix that because the nights I sleep well, I'm so productive and I feel so.

• 59:54Gary Brecka?

  It's unbelievable.

• 59:54Speaker 00

  Yeah, and the nights I don't, I'm in debt for sleep and and my whole concentration, my whole energy collapses.

• 1:00:01Gary Brecka?

  Hmm.

• 1:00:01Speaker 00

  So focus on sleep uh because there are people say, oh, I'll sleep when I die.

• 1:00:05Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:06Speaker 00

  I hear this all the time, you know, you live once, you live once.

• 1:00:09Gary Brecka?

  Losers, you know, you'll sleep when you die, take the hill.

• 1:00:11Speaker 00

  I I I I think the hours you are awake will be so much more fruitful uh if you have slept the night before.

• 1:00:18Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:19Speaker 00

  So I think that's that's the main message and of course, we know sleep improves your fertility, improves your weight control, your gut microbiome, your brain, your it's it's it's unbelievable uh, you know, how how important sleep is. And then food, like we talked about, is what what we are uh because it's gonna affect our hormones, which in turn will affect our our life.

• 1:00:41Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, I I I would totally agree with that. I mean, I think that um you can get paralysis of analysis very quickly by just going out there, just Googling around about a good supplement, Googling around about the best biohacking modalities. And I think very often we just forget that we have data on this already. We have big data, we have blue zone studies and there is not much that matters if you don't get. Sleep, whole food dieting and mobility, just making exercise kind of non-negotiable. And these are, this doesn't matter if you make $2 an hour, $2 million an hour. It's not a socio-economic thing, it's just a human thing.

• 1:01:21Speaker 00

  And Movement is cheap. I mean, movement is

• 1:01:23Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, movement's cheap. And, and, and, and you know, what's interesting is, you know, you, you, you want it to be this one special thing. You know, like, I was always fascinated when I would look at like, blue zone studies and it was like, the goat herders and sheep herders and

• 1:01:35Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:01:36Gary Brecka?

  That were, that were living the longest life, cause you know, like, sheep wanders down over the hill, they walk over and get the sheep, they bring the sheep back up. Then they brought their lunch with them and they ate out in the sun, you know, or ate out under a tree and they have fresh air and, and, um, you know, Casey Means was talking about how we spend 97.5% of our time indoors now.

• 1:01:54Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 1:01:54Gary Brecka?

  Um, and I'm conscious about trying to force myself out, outside and, and I will say that of all the biohacking, you know, you walked around here, I mean, of all the biohacking modalities that I have, um, in all this, you know, fancy, fancy equipment, nothing really makes me feel better than getting silently on my skin in the morning, doing a round of breath work, going for a grounded walk, or, I mean, when I'm in Colorado, I, I have this little four mile, uh, loop that I do with a weighted vest. And I come back and I'm like, I feel really good. Like, I feel like spiritually good.

• 1:02:31Speaker 00

  Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The connection with nature, you know, all these, uh,

• 1:02:35Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, western medicine, they do, or eastern medicine, they do forest bathing.

• 1:02:39Speaker 00

  Forest bathing, yeah, yeah.

• 1:02:40Gary Brecka?

  Um, somebody actually sent me a, a, a slide of some of the, uh, hospitals in the 30s and 40s and they had sunbathing balconies.

• 1:02:49Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:02:49Gary Brecka?

  Uh, hospital beds.

• 1:02:51Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:02:51Gary Brecka?

  On rooftops.

• 1:02:52Speaker 00

  Rooftops, yeah.

• 1:02:53Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, and they would just lay the patients out in the sun.

• 1:02:55Speaker 00

  It tells you, you know, like, uh, Our ancestors knew a lot.

• 1:03:00Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:00Speaker 00

  But we just had to prove it.

• 1:03:02Gary Brecka?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:03:02Speaker 00

  With, you know, with studies. But there's a lot of things that are done that are really, you know, basic that our ancestors did without even maybe noticing that they are, you know, beneficial and, you know, with time they we we lost those

• 1:03:16Gary Brecka?

  Hmm.

• 1:03:16Speaker 00

  skills, I guess.

• 1:03:18Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:18Speaker 00

  But yeah, nature, walking outside is is amazing. But yeah, unfortunately, because of work and because of people wanna succeed all the time and there's so much pressure on us that we're stuck inside.

• 1:03:30Gary Brecka?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:03:31Speaker 00

  Uh, on our laptops and our on phones.

• 1:03:33Gary Brecka?

  With junk lighting.

• 1:03:34Speaker 00

  Yeah, you just have to, you know, go out and and and walk. And I think what you've done here is almost like nature.

• 1:03:40Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, yeah, I'm trying to bring the outside.

• 1:03:42Speaker 00

  Yeah, your air is so clean and, you know, everything is is amazing. But but like you said, going outside is.

• 1:03:49Gary Brecka?

  Still no replacement for it.

• 1:03:50Speaker 00

  No replacement.

• 1:03:50Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I think the more disconnected we get from other nature, the more the more isolated we become, you know. I don't think that we were genetically programmed or ancestrally designed to be endorsed this much in artificial lighting and artificial temperatures. You know, our bodies are so adaptive. It's incredible how resilient we are.

• 1:04:08Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 1:04:09Gary Brecka?

  You know, that's why I love the application of some of these hormetic stresses like sauna and cold plunging. And not to be obsessive about it, but those things make it make a difference. They actually build resilience, you know.

• 1:04:19Speaker 00

  And of course, if you do it with with friends, it'll be even, you know, you know, better because, you know, also the community is so important.

• 1:04:25Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:26Speaker 00

  Uh, so.

• 1:04:28Gary Brecka?

  That community, that sense, that sense of.

• 1:04:29Speaker 00

  Sense of community is is huge.

• 1:04:31Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:31Speaker 00

  Huge.

• 1:04:32Gary Brecka?

  So in your practice, um, where are you going? How has how has your actual practice evolved? Like the way that you look at your patients now? Have you zoomed out now and you actually start to consider lifestyle, diet, stress? Whereas maybe, I'm not putting words in your mouth, when you got out of med school, first started seeing patients, it's sort of a buy the numbers kind of thing.

• 1:04:56Speaker 00

  I think you you're not putting words in my, these are my words.

• 1:04:59Gary Brecka?

  Okay.

• 1:04:59Speaker 00

  That's exactly what I wanna say, yes.

• 1:05:01Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:01Speaker 00

  Um, you become, you know, after training, uh, you know, you become a bit kind of a robot. And and you do the right things, you save lives, you do C sections, you do hysterectomies. So you're doing the right things, but yeah, that zoomed out, you know, three sixty view of lifestyle. I'm starting to appreciate it, maybe in the last four, five years, how important it is. Yes, we used to be told lifestyle is important, but we never dug into. Like a patient would come in for ten, fifteen, twenty minutes.

• 1:05:31Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:32Speaker 00

  I wouldn't know much about her life.

• 1:05:33Gary Brecka?

  Right, you can't really dig in, right?

• 1:05:35Speaker 00

  Yeah, so, but I think digging in into every person's lifestyle, the way they sleep, what they eat, when they move. What are things happening in their life as far as stresses, the relationships? I mean, those take time to to to know a person, you can't know a person within five minutes. But yes, definitely my view on pregnancy, whenever I see a woman that has a baby, a small baby, I start thinking. Is it things she ingested, is it the food, is it, you know, her blood pressure, why is her blood pressure high? Is it, you know, related to, you know, her stresses in life, where does she live? So like, yes, my my my view to things have changed, no doubt.

• 1:06:15Gary Brecka?

  Have you seen patterns in your practice of?

• 1:06:17Speaker 00

  A few patterns, yeah, a few patterns.

• 1:06:20Gary Brecka?

  Lifestyle, you know?

• 1:06:21Speaker 00

  Yes, yes, I mean, definitely women that have a very hectic lifestyle with, you know, very high demanding jobs. You would feel sometimes that pregnancies, they might end up with more IVF sometimes. I mean, again, those are just observations, I'm not saying anyone who's.

• 1:06:37Gary Brecka?

  Sure.

• 1:06:37Speaker 00

  You know, high achiever will need IVF. But yeah, you have those those patterns that that you are seeing, you know, people that have don't access to food. They only have access to junk food, you know, they end up being overweight, having preeclampsia, preterm labor. Emergency C sections, yes, there is a pattern, no doubt, I know that, but now just the way I think about. A pregnant patient is different than what I did, you know, five, six years ago.

• 1:07:04Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, yeah, it's just amazing. I'm so glad that you came back so we could.

• 1:07:10Speaker 00

  I'm so happy you had me for round two.

• 1:07:13Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, and it still strikes me that we had to meet halfway around the world and we had to finish it and you're right up the street.

• 1:07:21Gary Brecka?

  You know, I have a group of folks that are my VIP clients or VIP members. And so we're going to go into the VIP group and now have a little private podcast because I let them know who's coming on the podcast. They have some questions for you. If you're actually interested in becoming a VIP, just go over to theultimatehuman.com/vip and you can get it, take advantage of the private podcast. You can ask Gary anything. You can get my AI. You can feed it labs, you can feed it genetic testing, you can ask it anything. It's an incredible community of like-minded people that's going to change the world. But before I end every podcast, I ask my guests the same question. And if you watch the podcast, you know it's coming. There's no right or wrong answer to this question. And that is, what does it mean to you to be an ultimate human?

• 1:08:10Speaker 00

  I think being, you know, I did not, I knew you were going to ask this question.

• 1:08:13Gary Brecka?

  You did.

• 1:08:14Speaker 00

  I didn't want to prepare it. I wanted it to be, you know, to come out from what we're discussing. I think an ultimate human, you should be

• 1:08:26Speaker 00

  a person who is connected to yourself, connected to the people around you.

• 1:08:34Speaker 00

  Give as much as you take from others.

• 1:08:39Speaker 00

  So that, you know, the day you are not here on earth, people remember you that you were someone who impacted their life in a positive way. And then at the same time, being a human is, you know, enjoying life, not to take things all the time seriously. And then, you know, being able to live in a healthy way and then not dying suffering. I think that's, that's how I see an ultimate human.

• 1:09:09Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, no, that's amazing. Dr. Lebe, you're amazing. I'm glad that you came back and

• 1:09:14Speaker 00

  Thank you for having me. Round three is gonna be the trying the biohack gadgets you have.

• 1:09:21Gary Brecka?

  For sure. We'll do a whole podcast episode on it. You're welcome back anytime.

• 1:09:24Speaker 00

  You should do this.

• 1:09:25Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, you're my neighbor, so you're welcome back anytime. So, thank you for coming on. Until next time, guys. That's just science.