Your Health Is a Business Asset: The Metrics Every CEO Should Be Tracking (Regan Archibald)

Workforce Alchemy

Why do some CEOs stay sharp, energized, and productive into their 60s and 70s while others burn out (or break down physically) decades earlier?  In this episode, Mason Duchatschek sits down with longevity expert Regan Archibald to discuss executive health, human performance, longevity, stem cells, advanced diagnostics, and the health metrics every CEO should be tracking.  After reviewing more than 10,000 lab panels and helping over 70,000 clients optimize their health, Regan reveals why successful business owners, entrepreneurs, and executives often experience burnout, brain fog, declining energy, and preventable health issues despite achieving professional success.  You will learn how to improve cognitive performance, increase resilience, extend your health span, and build a sustainable approach to peak performance that supports long-term leadership success.  Topics discussed in this episode:  • Executive health and leadership performance • The most important health metrics for CEOs and business owners • Lessons from analyzing more than 10,000 lab results • Stem cells and regenerative medicine • Functional medicine and advanced diagnostics • VO2 Max and longevity • Health span versus lifespan • Cognitive performance and brain health • Hormones, gut health, inflammation, and mitochondrial function • Preventing burnout and protecting long-term performance  If you're a business owner, CEO, entrepreneur, executive, sales leader, or HR professional, this conversation will challenge how you think about leadership, health, performance, and longevity.  Connect with Regan Archibald  Website: https://agelessfuture.com  Resources Mentioned  Ageless Future: https://agelessfuture.com  Terasaki Institute: https://terasaki.org  Connect With Workforce Alchemy  Website: https://workforcealchemy.com  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReverseRiskConsulting  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/workforcealchemy  X: https://x.com/WorkAlchemist  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WorkforceAlchemist  Rumble: https://rumble.com/user/WorkforceAlchemy  Dailymotion: https://www.dailymotion.com/WorkforceAlchemy  Connect with Mason Duchatschek  Website: https://masonduchatschek.com  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/masonduchatschek  #CEO #BusinessOwner #ExecutiveHealth

Transcript

00:05Welcome to the Mason Dukacek show.

00:08This episode is brought to you by Workforce Alchemy, helping leaders improve hiring, engagement

00:13and retention while uncovering people-related profit leaks hidden in everyday operations.

00:20Have you ever wondered why some leaders stay sharp, energized and focused for decades while

00:26others burn out long before they reach their real potential?

00:30Today's guest understands that difference better than almost anyone.

00:34Reagan Archibald is the co-founder of Founders Fuel and one of the country's top experts in

00:40longevity and human performance.

00:42He has supported more than 70,000 clients, reviewed over 10,000 lab panels and written

00:49eight books focused on helping business owners and executives operate with greater clarity,

00:56energy and resilience.

00:57His work blends functional medicine with real-world leadership demands, giving entrepreneurs and

01:04executives a practical path to improving cognitive strength, extending their productive years and

01:10performing at a higher level without sacrificing their health.

01:13So welcome to the show.

01:15Hey, thanks for having me, Mason.

01:17So before we dive into the science and the strategies, I'd love to hear your origin story.

01:23What led you down the path of longevity, performance and helping business leaders build healthier lives?

01:29I grew up on a cattle ranch in Idaho and so working hard on the farm was a normal part

01:35of life.

01:35And I had an uncle who was a doctor and I was like, I want to get off the ranch.

01:39And I looked at that as a really good opportunity.

01:44The problem was when I got to my undergraduate work, I just noticed my brain stopped working,

01:49my body ached, I was putting on weight, I was always athletic as a kid.

01:53And the doctors just dismissed it.

01:56You know, I was in my early 20s and they looked at my labs and they said, everything looks normal,

02:00you're fine.

02:00And I said, well, why do I have all these issues?

02:03And they couldn't really tell me anything outside of stress.

02:06They're like, take fewer classes.

02:07And finally, after like months of frustration, I had a friend connect me with his naturopathic doctor,

02:14who's also an acupuncturist.

02:16And that doctor ran the right labs and the doctor said, have you ever been exposed to chemicals?

02:21And I was like, no, I grew up on a cattle ranch, healthy environment, you know, in Idaho.

02:25And it was great.

02:28I didn't drink alcohol.

02:29I wasn't partying, nothing like that.

02:31He said, well, so no chemicals at all.

02:32I was like, he's like, what do you use on your crops?

02:34I said, oh, Roundup.

02:36And he's like, okay, so did you use a lot of Roundup?

02:39I'm like every day in the summer.

02:40And the planes would crop dust the fields with Roundup.

02:43I would be out in the fields, a lot of those instances.

02:46And then he explained that Roundup's not safe.

02:48And I was, you know, in the 90s, it was like everybody's using Roundup.

02:51And it was the best thing is non-toxic, supposedly.

02:55But we realized that was, you know, that was the big crux.

02:59And so I went on a massive detoxification plan, changed my nutrition, got my health back.

03:07And that's when I realized like, oh, man, there's a whole nother world of medicine out there that's not being

03:12exposed on the Western side.

03:14And that's when I started changing my trajectory, you know, ended up at a school in Hawaii studying integrated medicine

03:23there and then founded my practice in 2004 and been going at it for 22 years.

03:30And always bring in the best of Western medicine, the sciences with Eastern medicine, functional medicine, longevity therapies.

03:39And every year I can tell you, Mason, that every year we get better and better at what we do.

03:43But now in the world of AI, it's like every week we have new breakthroughs.

03:48And we're seeing, you know, helping people gain their peak performance because what my job is, is I want to

03:54help healthy people get healthier.

03:55And I want to help people find their peak performance no matter what age.

03:59You know, you're going to a baseball game tonight.

04:01One of my clients just turned 60 and he was a former Major League Baseball player.

04:07And so he compared all his major lifts, you know, squat, bench press, deadlift as a six-year-old to

04:14his former Major League Baseball player himself.

04:16And he outperforms his previous self.

04:20So, you know, peak performance can happen in our 60s now is what we're learning, which is very exciting.

04:26I'm not surprised by this at all.

04:27He has passed away, but Dr. Ed Wolfgram was a legend in the St. Louis area.

04:32He was an Ironman triathlon world champion after age 70.

04:37And he, I met him, I was training for my first Ironman in 2003.

04:43And all the local triathletes and cyclists typically congregate in the same areas.

04:47And I was living in St. Louis at the time.

04:48And he asked me like, hey, how much are you running a week?

04:51And I told him, that's good.

04:52How much are you lifting each week?

04:54I told him, that's good.

04:55How much are you cycling?

04:56That's good.

04:56How much are you swimming?

04:57That's good.

04:58How much are you stretching?

04:59I go, I'm not, that's not good.

05:00Anyway, my point was, was he didn't even start his athletic endeavors until he was in his,

05:06I think it was his late 50s or early 60s.

05:09He couldn't run to the mailbox.

05:11He decided one day, I want to run to the mailbox.

05:13And then he said, I want to see if I can run to the end of the block.

05:15And I want to see if I can run around the block.

05:17A few years later, he's an Ironman world champion after age 70.

05:20So what the body can accomplish is amazing to me.

05:26And I know that your, your level of expertise is that next level that a lot of people,

05:32they just like, oh, I'm old.

05:33I can't do that stuff anymore.

05:34And I'm not buying into that.

05:35Like I know I've met guys like Dr. Wolf Graham, and I know this is, I've seen it.

05:39I've been around it.

05:41So I know it's possible.

05:42Not like that's some fantasy land.

05:44So I'm really, really interested in today's conversation.

05:46I know you work with a lot of business owners and executives who appear successful on the

05:51outside, but they feel worn out on the inside.

05:53What do you think is really driving that disconnect?

05:55I think we, we put wealth in front of our health and especially when you got a team around

06:02you, you can justify working late, eating crappy, you know, you're traveling.

06:07Travel is the biggest thing I hear my clients tell me like, oh, how am I supposed to like

06:11get good food when I'm traveling?

06:13And you want me to take these peptides when I'm traveling?

06:15And it's really just shifting your priorities where it's like, if you build a lifestyle that's

06:20based around your health, you're going to have more leverage in everything that you do.

06:25And you'll find that your work's far more impactful.

06:27You'd make better decisions because hard to make good decisions when you're overwhelmed

06:31and tired.

06:32And it's just creating a strategy.

06:35You know, a lot of us, we spend an enormous amount of time just thinking about the next

06:39business move, the next expansion plan.

06:41And if we just looked at our health and we said, all right, run it like you run your

06:46business.

06:47How is, what are your blood labs look like this month?

06:50You know, when was the last time you had a full body scan?

06:52What if you have an artery that's 80% occluded and you're just like months away or days away

06:58from a massive heart attack?

07:00You know, that's going to set you back faster than anything else could.

07:03And so what we've done over the last 22 years is helped business owners actually look

07:09at their health as a key metric, as a KPI.

07:12You know, same way we look at P&L statements and you're looking at your dashboard for your

07:18company.

07:18It's important to have an operating system or what we call the ageless future operating

07:23system for your own health.

07:24It's, I guess, maybe a little off topic, but maybe not.

07:28But I've seen this firsthand when people take their health for granted.

07:32A friend of mine runs a functional medicine clinic in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and one of her specialties

07:37is Lyme disease.

07:38And if you talk to all the, and I'm using air quotes for those listening experts in the

07:42state of Oklahoma, oh, we don't have Lyme disease in Oklahoma.

07:44They do.

07:45The problem is you said something earlier, like you had, they had to run the right lab

07:48tests on you.

07:50Yeah.

07:50And the ones that the insurance companies pay for because they're cheap, they don't work.

07:54And she would actually prescribe the right ones for not only Lyme disease, but for Rocky

07:59Mountain spotted fever and her lickia and some of the, the co, I guess the co-infections

08:03or whatever.

08:03But anyway, co-infection is the right word.

08:05I'm not sure, but anyway, surprise, surprise.

08:10And I watched people break down and cry in her office.

08:13Like someone's listening because I think, I think the statistic is like the average person

08:18goes through 17 doctors before they can accurately diagnose Lyme disease.

08:22So these people think they're crazy.

08:23The doctors are sending them off.

08:25Like we can't find anything wrong with you.

08:26There's nothing wrong with you.

08:27And they say, I've got brain fog.

08:29I've got anxiety.

08:30I'm driving down the highway and I don't remember why I got here.

08:35And I literally watched an executive who had it say, I did, I have anxiety about getting

08:41on a plane and I got to travel all over the world and I'm terrified to get on a plane.

08:44And I never used to be like that.

08:46It's just the power of that.

08:47So I have seen for lack of, I'm good.

08:50Don't want to misquote the word, but, but literally disabled executives because of their

08:54health, not able to function, not even close to normal.

08:58I mean, total brain fog.

09:00Can't remember, can't focus.

09:01And that was Lyme disease.

09:02And I know let's talk more about your stuff, but like I have seen firsthand with my own

09:07eyes, people who are so capable of so much more rendered to a shell of their capabilities

09:14because of bad health.

09:15So this is not something that I, I, I take lightly.

09:19So I know you've, and this was one of the other reasons I was interested in bringing

09:23you on.

09:23I know that you've reviewed more than what?

09:2610,000 labs.

09:28Well, more than that.

09:29Yeah.

09:30But for sure.

09:31So what have you learned from looking at 10,000 different lab results that most people would

09:35never even think of or not, you know, to look for?

09:38Well, patterns emerge.

09:39And so it's, it's one thing to get a diagnosis, but the diagnosis is just like, okay, now you

09:45fit in this little box.

09:46And so you've got Lyme disease.

09:49It's a diagnosis, right?

09:50But it's like, okay, well, every single person with Lyme disease that we've treated and diagnosed,

09:55we, there's like, you mentioned the word co-infections.

09:58Now you're going to have mycotoxins.

10:01So there's going to be mold exposures.

10:03There's going to be bacterial invasions.

10:05There's going to be a viral overload in the body.

10:07And so it's like, how can you get to the root cause?

10:10And that's probably the most important thing that, that you can see is when you start recognizing

10:14patterns, you realize that there's hormonal imbalances and there's liver issues and there's

10:19gut issues.

10:20And then there's, there's neural inflammation that all needs to be addressed.

10:24And patterns is the most important thing that we've been able to identify in looking

10:28at all these labs.

10:29And the beautiful thing about that is once you see patterns and if you've reviewed enough

10:34labs, and then you've watched people change because you apply the scientific method.

10:38It's, it's okay.

10:40Here's what we think is going on.

10:41Here's what we think is the root cause.

10:43We're going to apply this subset of treatments and then we're going to see how your body changes.

10:48And a lot of times the treatment is the diagnosis and the diagnosis is a treatment because now

10:53we see, okay, you, you've responded to thymus and alpha one and LL 37.

10:57Now we've got you on lorazotides, your gut's working better.

11:00We did, you know, some cognitive enhancement with cerebrolysin, maybe some intranasal stem

11:05cells.

11:06Okay.

11:06Now you're on a good trajectory.

11:08So now we've knocked down the big domino, but now we need to go upstream and we need to

11:13figure out, okay, how's the mitochondria, you know, what's going on at the hormones now?

11:17Is there, are you able to unconjugate and break down these metabolites?

11:21And so it just becomes, it's almost like seeing a person's health unfold is what really

11:27happens when you look at a lot of labs and we can analyze the data.

11:31You can quickly determine what the first priority is, that one thing that changes everything.

11:36And then once that change has occurred, now the smoke's cleared and then you can go and

11:40start putting out additional fires.

11:42You mentioned something that I'm going to ask you to expound on stem cells.

11:46I am a believer and I have, again, I have seen this stuff firsthand where people are

11:52in so much pain, like they can't function.

11:55Like we're not even talking optimal performance here.

11:58I'm not talking about going from, Hey, how do I go from being a good executive to, or a

12:02good business owner to a great one.

12:04We're talking about how do I basic, they're in so much pain, they can't move.

12:08They can't.

12:08And then stem cells, I have seen night and day difference in people who have taken them

12:14and they did umbilical, umbilical cord stem cells.

12:16Can you expound on that for people who may not be as aware of, because, you know, it's

12:21like when you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

12:23And if you go to a surgeon, they're going to say, Hey, you need surgery.

12:26If you go to a chiropractor, they're going to say, you need chiropractic adjustments.

12:30If you're going to, but I get it.

12:31Yeah.

12:32The body is built to heal itself.

12:34What's your thoughts on that for folks out there that might be dealing with some of this

12:38stuff?

12:38Well, I think defining stem cells for people who don't know, these are your body's losing millions

12:44of cells with every breath.

12:46And so how does the body repopulate those cells that are being lost and are basically

12:53useless after a certain period of time?

12:56Like your stomach cells are being replaced every two days.

12:59They have a very short life cycle.

13:00Your red blood cells every 90 days.

13:02But if you've got this reservoir of stem cells, stem cells are just undifferentiated

13:06cells that just need to be taken into action.

13:10You've got 220 different types of cells in your body and every cell lineage has stem cells

13:15that repopulate to replenish them.

13:17The healthier you are, the healthier your stem cell reserves are going to be.

13:20But as we age, our stem cells start declining.

13:24Our stem cells ability to replenish what's been lost.

13:27And so what researchers have looked at for over 100 years now is how can we replace the

13:34stem cells that are going to be lost as people age or as they're exposed to certain, we call

13:39these the epic triggers, the things that diminish your stem cell population and your health.

13:43It's the emotional stress that we all have.

13:45It's the physical stress, the pain that we, you know, if you have a human body, you're going

13:50to have pain.

13:51It's the infections.

13:52That's the eye and the epic.

13:53And then the chemical exposures.

13:54We're exposed to more chemicals today than we've ever been exposed to in history.

14:00And so it takes a toll on your stem cells.

14:03When you think of like using stem cells, there's a lot of different avenues that you can pursue.

14:09You can get stem cells from your own body.

14:11You can pull it out of your adipose tissues and take these stem cells and inject it into

14:16a joint or somewhere else in your body.

14:18But those have some merit.

14:19There's stem cells you can pull from your bone marrow.

14:21There's Yamanaka's clocks where you can literally take a skin sample and then reverse the age

14:27of the cell and then change the genes and then cause that stem cell to proliferate and

14:32grow stem cells that way.

14:33But the safest stem cells that we've been using for 15 years, I was in a snowboarding accident

14:38and I live up in Park City.

14:41I ski, I snowboard.

14:43And I was snowboarding, had a skier cut right in front of me and I collided with him and

14:48I had a severe rotator cuff tear.

14:50It was a full thickness tear.

14:51Six months of treatments that didn't work.

14:54I finally was going to get surgery and I asked the surgeon, I'm like, what are my chances

14:59of the surgery actually correcting this without me needing future surgeries?

15:03And she's like, well, maybe 50.

15:04I was like, okay, so I got nine months of rehabilitation.

15:09It's going to roughly cost me $30,000 and I got a 50% chance of this working.

15:14I said, what about stem cells?

15:16And she was like, I don't know anything about stem cells.

15:18You're on your own.

15:19So I reached out to some doctors in Texas, learned about it.

15:22And I said, that's what I wanted to do.

15:24And so I used umbilical cord stem cells because I was exposed to so much glyphosate.

15:28I was like, that's the area that I've seen firsthand.

15:33And for people that know, it's like stem cells from healthy moms.

15:37Yes.

15:37We're not using any kind of fetal stem cells.

15:40These are from the umbilical cord.

15:42It's mothers who are, it's first time mothers.

15:45So these are young mothers, first time birth for one reason or another.

15:48We only use cesarean birth because you got to sterilize the tissue so much that the stem

15:53cells die.

15:54Most labs don't even, like most doctors don't even recognize the difference between the two.

15:58But yes, and mothers who have had the COVID vaccine, they're ruled out.

16:02Because those, that mRNA can get into the umbilical cord.

16:05We don't want to pose any risk.

16:07I mean, we're trying to help people regenerate and get younger, not put them at risk of having

16:11another issue.

16:12And from what I understand, there's a lot more, the greater volume of actual stem cells

16:18from an umbilical cord that you can use versus if you take it from your body, you're basically,

16:22it's like you're given a piggy bank when you're born that's full of stem cells.

16:25And as you get older, you use them up and you have less and less and less of which to

16:28draw

16:28from.

16:28At least that's my understanding.

16:29And it's not just fewer, but they're, they're far less robust.

16:33They just don't differentiate.

16:34When we're young, our stem cells, every 24 hours, they're doubling.

16:38And so you've got this exponential growth curve.

16:40By the age of 35, it's roughly 36 hours.

16:44And then by the age of 60, it's 60 to 72 hours.

16:47And so you just don't have the regenerative capabilities in your own stem cells.

16:51But these umbilical cord stem cells, you have these muse cells that we've started using

16:56this year.

16:57These are the multi-lineage, they have pluripotency, they're non-tumorgenic, non-teratomic.

17:03They don't cause cancer.

17:04They don't cause growths is what those two terms mean.

17:06And we see massive regenerative properties.

17:10I mean, we do a treatment intranasally.

17:12It's just a nasal mist.

17:13I used to have very severe ADHD, completely reverse that.

17:17We've had patients that were just in, one of our clients had a massive automobile accident,

17:23herniations in a cervical spine, in his lumbar spine.

17:26He didn't want surgery and he tried everything.

17:29And we did stem cells on him three months ago and he's never felt better.

17:33He's like, my pain's gone.

17:34This is stuff I've seen.

17:36And I know that everyone, you have to have your disclaimers that things work differently.

17:40But I mean, I actually know people and have seen one guy, he played football in college

17:45and he's actually a D1 coach right now, but played football in college and he couldn't

17:49hold his kids up.

17:50He couldn't hang clothes up in his closet.

17:55And shortly after having stem cell treatment, he was able to literally move his arm up and

18:00he's like, watch this.

18:01And I've seen the before and after.

18:04And this is where no cameras are rolling.

18:06There's no incentives.

18:07I mean, the guy's just happy and he's like, I can't believe this.

18:11So anyway, I've seen it and it was amazing to me.

18:15I love the non-traditional.

18:17And at least your doctor was honest and they didn't discourage you.

18:20Said, hey, I don't know anything about it.

18:21That's on you.

18:22And good for you that you took the initiative to go learn more.

18:24So what's one thing that you believed early in your career about health and performance

18:29that you now realize was completely wrong?

18:31I think probably the biggest one that I realized is that the body, no matter what age it is,

18:38like if you give it the right environment, it can heal.

18:41You know, we think all these chronic diseases, like just because you have the genes that relate

18:46to Alzheimer's or dementia or whatever you name the disease, it's like those genes can

18:53just like they're expressed, they can also be turned off.

18:56And so I think the thing I didn't realize is just how intelligent the human body is.

19:01I always knew it was, but the older I get, the more at awe I am at just the function

19:07of

19:08the human body.

19:08It is such a, it's just a miracle that we even are here talking.

19:13I mean, it's crazy.

19:14The human body just has endless amounts of miracles that happen every single second that

19:19you and I are here.

19:20I'm glad we're having this conversation because I, for people watching or listening, like there's

19:24people have done way more than me, but I mean, I have completed a hundred mile ultra marathons.

19:28I have done Ironman triathlon.

19:29I ran my first marathon before I hit puberty.

19:31So I have, I got a lot of miles on my body and I have been to physical therapists.

19:36I've been to doctors.

19:37I've been a surgeon.

19:38I have pushed my body.

19:40And one of the things that was an aha moment for me was I met a person who he explained

19:44to me, he goes, the body is built to heal itself.

19:47And he said, he said that he's, he's a doctor, but a little different line of thinking, but

19:51he made the comment to me.

19:52And he said, Mason, he goes, your nerves are the communication system between your body and

19:56your brain and your brain, your body goes, if you break your arm, the cast doesn't

19:59heal your arm, he goes, there are nerve signals getting sent to the brain and from the brain

20:03to the body to send, Hey, I guess the stem cells or whatever that needs to be sent there

20:08to heal.

20:08He goes, but what happens if there's an interruption in that communication channel?

20:12He's like, how does someone get, how does a man get testicular cancer in one side and

20:16not the other, a woman getting breast cancer in one side and not the other.

20:19He said, he says, I believe that it is compromised nerve function.

20:23And he goes in every, every, every nerve in the entire body goes through the atlas vertebrae

20:27at the base of your skull.

20:28He goes, and if there's a compromise in that, if it's pinched or whatever, he goes, all the

20:32other vertebrae are in place interlocking it and whatnot, but that one held in place by

20:37muscle to muscle memory.

20:38And he said that, that when that thing gets out, think of nerve signals being like a flow

20:44through a garden hose of water.

20:46When it's unlocked and unjammed, you have your, your communication network between your body

20:51and your body's working, but you get that thing kinked.

20:54It's just like the water would sputter out of a garden hose.

20:56But instead of thinking about water, think about your nerve signals.

20:59And he goes, if your body, to the point that nerves, that's how this stuff develops.

21:03And people just think, you know, it's my genes or all it's genetic.

21:05I mean, this is stuff that you can identify and, and clear up.

21:09And it's not a complicated process.

21:11It's not painful.

21:11I mean, upper cervical chiropractor was his specialty.

21:14But my point is, is like, I am amazed at how the human body can heal itself just like you.

21:20So I, and that's, that's where peptides are really cool because just like there's, you

21:25unblock the kinks.

21:26All peptides do is it's a natural expression in the cells.

21:30It's just like putting your body back online.

21:32I know a lot of people, there's criticisms on the GOP ones, but you look at the enormous

21:37amount of metabolic health that the GOP ones, there's 11% of, of Americans who have been

21:42on them and yes, you can overdo it with anything, but we have a greater risk of dying from obesity

21:49than we do starving.

21:51And so just by restoring the signal to let your body know when it's full, because we broke

21:55the damn signal, it makes such a big difference.

21:58I mean, I just see that, that every day things get better and better and never been a better

22:02time to be alive.

22:03So many leaders assume that their stress is normal.

22:07What is the moment when stress stops being fuel and starts becoming a liability?

22:11It's, it's when you notice that there's an anxiety around that, like there's, there's

22:17stress is good.

22:18Like you and I, you know, we had to clear our schedules to have this meeting, right?

22:23And we could have been doing a litany of other things, but we decided like, okay, let's get

22:29our team to coordinate our schedules and let's like make this conversation happen.

22:33And, and that's good.

22:35Like we need challenges.

22:37Our brain loves novelty and it loves challenges.

22:39The area where stress starts to become an impediment is when you're living outside of your true

22:46nature.

22:46It's the things that you want to do.

22:48And if you're not fully committed to it, now you get overwhelmed.

22:51So leaders, they're doing things, they're, they're setting big goals.

22:56They're, they're, they're managing their team or their business in ways that are not congruent

23:01to who they are as a human.

23:02And that's where I'd see things go off route.

23:05You can do massive things.

23:06You can grow the biggest company you could ever imagine.

23:08You can be like in, in videos, which is, yeah, I think they're, what are they?

23:12Like a $4 trillion company?

23:14I mean, ridiculous.

23:15Or you look at Elon Musk.

23:17It's like that dude knows what he, what his life purpose is.

23:21He knows what his mission is.

23:22And yes, he pushes himself really hard.

23:24And he does, you see when he exceeds the limit, he makes poor choice choices.

23:29So it's, it's almost like with, with leaders, the stress kicks in when we do things that

23:33are not congruent with, with who we are as a human.

23:37And when we've forgotten to take care of ourself along the way.

23:39I, I haven't really, there's very few people that know the story, but one of my, actually

23:45my first real sales manager in a professional job outside of college was a former IBM executive.

23:51He was very, very good to me and very, very good for me.

23:54But if you want to think stereotypical type A executive, that's this guy.

23:59Shoes, polish, shirts, press, tie, it's, it's a white shirt or a blue shirt, conservative

24:04type.

24:05This guy was your stereotypical hard charging, a hundred mile an hour.

24:09He's crossed, I dotted role model of an executive.

24:13And he dropped in his front yard, getting the mail at age 41.

24:1741 heart attack.

24:19I'm, I guess.

24:20Yeah, that was it.

24:22Just in his front yard.

24:26And I was like, I've never forgotten that.

24:29And I've, that's always been a reminder to me to, to, to balance my energy and my efforts,

24:36not just work, but play and fitness.

24:39And like we talked offline to me, uh, exercise and fitness is not a, an activity.

24:45It's a lifestyle and I'm not going to deviate from that.

24:49But I'm curious, is there a common turning point where someone realizes if I do not change

24:54something important is going to break?

24:56Do you see a common point?

24:58Everyone's different.

24:59Mason, I love it.

25:01When people come to me in their thirties and they're like, look, I'm, I just know something

25:05slipping, uh, you know, gaining weight.

25:07My brain doesn't work as well.

25:09Most of the time it's a crisis and that's unfortunate.

25:12These days though, people are, are, you know, they, they look at their, their, their friend

25:17who's, you know, into fitness or, you know, their friend who is their age and looks better

25:22than them that that's a more of a driver these days.

25:25But in the past pre COVID, it was always a crisis that brought people into the office.

25:31Post COVID people started realizing like the government's not going to help you medicine

25:36with all of its advancements that in many cases are going to make things worse.

25:41It's just another drug to treat another symptom.

25:43People are like waking up to the fact that it's not just about, you know, not having symptoms,

25:49but health is defined totally different these days where people look at health as being

25:53in their peak shape, you know, competing against their previous self where they're getting

25:57healthier every year instead of getting sicker every year.

26:00I think there's a lot of people who finally departed from the advice that the medical world

26:05has given us for over a hundred years.

26:07And, you know, that, that signal has dominated society.

26:11Now we realize it's just noise.

26:13It's not the truth.

26:14The truth is you have to take ownership over your health and, and there's a variety of things

26:18that motivate people.

26:19It could just be their spouse.

26:21You know, I just met with a lady and her husband is super fit.

26:25You know, he's my age, he's pushing 50 and he looks great.

26:28And she's like, I just realized I can't let him continue to look this good and me not do

26:34some work on my own body.

26:36So, I mean, sometimes it's just the vanity aspect of it, which is fine.

26:40So what's, what is the question that business owners almost never ask about their health or

26:44their cognitive performance, but absolutely should?

26:47I think they don't ask like, what are the best tests that I can do to figure out what's

26:52going on internally?

26:53You know, they, they, they go to their annual physical or, you know, they get a basic assessment,

26:58but, um, you know, we have this, this phrase, no death by neglect.

27:03And so you can neglect your health in two ways.

27:06One is, is where you, you neglect learning, you know, ignorance, you know, is bliss, but

27:12you neglect learning all the things that are out there, the diagnostic capabilities that

27:17can help you prevent a lot of the severe diseases.

27:21Second thing is you do get those tests and you understand what's going on in your health

27:25and you understand your behavior and how that reflects on your health and you don't do anything

27:29about it.

27:30So you, you neglect your, your, your health in those two ways.

27:33But if business owners would ask themselves right now, what are some of the things that

27:37could take me out in the future?

27:39And we call this the ageless axis.

27:41So there's three organ systems that they want to focus on your muscles, your brain and your

27:46heart.

27:46And so the muscles are really critical because they release these myostatins and myostatins

27:52are peptides that inform your brain and they inform your cardiovascular system about what

27:56kind of output the muscles are going to need.

27:58Like Mason, you've got these enormous reservoirs of energy because you push yourself for most

28:05of your life, enormous distances, more than 99.9% of humans.

28:10But the interesting thing about that is your muscles know how to adapt.

28:14I mean, your slow twitch muscle fibers, I couldn't imagine like they, you'll have these, this

28:19muscle memory the rest of your life because you're an athlete.

28:22The, the muscle also helps protect your joints so that they don't break down and you don't fall

28:27and break the head of your femur, which can really accelerate aging.

28:30We have a no pain policy.

28:31And so you need to have muscle to help support all the joints.

28:34You're not living with chronic pain.

28:36The brain is really interesting because we can replace almost every organ system in your

28:41body.

28:41Like you can regrow.

28:42If you, if you look up the Tarasaki Institute, they're almost to FDA approval where they can

28:47take a sample of your, your tissue.

28:49And if you need a kidney transplant, rather than waiting on the list and just, you know,

28:54most people never get around to getting a transplant, they die first.

28:57But now we can regrow all the organs in the body except the brain.

29:01So you can't take your brain on offline and like replace it with another brain, but you

29:06can do that with your heart, your kidneys, your liver, virtually anything.

29:10And, and that's what the future looks like, but you got to protect your brain.

29:13If you've had concussions, if you have had life, life of chronic stress that can deteriorate

29:19our brain.

29:20And then on the cardiovascular side, VO2 max, if you want to reduce your risk of death by

29:25over 400%, just get in the elite level of VO2 max.

29:29And that's the best predictor of longevity and healthspan.

29:33You know, we want to align healthspan with lifespan.

29:35And so those three systems, any business owner, if they just ask themselves, how do I know how

29:41healthy my brain is without me subjectively saying, oh, I'm very sharp, but it's like

29:45feeling good is not a diagnosis.

29:47It doesn't give you a future output on what your body's doing.

29:50Look at your muscle.

29:51There's many tests you can do there.

29:53And then look at your cardiovascular fitness.

29:55That's where business owners can really keep themselves in the game as I'm operating in

30:01a much higher level, but also doing it for longer.

30:04I loved your answer about doing the right tests because we live in an age where AI and

30:10the internet, people read something and they think, oh, I did my research or I'm an expert

30:15now.

30:15I've got some information from the internet, so it must be true.

30:19And wink, wink, nod, nod, air quotes for those who are listening and not watching.

30:22But I had a guest on, I think his name was John Malora, and he was a NASA engineer and

30:27very, very sharp guy.

30:28And he said, one test is worth a thousand opinions.

30:32Yeah, I love that.

30:33And if you're doing the right tests, the data shows what it shows.

30:37And you're not going to get answers to questions you're not asking.

30:40And if you're not testing for some of these things that you're talking about, you're not

30:43going to get answers to the questions you're not asking.

30:45So I love your answer there.

30:47What are some of the things that people should absolutely be testing for that they're not?

30:51And how come?

30:52Well, I think it all starts with the way that the medical system is built.

30:57What will your insurance cover?

30:59That's what most people, they're just getting tested on what their doctor will order.

31:03But I can tell you that blood labs that you're getting done is basically 24 markers.

31:08It's a CMP and a CBC.

31:10It's like, that's just very shallow.

31:13Gives you some insights, but it all starts with the blood labs.

31:16You know, we run over 100 different markers, but we're looking at liver function, deeper levels,

31:22inflammatory markers, thyroid function, hormones, mycotoxins, everything that's going to interfere

31:28with your health and where your deficiencies are.

31:30Those need to be addressed first.

31:32And then stool testing.

31:33It's not a fun test, but the gut biome is your predictor for future health.

31:39If you've got good bacteria in your gut, you've got the proper signaling going on there.

31:43You're going to live a lot longer and be in a lot better space than someone who doesn't.

31:48Metabolomics.

31:49So looking at the toxic burden in your urine, it's really important.

31:52Looking at heavy metals.

31:53You can also look at mitochondrial function from this oxidative stress.

31:57And then outside of that, think about doing a full body scan.

32:01Like we're going to our partner clinic in Texas.

32:03So I'll be in Plano tomorrow and then Houston the next day, advanced imaging.

32:07So we do brain MRIs.

32:09We do full body CAT scan imaging.

32:11And then we're doing these cool tests.

32:14It's, I don't know if you've heard of a digital colonoscopy, but instead of like having the camera,

32:20you can actually, there's ways of doing it through MRIs.

32:25And so just get the basics done.

32:28Full body imaging is not all of this great.

32:30Like if you're doing a full body MRI, they're moving you through too quickly.

32:34So you're not going to get a good snapshot, but get your brain done with an MRI, get your body,

32:39look at all your arteries with a CAT scan.

32:41And then colonoscopies can be risky.

32:44So think about doing a digital colonoscopy.

32:46I'm willing to bet that almost nobody listening has heard that advice.

32:50Cause like you said, like you said, a mouthful, when you said insurance is dictating healthcare,

32:54like I'm painfully aware of that.

32:57Like, and I think most people are like literally with scheduling doctor's appointments for three

33:02weeks from now.

33:02And I'm like, Hey, I'm going to be, cause I've been in Florida.

33:05I'm going to be going back to Kansas.

33:06And I was like, Hey, I need to get some blood tests done ahead of time.

33:10Like, Oh no, insurance won't allow us to do that until after we've seen you.

33:13I'm like, what am I going to tell you?

33:14I feel fine.

33:15And then you're going to send me to get labs and then they're going to have another, I mean,

33:18you're wasting time and you're wasting money.

33:20Oh, our insurance won't cover it.

33:21If you don't do this, this, this, this, this, I go, I never met, I never met the insurance

33:24company.

33:25They've never analyzed my body and they, and they're, and they are in charge of my healthcare.

33:30Big time.

33:31It's not doctors who are running medicine.

33:34That's for sure.

33:34So I really appreciate what you're talking about.

33:36And one of the things I'd hope people are taking away is take, and you, I think you hinted

33:40at it earlier, straight up said it, but taking charge of your own, your own healthcare, like,

33:45like this is a priority and no one cares more about your health than you.

33:48And, and I got great doctors and stuff and I've been very blessed.

33:51My doctors are great, but like yours was honest enough to say, Hey, that's outside of

33:54my range.

33:55I don't understand that.

33:56But let me shift gears just a little bit.

33:58You often talk about, you mentioned the term earlier, said, you know, you talk about knowing

34:02your health span, not just your lifespan.

34:05You mentioned that term.

34:07What does that number reveal about a leader's future that most people don't realize?

34:13We take our clients through what we call a health span assessment.

34:17And so that's where we can predict the biological age of all the different systems in your bodies.

34:23So someone may have really good, they may look great.

34:25I mean, you'd see their physique and you'd say that dude is so healthy, but maybe their

34:31muscle health is 10 years younger.

34:33But then we look at their brain and their brain's 10 years older, or we look at their

34:37thyroid function and their thyroid functions 10 years older.

34:40If you look at things holistically, the gut is a big one for the people who look great on

34:44the outside.

34:45You look on the inside and there's some damage.

34:47So when it comes to business owners, it's almost like if you just like take your team members

34:52at face value, well, they show up on time, they smile, they have good manners, and you

34:57just think they're your best performers, but you never actually look at the results.

35:01You don't look at the metrics.

35:03That's what a lot of business owners are doing with their health.

35:05So for executives who pride themselves on being tough, disciplined and driven, what's

35:09the blind spot that they almost never see coming?

35:11Well, you know, when it comes to health span, they don't realize that they're not getting

35:15oxytocin.

35:16So oxytocin, you know, that's the love, the bonding neurotransmitter.

35:21But oxytocin also releases nitric oxide.

35:24So a lot of those kind of tough around the edges, the type A, the IBM executive that you

35:31mentioned earlier, the 41-year-old that died getting his mel.

35:34Well, you know, if you think about if you have oxytocin or you just have love, you know,

35:39you lead with love.

35:40I know it sounds cheesy, but you have massive amounts of oxytocin.

35:43And that's how humans are designed to, that's how our bodies are the most healthiest when

35:48we're in a state of love.

35:49And you can't be in a state of love if you're always just like driven, because it starts

35:53with you.

35:54You have a slave driver for a boss.

35:56Everyone else is going to be your slave as well.

35:58So if an executive asked you, what's the cost of ignoring my health for one more year?

36:02How would you answer that in the most honest way?

36:05I guess I would have to tell them that it may be the most expensive decision they ever make,

36:12because that one decision to delay or postpone getting the diagnostics ran and actually doing

36:18something about their health, it might kill them.

36:20And it would be hard because I would not typically say that because it may feel manipulative.

36:25But the reality is any of us could die at any time.

36:29I had one of my close friends.

36:30He was 15 years older than me, super fit.

36:33And we went on a mountain bike ride the day before he died.

36:36But he was a high charging executive.

36:38He died in his garage working on his mountain bike the day after he just smoked me climbing.

36:44And he was very type A.

36:45You don't seem something like someone who pushes quick fixes or hacks.

36:49When you look at the arc of a person's life and leadership, what do you think creates real

36:53transformation?

36:54I think it's changing our identity always.

36:56Like I'm Dan Sullivan, strategic coach.

37:00He's been a mentor of mine for over a decade.

37:02My biggest referral source to him and Babs.

37:04But the interesting thing is he always says you want to create a future that's bigger

37:09than your past.

37:10And I think that's where you can get massive amounts of creativity when you just start thinking

37:16through different pathways about how you want your future to be.

37:19And that's where I love health, because when you start exploring what's inside your body,

37:25you realize that the internal world is what's creating our external world.

37:28And so once we help people dive into their internal landscape, they start unfolding this

37:35these these opportunities and this creativity they didn't know they had.

37:39So I'm just thinking back to your comment about doing the tests.

37:42And if you're doing tests that are much more thorough, for lack of better explanation,

37:48than what the insurance companies allow or a lot for in their management of your health

37:53care, what happens when you find issues that are outside of the bounds of which they're

37:59used to dealing?

38:00I mean, if you're if someone's only doing a panel and they're only checking 24 markers

38:05and you're checking 100 or you got 76 markers that the general medical population doesn't

38:10have a lot of experience in working with.

38:12What then?

38:12Where do people go?

38:13Let's just say they find they've got a bunch of issues that are outside of the normal mainstream

38:18insurance, prescribed, managed health care.

38:21I use the word care there.

38:22What do you what do you do?

38:26I mean, because I could I'm sitting here thinking there may be some people are like,

38:29you I don't want the additional stress of realizing I got problems that we don't know

38:33how to fix it and help.

38:34Yeah, well, there's there's companies that can help.

38:37I mean, that's what my clinic specializes in.

38:40We've got a phenomenal medical team.

38:42And so there's and there's other companies out there that are trained in functional medicine

38:47and longevity medicine, regenerative medicine.

38:50So it's just finding the right partnership.

38:53It sounds like you have partnerships with some of these folks set up already.

38:56Or is that all under one house?

38:57No, nationwide.

38:58It is kind of under one house.

39:00You know, I am partners in pharmacies and imaging centers.

39:04And so we have we're licensed in all 50 states.

39:07We have created an ecosystem where people have access to the world's best medicine,

39:12but they don't have to be a billionaire to access it.

39:15So tell people how first of all, thank you.

39:18Second of all, if people want to know more about you, the work you do,

39:21all of this stuff that we've talked about, because we've covered a pretty wide range of topics.

39:25And and I think if anybody listening takes anything away, it's just like,

39:29I don't know what I don't know yet.

39:31But there's one way to find out.

39:32Yeah, it's through thorough tests.

39:35That's it.

39:36And how do people find out about you, the work you do?

39:40What's the best way for them to engage with you or learn more?

39:42They can go to agelessfuture.com, schedule a free intro session with one of my health

39:47ascension specialists.

39:48And then if the program that we offer makes sense to you, then they'll help you get your

39:53blood lab scheduled.

39:55And then you'll meet with one of our doctors and they'll go through everything with you.

39:59It's pretty simple.

40:00Mostly virtual or do you have locations?

40:03We do both.

40:04If we have, but they can do 100 percent of it virtual if they want.

40:08So and this is this is one of my favorite questions.

40:11And it'll be the last one I have for you because I really am very thankful for your time and

40:14respectful of it, too.

40:15If you could only give one piece of advice to anyone listening, what would be the most

40:20important piece of advice you could give and why?

40:23Well, it would probably be don't forget about how valuable your life is.

40:31Like, just be nicer to yourself.

40:33Give yourself a little more grace, a little more love, a little more compassion.

40:37That's what came to me today.

40:38I don't know why it's not typically something I'd say, but that is that's it.

40:42Give yourself a little more freedom.

40:44I appreciate you.

40:45Thank you so much for joining us.

40:47It's been a pleasure.

40:47Thanks, Mason.

40:48Really appreciate the time.

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