00:00:00 · Erik Torenberg, Daisy Wolf, Mark Hyman
[00:00:00] S0: When it comes to longevity, Mark Hyman says it's not the heroic interventions that matter most. It's the small things you do every day. In this episode, a16z partner Daisy Wolf sits down with Mark, co founder of Function Health, to walk through what he does for his own health. We get into strength training, protein, supplements, sleep, meditation, sauna, cold plunges, and why Mark believes muscle is the currency of longevity. We also discuss how testing and AI could change preventative medicine by helping us understand what's happening in our bodies long before it becomes disease. [00:00:40] S1: Mark, today, we are going to dive into what you do for your own health, by the [00:00:48] S2: way. Very. Right? [00:00:50] S1: And we're gonna press you to be honest because I think we all look to people like you and think, are we doing enough? And so I'm very curious, like what a good day and a bad day looks like for you as it pertains to food, exercise, supplements, sleep, tracking, diagnostics. Let's talk about an average day. What time do you wake up? Do you do it with an alarm? Do you do it I
00:01:15 · Mark Hyman
[00:01:15] S2: usually don't wake up an alarm. I usually wake up naturally around 06:30, seven. And, you know, if I say what is my typical ideal day, what would I be doing? And I would say it's not about getting it perfect. It's about just the little tiny things you do every day. It's a little investments in your health bank account that add up and pay massive dividends. And I think you don't have to get it perfect. Have to do everything right. But if you kind of stack the deck in your favor, it's gonna end up actually helping you to have energy, to feel good, to sleep well, to prevent disease. It's not the giant heroic things like that seven day water fast or something that's gonna really make the difference. It's a little investment for you. So if you only have ten minutes to meditate, just do it for ten minutes. So this morning, I had someone do it, so I did a ten minute meditation, so I'm gonna do twenty. And that's sort of the first thing ever turn my phone before I turn the lights on, and it just helps me sort of ground for the day. And I do a little gratitude practice. Right? And what are the three things I'm really grateful for? It's just a great way to start the day with a positive mindset. And then I'll typically work out. So I'll do like a pretty hard forty five minute straight training session at my gym. It's a nice day, I'll take my bike, maybe go for a bike ride for forty five minutes, which a lot of hills are on Austin. And then I usually have, like, a really good... I call my longevity shake. So that would be, the way I start the day. And that's go whey protein. So whey is really important for building muscle, and muscle is the currency of longevity. If you don't have muscle, you'll become frail and dysfunctional, and that's kinda what ends up killing people. And so make sure I have a good load, about 40 grams of protein after I do my straight training with creatine five or ten grams. Ten is more good for the brain. Five is good for the muscles. And I put a lot of other things in there. I'll put in prebiotic fibers, probiotics. I'll put in polyphenols to help my... We got microbiome. I'll put in urolithin a, which is this sort of mitochondrial booster longevity kind of compound. I'll put in you know, this sort of the, sometimes a little bit of extra fatty acids if I want. But basically that's my shake.
00:03:05 · Mark Hyman
I throw out some strawberries and covered some cashew or almond milk and just blend it up, and that's my breakfast. So that kind of keeps me going. And then sometimes if I'm on a peptide kick, I'll do some peptides doing BPC 157 and TB 500, which are sort of tissue repair. There's a little bit of advanced lifestyle stuff. So there's like the foundational stuff. So you don't wanna eat in all this stuff unless you've already got the basics. So if you're not eating well, if you're not exercising, you're not sleeping, if you're under constant stress, it doesn't matter how many vitamins or peptides you take, it's not gonna matter. So just be aware that you kinda... It's incremental on top of everything else. So peptides are essentially many proteins. They're defined as less than 20 amino acids, which is something everybody's familiar with. Ozempic is the peptide of the day. It's a peptide. Something that the body makes, GLP-one, made by the body. It's a natural substance. We do it in pharmacologic doses to have different effects, but insulin is another peptide. So the body has tens of thousands of these peptides, and they have all such a regulatory capacity. So they're like the conductors. They control everything. They control your hormones, your immune system, tissue repair, healing, inflammation, gut health. And so you can use these to actually help improve your health. And so it's lot So it's a little of diabetic it's a syringe. You know? I'm a doctor, so it doesn't bother me, but it's a little bit invasive, but it's something that can be helpful. So if you're gonna buy bad injuries or I'm working out and I tear muscle or something, I can just put that in there. And it's like in a couple of days, it's... And dramatically improve. So I'm a big fan of peptides. By the time I get all that done, it's probably like 08:30, 09:00. Tune sometimes. Sometimes I'll do it late. I'll do a workout later. Like at nine, I'll do, I think, a ten. But I might do a twelve to sixteen hour fast depending on, you know, I'm doing from the night before.
00:04:43 · Daisy Wolf, Mark Hyman
[00:04:43] S1: Okay, great. So, and then is intermittent fasting good or bad for women? People have mixed opinions on that. [00:04:49] S2: It depends. It depends on your overall health. I mean, if you're skinny and probably not a great idea. If you're underweight, if you're sometimes with hormonal shifts, it could be a thing. And if you're trying to get pregnant, if you're trying to deal with some hormonal issues, it can be challenging. So I would say you have to listen to your body and the wood feels good. So if it doesn't feel good, don't do it. And listen, I think the minimum people should do is twelve hours. That's intermittent fasting. Most people don't even do a twelve hour overnight fast. And so that means if you eat dinner at six at night, you could eat at six in the morning. If you eat dinner at six at night, you can eat breakfast at eight in the morning. So that's a fourteen hour fast. And most people can do that. [00:05:24] S1: Okay. Cool. And what's an average lunch for you?
00:05:24 · Daisy Wolf, Mark Hyman
[00:05:24] S1: Okay. Cool. And what's an average lunch for you? [00:05:28] S2: An average lunch would be, for example, this afternoon, my my lunch with pet, I've got my jar of mackerel, like, kind of canned mackerel. And I have these seed crackers that I love, which are flax and sesame and sunflower seeds. And so I have, like, sort of that. And I'll typically, like, I would like a fair... Fairly good portion of that. Because it's quick. It's easy. I've got meetings, so I don't have... And so I just open the can and have the crack solutions. Like, I get a lot of omega three fats. I get a lot of protein. I get fiber. I get a lot of minerals, and it's a great quick snack. So I'll be like, or am I... I said I'd make that fat... I'd call it fat salad, which would be... No. I I use, like, a lot of, like, arugula. I'll put in cherry tomatoes. I'll throw in avocado. I'll throw in olives. I'll throw in some toasted pumpkin seeds. I might throw in some goat cheese, and I'll usually have a can of something where, like, you know, sardines or mackerel or salmon. And that has lots of olive oil, so it's a lot of fat. Got the omega threes from the salmon. You got the nuts and seeds fat. You've got the olive oil fat. You've got the avocado fat. And so you're getting a lot of vegetables, but you're also getting a lot of fat, which makes you satisfied and not crave sugar, which I don't usually use to. [00:06:28] S1: Okay. Snacks?
00:06:30 · Mark Hyman
[00:06:30] S2: I'm not a big snacker. I have a thing about snacking. I think snacking was a modern invention. It's something that humans really never did. And there weren't snack foods when you were hunters and gatherers. You're just like... You know? And even even, you know, in agrarian societies, they weren't snacks. People just ate meals. And I think the promulgation of a snacking culture has been a huge problem for America, and it led to this massive... Partly this massive rise in obesity and type two diabetes. So I'm really not a big fan of snacking. That said, if I'm hungry and I'm, like, traveling or whatever, I have a whole snack pack. My wife terrorized it the other night because we were in a hotel, and she... Her friend's house, and she was hungry. And so I have to go replenish it. But I have a salmon jerky sticks that are delicious. I think those are Patagonia ones, I think. I... Or epic. They're epic bars ones. The salmon sticks where I get menace and sticks or bison sticks. So they're like kind of not exactly beef jerky, but they're kind of dried meat. I'll put nuts in, so I'll have like cashews or almonds or other nuts in my bag. And also some have nut butter packets. I have like cashew butter. I have like packets. I can just... It keeps for long time, and I can keep it in my backpack when I'm traveling. And so I never get a food emergency. So I try not to actually get a food emergency, which is a big thing. Because if you get a food emergency, you're gonna eat whatever's there. Like, I was once traveling, and I had a... I was at a conference. I had to get up super early at six in the morning, and then my flight was delayed. I wasn't gonna get back till three in the morning. It was, a whole thing. And I felt sorry for myself. Was tired. And so there was a sin abundant at the airport, and I was like, I went for it. And then this... That was just a rare moment for me, but it was, like, probably twenty years ago. But I haven't had one since then. And the thing is you don't wanna be in that situation. So you wanna have... Always have food on you. So I always have food on me. But at that said, I really think if people are hungry, wanna have a piece of fruit, have some nuts, like that... That's a pretty basically good snack.