The Dr. Hyman Show

The goal to age well and stay on top of my health led me to my guest on this episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy, Dr. George Shapiro. Dr. Shapiro has been a practicing physician for 30 years, specializing in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, and age management medicine. Dr. Shapiro was the recipient of the 10th Annual Alan P. Mintz, MD Award, for Clinical Excellence in Age Management Medicine...

For so long, we’ve been told that memory loss and dementia are just a normal part of aging. Though we now know it doesn’t have to be that way, and that there are many measures we can proactively take to avoid cognitive decline with aging, there are still 6 million people in the US who have Alzheimer’s or pre-Alzheimer’s and that number is expected to rise to 15 million by 2060. But emerging resear...

Our food system is completely broken. The foods that nourish us, elevate our health, and prevent chronic illness are more expensive for farmers to produce and for consumers to buy than those that have been proven to create disease. They’re also destroying our environment and causing climate change at the same time. Children are being fed nutrient-poor sugary, starchy foods at school and we wonder...

Years ago, I met a woman who changed my life. A mutual friend introduced us and we went to grab a cup of coffee; but I didn’t realize how life-changing that day would be. That woman was Lauren Zander, and though she’s now a best friend of mine, I was a bit scared in the beginning of our relationship. She saw right through my exterior persona and instantly challenged me to think about the things I...

When it comes to medicine, many of us want immediate results. What if just one dose of medicine could dramatically shift your perception, decreasing anxiety, depression, fear of death, addictive tendencies, and so much more? It might sound too good to be true, but the therapeutic use of psychedelics is showing us it’s possible. Now, I’m not talking about taking magic mushrooms at a Grateful Dead c...

These days, we hear a lot about fasting. Intermittent fasting, time-restricted eating, and water fasting are just some of the many terms being thrown around in support of better health. And we can’t forget about the high-fat, ketogenic, and low-carb approaches that are gaining in popularity as well. Which one is best? What does it all mean for our longevity, brain health, and overall wellness? My...

Every time we eat, we have a chance to boost our brain function. In medical school, we’re taught the brain is immutable, that we can’t grow new brain cells or change the brain once dysfunction or injury has occurred. Now, we know that’s just not true. The decisions we make each and every day, like what we eat, how much sleep we get, and how often we move are all steps that can dramatically shift t...

Our food and healthcare systems are broken; they are not serving public health and are even putting certain communities at a disproportionate risk. We are up against social, economic, environmental, and political dysfunctions that contribute to chronic disease. Heart disease, cancer, and stroke are the leading causes of death, and premature death at that, in the US. These diseases all have several...

A new study published in the medical journal JAMA says, ‘Eggs are bad,’ but are they really? In this episode, we take a look at the specifics of the study. This particular study is an observational study; it does not prove cause and effect. An ideal nutritional study would take 10,000 people and have them eat eggs for 20 years, then take another 10,000 people, and for the same time period, keep th...

I never get tired of saying it: real food heals. Food has the power to prevent and reverse disease, and the more we know about it, the more power we have to curate a targeted diet to help us reach our health goals. The catch is that we have to choose the right foods, the ones that elevate us, and simultaneously ditch the poor-quality ones that harm us. There are powerful compounds in foods—like cu...

Think about walking into a room full of people who are giving off good energy. They are smiling, kind, welcoming—you can feel what they are putting out into the world and want to be a part of it. Alternately, think about a room full of people who are scowling, complaining, angry, etc. The energy in that room does not feel good and you are going to want to get away from it as soon as possible. This...

As my friend Ocean Robbins says, “When you eat the Standard American Diet you get the standard American diseases.” In fact, poor diet is responsible for almost 700,000 deaths in the US each year, and 11 million worldwide! And the average American consumes 55 pounds of added sugar each year, which we know is a major contributor towards the diabesity epidemic. The good news is that each step towards...

The immune system: we hear about it all the time, especially this time of year as cold and flu season is in full swing. But there’s a lot more to it than just your susceptibility to a runny nose. 50 million people suffer from immunologic diseases, ranging from an overactive immune system (autoimmunity) to an underactive one (immunodeficiency), and many stages in between. The field of immunology is...

If there was something you could do everyday to boost your focus and productivity, feel energized, reduce stress, sleep better, maintain a positive outlook, and support whole-body health, wouldn’t you do it? It’s for all these reasons, and more, that I consider meditation a foundational pillar to good health. I used to think I didn’t have time for meditation but now I know I don’t have time NOT to...

It’s never too late to turn your life around. Doing deep emotional work can not only help us find better health and happiness, it can also help us discover our true purpose and understand how to fully share our gifts with others. Being vulnerable and open to reality, rather than focusing on the stories we tell ourselves, is a major step in the right direction. My guest on this week’s episode of Th...

Think about how often you check one of your many social media accounts. Chances are you spend a pretty good portion of your time, productivity, and brain power participating in these apps each day. Though it may seem harmless, or even beneficial, the ubiquitous use of social media is working against our health. Our brains evolved to process social cues from real people; the more we’re on social me...

There are many health topics considered too taboo to talk about—menstruation being one of them. By ignoring this completely normal part of women’s health we miss out on the ability to empower young girls to become educated, strong women who support communities and positive social change. Overcoming stigmas and challenging cultural norms is what my guest on this week’s episode of The Doctor’s Farma...

Obesity and type 2 diabetes create trillions of dollars in direct and indirect healthcare costs each year, due to their high prevalence and their ability to promote a wide range of other chronic diseases. These diseases are perpetuated by subsidies of the wrong kinds of foods—like sugar and flour—making them cheaper and more widely available while creating a vicious cycle of poor health. It’s soci...

Inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, is estimated to impact more than 2 million Americans. This term encompasses different disorders relating to inflammation in the digestive tract, such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. And up until now, traditional gastroenterology took a linear view of treatment options, ignoring the impacts of diet and lifestyle, while many patients continued to strugg...

How did a skeptical journalist find his way from depression and panic attacks to a more balanced, mindful life? Meditation. For a long time, meditation was sold in a way that made many people wary of its actual benefits. But now, we know this practice of sitting calmly, focusing on the breath, and watching thoughts come and go can actually produce physiological shifts in the brain and in our abili...

There’s a lot more happening in your gut than you might think. Sure, our digestive system moves food through the body, extracting nutrients and eliminating waste. But there’s actually a significant portion of calories we ingest that don’t get absorbed and instead are used to feed our gut bacteria. This inner microbiome creates its own type of waste: metabolites that can be absorbed into the bloods...

Aging without feeling old—isn’t that what we all want? By embracing the right lifestyle practices, it’s possible to get a new lease on life. Emerging research is showing optimal health and graceful aging have just as much to do with when you eat as what you eat. We’ve been hearing a lot in the last couple years about intermittent fasting and time restricted eating, which many folks practice by avo...

I often talk about the interconnectedness of the body. After all, Functional Medicine is all about looking at the way our systems function together, rather than focusing on one part of the body at a time. The steps you take to support whole-body health work in the same way. Diet, exercise, stress reduction—they simultaneously affect more than just one aspect of your health—and new research has rev...

Many of you who have been following my journey know that last year I got pretty sick. A perfect storm of mold toxicity, babesia, and a few other insults came together that left me in bed for about five months. As part of my treatment plan I decided to go to Sanoviv, a state-of-the-art, fully-licensed hospital that offers a unique blend of conventional, alternative, and integrative programs to help...

The news about climate change seems bleak and hopeless, but my guest on this week’s episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy is here to give us hope. Paul Hawken is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, author, and activist who has dedicated his life to environmental sustainability and changing the relationship between business and the environment. He is one of the environmental movement’s leading voices, and...