Bridging Evolution and Modern Life – Physiology, Neuroscience, and Longevity

In this illuminating solo episode, I dive deep into the interconnected realms of applied physiology and neuroscience to explore how honoring our evolutionary design can transform the way we live, perform, and thrive. With a focus on bridging the gap between the world within us and the rapidly evolving modern world around us, I break down the fundamental principles of how our bodies and brains are designed to function under "normal conditions"—a concept that feels increasingly distant in today’s fast-paced, convenience-driven lifestyle.

From the role of intermittent fasting in tapping into evolutionarily conserved mechanisms to the power of hormetic stressors like exercise, cold exposure, and mindful breathing, this episode unpacks how intentional, evidence-based lifestyle choices can support neuroplasticity, resilience, and overall well-being. I emphasize the importance of understanding key biomarkers like heart rate variability (HRV) to track and optimize our nervous system's adaptability and share actionable insights to help you integrate progressive, sustainable practices that elevate both mental clarity and physical performance.

Whether you're navigating a health plateau, looking to build healthier habits, or simply aiming to deepen your connection with your body and mind, this episode offers a practical roadmap to reclaiming control over your physiology and psychology. Join me as I reflect on my own journey from dependency on external solutions to achieving self-mastery through a deeper understanding of how our bodies are designed to thrive in an ever-changing world.

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Key Points From This Episode:

Gap between modernity and physiology [00:01:06] 

Intermittent fasting and longevity [00:04:50] 

Heart rate variability and stress [00:09:21] 

Neuroplasticity and mental health [00:14:12] 

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Chapters

• 1:06 Gap between modernity and physiology
• 4:50 Intermittent fasting and longevity
• 9:21 Heart rate variability and stress
• 14:12 Neuroplasticity and mental health
• 16:15 Podcast feedback and suggestions

Transcript

Andres Preschel:
Hello and welcome to another episode of the You Know Your Physio podcast. My name is Andres Prischel. I'm your personal physiologist and neuroscientist and I'm here to help you discover your science so you can optimize your life. Today's episode is actually all about applied physiology and applied neuroscience, what these two things mean, what these fields are all about, and the practical applications of the knowledge that we derive from the black and white text on PubMed, among other scientific journals and sources of credible, reliable scientific education. So we'll start with some basic definitions in my own words. Um, so physiology is understood as the study of the functions of living organisms and their parts under normal conditions. And I actually think it's, uh, the most interesting thing about this definition is normal conditions. I think what that implies is we are striving to understand how the body is supposed to work. And I think that's particularly interesting in this modern day because we don't live in a normal world. And I often describe this gap between the world within us and the world around us. Because the modern world evolves. exponentially, right? If you look at technology and the convenience that it rewards us with, that's something that's evolving every single day, right? Since the industrial revolution, for example, and with AI and, you know, et cetera. Whereas the world within us, our physiology evolves linearly from one generation to the next. So we're a lot like, the world within us is a lot like, pretty much identical to the world within our ancestors thousands and millions of years ago. Whereas the world around us is very different today than it was, you know, five, 10, 50, a hundred years ago. And this gap between these two worlds is where a lot of chronic diseases thrive, where this disconnection leads to a, you know, a diminished quality of life. And obviously life, life, quality of life and lifestyle in a lot of ways improves. I mean, it's consistent with advancements in technology. Inevitably there is some degree of neglect that occurs. So for example, if we look at the modernization of food, right, as food becomes more and more processed. and more widely available in a convenient way, right? These packaged foods, microwavable foods, foods that last forever. But inevitably, foods that create some degree of inflammation, foods that are easy to overconsume, that lead to dysregulated blood glucose, et cetera, all of a sudden, We get to understand and appreciate how modernization neglects our physiology and has a negative impact on our wellbeing. So what I'm trying to say here is going back to normal conditions, I think in order to truly grasp the concept of physiology and apply physiology to live better today, we have to understand this disconnection and how we are no longer under normal conditions. If we get to understand these, um, evolutionarily conserved mechanisms and our bodies designed, then in the modern day, we get to effectively biohack, if you will. an ideal quality of life now that honors this design. So if this doesn't make any sense, if this is still a little too abstract or complex, what I'm trying to say here is our bodies design a certain way. Our modern world doesn't necessarily honor that design. It honors convenience. And if we get to understand our physiology, and have this practical approach to living our lives by honoring this system, we get to feel better, perform higher and live longer today. So applied physiology is this practical understanding and approach of the world within us. And as a physiologist, I get slightly turned on anytime I learn something about evolutionarily conserved mechanisms. For the nerds out there, I want to recommend tuning into a study by Cabo, C-A-B-O et al.

Andres Preschel: 2019.

Andres Preschel: The effects of intermittent fasting on longevity, disease, something like that. But if you look up Cabo et al. 2019 full study, there are some full study links on Google. And it's a study all about, you know, intermittent fasting and how we get to tap into these evolutionarily preserved mechanisms when we fast. Um, and it just really ties in nicely to this theme that we're discussing here. Um, it's a fascinating, fascinating study. Um, and it just shows you how, how practical, um, this understanding of our body's law is. and how it has all these like, what seem to be like magic benefits. But I often say, you know, fasting isn't magic. Yes, it's some degree of constraint on your approach to eating and any kind of constraint, whether it's the feeding interval, right? So the timing, so. That's what fasting is all about. Or if you're restricting certain macronutrients, like on a ketogenic diet, or if you're on a pescetarian diet, so you're restricting any protein source except for fish, right? Any degree of constraint equals weight loss. But there's benefits to fasting beyond a consistent calorie deficit that seemed to be like magic, right? Like this influence on neuroplasticity and neurogenesis and longevity, disease prevention. And it's not magic. It's not some gimmick. It's simply a lifestyle that is consistent with our design. We're not designed to, you know, have access to these modernized foods all the time within an arm's, you know, length away. Highly palpable and addicting foods, right? So when we honor our body's design in a practical way, by understanding how that design came to be, we live better, we live longer in the modern day, and we get the best of both worlds. Great. Now applied neuroscience is similar. I mean, neuroscience technically falls within the realm of physiology, right? It's not like our mind and body are separate. But applied neuroscience is simply more specific to, you know, the brain's, uh, uh, physiology and the, the brain's incredible capacity to adapt, to regulate and transform. So applied neuroscience is really about, you know, using cutting edge insights into how the nervous system works to enhance focus, resilience, uh, emotional balance, cognitive performance. So whether it's, you know, rewiring your habits to achieve peak productivity and mental clarity. or mastering stress management or leveraging, you know, neuroplasticity to create lasting change. So yeah, you know, applied neuroscience equips you with tools to elevate your mental game, tap into your highest potential. And the combination of these two worlds, I think is especially relevant because number one, they're totally, you know, related. That isn't already clear. And they work synergistically. You know, by training your physical body and by applying physiology, you get to train your brain. And by training your brain, you know, you have a, this improved ability to harness interoception, you know, deep bodily awareness. It's my favorite word in the dictionary. Well, it's actually not in the dictionary. It's my favorite word that isn't in the dictionary. Interoception, that deep bodily awareness. So knowing your physiology is all about that interoception because you get to build the backbone of that intuition. And I like to use data, right? So for talking about all these things, uh, related to, um, uh, applied neuroscience, right? We're, we're, we're, we're talking about, uh, emotional regulation and stress management. One of the key metrics that I love to look at that reflects you know, disability to self-regulate is HRV, heart rate variability. And I've done countless articles and Instagram posts and podcasts on HRV. I've brought on some of the top experts in the world to help you guys make sense of. you know, what this means and how to apply it. But heart rate variability, HRV, is a metric that most wearable devices track nowadays. And that's something that gives us incredible insight into, you know, what is the state of our nervous system and how adaptable are we to stress? And so when we look at all of these different forms of hormetic stress, such as, you know, Exercise, cold exposure, fasting, sauna, you know, etc. All of these are objectively healthy habits. However, as busy human beings, busy professionals in the modern day, in what is already a very stressful world at a baseline, we should be mindful about how we titrate these stressors into our life. We want to make sure that we get obviously the best sleep possible and the highest quality nutrition. Now we're mindful of our breathing. The most accessible way to innervate the state of our nervous system is by breathing. If we can improve our ability to recover and then we're aware of the state of our nervous system, when we intentionally add distress into our life, we can derive a more adaptive response. So, for example, as it pertains to fitness, we can gain more muscle, burn more fat, increase our testosterone levels that has that synergistic effect where we gain muscle and lose fat simultaneously. We improve our insulin sensitivity. We keep our body from getting too catabolic, from breaking down too much muscle when we're in a calorie deficit in an attempt to lose fat. So we get to really support our body composition as we pursue these, these big fitness goals. Um, you know, we get to, uh, just have more mental clarity, more energy to do other things in our life beyond fitness. Right. When we're intentional about when we exercise, when our nervous system is primed for that. Right. We, we, we have more presence and more peace of mind. So if we just add in fitness and all this hormetic stress indiscriminately, and especially when we stack these things together, right? Like how many people do you know that are super passionate about fitness or all of a sudden they got inspired by the new year and they want to do it all. You know, they want to do a calorie deficit. They want to do fasting. They want to do the sauna and the cold and the HIT training and they get burned out. No wonder. Right. Because they don't understand. They're neuroscience. They're not taking a practical and an evidence-based approach. And they're doing too much too soon. Their nervous system becomes overwhelmed. You know, just like you need to approach fitness with progressive overload, right? Increasing the volume steadily over time. So the reps, the sets, the weights steadily over time to guarantee that you're getting stronger, that you can take on more. Same thing with your brain, right? If you want to elicit neuroplasticity and neurogenesis, you can't do it all at once. You're not going to. enable resilience. Maybe you'll, sure, maybe you'll build a mental callus and you can go Goggins mode and you'll see some degree of neurogenesis on the anterior mid-cingulate cortex that will power center of the brain that is consistent with, you know, success and achievement. But you're not going to be doing yourself a favor in the longterm, in the long run. Odds are you're going to get burnt out. So by understanding these metrics, by understanding this, this practical view of neuroscience and physiology and honoring our body's design, we truly get to approach health in a more effective, more sustainable way. And obviously we can dig into so many of these topics and subtopics way in depth. And thank goodness, you know, I have countless podcast episodes and blog posts, like I said, that dive deep into these different areas. So I invite you to, you know, check those out. You can go to some of the links in the show notes to our, you know, Podcast episode directories and you can actually search by keywords if you're interested in any of these or send me an email address. I know your physio org And I'll be happy to answer any questions or do you know more episodes diving deeper? but I wanted to quickly mention how I You know studied this things in these things in school and to get to know myself better because I felt so detached from my body after spending, you know, 10 years taking Adderall and thinking, well, naturally defaulting to this impression that I had a broken brain. And it wasn't until I came across the concept of neuroplasticity that I realized I in fact do have, and we all have, some degree of agency over our mental health and well-being and performance. And that's when I became obsessed. You know, I did a neuroscience program while I was in high school. I became obsessed. I started to exercise, eat better, sleep better, socialize, and my brain lit up. And I went from being a mediocre student on the maximum prescribed dose of Adderall to the top of my class with no medication. Something I thought was impossible. And you can do this too. Now, obviously beyond school, you can do this too. You can take the reins on your physiology, on your psychology. You can take the reins and do something incredible. You can truly do that by honoring evolutionarily conserved mechanisms today. You can do that. Learn about your physiology. And for the young up and coming students in the fields of scientific research, human biology and such, I invite you to check out exercise physiology, psychology, nutrition, and neuroscience. Those are exactly the things that I studied. I wanted to get to know myself and I knew deep down that if I can get to know myself better. I'm going to have the chance to get to know other people better and help them. And well, here I am to tell a story and to share this fun and exciting podcast with you guys. These are the topics that excite me more than anything else in the world. And I hope that you guys can take advantage of my passion and my experience to ask me many questions and suggest new topics for episodes. So that's all for today. And I look forward to seeing you again very soon on another show. Take care. So that's all for today's show. Thank you so much for tuning in today. For all of the show notes, including clickable links to anything and everything that we discussed today, everything from discount codes to videos, to research articles, books, tips, tricks, techniques, and of course, to learn more about the guest on today's episode, all you have to do is head to my website, AndresPreschel.com. That's A-N-D-R-E-S-P-R-E-S-C-H-E-L.com. and go to podcasts. You can also leave your feedback, questions, and suggestions for future episodes, future guests, so on and so forth. Thanks again for tuning in and I'll see you on the next one. Have a lovely rest of your day.