From ADHD to High Performance: My Conversation With Drew Shuman on Neuroplasticity, Sleep & Dopamine Mastery

This episode is a special one.
I was invited onto The Shuman Show with Drew Shuman, and the conversation went so deep and resonated so strongly that I wanted to bring it here to the Know Your Physio community as well.

In this interview, I open up about my own journey, living with ADHD, relying on Adderall, hitting my lowest points, and eventually transforming my mind and my habits through neuroplasticity, sleep optimization, dopamine balance, and consistent, meaningful routines.

We explore the science, the practice, and the mindset behind turning ADHD from a liability into an actual superpower. My hope is that by sharing this story, you’ll walk away with practical tools you can use immediately to regulate your nervous system, sharpen your focus, and build a more intentional life.

What You’ll Learn

1) How I used neuroplasticity to train my brain for clarity and high performance

2) What I learned about ADHD, stimulants, dopamine tolerance, and rebuilding attention naturally

3) Why deep sleep became the foundation of my mental health and productivity

4) The morning and evening routines I still use to regulate my nervous system

5) The nutrition and fitness principles that helped me balance my energy and feel grounded

6) How sunlight, hydration, and breathwork became non-negotiable performance tools

7) The story of how I built Know Your Physio around my strengths, curiosity, and purpose

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro & my early background
03:10 – My ADHD story: childhood, struggle & dependence
12:45 – How I discovered neuroplasticity and quit Adderall
25:00 – Sleep science, circadian rhythm & dopamine regulation
45:30 – My morning ritual: sunlight, hydration, movement
1:00:00 – Nutrition, fitness & why potatoes became a secret weapon
1:25:00 – Sauna vs cold plunge: what I personally recommend
1:40:00 – My takes on caffeine, nicotine & dopamine stacking
2:00:00 – Leadership, purpose & building a life with integrity

Resources Mentioned

• My Free Sleep Optimization Guide

https://kyp.gumroad.com/l/sleep

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro & my early background
• 3:35 Neuroplasticity and personal transformation.
• 12:27 Neurodiversity in entrepreneurship
• 22:06 Bedroom as a stress-free space
• 38:51 Importance of quality sleep
• 51:12 Nicotine as a nootropic
• 1:03:13 Carbohydrate intake and energy levels
• 1:15:08 Potatoes as a superfood
• 1:22:55 Choosing a life partner
• 1:30:10 Survivorship bias in success

Transcript

Drew Shuman:
Welcome to the Schumann show. Who am I here with? Andres Bruchel. Good to have you Andres.

Andres Preschel: Thank you for having me back.

Drew Shuman: Yeah. It's been a minute since we, uh, we last chatted.

Andres Preschel: Yeah. A lot was going on. Deep and Jamie are moving out of their apartment and we had the last show take place in that wonderful apartment of theirs.

Drew Shuman: I missed that spot. That was a, that was a special place.

Andres Preschel: It's a very nostalgic place.

Drew Shuman: Yeah. Tell, uh, tell the audience a little bit about yourself and what do you do?

Andres Preschel: So I think a good place to start is I'm a very curious guy. I like to understand how things work. I'm a bit of a control freak in that sense. And, you know, I started to become fascinated with applied physiology and psychology, neuroscience. I'd say at an early age, it was just a natural curiosity of mine. You know, my parents are in the medical field that I've always admired. the way that they practice and the relations that they have with their patients, how they apply science to help others. It was the topic of conversation at almost every dinner that we shared growing up. You know, dad's an eye surgeon, mom's a dentist. So, you know, my dad helps people see, my mom helps people smile, you know, two very rewarding realms within the medical sphere. So, naturally, I wanted to follow in their footsteps and you know as I pursued that Avenue and Learned more about the scientific method Got into pre-med program at the University of Miami and all that Throughout that process. I was engaged in my own personal health endeavors. Mm-hmm, and I'd say one of the biggest themes that I was Exploring was, you know, my mental health Those who know me probably know that I had a diagnosis for ADHD at a very young age and I was medicated for starting at the age of eight years old and I was on medication for ten years, you know, it was just my life. It's what I knew I'd you know, I'm saying beginning I didn't know why I was taking pills every morning and I'm just that it was my vitamins and But eventually I realized that I have ADHD. I realized that in a way it's like a mental handicap. At least then that's what we understood. That's how we understood ADHD. In some ways it can be, but I think there's also superpowers that we can get into. Anyway, So I was medicated for many, many years and my body, my mind started to suffer pretty, you know, pretty massively. Like I remember I used to isolate myself in recess because I had no friends. I had a stutter, so I didn't want to talk to anybody. My brain was just so overactive, intacted by amphetamines. So I would hide in recess. I was like skeletal. I was skin and bone. I was basically surviving off of Ensure shakes. If you know what that is, it's like a little, it's like a multivitamin and a protein shake, you know, in a plastic bottle. I would have like two of those a day.

Drew Shuman: I wasn't sleeping. It was killing your appetite.

Andres Preschel: Yeah. You know, you're on amphetamines. It's like cocaine. You know, you're just in a super stress sympathetic state, you know, where you focus on tasks that are otherwise very mundane because you have a surplus of dopamine in the synapse. Now all of a sudden things that are otherwise boring, like doing your homework, studying for an exam, gives you more, a greater sense of pleasure, you know? So that's why it's used to treat kids that don't get their work done and can't focus as well as adults. Anyway, everything changed for me when I discovered the concept of neuroplasticity, honestly, by accident. And that's when I realized you can actually change and upgrade your brain. And I know we're on a podcast, but there's so much we want to cover, and I've told my story so many times. So I will say, to make a very long story short, I discovered neuroplasticity, became obsessed, did a program, a neuroscience program, going into my junior year of high school. And that's where I was learning about the brain while simultaneously having unlimited access to an environment that is designed for, well, neuroplasticity, right? A college campus. Um, I had unlimited access to the gym, dining hall, social life. I wasn't on the meds cause it was a summer program. So I was able to sleep. And the combination of these elements completely rewired my brain. I mean, I was able to gain a ton of muscle in a few months. I gained like 15 pounds of muscle in a couple months. I felt confident for the first time in my life, and I decided I wanted to double down on this. Eventually, I was able to get rid of the medication, which was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, really. Like I'll never forget one time I told my parents, hey, I want to quit taking the meds because it's just ruining my body and I don't want to go into college feeling like so weak and insecure and insignificant. And as soon as I asked him to do that, I hid some of the medicine in my room and I would like take it whenever I was feeling withdrawals. And I didn't even know what withdrawals were. I just knew that it made me feel like myself to take that, you know, that's how I felt like me. And so it was impossible. I overcame it, but it was really difficult to quit. And if I didn't have the foundation in my health and I wasn't pursuing habits that at the time I didn't realize but were upregulating my dopamine at a baseline and also sensitizing my dopaminergic centers, that's what allowed me to overcome that addiction and dependency. If that wasn't there, if those habits weren't there, that change wouldn't have taken place. I wouldn't have been able to make that clean transition. I say clean, but I mean, it wouldn't have been possible. I was in the highest prescribed dose of Adderall. I was on Adderall. I was taking 60 milligrams of Adderall XR. You can't take any more than that. Some days I would take two of those. I'll never forget, there was just one time I was studying for an exam, and I was in my room studying on my bed, and I felt like the room was moving. My closets were like these mirrors These two mirrors that would collapse and I looked over at myself and I was literally like this I was swaying back and forth. I was so jacked up on these amphetamines, man I was like, oh my god. I'm like a drug addict like this is insane. So anyway Through my my passion. So here's something about folks with ADHD For those who have ADHD or ADD that are that are listening in this will sound very familiar Most stuff is like, we have what are called like hyper fixations. Like we have certain things that we're really into and it's like a black or white. It's like you either are really passionate about certain things or you're completely disinterested about everything else. It's like black or white, you know? So with me, some of my hyper fixations were like, you know, certain video games, fishing, you know, those were my passions. I didn't give a shit about school. Honestly, I hated school. It wasn't for me.

Drew Shuman: And now you're one of the biggest nerds I know in the best way.

Andres Preschel: I'm a huge nerd. And believe it or not, we can get into this, but I have a few people that have told me that I'm a workaholic and that makes me feel amazing inside. You know, I love my job. We'll get into that. I know that has a negative connotation, but I am definitely, I love my work now. Anyway, the point is that I was able to, by the luck of, you know, God in the universe and all the conditions that we had at that point in time, I was able to apply that element of ADHD towards you know, this desire to fix myself with an appreciation for applied science, right? And I was learning about this stuff and realizing that it's real, it's realistic. And that's when I became absolutely obsessed. I mean, I saw an outlet, you know.

Drew Shuman: Something to channel that energy into yeah, I realized I had a genius inside of me and I can finally bring it to life So many takeaways from that, but what do you think ADHD is now after? Experiencing that and looking at where your life is. What do you think ADHD is for me or just just in general? I

Andres Preschel: I mean, look, attention deficit hyperactive disorder has a certain definition in the DSM-5. And with that definition, there's a lot of negative remarks that are associated with it. You know, there's like obsessive behaviors. There is an inability to focus. There's a few more. I have to cite exactly what the DSM-5 says. But I think I was actually reading an article in Scientific American a couple of days ago. And don't quote me on this, but it says something like, there's a lot of adults now that are getting call it, um, diagnosed with ADHD. Like it's becoming somewhat more prevalent. However, as far as the DSM five goes, I'm pretty sure that ADHD is something that happens in childhood. Like it's a, it's a neurodevelopmental or neuro, it's, it's something that, that develops very early on in your life or something that you're born with. Like there's certain genetic predispositions, And, you know, obviously it has to do also with the environment, right? There's epigenetics. It's like, how does the environment that you're raised in, how does that influence certain genetic predispositions and turn genes on or off? Right. But I'm pretty sure it's a neurodevelopmental, like early childhood diagnosis that maybe wasn't registered, maybe just People ended up getting by up until a certain point in their lives and they realize, Hey, this is actually a problem for me. I need to do something about it. So all that is to say that I'm, I'm pretty sure. And again, don't quote me on this verbatim, but I'm pretty sure that adults that have, or have been diagnosed with ADHD later on in life have always had ADHD. Maybe it's now more prevalent because we live in a very stimulating environment, et cetera.

Drew Shuman: And so you feel like you still have it.

Andres Preschel: Oh, for sure. I have to be very particular about how to manage my life or else I still get, I have so many triggers that we can get into. Yeah. Like if I don't exercise, I am, I mean, I guess most people would say if they exercise in the morning, you know, they feel a little more focused and more energized. But for me, it's like a night and day difference. Mmm, like I have an incredible physique now because of everything that I did to improve my mental well-being You know, the physique is a reflection of what I did to improve my mental health. Yeah, obviously some of that Especially in the early Part of my health journey had was was more from like it was more so driven by vanity to an extent but now I mean it's 100% Mental, you know, and and yeah, I mean I'd say that I am more sensitive to things like, you know Doomscrolling you're playing video games or staying up late blue light Like I'd say that I'm more sensitive than most because my baseline dopamine is lower than most people.

SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm

Drew Shuman: It just, where my mind goes for that, it begs the question. It's like, are we just treating this thing completely wrong? Because now you're channeling, you still have it, right? But look what you've become and you've figured out tools and ways to navigate it, to actually maybe turn it into a superpower to a degree.

Andres Preschel: Yeah, you know, let me let me just say, you know, I have a very particular lifestyle that I designed around my I guess personal preferences and health like I became an entrepreneur honestly not because Yeah, I wanted to I wanted that kind of freedom. I wanted a certain kind of influence I wanted to tell my story and help others people that I can identify with and empathize with but If I was an employee, dude, I would be the most depressed motherfucker on this planet. And I'll tell you what, nowadays I have the pleasure of coaching and working with some of the most accomplished CEOs and executives in the world. Multiple Fortune 100 CEOs, world champion athletes, incredible people. And I've realized that all of them, at least 90%, have something. They're either on the spectrum, I've seen a lot of entrepreneurs and executives, especially entrepreneurs with ADHD. And you'll see, they're so good at some things, but then they're so bad at others. It's just this insane polarity, right? And so, you know, Not to go too far into the deep end with this, but maybe I guess I can, it's a podcast.

Drew Shuman: We can go as deep as you want.

Andres Preschel: But the point is like, I have become a successful person because I'm very self-aware and I built a life that allowed me to be successful. By honoring my strengths and my weaknesses. I have to be extremely clear about that. Like one of the best decisions I've ever made for my business, and when I say business, I don't just mean like dollar signs. What I mean is like my impact, my community, my creative process, right? One of the best decisions that I've made that allows me to do more of what I'm good at is hiring my COO, Max Ross, because we're on the complete opposite ends of the spectrum for neuroticism. In a good business partnership, you have two people on opposite ends of the spectrum for neuroticism. You have someone that's very, very neurotic that, like Max, extremely neurotic. I'm just teasing him. He's very neurotic. Very neurotic. And, and Max is the kind of person that is so neurotic that he helps us create structure, be very proactive. Um, he, he can see all of our blind spots, you know, before I can. Uh, but as soon as something goes wrong, he's just freaking out. Right. And I'm on the opposite end. I'm super chill, very laid back. Uh, and I help, I'm good at weathering the storms, you know, and just kind of staying in the flow and keeping the ship going, even when things aren't like, and it's just like, we're a perfect match. Right. If it was just up to me to navigate my business, my community, sure, I would still have a level of satisfaction, but there would be so much more resistance because I'd have to pick up rules and responsibilities that just don't agree with me, honestly, psychologically and physiologically. I know that sounds like an excuse to an extent, or like, I don't know, but look, I'm a huge fan of Tim Ferriss and of Valrabhikan, so I'll say that like… Two of my favorites as well. Yeah, if you want to be… Excellent at anything you have to have certain specific knowledge and you have to know how to scale and outsource and delegate and automate right and if you're doing something that If you're doing if you're doing everything you're not gonna have a meaningful influence in one direction To think that you can be good at everything is just insanity. Yeah, no way by the way, like like I said, like I I don't want to I hate to use I don't hate, but I think it's strong. I think it's a little overdone to create these labels. But I would say that I'm more like a control freak, and it's not neurotic, but more so like I like to understand what's happening and why it's happening. And so, yeah, I mean, as much as I would love to do everything in my company and I would like to be involved in every part of the operation, I know that I can't. And if I do, I drain my motivation and energy to do what I'm actually really, really good at and only I can do. So every single day I'm trying to do more of what I'm good at and only I can do. Create a team that can help me handle the back end and so having max has been one of the best decisions that I ever made and You know simultaneously I'm honoring myself and realizing that like look I need to be my zone of genius That's where my dopamine is naturally more elevated and makes me feel good and doesn't burn me out You know, so I love that man that keeps you in flow as well.

Drew Shuman: You're doubling down in your superpowers.

Andres Preschel: Yeah, I And I know we want to jump into other topics, but just to finish off my call it origin story real quick. I ended up going to school, university of Miami to pursue all the things that I was passionate about that helped me step into my excellence. So, um, exercise, so exercise, physiology, modernist psychology, uh, pursuit of masters in physiology and nutrition that I started doing my undergrad because I was really close with my, um, with the head of the program. I managed his internship and I, was one of two students in undergrad that had started a master's degree on an accelerated track. And I graduated, I was on the president's list, I was the president's honor roll. I had started a company with a doctor that I was shadowing, a Harvard doctor. It was a lifestyle medicine company. We wrote a book together on hunger hormones and lifestyle medicine. Helped hundreds of people lose weight sustainably. And I started my podcast and I started creating scientific content all of a sudden man like this obsession to try to fix myself that very selfish endeavor became an extremely selfless mission and I realized look there's this huge gap between the science that I'm learning in class and the science that people know about themselves. There's this huge gap. Everything that we know, all the cutting-edge science, is restricted to a scientific community, a scientific audience. So I became a scientific translator. And because I had to learn to do that for myself, I had this passion for helping others, not just because I had the specific knowledge, but because I could empathize with those who also felt a disconnection from their body. And so anyway, that's how I started making a name for myself one thing led to another and that obsession to fix myself became my obsession to help other people and now I have you know, Incredible recognition and incredible community and incredible online audience and I work with amazing people every single day. So Just to finish off that story so people have the context, but I appreciate the opportunity to finish that up.

Drew Shuman: Yeah, of course, man. That's beautiful. And I think going back to someone who is maybe disconnected from their bodies or in a state that you were in back in the day, what are a few things that you would tell them right now in this moment that they could do to get to a better place? Because there's not that much information out there on, you know, in terms of doing that.

Andres Preschel: That's a great question. I think it's, I think the best way for me to answer that question is first of all, what not to do. I think naturally a lot of people spend time on their phone, on social media, looking for answers. And I think it's very easy to get caught up in what seems sexier, what's trending. And they probably heard this before, but you know, the way that the algorithm works is it's really good at feeding you what it thinks that you want. But a lot of the stuff that, you know, A lot of the stuff that it thinks you want ends up being material that simply has a higher component of virality, which doesn't necessarily mean that it's the best. It just means that it's the most engaging. And that's not, in my opinion, the best way to approach your health or what's right for you. I think every single person listening should do regular testing, blood testing. They should probably do a genetic test, maybe get a wearable device, and they should try to actually pick up on the underlying physiology. You know, I I'll be a shameless plug here, but I want to mention some other resources I think the huberman podcast is excellent. It's a great place to learn about Your body's natural design and how to leverage it how to really truly understand how to measure it my podcast know your physio You know discover your science optimize your life know your physiology know your physiology There's incredible, you know books. There's a lot of like youtube channels like I think the best format for learning is is a format like a podcast or a YouTube channel, like something where you can actually digest plenty of information rather than just kind of going by whatever is clickbait and 30 second material is going to be entertaining for a little bit and then you swipe, you know, see what's next. Like, I think people should really take their time and do their due diligence. Maybe even I don't know take a course in physiology take a course in psychology Like you're not gonna satisfy that disconnection by like with with with a few reels Yeah, maybe you'll learn a little bit here and there but I think you really need to make this like a Living breathing practice you can commit to hmm.

Drew Shuman: It's great advice Going going off of that. What do you think are some of the biggest mistakes people are making with their health today?

SPEAKER_00: Hmm

Andres Preschel: Some of the biggest mistakes. Can you potentially get more specific?

Drew Shuman: Yeah, sure. I mean, something I could think of off the bat is like doom scrolling right when you wake up, right? Starting the day like that.

Andres Preschel: That's funny, because I was going to say, one of the biggest mistakes people make, and maybe, so here's the thing is, it's not like people do this with the intention to be healthy. They do it because it feels comfortable and it feels normal. It's bringing their phone into their bedroom. I think that's one of the biggest mistakes people can make. Ending your day with something that is inches from your face, emitting blue light, an EMF, and it's something that you psychologically associate, not just with pleasure, but also with responsibility and access to you, something that can disrupt your sleep, something that can immediately put you in a state of shock. Let's say your boss calls you or someone calls you in a state of emergency. It's funny, my parents once told me, because I have my phone, as you know, on do not disturb pretty much 24-7.

Drew Shuman: Oh, we know. Yeah.

Andres Preschel: The only people that can, that can bypass that is like a setting on where you can do this. It's like my parents, my brother and my girlfriend and like my business partner. I want to get on that list one day. It's funny. I had to, it's funny. I'm actually getting one of my friends on that list. We had a conversation about this yesterday, but the point is I added them to that list because at one point I wasn't answering any calls from anybody. I was constantly doing that disturbed because as soon as I get distracted with my ADHD, I'm now I've spent an hour my phone and I'm like, where did the time go? Right? So the point is That I had this like extremely limited access for a while Not even my parents could call me and one day my dad said you're not dependable. You're not reliable Like what if I'm in an emergency? I was like listen, I love you If you're an emergency call 9-1-1 do not call me, especially while I'm asleep. I'm not the best fit person to help you Plus I live 45 minutes away So don't tell me that like I know you're trying to make a point, but that's just not I wouldn't even do that Yeah, and I love that you're there for me if I need you, but I in an emergency I first call 9-1-1 and then I call you on the way to the hospital or something like that. Yeah, the point is that I understand that there are certain circumstances where it could make sense to have the phone in the bedroom. Like, I don't know, your mom is, God forbid, in the ICU and you need to check up on her, whatever. Of course. 99.9% of the time, it's one of the worst decisions you can make because, like I said, what you associate that phone with, subconsciously too, right? So as soon as you bring that phone into the bedroom now what it's supposed to be literally and and this is not I'm, not exaggerating here like your bedroom is supposed to be the number one most relaxing stress-free Parasympathetic promoting environment on the face of the planet in the universe

Drew Shuman: And I think this is so important. I know you've talked about this. Can we go a little bit into what, what makes that, what does that look like from your perspective?

Andres Preschel: How do you create that environment? So it's a great segue. So let me just finish by saying that, you know, as soon as you bring the phone in there, Now you're saying, Oh, this is like any other space. Like, yeah, I happen to sleep here, but I can, I can take, I can write emails here. I can scroll and, and, and, you know, I can get phone calls from whoever my boss, my business partner, my, my parents, Oh, there's this blue light, like, Oh, whatever. It's just a phone. I got, I remember the people justify. Cause it's so normal. It's it's yes, it's normal. It doesn't mean it's right. You know, the, the way that our physiology design, we're almost identical to, the way that we were millions of years ago, the human physiology hasn't changed. But the world within us evolves linearly from one generation to the next over the course of decades. The world around us, technology in the modern world evolves exponentially every single day. Look at where AI was six months ago versus where it is now. Look at how much more time we're spending on our phones every single week, right? So you have to acknowledge that there's this gap in the world within us and the world around us. So the point is like, yes, it might be normal to have a constant access to a phone and to bring it into the bedroom. However, we still have mechanisms within us that make that very stressful. You know, blue light, right? The main source of blue light that exists, the most potent is the sun. As the sun takes its course through the atmosphere, as you go around the sun, the sun goes around the sky at these different angles, we're exposed to different proportions of light at different levels of intensity. When the sun is right above us, that's when the sunlight has to cross through relatively the, the, the, the caught the, the, the thinnest section of the atmosphere to reach the visible sky. So all of a sudden we have the most intense blue light. Right. And when are, when do we have the, the, our peak wakefulness is in the middle of the day. For that very reason, we have the greatest proportion of blue light, blue wavelength. Now, when the sun is at a low angle, the beginning of the day and the end of the day, sunlight has to cross through relatively more atmosphere. The atmosphere filters out that blue light and UV light. So, in the beginning of the day, you can look at the sun, but it's not going to have such a negative influence on your physiology. In fact, what it'll do is it'll help you wake up in the morning, and in the evening, when you have this nice deep red sky, there's a relatively lower portion of blue light, So that absence of blue and that increase in red signals to the body, Hey, start to drop off our cortisol stress hormone levels and start to accumulate melatonin for sleep, right? Your phone is like the sun in the middle of the day. Your phone has a disproportionate amount of blue wavelength that it's emitting. Okay.

Drew Shuman: And we don't want to be staring at it right before bed.

Andres Preschel: No, not at all, because it sends a signal for wakefulness. And on top of that, like I said, what does the phone represent? The phone represents access to you. It represents responsibility. It represents potential emergency. I mean, that's okay, but not in the bedroom. Like put it anywhere else. It's funny when I tell people to do this, the first thing that they say, Oh, but what about my alarm? Dude, go on Amazon, get an old fashioned alarm. Like the whoop vibrates. Now the whoop vibrates like my alarm. Yeah, exactly. You know, you don't need your phone as an alarm. Like that's such a people are so attached to their phones and don't get me wrong. I make this mistake too.

Drew Shuman: Me too.

Andres Preschel: But you're ending the day this way. And then people typically start the day with this stuff. They're depleting their dopamine. Like you replenish your dopamine while you sleep. When you wake up in the morning, you have everything you need to be successful You have the highest testosterone levels in the early morning. You have the highest cortisol levels, which is a good thing I mean that helps motivate you get you focused to help you feel clear motivated, right? And you have the highest dopamine you have the three ingredients that you need to do something difficult Most people wake up and they do bullshit.

Drew Shuman: They waste all that they waste it away and So off of that, that was beautiful. Thank you. I want to go. What does that room look like? What does that nighttime routine look like? And what does that room actually look like for someone who's watching this right now?

Andres Preschel: I'll take you through the most important. And for anyone tuning in that wants, like I have a whole guide that I made because I've got this question so often. I'll send it to whoever's.

Drew Shuman: We'll share that in the show notes.

Andres Preschel: So like the sleep environment has to be cool dark and quiet Right cool as in 65 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit because what actually there's a few mechanisms that make you sleepy, right? There's accumulation of melatonin. Most people know that There's a denison which is a neurotransmitter that gives you the perception of fatigue the main mechanism by which caffeine actually gives you energy and is really by reducing the perception of fatigue because caffeine competes with adenosine for binding sites on adenosine receptors. It also has a vasoconstrictive effect and all these different increases adrenaline, but that's the main mechanism by which it reduces the perception of fatigue. So anyway, there's melatonin, there's adenosine, there's a few mechanisms that make you tired, but what actually initiates deep sleep is a decline in core body temperature. So ideally you want to feel a little hot going into a cold room because now you have a steep decline in core body temp that initiates deep sleep. So a great way to do that is taking a hot shower before bed. You could do like a warm bath. It's actually coined by the Japanese. It's called the warm bath effect. It's very well established. Um, and then there's, um, sauna, you could do a little bit of sauna, not too much sauna, because if you do too much sauna, now you're in the sympathetic state, your body's more stressed. And that might take you some time to like downshift.

Drew Shuman: That's interesting. What would you say is too much sauna?

Andres Preschel: when it feels uncomfortable. Like go in there, get a sweat, but once you start to go like, okay, I should probably get out. Like that's, you're pushing it already, you know? And if you're, if you happen to like an evening sauna, that's okay. You can do the sauna, but give yourself enough room to relax and create an environment that is very relaxing. So anyway, cool, dark, and quiet. You want to experience that decline in core body temperature by having some kind of exposure to warmth or heat, and then going into a cold room. Another really important, so actually Whoop did a study, you know how when you wake up in the morning it asks you to basically, it's like a journal entry, right? It asks you about all these different conditions, you know, what you did before bed and what you did the day before. So they looked at that for their millions of users and the two habits That led to the most consistent, um, you know, improvements in sleep quality or number one's pretty obvious. It's avoiding alcohol, right? Your body becomes preoccupied with dealing with that toxin keeps you in a sympathetic state, terrible for sleep. The number two was having an early dinner. Now, why I'll tell you as a physiologist, why this happens. And I pride myself on being one of the few people that actually understands how this works. Physiology is a wonderful, especially exercise physiology, a couple of things. So number one is. When you have food late into the day, I mean, when you have any food, you get blood, which you have a limited amount of. This might sound silly to say, but it's just, bear with me. You have a limited blood supply. Digestion is a process that requires a lot of energy. Okay, like if you run a marathon in a day Still most of the calories you spend that day are on digestion or very close. There's a lot It's mostly your metabolic rate. I'm pretty sure it's like 70 or so or maybe even 80% is just digest the digestive process It's it's so many calories When you introduce food to your system, you get this limited blood supply and it goes into the digestive tract. So now it's going away from the brain, tilt and river system and extremities. So that's typically why after a large meal, you'll feel a little bit cold because you have all this warm blood pulling away from the extremities and into the digestive tract. But now you have all this heat in the center of your body, in your core, right? Which prevents that declining core body temperature. However, A lot of people might say, well, hey, when I have a large meal, especially before bed, I feel so sleepy and I feel like I just want to take a nap. Yeah, because your body's going, hey, we need to relax. Like we have this limited, this blood going away from the extremities. So now you feel kind of lazy in your body and away from the brain. So now you feel kind of hazy in your head. So you might feel sleepy, but that high core body temperature is preventing that deep sleep onset.

Drew Shuman: So even if you get the eight hours, you're not going to get good quality. It's not going to be, no, the deep sleep is what most people are lacking.

Andres Preschel: And by the way, a lot of people confuse deep sleep and REM. It's deep sleep. REM is actually a light stage of sleep, but yeah, you want deep sleep. Typically you want to have about 25 to 30% deep sleep in that eight hour window. Most people get half of that. And it's because look, they're exposed to so much blue light. They don't accumulate enough melatonin to get into that deep sleep and stay asleep. But yeah, the core body temp has a huge component. And so you wanna, and that's not the only thing, it's not just that you have a high core body temperature keeping you from enabling deep sleep, it's also that if you are going to bed around the time that you ate, if it's within three hours of eating or so, now all of a sudden you have elevated blood glucose levels, you know, it's postprandial glucose response after eating your meal, you have glucose being dumped into your blood. And that means that you shift something called respiratory quotient. So this is something that we understand, we learn about in exercise physiology. It has to do with how much oxygen you consume and how much CO2 you exhale. But the point is that depending on the metabolic state that you're in, your breathing pattern changes. You might breathe more or less, more quickly, less quickly. It's a small change, but it's enough. to influence the degree of, well, the nervous system state that you're in, like the degree of parasympathetic or sympathetic influence that you're in. So for example, when you're in a ketogenic state, right, so after you overcome that postprandial glucose response, so three hours or so after eating a meal, you're in a more ketogenic state. We're designed to enable a certain degree of ketosis between meals, okay? Most people don't do that because they're snacking all day and they eat bullshit. And they have dysregulated blood glucose. Anyway, the point is that when you're in a ketogenic state, you shift RQ, you lower RQ, so now you're breathing less times per minute. The most immediate and accessible way to influence the state of your nervous system is by changing your breathing. So if you have a downshift in RQ, you're by definition in a more parasympathetic, more relaxing state that's consistent with deep sleep, on top of having lower core body temperature. Okay, so all that is to say that Avoiding dinner within avoiding food within three to four hours of sleeping is one of the best ways to sleep better So that's one of the biggest hacks right there And then something else is if you have to because I get it some people have to stay up late eating with friends Here's what you want to do. You want to support your body in digesting faster. You want to increase your insulin sensitivity and enable that ketogenic state. How do you do it? Go for a walk five to 15 minutes at least after your meal. And the sooner that you walk after you eat, the more meaningful this effect is on managing your blood glucose levels. chew very thoroughly for dinner. You could even take some insulin mimetics like bitter melon, chromium, berberine, but you have to take that for the course of several weeks. Anyway.

Drew Shuman: So if you do have to eat later, mandatory walk after a meal. Absolutely go for a walk.

Andres Preschel: Probably have a little bit of apple cider vinegar before. Don't eat any bread at the beginning of the meal. Try to focus on foods that are, you know, definitely whole foods.

Drew Shuman: Yeah. What about I've been eating dinner earlier, but sometimes I still get hungry before bed. What about a small snack before bed?

Andres Preschel: If you have a small snack, you want it to be easy to break down and digest and somewhat ketogenic. Like for example, I would do like yogurt with some berries, maybe. So there's a very low glycemic index. You know what I do every night?

Drew Shuman: Some yogurt, berries, and some honey. There you go.

Andres Preschel: A little bit of honey is fine. I could probably cut down on the honey. Yeah, sometimes I do like a spoonful of like almond butter or something, and I put a little bit of honey on it. But yeah, what you want to avoid is any processed carbs, nothing sweet. More like fat, number one, and then maybe a little bit of protein.

Drew Shuman: Protein, that makes sense. So going back to the room, cold, dark.

Andres Preschel: Cool, dark, quiet. Cool, dark, quiet.

Drew Shuman: No phone. No phone.

Andres Preschel: Early dinner, ideally a hot shower, some degree of heat exposure before you get into bed. And then in bed, I like to do a 4-7-8 breathing. So inhale for 4, hold for 7, exhale for 8. It shouldn't be this exaggerated breath, like a… None of that. Very subtle. Imagine you had a candle in front of your face and you want to blow it out. You really want to relax your nervous system. And again, your nervous system responds immediately to the way that you're breathing. So you wanna slow things down. That small breath hold in the 478, that seven second breath hold, it will generate, and also the eight second exhale, some people will get a little bit of that air hunger, like they get that urge to breathe. It's actually a good thing to an extent, because what it means is you're accumulating, the reason you get the urge to breathe in a 478 is not because you're low in oxygen, it's really because you're accumulating CO2, which is what gives you the urge to breathe. But by accumulating CO2, there's actually a cardio-inhibitory effect that takes place. So you actually want a certain amount of air hunger when you do the 4-7-8. That's how you know it's working. You don't want to exaggerate it too much. You don't want to pass out. But 4-7-8… And why does that make you sleepy, getting more CO2 in the system? So increasing CO2 has a cardio inhibitory effect. Like it slows the heart rate down.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

Andres Preschel: And that's what happens. That's why there's a seven second hold. The eight second exhale is really nice because you're spending four versus eight, right? Four second inhale, eight second exhale. You're spending twice as much time exhaling. You actually see an increase in parasympathetic rest, digest, heal activity on an exhale. On an inhale, you actually see a small increase in sympathetic activity, a drop in HRV. Exhale you do the opposite. So you want to do that four seven eight keep repeating it in through the nose You can exhale any way you want through the nose or through the mouth But definitely inhale through the nose and use your diaphragm to breathe So you do a few rounds of four seven eight in bed? And then I like to use if you can't if you don't have blackout curtains using like a nice high quality sleep mask I like the brand Manta make great sleep. That's not an ad. I just love their products and Yeah, you can also if you want to guarantee nasal breathing you can use like the intake Nasal strip that dilates the nasal passage because nasal breathing is more parasympathetic and uses more of the vagus nerve to support parasympathetic activity and fall asleep better and keep a state of sleep and then if you want to go on the extreme end Absolutely guarantee nasal breathing is using mouth tape. You don't have to use mouth tape and then first thing in the morning get sunlight and Yeah, those are get out like get out of bed make your bed it gets on light, you know Don't linger in bed doing shit on your phone like get out of there.

Drew Shuman: Those are great tips Going back to someone who's disconnected from themselves I know you said blood work and we kind of went down a whole rabbit hole What are a few simple things that someone could do starting tomorrow that can make a big impact in terms of feeling better?

SPEAKER_00: Hmm

Andres Preschel: tomorrow, like in a day, feel better. Start tomorrow, start the practice tomorrow, get sunlight first thing in the morning and don't use your phone for the first 30 minutes. It's easier said than done. Like it sounds so simple to do. Even I can't do it some days, even some days, like I wake up and I'm like, Defeated, you know, like it sucks, but I'll admit it like I'm a human being just like anybody else. Yeah, me too but uh, but yeah starting the day without the phone just Start the day with yourself you can journal just put your thoughts down somewhere like like You have to realize how important sleep is for the human experience. Most people have never gotten a great night of sleep I asked my clients all the time. When was the last time that you woke up feeling refreshed? Dude, when I asked that question 90% of the time people can't remember They rely on stimulants. They have such a crazy life. You have to sleep. You're going to spend a third of your life in bed. It's the number one thing that's going to have the biggest impact on the quality of your waking two-thirds. You might as well become an expert in sleep. If there's anything about your health that you need to become an expert in, it's sleep. You can replenish hormones and neurotransmitters, regulate your nervous system. You're gonna have more energy. So now you go and exercise, you derive more benefits from the exercise. You have more regulated blood glucose. So now making better decisions about nutrition comes more intuitively to you. You feel less anxious. You don't feel like you have to go and grab the bottle of alcohol and have a few drinks to feel like yourself, to feel present, to feel confident. So sleep is the foundation for everything. Not just sleep, but circadian biology. That's the foundation for absolutely everything. Hmm, right. You might as well get great at that.

Drew Shuman: Yeah, that makes total sense And what would you define a great night's sleep as is that subjective to each person or there's a lot about great sleep?

Andres Preschel: That makes it subjective. But I think I mean this is there's a few genetic predispositions that actually That can help you get away with less sleep, but they're very rare I actually think Trump is one of those people who can run on like four or five hours of sleep just incredibly enough. Yeah, I feel like shit Shit, if I get 45, dude, I need, yeah. But most people need five REM cycles. And a REM cycle can last anywhere between 90 minutes to like 110 minutes. So typically that's like seven and a half to eight hours is five REM cycles. And that's what most people need. However, you know, it's funny.

Drew Shuman: You're saying total, that's the amount of time.

Andres Preschel: Total, total, seven and a half to eight hours. You know, and as we, you know, as we go throughout our lives, you know, from the time we're babies to the time that we're, you know, elderly people, like there's some small variances there to accommodate. The point is you know when you ask people when you ask the average person. Hey, how's your sleep? Oh, I get eight hours It's like okay like that doesn't that doesn't matter like is is it efficient? You know you're waking up feeling refreshed. How do you wake up feeling refreshed deep sleep? Our modern lifestyles, they rob us of that deep sleep. It's because we don't get enough melatonin because of the blood exposure. It's because we eat late so that we don't get that declining core body temperature. It's because we're just so stressed out. Our sleep environments aren't ideal. And during deep sleep is when you get that increase in your baseline dopamine, right? It's what I wasn't getting when I was on Adderall, right? Because I was on Adderall XR, I was basically high on Adderall the entire day. So I wasn't getting deep sleep. I wasn't getting the one thing that actually helps improve my baseline dopamine outside of like, I mean, the number one most powerful non-invasive intervention. Right? So, you know, you replenish hormones, neurotransmitters, like I said, regulate nervous system. But another really incredible thing about deep sleep that most people don't know is when you accomplish deep sleep, you see a flow of what's called cerebral spinal fluid, this fluid that runs through your spinal cord into your brain. And basically this cerebral spinal fluid gets dumped into your brain during specifically deep sleep. And it basically goes and clears out all the gunk in your brain, the inflammation, toxins, everything. You've probably heard of the lymphatic system in your body, right? That helps you move toxins around and drain them and such. Your brain has its own individual lymphatic system called the glymphatic system. It was discovered by accident. I'm not going to get into that. It was part of my research project for my master's program. and biomedical neuroscience. But the point is that this cerebral spinal fluid flow happens during deep sleep and it gives you, it's one of the best ways to support not just your mental health, but clarity, energy. If you want to like really run a software reset on your brain every single day, it's through deep sleep. You know, what else people do they sleep like shit. They wake up. They take a bunch of stimulants late into the day now they get even worse sleep and Simultaneously, they're building a tolerance to the stimulants, right? Like I mentioned a denison earlier with coffee You know the way that your body responds to a denison being blocked by caffeine tell us it creates more denison receptors What does that mean? That means that now in the absence of caffeine more of your denison binds to the receptors You're automatically more tired without caffeine

Drew Shuman: Mm.

Andres Preschel: So that's most people.

Drew Shuman: I've felt every day. I haven't had caffeine. Yeah.

Andres Preschel: Yeah. You know, every day it gets worse. Like I, by the way, I love coffee. Coffee can actually help up regulate dopamine is funny enough. But, um, you have to be very mindful of this. The only way you're actually going to see what your body needs to thrive. The only way that I think most people can truly establish a baseline with their health and see what they're really, truly capable of and what their body needs. is first just optimize that sleep quality. Then you'll see what you're actually where your zone of genius really is, how you can really feel, how you can really truly self-regulate.

Drew Shuman: You know, brings me to my next question. I was going to talk about caffeine. So caffeine. I know you're a fan of it. I'm a fan of it. I use it daily. Times to take it cutoffs. Amount cycling off of it.

Andres Preschel: First thing first, I know at this point it's almost redundant and annoying for me to say, but you have to maximize sleep quality. If you're someone that relies on caffeine, you love coffee. You can't imagine your life without coffee. That used to be me too. I just want to say that. Just try going one to two weeks without it. You're going to get some withdrawals. You're going to get headaches, right? That's okay. Go two weeks. Try to focus on maximizing sleep quality. See how amazing you could, you could do so much for your sleep in two weeks, so much. And by saying no to caffeine, you're going to be more sleepy. You're going to get better sleep. You're going to sort of like reset. Okay. Then show me how much caffeine you actually need to function. And try not to have it within 10 hours of bedtime. Why? Because caffeine has a half-life of 5 hours, so if you have it within 10 hours of bedtime, it's going to influence your sleep. Period. End of story. Okay. That's your new baseline, right? I think before you reach for the caffeine, having established this baseline, try hydrating and try getting some sunlight at the beginning of the day. As you sleep, just breathing, you lose water vapor. You can lose easily three to six pounds of water just breathing throughout the night and maybe sweating a little bit. It's completely normal. When you wake up in the morning, however, you're relatively very dehydrated. Most people wake up, they need to start the day, oh my god, they got bad sleep, they drink some coffee. Just try hate, which is dehydrating you more. I mean, yeah, it has water depending on what you drink, but yeah, sure. Dehydrating. And if you have like a, a latte with all the sugar, now you're just really dysregulating blood glucose and you're just totally screwing up your day. Like, like the worst way to start the day is to wake up with your phone in bed. Get zero sunlight. Just go from your office to your car to work and Eat something sweet in the morning, which is what you have now you have now. Yeah. I mean, that's what most people do Yeah, right you have now actually completely disregarded your circadian rhythm. Yeah, which is the best way to naturally stimulate yourself and get energy and You've completely discarded that, which doesn't only screw up the beginning of the day. It also screws up the end of the day because if you get the sunlight in the morning and you stimulate cortisol in that fashion, then that's going to have everything to do with your energy throughout the day and it's going to have everything to do with the drop off in cortisol and increase in melatonin later. So what you do in the morning has everything to do with the quality of sleep that night. Anyway, so you've disregarded your circadian rhythm. You've disregarded your dopamine and you've disregarded your blood glucose. Now you're on a roller coaster, my friend. Now you're going to be impulsive. You're going to be making decisions about what you eat, not from a place of physiological need to nourish yourself, but from a hedonic place of like, I want something sweet. I want this. You start tweaking. It's the worst way to start the day, right? But most people, you know, we live in a world, and I'm sure people have heard this before, but it's just, I mean, the physiological toll and the extent is unbelievable. We live in a world that reinforces short-term gratification. You have to cut that cycle. Anything meaningful, any meaningful work, any meaningful project, any meaningful avenue that you want to take your health, I mean, anything, anything meaningful, it's all locked behind delayed gratification. Mm-hmm. We have been reinforced to love instant gratification. We have been totally spoiled and that influences us in ways that we don't realize goes beyond our conscious decision-making, right? It's just, we've reinforced a mental loop and it's what our body knows, what it's familiar with, even though it's killing us.

Drew Shuman: Yeah, it becomes a pattern.

Andres Preschel: Yeah.

Drew Shuman: Familiar. Yeah. And it's just, it's just, it's just a loop.

Andres Preschel: It's a, it's a mental framework that we operate on. So, anyway, going back, I know we went on a bit of a rabbit hole here. Your question was about caffeine originally. Try getting the sunlight in the morning, expose as much of your skin to the sunlight as possible. If you can't, if you wake up before the sun or you can't get sunlight, go on Amazon, look up sun lamp. They have these, they are, they're used to treat SAD, sad, seasonal affective disorder. So they're really good. You get a 10,000 lux one, it's 50 bucks. And you look at that for the first 10, 15 minutes of the day if you wake up before the sun. If you have a night shift job, wake up super early or you just can't get any sunlight or it's a really dark gloomy day. Winter time in the northeast. Exactly. That's what you do because now you're sending that signal to your body to wake up. And your body, if you make this habit, your body starts to anticipate it and naturally your circadian rhythm starts to wake you up and get you to feel more energized earlier in the morning. So now you've got that, then hydrate. And hydrate, add some electrolytes. But you want to get ideally, because again, you've lost so much water while you sleep, ideally 24 to 40 ounces. My standard is 32 ounces, purified water, really, really clean. And I'll add some electrolytes. I know a lot of big podcasters are sponsored by LMNT. I think it tastes great, but it's got heavy metals. Whenever I look at buying supplements, I always look at third-party testing data. I recently found, this is not an ad, I recently found Dr. Price. It's on labdoor.com as the number one safest, purest, cleanest electrolyte powder. They all vary in terms of sodium and this and that. This is like my morning hydration. If I'm gonna go outside, exercise, get in the sauna, I like a higher amount of sodium. We can get into that later. The point is I'll add one or two servings in 30 tons of water and then of course I have your creatine Yeah, and that's how I start my day With sunlight so try that Give it 30-60 minutes maybe then have some caffeine odds are you might not need it if you do you're gonna need a lot less and Don't have any more caffeine within 10 hours of bedtime if you still want to boost an energy I would say try stepping outside, try doing a little bit of exercise, even a max set of push-ups, try to get your heart rate up, get some fresh air, maybe take a cold shower. But if you still need like a real stimulant, as you get into the later part of the day, consider parazanthine, which is actually a metabolite of caffeine. So when you consume caffeine, it breaks down into parazanthine. It has a much shorter half-life. So caffeine is five hours, so you shouldn't take within 10 hours of bedtime. Parazanthine is three to four hours. There's a drink that I've been loving lately. It's called Life Cider X again, not an ad just my recommendation Life Cider X it has parazanthine l-tyrosine alpha-gpc and apple cider vinegar tastes delicious and Pick up. Yeah, like early afternoon because again, it's three to four hours. You don't want to have it within six to eight hours of bedtime if you still need a stimulant and you've exhausted everything else, you've exercised, you've gone outside, you've had cold exposure, or you're just left with no other option. You can consider nicotine, but in isolation, the more isolated the nicotine is, the better you don't want to combust it. You don't want to smoke a cigar or a cigarette. Um, I like knickknack naturals. It's like a little lozenge. It's not a Zen. It's not a BPA laced pouch. It's like a little, you put it on your lip. I'll do like half of a three milligram guy, like a couple of times a week. I love nicotine. And especially it's funny. They actually, so I have a predisposition for, as you know, now everybody, uh, for ADHD and also for Parkinson's two, two, two conditions that can be explained on a very basic fundamental level by low dopamine. Okay. Nicotine is. It's it's obviously very controversial right but nicotine in isolation is a nootropic. It doesn't prove the healthfulness of the brain Although it is extremely addictive. Okay, but nicotine Does from what I understand it does help sensitize dopaminergic sensors and it can't increase baseline dopamine And I can increase baseline dopamine overall. Yeah from what I understand Wow There is a lot of research that shows, and I can link to this in the show notes. I don't like to just say, oh, there's research. I'm a man of my word. I will put the studies in the show notes. I have no doubt. That the folks that have used nicotine, smoked cigarettes the longest, or have most recently quit using nicotine have the lowest incidence of Parkinson's. Wow. Nicotine can help prevent and delay the onset of neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's and dementia. I might get a lot of heat for this. I might get canceled for this. I'm happy to take it. I've looked at the literature. I've had to do this. I've had to understand myself at a fundamental level, understand what are some stimulants that I can use. Because look, dude, I'm a CEO, I'm a high performer. I have a high stakes job in a lot of ways. Sometimes I need a little nicotine.

Drew Shuman: Yeah, I get it. Fine.

Andres Preschel: I use it as a tool. That's all that matters. That's what it is. Not a crutch.

Drew Shuman: Yeah. Uh, it's, it's to go super physiological, not a bandaid. Yeah. So speaking of movement and training, do you have any thoughts on, um, a certain time, ideal times to train? Do you think it's subjective to each person, their routine?

Andres Preschel: Look, I pride myself in giving advice that's hyper-personalized. That's the nature of my role and responsibility as CEO and a physio and head coach. I work with clients, I understand their unique lifestyles, and I have my medical team look at their complete scope of their health data, biometric, comprehensive blood work, genetic, you name it. DEXA scans, VO2max, everything. When we compile that on top of understanding their unique lifestyle to the nth degree before we make any recommendation so that it's congruent with their lifestyle. So obviously, we're discussing some general themes here and I'm trying to illuminate as much as I can so that it's valuable for anybody tuning in. But I do want to mention, if we're talking for the general person tuning in, the best advice that I can give on timing of fitness is Simple as whatever works best for you, like whatever is the most consistent for you, right? Like, and that you enjoy the most, like there has to be that element of like, you know, yeah, you have to enjoy it. It has to be realistic for you. If it's not, it's not gonna work. So there isn't necessarily a best time in a general sense. However, my personal preference is to start the day with fitness. Now, of course, you can say, for example, in the middle of the day, core body temperature is the highest, and so technically you have more strength. And so it's the best for strength training, per se. But for me, movement really has become my medicine. Movement and strength training specifically, Is what replaced my ADHD medication? Okay For me starting the day with movement Fast it doesn't have to be fasted. But in the beginning of the day starting the day with moon I prefer fast ease because I like to wake up and go move starting the day with fitness and sunlight and hydration that Supercharges my day totally supercharges my day, but that's not realistic for everyone. I

Drew Shuman: Yeah, but it's good information for people.

Andres Preschel: It's going to further increase that dopamine and cortisol in a healthy fashion and keep it elevated throughout the day.

Drew Shuman: I know that's a topic now. Are there benefits to training fasted? Do you have a certain opinion on that? I know you do it personally, as you just stated, but…

Andres Preschel: So yes and no again super context dependent like men versus women right off the bat If I say for women, I'd say generally no not a good thing. Yeah, I would love to get into especially strength and hit training They're just more sensitive to the you know acute The acute stress is taking place exercise is an acute stressor, right? and it depends on your ability to overcome that stressor that hormetic stressor that dictates the quality of the results that you have without a You know impairing your system in a negative fashion. So the point is like Between men and women it's very different obviously where a woman is along her Life cycle and female biorhythm very very different. I'm not a woman. I'm not gonna speak on behalf of women So I'm gonna put that aside for now, but I will say in general women are more sensitive to training facet for sure. Mm-hmm And then you want to look at the types of training right if you do training because again, you're enough you wake up early you're Metabolically in a ketogenic state using primarily fat fat for fuel so technically the easiest and and best what you're best suited for something that's more like endurance style zone to training you can go into higher intensity, but that's going to require you to kind of Shift gears immediately from a state of like rest into a state of high performance and that can be very taxing for some people. Yeah, so Like again, it's just it's just so Nuanced like you could say you can make the argument Oh, well you you're better able to establish fat max where you have you're burning the greatest amount of fat per minute like people get so nitpicky about certain things and they get so scientific I have learned I have gone through that process myself of being so nitpicky and scientific about it. So absolutely nuanced that how do they, how do the people say this? They, they miss the forest for the trees or something. It's like, you miss like the big picture. Like, I don't know that one. I like that.

Drew Shuman: It's something like that. I'm thinking in Spanish about it.

Andres Preschel: You're missing the big picture. I'm missing the big picture about like, I think, I think most people should wake up and just kind of feel it out. If you're starving in the morning, eat, like don't force yourself to train faster. Your body's trying to give you a signal. Some people wake up and they're starving. To me, that sounds like listen to your body. Listen to your body, which is the best and the worst advice at the same time. Most people don't know how to listen to their bodies. They have mixed signals. They have dysregulated nervous systems, terrible sleep. They're on all these stimulants or sedatives and they have blunted that signal.

Drew Shuman: So what's finding that balance? How do you become better at listening to your body? And how do you decipher maybe if the messages aren't the real messages you should be listening to in the first place?

Andres Preschel: I think the best way to decipher that signal, you have to have You have to do a great job of regulating your nervous system, which is a whole topic. We've covered a lot of it through sleep and applied breath work. Eat foods that agree with you, meaning it's different for everybody, but at a baseline, whole foods, not the grocery store, but whole foods that are processed. You can get whole foods at Whole Foods. You can get Whole Foods at Whole Foods. And and eating eating the rainbow like a wide variety of nutrients, you know in nature not in the processed food section in nature Different colors reflect different kinds of nutrients. So we're eating all kinds of colors. You just have more nutrient density whole foods They're gonna fill you up more. They can help prevent overeating. They're gonna help regulate the glucose You know or prevent glucose right dysregulation. I should say You know you want to My best advice for nutrition, as boring as it sounds, is everything in moderation. I don't believe in carnivore or keto or anything like that. I think, are there therapeutic benefits when you do those diets short term? For sure. Some of them can work as elimination diets. Some of them can work well for people that are totally sedentary and don't have the time or just can't afford to move. Or they're I don't know sick in the hospital, etc But I think for most people everything in moderation eat whole food get plenty of protein. I get plenty of fiber 100% Yeah, I mean, and then, so now you have the nutrition, hopefully you're also hydrating, you have great sleep, you're regulating your nervous system in times of stress, you're getting sunlight, you're supporting circadian biology. So you do the things that everyone talks about that are healthy, but you actually have to find a way to integrate them into your life. And now typically, as time flies, you have a clearer signal. Like the number one thing that I optimize for in my life and with my health is mental clarity. Like I just wanna feel clear and energized. You know and if you understand the way that your body is designed and How that's just not congruent with the modern convenience that we have access to unlimited access to If you understand that that mismatch all of a sudden you realize the changes that you have to make Rather that you should be motivated to make in order to you know reestablish a relationship with your body and its natural design the design that's evolutionarily preserved within us, the design that we ignore. And I hate to sound woo woo, but it's just like, the point is we are designed a certain way and the environment around us has changed so much, but on the inside, we're the same. So if we go back to, all right, how are we designed? What are the lifestyle habits that were reinforced over time? And how can we be more like, how can we honor that design more so in the modern day? How can we put back in what the modern world leaves out? And remove a lot of the BS of the modern world puts in that's gonna get that signal to be clear And all of a sudden you're more interoceptive you're more intuitive, you know, yeah, that's beautiful, man And I think a lot of the things we touched on today.

Drew Shuman: Those are some of the ways you can get more in tune with that Yeah So speaking about regulating our nervous systems and diets, what does a day of eating look like for you? And what are some of the ways that you regulate your nervous system? I have to be so careful.

Andres Preschel: As soon as I say anything, people are going to go and put it on their Amazon shopping cart and say, this is the ideal diet. Oh my God, I have to go. PSA, this works for Andres. This is what I'm working on. All right. Look, I mean, And also I want to say like, I'm a scientist, I'm an exercise physiologist, back in nutrition, I do all kinds of testing. It's what I do for a living. It's gonna sound very simple as I say it, but this is after over 10 years of studying my genetics, doing regular blood work, having an insane team of like world-class doctors, testing everything myself, like actually testing it, having regular blood work, looking at my biometrics, like really going balls to the wall, right? First of all, everything that I just said earlier, right? Whole food, nutrient density, good hydration, regulated nervous system. So all of a sudden, like for me, it's easy, for example, to eat at maintenance calories. Because if you have regulated blood glucose levels, you're not going to have so much hedonic hunger. All my all my meals are very satiating very high protein very high fiber. I feel very energized throughout the day a lot of The recent adjustments that I've made with my nutrition Reflect an effort to establish a calorie deficit without feeling so hungry because I'm trying to like shed a little bit of fat right now I think I'm about 10% body fat. I want to get down to like 7% honestly more for the vanity than anything else.

Drew Shuman: The truth comes out.

Andres Preschel: I want to prepare myself before the holiday season. I'll put it like that, right? I want to just go nuts in the holiday season and just get right back up to like nine, 10% which is where I feel my best at. Genius. So what does that mean? That means that I'm eating around 2000, maybe 2200 calories a day.

Drew Shuman: Wow, that's low.

Andres Preschel: Yeah, it's pretty low. Cause like I'm lifting right now, just I'm really busy, you know, Q4, we get super busy. Um, so I'm lifting like three to four times a week. Typically it's like three weightlifting sessions in like one sprint day, maybe some rock climbing here and there, but otherwise dude, like I'll get an average of eight to 10,000 steps a day, eight to 12,000 is pretty much like 10,000 steps a day, but I'm trying to lose like one to one and a half pounds of fat a week right now. The next step is I look at my genetic profile and I understand I'm very sensitive to histamines, so I have to eat foods that are generally lower in histamine. Or if I eat those high histamine foods, I take a histamine blocker because it leaves me with a lot of brain fog and low energy. I also want to make sure on a cut that I'm getting enough carbs. I've realized, man, like one of my biggest mistakes is anytime I go low carb, like I start feeling low energy. I start like my, my, I've noticed like, for example, my hormone profile, my testosterone, SHBG and free testosterone and all that. For years, I had extremely high sex-formatting globulin and low free T, and I couldn't figure out why. And it's because I had chronically restricted my carbohydrate intake. Just because I was working with so many people that were obese and had a cardio-metabolic syndrome, and you see all this stuff online, trendy, low-carb diets, and I think subconsciously, I just kind of gravitated towards, oh, carbs, I need to be very mindful of my carbohydrate intake, and that screwed me. So now I actually am doing a little more tracking per se for my macros and micros to acknowledge my genetic profile, but also to make sure that I have enough carbohydrate to give me the energy that I need so that on a calorie deficit, I don't feel totally depleted, low T, low motivation, you know, and depressed. So I have I definitely have enough carbs. I think I have in those two to twenty twenty five fifty calories I think I have like Like 300 grams of carbs just about nice, which is a hefty amount of carbohydrate. Yeah, you know, it's like six Potatoes a day basically, this is an example I get around, you know, so two fists of carbs in each meal, just to make it simple. I get at least one fist of protein. So that's about 30 to 50 grams of protein in each meal. I try to get 150 grams of protein per day minimum. I weigh 170 pounds. I try to get one gram per pound just to take advantage of the satiety effect of protein, but also the thermic effect. So, you know, for every… You said 150 to 170. Yeah, I try to get a bare minimum of 50 grams per day. So I try to eat like one and a half to two fifths of protein in each meal. I have three meals a day. So that's about 150 to 200 grams of protein per day. And protein is incredible, especially on a calorie deficit because it satiates you. It's the most filling macronutrient, but it also has a really high thermic effect. So you burn about 20 to 30% of the calories you consume from protein just digesting it. So if you have 100 calories of protein, there's 20 or 30 calories that you burn automatically just digesting it. And it also helps regulate blood glucose, especially if you start your meal, if you have a plate of food in front of you with protein, carbs, fat, fiber, whatever, eating the protein and fiber first has a meaningful influence on the postprandial glucose response and blood glucose stability. So I always eat that first to take advantage of the satiety and regulate glucose so that I don't feel, I don't have like these random cravings throughout the day. You probably didn't expect such a profound answer for what I eat, right? So anyway, I make sure I get enough carbs, I get plenty of protein, and I'm someone that loves eating fat, so honestly, I don't even really track fat. If I know that I'm getting my protein and carbs met, And I'm eating whatever amount of fat that I want and then I just I weigh myself every day So I know that it's if it's not turning the direction I want I typically is just the fat component because I have a tendency to overdo the fat I love extra virgin olive oil. I love butter. I love dairy. I love fatty cuts of steak I love fatty fish, you know, so I typically if there's anything that I overdo it's typically fat anything that I underdo It's typically carbohydrate protein. I'm pretty good at so All that being said There's probably so much we're gonna do all that being said My standard meals right now are I typically wake up like at 7 a.m I don't eat they just don't really feel like getting up until like 10 or 11 my first meal right now I do an entire pint of cottage cheese nice I'm like when you go to the grocery store and you realize that your favorite cottage cheese isn't there and it's completely wiped That's me. Yeah

Drew Shuman: Get like anytime I go to the store make memes about you.

Andres Preschel: Yeah, like I clear out that section every time I go I get like at least eight tubs of I think it's Nancy's or a good culture and one or the other but I get the entire pint great That's 440 calories in the entire pint for the whole fat. I like the whole fat because it has n7 to help me break down Lactose and such. I don't like the low fat. I feel like crap on it whole fat 440 calories 44 grams of protein, okay I'll add a handful of blueberries and make sure to clean them for whatever. I don't want any parasites in my fucking blueberries. It's so funny. I'm telling you this and I realize how much of a freak I am. You know, in psychology, there's what we call the stages of procedural knowledge. So at the very bottom of the pyramid, it's like, you don't know what you don't know. Then the next level is like, you know what you don't know. Then it's like, you know, and you apply what you know. And then there's like the last of which is you apply without knowing. Like it's just how you live your life and you don't realize what you're doing until maybe you have a conversation about it. You know, it's like mastery. So there's so much more that goes into this. Like there's so much more. We could spend five podcasts talking about my approach to nutrition. It's just second nature to me. Anyway, so pint of the cottage cheese, handful of blueberries, and then like raw honey. I like to start my day, honestly, generally lowering carbohydrate, just because I immediately in the morning, I like to take care of the most important tasks that I have to do for work. Because again, testosterone is the highest, cortisol is the highest, dopamine is the highest. I want to take advantage of that and get the most meaningful work done before lunchtime. And then I reward myself at lunch and I reinforce that effort. which works really well for me, especially with ADHD with a really nice, uh, like, like more solid meal. So right now it's looking like, um, I get, I love using like ground Turkey or ground chicken or ground beef. Like I'm honestly super lazy when it comes to food. I cook everything myself 90% of the time, but I'm super lazy. You may have seen in my story the other day, I literally will take, I have an air fryer, best invention after sliced bread. Incredible. And I take the container of turkey, I flip it onto parchment paper, I take a fork, I just spread it a little bit, I put salt, spices, pop it in the air fryer for 15 minutes. Perfect. I have 100 grams of protein. Two meals. Spoke that in half and then I have and then typically I also put a sweet potato in there and I'll keep it for like 10 more minutes than the turkey so now I have You know Turkey or the beef or the chicken right now because I'm cutting I'm going like 98% lean turkey or like 90% lean chicken like pretty lean So I'll have that I'll take some arugula. I'll just like one of the best tricks. I don't learn with arugula and Any green is you you you open up the bag you drizzle some extra virgin olive oil and with clean hands you like Kind of like crush it and it kind of helps like break it down and it gives it this like wet look But I don't know.

Drew Shuman: I just feel like I leave it in the fridge like that. This is like no, no right before before sir Yeah, yeah, it just tastes way better.

Andres Preschel: It's easier to like break down. So I kind of like Anyway, I do that So I'll have my arugula, tons of phytonutrients, nitric oxide, support blood flow, I have my turkey, I cut that in half, and then I have like one or even two sweet potatoes. By the way, potatoes are the most satiating food on the planet. I just made a video about them being a superfood. Most people don't know this. Potatoes are the most satiating food on the planet. That's the best news I've ever heard. They fill you more than any other food. The thing is, make a huge mistake. They're also fucking delicious. They're delicious. I like the Japanese sweet potatoes. I could eat those every single day for the rest of my life. So look, there's 70 to 80% water, okay? It's a starchy carb, which most people say, oh, if you want to lose weight, you got to avoid starches. It may be if you're sedentary and obese, but if you're extremely active and you're burning up a ton of glycogen to fuel your workouts, you need to replenish that glycogen. Starches are almost identical to glycogen. They readily convert into glycogen and replenish those stores. Again, I made a huge mistake, and it screwed my hormone profile for years, of not getting enough carbohydrate. And what happens in the absence of carbohydrates, when you're not getting enough carbs, and you're exercising a lot, doing strength training, HIIT training, etc., and especially if you combine that with a calorie deficit and a high-stress job, and you have kids, and a house, and a mortgage, and all these different stressors, what happens? I'm obviously exaggerating a bit, but just in the absence of… If you're not getting enough carbs, period. Your nervous system still needs carbohydrate, because it's the most efficient fuel source. So what does it do? It kicks up what's called gluconeogenesis, the conversion of things other than glucose into glucose. Where's the first place your body goes to seek out and create glucose in the absence of glucose, because you're not getting enough from your diet? Muscle mass. What's required for that to happen? Cortisol being elevated. Cortisol is what goes in and basically breaks up that molecule, that muscle, that protein, and it generates glucose. And so all of a sudden you have a huge issue, right? Because that's something that again, it elevates cortisol. Uh, it's stressful for your body to not have sufficient carbohydrates. So now that your perceived levels of stress are high enough to screw with your hormones, especially as a woman, especially training fasted in the morning, like for a woman to go and start the day fasted strength training is like, Sorry, but that's, you should- No bueno. No bueno, right? But anybody in the absence of, with chronic, in a chronic deficit of carbohydrate training hard is gonna have this issue. Because I usually say, and I know that I'm kind of deviating here for a moment, but like, if you look at like testosterone, right? Everybody, most people, especially men want higher T, right? It's gonna give you more focus, higher libido, more confidence. But you have to keep in mind that it's a hormone that reinforces habits and decisions that are aligned with a reproductive capacity. And if your body's under a high degree of perceived stress, your body's going to shunt off reproductive behavior because it's going to go, we're not fit for reproduction. So if you're training hard, but you're not getting enough of what your body needs to thrive or to replenish, you're going to see an elevated sexual hormone binding globulin, which basically takes testosterone and goes, Whoa, where are you going, buddy? Stay over here, buddy. You're not fit for this, baby. And now your free T starts to drop, and you start to feel like shit, because you can't keep up. But you're working out in the effort to be stronger, to be more confident, to be, you know, so you have to get what you need. The beauty of potatoes, going back off this tangent, is potatoes, like I said, help you replenish, and they're super satiating, versus like any other carbohydrate that's processed, right? You're not gonna have that same water content or fiber content, so now it's much easier to overconsume. And because you're consuming so much carbohydrate without that water or fiber, which by the way, in nature, there's pretty much no carbohydrate that's processed. There's no carbohydrate that doesn't have fiber and water. So we're not designed to process these super calorie-dense foods. So our body almost overreacts when we have these highly processed carbohydrates. So anyway, you do this in the absence of water, like in a potato, and you have a host of issues taking place. It's terrible. Potatoes replenish glycogen You got the water you got tons of vitamins and minerals in it. The problem with potatoes Hope is most people when they eat potatoes, what do they do? They have potato chips or french fries. They've Dramatically increased the surface area of this wonderful food. They lace it with with fat So now super calorie dense and then they dip it in sauces. That's not sorry, but that's not potatoes. That's just processed food That's a different food. Yeah But boiled or baked potato, dude, it's well established in the literature. Actually, when I made my post about this, about potatoes being a superfood, which everybody needs to watch, I'm so, I don't care how well my content does online. If at least one person likes it, I'm happy. But I really wish this went viral because it is a hilarious and super educational post.

Drew Shuman: We can link it in the show.

Andres Preschel: Great. I actually reference a study that was published in the American Journal of Potato Research. That exists.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

Andres Preschel: I couldn't believe that this existed. And, um, it basically goes into the physiology, like how potatoes influence physiology and performance. It is one of the most, it's currently my favorite scientific study. Wow. It's just wonderful. I'm going to read that. Yeah.

Drew Shuman: I mean, I love potatoes and I think it's a super food. Like I've been eating them for years.

Andres Preschel: I tell my girlfriend, like, hey, if you ever notice I'm like have like low mood, low energy, low libido, just ask me if I carb to the fuck up that day or not.

Drew Shuman: Did I eat potatoes?

Andres Preschel: Did I eat my fucking carbs today? That's a serious question.

Drew Shuman: So to bring that all the way back around, if you're training, even maybe if you're not training super hard, Potatoes. Phenomenal. Great carbohydrate.

Andres Preschel: I hate to keep interrupting you, but I have something for you. I think I know where this is going. I really hope that this makes sense for people. And I've made other posts about this too, where I break this down. I share my relevant podcasts with people that have questions for me that I've answered many, many times before. Have podcast that I sent to my clients in my community to my friend my family the number one podcast That I've sent and shared the most is a 15-minute solo episode I did about carbohydrates and how to match the amount glycemic index to the Basically, it's like a master class on carbohydrates, how much you need and when to have them. But to fill this in with what I think you're going to ask me, you want to match the amount and the glycemic index of carbs to the amount and proximity to exercise respectively. What does that mean? You do more exercise, you can certainly afford and you should eat more carbohydrate. The closer you are to exercise, the higher glycemic index you should and can afford to have. Okay, let's break that down even further, right?

SPEAKER_00: Yes, keep it simple, stupid, I love it.

Andres Preschel: This is like some of the most valuable advice that I can share with anybody tuning in. Keep going. At a baseline, everybody kind of like, you pretty much need carbs. Can you have a ketogenic diet and be successful with it for certain reasons in medical, whatever? Sure. Let's put that aside for a second. Most people need enough carbs. You work out a lot, you got to eat a lot of carbs, you got to replenish. As you get closer to exercise, let's say I'm going to go and start exercising in 30 minutes, and I feel like I need a little more fuel. I'm going to have a very high glycemic index carbohydrate. I'm not going to have lentils. I'm not going to have potatoes. That's going to take me forever to take advantage of. I'm not going to have enough time to break it down for my workout. So I'm going to have a little bit of honey. I'm going to have, I don't know, a piece of toast, a banana, a ripe banana. After exercise, I have now contracted all this muscle fiber. I'm extremely insulin sensitive, so I can afford to have something that's high glycemic index. It's not going to make a dent in my blood glucose. I can have whatever I want. It's not going to mess with my glucose, especially as a healthy person that has just exercised.

Drew Shuman: There will be some examples of that real quick for the audience.

Andres Preschel: Of what? Of high glycemic index? High glycemic index goes from a range of… I think it's technically zero to 100. 100 is like… sugar, you know, white bread, right? You have things that are very, very high in glycemic index, like processed carbs, sweet stuff. The sweeter something is typically the higher the glycemic index. Moderate is something like potatoes, quinoa, you know, maybe like a greenish banana, right? Then you have the stuff that's like very low glycemic index, like lentils, beans, right? Which have a lot of fiber, so the carbohydrate breaks down more slowly, so the glycemic response is lower, right? So the point is, surrounding exercise, you can afford to have higher glycemic index. If it's right before, you take advantage of it. You get more energy for your workout. Right after, you take advantage of the fact that you have high insulin sensitivity. You can have pretty much whatever you want. But let's say the further you get away from exercise. So like let's say you exercise way in the morning and now you're having dinner at night Typically, you don't want to have something that's super sweet for dinner because you're not as insulin sensitive as you were around the time that you exercise So maybe something that's like lower glycemic index, right or let's say even further away from exercise Let's say you have an injury and you're lying in bed all day long or you're so busy with work You can't move at all, you know and a day like today. I didn't work out today. She's been sitting around working and So my lunch today was instead of potatoes. I just had a bunch of cannellini beans Pre-soaked pressure-cooked they come in a glass jar jovials the brand amazing 24 grams of protein like 12 grams of fiber right the neck carbs are low low-glycemic index.

Drew Shuman: I feel incredible So anyway, I think that answers you. I hope that answers your question answer the question I love how intentional you are too. And that's My biggest takeaway is being intentional with the foods you eat. I

Andres Preschel: Yeah. Food is fuel. It's nourishment. It's how you bring people together, you know? And by the way, when I bring people together, which is my favorite thing to do is bring people together over food, especially food that I harvested myself, like spearfishing or fishing or whatever. I went to a garden or the point is like if food is meant to be shared with other people, when you're among other people, rather than being on your phone doing bullshit and scrolling or on YouTube or whatever, like if you're among other people, you're automatically in a more parasympathetic state. There's more endorphins, there's more ketosin, there's more presence. And now you can be even more intentional with what you're eating. So yeah, I mean, I think intention goes beyond what's actually on your plate, but the environment that you're in, the presence that you have, the gratitude that you have for that food, and what it's doing for you, and realizing that food is really there to do something for you. It's not there just to make you happy. It's there to give you satisfaction beyond what you can reinforce mentally. Like, oh, this tastes good. Food is way more than that. And it's not just the fuel, it's the fundamental ingredients that create your infrastructure. It's everything. Food is everything.

Drew Shuman: Without it, we ain't here. We ain't surviving. Some Buddhist monks would argue that, but sure. We're getting close here to the end. I got some rapid-fire questions I wanted to hit you with. Great. Coal plunge or sauna?

Andres Preschel: Sauna, 100%. Most people should not be fucking coal plunging. They're already stressed out of their minds, depleted in hormones or transmitters. It's overdone. I think it's cool if you can afford to do it on a high-recovery, high-HRV day. sauna is like I mean the efficacy behind sauna for cardiovascular benefits for longevity for Helping you harness the benefits of exercise and doubling down on that On the heat shock proteins and anabolic response and driving blood flow. I mean Tatana is just Everybody should have us on in their home.

Drew Shuman: Everybody. It's the dream. Yeah. Sorry boys called life. I love I love cold exposure.

Andres Preschel: I But I think people confuse the short-term like endorphin rush with something that's healthy. For most people, that's depleting someone that's already depleted, you know? So sauna for most cases. Beautiful.

Drew Shuman: Coffee or matcha?

Andres Preschel: You know, part of me would say matcha because it's slow release caffeine. I fucking love coffee, man. I love coffee. I love the flavor of it. I don't care. I don't care what you have to say about matcha. I love coffee. Personally, I love coffee.

Drew Shuman: Morning routine or night routine?

Andres Preschel: I mean, I would, I love them both. I think they're both extremely important, but if I had to pick one morning, because what you do in the morning has everything to do with how you're going to feel at night. So I'd say by definition, morning routine is more important.

Drew Shuman: Beautiful. This is a good question for you. What's the work you feel most proud to be doing right now?

Andres Preschel: Wow. I've never been asked that question. That's a fantastic question. Thank you, sir. Wow, man. Because I can spin that in so many different ways. Like, is this professionally, personally? That's up to you to choose.

null: Fuck.

Andres Preschel: I'll answer both. I'll say personally and professionally. The most important work I'm doing personally. I'm going to make myself vulnerable here. We love it. We love the vulnerability. No, but in a serious note, the most important work I'm doing personally is choosing my life partner. I hope she's listening to this. Yeah, she will. But really, I mean, just visualizing the future that I want. And I actually spoke about this last night. I told her, I was like, you know, the degree of certainty that I have, it's allowed me to really work on myself in such an incredible way over the past year that we've been together. Because when you, I feel like when you meet your person, um, that holds you accountable, you have no choice. I mean, ideally, right? You have no choice, but to become the best version of yourself. And you, there's a great quote. I don't know if it's by, what is it? Alan Watson or Alan Watts. I think it goes legend. I'll, Take care of me for you. If you take care of you for me, you know, it was like that mutual accountability so much truth in that too.

Drew Shuman: Yeah.

Andres Preschel: And so I think the most important work that I'm doing personally is like, I have really visualized, like, I know this is my person. I have, I've never been more short of anything and just being very present with her, but also real, like having seen so much growth and then, um, understanding. Not just who I am and who I need to be for her and for our relationship and we're building together but also who I want to become and And seeing who she wants to become and just making sure that You know, we're there for each other along the way and having that certainty. It's hard to put into words Yeah, but I feel like Really knowing who my partner is that I'm gonna do the rest of my life with has been some of the most incredible personal work that I've ever done and that I will ever do and on a professional level, the most important.

Drew Shuman: That's so beautiful, man. I'm so happy for you guys. I see you doing the same thing. Yeah, man, I feel the same way. I have that certainty and it's nothing I've ever experienced before. So to feel that in this moment, it feels so good, man. It feels so good.

Andres Preschel: I told her, I was like, if there was one way to describe how I feel with you, and this is going to sound cheesy, but I just, I told her very honestly last night, I said, I just feel like I'm home. It feels so familiar. I've never felt so familiar with someone, with a stranger. It just feels so familiar. I feel like I'm meant to be here.

Drew Shuman: It's almost a bug out. And then for me, it makes me think, you know, I just sat with Ayahuasca this past weekend and I'm like past lives and maybe we've done this before. The feeling of familiarity is almost like it feels too familiar for it to be the first time.

Andres Preschel: Exactly, exactly. It feels too familiar for it to be the first time. Yes, I agree. I thought all the time, I was like, yeah, we've been together for a year in this lifetime. That's great, man. Yeah. And then the most, the question was the most meaningful work that I'm doing, right? Yeah. Yeah. The most meaningful work that I'm doing on a professional level. I mean, obviously like I pride myself in working with so many people, having them radically transform and upgrade their health. Um, people that are, some of them are, are, are titans in their industries, you know, I, and I know that there's a domino effect, right? I get to help them help so many people and serve this world in a really meaningful way. Um, which is so rewarding. But I've been doing that now for many, many years and I'd say that one of the latest themes that ultimately helps me do more of that, but at scale, is the work I'm doing to build the best team and the best culture and putting all these A players together in one place and leading them. You know, it's because on the other side of that, which goes back to one of the earlier conversations that we had, you know, you can't do everything yourself as an entrepreneur, even though you may want to. If you really want to have an impact, you have to know how to delegate, how to work together as a team, how to be resourceful. And some of the most incredible work I'm doing is, for example, I actually just got the contract today for me to bring on Max full-time. He's got his MBA, he was working with the Mayo Clinic, doing very well for himself. And now he's taking a leap of faith and going full-time with me. We have another one of our employees, Samar, who's our chief technical officer and media officer. He's now officially full time with us. We just hired over the past couple of months a new executive assistant and Casey, who is This incredible professional, my new client success manager, she has specific knowledge. She worked as a personal assistant to a high net worth family. She has a background in psychology. She leads sales for Anatomy and is like an instructor for Pilates. The blend of specific knowledge is exactly why I need. The team is getting lethal. It's a lethal team and everyone's coming full time, which is insane. You know, now we have six people on our team, including myself. And, and dude, it's been, it's like another job. It's another complete other job and responsibility to build that team up. But I know what's on the other side of that. Like I, we never lose sight of our North star and we may have bumps in the road, but as one of my former business partners once told me when we got into like a heated debate about something and we wanted to just absolutely kill each other. She took a deep breath and she said, friction creates warmth. Wow, it's really good. So there's been some friction, there's been bumps in the road, but the most meaningful work that I'm doing right now professionally is building, training, bringing this team together and putting each and every one of us in our zone of genius, which ultimately means that we're gonna have a more meaningful impact, more sustainably, more efficiently, more effectively, help so many people along the way.

Drew Shuman: That's beautiful, man. I can't wait to see it all unfold in real time. Thanks. So I guess a good place to wrap before I ask you the last question would be, you know, after this conversation, reflecting a little bit, what would be some of the key takeaways you'd maybe give to someone who is trying to optimize their health, but also maybe just feel better in general? What would be some… You're gonna hate me. I'll never hate you. You know what the answer is? Sleep. Dial in on that sleep.

Andres Preschel: And probably the lowest hanging fruit to improve your sleep, keep your phone outside of your bedroom. Check out the sleep guide that we're going to link to.

Drew Shuman: It's free.

Andres Preschel: I should probably charge for it. I've spent a lot of time creating that over the course of many, many years. Keep it free.

Drew Shuman: It will bring people to you.

Andres Preschel: I want to keep it free. So it's like, I don't know, 30 pages full of science. But in the first couple of pages, you get a summary and you just get a daily to-do list and a weekly to-do list. And then if you want to dive into the science, which I recommend that you do, it'll explain how everything works and all that good stuff. But that's the most important takeaway.

Drew Shuman: Beautiful. And then the question I ask everyone to end this show is if you could tell your younger self one thing in this moment, what would it be? Wow.

Andres Preschel: You're right. Dude, it's the weirdest thing growing up, even though I sucked at school most of my life and I hated it. Eventually, as you know, I fell in love with it because there was a purpose. But dude, I say school because as a young person, you spend most of your time in school and it has so much to do with your self-esteem and how you think about yourself and you compare yourself to other people. It's not a perfect system at all. It's a very broken system. But I always had this feeling, man, deep down. I always had this feeling, always, always. It never escaped me. I don't know where I got this wisdom or what. Obviously, there's a lot of survivorship bias that I need to acknowledge. Just because it worked for me doesn't mean that it's going to work for everybody else. The advice that I give might not work for other people. There's no guarantee of success. There's a lot of survivorship bias. If you don't know what that is, Google search survivorship bias. I actually don't know what that is. I'm going to Google that after this episode. You're right. What does that mean to me? I had a feeling deep down that I knew always, I knew that. Those circumstances didn't define me. They didn't define who I was. They didn't find my worth. As much as it stung to suck at school and to be a weirdo and to not have any friends and to hide behind the rock climbing wall in recess for years. Dude, I just knew I was like, there's something better out there.

Drew Shuman: Like chills.

Andres Preschel: Yeah.

Drew Shuman: There's something out there for having that belief, that faith. Yeah. That's such a young age, man.

Andres Preschel: Yeah Survivorship bias, by the way, it's it's um in simple words. It's it's a bias. It's um whereby Just because you see someone succeed and you look at the conditions that you believe met their success. You think that those are conditions that can satisfy success In general, right? It's it's the impression that um Like there's people that may have had similar conditions that were still just as motivated to win, but they ultimately failed. And you don't get to see or hear about those people or their efforts, you know? And we only get to see the people that survived, the people that succeeded. And so it gives us a certain kind of bias to think that we can do the same just because they did it, we can. But there's so many confounding variables that influence that there's so many things about my success personally professionally spiritually, whatever That I can't Advise people on yeah, you know, like I grew up very privileged for example that has so much to do with my success Yeah, I don't I can't deny it and some of its out of our hands timing external events luck. Yeah, I There's a great experiment, actually. I might butcher this, but I'm going to try my best. I think it was during World War Two. They were looking at the planes that were coming back after dogfights. Right. And they were looking at where, you know, the planes where the bullet holes were.

SPEAKER_00: Right.

Andres Preschel: And they were trying to reinforce those areas. And they ultimately failed because the planes that came back and had bullet holes in certain areas, when those areas were reinforced, they didn't do shit because the planes that weren't coming back Had bullet holes in different places. That's what needed to be reinforced. But they had no… They didn't know that. They didn't see the planes that were crashing down. They didn't know where they were being shot until they realized this. That's survivorship bias for you. That makes total sense. So there's so many… You have to acknowledge the confounding variables and realize that the elements of success may apply to one person, but not the other.

SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.

Andres Preschel: But yeah something in my gut man always told me you're right. It's not always gonna be this way There's something better out there for you and I never I never like let go of that.

Drew Shuman: Mm-hmm That's beautiful, man.

Andres Preschel: I'm fucking but obviously if you tell a young kid, hey, you're right Be very arrogant. I was certainly at some that maybe even to this day I definitely suffered being an arrogant prick at times. So I But maybe maybe you needed that right a little bit of a little bit of arrogance a little bit of cockiness But hey the regression towards the mean I fell flat on my face and I made a fool myself and embarrass myself Countless times from my life. Hmm Countless times. Yeah, so I'm always trying to I go I regress towards the mean I

Drew Shuman: Yeah That's a part of it. Yeah, that is part of it. Well, i'm fucking proud of you, bro And just see the man you've become and it's beautiful man blessed to call you a brother and a friend Likewise, man. Thank you so many more episodes. Oh, yeah, baby. Yeah on the flip too. Yes. Have me on man I love you, brother. Thanks for coming on.

Andres Preschel: Yeah. Thank you for having me, man