Go UnPro: A Doctor’s 52 Week Journey to an Unprocessed Life

Go Un Pro Podcast · Week 24 of 52
 
Game Day, Rewired
 
Dr. Brent W. Laartz frames Week 24 around a familiar American ritual — football season — and asks whether it has to arrive with beer, chips, gambling and the couch. His answer is to add the healthy things (local produce, a catch in the yard, an N/A beer, seven hours of sleep) until they crowd out what he wants to subtract, while keeping his five pillars — diet, movement, sleep, connection, plastics — moving in parallel.
 
Scene ·Solo podcast studio recap — Week 24 of a physician's 52-week unprocessed-living journey, opening football season
 
Game-day swap · Week 24 challenge
 
Default couch ritual
 
Beer with the game
 
Chips & store-bought dips
 
Sitting through all four quarters
 
Gambling adds stress to every play
 
Anger at the coach / the loss
 
Add-first game day
 
Zero-alcohol beer, invite a friend
 
Carrots, celery, homemade hummus
 
Move between plays / at halftime
 
Less gambling, less stress on the game
 
Backyard catch instead of watching
 
Rule of the season: “play the game, don't watch it”
 
Motivation
 
The Marginal Decade
 
Laartz opens by naming what he is trying to postpone: the “marginal decade” before death, the years when a person can no longer do what they want. The best case, he says, is to push that trough as far into the future as possible.
 
The urgency is clinical, not abstract. That day he had seen a 55-year-old patient — two years younger than himself — with a toe amputation (from trauma, not the disease) and congestive heart failure, whose father had had his first heart attack at 50 and died at 78. The patient had his own first heart attack at 50. Laartz's own parents, considered relatively healthy, had developed diabetes in their 60s.
 
Lartz's stated aim: “manifesting a healthy 100 years of age,” 110 as the stretch.
 
Two futures drawn from the same genetic starting point: the patient's early-collapse curve (clay) vs. the delayed-decline aim Laartz is working toward (green). The shaded valley is the “marginal decade.”
 
The plan
 
Five Pillars, Week 24
 
Each week Laartz nudges all five pillars at once rather than overhauling one. Week 24's dials, in his words:
 
Diet
 
Local + organic
 
Double down on local & organic produce; cut pasta and simple carbs; spaghetti squash instead of pasta.
 
Movement
 
Ease back in
 
Increase variety after a hard work week. Walk first, short run, ramp up. Strength at 12–20 reps to near failure — endurance over max load.
 
Sleep
 
7+ hrs · 5 days
 
Continue the seven-plus-hour challenge; at most two short nights per week; hold circadian rhythm — no 10–11 a.m. weekend catch-up.
 
Connection
 
Painting, solo
 
Continue the painting challenge — connecting with self also counts. One painting this week: his girlfriend's late dog, chasing a squirrel up a tree.
 
Plastics
 
Fiber swap
 
Continue a 1–2 month rotation to replace polyester clothing with cotton, hemp, bamboo, alpaca, wool — slowly, because it's expensive.
 
Farm→Local store→You
 
Vitamin retention higher
 
Laartz's argument for local: fruit picked pre-ripe and ripened over a 1–2 week transit is a “less effective way of getting vitamins to you,” with worse flavor and more contamination points along the way. Eating locally also aligns diet with the growing seasons.10:46
 
On dressings and dips, the same principle: he makes his own — or skips them — because packaged versions rely on cheap seed oils bought for price, not health. He is not condemning all seed oils, but notes that processed-food companies “are not looking to put the most healthy seed oil in your dressing.” Extra virgin olive oil is his preferred base.09:13
 
Movement gets an ease-in caveat: after several days off, don't jump straight to high-intensity intervals. He also flags what he sees at the gym — heavy kettlebell “elephant swings” done badly, and older lifters who look muscular but, he suspects, carry intramuscular fat — “their bicep would surely look like a prime rib.” The takeaway: moderate weight, 12–20 reps, muscular endurance, fewer injuries.
 
Weekly sleep pattern he's tracking
 
By the time a patient is angry about a heart-healthy tray at breakfast, he says, meaningful nutrition education is essentially gone for that moment. As an infectious-disease physician he isn't the ideal messenger about microbiome and diet, but he teaches whoever seems open to it.
 
Two voices Lartz heard this week
 
“Change my diet — I don't want this heart-healthy food. “Typical · heard 3–4 times last week
 
Add, Don't Subtract
 
Vision＋Action＝Direction·Add healthy→Auto-subtract unhealthy
 
Two lines recur across the episode. First: action without vision has no direction, so name why you want to be healthy — for a grandchild, for a son turning 18, for a future you want to reach. Second: the podcast's working adage — if you add healthy things, they automatically crowd out some of the unhealthy. Bring the carrots and hummus to the tailgate; the chips don't have to leave, they just get less shelf.
 
He closes by treating the week's small failures the same way. A brutal clinic week meant missed intentions and worse sleep scores; his instruction to himself is to notice them, track them, and refuse to dwell — “take the big wins, but take the few small losses and don't dwell on them.”34:03
 
 
12–20 reps, near failure at lower weight — less injury, longer runway.
 
 
Looks strong; Laartz suspects fat marbling and higher injury risk with heavy kettlebell swings.
 
Laartz's own metaphor, made visual: he wants muscle that looks like the plain cut on the left, not the marbled cut on the right — a preference for endurance-loaded, lower-weight strength work over ego lifts.
 
Next in the series: Week 25 (a Sunday Science episode), then a Week 26 half-year milestone that he plans to mark in Aspen.
 
Source's own disclaimer, retained: this content is not medical advice and does not establish a doctor-patient relationship. Consult your own physician, therapist, or nutritionist before applying any diet, exercise, or product discussed. Referral or affiliate fees may be received by the source's site.
 
 

Week 23 · Overview
 
 
Grit Meets Situation
 
Lartz says he first read Grit twenty years ago while raising his kids. Grit remains what gets you across a hard threshold — but on its own it leaves you fighting your surroundings.
 
Duckworth's newer book,  Situations, gives him permission "to not feel guilty about making an easy path" — by choosing the people, environments, and objects around him.
 
He estimates the environment is half the battle, and that roughly half of the environment is the people you surround yourself with.
 
The Five Pillars, This Week
 
Each week, Lartz runs a fresh challenge across the same five pillars, adding good inputs so the bad ones get crowded out — "building consistency without the need for perfection."
 
Diet
 
Raw vegan, 7 days
 
Cauliflower rice, fermented cucumber, homemade oat-milk berry yogurt, bib-lettuce salads, hummus.
 
Movement
 
5K + resistance
 
Two-a-days after a busy week; rest day today; weekend beach recovery. Avoid injury above all.
 
 
Sleep
 
Less than  2 short nights
 
Aim for no more than two nights under 7 hours; blackouts, red light at night, early sunshine.
 
Connection
 
Charity + community
 
Serving as a "Sole Man" for Wine, Women & Shoes benefiting the Children's Cancer Center, Tampa.
 
https://www.giveffect.com/participants/580513-brent-laartz
 
 
Plastics
 
Swap the socks
 
Replacing athletic and dress socks with merino or alpaca wool; reading labels for plasticized fibers.
 
The Raw-Vegan Week
 
Copy
 
A seven-day plan Lartz says he did not hit at 100% — one day drifted because a friend wanted a movie — but succeeded on at "the 90% level."
 
The plan is a fabric of prepared, fermented, and travel-friendly foods; the movie-night gap is the point of the exercise.08:10
 
Reading Labels: The Sock Swap
 
Copy
 
Lartz is working through his wardrobe slowly — "you can't replace your whole wardrobe" at once. Business shirts, underwear, and some pants are done; socks are next. He warns that fibers marketed as natural can still be plasticized— chemically processed for stretch — so labels have to be read carefully.
 
"Natural" fibers chemically processed with oxidation for stretch
 
 
Merino wool (already moisture-wicking, some natural stretch)
 
Alpaca wool
 
Organic cotton
 
Merino wool shirts already in rotation
 
The Diet, In Principle
 
Underneath each week's specific challenge is a steady direction: raise antioxidants, polyphenols, and fiber; move toward mostly plant-based eating; and keep any fructose "paying its way" through polyphenol-rich berries.20:39
 
Connection — Children's Cancer Center
 
Wine, Women & Shoes — the Sole Man role
 
Lartz frames pediatric cancer plainly: "these kids didn't ask to get cancer… they were just being kids."13:55The Children's Cancer Center in the Tampa Bay area runs a non-hospital building where children with cancer can be with other children — including local high-school volunteers — and simply be kids.
 
He is now serving as a "Sole Man" for the fundraising event Wine, Women & Shoes, in which men support the women who raise the bulk of the donations. Lartz invites listeners to donate through him, through the Children's Cancer Center directly, or through a comparable local charity — and to give time as well as money.
 
Host's donation pagewww.giveffect.com / participants / 580513-Brent-Laartz
 
https://www.giveffect.com/participants/580513-brent-laartz
 
Disclaimer
 
Not medical advice
 
The site and its contents are not intended as medical care, diagnosis, or treatment. Nothing here establishes a doctor–patient relationship. Before copying any diet, exercise, or product used on the show into your own practice, consult your own research, physician, therapist, or nutritionist. No warranties or claims are made about benefits or risks. Referral, affiliate, or advertising fees may be received.29:09
 
To Do List
 
[ ] 02 Bring homemade hummus on the trip to the 5K to avoid the processed vendor food (bars, plastic-packaged yogurts, sugar packs).
 
[ ] 03 Run the Saturday 5K, taking today as a rest day beforehand.
 
[ ] 04 Fit in some resistance training over the weekend to make up for a light week caused by 5K training
 
[ ] 05 Limit nights of under seven hours' sleep to no more than two per week.
 
[ ] 06 Search stores, Amazon, and other sites for merino- or alpaca-wool socks to replace the current plastic-fiber athletic and dress socks, reading labels to avoid plasticized fibers.
 
[ ] 07 Head to the beach on day 7 for R recovery after the Saturday 5K. 10:07
 
[ ] 08 Add more topsoil, plant the languishing hot pepper, and later install bigger raised beds at the new house to start growing his own food.
 

Health & wellness podcast
 
Go Unpro · Week 22 of 52 Dr. Brent W. Laartz · A 52-Week Journey to an Unprocessed Life
 
The 7-Day Raw Food Road, and Why It Is Less Traveled
 
Framed by Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken," this week trades ultra-processed convenience for a mostly raw, plant-based, whole-food challenge — layered with 5K training, a painting challenge, better sleep, and the next fabric swap.
 
The gamble: a dozen extra years of healthy life, and everyone who gets to see them.
 
The Unprocessed Road
 
Whole-food, mostly plant-based, 90/10
 
Resistance + cardio + 10–25k steps/day
 
Deep sleep, connection, generosity
 
Ditching plastics — fabrics next
 
+12 healthy years— the great-grandchild sees you active at 100.
 
+12healthy years is more than 10% of a life aimed at 110— the difference the road actually makes, not just a romanticized sigh.03:37
 
02 / WEEK PLAN Five pillars, one week
 
Week 22 stacks a food challenge on top of maintained work in movement, sleep, connection, and plastics. Addition, not subtraction — enjoyable healthy things naturally crowd out the rest.
 
Food
 
7-daywhole, uncooked, plant-based challenge for polyphenol density.
 
Cooked exceptions Beans · Oat-milk yogurt base
 
Movement
 
Final week of5K training— race is 8 days out, benefits a charity.
 
Daily steps10k → 25k12:41
 
Sleep
 
Target7.5 hr average; work on blackout & room temperature to lift deep sleep.
 
Sweet spot11 pm → 7–8 am13:35
 
Connection
 
7-day painting challenge— new easel, mix of emotional, nostalgic, landscape.
 
Target5–7 canvases16:01
 
Plastics
 
Shirts done; now research natural-fabric pants. Underwear, socks queued.
 
Focus this weekPants19:16
 
Five parallel tracks — each a small addition. Together they compose the road less traveled.
 
03 / THE CHALLENGE The 7-day raw food week, unpacked
 
 
— Dr. Brent W. Lartz10:58
 
04 / WARDROBE Plastic swap — the next front
 
Shirts have been largely converted to 100% cotton. This week the research moves to pants, which "are incredibly plastic, artificial."
🌱 Field trip next week — the backyard garden
 
Growing food starts as summer heat eases into Florida's rainier, milder season. A work in progress across the second half of the year.
 
Week 22 commitments to execute
 
To Do List
 
[ ] Run the 7-day whole, uncooked, plant-based food challenge (beans & oat-milk yogurt base cooked) 00:36
 
[ ] Complete the charity 5K — race in 8 days; finish the training taper this week 13:35
 
[ ] Buy a new easel and paints, then produce 5–7 paintings (emotional, nostalgic, landscape) and share on social 16:01
 
[ ] Hit a 7.5-hour average sleep and improve room blackout & temperature to lift deep sleep 13:35
 
[ ] Research and choose better natural-fabric pants to replace plastic-based ones 19:16
 
[ ] Shop Rolling Oats, Whole Foods, and Sprouts for the week's organic raw produce 22:21
 

Health & Medical Podcast Sunday Science · Dr. Brent W. Laartz
 
Can Diet Actually Reverse Heart Disease?
 
Three trials, one uncomfortable answer: the "standard American" advice given to most cardiac patients is not enough. Only intensive plant-based lifestyle change has been shown to shrink existing coronary plaque.
 
Ornish · Intensive
 
Vegetarian + Lifestyle
 
10% fat · exercise · stress mgmt
 
−7.9% Plaque change at 5 yrs (regression)
 
25 cardiac events
Sustained 5 years
 
Henzel · DASH
 
DASH + Optimal Meds
 
mostly plant-based, lean meat OK
 
 
What "Intensive" Actually Meant
 
The Ornish arm was not a mild tweak. It rebuilt daily life on four pillars — and participants held the line for five years.
 
The Four Pillars
 
10% of calories from fat; dietary cholesterol markedly reduced.
 
Rose from 2.66 → ~5 sessions/week; still 4.34/wk at 5 years.
 
Meditation, relaxation, and group support built into weekly routine.
 
Adherence score more than doubled vs. baseline (0.62 increased  1.29 at 1 yr).
 
 
Three Trials, Compared Side-by-Side
 
Each study tests a different intensity of lifestyle change against usual care. The pattern is consistent: the deeper the change, the better the coronary anatomy behaves.
 
Study 01 · JAMA · 1998
 
Ornish — Lifestyle Heart Trial
 
Ornish et al., 5-year quantitative arteriography
 
Vegetarian, 10% fat, stress mgmt, exercise. 20/28 completed 5 yrs.
 
Study 02 · Circulation · 1994
 
Haskell — Stanford SCRIP
 
Multi-factor risk-reduction program
 
Low-fat/low-chol diet, exercise, weight loss, smoking cessation, lipid meds.
 
Study 03 · JACC · 2021
 
Henzel — DISCO Trial
 
CT angiography, n=92, non-obstructive CAD
 
 
The Host's Bottom Line
 
Dr. Laartz isn't demanding strict veganism — but he is arguing that the routine cardiology counseling most patients receive is dangerously understated.
 
If you already have coronary artery disease
 
Standard advice — "lower your cholesterol, exercise a little more" — allowed disease to progress and doubled cardiac events over 5 years. Intensive plant-forward change is currently the only lifestyle intervention shown to reverse plaque.
 
The host's personal target: mostly vegan, whole-food diet; when meat is eaten (a few times/week), only chicken, fish, or turkey — avoiding pork and beef.
 
Honest Caveats
 
Adherence is hard. The Ornish protocol has been criticized as difficult to sustain — though 20/28 did sustain it 5 years.
 
Not fully replicated at the same intensity in other trials.
 
Nutrient gaps on strict vegan diets:B12, vitamin D, omega-3. Supplements can close them without red meat.
 
Pescatarian diets have scored slightly better than pure vegetarian in prior mortality data — likely the omega-3 from fish.
 
Change gradually. Wholesale overnight diet swaps rarely stick; the host recommends a 52-week glide path.
 
Not medical advice .This summary reflects a podcast discussion of published studies. It does not create a doctor–patient relationship and is not diagnosis or treatment. Consult your own physician, therapist, or nutritionist before changing your diet, exercise, or medications.
 
Ornish D, Scherwitz LW, Billings JH, et al. Intensive Lifestyle Changes for Reversal of Coronary Heart Disease. JAMA. 1998;280(23):2001–2007. doi:10.1001/jama.280.23.2001 
 
Haskell WL, Alderman EL, Fair JM, Maron DJ, Mackey SF, Superko HR, Williams PT, Johnstone IM, Champagne MA, Krauss RM, et al. Effects of intensive multiple risk factor reduction on coronary atherosclerosis and clinical cardiac events in men and women with coronary artery disease. The Stanford Coronary Risk Intervention Project (SCRIP). Circulation. 1994 Mar;89(3):975-90. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.89.3.975. PMID: 8124838. 
 
Henzel, J, Kępka, C, Kruk, M. et al. High-Risk Coronary Plaque Regression After Intensive Lifestyle Intervention in Nonobstructive Coronary Disease: A Randomized Study. J Am Coll Cardiol Img. 2021 Jun, 14 (6) 1192–1202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcmg.2020.10.019
 

GO UNPRO · WEEK 21 / 52 Health & Wellness Podcast
 
Five Pillars, Twenty-Five Practices
 
Dr. Brent W. Laartz delineates every one of his five longevity pillars — diet, movement, sleep, connection, plastic-free living — now branches into five practices of its own. Week 21's focus lands squarely on a probiotic push paired with fermented meal prep, two-a-day workouts, and a wardrobe swap toward natural fibers.
 
1Diet
 
Whole food first
 
Mostly plant-based
 
Fish & beans as protein
 
Calorie restriction
 
No processed / fast food / alcohol
 
2Movement
 
Cardiovascular
 
Resistance training
 
Flexibility
 
Balance
 
Muscular endurance (12–24 reps)
 
3Sleep
 
Dark after 8 pm
 
Bright morning sunlight
 
Purpose & activity-driven day
 
Cool room + supportive diet
 
No alcohol / late food
 
4Connection
 
Family & friends
 
Creativity (art, music, writing)
 
Community & charity
 
Travel (not tour-resort)
 
Culture & history
 
5Plastic-Free
 
Cookware & storage
 
Work & electronics
 
Personal care items
 
Laundry & detergents
 
Clothes & fibers
 
5 pillars × 5 practices = 25 concrete levers reviewed each week for successes and failures.05:40
 
02
 
Week 21 — The Probiotic Push
 
The centerpiece this week is a coordinated microbiome experiment: powdered probiotic strains added to home-made oat-milk yogurt, layered on top of an ongoing fermentation push and a new two-a-day training pattern.
 
Diet
 
Probiotic Powders in Yogurt
 
Multiple strains stirred into homemade oat-milk yogurt for a daily microbial hit.
 
Movement
 
Two-a-Days, 1×/week
 
Training for a 5K in 2 weeks; buffers against forced rest days from work travel.
 
Plastics
 
Athletic Shirts Swap
 
Move toward linen, hemp, bamboo, Pima cotton — researching each fiber's real processing.
 
Inside the Probiotic Cascade
 
Why these strains, and why paired with fiber. Yogurt bacteria die in stomach acid and rarely colonize the gut — so the point is aconstant feedingthat reaches the colon and feeds the cells that feed you back.
 
The strain cascade — from lactose to fuel
 
 
plantarum
 
salivarius
 
acidophilus
 
rhamnosus
 
Bifidobacterium longum
 
Veillonella
 
Akkermansia
 
Feeds colonocytes
 
Short-chain fatty acids to muscle
 
Handles exercise-derived lactate
 
→ colon & muscle fuel
 
The fiber rule.Because probiotics don't stick in the intestines, pair yogurt with oats, granola, or another fiber source so the bacteria and their fuel actually make it through.03:14
 
"Eat food, mostly plants, not too much."— Michael Pollan, quoted as the diet-pillar backbone09:04
 
 
Ferment chickpeasfirst, then cook & blend (cooking after fermenting kills the bacteria).
 
 
 
Bean · onion · tomato · pepper · cucumber · olives + fermented pickles.
 
 
Home oat-milk yogurt paired with oats or granola so probiotics reach the gut.
 
Rule:fermented + hummus + beans + yogurt-with-fiber— always in the same week.02:38
 
 
The Daily Operating System
 
Beneath the weekly push sits a stable rhythm — the daily defaults Dr. Lartz recaps each episode.
 
Hydration
 
25 oz water on the drive to work; another 25 oz at 11 am with psyllium-husk fiber.
 
Time-Restricted Feeding
 
Eating window closes 8–10 pm, opens noon–4 pm. Target 14–16 hours fasted daily.
 
Weekly Water Fast
 
One 36–48 hour water-only fast per week.
 
Daily Non-Negotiables
 
Berries, fermented foods, beans, leafy greens; 3+ fully vegan days per week.
 
Supplements
 
Acarbose, Ca + Vit D, B12, testosterone, vegan omega-3.
 
Sleep sits on the same rails: dark room after 8 pm, morning sunlight, cool bedroom, peppermint tea, lavender essential oil, 4-7-8 breath work, phone in another room, and screens set to amber and greyscale when they must be used.28:55
 
06
 
Connection & Culture, This Week
 
Connection isn't optional infrastructure — travel run clubs, a jazz club with family tonight, and cultural travel are all scheduled inputs.
 
1
 
Jazz club tonight with his daughter — a deliberate creativity + family + culture combo.
 
2
 
Travel run clubs wherever he lands; last week's example was Scottsdale, Arizona.
 
3
 
Purposeful travel ahead: potentially New Zealand this winter and Charleston, SC "in the books."
 
Travel-day survival tips
 
Steal the apple, orange, or nuts from the Marriott gym or Admirals Club — occasional jelly beans allowed. "It can't be all 100% draconian or monk life."
 
Hotel-room reality: tiny fridge, no stove — accept that whole-food prep will be harder and plan meals out at whole-food restaurants (last night: Lebanese).
 
Yesterday's travel day still delivered 8,000–9,000 steps. Small failures aren't the end — get back up.
 
07
 
The Wardrobe Swap
 
Week 21's plastic-free lever is athletic shirts. The broader pattern: replace plasticized fibers and cookware surfaces with natural materials — gradually, across all 52 weeks.
 
 
Plasticized athletic shirts & underwear
 
Fabric softeners & scented detergents
 
Non-stick pans, microwave cooking
 
Plastic phone cases & keyboards
 
Linen, hemp, bamboo, 100% Pima cotton
 
Minimal, unscented laundry care
 
Glass, steel, wood, copper cookware & storage
 
Wooden mouse, keyboard, phone case
 
Caveat: some "natural" fibers are actually processed into plastic — research each one before buying
 
What's Next
 
The upcoming Sunday Science, the training calendar, and the second-half format shift.
 
Scheduled next steps from this episode
 
Halfway through the 52-week experiment, the format shifts toward more field trips — kitchen, gym, home podcast studio, and travel destinations including a possible New Zealand winter trip and Charleston, SC.
 
The information herein is not intended as medical care, diagnosis, or treatment of any medical condition. No component of this content, including discussion or comments, shall be construed or implied as establishing a doctor-patient relationship. Before you translate or copy any of the information, diet, exercise, or products utilized herein to your own practice, consult your own research, physician, therapist, or nutritionist for your own health. Research any treatments, diet, exercise, or products thoroughly before trying for yourself.
 

Health & Longevity Podcast
 
Week 20: The economic case for living healthier, longer
 
Dr. Brent Laartz reframes lifestyle change as capital: an extra decade of healthspan is money, freedom, and national savings. This week is not new rules — it's a root-cause analysis of where the plan slips, and doubling down on what already works.
 
National scale
 
$38T economic benefit if every American lives 1 more healthy year
 
$40T current U.S. national debt
 
Less Medicare/Medicaid use, later Social Security draw, more productive work years — the aggregate savings roughly cancels the country's debt.02:26
 
Personal scale
 
Live 10 more healthy years
 
2Work & earn ~$100K/yr longer
 
3Defer retirement drawdown; boost top-35 Social Security average
 
$$1.3M  $1.5M extra lifetime capital
 
Figure: Longevity as a return-on-investment — altruistic to self and to country.
 
Root cause analysis: why the plan slips
 
Before adding anything new, sit quietly (meditate, journal, or with a counselor) and drill into three questions every time you cheat on diet, movement, or alcohol.
 
Question 1
 
 
Exhaustion, poor sleep, ghrelin up & leptin down after short sleep hungrier, and hungrier for bad food. Look for the limiting belief or self-sabotage underneath.
 
Host's trigger: being run-down after travel.
 
Question 2
 
 
Environment enables the lapse. Identify the physical location  work, kitchen, cafeteria, airport  where the wrong choice is convenient.
 
Host's trigger: the hospital doctors' lounge and its free food.
 
Question 3
 
 
Who enables the bad situation and, just as importantly, who is present when things go right? Alcohol norms belong here too.
 
Host's trigger: girlfriend is a baker butter & cream in the kitchen.
 
Figure: The Feeling  Place  People diagnostic loop.
 
The 20-week protocol, at a glance
 
Five pillars, kept boring on purpose. Week 20 is doubling down, not redesigning.
 
 
Time-restricted 8 pm to 12–4 pm
 
36–48 h fast weekly (Sun to Tue)
 
3+ vegan days; fish before chicken before cheese , no red meat
 
Berries, ferments, beans daily
 
Whole foods; minimize protein (mTOR)
 
Acarbose, Ca+ and vit D, B12, T, vegan omega-3
 
VO₂ max & endurance
 
Resistance training
 
Muscular endurance
 
Balance
 
Run, bike, court sports
 
Dark room after 8 pm
 
Early morning sunlight
 
Cold room; no screens late
 
Purposeful, exhausting days
 
Family, friends, charity
 
Culture, travel, creativity
 
Sailing, sea & mountains
 
Strava run clubs
 
Glass containers, steel cookware
 
100% cotton, natural fibers
 
Wood/copper/steel drinkware
 
Beware "plasticized" naturals
 
139,000 unstudied chemicals
 
Figure: The five-pillar operating system carried forward into week 20.
 
A typical day, on the clock
 
Fast / sleep 25 oz water (fiber at 11 am) Eating window
 
Once weekly: 36–48 h fast, Sunday afternoon → Tuesday afternoon.15:37
 
Figure: A single day mapped against the time-restricted eating window.
 
Doubling down: week 20 focus
 
No new pillars this week. Fix the leaks in the ones already in place.
 
Miss
 
50-vegetable challenge: only 29 counted Travel and beach days broke the shopping rhythm. Fix: return to meal-prep and a Sprouts run.
 
Goal
 
30-day step average  12,000 (target 14,000) Kill the 3,000- and 8,000-step days; hold the 15–17k days from last week.
 
Goal
 
Sleep: reach 7 hours consistently Install blackout curtain (still outstanding on year's goal list); add meditation.
 
Goal
 
Connection: sea & mountains Sailing returns; mountains again this week after last week's trip.
 
Focus
 
Plastics month: continue household audit~50% of house done. Now: clothing (100% cotton polo, cautious merino), pens, car, work items.
 
Aim
 
Aspirational healthspan: 110 yearsWhole-food diet + resistance training + less meat + connection + better sleep + fewer plastics.
 
Open commitments from this episode
 
Not medical advice.This summary reproduces information shared in the episode and is not intended as medical care, diagnosis, or treatment. No doctor–patient relationship is established. Consult your own physician, therapist, or nutritionist before adopting any diet, exercise, product, or supplement discussed. Referral or affiliate fees may apply to the source material.
 
To Do List
 
 Fly out today — travel for connection, culture, and exercise at destination
 
 Record & upload the (late) Sunday Science episode by tomorrow
 
 Install blackout curtain in the bedroom (year-goal, still outstanding)
 
 Shop at Sprouts; restart meal-prep (yogurts, hummus, veg variety) to recover the 50-veg challenge
 
 Research natural-fiber athletic wear (merino, cotton) that is not heavily chemically processed 1
 

Sunday Science · Dr. Brent W. Laartz
 
Marijuana, Longevity & Cancer Medical Science Podcast Review
 
Fourteen studies, one honest verdict: on average, evidence points to accelerated biological aging and elevated hormone-sensitive cancer risk with chronic recreational cannabis — while therapeutic use in cancer care retains meaningful benefits. Read the balance, not the slogan.
 
Who is actually using — and how much
 
U.S. prevalence data (2021) shows cannabis use peaks in late adolescence and young adulthood, with roughly one in three high-school seniors and young adults reporting past-year use.
 
The Cancer Signal
 
Three converging lines of evidence — ecological trends, Mendelian randomization, and meta-analysis — point at hormone-sensitive cancers rising alongside cannabis legalization, particularly in younger people.
 
Incidence increases in legalized jurisdictions (2000–2019)
 
Mendelian randomization · Huang et al.
 
Causal signal
 
SNP-based causality analysis found  strong causal evidence  linking cannabis use to cervical, laryngeal, and breast cancer.
 
 
Biological Aging: three clocks, one direction
 
Independent aging biomarkers — phenotypic blood panels, alpha-Klotho protein, and epigenetic DNA-methylation clocks — all move in the same direction for current cannabis users.
 
 
Hormones: why testicular & breast cancer?
 
Two clinical hormone studies suggest a mechanism: cannabis appears to disrupt the estradiol-testosterone-prolactin axis, offering a biological bridge to the hormone-sensitive cancers seen in the ecological data.
 
Texera et al. — 316 infertile men
 
Reproductive review — Lo et al.
 
Cannabis crosses the placenta and enters breast milk, with reported effects on:
 
Menstrual cyclicity & erectile dysfunction
 
Abnormal spermatogenesis, testicular atrophy
 
Gestational age & preterm birth
 
Brain, Age & Cognition
 
Two studies from the same group — Thayer, and Stapolsky & Thayer — produce a nuanced picture: moderate older-adult use looks neutral, but long-term use (≥19 years) is associated with real cognitive deficits.
 
 
The Benefits — Not Glossed Over
 
The scientific case for cannabis in cancer care and symptom relief is real and should be weighed alongside the risk signals above.
 
Confounders to keep in mind
 
Every association study inherits complications. Before reading these numbers as destiny, consider what the studies cannot fully separate:
 
 Synthetic warning from the ER: Synthetic cannabinoids seen daily in emergency medicine can be hundreds of times more potent than natural compounds and are strongly linked to acute psychosis. Do not treat them as equivalent to plant cannabis.
 
Reader follow-through
 
 Disclaimer. This summary and the referenced podcast are not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. No content herein establishes a doctor–patient relationship. Consult your own physician, therapist, or nutritionist before applying anything discussed. No warranties are made regarding benefits or risks of any treatment, diet, exercise, or product referenced.
 
To Do List
 
Open the show-notes bibliography and read the 14 referenced studies yourself before forming a position 27:48
 
Weigh your own context — age, duration of use, therapeutic vs recreational purpose, family history of hormone-sensitive cancer 25:06
 
Consult your physician, therapist, or nutritionist before changing any use, treatment, or supplementation 28:46
 
Return next Sunday for the next Sunday Science expedition
 
Johnson, Rebecca H., et al. “Emerging Evidence Links Cannabis Use to Increased Risk of Breast and Testicular Cancer in Young Americans.” Academia Oncology, vol. 2, no. 2, Academia.edu Journals, 2025, doi:10.20935/AcadOnco7758.
 
Nargis N, Westmaas J, Orr E et al.Cancer risk and legalisation of access to cannabis in the USA: overview of the evidence.  The Lancet Public Health, 2024; 10, e160-e164.
 
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/supportive-care/integrative-medicine/cannabis.html
Huang, P., Zhang, P. F., & Li, Q. (2023). Causal relationship between cannabis use and cancer: a genetically informed perspective. Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology, 149(11), 8631–8638. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-023-04807-x 
 
Song, A., Myung, N. K., Bogumil, D., Ihenacho, U., Burg, M. L., & Cortessis, V. K. (2020). Incident testicular cancer in relation to using marijuana and smoking tobacco: A systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiologic studies. Urologic Oncology: Seminars and Original Investigations, 38(7), 642.e1–642.e9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.urolonc.2020.03.013 
 
Nain S, Singh N, Schlag AK, Barnes M. The impact of cannabis use on ageing and longevity: a systematic review of research insights. J Cannabis Res. 2025 Jul 29;7(1):52. doi: 10.1186/s42238-025-00267-x. PMID: 40731362; PMCID: PMC12309070. 
 
Wei K, Chen X. Current marijuana use is cross-sectionally associated with accelerated biological aging among U.S. adults: exploring mediating effect of blood cadmium. J Nutr Health Aging. 2026 Mar;30(3):100778. doi: 10.1016/j.jnha.2026.100778. Epub 2026 Jan 14. PMID: 41538955; PMCID: PMC12835599. 
 
Wei K, Chen X. Current marijuana use is associated with lower circulating α-Klotho levels in US adults even after adjusting for tobacco use: A national cross-sectional analysis of NHANES. Tobacco Induced Diseases. 2025;23(July):104. doi:10.18332/tid/208001. 
 
Meier M, Caspi A, Ambler A et al. Preparedness for healthy ageing and polysubstance use in long-term cannabis users: a population-representative longitudinal study. The Lancet Healthy Longevity, 3, e703-e714
 
Hernandez Cordero, Ana I. et al. Cannabis smoking is associated with advanced epigenetic age. Eur Respir JVol 63(5).  2024/05/02
 
Teixeira TA, Iori I, Andrade G, Saldiva PHN, Drevet JR, Costa EMF, Hallak J. Marijuana Is Associated With a Hormonal Imbalance Among Several Habits Related to Male Infertility: A Retrospective Study. Front Reprod Health. 2022 Feb 17;4:820451. doi: 10.3389/frph.2022.820451. PMID: 36303626; PMCID: PMC9580681.
 
 Galmiche, M., Meister, I., Zufferey, F. et al. Cannabis consumption is associated with altered steroid metabolism in young men. Commun Med 6, 224 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-026-01469-x 
 
Lo JO, Hedges JC, Girardi G. Impact of cannabinoids on pregnancy, reproductive health, and offspring outcomes. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2022 Oct;227(4):571-581. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2022.05.056. Epub 2022 May 31. PMID: 35662548; PMCID: PMC9530020. 
 
Reece AS, Hulse GK. Epigenomic and Other Evidence for Cannabis-Induced Aging Contextualized in a Synthetic Epidemiologic Overview of Cannabinoid-Related Teratogenesis and Cannabinoid-Related Carcinogenesis. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Dec 13;19(24):16721. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192416721. PMID: 36554603; PMCID: PMC9778714. 
 
Rachel E. Thayer, Sophie L. YorkWilliams, Kent E. Hutchison, Angela D. Bryan. Preliminary results from a pilot study examining brain structure in older adult cannabis users and nonusers, Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, Volume 285, 2019, 58-63, ISSN 0925-4927, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2019.02.001.
 
Stypulkowski K, Thayer RE. Long-Term Recreational Cannabis Use Is Associated With Lower Executive Function and Processing Speed in a Pilot Sample of Older Adults. J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol. 2022 Sep;35(5):740-746. doi: 10.1177/08919887211049130. Epub 2021 Sep 28. PMID: 34583547; PMCID: PMC8958184.
 

Health & Longevity Podcast Go Unpro Podcast · Dr. Brent W. Laartz
 
Week 19: Consolidating five pillars on the road to an unprocessed life
 
A travel week that doubles down on fasting, adds a 50-vegetable challenge, protects sleep against social jet lag, and pushes the wardrobe from ~20% toward 80% natural fibers — one pillar at a time, not all at once.
 
19 of 52 weeks
 
Nearly halfway — recap at week 26
 
Diet
 
50-vegetable challenge + consolidate fasting
 
Movement
 
Training toward first 5K, then 10K
 
Sleep
 
Redouble on 7–8 hrs, work on deep sleep
 
Connection
 
Travel (Colorado) & family bonds
 
Plastics
 
Cotton underwear · wardrobe → 80% natural
 
The five pillars advance in parallel, in small attainable steps — cold turkey attempts fail on cost and fit.
 
Pillar 1: Diet — the 50-vegetable challenge
 
Grocery shopping and Sunday meal-prep this week center on a single expanded target: 50 whole plant foods across vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts and seeds — an escalation from the earlier 40-plant goal, layered on top of a partial vegan diet (3–4 days/week) and one 36–48 hour fast.
 
Vegetables & Fruits, Beans, nuts & seeds
 
Red cabbage
 
Romaine
 
Bell peppers
 
Jalapeño
 
Red onions
 
Garlic
 
Turmeric
 
Ginger
 
Brussels sprouts
 
Tomatoes
 
Carrots
 
Cucumber
 
Okinawa sweet potato
 
Green beans
 
Broccoli
 
Spinach
 
Snap peas
 
Radish
 
Edamame
 
Cauliflower
 
Kale
 
Beets
 
Mushroom
 
Butternut squash
 
Green olives
 
Kalamata olives
 
Apples
 
Oranges
 
Grapes
 
Strawberries
 
Blueberries
 
Blackberries
 
Raspberries
 
Pineapple
 
Mango
 
Peach
 
Cherries
 
Lemon
 
Fig
 
Dates
 
Cranberries
 
Raisins
 
Chickpeas
 
Black beans
 
Red beans
 
Almonds
 
Walnuts
 
Peanuts
 
Pistachios
 
Sunflower seeds
 
Chia seeds
 
Oats
 
Compiled Saturday; ~half already on hand. Fuels homemade hummus, oat-milk yogurt, chili, salads, and Brussels-sprout tacos.04:45
 
Fasting rhythm this week
 
Weekly long fast 36–48 hrs · 1×
 
Daily time-restricted feeding~8 hr window
 
Typical first meal2–4 pm
 
Vegan days per week3–4 days
 
Red meat none _ · pescatarian
 
Homemade prep queue
 
Oat-milk yogurt (organic oats)Sun/Mon
 
Homemade hummus w/ tahiniperfect this week
 
Fermented pickles (open cupboard jar)taste today
 
Peanut sauce · pistachio recipe will be new
 
B12 · Omega-3 · Vit D · Calcium daily
 
Pillar 2 & 3: Movement & Sleep
 
Movement gets a goal — a 5K race soon and a 10K later this month, layered on a varied weekly rotation. Sleep gets a warning: the Colorado trip and the neighbor's spotlight both threaten deep sleep, and social jet lag punishes weekend catch-up.
 
Weekly movement mix
 
Running4 days · 1 trail run
 
Strength training3 days
 
Tennis1 day
 
Biking1 day
 
Colorado hiking (travel week)daily
 
Variety of movement carries the largest reduction in mortality over time.
 
Sleep targets & threats
 
Nightly duration7–8 hrs
 
Recent nights~6.5 hrs
 
Blackout room upgrade in progress
 
Neighbor's spotlight disrupts REM/deep
 
Social jet lag from weekend catch-up : avoid
 
The scientific case for defending sleep this week
 
61% higher 4-year cancer risk with intermediate or poor sleep vs. a high sleep score
 
Hormonal cascade - Poor sleep worsens leptin, ghrelin & adiponectin — driving hunger and sugar binges. Better sleep improves lean-mass to fat ratio.
 
Brain clearance - Deep sleep clears glymph, sweeping senescent cells — a plausible dementia lever.
 
Wearable caveat - Oura & Apple Watch infer deep/REM from movement and muscle atonia, not brain waves — treat scores as correlational.
 
The 1% myth - <0.1% of people are true short-sleepers. "I'll sleep when I'm dead" is almost never you.
 
Sunday Science synthesis carried into Week 19's plan
 
Pillar 4 & 5: Connection & Plastics
 
Connection expands outward — travel, second languages, run club, bicycle-leisure club, and intentional grandparent–grandchild time. Plastics turns inward to the wardrobe, week two of a five-week fabric replacement arc.
 
Connection this week
 
Colorado travel — meet strangers, say good morning this week
 
Run club · neighborhood bicycle-leisure club ongoing
 
Second-language practice (Spanish · French)outward reach
 
Grandparent ↔ grandchild time reinforced
 
Why gradual, not cold turkey
 
Pima/Supima cotton dress shirts expensive
 
New underwear set (100% cotton, 2% band spandex)~$120
 
Lululemon underwear (rayon/spandex)discard 3 pair
 
Watch out: "viscose from bamboo" is highly processed avoid
 
Wardrobe conversion to cotton · hemp · bamboo
 
Week 19 of 52
 
~20% today
 
0%25%50%75%100%
 
This week
 
✓ Cotton underwear replaces rayon/spandex Lululemon
 
Last week
 
✓ 100% cotton dress shirts (Pima / Supima)
 
Watch out
 
✗ Viscose— natural source, plastic-like process
 
Hiking gear
 
Merino wool yes— but avoid processed merino blends & moisture-wicking synthetics
 
The 52-week arc is deliberately paced because good fabric costs money and finding the right fit takes iteration.16:07
 
Recap Nineteen weeks in four phases
 
A compressed view of what has already become habit — so the second half of the year can maximize what works instead of introducing everything at once.
 
Weeks 1–5 · Foundations
 
 
Daily berries · accountability app
 
Circadian rhythm — bright morning light, dimmed evening
 
No fast food · no sodas · water service
 
Supplements: B12, omega-3, vit D, calcium
 
Sunday meal prep begins
 
Weeks 6–10 · Diet & kitchen
 
 
Pescatarian shift · low dairy · no red meat
 
Homemade hummus, bean salsas, dressings
 
Olive & avocado oil (75%) — drop processed seed oils
 
Glass mixing bowls · oral-care plastic-free
 
40 whole-food plants weekly begins
 
Weeks 11–15 · Body & environment
 
 
Cold room · weighted blanket for sleep
 
Alcohol to ~8 drinks/month · non-alcoholic beer
 
Meditation · affirmation · manifestation
 
Water filtration · natural soaps & shampoos
 
Fermented salsas, hot sauces, pickles
 
Weeks 16–19 · Kitchen craft & fibers
 
 
Homemade kimchi · homemade oat-milk yogurt
 
Psyllium husk fiber later in the day
 
Stainless-steel & paper cups replace plastic
 
Dress shirts → underwear conversion begins
 
Bloodwork (HbA1c, vitamins) coming up
 
Coming up Sunday Science — marijuana
 
An unusually large episode (10–12 articles) because the search kept turning up findings on both sides. The mechanistic thread runs through sex-hormone disruption of estrogen and testosterone.
 
Marijuana: what changed after reading the data
 
Some real benefits, but stronger-than-expected signals on accelerated biological aging and cognition in older age with lifelong use — plus hormone-linked cancer risks that fit the mechanism.
 
 
Reduces anxiety in some users
 
Eases nausea (including chemo-related)
 
May improve some cancer outcomes post-diagnosis
 
 
Accelerated biological aging
 
Worsened cognition in older age with lifelong use
 
Signals for testicular and breast cancer
 
Estrogen & testosterone abnormalities
 
This site and any information communicated within it are not intended as medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of any medical condition, and do not establish a doctor-patient relationship. Consult your own physician, therapist, or nutritionist before adopting any diet, exercise, or product mentioned. Research any treatment thoroughly. Referral, affiliate, or advertising fees may be garnered by this site.
 
To Do List
 
[ ] Finalize the 50-plant grocery list and shop for next week's meal prep
 
[ ] Make homemade oat-milk yogurt and perfect the homemade hummus after returning home
 
[ ] Compete in the first 5K race and prepare for the 10K later this month
 
[ ] Colorado travel — run, hike and strength-train each day of the trip
 
[ ] Install blackout coverage in the bedroom to block the neighbor's spotlight and protect deep sleep
 
[ ] Replace remaining Lululemon underwear with 100% cotton and discard the three synthetic pair
 
[ ] Draw follow-up bloodwork including HbA1c and vitamin levels to track divergence from family health path

Health science podcast
 
Sunday Science · Sleep, Six Studies
 
Why the host is committing to 7–8 hours of sleep — the evidence behind the resolution
 
A physician-host who runs 12–14 hour hospital shifts admits he sleeps deeply but only5.5–6 hoursa night. He walks through six studies to explain why that gap costs him aging, appetite, body composition, cancer risk and immunity — and sets one measurable rule for the coming month.
 
The verdict he draws
 
Across biological aging clocks, appetite hormones, weight-loss composition, cancer incidence, natural killer cells and vaccine antibody response, the same window keeps winning: roughly 6 to 8 hours, centered near 7–8.
 
Personal metric going forward track days of  less than 7 hours sleep. Target 7–8 hours every night.
01  Aging U-curve
 
02  Hunger hormones
 
03  Diet plus body fat
 
04  Cancer risk
 
05  Natural killer cells
 
06  Vaccine response or immune study
 
Biological aging vs. sleep duration — the U-curve
 
Nature 2026 multi-consortium analysis, Wen et al.  9 of 23 biological aging clocks plus proteomics, most describe a U-shape. Both ends damage aging.
 
 
Study 02 · Appetite Hormones
 
Have you ever felt starving after a short night? Von Egmond et al. tested it in a controlled crossover — one night of total sleep loss vs. one full night, identical meals and evening activities.
 
One sleepless night rewires satiety and hunger
 
Von Egmond et al. · 44 adults (19 with obesity, 20 women) · crossover with polysomnography · fasting bloods
 
After sleep deprivation, the satiety signal leptin fell while the hunger signal ghrelin rose. Adiponectin also rose. Women showed the sharpest leptin/adiponectin swings; ghrelin surged most in participants with obesity.
 
Change vs. normal-sleep night, after one sleep-deprived night
 
Leptin (satiety) Decreased 7%
 
Ghrelin (hunger)  Increased 12%
 
Adiponectin increased 10%
 
Study 03 · Sleep plus Dieting
 
Same diet, same weight lost — but where does the weight come from? Nedeltcheva & Penev asked whether sleep decides fat vs. muscle when you cut calories.
 
When you sleep less on a diet, you lose the wrong tissue
 
Nedeltcheva & Penev, Ann. Intern. Med. 2010 · 10 overweight adults · 14-day moderate calorie restriction · 8.5h vs. 5.5h in bed · ~1,450 kcal/day both arms
 
Both groups lost roughly the same 3 kg (7 lb). But with only 5.5 hours in bed, hunger climbed, resting metabolic rate and epinephrine dropped, and the composition of that lost weight flipped:more lean mass, less fat.
 
Composition of  3 kg lost over 14 days
 
 
With 5.5 hours of sleep Total lost:  3 kg
 
FAT · 55%
 
LEAN · 45%
 
Fat mass lost 1.4 kg
 
Lean mass lost1.5 kg
 
Resting metabolism  preserved
 
 
With adequate sleep Total lost: 3 kg
 
FAT lost75%
 
LEAN · 25%
 
Hunger, ghrelin↑
 
Study 04 · Sleep Quality & Cancer
 
Two studies convert nightly sleep into long-run cancer risk — one from a simple questionnaire in a UK aging cohort, one from decades of shift-work epidemiology.
 
Poor sleep quality tracks with cancer
 
English Longitudinal Study of Aging, 2020 · ~10,000 participants · 8-year follow-up · 745 new cancers · four-question sleep score
 
Relative to a “good” baseline score, worse sleep scored higher cancer incidence — and the effect grew when the poor sleeppersistedacross a second questionnaire four years later.
 
Increased cancer risk vs. good sleep (8-year follow-up)
 
Good sleep (baseline)
 
ref.
 
Intermediate — baseline  Plus 32%
 
Poor — baseline  Plus 56%
 
Intermediate or Poor — persistent (2 surveys)  Plus 61%
 
Shift work is the natural experiment
 
Review, Dtsch. Arztebl., 2010 · meta-analyses of flight crew & industrial shift workers vs. day-shift controls
 
When light and biology are pulled apart for a living, cancer signals show up. The WHO has classified shift work involving circadian disruption as aprobable carcinogen.
 
Relative risk vs. day-shift / general population
 
Flight crew — breast cancer
 
×1.70
 
Shift workers — breast cancer
 
×1.50
 
Flight crew — prostate cancer
 
×1.40
 
Study 05 · A Mechanism
 
Why would sleep touch cancer? One candidate: the immune cells that patrol for early tumors.
 
More sleep, more natural killer cell activity
 
2006 cross-sectional study · 45 healthy women recently screened for breast cancer · 2 sessions, 4 weeks apart · NK-cell assay plus sleep & fatigue questionnaires
 
The change in sleep on the preceding night was positively related to natural killer cell activity — the more you slept, the more active your tumor-surveillance cells. Two nights back did not correlate; the effect is close in time.
 
How sleep may reach cancer risk
 
Study 06 · Vaccine Response
 
If short sleep weakens surveillance, does it also blunt the immune system's memory? A meta-analysis of vaccine antibody responses says yes — especially when sleep is measured objectively.
 
Insufficient sleep blunts vaccine antibody response
 
Meta-analysis, Current Biology · 165 studies screened → 7 eligible (4 experimental, 3 prospective) · effect sizes for the association between short sleep and antibody titer
 
Effect size of short sleep on antibody response after vaccination
 
Self-reported sleep
 
0.29
 
Association present, but did not reach statistical significance
 
Measured sleep — overall
 
0.79
 
Large, highly significant effect
 
Measured — experimental arms
 
0.86
 
Strongest in men; the men-only signal drove the pooled effect. Women's estimate (0.42) crossed zero, likely due to sex-hormone variation.
 
Synthesis
 
Six independent studies, six different outcomes — the same window keeps appearing. The pattern is what turns a habit into a rule.
 
One window, six outcomes
 
Chronically running on 5.5–6 hours doesn't just make tomorrow harder. It ages faster, feeds hunger, wastes lean tissue on a diet, tracks with cancer, quiets NK surveillance, and weakens vaccine memory.
 
AGING
 
Multiple biological clocks form a U-curve; too little and too much both accelerate the age gap.
 
APPETITE
 
One bad night: leptin ↓ 7%, ghrelin ↑ 12%. You'll feel hungrier for reasons that have nothing to do with willpower.
 
BODY COMPOSITION
 
Diet on short sleep and the scale still moves — but 75% of the loss becomes lean mass. That is the road to sarcopenia.
 
CANCER
 
Persistent poor sleep plus shift work both raise cancer incidence in cohort and meta-analytic data.
 
IMMUNE SURVEILLANCE
 
Longer sleep the previous night predicts higher NK-cell activity — the cells that clear abnormal cells.
 
VACCINE MEMORY
 
Objectively measured short sleep meaningfully reduces post-vaccine antibody titers.
 
The host's commitment for the coming month
 
Continue the personal deep-dive on improving sleep over the next month00:10
 
To Do List
 
[ ] Sleep 7–8 hours nightly — in bed by 11 PM, up no earlier than 6–7 AM 32:32
 
[ ] Track every night under 7 hours as the monthly measurable metric 33:16
 
ARTICLES
 
The MULTI Consortium., O’Toole, C.K., Song, Z. et al. Sleep chart of biological ageing clocks in middle and late life. Nature (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10524-5 
 
van Egmond LT, Meth EMS, Engström J, et al. Effects of acute sleep loss on leptin, ghrelin, and adiponectin in adults with healthy weight and obesity: A laboratory study. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2023;31(3):635‐641. doi:10.1002/oby.23616
 
Nedeltcheva AV, Kilkus JM, Imperial J, Schoeller DA, Penev PD. Insufficient sleep undermines dietary efforts to reduce adiposity. Ann Intern Med. 2010 Oct 5;153(7):435-41. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-153-7-201010050-00006. PMID: 20921542; PMCID: PMC2951287. 
 
Song, C., Zhang, R., Wang, C., et al. (2020). Sleep quality and risk of cancer: findings from the English longitudinal study of aging. Sleep, 44. 
 
Shift Work and Cancer The Evidence and the Challenge Thomas C. Erren, Puran Falaturi, Peter Morfeld, Peter Knauth,  Russel J. Reiter, Claus Piekarski.  Dtsch Arztebl Int 2010; 107(38): 657–62 DOI: 10.3238/arztebl.2010.0657
 
Keren Shakhar, Heiddis B. Valdimarsdottir, Josephine S. Guevarra, Dana H. Bovbjerg,
Sleep, fatigue, and NK cell activity in healthy volunteers: Significant relationships revealed by within subject analyses, Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, Volume 21, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 180-184,
 
Spiegel K, Rey A, Cheylus A ...A meta-analysis of the associations between insufficient sleep duration and antibody response to vaccination.  Current Biology, 33, 998-1005.e2
 

Week 18 of 52  Health podcast Dr. Brent W. Laartz · Go Unpro
 
Running your health like a quality - controlled process
 
Past the one-third mark of a 52-week journey, the host borrows Six Sigma (DMAIC) and ISO 9001 from his manufacturing life and fuses them with manifestation — turning vague goals like "eat better" into a defined, measured, and controlled loop across five pillars of health.
 
Hero overview.
 
CenterManifest HealthClear vision · language · behavior · action
 
DDefineOne vision, split into a goal per pillar. Name obstacles and limiting beliefs.
 
MMeasureBaseline everything: weight, vegan days, reps, sleep score, sodas. If you don't measure, your brain lies.
 
AAnalyzeRun SWOT and ROPR on your life. Map the process flows that carry food, sleep, and stress.
 
IImproveMonthly attainable goals. Align language, behavior, and action — trust the process.
 
CControlRe-evaluate constantly. Fix environment, friends, home, workplace, groceries. Document revisions.
 
DMAIC + manifestation, applied to a life instead of a factory floor.03:28
 
6 Target discipline — GE / Jack Welch–era error tolerance borrowed as a mindset, not a literal 0.00001.
 
5 Pillars in scope: diet, movement, sleep, connection, plastics.
 
18/52
 
Weeks into the unprocessed-life journey — plateaus expected; general trajectory upward.
 
Core mental shift
 
The scale doesn't lie — your brain does
 
Lartz spent years assuming he was healthy — "I eat chicken most of the time" — until the scale crept toward BMI 27 at 5'7". The lesson: without measurement, the brain protects your self-image, not your health.
 
Your brain wants you to feel good about your diet overall. So patients tell me, "Oh yeah, I was pretty healthy — until I came in with this pneumonia and congestive heart failure." If you don't measure, you don't know.
 
— Dr. Brent W. Lartz08:20
 
 
"I've always been big-boned."
 
"I've always been a lover of sweets."
 
"My mother told me I will always be just like this — because she was."
 
"I can't exercise because of my arthritis."
 
 
Take an afternoon at a coffee shop. Open a document titled**"Fears and Doubts"**— no scrolling. Write until each limiting belief is named.
 
Accept that knowing the psychology is only**~49.5%**of the win. Acting on it — books, therapists, help — is the rest.
 
Analyze deeper
 
SWOT your own life
 
Once the goal is defined and the baseline measured, Lartz runs the same SWOT matrix on himself that his manufacturing company runs on suppliers. Strengths and weaknesses are internal; opportunities and threats reach outside — into doctors' lounges, drinking friends, work deadlines, and plastics everywhere.
 
 
Willpower and existing baseline health
 
Only small dietary improvements needed
 
Medical & neuroscience training
 
 
Willpower on hard days
 
Chronic 5 a.m. wake-ups; deep-sleep deficits
 
Limiting belief: "I'm not an athlete"
 
 
Sprouts nearby — good produce, better prices
 
Meal-prep Sundays; packed lunches
 
Medical mission trips (India, Oct–Nov / Jan)
 
 
Free food in the doctor's lounge
 
A friend who invites you to drink every night
 
Lecture deadlines → 2 a.m. bedtimes
 
Plastics — clothes, packaging, everywhere
 
SWOT + ROPR (Risks, Opportunities, Parties, Regulation) frames the daily terrain.18:42
 
Week 18 — Five Pillars
 
This week's specific commitments
 
Every pillar gets one measurable action for the week. Not a permanent fix — the "comfort crisis" warning from last week still holds — but a next-step honest enough to track.
 
🥗
 
Diet
 
Measured by: vegan days/wk, sweets tally, dairy-free yogurt hits.
 
**This week**Pack lunch (dairy-free yogurt + own granola + berries + chia seeds). Skip the hospital cafeteria & doctor's-lounge Oreo parfait.
 
🏃
 
Movement
 
Measured by: dumbbell reps (e.g. 20 lb × 24 → 25 lb × 24), miles run.
 
**This week**Recover from a tired stretch. Recruit partners for court sports (tennis) — solo isn't the bottleneck; company is.
 
🌙
 
Sleep
 
Measured by: Oura sleep score (usually low 60s; deep sleep is the weak link).
 
**This week**Pay off sleep debt*during*the week — dollar-cost average, not weekend binges. Sleeping in until 11 on Sunday buys "social jet lag" on Monday.
 
🤝
 
Connection
 
Measured by: gatherings hosted, trips booked, missions confirmed.
 
**This week**Host a party for*someone else*— meet outside your own circle. Plan the India medical mission and a med-school reunion.
 
👕
 
Plastics
 
Measured by: garments purchased with polyester ≈ 0.
 
**This week**Aug–Sep = clothes month. Buy**3 all-cotton dress shirts**this Saturday; accept cotton socks may cause blisters on 8-mile runs. Trade-offs are the process.
 
 
A week is just seven marks. The chart is a habit tracker, not a report card.
 
Feedback loop
 
Close the loop, then loop again
 
Control isn't the end — it's a hand-off back to Define. Every success and every failure feeds the next iteration. This is where ISO 9001's documentation habit (change requests, revisions, inventory lists) becomes a personal tool.
 
1  Weight, sleep score, reps, food emojis, plastic purchases.
 
2 Yesterday's Xs and check-marks are evidence, not verdict.
 
3  Why is the snack in the fridge? Trace grocery → shelf → 10 p.m.
 
Write the reason, the goal, the process change. Save the revision.
 
Wins > setbacks over time = success. Tomorrow is a brand new day.
 
Manifestation isn't just a positive attitude. It's clarity, measurement, language, behavior, and action — and trusting the process when the setbacks come.
 
— Reframing the podcast's opening idea24:41
 
Commitments Dr. Lartz made on air for the week ahead
 
To Do List
 
[ ] Buy three all-cotton dress shirts (minimal polyester) to kick off the plastic-free clothing month This Saturday
 
[ ] Schedule a DEXA scan — a deeper baseline measurement, still outstanding within the 52-week journey
 
[ ] Finalize the India medical mission — target late October / early November, with a possible January trip Late Oct – early Nov
 
[ ] Set one mid-week catch-up sleep night (e.g. Wednesday) to pay off sleep debt without weekend social jet lag