Well with Arielle Lorre - 416: The Tools for Longevity: Brain, Beauty and Health Protocols You Haven’t Heard Yet with Dr. Kay Linker, PhD

Episode Date: October 15, 2025

Neuroscientist and longevity expert Dr. Kay Linker joins me to break down the science of staying young—inside and out. We dive deep into how the brain ages (and how to slow it down), the neuroscience behind exercise, and why Zone 2 training is a game-changer for cognitive health. Dr. Linker explains how your brain detoxes itself, how to avoid glucose spikes and crashes, and what fasting really does for your mind. We also talk hormones, exosomes, and the surprising link between how you look and how you feel. From optimizing nutrition and reducing dementia risk to her sauna and cold plunge routine for longevity, this episode is packed with cutting-edge insight. Plus, we cover the best next-gen skincare, the three pillars for lasting brain health, and which “healthy” trends to skip altogether.This episode is brought to you by YNAB, ProLon, Ritual, LMNT, Momentous, Puori, and Fatty15.Visit www.ynab.com/well to claim an exclusive three-month free trial, with no credit card required.Go to ProLonLife.com/BLONDE for 15% off plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe to their 5-day program.Visit ritual.com/BLONDE for 25% off your first month. Try LMNT and get a free sample pack when you go to DrinkLMNT.com/WELL.Use promo code blonde for 35% off your first subscription order at livemomentous.com. Use promo code BLONDE at Puori.com/BLONDE for 20% off.Visit fatty15.com/WELL and use code WELL at checkout for an additional 15% off their Starter Kit.Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.Produced by Dear Media.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The following podcast is a dear media production. This is Well, a podcast about wellness in all its forms. I'm Ariel Laurie, and each week I'm sharing unfiltered conversations with people shaping how we feel, live, and look. Come for the substance, stay for the honesty, and leave with the tools to be well, inside and out. You put so much time and effort into earning money. You deserve to spend it without stress or second-guessing, and I want to tell you about

something that I implemented this year that completely changed not only my approach, but also how I look at money. So I am talking about YNAB spelled YNAB. It is truly a life-changing app that helps you do what you want with the money that you have. So you just create a flexible plan for your money through the simple practice of giving every dollar a job, keeping you focused on the life that you want. And this is where it gets really fun and where it's almost like a game for me. So you can create the categories of your expenses, things that you spend money on, things that you anticipate you might spend money on. And what you do is you basically allocate every penny that you have to those different categories. So instead of trying to save for arbitrary things, you know exactly

where every dollar is going and you get to decide how you spend your money. It's so empowering. so you can cover your rent, you can build an emergency fund, and do it all without sacrificing dinners with friends or that long-awaited trip. So with Wynab, you truly stop wondering where your money goes and you decide where it will take you. 92% of users report feeling less money stress using Wynab. The average Wynab user saves $6,000 in their first year. So listeners of well can claim an exclusive three-month free trial with no credit card required at www.ynaB. com slash well. You guys, you are going to want to get your pen and paper out for this episode, if anybody still does that, or fire up your notes up because this is honestly one of the best

wellness episodes. I think I have heard. I've been doing this for over six and a half years, and I have heard so much from so many experts across so many fields. And if you've been with me this whole time, then you've heard it as well. But I learned so much. from my guest today. And the best part is it's so applicable. And these tips are really easy to implement into your lives and your wellness routines. So I know you're going to love it. And there is so much value here. I'm talking to Dr. K. Linker. She is a neuroscientist and longevity researcher. And her work kind of bridges the gap between cutting edge brain science and everyday wellness. So she studies how our brains age, how movement, nutrition and hormones impact

cognitive health, what we can actually do to stay sharp, energized, youthful, looking good on the inside and out. And she shares so many fascinating insights into longevity. We talk about even the neuroscience of beauty, how to optimize your brain for a longer, healthier life, and what you can do on a day-to-day basis to feel like your optimal self and set yourself up for not only, lifespan, but health span. So make sure that you share this with your friends, with your families, put it on your Instagram stories, your TikToks, wherever you share content. There's so much important, valuable information here. And yeah, let's get the word out. So please enjoy Dr. K. Linker. I have so many things that I want to talk to you about. So I'm like, gosh, where do we even begin?

I think a good place to start is just having you introduce yourself to the audience and tell them a little bit about what you do. And then we'll go from there. Yeah. So I'm a neuroscientist. I studied neuroscience in undergrad. And then I did my PhD in neuroscience, sort of focusing on dopamine and reinforcement and also some addiction. And then when I went into my postdoc, I started studying aging. And what are the things we can do to prevent cognitive decline as well as potentially reversing? some of it. And yeah, I'm obsessed with sort of optimizing brain, body, skin in terms of longevity and just being as healthy for as long as possible. What I love about you on social media is that you do have a very holistic view. So it's not just the brain. It's not just skin. It's kind of everything. But then you also connect it as well because it is all interconnected, right? We always tend to silo everything off into its own thing. And I think more and more we're learning that that's just not how the body works, right? A hundred percent. Unfortunately,

the way medicine is practiced, it's very siloed. And so that leads us to believe that each organ is its own little world when that's the opposite of the truth. And everything affects everything else. Your liver affects your brain. Your brain affects your skin. All these things are interconnected. Yeah, I feel like the brain in particular, like was always left out of the discussion of everything else. Like it's on a completely different realm as the rest of the body, which is so interesting. And then, of course, you know, you hear a lot about like the gut being the second brain, the gut brain access, things like that. I feel like that was kind of the first time, at least just as like a layman. You know, you hear about, oh, the brain is connected to these other things.

So why don't we start with like what are some of the best things for our brain health? And then conversely, what are things that impede on our brain health maybe in our day-to-day habits or lifestyles? Yeah, so one of the best things for our brain is exercise, which is kind of ironic because the trope is the dumb jock, but actually a lot of exercise is really great for your brain and especially aerobic exercise. And this is partially because 90% of the blood vessels within our brain are thinner than a strand of hair. So we are walking on this very thin type rope of nutrients and oxygen that are coming to our brain. So when that architecture falters, we're going to have a lot of issues in cognitive health and more propensity to develop neurodegenerative diseases. And that's why also when you look at diabetes patients, they are 60% more likely to develop

Alzheimer's disease. So you really want to make sure that you're hitting a good zone two amount throughout the week, maybe like two hours for women and two to three hours for men. What is zone two? So zone two, it's a heart rate zone, all of zone one, two, three, four, five. There, how much your heart is beating and compared to max capacity. So zone 5 is max capacity. You can get a heart rate monitor like pouring or there's a bunch.

But if you don't have one, you can also just test, can I have a comfortable conversation, but it's a little bit difficult. So I like to walk uphill on a treadmill. It's typically the easiest to get zone 2 inside because you're like at a steady pace. And yeah, I find it relaxing too. It's kind of nice. But you also want to push sort of the other realm of zone 5, where, you're kind of going all out and you want to do those in burst. So I like to do a four by

four workout where it's four minutes of running, four minutes of walking and you repeat four times. And it sounds really intense, but it's over really quickly and it's actually going to be probably like the quickest workout within your week. And four minutes of running at your absolute max. Like are you sprinting for four minutes? So do the intensity that you can for those four minutes. Okay. So when I first started, I was running at like six MPH on the treadmill and then work your way up. And now I'm at like eight. So yeah. And what is your walking speed typically for zone two?

I typically do 12 incline three speed. 12.330 coming through. Exactly. I tried doing that and I was like, I think I'm more of like an 8, 2.830. Well, you have to do what works for you. Yeah. I mean, I was like, that is what's actually sustainable for me. I mean, I get to 12 and I'm like, oh my God.

Like I can't. It's hard. So I mean, I get like you can work your way up to that. and I'm sure if I was very consistent with the eight that I could have gotten up to 12. But what about strength training? Because you hear about obviously all of the benefits from that as well. Yeah, there's less evidence for strength training in terms of cognitive benefits. So we now know that there's these myokines that are released from muscles when you have more muscle growth and when you do strength training.

The other benefit of strength training is that it's a great glucose deposit. So when you have glucose spikes, that has negative. impacts on your brain because you're altering your metabolic function in a negative way. And the brain is an energy sucker. It's 2% of your total body weight, but it takes 20% of your energy. So it's really dependent on energy efficiency, which muscle really helps with. 2% of your body weight and takes 20% of your energy daily? Yeah. Wow. That's crazy. So what are some of the ways that we can prime our brains? Exercise obviously is one, but just on a day-to-day basis, Like how do we energize our brain to be able to handle that kind of output?

So there's more evidence that ketones, having high amounts of ketones can be great for the brain. But much of that evidence is for people with epilepsy or certain cognitive conditions. And especially in women, I've just found a ketogenic diet is not always the best route. So you want to just make sure that you're mitigating glucose spikes. And you can do that by pairing with fiber or pairing with protein or pairing. with a walk after is incredibly helpful. And yeah, just making sure you're well-fed and you're not fasting like crazy. Oh, I want to talk about that in a second. But what about exogenous ketones? I've seen some of those that can have great benefits, but I've also seen people have blood sugar

crashes after them. So you just want to be a little bit careful because I've seen people literally faint after it wears off. Oh, interesting. Okay. Okay, I want to talk about the fasting of at all. I had a podcast episode and my guest and I were talking about how we used to not necessarily intentionally fast, but stop eating at five or six the night before, wake up, have coffee on an empty stomach at six or seven first thing and then not eat until 12. And like how for us, it was really destructive to our bodies, our hormones, our minds, like all of that. And I did get some pushback. There are people who swear by it, which is great. Like at the end of the day, there's bioindividuality, right? And we know what feels good for us. But what are the downsides

of fasting, if there are any? So in general, women are more sensitive to hermetic stressors than men. And fasting is a hermetic stressor, meaning that in small doses, it can provide more resilience, but in large doses, it's negative. Fasting falls into that category. So we need to be careful about the amount of time or the time frame that we're fasting. And unfortunately, it is just really bioindividual. And so you kind of have to see what works for you. One thing I will say is stopping at least three hours before eating is for everyone a great idea because you're going to have more deep sleep, which is incredible for glymphatic drainage. You get rid of toxins in your brain. And it's just essential for a good night's sleep to have that sort of time blocked out.

Yeah, I want to talk about the glymphatic drainage because I learned about that from another guest. But our brain's detox at night, right? Yeah. So what is that process? Yeah. So it's a really interesting system because it's a little bit different than our lymphatic system because it's throughout your brain. And so you don't have these sort of capabilities of massaging it through.

It's really about getting those deep sleep. And I also saw a couple studies that said sleeping on your right side improves glymphatic drainage more than sleeping on your back. But it's hard because I'm not trying to sleep on my side for my skin. Yeah, I know. Well, I was going to say, great. I sleep on my stomach and then with my head turned to the left. So it's like doubly bad. I just cannot be a back sleeper. Do you have a special pillow to keep you down? Yeah. Yeah. It makes a huge difference on the face. Yeah. And the chest. Yes. I started sleeping on my left side because I had a shoulder injury and I immediately noticed in my face. Yeah. Within like three months. I was like a I know. Ever since I had stopped Botox, like I can see the side of my face that I sleep on because that side of like or especially around my eyes so much more wrinkly so many more lines and the chest how old are you I'm 33 okay it's a struggle thank God for silicone pads and things like that chest pillows yeah things

but yeah I'm getting married and so I got a full froxel on my face and neck and now the next is the chest because I have some and I'm like let's just nip this in the bud yeah thank God for lasers I swear by the alive I feel like people who are like in their early 20s who are already so obsessed with all of this stuff. And they're going to have all of these advances and longevity and anti-aging and all of that. Like they are going to look so young until they're so much older that generation. Because I mean, so many of them are doing like Botox and stuff at 20, 21, which I'm like, that is crazy. It's insane.

It's insane. I just hope they don't do too much filler or do things that end up causing negative impacts. But even for our generation, when you look at 30-year-olds from 50, 60, 100 years ago, they did not look like us. No, not at all. And there's that famous example of like the Golden Girls, right? So I think they were supposed to be in their early 50s maybe. And then they compare that to like J-Lo. And there's so many other women now in their 50s who look incredible.

I think to me more is what 60 or something? She looks amazing. Yeah. And, you know, they allegedly have had help. But like, great. The help is there now. So use it. I don't get the resistance towards help.

Isn't that if you want to look young, wouldn't you take the help? There was also this interesting Ellen Langer study in like the 80s, where she put all these older people into a situation for two weeks where they were surrounded by things from 30 years ago. Yes, I know that one. And so they started to, they were there, they were immersed, they were, they felt like they were in 30 years prior. And then after that, they had better eyesight, lower blood pressure, all these

physiological changes that actually made them younger. So if you look in the mirror every day and you look younger, wouldn't you also have some physiological changes besides how you look to make you feel younger? Yeah. I mean, there has to be some kind of feedback that goes both ways. And at the end of the day, like when you feel like you look good, you exude more confidence, you feel more empowered to like do certain things. People can call that vanity, whatever they want. But it's, I think, true for everybody. So I don't really understand the judgment. I'm sure it comes from a place of maybe jealousy or who knows what's at the root of it. The thing is, is we all have vanity. We just have it on different scales. And when someone is above you, then you start judging them. But you don't realize we all

have it. Yes. Yeah. So true. I could go off on a whole tangent about this. And I do want to come back to the skincare because I really love your kind of next gen skincare recommendations. And we can talk about some of these newer things like exosomes and supplements and all of that. But let's go back to the brain a little bit for now. So we talked exercise, sleep. What about nutrition? Like what is the best optimal nutrition for brain health? Because there's so much information out there and so much conflicting information. It's hard, I think, for people who don't have any kind of background in this or who don't sit there on PubMed or whatever to really be able to like understand what is the best route for them. Yeah. So I think we sometimes overcomplicate it. You want to eat whole foods.

There's not going to be one ingredient or you're going to eat a bunch of blueberries and you're not going to get Alzheimer's disease. That's not the case. But if you eat whole foods every single day or six out of the seven days of the week, you're going to be in a great place. I think you should have animal products like meat, fish, eggs, all of those are incredible for your health. In terms of omega-3s, those are great for the brain and they can reduce signs of depression. They can reduce risk of neurodegenerative disease because they're anti-inflammatory. I personally can't get enough from fish, so I supplement. And you really need to get a lot. You want one to three grams of EPA per day. That's really hard to get from your diet. But still incorporating fish and shellfish and all those

things is going to boost your level somewhat. We all know how important it is to stay hydrated, but there's a big misconception when it comes to hydration, which is that being optimally hydrated means drinking as much water as possible. In fact, this can be to our detriment because too much water can dilute essential minerals that we need in our bodies, which is why I love to supplement with my element. Element is a zero sugar electrolyte drink mix and sparkling electrolyte water, which is so good. Born from the growing body of research, revealing that optimal health outcomes actually occur at sodium levels two to three times government recommendations. So each delicious stick pack of element delivers a meaningful dose of electrolytes

free of sugar, artificial colors, and other dodgy ingredients. And it has a clinically backed combination of sodium, magnesium, and potassium to keep you optimally hydrated. They have the most delicious flavors. I really love orange. I love the citrus flavor. I love the citrus flavor. I love the grapefruit flavor. They also have watermelon. They have a lemon sparkling drink that I love so much. So definitely check them out. And right now, Element is offering a free sample pack with any purchase, which is eight single serving packets, free with any element order.

And this is a great way to try all eight flavors or share Element with a friend. Get yours at drinkelement.com slash well. It's only available through my link. So go to DR I N-K-L-M-T-com slash well. healthy choices can feel overwhelming without a plan, but what if you could jumpstart your health and weight care journey with results in just five days and without an injection? This is what makes Prolon's fasting, mimicking diet a game changer. It delivers real sustainable results. And now with their new next-gen program, you can experience the same science-backed cellular rejuvenative results in a cleaner, more convenient, and more flavorful format. that. This is so relevant since we are talking about fasting and how sometimes fasting is not the

best choice for women for a variety of reasons. And I love that with Prolon, you still get to eat. So you're not adding stress to your body, which is what can make fasting kind of tricky for women, but you are still triggering that cellular rejuvenation and renewal because your body is in that fasting state while you are nourishing it. So next. Gen builds on the original prolon with 100% organic soups and teas, a richer taste, and ready to eat meals. And this is science-backed. It's been developed over decades at USC's Longevity Institute.

It's backed by top U.S. medical centers. And prolon has been shown to support biological age reduction, metabolic health, skin appearance, fat loss, and energy. So for a limited time, prolon is offering my listeners 15% off site-wide, plus a $40 bonus gift. when you subscribe to their five-day program, just visit prolonl-life.com slash blonde. That's P-R-O-L-O-N-L-I-F-E.com slash blonde to claim your 15% discount and bonus gift. Prolonlife.com slash blonde. In this episode, Dr. K is sharing some exciting advancements in the skincare category. And something that I'm excited about that I think is going to be huge over the next few years is ingestable skincare. So I have, So I have been taking hyacera from ritual for months, and it has made a huge difference in my skin,

specifically in how much water I'm able to retain in my skin. As we age, we lose the ability to hold on to moisture, and I've really noticed a big difference since taking hyacera. And as a result, I appear to have less fine lines and wrinkles because my skin is just plumber and juicier. Hyacera is clinically proven to reduce spine lines and wrinkles. In fact, in a clinical study, Hyacera led to a 2.9x increase in skin smoothness within 90 days as compared to placebo. And Hyacera subjects reported an improvement in skin elasticity, glow, and radiance in 90 days.

I would definitely fall into that category. So taking hyacera is such a simple little microhabit that can really support your skin from the inside out. It has a really nice soothing vanilla essence in the capsule, so it's enjoyable to take. And as always, with Ritual, it is third-party tested for allergens, microbes, heavy metals, and Ritual works with world-class certification bodies to validate their products. So start Hyacera to support your glow without compromising on clean science. You can get 25% off your first month for a limited time at ritual.com slash blonde. So start ritual or add high as Sarah to your subscription today.

That's ritual.com slash blonde for 25% off. With people who are diagnosed with some kind of cognitive impairment, dementia, Alzheimer's, whatever it is, you hear that it started potentially decades prior to that. What are some of the things that influence that? Is it just this kind of culmination of exercise, sleep, stress, I would imagine, has a really negative impact on the brain, maybe not a great diet? maybe some other kinds of inflammatory conditions or diabetes. I know that there's a genetic component to it, but like what do people mean when they say it started 10 years ago, 20 years ago? So some of the first signs of nerve degeneration is not the plaques.

It's actually microglia, which are the brain's immune cells. And so it's really the early signs are a lack of good blood flow and inflammation. And there's a few pillars that you can do to address that. One is exercise, which we talked about. You want to make sure that you have really, really good blood flow by pushing zone two and pushing zone five. The other is sauna. So if you sauna, you can have a 66% less likelihood of getting dementia. And you want a sauna four times a week at a range of 175 to 190 temperature Fahrenheit.

This helps both with the blood flow where your blood is pumping. When you're in the sauna, your blood is really, your heart rate goes up. It can go up to like a zone two rate. And also it stimulates heatchalk proteins. And heat chock proteins are chaperone proteins. And those help with protein misfolding, which is a major issue with Alzheimer's disease as well as other neurod degenerative diseases. And so when you have those two mechanisms working in concert, you get this beautiful reduction in risk. 40% less likelihood of all cause mortality, meaning dying of anything, cancer, you know, nerd degeneration, heart disease.

Those numbers are staggering. It's insane. It's insane. Why isn't every single person in a sauna if it's that impactful? I think some of the pushback was originally well, wealthy people sauna. So maybe it's the wealth. But actually those original studies, they were comparing four times a week to one time a week. So if you can sauna one time a week, you're probably in a different category than someone who can't sauna at all. And also now we have more and more mechanistic studies and some burgeoning clinical trials looking at sauna use. So the evidence is piling up. If this was a drug,

it would be a billion dollar industry. It's insane. So everyone should sauna. It's the best thing for you. What's your sauna routine? So I was originally saunowing at night, but now I've been sauning after exercise because two things. One, it can help with muscle growth. But the other is sauna makes your mu opioid receptors more sensitive. Endorphins bind to mu opioid receptors. So after you have that workout, then you have more endorphins. And then your sauna use makes your mu opioids more sensitive. So you have this massive mood boost after. Amazing. Is that why they say that it can raise endorphins? Or is that just from your heart rate being elevated? Yeah, it's probably from heart rate as well as endorphins tend to increase when you're kind of in a negative physiological experience because it's your body's way

of having anesthesia. So if you're on a really long marathon or if you're, you know, in the sauna, you're going to have endorphins because your body's under stress. Got it. What about cold plunging? Is there any evidence to support that when it comes to brain health or longevity? There is. I think we need to be a little bit more careful as women. Just because, again, we are more sensitive to hermetic stressors. So the same protocol for a man for cold plunging could cause us long bouts of excess norapherine, which is sort of a stress signal, as well as excess cortisol. So you just really want to be aware of how your cold plunging is affecting you. Do a two-week trial period.

see how it works. It may even be better to do it in your follicular phase versus your luteal phase. You just want to really be aware because honestly we have to design our own protocols. Like everything has been designed for men. Yeah, let's talk about that. We're not little men, right? Yeah. So what are some of those differences aside from obviously we're more sensitive to hormetic stress? What else are the major ones? So I think some of the main differences too is how we respond to goal setting and dopamine. So men tend to be better at initiating a new goal, but they're not as good at actually sustaining it.

Women are much better at habit formation because we have more D2 receptors in the dorsal striatum, and those receptors drive habit formation within that region. And this can be seen on the negative side. So when you look at substance use disorders, even though women are less likely to start, they're actually faster in terms of their escalation. and we're more likely to have anorexia and OCD. But the flip side of that is if you get the right habits in place, it's easier for us to stick to them and to build the life that you want. That's so interesting because I'm sober for a long time now.

And I always heard that. I always heard that women were quicker to essentially descend down into like full blown alcoholism or addiction than men were. And I never really understood why. Yeah, we're creatures of habit. Yeah. I love it. It's so simple. Yeah, and it can be hard to change those habits too, right? It can. Yeah.

So for myself and for other people, I recommend starting a habit change in your follicular phase because we have more estrogen in that phase. And estrogen increases baseline levels of dopamine. And so when you have that extra dopamine, you're going to be more motivated to complete the original task. And then also in your ludial phase, you actually have more of those D2 receptors. So you're more in that habit formation phase. And so structuring your goal setting and your habit for transformational changes,

via your cycle is going to be really helpful. How do those hormones impact our brains, especially as we go throughout our lives? Because I've also heard that I can't remember which one you can correct me on this, but maybe low estrogen can contribute to cognitive impairment later in life. Exactly. So estrogen is incredibly neuroprotective. It increases baseline levels of dopamine, acetylcholine. It can increase BDNF, which is a growth factor within the brain that's incredibly helpful for our brain health. It can increase synaptic density, connections between neurons. So it's a really powerful neuromodulator in a positive sense. And when we think about estrogen and dopamine, that's why men are twice as likely to get Parkinson's disease because they don't have as much estrogen, so they have this

sort of drop-off and sensitivity towards Parkinson's disease. What's really important as we reach a phase in our life where HRT or hormone replacement therapy becomes an option, it's something that we really should consider for our brain health because if you do HRT after menopause, you don't get the cognitive benefits. But if you do it in Perry, you will. And it's probably because if you don't have estrogen for so long, the damage is done. That's the thing with the brain. Once the damage is done, it's really hard to reverse. Yeah, that was going to be my next question. So we're talking about what we can do preventatively, but say that somebody is at the phase of their life where they've been diagnosed with some kind of cognitive impairment or they're just noticing signs. Maybe they're not

at that age yet. Not that there's necessarily an age, but they are feeling like they have brain fog. They're feeling forgetful. How should they go about navigating that? I would look at it sort of in three pillars, exercise, sauna, and then supplements. So even especially if that person doesn't exercise at all, that's such an easy way to improve your cognitive health. Even just going on a walk for an hour a day is going to not only improve your mood, but also improve your cognitive health and your likelihood of further degrading. And it's important to sort of spike in those high-intensity workouts. I know people are scared about cortisol, but you just don't want to do it five times a week. You just do it twice a week and you're going to be okay. And sonny use is amazing like we've talked about.

I also love spermidine, which is a supplement that is a terrible name, but it promotes something called autophagy, which is the spring cleaning of your cells. And they showed in mild cognitive impairment patients that when they took spermidine, they had thicker hippocampal white matter tracks, they had better cognitive function, better memory, and it's likely through this autophagy mechanism. What about stenolytics? Is that the same kind of thing? So senoletics kill senescence cells, which are cells that actively contribute to aging. They're also called zombie cells. They're different in that senescence cells are really bad because they basically spit out all these inflammatory molecules called saps. So they sort of hurt their neighboring cells too. Whereas autophagy is more about a single cellular issue and sort of clearing out the proteins, plaque formations, things like that that can occur within a cell that has negative impacts on the cell's performance. And is that a daily thing or is it something that you cycle? Like, I know senoletics, you can take them like three or four days once a month.

Yeah, so one, I think for senolics also depends on the senoletic. And two, with spermidine, some people say you should cycle it. It's not enough of an autophagy inducer that I would cycle it. It's not like fasting for 10 days, you know? So, yeah, I take spermidine every day. Do you take senoletics too? I started taking ficin. I'm honestly, the jury's out for me in terms of.

terms of how it can like actually help my cognitive performance. I think the data on that's incredible because it passes the blood brain barrier, which is very rare for drugs. So yeah, we'll report back. Yeah, I was going to say, how do you like quantify whether it's working for you or not? Do you just track things and track your brain and performance and all of that? Like I feel like sometimes when I add a new supplement in, I'm kind of like, oh, I mean, it's not like always an instant gratification thing where I can really tell. So I think it's hard sometimes to be consistent with them because you don't know if it's working or not. Yeah, I just, I have like a three month schedule and then I'll really decide, but I just have them set out. It's planned. Like Sunday night,

we have Monday through Friday and then we're taking them and it becomes a habit, whereas I just don't think about it. And then I'll take, I have to like memorize a lot of stuff. So I notice if something has helped. Yeah. For you, it's like right there. Yeah. Got it. Are there any supplements that are trendy or any supplements that were kind of trendy for a moment that have been proven to not be as effective as we thought they were? I'll go on the skin route. I think some of these collagen boosting supplements don't work at all. And they sort of propose themselves to be better than actually just taking collagen, despite the fact that there are hundreds of studies across thousands of patients and multiple meta studies showing that collagen is incredible for your skin. And so they're

trying to say that something that boosts collagen indirectly is going to be better than that. It's no. Yeah. Okay. So spermidine, we talked to Omega's collagen, obviously you're a fan of of, seniletics. Anything else that people should consider for brain health? Oh, for brain health. I would say, you also want to make sure your inflammation's in check. So for women, you want to have like a B complex. A B complex is just going to be great for your overall health, your immunity, and your brain. Since we are talking about aging and longevity and all of the things in this episode, I want to talk to you about C-15. So this is the first essential fatty acid to be discovered in more than 90 years. It's an incredible scientific breakthrough. to support our long-term health and wellness, and you guessed it, aging and longevity. So based on over 100 studies, we know that C-15 strengthens our cells and is a key longevity-enhancing nutrient, which helps to slow biological aging at the cellular level. In fact, when our cells don't have enough C-15, they become fragile and they age faster,

and when our cells age, our bodies age too. So this is where fatty 15 comes in. Fadi 15 is a pure C-15 supplement that helps to repair age-related damage to cells. It protects them from future breakdown, and it activates pathways in the body that help to regulate our sleep, our mood, and our natural repair mechanisms that support our overall health. And this functionality leads to exciting benefits now and as we get older, including improved metabolic, liver and heart health, smoother functioning joints, deeper sleep. and yes, healthier hair, skin, and nails. So Fatty 15 is on a mission to optimize your C-15 levels

and help you live healthier, longer. You can get an additional 15% off their 90-day subscription starter kit by going to Fatty15.com slash well and using the code well at checkout. If you are taking protein powder, which I'm sure most of you are, this is very important to hear. The Clean Label Project recently tested 160 top-selling protein powders in the U.S. and found that nearly half exceeded the proposition 65 safety thresholds for lead. This is not something that you want from products that are supposed to support your health, especially if it's something that you are consuming daily. And to make matters worse, most brands won't reveal their test data on lead. So you could at least make an informed choice about what you want to expose yourself to, which is why I love

PURY's PW1 way protein. Every batch is third party tested by the clean label project against over 200 contaminants and no product is ever sold unless it passes these tests. It's actually the only protein brand in the U.S. that has the Clean Label Project Transparency Certification, and this is achieved because they make all their third-party test results available via a QR code on the label. Not only this, but it also contains 21 grams of minimally processed clean, high-quality way protein. There's no hormones, no GMOs, and no pesticides. And, It's delicious. So I love the bourbon vanilla flavor. There's no artificial ingredients or overly sweet aftertaste, like a lot of other protein powders, and I mix it in my oats,

in my yogurt, in my smoothies. It's so good. So make sure your protein powder is not hiding nasty chemicals and switch to PW1. I know that you will love it as much as I do. And I've worked on an amazing deal for you. You can get 20% off or if you choose the already discounted subscription. You actually get almost a third off the price. So visit my exclusive URL. It's puri.com slash blonde and use my promo code blonde to get this amazing discount. That's P-U-O-R-I dot com slash blonde. Since we are talking about brain health and longevity in this episode, I want to talk a little bit

about something that I recently added to my routine, specifically for brain health and cognition, and that is creatine. So I think when it comes to creatine, people think that it's mainly from, men, that it's just for muscle gains, but actually it is essential daily fuel for your brain, for your body, and also for long-term performance. So all of the things that we need for optimal health and longevity. So I am loving the momentous creatine because it's backed by leading performance experts. It's sourced exclusively in Germany, and creopure really sets the gold standard for creatine, delivering the purest form, which is creatine monohydrate, and

It's rigorously washed and never cut with fillers, which is so hard to find in the industry if you do your digging. So every batch is independently tested for purity, safety, and label accuracy. It's NSF certified for sport, which is why it's trusted by Olympic athletes, pro teams, and even the U.S. military. I love their travel packs. I'm in Miami as I'm recording this, and they come in handy so much. So I have been taking the lemon flavor, which I love. it makes staying consistent effortless because I actually look forward to drinking it. And they are naturally flavored, perfectly portioned, and easy to mix with water, really anytime, anywhere.

So right now, Momentus is offering my listeners up to 35% off your first subscription order with the promo code blonde. Go to live momentous.com and use the code blonde for up to 35% off your first subscription order. That's livemomentis.com code blonde. Okay. So you mentioned that when you were studying, you studied addiction and dopamine as well. Where do you think we are right now with dopamine? Do you think that we are addicted to these kind of manufactured dopamine hits? And if so, how is that affecting our brain?

And how is our being inundated with blue light and all of this information all day, EMFs, things like that impacting our brain health? Or is it too soon to say? No, I think we can already see it. So there was a study that showed if you spend two hours a day on social media, you have a 30% reduction in your attention span. And I think most people spend that amount of time. Yeah. So we did not evolve to be in this stimulating environment. We are constantly shown blue light and, you know, ads and all of these very stimulating visual things that we did not evolve to be. So we really have to take back our control of that and really limit our time on devices and things that give us cheap dopamine because it's going to ruin our life in the end.

We really want to be able to control when our dopamine is heading us and have it be towards things that improve our life, whether that's spending time with a loved one or achieving a goal or going for a walk or spending time in nature, making sure that you pare down the times dopamine is scrolling through your phone or doing something that's not. going to improve your life and pairing it towards things that are actually beneficial for you, your relationships, and your health. Are you familiar with Jonathan Haidt? No. I was listening to an interview with him and he was talking about how he believes that like social media, smartphones, all of that for younger generations who have grown up with it. And he was talking about how he thinks this is like really an epidemic on development,

on their brains, on their socialization, all of that. And he was just talking about it as it pertains to the brain as well. And how, you know, ADHD and attention issues are so prevalent. And it's interesting because, like, I think alcohol and drug use is down, but suicide is up. Like, it's just, and I think it's hard to prove. Is it directly caused by social media? Who knows? There's so many variables.

But yeah. interesting. It's interesting. So the drug use and stuff is down, but I honestly think it's because people aren't going to parties. Yeah. They're not being social. Yeah. It's not like they're so healthy. Yeah. No, I know. I think that's the connection that they are making as well, you know, and we live in this, like, era of convenience, too. It's like you don't have to have any kind of human interaction ever. Literally. You can door-dash your food. Yeah. Yeah. Talk to everyone on your phone. You can just email. You don't go to the bookstore, like you don't go to the grocery store. Times when you would historically have some kind of like human interaction has all been kind of taken away.

Yeah, there was a study that I saw too that sort of micro interactions like going to the bookstore, going to the grocery store where you just have small interactions with people really improves feelings of loneliness. And even though we don't consider an interaction of like checking out as like, you know, a friendship or something, that actually improves your feeling of loneliness. And that makes sense because we're supposed to live in this village. And now everything is so insular and isolated. I hope it changes, though. I know. I think maybe we'll get to an extreme and then the pendulum will swing a little bit back the other way, maybe, because people will realize that it's so harmful. I don't know.

Yeah. If I'm not in the studio, I work from home. And I work by myself because I have a team, but everybody's remote. So it's like, I can get to the end. end of the day. And I'm like, oh my God, I've maybe like said good morning to my boyfriend when he leaves for work, but like that's it, you know? And it's not a good feeling. It's very isolating. I also work remote and I started working fully remote like about six months ago. And I didn't realize the impact it would have on me because I have a lot of friends. I have a beautiful boyfriend. And like I didn't

think it would be so negative to be at home. I was honestly excited. I was like, I can control my time. And now that I'm here, I'm like, wait, I need a buddy. Yeah. I know. I feel the same way. I think people think, oh, that's the dream, like working from home. I'm like, no, no, no, no. So I want to talk about skincare, of course.

That's how I first found you, I think, on TikTok because you were talking about, like, the next gen skincare. So let's get into it. Why don't you take it away? And you tell us what's on the horizon? What's the future of skincare? Honestly, there's so. much and it's such an exciting field to watch and partaken. I think in terms of in office, some of the

biggest things that are going to be coming along is pairing lasers with things like exosomes and these sort of next level PRP products is what I like to think about because PRP are these beautiful growth factors that come from yourself. But if you have not as much growth factors because you're older or whatever, you're not going to have as good of a result. So next. Now we have sort of these hyper-driven exosome vesicles that have a ton of growth factors that have incredible impacts on our skin. And pairing that with a laser, you're just going to get more penetration. There's some more at-home exosome products coming out.

The issue with those is you really want to make sure that they did stability testing because they're very, very delicate vesicles and they will break down and then do nothing. What about like stem cells? Is that something that you've looked into at all? Yeah, so I think stem cells is also just starting, not just for skin, but all over the body and even the brain. It's very exciting. I personally am not as excited about them as exosomes just because the regulations on them are weird and they go in and out of whether they're allowed or not. And what you're getting from stem cells is just what they secrete out.

So they're not actually being implanted and then growing new skin, right? It's really the growth factor is that they are secreting out that improve your skin, which is what exosomes do. Got it. So it's easier to just go for the exosomes. Yeah. How do you feel about neurotoxins? I have to ask. I'm a fan.

Okay. Yeah, I do it. So what I like to do is do a strong laser, like a fractal, and then do Botox once to twice a year. And the lasers really help it so that I don't have to do. Botox all the time. Like last year, I think I did Botox once and it was fine. Yeah. Got it. What do you think about the people who experience negative reactions? Like there's a lot of different theories. I mean, I know what happened to me. For me, it triggered mass cell activation syndrome. So that's like what I'm dealing with. And then there are some people obviously who get like iatrogenic botulism to the

point where they're intubated. And you know, there's varying degrees of severity. Yeah. My guess would be is, especially if you had a mass cell activation, when you think about like total toxic burden, we're all sort of living with a bucket that for each individual activity or thing that we eat or do, we're sort of adding. And there gets to a point where it overflows and you can't control that. And then now you have really negative consequences. So if you're very worried about it, one, Zeman is supposed to be the least toxic. And two, get a total tox test. get a total tox test before and after and see if you have an increase in toxic burden load. And then you'll really know if it is affecting you in a certain way.

Or if you go to a new provider, maybe, you know, who knows? What's a total tox test? And where do you get one of those? There's a few. I think vital vitality has a good one. I'll remember that name. But it basically allows you to test for microplastics, nanoplastics, heavy metals, inflammatory markers like CRP, IL6. DNF Alpha, it's great to know how your day-to-day activities are affecting your immune system and your total talks load, although we live in L.A., so we're totally screwed. Yeah, we're totally talks all the time. I know that a study came out and said that I think our brains are like 0.05% plastic. Yeah. And is that the one that was the equivalent of like a plastic spoon or something?

Yeah, or a credit card. Oh, a credit card. I heard plastic spoon and I was like, ooh. Yeah, so the brain is not great at getting rid of toxic molecules. That's why you want to boost your lymphatic system as well as take spermidine. That's what spermating will help you with because it promotes autophagy. But in general, it's neurons don't divide anymore. So it's not like a skin cell where if something goes wrong, it'll die off and make a new one. You're kind of stuck with what you have. So that's why you get such a build up there because these cells aren't like dying and getting cleared out.

they have to be cleared out through autophagy. Okay, so that's why all of those things are so helpful. And if you're doing sauna and you're sweating some of these things out or you're doing lymphatic massage, you're peeing them out, whatever it is, does that prevent them sometimes from going to the brain? Is it just all circulating? I wouldn't, it's doubtful it prevents it from going to the brain. But then if you add in sleep on top of that, you're going to get good glymphatic drainage.

It's also, it's like a pipe system, right? So if you clear it out through your body, then it'll be. easier to clear it out through your brain because, you know, there's more fluid moving. Got it. Okay. Not good for me. I'm having issues clearing things out of body. Like, there's some blockages here that I need to work on. Are there any things that you absolutely would not do for either your longevity or your brain health? Mm. No. No? I mean, if there was something that wasn't actually going to help me and it was going to harm me, then no. But, yeah. I especially brain health that's the one thing that I want to hold on to the most so yeah I will work out six

a week I will go to sauna four times a week I will eat food that isn't as tasty to help my brain yeah so would you indulge in something that's like heavily processed if you're out with friends or something I mean are there certain or other things that are like absolutely on like your no go list ever I'm in honestly home products yeah beauty products things like that in terms of food I'm like very much like a 90-10 person. Like I love really good food. So especially if I'm traveling or something, I'm going to eat it. But for cleaning products, I am kind of a Nazi about that.

Like everything needs to be clean, especially because it gives me no pleasure to work with Clorox. Yeah. So there's literally no benefit. What do you like to use? I like method. It's relatively inexpensive or Heavenly Earth, I think, is the other one. What is the craziest thing you've ever done? for brain health?

Yeah. Or longevity. I did mushrooms, which is maybe on the crazier side. What was that like? I mean, it definitely depends on your dose, but you can have sort of experiences that you can get through meditation without practicing meditating. I do both. But so you can get some clarity on things that it would have taken me years to get clarity on. Yeah.

I know a lot of people who like microdose and absolutely love it. I'm like, oh, I missed so many things because I got sober 11 years ago. So I'm like, I missed the microdosing. I missed the white claws. I mean, we didn't talk about alcohol. Like, I don't think I really missed out on anything there. I probably saved my brain. Alcohol is just not good in any way, shape, or form, correct?

No, it's not. Which is unfortunate. I do like a martini from time to time. But, yeah, there's no way alcohol is good for you at all. You can tell. Even if you have one glass of wine, the next day you don't feel as good. Or if you check your orostats, you can immediately tell that it's not as good as if you didn't drink alcohol. It's just not good for you.

And if you treat it as such and then, you know, if you have an occasion or whatever and you want to drink, then great. But don't drink every day and, you know, try to limit it to occasions that are worth it. So the wine and there is verital, that's not. Oh, my God. They decided. The Resveratrol thing really bothers me. Really? Why? Because it's still being promoted as this longevity drug when there's zero evidence for it.

Not only were the foundational studies that show that it activates the CERT 2-1 receptor and then potentially influences epigenetic things that make you live longer, all of those were falsified. Then you have more studies that show in humans and in other animal models that it doesn't help with longevity at all. Any time that you saw sort of a positive effect from longevity, it was all. always like a really weird mouse model and all of the methodology was very messed up. And then you have this headline and you read the paper and it doesn't make any sense. And yeah, Resveratrol is total BS. Don't take it. That was sponsored by big wine. Because for a couple years, I feel like that was the thing. It was like, oh, great. Red wine. Resveratrol. Yeah.

So funny. Yeah. Well, yeah, there was also a scientist who started a company off that then was sued for like $40 million for that. No way. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Any other like egregious things that you see out there? I'm sure you see it a lot and you just shake your head. Maybe not egregious, but I don't believe fully in like the NAD, NMN stuff. Interesting. I personally have experienced energy from it. Have I noticed any change in labs? No. And I haven't seen any convincing studies that it impacts longevity. or it impacts key aspects of longevity, like heart health or brain health or gut health or something like that. The jury is still out, but there's been increasing amount of evidence and nothing has really shown me that this is amazing. The only thing that has started to shift my mind, I've talked to more clinicians, and they're like, no, my clients, like, really do experience XYZ.

Sometimes it's hard to know about placebo or. Yeah, but placebo is real, right? Placebo is real. I always say, I'll take something, we'll give me a placebo effect. Yeah. Yeah. It's the most reliable effect, actually. Yeah. It happens every time. I love it. I love the placebo effect. Well, thank you so much. That was so interesting. I feel like we could do so many parts to this, but you share so much of this information on your socials as well. So tell everybody where they can find you. Yeah, you can find me at Dr. K. Linker on both TikTok and Instagram. And, oh, I also just launched a female longevity supplement. It has collagen and spermidine and V. Complex. and I really worked on our night. I spent a lot of years formulating, so you guys should go check it out.

It's called Aonian. Everything in one? Amazing. It's like easy-peasy. Love it. Thank you so much. Thank you. I hope you enjoyed that episode.

If you liked the episode, and if you like the show in general, please take a second to rate, review, and subscribe. It goes such a long way in supporting the show. Follow the show over on Instagram at well.pod. You can also follow my personal. Instagram at Ariel Lori. I'm always sharing great clips from the episodes. And we also have full episodes on YouTube as well if you want to watch in entirety. Thanks for listening. Hi friends. I'm Cameron Rogers, mental health advocate, mom of two content creator and host of

conversations with camp. This podcast is dedicated to having honest conversations, prioritizing your well-being and reminding you that no matter what you're feeling, you are not alone. We'll discuss mental health maintenance, the ups and downs of motherhood, the trials and tribulations of life, and have a lot of fun along the way. Whether you're knee-deep in diapers or just trying to keep your sanity intact, this podcast is for you. Expect laughs, maybe a few tears,

and hopefully some breakthroughs along the way. Make sure to subscribe and tune in for new episodes of conversations with Cam every Wednesday morning. Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have

a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode. Auto-hue with sunny cars full as of The children not Mezai Kisel stramble

Sandworth Aptuze Verquire Vodews Viscan Gautis is But who Zorgloose

An auto-hurt Says No stress No No No No Noxx Noct Always full Ferect

So foeute Auto-Hur Sonderger Go to Your Reisadviseur Orsonicars combe Goe

Thank you.