Degrees of Health

What actually matters when it comes to improving metabolic health, losing weight, or the diet you use to lose it?In this episode of Degrees of Health, Ben sits down with Dr Max Petersen to unpack his research comparing three very different diets: a true ketogenic diet, a Mediterranean diet, and a very low-fat plant-forward diet. The study was designed to answer a fascinating question: if people lose the same amount of weight, do different diets produce different effects on metabolic health? Max explains how the study controlled weight loss by providing participants with all of their food, allowing the researchers to compare the diets while keeping weight loss broadly the same. Participants achieved around 10% weight loss, with more than 95% adherence to the provided diets.The results were particularly interesting for insulin sensitivity.All three diets produced roughly a 50% improvement in skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity. But the ketogenic diet produced a much greater improvement in liver insulin sensitivity — around two to three times greater than the other two diets.We dig into what that actually means, why muscle and liver insulin sensitivity are different, and how the body handles glucose after a meal.Ben and Max also explore the role of ketones, whether the benefits of the ketogenic diet can actually be attributed to ketosis itself, and why Max thinks the dramatic reduction in insulin levels may be more important than ketones acting as signalling molecules.The conversation also covers one of the more surprising findings from the study: the ketogenic group did not experience the expected rise in LDL cholesterol. Max explains why metabolic context may be an important factor when looking at how people respond to different diets.We also get into:Calories in vs calories outWhy energy balance is more complicated than it soundsKeto vs Mediterranean vs very low-fat dietsWhat insulin sensitivity actually tells us about metabolic healthThe difference between liver and muscle insulin sensitivityWhy exercise can increase glucose uptake independently of insulinWhat ketones actually do in the bodyWhether ketosis itself is responsible for the benefits of a ketogenic dietThe importance of metabolic contextWhy a true ketogenic diet is different from simply eating low carbWhether protein could explain some of the differences between dietsWhat Max would study nextThe potential role of GLP-1 medicines in metabolic healthImportantly, Max also explains why these findings shouldn't simply be turned into a recommendation that everyone should follow a ketogenic diet. The study looked specifically at people with obesity, insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunction, and he emphasises that the effects of diet can depend heavily on the metabolic context and the individual.A fascinating conversation about nutrition science, metabolic health and why the answer to “which diet is best?” may be far more complicated than we think.Subscribe to Degrees of Health for more conversations with researchers, scientists and health experts exploring what the evidence actually tells us.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------🌈 Exploring the benefits of red and infra light therapy? Our community receive 10% off the FlexBeam from Recharge Health via this link: ⬇️ https://rechargehealthas.sjv.io/DyJ3mn (learn more about the benefits of healing with light in our 'Light as Medicine' Playlist). 🤝 Join the community - by subscribing, you are self-selecting as a health nerd. We like you. We applaud you. You are shaping the future of health information in real time. As a thank you, we pledge to bring you the best we can, where we are, with the tools we have.

What if you didn’t need a full workout to get meaningful health benefits from exercise?In this episode of Degrees of Health, Ben sits down with Professor Jonathan Little to explore the science behind exercise snacks short bursts of vigorous exercise that can be sprinkled throughout your day.Jonathan explains where the idea came from, what the research actually shows, and whether a few minutes of exercise here and there can really make a difference to fitness, blood sugar and metabolic health.We get into what counts as an exercise snack, why intensity matters, how exercise snacks could help people who are currently inactive, and whether they can be useful alongside a more traditional training programme. We also talk about the best time to exercise if you're trying to improve glucose control, including why exercising 30–60 minutes after a meal may be particularly useful. Jonathan shares some of the most practical exercise snacks from his research, from high-knee marching and running on the spot to squats and stair climbing. But there’s still a lot we don't know.How much exercise is actually enough?Does one minute work as well as two or four?Can exercise snacks meaningfully add to an existing training programme?And what are the mechanisms inside the muscle that explain the benefits?Jonathan also explains why the research is still in its early stages and why properly understanding the dose-response relationship could be the next big step for the field.In this episode:* What exactly is an “exercise snack”?* Can short bursts of exercise improve VO₂ max?* The effects on glucose control and insulin sensitivity* Why going from nothing to something may have the biggest impact* How vigorous does an exercise snack need to be?* The best exercises to use* Why exercising after meals could help blood glucose* Exercise snacks for people who already train* Whether exercise snacks can complement HIIT and endurance training* What we still don't know about the ideal dose* The future of exercise snack research.If you spend most of your day sitting at a desk but still want to move more, this is a fascinating look at how small changes could fit into everyday life without necessarily feeling like another workout.Subscribe to Degrees of Health for more conversations with researchers, scientists and health experts exploring what the evidence actually tells us.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------🌈 Exploring the benefits of red and infra light therapy? Our community receive 10% off the FlexBeam from Recharge Health via this link: ⬇️ https://rechargehealthas.sjv.io/DyJ3mn (learn more about the benefits of healing with light in our 'Light as Medicine' Playlist). 🤝 Join the community - by subscribing, you are self-selecting as a health nerd. We like you. We applaud you. You are shaping the future of health information in real time. As a thank you, we pledge to bring you the best we can, where we are, with the tools we have.

What actually happens in your brain while you sleep and how does it change what you remember?On this episode of Degrees of Health, Ben sits down with sleep researcher Dr Rebecca Spencer to explore how sleep shapes learning, memory and our everyday performance. Rebecca explains how the brain processes and organises information overnight, why the sleep stages matter, and why pulling an all-nighter might be working against the very thing you’re trying to learn. We also get into the fascinating role of naps, from why they’re so important for children to how adults might use them to support memory, plus the connection between sleep, circadian rhythms and athletic performance. And, as Rebecca makes clear, despite how much we all sleep, there’s still a huge amount we don’t understand. In this episode, we cover * How sleep helps preserve and organise memories * What the brain is doing while we sleep * Why reviewing information before bed may give it a boost * Why naps matter, and how timing and duration can make a difference * How sleep supports learning in children and adults * The relationship between sleep, circadian rhythms and performance * What sleep science still needs to figure out. If you’re interested in learning more effectively, improving your routines, or simply understanding what your brain is up to at night, this one’s for you. Chapters Introduction to Rebecca Spencer and her research How sleep influences learning and memory The role of sleep in preserving and organising memories Different stages of sleep and their functions Multitasking during sleep and wakefulness The impact of reviewing information before sleep The importance of naps for children and adults Timing and duration of naps for cognitive benefits How sleep research influences athletic performance Living in sync with circadian rhythms Future research directions in sleep science Surprising facts about how little we understand sleep 📚 Find out more about Rebecca’s research: The Sleep and Neuro Lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst shares its research and publications on its lab website. Subscribe to Degrees of Health for more conversations with researchers and experts exploring how we can better understand our health. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------🌈 Exploring the benefits of red and infra light therapy? Our community receive 10% off the FlexBeam from Recharge Health via this link: ⬇️ https://rechargehealthas.sjv.io/DyJ3mn (learn more about the benefits of healing with light in our 'Light as Medicine' Playlist). 🤝 Join the community - by subscribing, you are self-selecting as a health nerd. We like you. We applaud you. You are shaping the future of health information in real time. As a thank you, we pledge to bring you the best we can, where we are, with the tools we have. #Sleep #Learning #Memory #SleepScience #CircadianRhythm #DegreesOfHealth #RebeccaSpencer

What happens to your brain when you miss a night of sleep and could creatine help keep it sharp? In this episode, Dr. Ali Gorgi discusses his research on creatine, sleep deprivation, and cognitive performance, revealing how creatine can mitigate cognitive decline under stress and the potential for future studies in neurodegenerative diseases. Dr Ali Gorgi explores the science behind creatine, sleep deprivation and cognitive performance. We dive into how creatine works in the brain, what happens when you’re running on little sleep, and whether it could help support your thinking when you’re feeling tired. We also unpack the research, what it can tell us, and what we still need to understand. If you’re curious about the connection between sleep, brain energy and cognitive performance, this episode is for you. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Dr. Ali Gorgi and the study on creatine 02:05 Background on creatine's role in cognition and sports 03:52 Main findings: creatine improves reaction time and short-term memory during sleep deprivation 05:53 How sleep deprivation affects brain energy and creatine's role 07:57 The process of creatine uptake in the brain and muscles 10:06 Effects of stress on creatine transport and metabolism 12:03 Individual variability in response to creatine supplementation 13:56 Optimal dosing strategies and future research directions 16:05 Potential applications for neurodegenerative diseases and brain health 17:56 The form of creatine and combining it with other compounds 19:54 Next steps in creatine research and ongoing studies In this episode: * How creatine works in the body and brain * What sleep deprivation can do to cognitive performance * The potential role of creatine when you haven’t had enough sleep * What the research says about creatine and brain function * What we still don’t know about creatine and cognition. Subscribe to Degrees of Health for more conversations exploring the science behind health, performance and the human body.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 🌈 Exploring the benefits of red and infra light therapy? Our community receive 10% off the FlexBeam from Recharge Health via this link: ⬇️ https://rechargehealthas.sjv.io/DyJ3mn (learn more about the benefits of healing with light in our 'Light as Medicine' Playlist). 🤝 Join the community - by subscribing, you are self-selecting as a health nerd. We like you. We applaud you. You are shaping the future of health information in real time. As a thank you, we pledge to bring you the best we can, where we are, with the tools we have. #Psychology #Learning #Curiosity #AI #CognitiveScience #Education #DegreesOfHealth

What makes us ask why? And what actually happens in our brains when we try to understand something?In this episode of Degrees of Health, Ben Hopkins sits down with psychologist and cognitive scientist Dr. Tania Lombrozo to explore the science of explanation, curiosity and how we make sense of the world.We get into why explaining something can be one of the most effective ways to learn it, how our brains can convince us we understand something when we don’t, and why the explanations we find satisfying aren’t always the ones that are true.Tania also explains how our drive to understand is shaped by language, social interactions and the different ways we learn. We discuss why reasoning by analogy can be so powerful (and where it can go wrong), and how different learning systems can sometimes leave us holding contradictory beliefs.One of the most interesting parts of the conversation is what happens when AI enters the picture. As large language models become increasingly good at explaining things, what happens if we start outsourcing the very thinking that helps us learn? And could making learning easier actually make us worse at it?We also get into desirable difficulties, why putting more effort into learning can help information stick, and Tania’s advice for making your own learning process more effective.Plus, Tania shares what has surprised her most about human behaviour, and why we might be better off giving people a little more credit for the way they think.Her new book, Why We Ask Why: The Science of Explanation and the Human Drive to Understand, is out on October 6th.Chapters00:00 Introduction to the human drive to ask why02:19 Carl Rogers, the self and cognitive dissonance04:23 Language, communication and why we explain06:35 Curiosity in animals and humans09:10 Why explaining something helps us learn11:54 Explanatory illusions and cognitive biases13:10 Are humans really rational?14:58 The evolution of explanation and social cognition17:07 Why we explain things for different reasons18:05 How humans learn and the power of explanation19:54 Why we can hold contradictory beliefs21:38 Learning by thinking24:20 The feedback loop between explanation and learning27:01 AI, large language models and the future of explanation29:18 Could AI change how we understand the world?31:37 Desirable difficulties and effective learning34:37 Why learning needs a little friction36:41 Are humans more rational than we think?37:02 What has surprised Tania most about human behaviour?38:41 Tania’s new book and final thoughts📚 Tania’s book: Why We Ask Why: The Science of Explanation and the Human Drive to Understand — out October 6th.Find out more about Tania’s research and work at tanyalombrozo.com or whyweaskwhy.com.Subscribe to Degrees of Health for more conversations with researchers, scientists and thinkers exploring the questions that help us better understand ourselves and the world around us.#Psychology #Learning #Curiosity #AI #CognitiveScience #Education #DegreesOfHealth

Does more coffee actually make you perform better, or does it just make you feel more switched on?In this episode of Degrees of Health, Ben Hopkins chats to Dr. Sedat Arslan about his new study looking at caffeine, L-theanine and breathing in professional esports players.They get into whether adding L-theanine to caffeine can improve reaction time, why slow breathing produced a surprisingly similar result, and what this might mean for anyone trying to focus better.From gaming to studying, work and even getting ready for a podcast, the conversation explores why being more stimulated isn't always the same as performing better.In this episode:Caffeine and the difference between feeling alert and actually performing betterWhat happened when L-theanine was added to caffeineWhy breathing produced such an interesting resultWhether the findings could apply beyond esportsThe limitations of the study and what comes nextA few practical ideas for improving focus without just drinking more coffeeA really interesting conversation about finding that sweet spot between being switched on and staying calm.ChaptersIntroduction to the study and guestBackground of Dr. Arslan and research focusWhy esports and caffeine? Understanding the contextCombining caffeine with L-theanine and breathingStudy design and participant detailsEffects of caffeine alone on reaction timeImpact of L-theanine and diaphragmatic breathingResults of breathing intervention and practical implicationsIndividual variability and future directionsHow breathing influences cognitive performancePractical takeaways and broader applicationsFind Dr. Sedat Arslan:Website: sedatarslan.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/docdrsedatarslan/If you enjoyed the episode, subscribe to Degrees of Health and let us know in the comments: Do you find that slowing down actually helps you focus?#DegreesOfHealth #Caffeine #LTheanine #Focus #CognitivePerformance #EsportsNutrition #Breathing #HealthPodcast-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------🌈 Exploring the benefits of red and infra light therapy? Our community receive 10% off the FlexBeam from Recharge Health via this link: ⬇️https://rechargehealthas.sjv.io/DyJ3mn (learn more about the benefits of healing with light in our 'Light as Medicine' Playlist).🤝 Join the community - by subscribing, you are self-selecting as a health nerd. We like you. We applaud you. You are shaping the future of health information in real time. As a thank you, we pledge to bring you the best we can, where we are, with the tools we have.

We've traced the metabolic roots of cancer, kidney disease and Alzheimer's on this show. Keep going down that rabbit hole, and you arrive somewhere most people have never heard of: metabolic psychiatry.Dr Bret Scher spent over twenty years as a cardiologist before the revolving door of patients who weren't getting better sent him looking for what conventional medicine was missing. He now leads Metabolic Mind at the Baszucki Group, funding and connecting the researchers building the evidence base for ketogenic therapy in serious mental illness.He and Ben get into where this field actually came from: epilepsy, then a string of accidental discoveries where people went keto for weight loss and watched decades of psychiatric symptoms lift. They cover what ketosis does to GABA and glutamate, why depressed brains show reduced glucose uptake but can still burn ketones, the "brain energy mismatch" theory, what GLP-1s reveal about metabolic root causes, and the trials landing over the next few years. Dr Scher is careful throughout about where the evidence is strong and where it's still case reports and theory.MILESTONE MOMENTS⚡ 03:51 — A woman in her seventies with decades of psychosis went on a ketogenic diet to lose weight. Her schizophrenia symptoms disappeared. Nobody was treating her psychiatric illness.⚡ ~04:50 — Researcher Dr Ian Campbell, who lives with bipolar depression: "If I'm going to be depressed, I don't want to be fat and depressed." Then the depression lifted too.⚡ 07:27 — The way in for sceptical doctors: people with serious mental illness die prematurely from metabolic disease. You'd want to treat that anyway.⚡ 10:07 — "If it was just serotonin, SSRIs would be phenomenal at putting depression into remission. And they're not. We have to be honest."⚡ 12:46 — Imaging shows reduced glucose utilisation in major depression and serious mental illness. But those same brains can still use ketones.⚡ 14:49 — Pregnancy, infection, autoimmune disease — any surge in energy demand can tip an already marginal system over the edge.⚡ 20:52 — Why GLP-1s improve cardiovascular outcomes and PCOS symptoms: not the arteries, the underlying metabolic health. Two doors to the same house.⚡ 22:46 — "You think that patient who's had intractable epilepsy and is now seizure-free cares what the mechanism is?"⚡ 30:40 — Continuous ketone monitors just got approved. Checking once a day tells you almost nothing about how ketones track with mood. ⚡ 41:05 — What has surprised him most in twenty years of medicine, and it isn't the science.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------🌈 Exploring the benefits of red and infra light therapy? Our community receive 10% off the FlexBeam from Recharge Health via this link: ⬇️https://rechargehealthas.sjv.io/DyJ3mn (learn more about the benefits of healing with light in our 'Light as Medicine' Playlist).🤝 Join the community - by subscribing, you are self-selecting as a health nerd. We like you. We applaud you. You are shaping the future of health information in real time. As a thank you, we pledge to bring you the best we can, where we are, with the tools we have.

Part one with Dr Martin Moore-Ede passed half a million views, so he's back with the revised edition of The Light Doctor, and this time the conversation goes beyond the visible spectrum entirely.Dr Moore-Ede led the Harvard team that located the human body's master circadian clock. In this episode, he makes the case that the light entering your eyes matters as much to your health as the food you eat, the water you drink and the air you breathe and that modern LED lighting has quietly stripped out most of the spectrum our biology evolved to expect.Ben and Martin cover the ultraviolet and near-infrared wavelengths missing from the first edition, why melatonin isn't a sleep hormone, how infrared light fuels your mitochondria, the deep violet wavelength linked to childhood myopia (and blocked by your own windows), and why the lighting design industry has been so slow to catch up.MILESTONE MOMENTS⚡ 08:32 — Point a spectrophotometer at daylight and you get the full rainbow, evenly balanced. Point it at your living room and you get a blue spike and a yellow-green hump. Nothing else.⚡ ~15:20 — The 20-year-old study almost nobody talks about: blood drawn from women in darkness suppresses human tumour growth in rats. Blood drawn from women under light at night doesn't.⚡ 17:03 — Ben shares his mother's cancer journey, stage four to all clear, and the role light hygiene played in her protocol.⚡ ~21:00 — Circadian lighting in elderly care homes: better memory, better sleep, and around 40% fewer falls.⚡ ~25:30 — Add a single incandescent desk lamp to a windowless basement office and people's colour vision measurably improves.⚡ ~26:40 — We've had infrared in our evenings for half a million years, from fire and candlelight. Then we banned the bulbs that provided it.⚡ ~36:30 — Deep violet light at 380nm appears to protect against myopia — and energy-efficient window glass filters it out.⚡ 32:20 — How healthy lighting actually got adopted: skip the lighting designers, go to the people managing the workforce. 65 Fortune 500 companies followed.CHAPTERS00:00 — Welcome back: half a million views on Part One01:44 — Why a revised edition? The science that moved04:23 — The problem: what your eyes see vs what your body detects08:32 — Sunlight vs your living room, measured10:43 — Melatonin explained (and why it's not a sleep hormone)15:20 — Light at night, melatonin and cancer: the evidence17:03 — Ben's mother's cancer journey and the light protocol17:50 — Blindness, breast cancer risk and the "light diet"19:37 — Is modern oncology overlooking the light environment?21:00 — Hospitals, ICUs, care homes and circadian lighting trials23:30 — Near-infrared and your mitochondria25:30 — The incandescent bulb experiment at UCL27:31 — Are we solar-powered? Educating policy makers28:19 — Why lighting designers are the bottleneck30:33 — What will the inflection point be?30:59 — Red light panels vs healthy ambient light32:56 — Making the economic case for circadian lighting34:51 — Green light: migraines, pain and calm35:36 — Yellow, and then deep violet36:30 — Violet light, myopia and why windows block it38:10 — Could doctors prescribe light instead of drugs?40:15 — Light, mood, ADHD and children's classrooms41:55 — Designing buildings for dynamic light44:39 — Where the next breakthroughs will come from46:07 — Where to find the bookLINKS📕 The Light Doctor (revised edition) — thelightdoctor.comAvailable now in the UK, US and Canada. Ebook September, audiobook October.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------🌈 Exploring the benefits of red and infra light therapy? Our community receive 10% off the FlexBeam from Recharge Health via this link: ⬇️https://rechargehealthas.sjv.io/DyJ3mn (learn more about the benefits of healing with light in our 'Light as Medicine' Playlist).

What if one of the biggest clues to Alzheimer’s disease lies inside our mitochondria?In this episode of Degrees of Health, Ben Hopkins is joined by Dr. Russell Swerdlow to explore the mitochondrial cascade hypothesis of Alzheimer’s — and why mitochondrial dysfunction could be playing a much bigger role in the disease than we once thought.Russell talks through the research that led him to this hypothesis, including his early cybrid experiments, which found that mitochondrial DNA from Alzheimer’s patients could transfer reduced cytochrome oxidase activity into cell models. From there, the research uncovered a number of other changes, including increased oxidative stress, abnormal mitochondria, problems with calcium handling and changes in APP biology.The conversation then gets into the metabolic side of Alzheimer’s. Why does the brain become less able to use glucose? What does “type 3 diabetes” actually mean? And why might mitochondrial dysfunction sit upstream of some of these changes?They also discuss ketones, redox balance and the importance of keeping the brain’s “carbon rivers” flowing — and why targeting mitochondrial function could potentially be a more upstream approach than simply targeting amyloid plaques.Russell also shares his thoughts on exercise, lifestyle and where future treatments could come from, including the possibility of using what we learn from lifestyle interventions to develop new pharmaceutical approaches.And ultimately, there’s a much bigger question: could solving Alzheimer’s mean solving brain ageing itself?-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------🌈 Exploring the benefits of red and infra light therapy? Our community receive 10% off the FlexBeam from Recharge Health via this link: ⬇️https://rechargehealthas.sjv.io/DyJ3mn (learn more about the benefits of healing with light in our 'Light as Medicine' Playlist).🤝 Join the community - by subscribing, you are self-selecting as a health nerd. We like you. We applaud you. You are shaping in real time the future of health information. As a thank you, we pledge to bring you the best we can, where we are, with the tools we have.🎧 Listen to us on-the-go! Available wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. New episode every Wednesday!