Extend Podcast with Darshan Shah, MD

A lot of people are trying to do the right things. They are learning more, tracking their health, working on their stress, trying to be more present, and using the tools they have been told should help. But if the advice is available, the science is clearer than ever, and the tools are right in front of us, why do so many people still feel overwhelmed, burned out, disconnected, or unable to make those changes stick?
In this episode of Extend, I sit down with Dr. Dave Rabin to talk about one of the biggest missing pieces in how we understand stress, healing, and what it actually takes to feel better in the modern world. We get into the questions so many people are quietly carrying: why being human feels harder than it should, why knowing what to do does not always mean your body can follow through, and what it may take to finally turn information into something your body can actually use.
What's Discussed:

(04:28) What Dr. Rabin realized Western medicine left out of his training.
(07:01) Why trauma may be understood differently when viewed through the lens of learning.
(13:42) What parents need to know about screens, discomfort, and regulation.
(21:54) Why stillness is so difficult for many people today.
(27:44) How productivity became tied to worth, and what the body loses when recovery is ignored.
(33:25) Why emotional wounds can be harder to address when they are invisible.
(45:47) Why connection and community may matter more to longevity than many people realize.
Next Health Longevity Summit: Head to next-health.com/summit to secure your spot at the first ever Next Health Logevity Summit in Nashville on 9/12.
Thank You to Our Sponsors:
Timeline: Timeline powered by Mitopure just dropped the price. Check it out at timeline.com/drshah and get an additional 20% off your first month with code DRSHAH.
IM8: Try IM8 today with a 30-day money back guarantee. You can get 10% off your first order with code DRSHAH at im8health.com/discount/DRSHAH
Learn more about Dr. Darshan Shah:
Website: drshah.com

Clinic: next-health.com
Instagram: darshanshahmd 
Learn more about Dr. Dave Rabin:
Website: drdave.io

Instagram: @drdavidrabin

The Board of Medicine: boardofmedicine.org

The Psychedelic Report podcast:  podcast/the-psychedelic-report/
Dr. Rabin's new book: ASimpleGuideToBeingAlive.com

When your body feels wired, depleted, foggy, inflamed, or slow to recover, the usual instinct is to add something else. Another supplement. Another device. Another protocol. But the body does not respond to tools just because they are available. It responds to the signals it is receiving, and if those signals keep telling the body it is under threat, it will keep prioritizing survival over repair.
In this episode of Extend with Dr. Shah, I sit down with Brian Le Gette, the creator of the Ammortal Chamber to talk about it after personally experiencing it and feeling the difference in my body for days afterward. Brian breaks down the technology behind that experience, why it felt so different, and how the chamber works with the body, mind, nervous system, and cells at the same time. We also get into why many of the same principles behind the chamber are not as far out of reach as people may think, and what you can start applying at home if you want to give your body better recovery signals.
Brian Le Gette is the creator of the Ammortal Chamber. With a background in industrial design, engineering, entrepreneurship, and health technology, he has spent decades building products and companies before creating a multi-modality experience focused on recovery, nervous system regulation, cellular support, performance, and human vibrancy.
What's Discussed:
(02:11) What the Ammortal Chamber is and why it works on more than one system in the body.
(05:17) The calm, grounded, and energized feeling many people experience after a session.
(09:42) The technology working behind the scenes during the chamber experience.
(12:30) Why the body's stress state can affect healing, recovery, and performance.
(18:00) The simple reset Brian recommends for people who do not have access to the chamber.
(21:18) Why HRV may become one of the most important ways to understand nervous system balance.
(37:34) The deeper science behind cellular recovery, oxidative stress, and the chamber's approach.
Listen now to learn what happened inside the Ammortal Chamber, why the effects lasted beyond the session, and what recovery signals your body may be missing in everyday life.
Thank You to Our Sponsors:

Momentous: Head to livemomentous.com/fiber and use code DRSHAH for up to 35% off your first order. 
 
Learn more about Dr. Darshan Shah:
Website: drshah.com
Clinic: next-health.com
Instagram: darshanshahmd 
Learn more about Brian Le Gette: 
Instagram: @brian.legette 
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/brian-le-gette

Modern life tells us that more freedom should make us happier. More independence, more control, more convenience, more space to do life on our own terms. But what if the thing we keep chasing is also the thing quietly pulling us away from what our brain and body still need most: connection.
In this episode of Extend, I sit down with Dr. William Von Hippel to talk about the conflict between two of our most basic human motives: connection and autonomy. We get into why connection used to be built into survival, why autonomy used to be rare, and why modern life has flipped that balance in a way that can leave people feeling lonely, empty, or disconnected even when they seem to "have everything." We also talk about why loneliness is not just an emotion, how it can affect the immune system, and how to build connection back into everyday routines without overcomplicating your life.
Dr. William Von Hippel is an evolutionary psychologist, researcher at WHOOP, and the author of The Social Paradox and The Social Leap. After three decades as a psychology professor in the United States and Australia, he has published more than 150 academic articles, with work cited over 15,000 times and featured in outlets including The New York Times, The Economist, USA Today, Der Spiegel, and The Australian.
What's Discussed:
(02:23) What hunter-gatherer life reveals about how humans evolved to survive through connection.
(12:34) Why modern life has created evolutionary mismatches our biology has not caught up with.
(16:02) The conflict between connection and autonomy, and why both needs matter.
(18:39) Why more people are living alone and spending more time disconnected than ever before.
(23:08) Why even introverts still need meaningful human connection.
(31:23) Why loneliness is not the same as being alone, and why the body can read disconnection as danger.
(36:11) How emotions can affect immune function and physical health.
(39:34) How to build connection into the things you already do instead of adding more to your schedule.
Listen to this episode of Extend to understand why having more freedom does not always create more happiness, and why rebuilding connection into daily life may be one of the most important things you can do for your health, relationships, and sense of meaning.
Thank you to our sponsors: 
Momentous: Head to livemomentous.com/fiber and use code DRSHAH for up to 35% off your first order. 
IM8: Try IM8 today with a 30-day money back guarantee. You can get 10% off your first order with code DRSHAH at im8health.com/discount/DRSHAH. 
Learn more about Dr. Darshan Shah:
Website: drshah.com
Clinic: next-health.com
Instagram: darshanshahmd 
Learn more about Dr. William Von Hippel
Website: researchwithimpact.com/

Sleep debt is usually treated like a personal problem. You sleep less, feel tired, and try to catch up later. But Dr. Kristen Holmes explains why that belief is too small. When your body is missing the sleep it actually needs, it can affect your mental control, emotional regulation, leadership, and even how safe the people around you feel in your presence.
In this episode of Extend, I sit down with Dr. Kristen Holmes to talk about recovery in a way that goes far beyond "just sleep more." We get into why sleep debt is the gap between what your body needs and what you actually got, why a good night of sleep starts the moment you wake up, and how morning light, sleep consistency, bright days, dark nights, meal timing, stress reframing, breathwork, and outdoor time all shape how well your body restores.
Dr. Kristen Holmes is a human performance and recovery expert at WHOOP and the author of Aligned: The Data-driven Guide to Performance, Recovery, and Human Potential. Her work connects physiology and psychology to help people understand how sleep, circadian rhythm, stress, movement, mindset, and nervous system regulation influence performance, health, leadership, and long-term resilience.
What's Discussed:
(02:27) Why sleep debt is not just about how many hours you missed.
(03:45) How 45 minutes of sleep debt can reduce mental control the next day.
(05:31) Why your sleep debt can affect how safe people feel around you.
(08:08) What sleep quality really means beyond just being asleep.
(10:33) Why better sleep starts the moment you wake up.
(14:10) How morning light helps set the clocks in your body.
(19:16) Why melatonin matters for more than falling asleep.
(22:01) How bright days, dark nights, breathing, and outdoor time support recovery.
Listen to this episode of Extend to understand why recovery is not just something you do at night, and how fixing sleep debt can help you think clearer, regulate better, lead better, and show up more fully for the people around you.
Thank You to Our Sponsors: 
Momentous: Head to livemomentous.com/fiber and use code DRSHAH for up to 35% off your first order. 
IM8: Try IM8 today with a 30-day money back guarantee. You can get 10% off your first order with code DRSHAH at im8health.com/discount/DRSHAH
 
Learn more about Dr. Darshan Shah:
Website: drshah.com
Clinic: next-health.com
Instagram: darshanshahmd 
 
Learn more about Dr. Kristen Holmes
Instagram: @drkristenholmes
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kristen-holmes

Hormone symptoms are usually treated like a problem with levels. Progesterone is low. Estrogen is shifting. Cortisol is high. Testosterone is dropping. So the conversation often becomes about what to replace, what to supplement, or what protocol to follow. But there is a deeper layer that rarely gets brought into the room: the body is also responding to the stress, grief, resentment, trauma, people-pleasing, perfectionism, and survival patterns it has been carrying for years.
In this episode of Extend, I sit down with Dr. Sonya Jensen to talk about the connection between mental health and hormonal health. We get into why anxiety can suddenly feel louder in perimenopause, why rage may be years of suppressed resentment asking to be expressed, why grief is not always about losing a person, and why some women still feel stuck even after doing the nutrition, supplements, herbs, or hormone therapy. The aha moment here is that hormones may not be creating a brand-new problem. They may be revealing what the body has been trying to manage in silence.
Dr. Sonya Jensen is a naturopathic physician, international speaker, author of Heal Your Hormones, Reclaim Yourself, and founder of the HER Method and HER Community. Her work brings together naturopathic medicine, hormone therapy, herbs, nutrition, trauma-informed healing, ancestral healing, longevity medicine, and nervous system support to help women understand the emotional and generational patterns behind hormonal imbalance.
What's Discussed:
(02:11) Why hormone imbalance is not only a chemistry issue.
(03:11) Why women can still feel stuck after doing "all the right things."
(05:45) How shifting hormones can reveal emotions that were easier to manage before.
(06:32) Why anxiety can become the symptom women finally cannot ignore.
(09:09) How stress can show up as isolation, tension, gut issues, and insomnia.
(13:03) Why perimenopause rage may be suppressed resentment coming up.
(15:07) How grief in midlife can be tied to identity, motherhood, aging, and transition.
(30:32) Why hormone therapy can help, but it cannot replace the deeper emotional work.
Listen to this episode of Extend to understand how hormones, stress, trauma, grief, and the nervous system are connected, and why healing may require looking at the patterns the body has been holding long before symptoms showed up.
Thank You to Our Sponsors:
Function Health: Learn more and join using my link. Visit functionhealth.com/drshah and use gift code DRSHAH25 for a $25 credit toward your membership. 
Learn more about Dr. Darshan Shah:
Website: drshah.com
Clinic: next-health.com
Instagram: darshanshahmd 
Learn more about Dr. Sonya Jensen: 
Book - Heal Your Hormones, Reclaim Yourself: healyourhormonesbook.com 
Website: drsonyajensen.com 
Instagram: @drsonyajensen