Dr. S introduces a podcast series on longevity and interviews Dr. Jeffrey Gladden, a cardiologist-turned-longevity physician and founder of Gladden Longevity in Dallas. Gladden describes how, despite being told his labs were “normal for his age,” he experienced weight gain, fatigue, anxiety, brain fog, and depression in his 50s and felt conventional medicine offered only sick care. After a two-and-a-half-year functional and integrative medicine deep dive, he identified subclinical hypothyroidism, genetic thyroid conversion issues, hormonal depletion, and neurotransmitter challenges, and found targeted therapies plus meditation helped him recover. He explains aging is biologically exponential and outlines his five-circle systems approach—life energy (psychospiritual), longevity (hallmarks of aging), health, performance, and environments—guided by questions like “How good can I be?” and “How do we live young for a lifetime?”

00:00 Longevity Everywhere
01:58 Meet Dr Jeff Gladden
04:07 Cardiology Wake Up Call
06:37 When Aging Accelerates
08:05 Functional Medicine Breakthrough
12:00 Leaving Conventional Medicine
12:51 Courage Purpose Identity
17:16 Spiritual Roots And Psychedelics
20:27 Love Creates Joy
22:48 Five Circles Longevity System
27:28 How Good Can I Be
28:23 Part Two Teaser

Connect with Dr Safia Debar

Dr Safia Debar
Speaker / Coach | Medical Doctor | Breathwork Facilitator

One of Tatler's "Top 21 private doctors in Britain" 2020
www.drsafiadebar.com
contact@drsafiadebar.com
IG: @drsafiadebar
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Dr. Safia Debar closes the “When Science Met Soul” series by highlighting the shared conclusion across 5,000 years of clinical observation: the body has innate intelligence and moves toward health when its rhythms, nourishment, relationships, and spiritual connection are supported, a principle mirrored in modern concepts like homeostasis, polyvagal theory, psychoneuroimmunology, gut-brain axis, and circadian biology. She briefly introduces Japanese shinrin-yoku (forest bathing) with evidence for reduced cortisol and improved immune markers via phytoncides; Native American healing as a biopsychosocial-spiritual “medicine wheel” including dawn-greeting practices aligned with cortisol rhythms; and Amazonian curanderismo as ecological, relational medicine, noting modern psilocybin trials while not advocating use. She synthesizes the convergence into eight actionable steps: midday largest meal, pre-sleep breathwork, morning light/dawn practice, gut foundations, weekly green-space immersion, one fully present conversation, adding prophetic foods (e.g., black seed, honey, olive oil), and asking what blocks recovery before adding interventions, then previews a forthcoming longevity series.

00:00 Series Wrap Up
03:32 Forest Bathing Science
07:14 Native Healing Balance
09:28 Amazonian Curanderismo
14:46 All Traditions Converge
18:49 Return To Design
20:59 Eight Practical Practices
28:59 Why Medicine Split
32:05 Next Series Longevity
33:15 Final Invitation

Connect with Dr Safia Debar

Dr Safia Debar
Speaker / Coach | Medical Doctor | Breathwork Facilitator

One of Tatler's "Top 21 private doctors in Britain" 2020
www.drsafiadebar.com
contact@drsafiadebar.com
IG: @drsafiadebar
Tiktok: drsafiadebar

Find our free resources here: www.drsafiadebar.com/resource

Dr. Safia Debar continues “When Science Met Soul” by highlighting African traditional medicine through the story of Charles Stevens, who recovered from tuberculosis in the late 1800s using a South African healer’s plant remedy later identified as Pelargonium sidoides (African geranium), now supported by clinical trials, a Cochrane review, and UK studies for bronchitis as an antibiotic alternative. She argues African healing is the oldest yet most under-researched tradition, disrupted by colonialism’s dismantling of oral knowledge, despite widespread reliance on traditional medicine and WHO support for integration. Central is Ubuntu—“a person is a person through other persons”—presented as a clinical model of relational health, aligned with WHO 2024 findings on loneliness and research on social connection and polyvagal regulation. She also reviews evidence on rooibos and devil’s claw, and offers practical “prescriptions”: audit real co-regulating relationships, consider African geranium for respiratory infections, and mindfully drink rooibos.

00:00 Stevens TB Remedy
03:37 Why Africa Ignored
07:42 Ubuntu Explained
11:04 Connection Science
14:33 Polyvagal Meets Ubuntu
17:38 Medicinal Plants Evidence
21:51 Why Research Lags
23:34 Three Part Prescription
26:50 Series Wrap Up
29:05 Final Takeaway

Connect with Dr Safia Debar

Dr Safia Debar
Speaker / Coach | Medical Doctor | Breathwork Facilitator

One of Tatler's "Top 21 private doctors in Britain" 2020
www.drsafiadebar.com
contact@drsafiadebar.com
IG: @drsafiadebar
Tiktok: drsafiadebar

Find our free resources here: www.drsafiadebar.com/resource