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

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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

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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

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Dr. Safia Debar continues her “When Science Met Soul” series with a tour of two coexisting medical traditions: Ibn Sina (Avicenna)’s empirically grounded Canon of Medicine (1025 CE) and Tibb an-Nabawi (prophetic medicine) rooted in revelation and prophetic example. She explains how the five-volume Canon shaped European medical education for about 600 years, highlights Ibn Sina’s evidence-based method, personalized constitutional medicine (mijaz), early ideas resembling germ theory and quarantine, and detailed mind-body observations akin to somatization and PTSD. She then reviews modern research aligned with prophetic practices, including clinical trials on black seed (Nigella sativa), fasting and autophagy (Nobel Prize 2016), honey’s antimicrobial uses, olive oil and cardiovascular benefits (PREDIMED), and wudu’s cold-water effects on parasympathetic activation. She closes with practical suggestions to assess mijaz, consider black seed oil and fasting with appropriate advice, and stay open and curious about shared principles like homeostasis.

00:00 Ancient Medicine Tour
02:36 Avicenna and the Canon
03:33 Who Was Ibn Sina
05:37 Scientific Method in 1025
07:38 Inside the Five Volumes
09:42 Avicenna’s Key Breakthroughs
13:58 Homeostasis and the Bridge
16:05 Introducing Prophetic Medicine
17:38 Black Seed Evidence
19:40 Fasting and Autophagy
21:57 Honey and Olive Oil
23:00 Wudu and Vagal Toning
23:56 Practical Prescription
25:50 Closing Reflections

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Dr. Safia Debar explains that Western medicine’s founders, Hippocrates and Galen, centered care on the body’s innate capacity to heal and the physician’s role in supporting it (“first, do no harm”), a philosophy she says modern practice kept in wording but largely abandoned. She recounts Hippocrates’ shift from supernatural to observational, evidence-based medicine; links his “healing power of nature” to homeostasis and modern stress physiology; and connects his gut-centered view of disease to contemporary gut-brain-axis and microbiome findings. She then describes Galen’s systemization of Hippocratic ideas, including the four temperaments and observations on emotion’s physical effects, and notes Arab scholars preserved and transmitted Galenic medicine to Europe. She offers four applications: ask what blocks recovery, know your temperament, prioritize gut health, and observe emotional-physical patterns, previewing a next episode on Ibn Sina and prophetic medicine.

00:00 Science Meets Soul Intro
01:50 Healing Power Forgotten
04:28 Who Was Hippocrates
06:47 Vis Medicatrix Naturae
09:22 Homeostasis And Stress
11:31 All Disease Begins Gut
14:42 Humors To Precision Medicine
17:04 Meet Galen In Rome
20:19 Four Temperaments Explained
25:08 Emotions And Disease Link
27:12 Arab Scholars Preserved Medicine
28:07 Four Practical Applications
33:28 Closing Summary Next Episode

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Dr. S continues a series on ancient medical systems by exploring Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) through modern scientific parallels. The episode opens with Tu Youyou’s 2015 Nobel-winning discovery of artemisinin for malaria, traced to a 1,700-year-old text recommending Artemisia annua for fever. TCM is presented as a 2,500-year-old medical system including herbal medicine, acupuncture/acupressure, dietary therapy, Tai Chi, and Qi Gong, centered on qi flowing through meridians; fascia research is discussed as a possible physical substrate for meridians, and acupuncture is described as having mechanisms beyond placebo (endorphins, blood flow, inflammation, autonomic effects) with evidence for chronic pain and nausea. The script also notes a 2024 review on TCM for type 2 diabetes and highlights Qi Gong’s benefits for HRV and stress regulation. Listeners are given three practical takeaways: PC6 acupressure, adding bitter foods, and a 1:2 inhale-exhale Qi Gong breathing practice.

00:00 Nobel Prize Origins
03:18 What Is TCM
04:03 Qi Meridians Explained
05:27 Fascia Changes Minds
08:39 Acupuncture Evidence
10:33 Herbal Medicine Research
13:42 Qigong For Stress
15:46 Three TCM Practices
19:29 Longevity Routine Rant
21:00 Wrap Up And Next

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Dr. S begins a series on ancient traditions by exploring Ayurveda as a 3,000-year-old medical system, not “exotic wellness,” and highlights parallels with modern science, especially the vagus nerve, the gut-brain axis, and personalized medicine. Citing research from India’s National Ayurveda Research Institute (2019), the episode describes how five Vata subtypes in the Charaka Samhita map onto five primary vagus nerve functions described in Stephen Porges’ polyvagal theory. Key concepts include the doshas (Vata, Pitta, Kapha) and Prakriti (constitutional type), with mention of Ayurgenomics showing differing genetic expression profiles. The episode also covers Agni (digestive fire), ama, and Dinacharya aligned with circadian biology. Practical takeaways include assessing Prakriti, evaluating digestion and meal timing, and alternate nostril pranayama to support HRV, lower cortisol, and parasympathetic tone, while emphasizing integrative, not replacement, care.

00:00 Science Meets Ayurveda
06:02 Not Wellness Hype
08:09 Doshas Explained
10:50 Vata Meets Vagus
12:53 Agni And Gut Brain
14:34 Dinacharya And Circadian
17:19 Three Practical Takeaways
18:32 Prakriti Assessment
19:55 Agni Meal Timing
21:05 Pranayama For HRV
22:18 Integrative Closing

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Dr Safia Debar
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One of Tatler's "Top 21 private doctors in Britain" 2020
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Dr. S introduces the “When Science Met Soul” series with an overview of major ancient medical traditions and the shared premise that humans are an integrated body–mind–soul system with an innate tendency toward balance, while disease reflects blockage or imbalance and the physician’s role is to remove obstacles rather than override healing. She contrasts this with the modern “body-as-machine” model, affirming modern medicine’s strengths in acute care while suggesting ancient systems may better frame chronic issues. She previews episodes on Mesopotamian, Egyptian (Imhotep; Ebers Papyrus), Ayurvedic (doshas, prakriti, pranayama and vagus nerve parallels), Traditional Chinese medicine (qi, meridians and fascia research), Greek/Hippocratic medicine (vis medicatrix naturae, gut focus, homeostasis), Islamic Golden Age medicine (Ibn Sina’s Canon; tabiyat; contagion; personalization), and Prophetic medicine (fasting, honey, olive oil, black seed, daily rhythm aligning with chronobiology). She closes with reflective prompts and small practice suggestions tied to whichever tradition resonates most.

00:00 Series Overview
02:12 Why Ancient Wisdom
04:38 One Shared Premise
07:43 Mesopotamian Medicine
10:54 Ancient Egyptian Medicine
15:50 Ayurveda Basics
19:24 Traditional Chinese Medicine
23:23 Hippocrates and Nature
27:31 Islamic Golden Age
32:39 Prophetic Medicine Evidence
38:17 Circadian Daily Rhythm
41:58 Your Takeaway Practices
44:00 Closing Reflection

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