I have two very people they’ve written a
great book called super genes dr. Deepak
Chopra and dr. Rudolph tansy dr. Chopra
needs no introductions he’s written more
books paid on more television done more
things about healthy living with more
interesting unique and occasionally and
controversial theories dr. tansy comes
from the Harvard need i say more
yeah it’s and together you’ve hidden the
book is this your first book you’ve
written together this is the second book
I’ve done my homework obviously but
actually I have read the book I was
fascinated by it my wife who’s a a
retina surgeon is already tired of
hearing from me about it and I want to
talk to you about it and the first is
it’s called super genes but actually you
talk about epigenetics could you explain
first of all what epigenetics is
epigenetics epi means on – and the idea
is that when you are engaged in certain
lifestyle activities with a frequency
that becomes a habit or a routine that
gene activity actually gets programmed
semi-permanently because chemicals
actually modify the genes and keep them
fire and keep them active in a certain
way so it says that your lifestyle
directly programs your genes that can be
good habits good gene programs bad
habits bad gene programs this is
relatively new information that you can
actually wire your genes based on your
lifestyle in a semi-permanent fashion
and the way you change the expression of
your genes can be transferred to the
next generation at least in animal
models but we believe that that’s also
true for all mammals because we have
similar genes you know so since 80
percent of your genes are the same as a
mouse and 65 65 percent the word applies
to other species
applies to us but it is not only about
epigenetics it’s also about the
interaction between your genes
epigenetic programs and the microbiome I
want to get
it’s fundamental because all of us here
were raised with the concept that the
genes are born with other genes we die
with and you’re saying that’s not true
well you did the same genes and he
unless you do
Chris Peck ass editing you’re not going
to change the gene sequence itself you
get you’re going to keep the same genes
but what matters most for health is the
activity or the expression of those
genes and your lifestyle directly is is
regulating their expression and whatever
you do most frequently where there’s a
habit or a routine or something that has
a very high intensity like a traumatic
event can cause chemical modifications
to keep genes active in a certain way
whole programs of hundreds of thousands
of genes at once so now there are
pharmaceutical companies Biogen just
bought a biotech company for a half a
billion yesterday that’s making drugs
that reprogram genes that be genetically
so this is here to stay soon the next
big generation of drugs coming out for
disease the goat disorder let it go yeah
well the two-legged goat is living
something of a goat that was born with
defective poor limbs and she then
learned how to be like a human to walk
with two legs that’s an animal example
but you know on everyday basis when we
say turning the genes on or off it’s
like a light switch you can turn the
light switch on and off but it’s also
like a thermostat where you can increase
the volume or decrease the volume we
the goats offspring you what is Shia I
wasn’t I mean you can predict that they
would inherit the same epigenetic
modifications that allowed that goat to
adapt but it wasn’t looked at so but
there was a study in mice that was
fascinating where mice were trained to
be afraid of the smell of cherry so
every time the most would smell cherries
with male mice they were giving a little
shocks at a foot of the mouse I don’t do
these experiments but but I
like mice but basically a little shock
to the photo so now whenever the mouse
smells chariots train to stop quivering
in the corner of the cage then they look
at the the baby mice born from that male
and these are mice just born and they
stand they expose them to the Cherry
smell and they quiver in the corner they
were never trained to be afraid of it
they look into DNA that seemed to sync
the same epigenetic modifications and
the father were in the the baby mice
meaning that they inherited a new trait
that the father and you know Basie was
conditioned for as an adult I wanted to
get this other his own so this is now
accepted science epigenetics is real you
guys didn’t discover an inventor that’s
not really even in the main point of
your book but they’re the pointment
parties that there are genes and they’re
important and we spent a lot of time
studying them but we’ve learned a lot
and the science is changing but there’s
also you spent a lot of time talking
about what’s in your gut tell us about
that and why it’s important so in your
gut is what is called the microbiome but
it’s also in your skin it’s also in all
the orifices of your body and there are
10 times more microbial cells in your
body then there are human cells so
technically speaking you’re all a few
human cells hanging on to a bacterial
colony when you coat the genes of these
bacteria it’s 150 times more genes that
are microbial origin then of human
origin so and why these when we are born
where as we come out of the birth canal
and through the bonding with the family
etc so there’s a horizontal transmission
and a vertical transmission the
microbiome is your second genome it’s
actually probably more important than
the genes that you acquired from your
parents and it responds to things like
sleep that food so if your food is
contaminated with steroids or chemicals
or pesticides probably GMO or
insecticides or you know anything that’s
given to animals in production of
animals like antibiotics and hormones
then the ecosystem of your microbiome
which is the first thing that comes into
contact contact with your food will get
disrupted
and what we call super genes is the
integrated activity of the microbiome
the human genome and epigenetics so this
is a very important area right now to
look at how the microbiome influences
your well-being it’s not only food but
stress sleep meditation exercise yoga
breathing techniques emotions all affect
the microbiome and if I might either the
two most important things you can you
can argue that the microbiome controller
inflammation and the body and there’s
also something called the gut brain axis
so the the bacteria and whether they’re
healthy and your gut directly control
mood energy level and even inflammation
in your brain which is a major risk
factor for Alzheimer’s disease so I
think and we’re actually doing
experiments trying to treat Alzheimer’s
and mice for now by by managing their
gut microbiome so when you say I have a
gut feeling about such-and-such you’re
not speaking metaphorically is speaking
literally in fact you can probably trust
your gut feeling is little more because
they haven’t yet learned how to doubt
their own feelings so in the last 48
hours we’ve seen the CEOs of IBM Intel
and Samsung on the big keynotes tears
talking about devices which measure a
lot of your physical attributes if
there’s even a partnership IBM announced
with Under Armor and so you could track
yourself over time how do those things
play into what you’re talking about
self and tracking and getting feedback
and what you heed and the calories you
burn and your exercise in your sleep so
there are a lot of devices I’m wearing a
bunch of these right now and what you
can do is you can see the correlation
between stress breathing patterns what
is called heart rate variability and now
because of the very interesting
mathematical algorithms you can see the
correlations hopefully with things like
proteins and even RNA activity in
genomic activity that hasn’t been done
yet but it will be also I am here with
some people from the what is called the
virtual reality community so if you put
yourself in an immersive environment
that environment will actually change
your total gene expression so the future
would be then to use these technologies
the integrative integration of these
technologies and immersive experiences
to treat things like diabetes or heart
disease now Rudy is talking about the
epigenetic roadmap where we can actually
see through the folding and unfolding of
these proteins called histones even
things like mutagenesis right so even
mutations for cancer are affected by all
these lifestyle changes right right so
yeah talk about how we would bite in the
future we through immersive environments
we actually reprogram programming our
genes but you know two of the biggest
risk factors as we age for our brain of
our body is stress and inflammation and
stress causes inflammation largely
through the microbiome as we’re learning
so for managing stress I would say
virtual reality using this as a tool to
somehow quell agitation treat depression
this is gonna be very powerful and we’ll
be able to quantify the effects by
looking at it be genetics looking at
changes in the entire genome and gene
activity so this is where a stone is
called
remote sensing of various you know blood
pressure heart rate variability and
correlating that were changed at the
genetic level and then asking what do we
need what can we do at virtual reality
to actually make ourselves healthier
managing stress helping with sleep even
helping with diet and and other things
so scary one thing but I think most
people don’t know is that only and I
didn’t know this tonight but to hang out
to this guy only 5% of disease related
gene mutations are fully penetrant which
means there’s a one-to-one ratio with
the mutation and the disease 95% are
influenced by other factors factors
being stress diet exercise things like
that yes emotional state merciless state
sleep so what are you saying is what
we’ve been talking about virtual reality
in this context is for fun for education
for business purposes right there’s a
new purpose you’re talking about there’s
probably more significant and that is
virtual reality can get us healthier and
even other types of therapies I mean my
colleague David Ronn is here we’re
launching an app called spark memories
radios for Alzheimer’s patients
caregivers so that they can program
music that treats agitation and
depression and also sparks new synaptic
activity and Alzheimer’s patients even
something as simple as playing the right
music we’re emotionally attached to the
music that we like between 13 and 25 so
you play that music for the patient now
now after that VR you know you can add a
video so you guys used to work at a VA
hospital where we played music from
World War two the music that was
prevalent to these veterans who had been
traumatized but when you play that music
suddenly even some of them in semi-coma
coma would start to respond so this is
you know when you add virtual reality
the motion of a team is more to the
music so yes there’s a great documentary
alive inside yes about how house armed
is this transfer
music you’re right and to the point that
a couple provinces and service states
are paying for all their Allison Irish
patients to have no iPad iPods with the
discovering that’s a bit of a challenge
but you’re saying add virtual reality
that now has that been done are you just
talking about
we’re talking this is an opportunity cuz
out Sarma’s is one of the great score I
was talking for the stage yesterday
about Alzheimer’s being one of the big
issues for mankind where there are other
technologies I didn’t mention this
because they didn’t know about it until
this moment but it’s a great idea I
applaud you for it but you if you the
way we’re doing it is on iPhones so you
have the caregiver with the patient and
by playing the music on the iPhone now
they can have a meaningful communication
and interaction because you’re actually
getting synapses firing in the music
memory part of the brain that never gets
affected in Alzheimer’s no matter how
far along are emotions and our memories
are linked very frequently to the music
we heard so for me when I was in
training as a resident when we did
surgery the music I heard was the
Beatles and Barbra Streisand and as soon
as you hear that music you recall all
the experiences including a strike
including your stress including my
smelly so what happens is imagine
producing the environment in which those
memories were programmed because you
know it’s not fact memories that we
remember what we remember our emotional
memories we can recap three enliven that
experience you can actually stimulate
the brain to become active and bring
forth those memories in fact the part of
the brain that is responsive music is
not even affected in our classroom it
doesn’t get the pathology works all
around it doesn’t doesn’t hit it poses a
cause near and dear to me my mother had
Alzheimer’s have died from it and it was
a lot of the things which could have
made a difference like facial
recognition yeah and so many other
technologies out there are still today
not available for reasons they have
nothing to do with homeless and wealth
like some people are concerned about
privacy now but with virtual reality you
know you’re opening a whole new world
there could you help us out so ten years
from now what do you expect to see in
wellness and health care you
in technology that we do not have today
I think first we need the integration of
all these like technologies because when
you integrate all these technologies you
realize that your mind your brain your
body your gene expression epigenetics
microbiome immune system is one system
it’s not many different systems and it’s
an integrated system so in medical
school we never learnt about the healing
system but that’s the fundamental system
to which all these systems are
subservient so what I see 10 years from
now is with the exception of those 5% of
disease related gene mutations which are
fully penetrant for which we’ll need new
drugs based on how to stop those
expressions 95% of chronic illness will
be something that technology and bio
regulation not biofeedback but bio
regulation will help us not only prevent
and I go on the limb and say maybe
really won’t go on the limb but I’m used
to doing that that we’ll be able to not
only prevent these diseases reverse them
so what we are seeing is an era of
personalized medicine which is
participatory which is preventive which
is reversible and which is process
oriented and it’s all here in one little
device that sounds great you want to I
decide that we will be using remote
sensing and what we call quantification
of self as a way to also look for the
warning signs biomarkers that disease is
there’s before cognitive symptoms appear
so to get a better idea of whether
you’re on your way to disease this will
know what this will be tell you whether
lifestyle interventions or
pharmaceuticals or even non invasive
therapies using electromagnet you know
so big which now electromagnetic type
therapies so the combination of these
will be used to prevent disease before
it strikes but a lot of the remote
sensing will be will allow us even BR to
see who’s on their way to disease so we
can actually empower them with a way to
prevent symptoms we thought of the body
as a physical structure but now we can
also understand it as a bio field by a
field where everything is integrated as
one holistic process you know and that’s
a very important breakthrough in just
the way we think of the body molecular
biology took us to on one level and now
we’re going to go to the next level
energy information and there I say
consciousness how about aging while we
know that the biological markers of
aging like blood pressure bone density
body temperature regulation hormone
levels immune function are all variable
they don’t correspond to your
chronological age and we now have a
study looking at telomerase which is the
enzyme that regulates the length of your
genes you want to share with guy our
findings on the telomerase gene
expression study well we’re looking at
the effects of meditation and
quantifying the effects of meditation on
gene activities on inflammation
biomarkers for Alzheimer’s and also to
end collaboration with a one-week
intervention of meditation as a clinical
trial the telomerase activity the
anti-aging enzyme went up 40 percent
which was totally shocking to us we
never thought we’d get such a result and
when we looked at gee activities after
meditator meditation and trial for a
week we saw that genes of our diplom
work well genes involved with wound
healing were also affected the genes for
viral infections in other words the body
was chilling out and saying we don’t
need to turn on these genes that are
they’re trying to help us
so it was mid to a healthier genetic
state beyond our wildest dreams we never
thought we’d get results so strong not
papers now under review and should be
published soon so wouldn’t some people
say when you say 94% of illness is not
is actually controllable is what I’m
hearing you say aren’t those people are
getting cancer Alzheimer’s heart disease
and others you’re saying it will some
people say you’re saying it’s your fault
no because we didn’t have the
information we did not have the
information and we known didn’t have the
information and how to change that but
now we do so you know how can it be a
fart if you don’t know about it right
you know from this point on it’s your
yes as long as responsibility it’s not
your fault but it’s your responsibility
to participate in your well-being that’s
why I said personalize the preventive
and process-oriented
and that’s the future right but you know
to me now that we know how important
sleep is I would say if you’re over 50
and you’re not trying to get eight hours
of sleep a night it’s almost like
smoking cigarettes or sitting on the
couch and eating potato chips all day
it’s an obligation not just a
recommendation anymore that’s where
we’re going with the amount of science
right I have a device that tells you how
much sleep and I’m certainly not getting
about hours tried it lost this for these
try how many of you get eight hours of
sleep a night Wow not bad
Wow how many of you get less than six a
night how about these people like dr.
Jim Maltese the chief medical officer
Qualcomm he says he gets three or four
hours a night and that’s all he needs
but I spoke to him this morning and he
will change it yeah we change that this
morning you talked to her
no set I believe that when I see it
because actually I really don’t know how
much sleep he gets so you recommending
this book you know kind of a good better
best approach you have a
choices hard choices and experimental
choices and you talk about sleep
exercise stress meditation nutrition yes
what is it you think most people if
there is one thing they could change as
a result of a conversation so the
two-minute conversation would be what
would it be other than sleep I would go
with diet diet yeah you always read a
minute about diet you know anything
that’s processed manufactured refined
GMO industrially produced comes and
again as a label is full of steroids
chemicals hormones is not good so the
farm-to-table movement is an expression
of how we need to change our diet and
he’s right because no matter what else
you do you all eat and that’s the first
thing that your microbiome will come
into contact with and therefore that’s
the easiest thing to change hi as I
heard organic I heard processed else are
GMO what evidence is there the GMO
evidence right non GMO
but since GMO changes the gene
constituency’s of the food that you eat
and the microbiome is an ecosystem that
has evolved over literally hundreds of
millions of years of time it only makes
sense that the GMO foods will disrupt
this but the science is not out there
yet because my question about that
because there’s evidence genes for
example and take a genes from a monkey
that can see with color to a monkey that
it’s colorblind and rejecting you
so you’re taking genes that are not part
of someone’s body a monkey’s body and
and I’m giving them some strength so why
would GMO be bad but you can discussion
cotton-based for a particular on your
food I think you’re disrupting because
long as the thing is it’s it’s GMOs are
are bad for the planet for Gaia so to
speak than they offer us because they’re
offsetting the natural ecology of plants
insects and those interactions
eventually that’s going to backfire oh I
thought that was what Mendelian genetics
has been doing for the last hundred or
so years is modifying agriculture that’s
that is a mo but so has industrial the
whole industrial Iike not economy
creating climate change right
yeah GMOs Mendelian genetic hybrids on
steroids and assist goes too far we
could argue because around the world
because the GMOs my wife if I could
share a New Year’s resolution that we
will cut down on processed food there’s
a just about one minute since there’s so
many audience would like to ask a
question or anyone have anything they
a large extent prevention and treatment
are the same in Alzheimer’s disease we
don’t call it Alzheimer’s until you see
symptoms of dementia but the disease
began 20 years before the pathology was
already in the brain tumor you say you
have cancer you don’t wait for the
symptoms well it’s the same we don’t say
it for Alzheimer’s because you don’t
want to say you have Alzheimer’s disease
if there’s no dementia there’s a social
stigma that might come with that but the
fact is the pathology is accumulating 20
years before that’s when you start
treating the disease you could call that
prevention of symptoms but prevention of
symptoms of a disease that starts 20
years before is still treatment so it’s
really it’s gonna become more of a word
issue that we’re going to a lot of
diseases that are age related begin way
before symptoms and prevention is
actually us treating the disease before
symptoms for the reversibility of heart
disease coronary artery disease can be
reversed but now we’re seeing evidence
for other chronic illnesses like
bronchial asthma rheumatoid arthritis
anything that’s connected with
inflammation so prevention but think
about as treatment prodromal a before
symptoms that’s gonna be the future we
can do if the chicken has antibiotics
the meat has antibiotics and we do
receive or relay through these
antibiotics so what we can do these all
the food in general is now healthy
that’s a big problem too
it’s a big problem it’s a great book I
actually really enjoyed I learned a lot
I will be changing my behavior as a
result I especially appreciate page 239
where you talking about a cells wisdoms
906 out I thought was brilliant
thank you it’s pretty deep but there’s a
lot of really practical advice about
every aspect of your life as well as is
great leading-edge theories so I wish
you luck I think you’re on
it’s not luck I guess it’s hard work and
lack of stress but you’re on a great
path and I love your discussion about
virtual reality ladies and gentlemen
thank you very much for joining us and thanks to these great authors thank you
great book called super genes dr. Deepak
Chopra and dr. Rudolph tansy dr. Chopra
needs no introductions he’s written more
books paid on more television done more
things about healthy living with more
interesting unique and occasionally and
controversial theories dr. tansy comes
from the Harvard need i say more
yeah it’s and together you’ve hidden the
book is this your first book you’ve
written together this is the second book
I’ve done my homework obviously but
actually I have read the book I was
fascinated by it my wife who’s a a
retina surgeon is already tired of
hearing from me about it and I want to
talk to you about it and the first is
it’s called super genes but actually you
talk about epigenetics could you explain
first of all what epigenetics is
epigenetics epi means on – and the idea
is that when you are engaged in certain
lifestyle activities with a frequency
that becomes a habit or a routine that
gene activity actually gets programmed
semi-permanently because chemicals
actually modify the genes and keep them
fire and keep them active in a certain
way so it says that your lifestyle
directly programs your genes that can be
good habits good gene programs bad
habits bad gene programs this is
relatively new information that you can
actually wire your genes based on your
lifestyle in a semi-permanent fashion
and the way you change the expression of
your genes can be transferred to the
next generation at least in animal
models but we believe that that’s also
true for all mammals because we have
similar genes you know so since 80
percent of your genes are the same as a
mouse and 65 65 percent the word applies
to other species
applies to us but it is not only about
epigenetics it’s also about the
interaction between your genes
epigenetic programs and the microbiome I
want to get
it’s fundamental because all of us here
were raised with the concept that the
genes are born with other genes we die
with and you’re saying that’s not true
well you did the same genes and he
unless you do
Chris Peck ass editing you’re not going
to change the gene sequence itself you
get you’re going to keep the same genes
but what matters most for health is the
activity or the expression of those
genes and your lifestyle directly is is
regulating their expression and whatever
you do most frequently where there’s a
habit or a routine or something that has
a very high intensity like a traumatic
event can cause chemical modifications
to keep genes active in a certain way
whole programs of hundreds of thousands
of genes at once so now there are
pharmaceutical companies Biogen just
bought a biotech company for a half a
billion yesterday that’s making drugs
that reprogram genes that be genetically
so this is here to stay soon the next
big generation of drugs coming out for
disease the goat disorder let it go yeah
well the two-legged goat is living
something of a goat that was born with
defective poor limbs and she then
learned how to be like a human to walk
with two legs that’s an animal example
but you know on everyday basis when we
say turning the genes on or off it’s
like a light switch you can turn the
light switch on and off but it’s also
like a thermostat where you can increase
the volume or decrease the volume we
the goats offspring you what is Shia I
wasn’t I mean you can predict that they
would inherit the same epigenetic
modifications that allowed that goat to
adapt but it wasn’t looked at so but
there was a study in mice that was
fascinating where mice were trained to
be afraid of the smell of cherry so
every time the most would smell cherries
with male mice they were giving a little
shocks at a foot of the mouse I don’t do
these experiments but but I
like mice but basically a little shock
to the photo so now whenever the mouse
smells chariots train to stop quivering
in the corner of the cage then they look
at the the baby mice born from that male
and these are mice just born and they
stand they expose them to the Cherry
smell and they quiver in the corner they
were never trained to be afraid of it
they look into DNA that seemed to sync
the same epigenetic modifications and
the father were in the the baby mice
meaning that they inherited a new trait
that the father and you know Basie was
conditioned for as an adult I wanted to
get this other his own so this is now
accepted science epigenetics is real you
guys didn’t discover an inventor that’s
not really even in the main point of
your book but they’re the pointment
parties that there are genes and they’re
important and we spent a lot of time
studying them but we’ve learned a lot
and the science is changing but there’s
also you spent a lot of time talking
about what’s in your gut tell us about
that and why it’s important so in your
gut is what is called the microbiome but
it’s also in your skin it’s also in all
the orifices of your body and there are
10 times more microbial cells in your
body then there are human cells so
technically speaking you’re all a few
human cells hanging on to a bacterial
colony when you coat the genes of these
bacteria it’s 150 times more genes that
are microbial origin then of human
origin so and why these when we are born
where as we come out of the birth canal
and through the bonding with the family
etc so there’s a horizontal transmission
and a vertical transmission the
microbiome is your second genome it’s
actually probably more important than
the genes that you acquired from your
parents and it responds to things like
sleep that food so if your food is
contaminated with steroids or chemicals
or pesticides probably GMO or
insecticides or you know anything that’s
given to animals in production of
animals like antibiotics and hormones
then the ecosystem of your microbiome
which is the first thing that comes into
contact contact with your food will get
disrupted
and what we call super genes is the
integrated activity of the microbiome
the human genome and epigenetics so this
is a very important area right now to
look at how the microbiome influences
your well-being it’s not only food but
stress sleep meditation exercise yoga
breathing techniques emotions all affect
the microbiome and if I might either the
two most important things you can you
can argue that the microbiome controller
inflammation and the body and there’s
also something called the gut brain axis
so the the bacteria and whether they’re
healthy and your gut directly control
mood energy level and even inflammation
in your brain which is a major risk
factor for Alzheimer’s disease so I
think and we’re actually doing
experiments trying to treat Alzheimer’s
and mice for now by by managing their
gut microbiome so when you say I have a
gut feeling about such-and-such you’re
not speaking metaphorically is speaking
literally in fact you can probably trust
your gut feeling is little more because
they haven’t yet learned how to doubt
their own feelings so in the last 48
hours we’ve seen the CEOs of IBM Intel
and Samsung on the big keynotes tears
talking about devices which measure a
lot of your physical attributes if
there’s even a partnership IBM announced
with Under Armor and so you could track
yourself over time how do those things
play into what you’re talking about
self and tracking and getting feedback
and what you heed and the calories you
burn and your exercise in your sleep so
there are a lot of devices I’m wearing a
bunch of these right now and what you
can do is you can see the correlation
between stress breathing patterns what
is called heart rate variability and now
because of the very interesting
mathematical algorithms you can see the
correlations hopefully with things like
proteins and even RNA activity in
genomic activity that hasn’t been done
yet but it will be also I am here with
some people from the what is called the
virtual reality community so if you put
yourself in an immersive environment
that environment will actually change
your total gene expression so the future
would be then to use these technologies
the integrative integration of these
technologies and immersive experiences
to treat things like diabetes or heart
disease now Rudy is talking about the
epigenetic roadmap where we can actually
see through the folding and unfolding of
these proteins called histones even
things like mutagenesis right so even
mutations for cancer are affected by all
these lifestyle changes right right so
yeah talk about how we would bite in the
future we through immersive environments
we actually reprogram programming our
genes but you know two of the biggest
risk factors as we age for our brain of
our body is stress and inflammation and
stress causes inflammation largely
through the microbiome as we’re learning
so for managing stress I would say
virtual reality using this as a tool to
somehow quell agitation treat depression
this is gonna be very powerful and we’ll
be able to quantify the effects by
looking at it be genetics looking at
changes in the entire genome and gene
activity so this is where a stone is
called
remote sensing of various you know blood
pressure heart rate variability and
correlating that were changed at the
genetic level and then asking what do we
need what can we do at virtual reality
to actually make ourselves healthier
managing stress helping with sleep even
helping with diet and and other things
so scary one thing but I think most
people don’t know is that only and I
didn’t know this tonight but to hang out
to this guy only 5% of disease related
gene mutations are fully penetrant which
means there’s a one-to-one ratio with
the mutation and the disease 95% are
influenced by other factors factors
being stress diet exercise things like
that yes emotional state merciless state
sleep so what are you saying is what
we’ve been talking about virtual reality
in this context is for fun for education
for business purposes right there’s a
new purpose you’re talking about there’s
probably more significant and that is
virtual reality can get us healthier and
even other types of therapies I mean my
colleague David Ronn is here we’re
launching an app called spark memories
radios for Alzheimer’s patients
caregivers so that they can program
music that treats agitation and
depression and also sparks new synaptic
activity and Alzheimer’s patients even
something as simple as playing the right
music we’re emotionally attached to the
music that we like between 13 and 25 so
you play that music for the patient now
now after that VR you know you can add a
video so you guys used to work at a VA
hospital where we played music from
World War two the music that was
prevalent to these veterans who had been
traumatized but when you play that music
suddenly even some of them in semi-coma
coma would start to respond so this is
you know when you add virtual reality
the motion of a team is more to the
music so yes there’s a great documentary
alive inside yes about how house armed
is this transfer
music you’re right and to the point that
a couple provinces and service states
are paying for all their Allison Irish
patients to have no iPad iPods with the
discovering that’s a bit of a challenge
but you’re saying add virtual reality
that now has that been done are you just
talking about
we’re talking this is an opportunity cuz
out Sarma’s is one of the great score I
was talking for the stage yesterday
about Alzheimer’s being one of the big
issues for mankind where there are other
technologies I didn’t mention this
because they didn’t know about it until
this moment but it’s a great idea I
applaud you for it but you if you the
way we’re doing it is on iPhones so you
have the caregiver with the patient and
by playing the music on the iPhone now
they can have a meaningful communication
and interaction because you’re actually
getting synapses firing in the music
memory part of the brain that never gets
affected in Alzheimer’s no matter how
far along are emotions and our memories
are linked very frequently to the music
we heard so for me when I was in
training as a resident when we did
surgery the music I heard was the
Beatles and Barbra Streisand and as soon
as you hear that music you recall all
the experiences including a strike
including your stress including my
smelly so what happens is imagine
producing the environment in which those
memories were programmed because you
know it’s not fact memories that we
remember what we remember our emotional
memories we can recap three enliven that
experience you can actually stimulate
the brain to become active and bring
forth those memories in fact the part of
the brain that is responsive music is
not even affected in our classroom it
doesn’t get the pathology works all
around it doesn’t doesn’t hit it poses a
cause near and dear to me my mother had
Alzheimer’s have died from it and it was
a lot of the things which could have
made a difference like facial
recognition yeah and so many other
technologies out there are still today
not available for reasons they have
nothing to do with homeless and wealth
like some people are concerned about
privacy now but with virtual reality you
know you’re opening a whole new world
there could you help us out so ten years
from now what do you expect to see in
wellness and health care you
in technology that we do not have today
I think first we need the integration of
all these like technologies because when
you integrate all these technologies you
realize that your mind your brain your
body your gene expression epigenetics
microbiome immune system is one system
it’s not many different systems and it’s
an integrated system so in medical
school we never learnt about the healing
system but that’s the fundamental system
to which all these systems are
subservient so what I see 10 years from
now is with the exception of those 5% of
disease related gene mutations which are
fully penetrant for which we’ll need new
drugs based on how to stop those
expressions 95% of chronic illness will
be something that technology and bio
regulation not biofeedback but bio
regulation will help us not only prevent
and I go on the limb and say maybe
really won’t go on the limb but I’m used
to doing that that we’ll be able to not
only prevent these diseases reverse them
so what we are seeing is an era of
personalized medicine which is
participatory which is preventive which
is reversible and which is process
oriented and it’s all here in one little
device that sounds great you want to I
decide that we will be using remote
sensing and what we call quantification
of self as a way to also look for the
warning signs biomarkers that disease is
there’s before cognitive symptoms appear
so to get a better idea of whether
you’re on your way to disease this will
know what this will be tell you whether
lifestyle interventions or
pharmaceuticals or even non invasive
therapies using electromagnet you know
so big which now electromagnetic type
therapies so the combination of these
will be used to prevent disease before
it strikes but a lot of the remote
sensing will be will allow us even BR to
see who’s on their way to disease so we
can actually empower them with a way to
prevent symptoms we thought of the body
as a physical structure but now we can
also understand it as a bio field by a
field where everything is integrated as
one holistic process you know and that’s
a very important breakthrough in just
the way we think of the body molecular
biology took us to on one level and now
we’re going to go to the next level
energy information and there I say
consciousness how about aging while we
know that the biological markers of
aging like blood pressure bone density
body temperature regulation hormone
levels immune function are all variable
they don’t correspond to your
chronological age and we now have a
study looking at telomerase which is the
enzyme that regulates the length of your
genes you want to share with guy our
findings on the telomerase gene
expression study well we’re looking at
the effects of meditation and
quantifying the effects of meditation on
gene activities on inflammation
biomarkers for Alzheimer’s and also to
end collaboration with a one-week
intervention of meditation as a clinical
trial the telomerase activity the
anti-aging enzyme went up 40 percent
which was totally shocking to us we
never thought we’d get such a result and
when we looked at gee activities after
meditator meditation and trial for a
week we saw that genes of our diplom
work well genes involved with wound
healing were also affected the genes for
viral infections in other words the body
was chilling out and saying we don’t
need to turn on these genes that are
they’re trying to help us
so it was mid to a healthier genetic
state beyond our wildest dreams we never
thought we’d get results so strong not
papers now under review and should be
published soon so wouldn’t some people
say when you say 94% of illness is not
is actually controllable is what I’m
hearing you say aren’t those people are
getting cancer Alzheimer’s heart disease
and others you’re saying it will some
people say you’re saying it’s your fault
no because we didn’t have the
information we did not have the
information and we known didn’t have the
information and how to change that but
now we do so you know how can it be a
fart if you don’t know about it right
you know from this point on it’s your
yes as long as responsibility it’s not
your fault but it’s your responsibility
to participate in your well-being that’s
why I said personalize the preventive
and process-oriented
and that’s the future right but you know
to me now that we know how important
sleep is I would say if you’re over 50
and you’re not trying to get eight hours
of sleep a night it’s almost like
smoking cigarettes or sitting on the
couch and eating potato chips all day
it’s an obligation not just a
recommendation anymore that’s where
we’re going with the amount of science
right I have a device that tells you how
much sleep and I’m certainly not getting
about hours tried it lost this for these
try how many of you get eight hours of
sleep a night Wow not bad
Wow how many of you get less than six a
night how about these people like dr.
Jim Maltese the chief medical officer
Qualcomm he says he gets three or four
hours a night and that’s all he needs
but I spoke to him this morning and he
will change it yeah we change that this
morning you talked to her
no set I believe that when I see it
because actually I really don’t know how
much sleep he gets so you recommending
this book you know kind of a good better
best approach you have a
choices hard choices and experimental
choices and you talk about sleep
exercise stress meditation nutrition yes
what is it you think most people if
there is one thing they could change as
a result of a conversation so the
two-minute conversation would be what
would it be other than sleep I would go
with diet diet yeah you always read a
minute about diet you know anything
that’s processed manufactured refined
GMO industrially produced comes and
again as a label is full of steroids
chemicals hormones is not good so the
farm-to-table movement is an expression
of how we need to change our diet and
he’s right because no matter what else
you do you all eat and that’s the first
thing that your microbiome will come
into contact with and therefore that’s
the easiest thing to change hi as I
heard organic I heard processed else are
GMO what evidence is there the GMO
evidence right non GMO
but since GMO changes the gene
constituency’s of the food that you eat
and the microbiome is an ecosystem that
has evolved over literally hundreds of
millions of years of time it only makes
sense that the GMO foods will disrupt
this but the science is not out there
yet because my question about that
because there’s evidence genes for
example and take a genes from a monkey
that can see with color to a monkey that
it’s colorblind and rejecting you
so you’re taking genes that are not part
of someone’s body a monkey’s body and
and I’m giving them some strength so why
would GMO be bad but you can discussion
cotton-based for a particular on your
food I think you’re disrupting because
long as the thing is it’s it’s GMOs are
are bad for the planet for Gaia so to
speak than they offer us because they’re
offsetting the natural ecology of plants
insects and those interactions
eventually that’s going to backfire oh I
thought that was what Mendelian genetics
has been doing for the last hundred or
so years is modifying agriculture that’s
that is a mo but so has industrial the
whole industrial Iike not economy
creating climate change right
yeah GMOs Mendelian genetic hybrids on
steroids and assist goes too far we
could argue because around the world
because the GMOs my wife if I could
share a New Year’s resolution that we
will cut down on processed food there’s
a just about one minute since there’s so
many audience would like to ask a
question or anyone have anything they
a large extent prevention and treatment
are the same in Alzheimer’s disease we
don’t call it Alzheimer’s until you see
symptoms of dementia but the disease
began 20 years before the pathology was
already in the brain tumor you say you
have cancer you don’t wait for the
symptoms well it’s the same we don’t say
it for Alzheimer’s because you don’t
want to say you have Alzheimer’s disease
if there’s no dementia there’s a social
stigma that might come with that but the
fact is the pathology is accumulating 20
years before that’s when you start
treating the disease you could call that
prevention of symptoms but prevention of
symptoms of a disease that starts 20
years before is still treatment so it’s
really it’s gonna become more of a word
issue that we’re going to a lot of
diseases that are age related begin way
before symptoms and prevention is
actually us treating the disease before
symptoms for the reversibility of heart
disease coronary artery disease can be
reversed but now we’re seeing evidence
for other chronic illnesses like
bronchial asthma rheumatoid arthritis
anything that’s connected with
inflammation so prevention but think
about as treatment prodromal a before
symptoms that’s gonna be the future we
can do if the chicken has antibiotics
the meat has antibiotics and we do
receive or relay through these
antibiotics so what we can do these all
the food in general is now healthy
that’s a big problem too
it’s a big problem it’s a great book I
actually really enjoyed I learned a lot
I will be changing my behavior as a
result I especially appreciate page 239
where you talking about a cells wisdoms
906 out I thought was brilliant
thank you it’s pretty deep but there’s a
lot of really practical advice about
every aspect of your life as well as is
great leading-edge theories so I wish
you luck I think you’re on
it’s not luck I guess it’s hard work and
lack of stress but you’re on a great
path and I love your discussion about
virtual reality ladies and gentlemen
thank you very much for joining us and thanks to these great authors thank you
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