Proactive Brain Health with Dr Spencer Zimmerman and Sachin Patel

Hello, my friends, and welcome to Perfect Practice. Today I have the honor of speaking with a amazing clinician and physician, somebody who has helped so many people in our community and his community, Dr. Spencer Zimmerman. He is a functional neurologist and somebody who helps people with all kinds of injuries related to their nervous system, but particularly injuries related to their brain. Today we're going to be talking about his story, his journey, and the remarkable results that he gets with his clients, and also talking about the importance of finding community in helping us thrive, both personally and professionally. So, without further ado, thanks, doc. Thanks for being here today.

Yeah, thanks for having me, Satchin. It's good to be here.

I appreciate your wisdom, and what I love to do is I want to start with learning a little bit more about you. So for people who are watching this, who are new to your story, who are new to your message, why don't we start there? What's your personal background? And tell us a little bit more about your training.

Yeah. So I've been working in the world of brain health for about the past nine years. Started whenever I was in chiropractic school. They say the nervous system is the master system. And I was like, okay, I need to find this group. Like, where are they at? And I happen to have found a group that did functional neurology. And it was awesome, because you're watching these individuals who've been suffering for years and even decades, who've been to 15 different providers and seeing little to no help, but then we'd only see them for a week, and it was like, wait, are you sure you got improvement from this? And they're like, yes. And you see it routinely enough. And you're like, okay, this isn't a fluke, because there's a little bit of skeptic in me, too. You know, it's like, well, but why, like, why is this happening? But when you see it routinely enough and then you understand what's happening in the body, you start learning. Like, you know what? Just because someone's been suffering for a long time doesn't mean it takes them a long time to get better.

Yeah, that's. That's important because a lot of times people are conditioned to think that, oh, I've had this for many, many years, and it's going to take me a long time to get better. And some people even advertise that, you know, they'll say, for as many years you've been sick, you know, that's how many years it's going to take to get better. Or months or whatever they converted into some arbitrary unit. But what I found historically with something like functional neurology, because our nervous system is so powerful, it heals so quickly when we provide it with the right information. So, yeah, it's. I've seen it and I've witnessed it firsthand. So that's why it's almost like magic, right? When you see somebody get better. And I can only imagine witnessing other clinicians doing this for people and kind of like scratching your head, wondering, how the heck did that happen? And that takes you down a whole rabbit hole. So how did you. How did you first get into the training for functional neurology?

You know, believe it or not, I was actually ready to drop out of chiropractic school. And as I was trying to figure out, how am I going to tell my wife I'm going to leave school? Something that we'd moved to Dallas for already started getting student loan debt. Someone in my class was like, you know, he was like, you've got to watch this video. I was like, okay. I watched it. It was of Dr. Carrick. It's called Hope Restored. It highlighted some of his different cases. And I was like, this is awesome. How do I learn more? And it happened to be that. Guess what? One of their main places to do seminars was right there in Dallas. One of their main lecturers, Dr. Brandon Brock, was there, and I signed in and I just took off. And then shortly after that, they opened a clinic there where I, once again, I interned and then worked there all through school and then afterwards for a little bit.

Yeah, Dr. Brock was one of my first introductions to functional neurology, and I took some of his training through Apex, and I spent a weekend with them in the Mastering Brain Chemistry course. And it just blows your mind, you know, what's. What's possible and how little training we actually get about this in school. You know, we are trained to be specialists of the nervous system, but it's usually that. That extra training in neurology that makes all the difference in the world and getting results in certain areas. With that being said, what are some common conditions that people would see a functional neurologist for?

The most common stuff that I see, I see a lot of concussions and traumatic brain injuries, dizziness and vertigo, and then the other two is depression and then cognitive decline.

Can you define traumatic brain injury? Because I think there's a spectrum there. And some people might not realize they have a traumatic brain injury because the incident may not be traumatic. Maybe you can tease that out a Little bit, yeah.

You're right. You know, traumatic brain injury is a very big spectrum. Concussion is actually the most common form of a traumatic brain injury. People just don't normally associate it with it because it's more of on the low end of that spectrum. On the more severe end, you can have different levels of bleeds. You can also have fractures that occur as a result of the injury. And that's when most people say traumatic brain injury. That's what they actually think about is like, oh, you have this happen and you can't walk, you can't talk, you can't do anything. But it doesn't have to be that extreme to still cause very severe issues that not only can haunt you initially, but can haunt you years down the road.

Yeah. Tell me about, tell me what you mean by that. Because not all the symptoms are going to show up where the injury took place. Right. So we could have an injury to the brain, but that could be affecting different systems in our body and people may not connect those dots. So what are some of those symptoms and systems that are affected?

Yeah. So one of the things we often forget is that our body is truly connected. Our brain either directly controls everything or receives feedback from pretty much anything in the body. While most people are like, well, okay, brain fog can be problems with memory, can be the brain. The stuff that can be the brain that people don't think about is constipation. Very common. Heartburn, gallbladder issues, even fatigue is very common from the brain. So those are some of the most common things that are from the brain that people don't think about. They look in other areas.

Yeah. One thing I learned from Dr. Khorazian was about brain based fatigue. And I'm sure we can unpack this a little bit more with your expertise. And he, he said a good litmus test is if somebody starts to read and they feel extremely tired, or if they drive distances longer than they normally would and they start to feel exhausted, then that could be a sign of brain based fatigue. Are there any other signs that you look for or red flags that somebody could identify if their fatigue is coming from brain injury?

For a lot of people, they'll notice when they wake up in the morning, that's when they have their most energy. And then as the day goes on, they'll really take a hit. And I'll often ask them, well, if you were to walk for 20 minutes or be on your computer for 20 minutes, which one is going to wear you down? If they're like, it's the computer or I multitask on a computer and I get foggy and get a headache, neck pain. That's brain based fatigue.

I find sometimes even the computer gets brain fog. Right. So it's slowing down and you're doing all, trying to do so many things at the same time. I guess our brains in some way are no different. And what would they, what would they expect, you know, on the walk? Would they feel more energy or would they feel less energy? If. What's the differential there?

It really depends for the individual and what that's doing for them. For some people, they go on a walk and they're like, hey, I do a normal walk, I don't notice the change in my energy. But when they do one of the cognitive based things, they're like, they do notice. And then for those that really have even brain based issues, if a walk energizes your brain and allows it to function at a better rate, that's also a sign that, hey, your brain's not as healthy as it should be. But exercise can be super important, helping it to become healthy.

Yeah, you mentioned exercise. And one of the things that I learned a while ago was that exercise was movement was the most important form of nutrition for the brain. What other nutrients are very important for healthy brain function?

Yeah, there's many different nutrients out there. You know, people go on Google, they'll find way too many but good essential fats, whether it's from avocados or walnuts, pecans, good fatty fish, you know, those have omega 3 fatty acids. Specifically, DHA is really good for the brain. Also, turmeric or curcumin is really good for the brain. And then just to not keep this list going super long, glutathione. So glutathione's our body's most natural and abundant antioxidant. Helps to grab chemicals that are floating around that can create inflammation. But it also helps to maintain the barrier that keeps bad things out of the brain and can help repair the immune system following a head injury.

Yeah, I'm sure you're familiar. Thank you for sharing. I'm sure you're familiar with Dr. Perlmatter's work and one of the things he said was that the next threat to our society is neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's. Tell us more about that. I know that there's some scary statistics related to that. I'd love to hear your perspective. And perhaps, you know, how is it different when somebody comes to you with these type of challenges versus the conventional System.

Yeah. So one of the seminars, conferences I've been to in the past couple years, the focus has shifted and it's now starting to become a. The question is not how long will our body last, it's will our brain last as long as our body? And the numbers are scary. You know, it's from 2020, so let's go back a year to 2050. They're expecting Alzheimer's rates to triple, which is a really big increase. And there's not just one factor. And I think that's one of the most important differences if someone comes in and sees me for this is we have to step back and unpack it. And so we're not so one dimensional. That's one of the big weaknesses I see in medicine is we're so focused that we're like, well, yep, the brain's not doing as well. It's like, yeah, but what's all contributing to it?

Right?

Like if you want to rehab an unhealthy brain, but someone's a diabetic, good luck.

You know, I think another thing that where medicine can potentially fail us is that it's almost like you don't have a problem until somebody can measure it. And we're usually relying on, let's say lab work or some sort of scan or MRI or something like that to pick it up. But I'm sure with a proper exam, people can identify much earlier on what's going on with their brain to see if it's degenerating. I know there's genetic factors, there's environmental factors, there's traumatic factors, and of course, nutritional factors and exercise. There's so many things that a role in how healthy our brain is. And so it's. So it's impossible to take such a myopic approach and expect outcomes. What I do love about functional neurology is it can give us kind of a non invasive window into the nervous system and into the brain. And I'm always impressed by the exams that functional neurologists do. So I would love to maybe unpack that a little bit more. So if somebody were to come to you with a traumatic brain injury versus go see a conventional neurologist, what would the main difference be? Or several of the differences be? Hello, my friend, it's Sachin here. I trust you're enjoying this content. If you haven't already, I wanted to let you know about my free book called Perfect Practice. This book is for entrepreneurial practitioners in the functional medicine space who want to help as many people as possible. I'VE shared some of my best tools and resources in this book, and it's absolutely free. Just click on the link below, below and we'll send it to you at no cost.

Yeah, so typically, if you have a traumatic brain injury, you're used to going, and they may do an mri, they may do a CT scan, and then they say, oh, it's normal. And that's really frustrating for people because they don't feel normal. But what we do is say, well, there's not that level of damage to show up on the imaging, but that does not mean it's normal. So what we're going to do is we're going to look at function and see what's happening there. Now, there's a couple of different ways we can look at function, different movement patterns. For example, this may be just looking at you walk, it's looking at your balance. So often people's balance is off when it's tested and they're like, I had no clue it was off like that. Eye movements. Eye movements are a really good indicator of what's happening within the brain. And we can really map out different parts of the brain with that. That's the bulk of what I do. And then the last part I do is I do what's called a qeeg. It's a quantitative electroencephalogram. And what that does is look at your brain waves. So there's certain brainwave measures and patterns that you can see in traumatic brain injuries and concussions that you wouldn't see in a normal population.

Okay, what are some of those. What are some of the key areas of the brain that you can identify are affected or probably varies from injury to injury. Right. So your goal is to put the exam together using the eye movements, balance, coordination, qeeg, and then now you've got a functional picture of what the brain looks like. The best analogy I can give to somebody trying to unpack this a little bit more is think of it like buying a car by looking at a picture of it versus taking it for a test drive. Is that kind of an accurate way of thinking about it?

Yeah, yeah. There's a lot of things you don't realize until you try it.

Right. And we probably don't stress our brains in those ways. Right. Like most. For most people, their daily routine is pretty much the same over and over again within a certain variance. And so now you're probably introducing new movements, new challenges to the nervous system, and it's not used to that. So it's going to really highlight where the brain is deficient, and then go ahead.

And that's where, you know, when we talk about dementia, most dementias will start 20, 40 years before someone's ever diagnosed. And you're right. When you do the same thing day in and day out, you may keep those pathways strong, but those will be the last ones to fade on you. And people will bias their strengths. But biasing your strength is like saying, my right arm is stronger than my left, so I'm never going to use my left. It ultimately becomes weaker. And the same thing is happening in all of our brains. Whenever we avoid areas that we struggle with, we tell that part of the brain, you know, we don't really need you. And so it says, okay, I guess I'm done. And the immune system will literally go and eat it. And it says, we're not getting the signals that says, there's life here. And that's why you can see shrinking in certain parts of the brain.

Wait, tell me more. I've never heard anyone say that. So what does the immune system do exactly?

So whenever you have a head injury, first couple weeks, it's about cleaning up damaged areas. After that, it's about pruning. And like you prune a bush so it can sprout and regrow, that's what should happen. But if you don't use that area, the immune system's like, okay, I'm not seeing a lot happen there. It's not signaling to me that it's healthy and it will actually go and cause a greater loss of brain cells than you would get if you were activating the area appropriately. And that's why those who only rest and do nothing following a head injury always will have a harder recovery than those that do the appropriate amount of stimulation and activation patterns.

That's really fascinating. How commonplace is this knowledge?

It's not very common. You're getting more people who are starting to do it. But most people, they don't go to places that know this. They'll go to their primary care physician, which is still very much on the well, go rest, turn off all the lights, avoid all stimulation for three days to a week, and hopefully it goes away instead of getting the education they need from the beginning. That's not, don't avoid everything, but don't push through your symptoms.

Right, okay, that makes sense. Now, I would imagine that having a head injury or neurological dysfunction can be super stressful on people, But I also know stress is very detrimental to brain health. So let's go down that path a little bit. What are some of the primary effects of chronic stress on the brain?

So, going back to when we talked about dementia, specifically Alzheimer's, one of the parts of the brain that stress causes to shrink is the part of your brain responsible for learning and memory, your hippocampus. Chronic stress will literally cause your brain to shrink.

I was going to say, do you think that's a protective mechanism under stress, that we are shrinking our hippocampus, let's say, transiently or decreasing its function? Transiently, so we don't imprint that stress as strongly. And. And then when the stress goes away, that function is restored. And I guess that's different than somebody who's facing chronic persistent stress where that signaling is taking place. Um, I'm curious on your thoughts on that. I've never. I've never thought that, but I'm curious if there's any. Any correlation there.

Yeah, you have to think about the brain almost like as this ultimate factory assembly line. It's got the different areas that it needs to run and operate to be functional. Now, you can bias parts of that assembly line if you need more production in some areas. So acute stress may say, okay, we need this part of the brain to become more active, but it shouldn't stay that way. And that's where we're seeing a lot of issues with brain health, is it's not this temporary shifting of brain patterns. It's becoming more of a permanent pattern. And that's what's causing the part of the brain responsible for learning and memory to shrink. It's not just, okay, you got an acute stress for a day or two.

Okay, so it's that persistent stress. And, you know, stress comes in different forms, right? There's emotional stress, there's environmental stress, there's toxic stress. Let's talk about the three different forms of stress. And maybe there's others that I missed. But how do those affect the brain? Do they affect the brain equally? Do they affect the brain differently? Something like, you know, an emotional stressor versus an environmental stressor, like mold. What's the difference there?

Yeah. So those can, you know, sometimes there's going to be an overlap in how it impacts the brain. Other times it may impact it a little bit more specifically. For example, you get things that you're smelling. Those can get into your sinuses and then more susceptible to impacting your frontal lobe, which is the part of our brain that makes us who we are. Whereas more of the emotional stressors can do our. More of our fear and aggression response, which is much more of Almost in like the middle of the brain. It's in the primitive part. That's all about survival. And so it can impact one area more than the other.

Okay. No, it's so fascinating, right? To understand that better, when we think of our brain, we kind of think of just one big, you know, blob in our, in our head, in our skull, but it's divided into different compartments and different emotions and states and environments and inputs will affect different regions of it. So thank you for sharing that. Tell me a little bit more about, you know, with, with brain health. Is it ever too late? Because sometimes, you know, you hear that, right? That, oh, it's too late for me to change anything about this, or I've been this way for many, many years. Uh, what's your take on that?

Yeah, if you're able to think and function on your own, it's not too late, right. If you're an end stage Alzheimer's, dementia, you know, I really wish there was something that could be done. There's not. But if you're able to take care of yourself, it's not too late. And once again, going back to dementia, being 20 to 40 years in the works, by the time someone gets a diagnosis, you wouldn't say, well, my house is burnt down. 50%, most of the rest burned down. Like, you wouldn't do that. You would want to salvage whatever you could salvage because there are cherished memories, there is in there that you don't want to lose. And we need to do the same thing with our health and realize even if you are 50 or 60 or even 70, it's not too late. Like, if you're able to take care of yourself, guess what? Start now, don't wait.

Yeah, it's probably never too late, but it's also probably never too early, right, to get started. So if somebody doesn't have a traumatic brain injury. So as far as I can recall, unless I got injured and forgot it, I've never had what we would call a traumatic brain injury. What can someone like myself do to improve and optimize brain function? Because really, as you and I know, it's this brain that separates us from all the other animals on this planet. Right? We're not super strong, we're not the tallest, we're not the fastest, but it's really our mind and our brain that has that capability of creating an amazing life. And we probably take it for granted. I'm sure there's times where I take it for granted, but there are many people like myself who want to improve cognitive function. What are some things that they can do that could be helpful?

Yeah, so there are many things, but I've got my four basics that I go over with everyone. How you eat, how you sleep, how you stress and how you exercise. Line all four of those up and then you can go on to the fancier stuff. Like, if you're not eating foods that are nourishing for your brain, why spend the extra money on fancier stuff? You're not going to get the outcome. If you live in a hostile environment where you've got chronic stress because of bad relationships, whether at work or home, there's no amount of supplements that are going to make up for that. If you're not moving and exercising, and it's not just going to the gym every day, it's just moving. And then lastly, if you're not getting the sleep you need, if you're not really taking that and treasuring it, if you don't sleep well, your brain, the garbage man, doesn't show up that week to take out the garbage because it's when you sleep is when your brain removes all the waste, but only if you can get into the proper stages of sleep.

Yeah, so, so important, you know, like the thing with sleep is that it's not sexy. And, you know, people almost have trauma around it because they were punished as children, right? They were told if they got in trouble, they were told to go to their bedroom and go to bed early and. And now as adults, they almost resist that unconsciously in some cases, I'm sure. But this has probably happened to you. This has certainly happened to us, where people will message us, you know, at 2 in the morning and they'll be like, they'll be complaining or challenged with their health or typing up an email just asking a question, and you're like, this is why you're not healing. It's because you're up at 2 o' clock in the morning in front of your computer and not sleeping. Have you, have you figured out why people are so resistant to sleep? I'm curious if you have any answers. I certainly don't. I love sleeping.

You know, I think it's one of those things that as a society we've always sacrificed, whether it was going to a friend's house and spending the night and sleeping over and playing video games all night, whether it's saying, oh, let's go to a movie, let's go to a restaurant and be there till midnight. Like, let's travel late. Like, sleep's always been One of those things that. Well, we know it's important, but if there's something else you could do, it's okay to sacrifice it. And there's the myth of you can make up for it down the road.

What are some of the symptoms of somebody who. Aside from being tired, of course, from a neurological perspective, what are some of the signs that they're not getting adequate sleep?

There's a variety of different stuff, but it can be problems with focus, concentration, depression, problems finding words, memory issues.

At a certain age, we kind of laugh off our forgetfulness and we say, oh, I'm getting older. What's your take on a statement like that? It probably makes you cringe, but what's going through your head when you hear that?

Yeah, it's one of those. What's our normal? This is a conversation I have with people all the time. Normal does not mean it's good or okay or acceptable. It just means it's common. And what's happening with our brain health is it's going to be normal to know as many people with dementia when you're 65 or 70 as you do without. And so if you're like, well, that's normal aging, I'm like, yeah, but that's not the aging I want. So that's not optimal or what we should consider acceptable.

Knowing what you know and seeing what you've seen. What are some things that you do on a daily basis to protect your brain and enhance its function?

One of the number one things is I guard my sleep, like, every single day. You know for a fact I'm going to be down in bed between 10 and 10:30. I'm going to sleep. I don't sacrifice it. I don't stay up and watch a movie past that time. It's like, nope, I can finish that another day. Next, I make sure that I eat fresh, healthy foods. I do some nutritional supplements every day, like glutathione, resveratrol, turmeric.

Okay. Anything else?

Exercise. So get your heart going. It doesn't have to be an hour, but just getting your heart going for 10 minutes still does a lot for your brain.

Okay. So circulation.

Circulation. I'm, you know, I've got access to some other things. I do hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

What does that do for the brain?

So one of the things that happens when our brain's not as healthy just doesn't get as much blood flow and oxygen as it should to the tissues, which prevents it from working in the way it should. So hyperbaric oxygen concentrates and allows for a higher level of oxygen get into your tissues for better healing. So those that really need it know for a fact, because they will go into hyperbaric, and they'll do one session like, it changed my life. Like, I have less fog. I have more energy, I think clearer. And it's like, okay, you've got a really big issue with how blood flow and oxygen is brought to your brain.

Okay. And then what's something unusual that you do? Is there something that someone might describe as, why do you do that? But it really makes a big impact for proper brain health. An example I'll give you is gargling. Right. Like, most people wouldn't think to gargle to help relieve their constipation. And. And tongue scraping is another one. Like, I used to wonder, why the heck did my parents scrape their tongue to the point of almost, like, significantly gagging themselves every day? I don't think they realize why they were doing it. But, you know, that's something that I do every day. And somebody who's not familiar with this would be like, why do you do that every day? What's something like that that you do every day?

I like using balance pads. So if I'm doing bicep curls, anything like that, it's like, let's stand with one foot in front of the other on a balance pad.

All right, so challenging the brain. So doing something that helps improve. Probably get more muscle recruitment that way. I'm sure more. More activation of the brain. Yep. Okay. Very good. Thank you. This is super enlightening. I can geek out with you all day on this. One of the things I also know that's important for the brain is community and having a sense of purpose and a sense of belonging. As someone who's been in practice for several years has a big vision and mission to help people, one of the things that we've been blessed to be able to do is work together within our mentorship. And I'd love to know what your experience has been working with us and within our community and also finding your tribe.

Yeah. So one of the big things, you know, is when you start off as a solo provider, you really cry that or crave that community because you need people to bounce ideas off to sharpen yourself against. And that was something I was really looking for. The other part was really being focused as an entrepreneur. It's easy to have a million ideas, you know, go in a super good, like, okay, six hours straight. I was just cranking it out, and then the next month It's. You're just like, okay, really didn't execute on that at all.

It's happened to us all. You know, I'm guilty of that, too.

And with joining the mentorship, you know, that was one of the things to. To do was like, okay, what are the resources that are there? What about the mindset coaching? Because part of it is we have to believe we're worth it, you know, like, and that not only are we worth it, but our patients are. Are fully worth it, too, because we all have our own kind of trauma, I think, from growing up with things that we've been told and by having others in our tribe who are like, no, you're actually really worth it. Like, don't cut yourself short. Because we often hurt ourselves as providers, and then we create more stress for ourselves, which ultimately impacts the care our patients get. So by having the right community, it's not just about us learning and growing, but it's a way to maintain the quality of care our patients get.

Yeah, I love that. What have been some of your reservations? I know you're big on community and finding the right tribe, but what have been some of your reservations in joining perhaps a group like this or any other group before? What's. What's your process like when you're deciding who you're going to work with?

Yeah, it's pretty long process, you know, because you. You do it enough. You're like, okay, I started with some of the lower groups that didn't have as big of an investment. I was like, maybe I'll get stuff out of this. And you're just like, I'm not getting what I want. So I was trying to cut corners and hope I could get it. And so then I had to step back and really started tracking people. And I said, okay, one, am I congruent with what they do? Like, do I really resonate with their philosophy and their approach of health? Do I agree with their business practices? That was a really, really big one for me. Because in the natural medicine functional space, there's a big spread between those who are like, well, don't ever give, you know, pricing until you actually can sit down with the patient. And then there are those who are like, you know what? Honestly, I would like to see what it is up front. And doing that and with having more of that transparency is where I really resonate. I'm like, you know what? This is a. I want a group where I resonate. My values are their values. And I'm not trying to. To compromise because I Don't want to compromise mine. But I also can't expect the group to compromise their values because I'm one person.

Right. That's such a good point. The values alignment is such a huge thing for us too. And we try to be very transparent with what those values are in the hopes that people who are aligned with their values can recognize that and say, hey, this is the right group of people for me to connect with. And, you know, finding the right community, especially this day and age, is so important. We know how important community is for our health span. We know how important it is, you know, for finding our sense of purpose and feeling, a sense of belonging. Sometimes us practitioners might not. We're a little bit extraordinary in our own special ways. Right. So we. We do things a little bit different. We have a different worldview than perhaps many other practitioners do. So it's always great to feel at home and find the people that you can really connect with and feel a oneness with. So you've been such a great asset to our community and so much that you offer and so much more that you will continue to offer. So I'm grateful for our friendship and, you know, I've learned a lot today, even from this conversation. So thank you for being such a beacon of light and sharing your work with the world. I'd be curious, what's next for you? What's next for your practice?

For me, it's, you know, there's a couple of different things I'm working on, but today just made another provider hire, which then allows me to step out of my practice more, and I really go into more of a mentor role for my two providers. But then I can also finally put the time into my practice without taking away from my family. When you're a single provider, it you're trying to see patients, but then you're trying to do the business side. And typically the business side comes at the expense of your family.

Right.

Whereas now I'm going to be able to really make that shift and say, nope, I'm able to reduce my patient load, but because I've got great providers, nothing's going to take a hit there. But it allows me to make sure I get more time with my family and letting the mission we have for my patients get the best care to continue to grow.

Yeah, it's a great feeling to finally, you know, have a business right. Where you can work on it instead of just in it. And I love what you said about family, because that's what drives me is, is how do I Help not only myself, spend more time with my family and loved ones, but how do I help others spend more time with their loved ones? So it's great to see that happening and hopefully more vacations and more family time are in order for you.

Yep.

Awesome. So, Spencer, if you had to. If you had to put one message out to the world with regards to their health, whether it's their brain health or just their overall health and vitality, what would that message be?

Your brain defines who you are and what your destiny and your potential is. So don't neglect it. Start doing things now. It's never too late to take the steps you need to get a better brain, because that is how you become your best self.

I love it. So clear, so articulate, and so simple, yet profound. Where can people learn more about you and your practice?

My practice is Idaho Brain and Body Institute. We are located in Meridian, Idaho, and so that'd be the easiest ways to visit our website.

Okay. Do you work with people virtually or is it online only or in person only?

We mostly work with patients who are in the office due to the type of care we see. But we do have patients who fly in from other states for the intensive care that we are able to provide.

Okay, awesome. And if people go to your website, would they be able to schedule a phone consultation to see if flying in is the right next step?

Yes. Yep. There'd be a free health strategy session where we learn a little bit more about you and see if that should be an appropriate step for you or not.

Okay. Amazing. Thank you, my friend. Appreciate you for sharing today and shining light on this super important topic. Here's to your brain health. Here's to the listeners. Brain health. Here's to my brain health. We need this beautiful crown jewel of the cosmos to be functioning. Not just a functioning body, but we need a functioning brain. And statistically, this is an area of massive opportunity. And I'm so grateful that people like yourself are doing this work to make the world a better, smarter, healthier place.

Thanks.

You're super welcome. Talk to you soon, my friend.

All right, we'll talk to you again.

All right, bye for now.