Trauma, Burnout & Stress Are Making Your Cells Confused & Inflamed + How To Heal | Solo Episode

WATCH THE FULL-LENGTH EPISODE HERE ON YOUTUBE! 

I've never done a solo episode quite like this.

I've mentioned my dad here and there on this podcast and on social media. But I've never sat down and actually walked through what happened - what it did to me, and what came from it. So that's what this is.

It was a Saturday evening in 2023. I missed a call from my sister Amanda. She called again. I picked up and heard something through the phone I had never heard before and haven't heard since - her screaming, barely coherent, telling me our dad had been in a car accident. We still don't know exactly what happened in that car. What the autopsy confirmed was that there had been a cardiovascular event - he lost consciousness at the wheel, drove off the highway into the woods, and hit a tree at full speed. Gone in an instant. A man in his early sixties who looked like the picture of health from the outside.

What made it harder - and more beautiful in that uniquely awful way grief can be - is that my dad and I had a complex relationship for most of my life. We always loved each other. But we didn't always see eye to eye. And toward the end of his life, we had finally gotten to the best place we'd ever been. The last time I saw him was only a few weeks before he died. He came to see our new house. He was telling me everything he was proud of. He was excited about Gut Feelings coming out. And then he was gone.

I won't pretend 2023 was just that. The Gwyneth Paltrow episode controversy was happening simultaneously - edited clips from our podcast being misrepresented across every pop culture media outlet, my friend being dragged through something that started on my show. I was getting mocked for an alpaca sweater. I was seeing ten hours of telehealth patients a day. The book was supposed to be launching. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, my body stopped cooperating - food sensitivities I'd never had, digestive inflammation, burnout I could no longer deny. I found myself in exactly the position my telehealth patients come to me in: doing more than most, knowing more than most, and still spinning my wheels.

That entire season is what became Heal Your Cells. The Stanford research that found one in five people have a single organ aging faster than the others. The Nature Medicine study showing that millennials are aging faster than people born in 1965 at the same age. The information theory of aging - the idea that our cells haven't lost their DNA, they've just lost the ability to read it clearly, like a scratched CD that skips and stutters. Thirty trillion cells eavesdropping on every word we speak, every thought we think, every environment we put ourselves in. Living out of alignment has consequences that show up long before a diagnosis.

I feel better than I ever have. Dr. Axe - who almost died from a spinal infection and has his own version of this story - says the same. That's why we called the book what we did: Reversing the Irreversible. We meant it.

A few of my favorite things we cover in this episode: 

• A Saturday evening, a missed call, a second call — and a scream through the phone I'd never heard before
• My dad and I had finally gotten to the best place we'd ever been. He was gone weeks later.
• A cardiovascular event at the wheel, a car into a tree at full speed — the autopsy confirmed what we feared
• 2023 broke me: losing my dad, the Gwyneth controversy, the burnout, a body that stopped cooperating
• I found myself exactly where my patients come to me — doing everything right and still spinning my wheels
• 1 in 5 people have an organ aging faster than the others — 250% increased heart failure risk if it's the heart
• People born after 1965 are aging faster every decade — millennials faster than 1965 at the same age
• 38% of preteens are pre-diabetic. Common is not normal.
• Your cells are losing recognition of self — like a scratched CD where the data is there but can't be read
• The cell danger response: membranes harden, mitochondria release oxidative stress, sirtuins get lost
• 30 trillion cells are listening to every thought, every habit, every choice you make
• I came out of literary retirement for this — and Dr. Axe was ready to write the same book at the same moment
• Dr. Axe almost died from a spinal infection. He now feels better than ever. So do I.

Products Mentioned:  

• Heal Your Cells — pre-order now (free chapters, masterclass with Dr. Cole and Dr. Axe, and additional giveaways available with pre-order)
• drwillcole.com — consultation page for telehealth, DNA methylation/organ aging testing
• Gut Feelings by Dr. Will Cole (referenced — fourth book, 2023)

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Happy listening, and we hope you learned a little bit more on the art of being well!

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In Health,

Dr. Will Cole