Transcript

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:00:01]:
Welcome everybody, to this edition of the Gladden Longevity podcast. I'm your host, Doctor Jeffrey Gladden. And today, Steve Ryder is playing hooky. I don't know where he is, but apparently he's on the road someplace. We'll have to catch up with him when he gets back. But I'm here today with a really interesting guest, Claudia von Bozenlager. I hope I didn't mispronounce.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:00:22]:
It's a hard name.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:00:25]:
It's good. Yeah, it kind of rolls off the tongue, right? And Claudia has been involved with some interesting aspects of life, if you will, everything from being an entrepreneur to being a life coach, a health coach, performance optimization trainer. And so we wanted to talk with her to kind of get her insights on several different topics. So welcome to the show.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:00:52]:
Thank you so much for having me. Such a pleasure to be here today.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:00:55]:
Yeah, absolutely. So tell us a little bit about how this all started. When you were ten years old, were you seeing that this is what you wanted to do, or how'd that start off?

Claudia von Boeselager [00:01:05]:
That's a really good question. And I joke sometimes to say I've had many lifetimes in this lifetime alone. My mother has a medical background and I was convinced I was going to go into medicine. I studied everything and my chemistry and my biology and organic chemistry and all these very fun things that we know is out there. And then when I was sitting down to do my college application and I was there and I thought, you know, do I really want to be in a hospital with like neon lights all day inside? And I was kind of like, hmm. And for whatever reason, it occurred to me, I'm like, maybe I should do business and languages first. So that ended up being my trajectory at the beginning and went on and had master's degree in business. And back in the day, you went into either investment banking or management consulting.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:01:45]:
So I ended up in investment banking, completely different space, but always was very entrepreneurial, so moved into.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:01:53]:
Let me just interrupt you for a second. There's a lot that we learn in the investment banking world. I mean, you learn a lot about other businesses, right? You learn a lot about how to value businesses, about acquisitions and structuring transactions.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:02:09]:
Yeah, politics as well, depends on different countries. You do learn a lot, and you work a lot of hours, so you can consume a lot of information in a few short years that would normally take a little bit longer. But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, as my grandfather used to say. And so from the entrepreneurial space, and then when I was in that space, I guess the idea of sort of health optimization and looking at things kind of biohacking trends sort of coming up. And I found it amazing that you could upgrade yourself. Right. And like, how do you show up as the best person, a version of yourself, every day? And that obviously is multifaceted, obviously from a health and wellness point of view, but also mindset and different aspects to that. And so, you know, well over ten years now, I was very interested in the space also just to be the best person I could for myself, my teams, etcetera, and digging into that.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:03:05]:
And so I think that's where the journey really began, and it really propelled.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:03:10]:
Let me interrupt you for a second there. So what kind of drove you to that sense of optimization? Was that based on, you know, you played sports in school or you found you met people in the investment banking community or what kind of drove you to that kind of conceptualization? A lot of people don't have that conceptualization of really optimizing their life, optimal living, that sort of thing.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:03:33]:
I mean, I'm a bit of an out of the box thinker my whole life anyway, and I'd say I'm an eternal student, hopefully till the day I die. So anything kind of new that makes sense. And I'm fascinated. Yourself included. Yeah. And I just love taking deep dives into stuff. And because I think in my always interest in medicine as well, you know, since I was about five years old, I couldn't go to a doctor's appointment without my long list of questions. And having researched things in advance, my mother was very on top of things.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:03:59]:
So I think that curiosity just continued. And I think also, you know, the fact that it was possible that there, this was a door to you could be a better version of you. Like, who doesn't want that? Right? I think, you know, most people, I think, essentially do. Right? And so I guess it's, you know, being curious. I think that is also a gift in itself. It can lead you down a few rabbit holes, but as a trait, to have to just always be like, okay, interesting. Like, this is new, this is different. Let me understand it more.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:04:30]:
Yeah, no, I get that. You know, in, in our world, we basically kind of tackle the whole optimization strategy, if you will, through four different circles. And I've added circles five and six. And the first circle is a life energy circle, which is basically focused on mindset. Are you married to your questions? Are you married to your answers? That continual curiosity, then optimizing mental health and feeling love, feeling unconditional love for yourself and then the idea of having great relationships, understanding what a great relationship is, what it takes to cultivate that feeling, joy and then feeling worthy. A lot of people don't feel worthy getting over that hurdle, feeling, you know, being drawn to be wise is another one. And then feeling safe. The ability to give yourself a sense of safety because nothing external to us can ever make us feel safe.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:05:24]:
And then the last two are really being spiritually connected. Everybody that's spiritually connected on some level, lives longer, does better, recovers better, and then I frame it as having this kind of energetic resonance with the universe, this greater sense of purpose of why we're here and what we're doing. Right. And so that sort of becomes the first circle, and it's really the one that everything else falls inside, which is then longevity, you know, going at the drivers of aging, all the health things, all the performance things. So I love that. Yeah, it sounds like in your journey, you've kind of addressed that life energy circle as being a piece of it. Has there been sort of a spiritual component to this or a meditative component to this, or do you want to talk about that a little bit?

Claudia von Boeselager [00:06:08]:
Sure, I'd love to. It's actually really, really favorite topic of mine at the moment. And I think we're all on our journeys and awakening journeys as well. So thank you for bringing that up. And I love what you just depicted there as well. Completely resonates. And I think, you know, I believe that children are all born, you know, very spiritual, very connected, very wise, very in the present moment, and we unlearn that in the educational system, which is based on 20 zero year old system of industrial revolution, and just we completely destroy all that creativity. And I guess, as Joseph Campbell really portrays in the hero's journey, it's a journey of going on a mission and waking up.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:06:47]:
And obviously, it can be very painful along the way. Right. We all have our stories. We all have the situations we go through. And as part of that waking up process, is also realizing that there are gifts in those challenges as well, and looking for the goal there, too. And just realizing that thanks to those things actually happening, what we maybe perceive as being bad, we've actually grown as a person. We've gotten so many other qualities and aspects of life, too. So that has also been a process.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:07:15]:
And looking back, obviously, I spent many years kind of not seeing that and thinking I had to have external validation, and I was never good enough. And all the stories we tell ourselves, and the master's degree is in here, and then you're kind of there doing it, and you feel empty. And I think it's one of the biggest gifts, however scary or however woo woo it sounds, is to embark on that path of awakening, of getting to know yourself better of, as you were saying, as well, cultivating that piece of self love, which is really hard for some. I mean, for me, it was always never good enough. Right. So how can you love yourself if you're never good enough, right. And everyone else knows better. They manage it, but you don't.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:07:51]:
And, you know, outside in, everyone's like, oh, everything looks great. And so, yeah, it's coming to terms with that and working on realizing that we're all connected.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:08:01]:
Just interrupt for a quick second, because I think this idea of external validation is so prevalent, and it's really, I think, to your point, it sort of starts in the scholastic systems, right, where it's really not about asking the right questions, about answering with the right answer. Right. And so it's all driven. And then you judge yourself based on your grade, and, you know, Susie or Timmy or smarter or whatever, and therefore, I'm not as good. Right. And so it leads to all that and all that self criticism around that, when really nothing could be further from the truth. So I think it's a challenge for many people, quite honestly, listening to this, the question I would ask yourself is, do you actually really feel unconditional love for yourself? Right. Just like, I mean, the first time I ever felt it was when my son was born.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:08:47]:
Right. And you have right in there. It's like, oh, my God. I've never felt. I've never felt anything like this before.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:08:54]:
Right? Yeah.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:08:55]:
And then it's like, wow. Well, I think little Jeff deserves that, too. Right?

Claudia von Boeselager [00:08:59]:
So, you know, through the years, because from that experience. So I'm curious again on this. Like, from that experience that you had when your son was born, did that self love stay, or is it something you have to daily cultivate?

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:09:13]:
No, no, it stayed once I flipped the switch. Once I flipped the switch. And the way I think about it is I think of myself as being three years old, right. Because he was little, and we're still little right inside. Like, when you see an adult, there's still a child, right, walking around.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:09:28]:
I'm a child, and I want to stay there until I'm 100, by the way. I don't want to grow up.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:09:34]:
I think growing up is highly overrated. So I see myself as a kid, and so it's kind of like, yeah, but when you were two and a half or three years old. I mean, how precious were you, right. And just feeling that unconditional love for. For him, it's like, yeah, I can feel that for me. I can totally feel that for me. And so once I flipped that switch, it was over. I've never looked back.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:09:55]:
So, yeah, I find also beautiful that inner child work to do. And also when things come up, a friend who's very conscious as well was saying, anything that triggers you is actually an opportunity to heal that because thank your body. Be like, that's a gift that's triggered me because that's probably something from unresolved trauma or whatever we want to call it from childhood. And so it's an opportunity to go back to that child, to that incident and just, you know, be there for that child as well. I actually, since doing some inner child work, I have a photo, a childhood photograph of, I'm probably a year and a half years old or two years old on my desk.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:10:31]:
Right.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:10:31]:
See it every day. And I think it's so important to connect in with that. Exactly.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:10:34]:
Absolutely. Yeah. I think a lot of that, you know, when you think about anxiety, stress, anger, frustration, all of it, a lot of it comes down to not feeling safe. We don't feel safe. And so we feel like if we achieve something or if we have something or somebody validates us externally, either because they love us or they give us a good grade or we earn a dollar, that somehow that's going to make us feel safe. But of course, that never does. Right. And so just like, we ourselves self love being able to reach down and give yourself safety, too, then that becomes kind of the magic combo for me, anyway.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:11:11]:
Yeah, I like that as well. And I think also one component, and I'm still learning this because sometimes I find that we often seek external things because we're uncomfortable with something. There's something inside that we're like, we don't like this emotion, whatever. And so what mentors of mine have taught me is, like, there's beauty in that. You just need to sit with it.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:11:30]:
That's right.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:11:30]:
And just feel that emotion. Don't try to get rid of it. Don't try to, whatever. But typically, you'll actually feel it release once you acknowledge it. It's like what you resist persists. Right. So the more you try to run away from it, the more you create it. And so that, in part also I would say as well to add to that is, you know, whatever that discomfort is that you're running away from, like a.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:11:52]:
That awareness is great because we just think we're looking for external things, be it food, be it shopping, like whatever, you know, people do, Internet, etcetera. And then just sitting with that emotion. And it's uncomfortable, but it's like a muscle. The more you do it, the more you're okay. And you surrender. And it's that surrendering, I think, is also a really big piece then into it.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:12:09]:
Yeah, no, I agree with that completely. And I think all of those things are kind of invitations to grow, and they end up making me ask the questions, you know, where is it in this particular space that I don't feel safe? Or where is it that I'm feeling something else? Or what am I reacting to? Or whatever, you know? And so a lot of it has devolved back to that not feeling safe comment, quite honestly. It's like, so then how do I give myself safety in this context? Right. And then, yeah, really through a spiritual channel. And then it's like, oh, okay, okay. I can deal with this transcendence.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:12:46]:
Yeah. And I think also the not feeling safe is feeling isolated, like you don't belong. Right. And so from. From childhood, etcetera. And so I think, you know, as part of the awakening journey that, you know, we think we're the wave, but we forget that we're the ocean at.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:13:02]:
The same time as well.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:13:03]:
I like that a lot. Yeah. And so the more we're able to realize, like, you know, any reflect, if you meet somebody and they have a certain emotion, anything you see in them is actually a reflection of something you have in yourself as well. And that, I think, is also giving me a lot to think about also. But, yeah, I just. There's so much beauty in these different modalities and spending time and enriching yourself. Where do you recommend people to focus on and to go through to go across prove this path?

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:13:34]:
I think the first thing is really being honest with yourself. Right. Where are the areas when you take stock of yourself? And the reason this is so important is because it really sets the stage for longevity, I think. So, you know, where is it that you don't feel love, you don't feel worthy, you don't feel like your relationships are good or you feel like you have anxiety or worry or stress or areas where you don't feel safe, and then when something comes up that triggers you to your point, I kind of run through those different things to figure out what's the thing that's kind of out of alignment. And then it helps me to start to dissect it. Okay, so what is that really, what's really, what's that really all about? Right. What is that really trying to get to? And so I found that that kind of both sitting with it while I'm actively sort of dissecting it at the same time helps me to kind of get to a point where I can see it for what it is and put it in its place and then sort of transcend it, if you will. So beautiful.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:14:35]:
Yeah.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:14:35]:
And it's so freeing then, as well, because you're not carrying a weight around on your shoulders.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:14:39]:
Right? That's right. And in relationships, when things come up, the same is true. Right. It's about, oh, that's interesting. Let's, instead of reacting, it's like, oh, that's interesting. Let's talk about that. Let's think about that. You know, how do we.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:14:52]:
And that's what I call having courageous conversations, because it's uncomfortable to bring up, but. But you bring it up in a loving context, and then, you know, you get places you didn't think you could go. So it's good.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:15:02]:
I love the expression that the quality of your life is a reflection of the quality of the questions you ask.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:15:09]:
100%.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:15:10]:
Having those uncomfortable conversations and really trying to understand the meaning instead of shutting things down or ignoring or running away, which I used to be a pro, and I'm like, oh, too stressful. Let me distract myself over here.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:15:23]:
You know, distractions run away. You know, there's many different things. Excuses, whatever else. Or reframes it. Yeah, no, I get it. We've all gone down that path. But I think in your journey, what I'm hearing is that kind of working through this area of your life has kind of enabled you in some of these other areas where you've been coaching and involved with the biohacking and health and wellness and things like that. Is that.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:15:48]:
Is that kind of right?

Claudia von Boeselager [00:15:50]:
But the more I spent time in this space, the more I would trained in this, the more I helped in this space as well. I realized, you know, if you have a lot of trauma, if you have a lot of unresolved trauma, you have to do that shadow work. Because what's the point of living to 100 or 150 or all these big claims, right, that we hear, if you're burning inside, if you're so upset, you can optimize all you want externally, but what's the point? And so I feel that when you do that work, when you take the time to do that shadow work, you not only elevate yourself. Right. And have that beautiful awakening, but you can also identify your purpose, and typically, that will be something that's much greater than you, why you're here. Right. And how you can serve the human collective, and then you have a mission and a purpose to live to 100 or 150, then it's like, yes, to longevity.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:16:40]:
That's right. Exactly. That's what I believe about biohacking. I'll just add this, because I'm thinking about what you're just saying. We talk about biohacking, and we do focus on the physical, but really, it's. It's about mind slash soul spirit hacking. People never name that, but that's as big and as important as the actual biohacking because a lot of the disease and aging comes from the, you know, mind soul. Exactly.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:17:07]:
Trashing the biology. So. Yeah, yeah. So even though we're spending some time talking about this, if you're listening to this, it's not because, oh, it's interesting and cool, and we can kind of, you know, vibe on this. It's because it's just so absolutely foundational and critical.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:17:21]:
Correct.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:17:22]:
Yeah.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:17:23]:
And I think sometimes I get clients like, well, where should I start? And so, obviously, if you're not sleeping, if you're eating McDonald's every day, all day, you know, it's going to be hard to be optimizing the spirit if you're not taking care of the vessel that's around it, your earth vehicle, if you will. So I think there are a few foundational things to get you into the state to then be working on other aspects to, too. And I think this kind of detox and declutter is always a good thing. If you feel like you need a change, what can you sort out? Eliminate from your life to create space and time for the absolute essential. And we know that we're in this hamster wheel, and we can forget what we're doing, et cetera. And just to think, do you want to be in the same place next year that you are today? And if it's yes, well, then, great, and go for it. But if it's no, then you need to carve out that time now to start making the shifts and the changes.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:18:16]:
It's really a really a wise statement that you just made. I will say that in our practice, working with people, that people come to us asking what they should do or what I should take or what I should add in. For us, it's really about what is it that we need to remove first? Whether it's toxins or toxic thoughts, or making space, as you say, to actually have the time, an hour a day. It doesn't take like 6 hours a day, but an hour a day. If you can devote an hour a day to yourself, what a massive, massive impact that will have.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:18:51]:
Yeah. And that daily because it's cumulative as well. So you're starting like you're building up that, that muscle, right? You're going interest, correct? Yes, exactly, exactly. And it's definitely very, the rewards are, it's definitely compounding.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:19:07]:
Right.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:19:08]:
It's definitely a huge reward as well on so many levels.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:19:11]:
Yeah, that's very, very cool. So tell us a little bit about some of your passions now in working with people, because you're working in several different spaces. It sounds like some coaching things and some other optimization things. Tell us a little bit about that. How does that play out for you?

Claudia von Boeselager [00:19:28]:
Yeah. So for me, I think especially when COVID hit and it was an accumulation of a few different things, some personal things. Also, my mother had a very bad fall, which propelled her dementia, which is so frustrating now because knowing what I know now, had we caught it on time, it's a 20 year in the making disease. We could have picked it up earlier, we could have resolved any of the markers that were out of alignment and she wouldn't be where she is now. And obviously there was COVID and homeschooling, which is, you know, I'm not the most patient of teachers, let's say. So all these different challenges and work projects that I was working on were put on ice, a bunch of them. And so it allowed me, I guess, as a gift, the opportunity to recalibrate a bit and think, what is it that I would love to do more of, and how can I serve at an even higher level? And where I really saw, and obviously because it was a health pandemic, more people were interested, more people that were realizing the traditional system of sick care isn't really serving them. And that route that it's going down, there must be alternatives, which I think is a gift to humanity for people to start waking up and realizing that's actually not our choice.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:20:36]:
What can I do now? And as we know, prevention is better than cure. So passionate about getting the word out and letting people know, like, you can do so much. You know, so many people die of chronic diseases, if caught on time, should never become a chronic disease.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:20:51]:
Yep.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:20:51]:
And so you can, you know, imagine, right, if you upgrade your health now and live that way for an extremely long time, like, how fun would it be to go dancing on the tables at 90 or, you know, Calaman Jarrod? 100. Like, whatever it might be.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:21:07]:
Exactly. Yeah. This is why, you know, in the book that I just published back in September, 100 is the new 30. Congratulations of longevity will enable us to live young for a lifetime. It's really about being young for a lifetime. Right. And. And the concept there is to have a 30 year old body and a 300 year old mind.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:21:25]:
Right.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:21:27]:
All the tranquility, all the wisdom that you have, all the fun of dancing on the table.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:21:31]:
So I know I've managed to get my biological age down to 26, so I'm now 16 years younger. I'm trying to get down to 20 and then keep it there till 100, 150 as well.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:21:40]:
Which biological age you measuring? Because I will tell you this right up front, and the audience has heard this, we're really a mosaic of ages. We don't have biological age or a single age, so we have. Which age are you referring to?

Claudia von Boeselager [00:21:53]:
So, the glycan age test, which is a measure of iggs. Right. The inflammation in the body.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:21:59]:
And 26 also.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:22:01]:
Ah, well, you beat me in terms of delta, but I think women are also a little bit more complex than men. But anyway, that's a different topic. For sure. For sure. But I think, I mean, I'm based on 20 years of research, like, in age. I know the CEO and co founder really well, and there are obviously different ones. And I know for some people they're like, is it really true? Is it just a gimmick, etcetera? At the end of the day, it's testing in, like, how do you feel? Do you feel healthy? It's good to have an indication. And at the end of the day, a lot of these things are measuring trends.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:22:40]:
Right.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:22:41]:
Is it trending downwards? Is it trending upwards?

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:22:43]:
That's right.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:22:43]:
And keeping an eye on them. Yeah.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:22:45]:
Very cool. Yeah. We've put together some protocols now that can significantly impact multiple biological ages, like glycan age, like DNA methylation ages and rates of aging and things like this, inflammatory markers, etcetera, which are pretty exciting. So linking together things like plasmapheresis with young plasma and then stem cells and then peptides, and you start to package these things together once and timing. Right. And then you can take somebody in there, fifties, sixties, seventies, and really turn the clock back for them, which is really exciting.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:23:20]:
Right? Yeah. What's your favorite patient story that you'd like to tell or share? Patient success story, I should say.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:23:28]:
Well, there's so many. There's so many. I think, you know, people come to us for a couple different reasons. They either come to us because they want to optimize, right? They want to optimize who they are. So we had a young guy in his thirties come to us who's in the financial world, runs a stock market kind of thing, or stock trading thing or whatever, and we tested him and some of his biological ages were coming back, like 40 years older. Telomeres were super short, high stress. Yeah. Liver function tests were messed up.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:24:05]:
DNA methylation ages were 1015 years older. I mean, really, really messed up. And I think the interesting thing is that people are going along and they know they're leveraging their health, they know they're burning the candle, but they don't really know what's the impact. And so he was wise enough to come in and say, hey, I want to get checked out. My brother's about to undergo a liver transplant. I want to make sure I'm not going down a similar path. And so, you know, when we checked him out, we did that, but then, you know, working with him for about 18 months, you know, all of that really dramatically improved. So that's super fun.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:24:46]:
Yeah.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:24:46]:
We have people that come to us with, you know, a problem, right. Like a guy with severe hypertension on four or five meds and so scared about what was going to happen to him because he's going into Afib that he couldn't even get out of the house.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:24:58]:
Wow.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:24:58]:
We had to go to his house to actually start the process, and then a year later, he's on one med and doing great. And, you know, I love these stories, these kinds of things. Right. So it's really about, quite honestly, it's really about unraveling the knot properly before you start the interventions is what it boils down to.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:25:16]:
Yeah, 100%. And I think some people are like, oh, can I just skip the diagnostics? I was like, you need to have a baseline. It's like, I don't understand. You need to start and understand where you are before you start taking tons of supplements that might even be, you know, relevant for you as well.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:25:31]:
That's right, yeah, exactly. No, I think that's the key. I find that people, however, tend to relate more to an intervention. Like, oh, come in and you'll do this to me, then they will come in and test me. That's a little bit more abstract to them. Come in and get tested. It's abstract. What are you going to find? What are we going to do? Because there's an element of unknown there, whereas if they're coming up, signing up to get a procedure, then I know what I'm getting? I think that's interesting.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:26:01]:
Yeah, no, I mean the process actually of building a new company in the longevity space as well, with using AI to provide an end to end solution, because there are so many data points and obviously there are clinicians like yourself and others, but not many. Right. That can interpret all that data, but it's rare. And that's, I think, one of the challenges of the current medical system. It's very siloed. Your brain health specialist doesn't speak to your gut, health specialist doesn't speak to your cardiologist, yet each of them will prescribe medication and give you protocols. So as like the end patient, if you're not understanding what's going on, like, it could be very detrimental to you and your health as well.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:26:40]:
Yeah, that's exactly right. Yeah. In our world, we really link all of it together. Right. Because we've come to be facile with all of it, which we feel like we have to, but the AI pieces is great. We've been working on some stuff as well. Maybe we'll compare notes. We've built out some things that are pretty interesting.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:27:04]:
Beautiful. We can have a discussion offline as well.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:27:07]:
Another conversation. Yeah, very cool. So I get your passion for this. And so you're working on building out AI. So what do you see yourself five years from now? What is the plan here? You're building another company to use AI to help people with health coaching. Is that kind of what I'm hearing, or is there something more?

Claudia von Boeselager [00:27:27]:
Partnering with longevity clinics and also creating spaces. At the end of the day, I believe that longevity should be everybody's birthright and not just for those who can spend $150,000 plus a year. Right? Yes, it needs to start somewhere. So I agree with that. But I believe that through technology it can allow price points to drop and to make it more available and also to automate teachings. I have a lot of doctor friends that are so disillusioned by being at the end of the spectrum and saying, you know, these are just extending lifespan by six months, twelve months. That's not why I got into medicine. I really want to help people, but I can't on an operating table.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:28:05]:
So how do I upgrade? How do I become a longevity spread? Like, what do I need to do? And so it's through technology allowing the reach to be expanded bit by bit. Obviously, we have a roadmap in that space as well, to democratize it, to make it more available, to help educate people to know that there is an alternative there is another way. And actually, a lot of the stuff. I mean, even people like, oh, it's so expensive. I was like, well, sleep is, you know, pretty much free, right? You need a house, but, okay, meditation, you don't need much. Your breath.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:28:35]:
It's also free.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:28:36]:
There's so many things that we can do that are readily available. Yes, there are expensive biohacks and stuff like that on top of it. But jump into the ocean, that's, you know, there's great ways if you live by the sea, right? There's so many things that we can do, and it sounds so basic. And people are like, oh, yeah, I do that anyway. But, like, do you really. Do you really do this every day? You know? And so it's just helping to educate, to have people understand what are certain protocols they can follow that will already augment their life. What are things that they really need to avoid? Because it's not agreeing with them, you know, slapping on a continuous glucose monitor for a couple weeks, even, just to see what's happening with their body. That's the beauty of the moment we're in.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:29:15]:
With precision medicine and these wearables, we can actually see something relevant to ourselves. And I'll give you an example. Like, in my sort of health optimization journey, I had my, you know, testing my continuous glucose monitor. I was doing my intermittent fasting, which now I know is not for women and not all stages of the month, right? And I was trying to figure out I had optimized my sleep and my sleep hygiene and all the routines, and I was wondering why it was showing that I was still waking up at night, but I wasn't waking up such that I would notice. But there was a cortisol response happening. And it turns out, because I had the continuous glucose monitor on, that I was becoming hypoglycemic, or low blood sugar levels during the night because of the longer periods of intermittent fasting, which was causing the cortisol response to waking me up. So I'm trying to optimize my sleep, yet I'm waking up groggy, thinking I'm doing a great job because I'm doing intermittent fasting. And so I realized, like, hey, for me, it's actually detrimental if I have too long periods of fasting.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:30:11]:
I need to have something. So I just solved it with some almond butter near to bedtime, and maintain blood sugar, glucose, sugar levels in the morning, I felt, you know, top notch, no brain fog, super fit. But find me many a doctor now. There's more and more coming right but that would check an oura ring and a continuous glucose monitor to make that diagnosis.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:30:29]:
Right? Yeah, no, we love. We love cgms, continuous glucose monitors. You know what's funny is I had the same, exact same thing. I was wearing it.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:30:36]:
Really?

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:30:37]:
Yeah. And I was. I was seeing certain foods. You know, genetically, I don't actually get the signal that glucose has hit my system. So, cretin system is a little bit slow, so I'm a little slow to the party. So if I do a glucose tolerance test, 75 grams of glucose, my blood sugar will spike to 100. 6180.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:30:58]:
Wow.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:30:58]:
Yeah. But then. But then I get the message, and everything comes in like gangbusters. And then two and a half hours in, my blood sugar's down to 45 or 50. You know, it's, like, over response. Right. So I'm slow, but it's not that lacking pancreatic ability. So what was happening was I wore the CGM and I found foods that actually were spiking my sugar.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:31:20]:
So that was helpful. But then, same with you, I went to bed, and all of a sudden, my blood sugars are 50, you know, at 02:00 in the morning or whatever.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:31:27]:
I was down at 40. Yeah, 40.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:31:30]:
Okay, well, even worse, right? So to speak. Now you're. Now you're worried about your brain cells, so. Yeah, but the thing is, if you don't test these things, you just don't know, and then you wake up feeling, well, I don't know, I guess I'm okay. But, you know, this is just not true. So. Yeah.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:31:46]:
And that's the beauty of precision medicine, that they're more and more available to us. And again, I always say to clients as well, you know, just test it, put it on for a week, two weeks. You don't need to commit to the rest of your life, but it gives you insights. Like, for me, big thing was sweet potato soup. I thought, you know, homemade. It was going to be super healthy. And I'm watching the red line as the blood glucose levels where climbing and climbing.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:32:10]:
So, yeah, I just got a text today from an athlete, a triathlete who just started eating sweet potatoes. He's like, oh, my gosh, I can't believe my blood sugar just shot up to 180 on the sweet potato. So, interesting stuff.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:32:24]:
So.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:32:25]:
So you're. You're creating a system to be able to guide people. I think this is very admirable. And you're trying to do it really in a democratized way, is kind of what I'm hearing to where more and more people can have access to it and some elements of precision medicine. Right. You're probably not.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:32:40]:
Yes.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:32:40]:
And glycan age and things, but. Or maybe you are, I don't know.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:32:44]:
Yeah, no. We want to be comprehensive. So it is a big, big task. We want to incorporate all the different aspects because again, like, if you're only looking at parts of it, you're not going to be able to optimize. So it's looking from the intake surveys to the longevity diagnostics, right. The head to toe pieces that we really do need. And then the results calibration together with a clinician, of course, and then certain protocols for the optimization journeys that can also be within clinic interventions. Right.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:33:10]:
And even the at home, the red lights, the saunas and the cold showers and all the other things that we know are good for us. And iv drips and whatever else people want to do. So that ideally within a six to twelve month timeframe, assuming a relatively healthy individual, not only will you have your markers in an optimal range, but you would ideally be reversing your biological age as well. And then thereafter, it's kind of lifetime maintenance to be able to maintain that. And so we're partnering with longevity clinics to help them augment that availability to the clinics, because often, I mean, I know myself, right, the clinicians see the patients maybe once every six months, depends on the patient, sometimes maybe even once a year. And they're like, okay, well, how are you feeling? How are you today? And you could be like, oh, today's great. It was amazing. But you might have forgotten that two months ago you had this horrendous virus.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:33:59]:
Your whole gut bacteria is totally flipped upside down. So through having the integration of the wearables within that, you have data points. So the clinician could be flagged if there is some concern along the way before you come in next time to better serve the patients, to better help them in their optimization journey so they can upgrade themselves, if you will, sooner than later.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:34:19]:
Yeah. Oh, beautiful. Yeah. In one sense, it's a common vision. Right. There are many people that have taught this thought. It's really in the, it's really in the execution of it that distinguishes it. So we have an amazing scene.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:34:35]:
Yeah, yeah.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:34:35]:
No, happy to discuss. Sure.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:34:38]:
Fun. So, so you're working on that and then are you also, do you have private clients and that sort of thing at this point in time, or are you focused more on this other?

Claudia von Boeselager [00:34:48]:
Yeah, yeah, I have, I have private clients, one on one clients, some group coaching that I do too. But as now, the new company Athena Healthspan is really taking off. I have to kind of reshift, reprioritize as well. And I think, you know, the alignment is there. And then I have also a podcast, longevity and lifestyle podcast. And normally, I'm at the other end of the microphone having wonderful conversations, but I'm an eternal student, so I just, you know, I'm always fascinated, always curious and love learning what people are doing and. Yeah. Connecting.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:35:20]:
Yeah. Beautiful. Well, it sounds like a really amazing process that you're working on, so thank you. Yeah. I really appreciate you being on the podcast. Really fun to chat with you.

Claudia von Boeselager [00:35:33]:
Yes. Thank you so much for having me on. This has been such a pleasure as well.

Dr Jeffrey Gladden [00:35:36]:
Yeah, absolutely.