Claudia von Boeselager: Ken, welcome to the Longevity & Lifestyle Podcast and our new exciting series on Longevity & Biohacking Products. It's such a pleasure to have you on today. 

Ken Davidov: Thanks Claudia. It's great to be on your show.

Claudia von Boeselager: Can you give a brief background, Ken, to yourself and your work at your company, RPW Technology. 

Ken Davidov: So I'm a lifelong product developer and designer of many different types of products. In 2008, I started an electric stimulation products company because I was very fascinated by the correlation between the human body and a mild electric current, and the benefits that come from that.

So from all of my experience of building products, really taking a risk, and getting into categories that I felt I could be really passionate about - and that they were useful for consumers - that's why I get behind anything that I do. 

So we have three products that are in this category of the human body and electric current. And what we're trying to be is at the beginning of what we call the electric current revolution. 

As you know, a lot of people are taking chemical stimulants for a variety of uses, and we are really the alternative to that. We're non-invasive, we're drug-free, chemical-free, and we've got some really incredible products. We've got LIFTiD, we've got Hygenius, and we've got SpoonTEK, but our flagship product is LIFTiD, our brain stimulation device. So we're really excited to talk to you about that today.
 
Claudia von Boeselager: I'm an avid user. I use it pretty much every day. So I really love it, and I'm excited to discuss it with you.

Let's dig into the LIFTiD device, and neurostimulation and neuromodulation in general. Can you talk about what neurostimulation is and the benefits of transcranial direct current stimulation or tDCS? 

Ken Davidov: Yes. Well, asking me about the science of neurostimulation, I'm not a neuroscientist, but I've worked with neuroscientists to build my products. You have to know a lot about what you're doing when you're building a product. So I've been a fast learner when it comes to neurostimulation. 

Neurostimulation is about the brain and its billions of neurons communicating with each other. And those neurons signal each other by using small electrical impulses. So what we do with tDCS or transcranial direct current stimulation, is that we provide a mild electric current that passes through two electrodes that are placed on the upper forehead area. It's an area called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. It's an area of the frontal lobe that's known for cognitive benefit.

What tDCS does is it provides a small amount of current that helps the neurons in that area fire a little faster. It doesn't make them fire, but it gives them a boost. By doing that, it makes those neurons, once they're firing, it makes the brain work a little faster.

What we're doing is, it's very similar to caffeine or sugary snacks, the boost you get from that, but when you're drinking a cup of coffee or you're eating a sugary snack, it's going to your heart, it's raising your heart rate, it's going through the whole body. And a little bit gets to the brain. And it gets to the whole brain.

So the benefit of what we're doing with our device, LIFTiD, is we're targeting an area of the brain that's known for cognitive benefit. So we get right to the source. And that current, about 25% of the current, actually gets into the brain. 

The other percentage is absorbed by the skin and the skull making its way through there. So you feel the stimulation that you've never felt before. For most people, it's like a prickly tingly feeling. That is tDCS. And then you get used to it. It really works well because it's 20 minutes once a day. We built LIFTiD based on clinical studies that were done on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

We also wanted to get to an area that was on the top of the forehead so we would have no issues with conductivity if it going over the hair or on different parts of the head. So it's, kind of, the magic spot for our device. 

Claudia von Boeselager: For people listening and just trying to imagine what it's like, I'm happy to share my experience with it. It's almost like you're wearing a headband, but you have two silicon pads, so it's very comfortable, that you wet with a bit of water with some salt in it. And you just feel a little bit of tingling. What are the best ways of using the device? 

Ken Davidov: You want to be doing a task while you're wearing the device.That's the whole key. It's the same thing if you were getting a cup of coffee, you're doing something, it's trying to give you that boost. LIFTiD is the same way when you're doing tDCS. You want to be active doing a task. 

Now, one of the things you mentioned about the device that we're really proud of is the way it fits. It's comfortable. We have these sponges that are very soft. They're smooth. The electric current passes very smoothly right through them. Also, it's easy to use our device. Like you said, you wet these sponges with saline. You put it in, you can get into a stimulation session within one minute. Also, our device has a really unique design because everyone's got a different shaped forehead. We developed an electrode design that fits everyone's forehead, so they get stimulation.

So you want to be doing a task when you're using LIFTID. What that does, and this is the big plus and the takeaway with what we do versus chemical stimulants is that tDCS induces what they call neuroplasticity, and that's the brain's ability to adapt and learn over time.

What happens is that the more you use LIFTiD or tDCS, the better you'll get over time. If you're using it for 20 minutes a day, you're getting used to this device and what it's doing and that mild electric current, as are your neurons, and you are going to get better at what you're doing. And that's what the big potential of tDCS is worldwide. 

So Claudia, to give you an example of what tDCS technology is doing for clinical studies, medical schools, all kinds of hospitals, for patients that are suffering from anything from Alzheimer's to early onset dementia, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s, overeating, sleep disorders, there are so many clinical trials being conducted that had been done. There are over a thousand clinical trials, and five thousand published studies on pubmed.gov, that talk about the benefits of tDCS technology. 
So we're really happy to be part of that, but the potential and the possibilities are endless. And that's why we're one of the first to come out with a device for it. And we've got a headset which makes it really simple for people to use. 

I also should mention that safety is another one of the reasons that there's so much potential with tDCS. There was a 2016 published study that showed that over 33,200 tDCS stimulation sessions, and over a thousand patients through all kinds of diverse cultures and different age ranges and demographics, that there was not one adverse side effect. The safety of tDCS is incredible. 

I think that, for your listeners, it's something that you can not only look up at pubmed.gov, but I believe it's the future. It's coming. I think that all the medical device companies, they're all looking at it now. We know that because most of the med device companies have bought our product.

Claudia von Boeselager: You talked about the safety, but I wonder is there any potential risks or is this product not for certain people with certain mental health conditions?

Ken Davidov: Yes. First of all, if you have a pacemaker, a defibrillator, any kind of implanted medical device, or even a plate in your head. In our manual, we are very transparent about safety. If you have a neurological condition, such as depression. Or any other condition, PTSD, ADHD, which are considered medical conditions, we don't recommend that you use LIFTiD. We do recommend that you try tDCS through a medical professional. There's a lot of options. If you live in most cities you can talk to your physician. There's been so many amazing studies on depression and tDCS and the benefits of using tDCS for depression.

Our device may not be for you for that particular condition, however, we are big advocates for the science. And it would be a real benefit to talk to people in the medical space in your area to see if you can go in office and try it. 

Also, just to let you know, Claudia we've been approached by companies that want to do clinical trials using our LIFTiD device. Pilot studies. Different trials. We've been talking to people in the concussion protocol space, stroke rehab, and even schizophrenia. Our device could eventually end up to be a take-home therapeutic, a "use at home" therapeutic. So we want to help out whichever way we can with products and with grants, because we think it's really important. And, like I said, this is just the beginning.

Claudia von Boeselager: Ken, can you talk about who benefits from using the LIFTiD? 

Ken Davidov: LIFTiD is particularly for grad students, college students, busy professionals, musicians, video gamers, athletes, anyone who's using chemical stimulants. Caffeine. Sugary snacks. Performance enhancers. All going into the body and raising the heart rate. So those particular people are the people that are putting a lot in their body all day long. Some of them, video gamers, are just trying to stay up and they're taking these energy drinks. 

So we're suggesting that you use LIFTiD as, it's a real advantage for those particular people because it will really help them health-wise, help them wellness-wise, and it will also help them with their performance.

It's just a matter of trying it. Even in your first day, some people say they feel it right away. We have people that are in all different age ranges. One of the groups is in the over 55 group, this baby boomer group that was born after World War II, the 1946 and up, that's one of the biggest parts of our population. And those people are very concerned with early-onset dementia and their memory and everybody has senior moments when you get up there, but we have a lot of customers in that age range that are using LIFTiD for memory. 

We have an 88 year old customer from Pennsylvania and he uses LIFTID five days a week. And he loves it. It's helping him with his focus and he says with his memory. Initially, we were focused more on grad students and video gamers, the busy professionals, we weren't really thinking about the older population. And that's the area that's really taken off. TDCS really does help with memory and focus. And that's a huge concern for people as they get older.

Claudia von Boeselager: I think also for younger people in the marketplace. It’s so competitive we're almost competing against an algorithm these days, right? If you're able to sharpen your memory and your focus, I know for me, it's fantastic. So I'm really enjoying it. 

Ken Davidov: Claudia, also I wanted to say that I listened to your podcast on sugar and I felt that it was really relevant to LIFTiD. Because consumers in general are putting too much sugar in their bodies. And that has real effects. One of the things that sugar does is that you crash after you come off of sugar. Some people go and take a nap after they have a lot of sugar. 

One of the benefits of using our product is that, not only are you taking a chemical out of your body, you're not putting sugar in and it's not raising your heart rate, but you actually don't get that crash feeling, you get the energy without the crash. So LIFTiD is a great solution to people that want to cut sugar out of their diet.

Claudia von Boeselager: Ken, you have some other excellent products that combine the human body with electrical current. Can you talk about them?

Ken Davidov: So we have two other products that are in our portfolio of the human body and electric current. One is called HyGenius. HyGenius is a toothbrush that uses a mild electric current, the human body, and a powerful battery, to loosen and repel plaque and bacteria from the teeth and the mouth. What the result is, is cleaner teeth, softer, less irritated gums, and fresher breath. 

And the reason I say that is because no one has an advanced manual toothbrush with electronics like our product does. So we're really excited about the way that oral care is being treated through a simple manual toothbrush and a mild electric current. So that's Hygenius and you can get that and gethygenius.com. 

Our other product is called SpoonTEK. SpoonTEK is the first commercial eating utensil that has built-in electronics to enhance taste and neutralize aftertaste. What that means is that our spoon literally excites your taste buds through a mild electric current. That small stimulation of your taste buds, it can eliminate the sour pasty aftertaste that most everyone gets from yogurt. Also, if you eat soup with less salt, if you eat ice-cream with less sugar and you use SpoonTEK, it can enhance that flavor and you don't have to have high sugar and high salt products. 

So we're doing a lot with this particular item. We just introduced it on June 30th, 2021. The older population that has problems, they're losing taste and they've got a lot of different issues with eating as they get older, but also for people that just have aftertaste issues and just want to eat healthier and put less salt and less sugar in their diet. If they try our spoon, we think that they're going to find not only benefit but I think that the experience of trying something unique that no one's experienced since they've been eating their entire lives, that in itself is really cool. And so you can get our spoon at spoontek.com. That's SPOONTEK.com.

So we've got "getliftid" for brain stimulation, and we've got "gethygenius" for oral care, and we've got "spoontek" for taste enhancement. 

Claudia von Boeselager: Excellent. Thank you for the summary. So if people want to order them, they can get them from the different websites. And I think you also mentioned that they're available on Amazon.

Ken Davidov: Hygenius and LIFTiD are both available on Amazon Prime. Spoontek's new, and you can only get that at spoontek.com. So LIFTiD is $149, Spoontek is $29, and Hygenius is $20. They're extremely affordable, you get a lot of use out of it. There's other competitors of ours that are in this space that are in the 300 to 500 to a thousand dollar category. 

And for your listeners at Longevity & Lifestyle, we're really happy to extend a 10% off discount on LIFTiD. We'd love to give you a discount code that you can apply on the LIFTiD website. We have them in stock and we're ready to ship right away. 
Claudia von Boeselager: That's so kind of you, can you share the code for people listening? 

Ken Davidov: The code is lifestyle10, so that's L I F E S T Y L E 10. 

Claudia von Boeselager: Perfect. And we'll also mention that in the show notes, that's very kind of you, Ken. 

Ken, to close, what is your advice for people who want to improve their memory and focus, and why is it important to start now?

Ken Davidov: I think focusing on brain health daily is super important, and using LIFTiD as a vehicle to improve and increase your memory, your focus, your attention, your productivity, and your performance is always a good thing to improve yourself. If you're looking for something new for the new year, I suggest you take a look at LIFTiD, take a look at tDCS, do some research, and I think you'll find that we have a great product and a great opportunity to improve your overall health and wellness.
 
Claudia von Boeselager: Thank you so much, Ken, for coming on today and sharing your wisdom on this exciting area of improving memory, focus, and so many other benefits as well.

Ken Davidov: Claudia, thanks so much. It was really a pleasure being on of your show, and I'm really excited that you gave us this opportunity.