Latest / The Bright Side of Longevity (Hosted by Dr. Roger Landry, MD, MPH) / E119: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Longevity - What Traditional Chinese Medicine Can Teach Us About Healthy Aging

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E119: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Longevity - What Traditional Chinese Medicine Can Teach Us About Healthy Aging · The Bright Side of Longevity (Hosted by Dr. Roger Landry, MD, MPH)

• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bright Side of Longevity. Join host Dr.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Roger Landry along with co-host Danielle Pai and guests as
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: they discuss the bright side of getting older through healthy longevity.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Guided by research, this lighthearted and educational show is brought
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  Speaker 1: to you by will leave you with practical ways to
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  Speaker 1: brighten your life's journey. Dr.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Yi Song, raised in Beijing in a 17-generation medical family,
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: trained in pathology at Brown University before focusing on regenerative
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: and holistic healing. She has operated a holistic clinic in
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  Speaker 2: Boston since 2004 and founded the Zenergy Retreat in Columbia
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: in 2018. where she offers advanced stem cell therapies, integrating
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  Speaker 2: stem cell therapy, traditional Chinese medicine, and healthy aging treatments.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Dr.
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  Speaker 2: Song aims to help people live longer, healthier lives. Today's
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  Speaker 2: topic is ancient wisdom for modern longevity, what traditional Chinese
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  Speaker 2: medicine can teach us about healthy aging.
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  Speaker 3: Music Well, welcome everybody to the Bright Side of Longevity.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: I'm Dr. Roger Landry, and I'm here with my esteemed colleague, Danielle.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: How are you, Danielle?
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  Speaker 1: I'm doing great, and I'm excited about today's topic.
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  Speaker 3: As am I. When I went to medical school in
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  Speaker 3: the dark ages many years ago, many decades ago in Boston,
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  Speaker 3: you know, we didn't hear anything about other approaches to medicine,
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  Speaker 3: you know, and it was a rare thing to even
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  Speaker 3: have it come out anywhere. We didn't have social media,
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  Speaker 3: and it certainly wasn't in textbooks, our textbooks. So, and
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  Speaker 3: I know that over the years, I have learned that,
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  Speaker 3: you know, the coming together of the two is only
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  Speaker 3: better for everybody, the patients, I think the practitioners, And
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  Speaker 3: so I'm very, very pleased to have Dr. Song with
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  Speaker 3: us today.
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  Speaker 2: Dr.
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  Speaker 3: Song, welcome very much. Be with us.
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  Speaker 4: I'm very happy to be here. Thank you for having
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  Speaker 4: me on your show.
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  Speaker 3: So I understand you grew up in Beijing, and this
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  Speaker 3: is unbelievable to me, but you have a family with
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  Speaker 3: 17 generations of medical practitioners. That had to be a
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  Speaker 3: lot of pressure for you.
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  Speaker 4: Well, when I was a child, they didn't put a
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  Speaker 4: lot of pressure on me for this, but somehow I
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  Speaker 4: just really wanted to do something related to medicine, especially
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  Speaker 4: relieving people from suffering of aging-related degenerative conditions, even back
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  Speaker 4: when I was six years old.
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  Speaker 3: Sure. Well, what did you learn about from that exposure
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  Speaker 3: that you had growing up, even before medical school? So
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  Speaker 3: What do you think you learned about health and healing, longevity?
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  Speaker 3: And there had to be things that were stimulating you
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  Speaker 3: to go to medical school, but what did you learn, say,
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  Speaker 3: even before that time?
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  Speaker 4: I think the most influence on me was from my aunt,
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: who studied with my great-grandfather, and she had her own
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: health problems. That's why she had a lot of Chinese
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  Speaker 4: medicine practitioners coming to our house, doing treatments to her,
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: including Qi Gong masters, meditation. So I actually started doing
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  Speaker 4: Qi Gong meditation around maybe 10 years old. And I
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  Speaker 4: felt the benefits of that. I also felt the energy flowing.
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  Speaker 4: So that's what really intrigued me. And but on the
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  Speaker 4: other hand, at that time, I was also very interested
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  Speaker 4: in science. I was also a very good student in
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  Speaker 4: science courses. So I always thought Western medicine has more
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: advanced knowledge and technology to study human body. That's why
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  Speaker 4: I initially wanted to go to medical school. But then,
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  Speaker 4: of course, after studying it, I realized I needed to
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  Speaker 4: go back to my family root to combine the issues
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  Speaker 4: if I really want to help people. Because using only
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  Speaker 4: reductionist methods in Western medicine is not enough.
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  Speaker 3: So you were the first to go to medical school
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  Speaker 3: in the West. Is that correct? In your family?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I guess so. Yes.
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  Speaker 3: The 17 generations. Well, you were a trendsetter. So traditional
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  Speaker 3: Chinese medicine and Western medicine, you know, as I was
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  Speaker 3: alluding to, and you have also that, Frequently, at least
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  Speaker 3: in the past, they look at disease, health and approach
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  Speaker 3: to health quite differently. So what do you see as
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  Speaker 3: the most important distinctions between the two and what you
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  Speaker 3: think we can eat in a general sense? What can
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  Speaker 3: we learn from each other at this point?
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  Speaker 4: I think the most distinction is the approach and philosophy,
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: fundamental philosophy, because Western medicine is based only on the
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  Speaker 4: past say 100 or 150 years of studying about anatomy,
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  Speaker 4: human body, molecule or cellular level study that's like within
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: the past say 40 years, we're more focused on the
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  Speaker 4: cellular level and molecular level. But in Chinese medicine, it's
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  Speaker 4: more focused on the energy, which we still don't have
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  Speaker 4: any equivalent study that we can point to saying in
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  Speaker 4: Western science saying, you know, this is the energy. We
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  Speaker 4: don't have any measurement of that. But everything in Chinese
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  Speaker 4: medicine is based on the energy flow and the communication
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  Speaker 4: between the human body and the environment and the nature.
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  Speaker 4: So that's why that part is very different. And the
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  Speaker 4: other thing is because Chinese medicine is more like macro.
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  Speaker 4: So it's not like a microscopic studying molecules or cells.
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  Speaker 4: It's studying the energy, so it's macro. It's about the
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  Speaker 4: different organs energetically connecting with each other as your body
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  Speaker 4: is as a garden. And so it's like talking about
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  Speaker 4: principles about what you should do to enhance your health
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  Speaker 4: and longevity, to optimize your body's balance, to optimize your
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  Speaker 4: body's connection to the nature. So that's all about macro
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  Speaker 4: vision instead of like a microscopic studying one molecule, one cell,
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  Speaker 4: that one signaling pathway. So I think that's when I
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  Speaker 4: really got disenchanted somewhat back then, 20 years ago, because
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  Speaker 4: if you only study one molecule, one signaling pathway for
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  Speaker 4: the rest of your life, you actually lose the sight
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  Speaker 4: of the whole body. And a lot of times, it
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: doesn't really work that well for what you wanted to
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  Speaker 4: achieve because you're only looking at one molecule. So that's
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  Speaker 4: why I really like the macro vision. But on the
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  Speaker 4: other hand, we also have better technology like isolating different cells,
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  Speaker 4: using different molecules to enhance our practice in health and
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  Speaker 4: longevity to help the body when the body needs some
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  Speaker 4: kind of boost. So that's why, you know, we need
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  Speaker 4: to combine both. But a lot of times when we
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  Speaker 4: really look at disease or aging related conditions, we need
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  Speaker 4: to look from the whole body, from the holistic view,
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  Speaker 4: so that then we can help people better. Because if
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  Speaker 4: you only treat the symptom, that's not going to treat
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  Speaker 4: the root cause of the condition.
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  Speaker 3: You know, you've been to medical school a whole lot
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  Speaker 3: more recently than I have. When you went to Brown
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  Speaker 3: Medical School, was any of this incorporated into your curriculum?
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  Speaker 4: You mean like about the energy macro vision? No, not
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  Speaker 4: at all. I don't think even nowadays, I don't think
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  Speaker 4: they incorporate that yet. Because I think, believe it or not,
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  Speaker 4: the modern Western medical system education was only set up
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  Speaker 4: about 100 years ago since John D. Rockefeller started the
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  Speaker 4: modern medical school system and medical education. So that's why
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  Speaker 4: our modern pharmaceutical medical system is not that old. And
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  Speaker 4: it's basically based on the studying of molecules, studying of
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  Speaker 4: one part of the body. And you don't really look at,
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  Speaker 4: you know, sometimes you have the symptoms in one part
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  Speaker 4: of the body, actually the root cause coming from some
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  Speaker 4: other parts of the body, not just that one part
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  Speaker 4: you're showing symptoms.
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  Speaker 3: Well, you have a huge head start on us and
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  Speaker 3: we're glad you do.
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  Speaker 1: I love that holistic approach because I know many of
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  Speaker 1: us as we age, you go to one doctor for
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: something that's wrong and then they send you to another
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  Speaker 1: doctor and then And I liken it, and I've mentioned
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  Speaker 1: this before on the podcast, the tail of the elephant
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  Speaker 1: and the three blind men. One's got the trunk, one's
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: got the tail, one's got a leg, and then they
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  Speaker 1: all have three different diagnoses. So the idea that you're
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  Speaker 1: combining a holistic approach really resonates with me. And I
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  Speaker 1: do have a question. One of the central philosophies of
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: traditional Chinese medicine is maintaining balance and preventing illness rather
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  Speaker 1: than just treating the symptoms, as you've mentioned. How does
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  Speaker 1: this philosophy apply to healthy aging as we enter our 50s, 60s, 70s,
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  Speaker 1: and beyond?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, so for healthy aging, we have to start looking
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  Speaker 4: at our body even before we reach 50, because our
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  Speaker 4: body actually starts the aging-related decline, maybe around 28 for
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  Speaker 4: women and 32 for men. But of course, around that time,
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  Speaker 4: we didn't notice that because it was very small, gradual decline.
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  Speaker 4: So we need to look at our body actually from birth.
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  Speaker 4: So that's one of the principles I wrote in my book,
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  Speaker 4: Regeneration Effect. Everybody needs to recognize their body type and
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  Speaker 4: their body's constitution. It doesn't mean you only need to
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  Speaker 4: just do genetic testing to see what your genetic background is,
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: but that includes the genetic testing. On the other hand,
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  Speaker 4: like we already said, in Chinese medicine, we actually look
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  Speaker 4: at a lot of things in the energetic level. So
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  Speaker 4: a person's constitution from birth is directly inherited from the parents.
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  Speaker 4: the energy from the parents. When your mother is conceived
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  Speaker 4: with you in the uterus, in the womb, she also
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  Speaker 4: transfer her energy to you. So when the mother, if
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  Speaker 4: the mother, for example, has nine kids in her whole
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  Speaker 4: fertility period of fertility time, then usually the kids towards
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  Speaker 4: the end of the whole family, they actually inherit less
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  Speaker 4: energy because by that time she already transferred a lot
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  Speaker 4: of her energy to her older, the older siblings of
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  Speaker 4: the younger child. And then the youngest one, sometimes they
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  Speaker 4: would have the weakest congenital energy inherited from the parents.
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  Speaker 4: But that's not like a absolute, but And if you,
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  Speaker 4: like my parents, they didn't have a lot of nutrition.
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  Speaker 4: And my mother was in a remote area due to
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  Speaker 4: cultural revolution. So because of that, she also had a
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  Speaker 4: lot of deficiencies from birth because when she was born,
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  Speaker 4: my grandmother was in the cultural revolution center for communist party.
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  Speaker 4: And then that time she didn't have a lot of
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  Speaker 4: food either. So that certainly affects my body's constitution. And
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  Speaker 4: also I inherited a certain energetic condition from my parents too.
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  Speaker 4: So when I was born, I tended to have a
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  Speaker 4: lot of eczema, I had a lot of damp heat,
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  Speaker 4: according to Chinese medicine doctors. So I would have symptoms
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  Speaker 4: for that. So I recognize that's what my body comes from.
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  Speaker 4: And there's no way I can change that. But what
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  Speaker 4: you can do is if you realize your body has
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  Speaker 4: this constitution, like I have some digestive system weakness, that's
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  Speaker 4: why I also have the damp heat, then I can
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  Speaker 4: actually strengthen the weakness I have in my body, and
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  Speaker 4: also moderate the excess I have so that I don't
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  Speaker 4: have symptoms. So that's why, because I have damp heat
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  Speaker 4: from birth, when I was in my 20s, I had
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  Speaker 4: a lot of acne. And that is actually when I
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  Speaker 4: started treating myself with Chinese herbal medicine because my acne
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  Speaker 4: was so bad and I didn't want to take Western
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  Speaker 4: medication for that. And that really helped me a lot.
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  Speaker 4: And from there, I also had some other issues symptoms
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  Speaker 4: related to that. So basically to help your body age better,
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: in better balance, you have to recognize your body's constitution
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: from birth and also from postnatal life. You can also
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: affect your body's energy. So some other aspects of your
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: body's weakness or excess can be also from postnatal lifestyle.
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  Speaker 4: and then you need to adjust that to moderate the
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  Speaker 4: excess and strengthen the weakness, then that's how your body
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  Speaker 4: can be in balance. And only if your body can
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: be in long-term balance can your body achieve optimal health.
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  Speaker 4: Because if you don't address those minor imbalances, even if
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  Speaker 4: you don't have symptoms, over a long period of time,
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  Speaker 4: When we get to 50s, 60s, that's when all these
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  Speaker 4: imbalances accumulate over decades and then they start showing up
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  Speaker 4: as aging-related degenerative conditions.
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  Speaker 3: Fascinating.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: So this has a two-part question. I'm wondering for those
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: of us who are listening who are older, I'm in
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: my 50s, many of our listeners are in their 70s
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: or 80s. Is there hope if we didn't start and
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: get that.
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  Speaker 2: Blueprint when we're younger?
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  Speaker 1: And I won't blame my mom. I was the youngest.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: So in traditional medicine, is this an inevitable process of decline?
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: Or is there a different way of understanding later stages
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: of life? So if people are hearing you for the
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: first time and are like, oh, my gosh, I'm too
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: late to the party, what can they do?
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: Okay, so that's another thing I talked about in the book.
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: It's never too early, it's never too late. So of course,
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: early prevention is the best, right? The earlier you act,
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: the better you achieve the balance and harmony and also
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: healthy aging. But it doesn't mean it's too late now.
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: So it doesn't matter where you're at now, even if
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: you have a lot of chronic conditions, you start now
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: to address these things, you actually are way better off
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: in the next 10, 20 years than if you don't
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: do anything or you just simply take medications to put
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: Band-Aid on your symptoms.
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: So Chinese medicine, we're talking about the balance, but you
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: also put much strength and belief in emotional balance and
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: emotional well-being and its relationship to physical health, which is Certainly,
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: I think even Western medicine has learned that for sure.
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: We put ourselves under so much stress these days and
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: with concomitant poor statistics regarding heart health and everything. So
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: we're learning that. But how are emotions, fear, anger, happiness,
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: stress and stress in general? How do you view them
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: in Chinese medicine and what practices might help us maintain
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: emotional balance in our lives?
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so even in Western medicine now in the past
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: 10 years, a lot of people start talking about mental wellness.
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: And also people start talking about the connection between your
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: brain and your gut. So people looking into microbiomes in
• 17:46
  Speaker 4: your gut, and then they say a lot of microbiome,
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: your bacteria, flora, can be actually related to your emotion.
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: If you have too much emotional stress, and in Chinese medicine,
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: the energetic level, when you have a lot of emotional stress, anxiety, depression,
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: all these things, actually the first place they act on
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: will be your digestive system. That's why a lot of
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: people when they feel anxious, they feel depressed, they actually
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: would feel digestive system upset. They would have stomach ache,
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: or some people say they feel butterfly sensation in the stomach.
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: So that is the connection between the brain or your
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: mental wellness to your digestive system. So that's why a
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: lot of people having long-term stress, they would have digestive
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: system symptoms like IBS or even ulcerative colitis. So what
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: we do actually, we need to recognize that. Again, for
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: emotional wellbeing, that actually is a part of your body
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: that's actually you need to constantly work on in our
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: modern society because our modern society has a lot of
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: stressors in our life we cannot avoid. So basically you
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: need to learn how to deal with all these stressors
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: well so that you don't stress your own body physically.
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: And by doing that you need to like first you
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: need to understand how to look at things in a
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: different perspective, so that you don't get upset you don't
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: get stressed out from you know small things and then.
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: If the stress does come and there that's inevitable, then
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: you need to know how to. help yourself relax, not
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: like really put a lot of stress on your body.
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: So that's the most important part. And also we look
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: at the body as a garden. So the reason when
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: you're stressed out, your body actually is affected physically is
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: because when you are stressed out, it's like the irrigation
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: system in the body, in the garden got clogged, right?
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: So it has a certain area that builds up so
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: much pressure. And then in certain area in the garden,
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: there's no water because the other... somewhere far away is
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: clogged because of the stress. So that's why we need
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: to recognize all these things to address the good flow
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: of the irrigation system throughout the body.
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: Hence the importance of meditation and mindfulness, which I'm sure.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: Mindfulness is a recurring theme on the bright side of longevity.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: If you are curious about developing or enhancing a meditation
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: or mindfulness practice, we encourage you to visit Insight Timer,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: where co-host Danielle Pai has a series of free mindfulness
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: tools to support your well-being. Details are in the description
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: of this episode. So as you're talking, I wish we
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: had this conversation years ago. So I work as a
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: coach in the mental health space, and I talk to
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: hundreds of people. And the first year as a coach,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: I was hearing so much stuff coming at me. And
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: just like you said, digestive headaches, I'm like, why is
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: my body reacting this way? And it was all related
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: to being able to be compassionate and care about people,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: but also protect myself. And so learning the tools. So
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: when you said the irrigation and everything's getting clogged, I'm like,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: that was me. And I had to really adjust how
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: I approach people, how I practice, as you said, Dr. Roger,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: meditation and And I have a very strict practice for
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: myself now. So thank you for sharing that analogy with us.
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: Oh, and learning it more and more, you know, with
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: irritable bowel syndrome, as you said, and Crohn's disease and things.
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: But those are probably the extremes. I mean, just discomfort and, well,
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: it's been a long time in coming, but we should
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: have been listening to Chinese medicine a lot sooner. So
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: We're glad we're at least open to it now. So
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: what practices do you believe have the strongest, I won't say, well,
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: I'll say Western, but I don't mean just Western research.
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: Which ones have the strongest research support for them? And
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: which ones from a Western point of view need more
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: research in order to be more fully adapted to Western medicine?
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: Hmm. So I think originally when I was starting practicing
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: Chinese medicine 25 years ago, at that time I was
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: thinking Chinese medicine philosophy is more for helping people maintain health,
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: having optimal balance. And then Western medicine is more for
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: emergency conditions, like if you break your leg or you
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: have infection, you do need to use antibiotics. Or if
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: you have appendicitis, then you need to have surgery to
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: remove the appendix, inflamed appendix. But over time, especially since
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: I started doing stem cell treatment, I realized actually sometimes
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: even in those emergency situation, you actually don't need to
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: resort to, say, certain drastic treatments, and you can still
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: heal yourself because your body has the ability to heal itself.
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: So for me now, I would say for Western medicine,
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: the strength is still in treating emergency urgent care situations.
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: And sometimes even when you break your bone or you
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: sprain your ankle or break your... tear your ligament, I
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: think there are also better ways to treat that than
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: just using painkiller or surgery. So I think if you
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: combine the Western medicine treatment for certain conditions, like even
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: when we do stem cell treatment for some people's back
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: condition or autoimmune condition, in certain cases, you still need
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: to combine some Western medications for them. So that's like,
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: basically that's where it becomes like, you know, you need
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: to integrate both. And also on a lot of diagnostic front,
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: I would say, because Chinese medicine is mostly talking about energy,
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: so it doesn't really have the specific diagnostic to show
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: you where your body is wrong. But of course, a
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: lot of people, when they're in suboptimal health, even though
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: they do the blood test, it shows everything's normal. So
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: that's a different case. But then when people are really sick,
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: or if they already have a diagnostic, say like Parkinson's
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: or Alzheimer's, then I think Western medicine has better measurement
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: for even like you use a holistic approach. You want
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: to see how they progress with the treatment. So then
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: Western medicine has better measurement for the progress.
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: What sort of conditions are you using stem cell therapy
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: for right now?
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: We actually use a lot for orthopedic conditions. So even
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: like younger athletes in their 30s, teenager years or twenties,
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: they injure themselves and they cannot heal themselves fast enough
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: to get back to their performance level. Or people older,
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: they have osteoarthritis, that's very effective so that you don't
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: have to go through joint replacement. We also treat people
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: with neurological conditions like Parkinson's, early dementia. to slow down
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: the progression of the condition. And also for autoimmune conditions,
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: because the stem cells, this type of particular type of
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: stem cells are very good at regulating immune system. So
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: for any kind of autoimmune conditions, if you use these
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: stem cells to treat, to regulate the immune system, you
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: can actually reduce the damage in the long run to
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: your body and tissue. And then the other thing would
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: be COPD, chronic bronchitis, a lot of these conditions, people
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: just take a steroid inhaler or, you know, they don't
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: have a lot of solutions to treat those symptoms. And
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: then they still suffer from all these conditions and then
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: it can progressing over a long period of time. So
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: that's also another area that's this type of stem cells
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: are very good at.
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: I just had a total knee replacement. Maybe we should
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: have talked to you a year ago.
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: I know.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: I'm writing down her number like, okay, how do we
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: stay in touch after this show?
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: Did you have both knees replaced?
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: Well, I have, but it was 20 years ago for
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: the first one, and that was just partial. This was
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: a total just a few months ago, just a single one.
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: I also had an ankle replacement. It was a bad
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: accident I had a long time ago, but it's all working.
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: But I am very optimistic about stem cell therapy and
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: what's happening with you in Chinese medicine in Europe. And
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: the more we're adapting it more and more, I know,
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: within Western medicine. So very exciting, optimistic area. I'm glad
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: you're in it. Thank you.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: So you emphasize that health isn't a one size fits all.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: how does traditional Chinese medicine determine what one person needs
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: to thrive versus another as we age? You've kind of
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: touched on it already, but with a little more knowledge.
• 28:03
  Speaker 4: Yes, we talked about how we need to recognize our
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: each person's constitution. So once you recognize your body's unique
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: body type, because everybody's different. Like I said, I have
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: more damp heat and maybe some other people, they have
• 28:17
  Speaker 4: more cold feature instead of heat. So then in that
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: kind of case, different lifestyle practices suit different body types.
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: For example, for me, because I also have some digestive
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: system weakness from birth, so it's not good for me
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: to eat a lot of raw food, cold food. So
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: I prefer eating, drinking room temperature drinks or warm drinks,
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: not really cold drinks. If I drink too much ice drinks,
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: it may not help my digestion. But then for some
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: other people who have very strong digestive system from birth,
• 28:55
  Speaker 4: they can eat all the cold food they want, right?
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: Or for some people, maybe they need to eat more
• 29:03
  Speaker 4: protein and then they can eat more high fat diet.
• 29:09
  Speaker 4: But then for some other people, they have to eat
• 29:12
  Speaker 4: less fat and then they have to eat more vegetable,
• 29:16
  Speaker 4: more plant-based protein. So that's why everybody's different. Or even nowadays,
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: people are looking into many different devices or techniques to
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: help the health. Like, you know, say even doing sauna,
• 29:34
  Speaker 4: like some people they're suitable to do sauna and they
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: benefit from it. But some other people, the body type
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: actually doesn't, their body is not suitable to do too
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: much sauna. And then also like for me, I like
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: doing right leg therapy for myself. I do it, if
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: I can, I do it every day. But if I
• 29:54
  Speaker 4: cannot do it in the morning, I would not do
• 29:56
  Speaker 4: it in the afternoon because when I do it in
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: the evening time, It actually affects my circadian rhythm. So
• 30:02
  Speaker 4: everybody's different.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: So you answered most of my next question because the
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: Western dietary recommendations are different from Chinese medicine, which you
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: focus on food and individual constitution. Can you talk a
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: little bit about seasonal eating? How does that differ from
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: the Western diet?
• 30:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so that again also matches each person's body type
• 30:27
  Speaker 4: because if some people's body type is more wood because
• 30:32
  Speaker 4: there are five elements and then if you're a more
• 30:35
  Speaker 4: wood type body, you actually have more liver energetically in
• 30:42
  Speaker 4: your body, then you should eat more food that actually
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: can harmonize that wood element. So that would be something
• 30:52
  Speaker 4: that belongs to water or metal. So that would be
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: something like more fluid type of food or something having
• 31:04
  Speaker 4: more astringent taste, that type of thing, instead of, or
• 31:10
  Speaker 4: even something like bitter that will help harmonize the wood element.
• 31:14
  Speaker 4: So that's where the Chinese medicine theory comes in. And
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: I just went to Japan last month in October for
• 31:23
  Speaker 4: a meeting about health and longevity, but mostly in Western technology,
• 31:28
  Speaker 4: like a stem cell or even like gene therapy. But
• 31:34
  Speaker 4: I went to Okinawa where supposedly there are more centenarians
• 31:39
  Speaker 4: in Okinawa than anywhere else in the world. And that's
• 31:42
  Speaker 4: part of the blue zone. So the traditional Okinawan diet
• 31:47
  Speaker 4: is really like what they can grow in their garden
• 31:51
  Speaker 4: and then they follow the season. So it's not like
• 31:55
  Speaker 4: us right now living in the city, we basically have
• 31:58
  Speaker 4: all kinds of access to different types of food from
• 32:03
  Speaker 4: all over the world. It doesn't matter whether we grow
• 32:05
  Speaker 4: it here or grow it there, we have it, we
• 32:08
  Speaker 4: have access to it. But then you have to look
• 32:10
  Speaker 4: at which type of food in what season is suitable
• 32:14
  Speaker 4: to your body type.
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: If you could change one commonly held belief about aging,
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: which is wrong, if you could change it, what would
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: that one be?
• 32:27
  Speaker 4: I think some people nowadays, like you know, they are
• 32:33
  Speaker 4: calling themselves biohackers. And then some of them, they say
• 32:37
  Speaker 4: they want to live to 150 years old or 180
• 32:39
  Speaker 4: years old. or some say they can live to 300
• 32:44
  Speaker 4: years old, or some even say they try to be immortal.
• 32:48
  Speaker 4: I think that's not possible because our body is designed
• 32:54
  Speaker 4: having the beginning and the end. That's basically the life
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: cycle on earth. You don't see anything that's perpetual in
• 33:03
  Speaker 4: the universe right now. Everything has beginning and end. So
• 33:07
  Speaker 4: for human being, that's the same thing. And even back
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: in 6,000 years ago, in the classic texts of Chinese medicine,
• 33:14
  Speaker 4: the Yellow Emperor's medical canon, they already talked about that
• 33:19
  Speaker 4: human beings' maximum lifespan is 120 years old. And actually
• 33:24
  Speaker 4: modern research also proved that they think that human maximum
• 33:30
  Speaker 4: lifespan is around 120. But of course, for each person, again,
• 33:34
  Speaker 4: due to genetic, post-natal life, everything, then everybody's maximum lifespan
• 33:41
  Speaker 4: can be different. Maybe some people is 100, some people 110.
• 33:46
  Speaker 4: Then what we can do is we can lift our
• 33:50
  Speaker 4: genetically allowed maximum lifespan for each person with vitality and
• 33:57
  Speaker 4: with good health so that we don't suffer from degenerative
• 34:03
  Speaker 4: conditions associated with aging and we can still enjoy life
• 34:07
  Speaker 4: in the last 40 years if we live to 110.
• 34:11
  Speaker 4: So that's my goal. And I don't believe those misconceptions
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: about saying, oh, if you follow these biohacks, then you
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: can actually live to 150 or even 200. I don't
• 34:22
  Speaker 4: think that's possible.
• 34:26
  Speaker 3: Thank you for saying that. That has been a pet
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: peeve of mine for some time now. What we're talking
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: about is the compression of morbidity, correct? Limiting the time
• 34:37
  Speaker 3: that we are sick and impaired.
• 34:41
  Speaker 4: And I think it's possible that if we do everything
• 34:44
  Speaker 4: we can holistically, then we act or address everything in
• 34:48
  Speaker 4: early stage. It is possible that we don't suffer any
• 34:53
  Speaker 4: degenerative conditions when we are in our 90s or 100.
• 34:56
  Speaker 4: And we just, by the time our body is the
• 34:59
  Speaker 4: end of it, then we just go in the sleep.
• 35:03
  Speaker 4: That's the best way, right? So that we don't have
• 35:06
  Speaker 4: to stay in the hospitals for months. on life support,
• 35:11
  Speaker 4: on incubator, or even like, you know, sitting in the
• 35:15
  Speaker 4: wheelchairs for the last 10 years. That's not the ideal way.
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: Not at all.
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: So Dr. Song, where can people go to learn more
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: about you and your work and how can they get
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: a copy of your book?
• 35:29
  Speaker 4: So my biggest book that's still in editing phase, it
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: has not come out yet, but you can pre-order it
• 35:36
  Speaker 4: at book.regenerationeffect.com. And the book title is called Regeneration Effect,
• 35:43
  Speaker 4: Sacred Wisdom for Staying Young. So it's talking about ancient principles,
• 35:49
  Speaker 4: six of ancient principles from the ancient Chinese tradition. practice
• 35:54
  Speaker 4: in health and longevity. And I combined a lot of
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: modern day stories. Most of them are my own experience,
• 36:02
  Speaker 4: my mother's experience, or my patients. And all these stories
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: trying to tell people from different angles about these six principles.
• 36:12
  Speaker 4: And we have already talked about most of them in
• 36:14
  Speaker 4: our conversation. So the book will be available definitely in 2027.
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: And I'm still working on the editing and illustration, but
• 36:24
  Speaker 4: it will be around 400 pages. So it's going to
• 36:27
  Speaker 4: be thick. But if you don't like reading big books,
• 36:31
  Speaker 4: I also have smaller pamphlet-sized books about the six principles.
• 36:36
  Speaker 4: Those are already published. So you will be able to
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: find them on my website, regenerationeffect.com.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: Okay, and I will make sure I put that link
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: in the description of this episode. And I don't know, Dr. Roger,
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: I was calculating in my head based on no knowledge whatsoever,
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: and I think I got a shot at 104. That's
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: what I've decided for myself at 120.
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: I'm living my life expecting to live at least to
• 37:03
  Speaker 3: be 100.
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: And now I have a very young knee. So here
• 37:07
  Speaker 3: I go.
• 37:09
  Speaker 4: And also you can incorporate some other Chinese medicine practices
• 37:14
  Speaker 4: in your life. Absolutely.
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: And I am totally open to that. And already a believer.
• 37:21
  Speaker 3: I'm very concerned about stress in life now. You mentioned
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: it yourself. I know that Harvard recently did a paper
• 37:30
  Speaker 3: and feel that the increase in younger people's neoplasms that
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: we're seeing related to stress, certainly the environment. But I
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: think just, you know, the happiest generation is the decade
• 37:46
  Speaker 3: is in the 70s, because at that point we say,
• 37:50
  Speaker 3: you know, it doesn't matter. You know, we're not stressed
• 37:52
  Speaker 3: as much. But young people are very unhappy, very stressed.
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: And so I believe what Chinese medicine has to bring
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: to the table, you've told us today, is spot on
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: to help people. So listeners, I hope you heard this
• 38:10
  Speaker 3: and take it to heart. And I hope that you
• 38:12
  Speaker 3: look for Dr. Song's book. And Dr. Song, I thank
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: you so much for being with us today. I congratulate
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: you on what you're doing. I wish you great luck
• 38:22
  Speaker 3: and success with that. And you're a hero traveler in
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: our mind from jumping around the world to get this
• 38:31
  Speaker 3: message out. So thank you for.
• 38:33
  Speaker 4: All you do. Thank you for having me here and
• 38:36
  Speaker 4: sharing a small piece of the whole book here with
• 38:39
  Speaker 4: your audience. So if you want to learn more, certainly
• 38:42
  Speaker 4: you can find out more in the book and you
• 38:45
  Speaker 4: can pre-order. And if you want to learn more about
• 38:47
  Speaker 4: stem cells, you can also go to stemcelltherapyexperts.com.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: You've been listening to The Bright Side of Longevity with
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: host and preventive medicine physician and award-winning author Dr. Roger
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: Landry and co-host, nationally board-certified positive psychology and mindfulness coach
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: Danielle Pai. If you like the show, please rate and
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: review and be sure to click to follow.