159: Spermidine: The Funny Sounding Molecule Packing Serious Longevity Power - with Don Moxley

This episode’s guest loves to teach.

Being an assistant professor or adjunct professor is one of Don Moxley’s favorite parts of his resume. He’s a scientist at heart who navigates his academic career by staying on the fringes of the university where he teaches - keeping his hands free from the handcuffs of whatever dogma the institution professes. Don loves to teach. However, he is not interested in getting comfortable in a college ivory tower. 

This is why Don stays nimble in his health and wellness work by working directly with innovative health brands.  

Trained as an exercise physiologist, Don likes to keep a foot in the wearable technology industry. He has also worked for years in the high-performance athletics field - primarily collegiate wrestling. Don was a good wrestler himself back in college and has spent much of his career working with college wrestling programs, helping athletes reach their full potential. 

At the beginning of 2017, Don made a significant shift in his mindset by changing how he approached life by operating through his mission statement instead of operating life through definition. His mission is “understanding and directing individual changes that alleviate suffering and contribute to the betterment of well people.” 

This new approach to his career and life opened up tremendous opportunities to grow and impact his community. 

Currently, Don works with Longevity Labs, an Austrian company, and is helping launch their flagship product, spermidineLIFE. 

This molecule with the funny name provides serious help to our cells, impacting human longevity, how you feel in the present, and your ability to live a quality life as you age. 

Tune in as Wade and Don discuss this little-known health agent that biohackers are getting excited about. 

In this podcast, we cover:

• Don’s career journey in athletics, academia, and cannabis
• What is “heart rate variability,” and how it provides insights into an athlete’s potential success
• What “spermidine” is and how it can contribute to longevity
• The benefits to fasting and intermittent fasting
• How spermidine is measured in the body
• The physical benefits people experience after supplementing with spermidine
• The one type of food you want to consume when you take spermidine

High-Performance Athletics and Cannabis

At one point, Don speaks about his experiences working in the cannabis industry, where he did a deep dive into understanding the human endocannabinoid system, a portion of his career Don calls “an incredible opportunity.” 

Here is a snippet of what he said on this episode: “I think if you’re trying to do high-performance athletics, and you’re not at least trying to understand cannabinoids and terpenes, you’re kidding yourself.”

“I think when you measure HRV, you measure endocannabinoid system status, and you can modify it. While I was doing that, I get a call from a buddy in Austria. He asks, “What are you doing?” He tells me about this company that’s focused on autophagy.” 

“I had not done a deep dive into it yet. He then says, ‘have you ever heard of a molecule called spermidine?’ I had not. He says, ‘I want you to do the same thing for us that you did in Florida for the cannabis brand.’ 

“Today, I’m their director of applied science and brand development. So, my job is to help this company build a brand that’s based on science. And that’s what we do.”

“So now I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of autophagy and polyamines.” 

You need THIS for a long, healthy life…

The one thing you must be doing for a long, healthy life, according to Don, is autophagy, which is, in layman's terms, your body’s natural process of recycling cells. 

Don tells Wade, “There is no doubt in my mind that to live healthy, to get the most out of your healthspan and lifespan, you have to have good autophagy. Intermittent fasting or fasting is the shortest pathway to that. And spermidine helps. No doubt about it - you increase spermidine, then your autophagy increases as well.” 

“You also need to eliminate sugars. It’s one of our biggest challenges as a society. I call it caloric toxic. We have so much access to sugary drinks.”

“On the other end of the spectrum, you move from caloric restriction and autophagy and then into intermittent fasting and longer fasting, ceremonial fasting. There’s a reason why it’s included in every major religion in the world. Health benefits come from it.” 

“What’s old is new, and old is leading the way,” replied Wade.

Tune in to find out what spermidine can do for your health, energy, and quality of life. Don Moxley is a science-based researcher with a diversity of subject matter areas. He is good at connecting the dots, revealing connections between spermidine, autophagy, fasting, strength training, our endocannabinoid system, cannabis, and our ability to live a longer, higher quality life through diet, exercise, and supplementation. 

Check out this episode - spermidine could revolutionize your health!

Episode Resources: 
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