181. Dr. Jonathan Leary: Why Cold Plunge & Sauna Social Clubs Are The Future of Wellness Communities

22:59You know, they've been building this business and they have such a reputable reputation. To be able to have that and then be able to speak to their audience and shed awareness around something like Ice Baths that, you know, you and me both love. Yeah. and that have their audience now more aware to like, you know what, maybe I'm going to try that now. And if we can cross into every single industry and use their platforms to also educate, I feel like it's our responsibility, right? To be able to give more education to as many audiences as possible. And that's why I love these partnerships that aren't where initially maybe I thought, like you would think that you'd partner with health companies.

23:40Gary Brecka:Right. But now I'm like, I only want to partner with companies that aren't in the health industry because I think we can add so much more value. And there's more of a compliment, you know, where their expertise and strength, we can combine and do something powerful that, you know, others can't. You know, I think most people watching this would say, man, I wish my company would host an event there. I mean, I think corporate events, you know, are so, you ever, you ever see the movie The Office? Yeah, of course. It's one of my favorites. Yeah. But, you know, they make a spoof out of all of the traditional corporate boxes.

24:14Gary Brecka:You know, there's a birthday party, so somebody goes to the supermarket and gets a crappy$6 birthday cake. And they're like, happy birthday to you. And there's the water cooler in the corporate kitchen with the Keurig. But there's nothing special or communal about that. You know, my mom worked for Delta Airlines for 30 years. And when she retired, they gave her like a Seiko watch. It was probably a$200 watch and a sweatshirt. Said, Delta Airlines, thank you for your service. 30 years. I'm like, wow, 30 years, a sweatshirt and a Seiko. That's awesome. And, you know, and she doesn't have any connection with any of the people that she worked with for all of that time because the environment was so sterile.

25:03Gary Brecka:So, you know, corporations, I think, are realizing, dude, you can build a lot of community and a lot of camaraderie in, you know, in your in your staff, your employees bring a lot of joy to them by doing some of these things that are outside the box. And building a stronger team. Yeah. You know, like, it's crazy to me. You see, especially in New York City, like everyone's working so hard and they're drinking all night. I'm thinking, why would I take my team out to drinks? It's going to slow them down. It's going to affect their mental health. and they're not going to perform as good the next day.

25:34Where if you think about doing something impactful that's bringing them to have a stronger connection and amplifying their physiology, doing something healthy, it's like treating a sports team like I would treat my work team. And every corporation should be thinking about that. I mean, I've spoken for JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs and all these banks. I'm like, you guys should be treating your teams like I would treat a pro sports team. Yeah. Because healthy, happy, vibrant, connected. And then think about how much better the company would do if everyone was performing better and was happier.

26:09Gary Brecka:Yeah, I totally agree. I've heard you talk about like a seven pillar lifestyle. What is that about? Like these, these pillars of lifestyle? Yeah. Is that kind of remedy trying to? yeah for us you know like i'm trying to figure out our way to educate in a way like remedy is a luxury experience and i'm like how do we make things more accessible and i think that's where like us just providing free education right any opportunity that there's a time to educate and teach someone you know i think i agree your body's your number one asset and most people don't even know how it works never mind how to take care of it right it's like we just need to teach people what those foundational pillars are and i think what's interesting is you don't have to go to remedy to be healthy.

26:52You know, remedy is amazing experience. It's like, you're going to feel better, it's going to amplify you. But the foundational pillars of health are so much simpler. And I think we're overlooking, you know, like, how are we teaching you how to eat? How are we teaching them how to move? How are we teaching them to really focus on their thoughts? How are you controlling your thoughts? And how are we rewiring your brains with like these simple practices and routine? And then learning about things that might not feel as traditional, like, how are we teaching people to have better relationships? How are we teaching people how to create communities?

27:24How are we teaching them to audit all of their environments? Because if I believe that every environment can either work with you or against you, how are we looking at that? No matter what your budget is or what you have access to, figure out whatever you can do, as long as we're making small little changes and moving in the right direction. I just think it's so important. Of course, all of the fancy technologies and red light and ice baths and hyperbaric are all amazing. But like you said, like who's teaching people about human connection? Yeah. As people are having, especially the younger generation that grew up with only social media, who's teaching them those skillsets to rebuild human connection?

28:04And that's where I see there's so much opportunity because that's what we need to really be focusing on.

28:10Gary Brecka:Over the last 20 years in human biology, one compound I've trusted again and again is NAD+. It's critical for energy, focus, and cellular repair. But your levels drop around age 30. I used to administer NAD via IVs in my clinics, but now I take Roe Nutrition's Liposomal NAD, the first oral formula that actually works. Their advanced delivery tech gets NAD straight into your bloodstream. I take one teaspoon daily, and the results are real. Clean energy, sharper focus, and better recovery. You can try it risk-free with the Ultimate15 code at checkout for 15 % off. Just put in Ultimate15 at checkout, you'll receive 15 % off, and your sales will thank you.

28:53Now let's get back to the Ultimate Human podcast. Yeah.

28:57Gary Brecka:You know, it's interesting. I have a 16-year-old, and I have, she just turned 17, and I have a 27-year-old. Yeah. And even though they're only 10 years apart, they had vastly different experiences going through grade school middle school high school and and vastly different experiences than when i i still remember like in eighth grade if you wanted to ask a girl out like we use we would usually like write a note yeah and and there'll be like a little box like yes or no and then you would pass it to your friend and then he would pass it to the desk in front of him it will finally make it up to the girl and then you're like sweating your heart's pounding and then they would open it up check a box or you actually had to have you know the wherewithal to walk up to someone and ask them on a date or tell them that you like them yeah and and and that sort of palpable fear and and i mean it's sort of gone now in social media because you know like my youngest daughter would be like yeah you know five guys asked me out in the last month i said no all of them and i'm like how'd they ask you out when they sent me a text message you know yeah you know so so that's this whole connection thing that's you know the the the absence uh of that real and it's it's kind of beautiful like meet somebody start to vibe with them have a real connection you know grow that maybe into a relationship maybe into a friendship or maybe into nothing but you know having a sieve like like a remedy place where at least you know that you have like-minded interests um maybe why my grandmother told my daughter to go to the grocery store like stand in the avocado aisle or something she's picking up an avocado at least he's healthy you know it's like yeah it's so funny judy brecca big shout out mom um the other thing that i think struck me when i was at your place was um you've added this component of functional medicine yeah Right.

30:53Gary Brecka:Where, um, not as a requirement, but if you wanted to sort of up your game to the next level, because I think there's a, an increasing level of curiosity in, okay, this made me feel great. Um, I took a sauna, took a cold plunge. I feel clear and clean and awake and like, you know, sort of switched on. I call the cold plunge my drug of choice for a reason because nothing makes me feel better for longer. um i'm so excited that equinox had a cold plunge this morning and um um so but you've you've graduated to like now these additional um services and functional medicine what is what is that platform like and do you see that being something that you're going to integrate as you go forward huge yeah i mean half of my practice before remedy was functional medicine and you know for me to actually treat someone to the best of my ability it would be naive of me to think that i would be able to do it without knowing what's under the hood yes and i just think that functional medicine can analyze everything all of these blood tests right we can look at every organ every system every deficiency every toxicity level every sensitivity and then you really get a full understanding of this puzzle that you have to figure out like all of this biochemistry how do all of these things affect one another and then what can we do to naturally get that to the right spot and I just think it takes out all the guessing.

32:18I used to do it when people would be like, why do you have to do my blood work? And my patients, I'd be like, listen, because half of what's going on could just be biochemical or nutritional. And especially when I was talking about patients that were recovering or in pain, they're like, why are we talking about my diet? I'm like, because your diet is going to play a major role in this recovery process. And I just think for me, I do my full functional medicine screening every six months. I'm like, my life changes so much, almost on a monthly basis, whether it's work travel, you know, work stress, whatever I'm building, like your body's changing and ever changing.

32:54And because our lifestyle is not the same, we need to keep looking back. And I think everyone, my main focus with every patient first is like, you need to understand you, whether it's, whether it's the wearable, whether it's the blood work, whatever you have access to, the more data that you can have, the more you can start understanding. so then we know what's the fastest, most effective way to get you the results that you want. But what's wild is like to think that functional medicine is not covered under your insurance. It's so crazy.

33:23Gary Brecka:I mean, I think that's my change under the new administration. You know, I think Bobby Kennedy is doing a good job of opening some of these lanes. And I think we're going to see those get wider. Heptides, what I would call lifestyle medicine, not even functional medicine, lifestyle medicine or just the, you know, back to the basics recommendations of drawing people's attention to the importance of sleep, drawing people's attention to the importance of hydration, drawing their attention to the importance of this basic movement. You know, I think walking is the most underrated exercise in the world.

33:57I say that all the time. It's one of the most important. That's why I think, you know, when I moved to New York, one of my favorite, my top three reasons why I love New York more than living in LA is just the walking. yeah and i think it's harder to have as good of a diet here but i think because you can walk more my rule is like the more you eat the more you walk and if you cheat walk a little bit more yeah and i that's a great one and i think it's so cool because it's like if you have to walk if you walk to every meal like say i go out to dinner most nights just because that's my current life right now i wish i was cooking at home but right i make sure that i walk if it's under two miles i walk there and walk back yeah that's great i just think that's completely changed my digestion in the actually the best my digestion and gi health has ever been and i owe that really just the amount that i walk and the amount of steps that i have you know it's funny i i noticed when

34:50Gary Brecka:i when i pass women on the street in new york half of them have like the high heels sticking out of their purse and they've got to stay sneakers on so um you know they've got their work gear and their dress on and and you can tell you know they're they're walking to work then they'll get to their office and pop the heels on. But, you know, it's that mobility is so important. You know, our lymph system is a static system. It doesn't have any pressure behind it. It's not like our arteries and veins that have the heart to move it, you know, move the fluid. For sure. The lymph moves by muscular contraction and by motion.

35:23Gary Brecka:And the more you move, the more you're just naturally detoxifying. And I think the, just the old school, I have a saying that aging is the aggressive pursuit of comfort because I believe a huge component of aging is that we aggressively pursue comfort. We want to regulate our temperature in our car, in our house, in our office. We want to regulate our lighting. We can make it the surface of the sun at one o 'clock in the morning if we want. And it's so unnatural and so out of sync with our circadian biology is to have whatever you want, whenever you want, and feel exactly how you want. you know at your demand yeah you know i i often say we gotta stop telling grandma not to go outside because it's too hot not to go outside because it's too cold just to lay down to relax to eat at the first pang of hunger yeah because you're just collapsing all your natural defense mechanisms well that's where like i think aging is the result of uh adapting to stress and the healthier you are the better you adapt to stress.

36:26And I think it's really interesting that being healthy is about figuring out how to be more resilient and adaptive no matter what we're exposed to. And I think that's kind of what you're saying is it's like those stressors or those moments or those things that we interact with, being able to get more resilient and more adaptive to be able to handle those makes us healthier.

36:46Gary Brecka:I totally agree. I mean, a lot of the things that are stressing us in our life, there's not a lot we can do about it. I mean, if you're a young mother of three, that's stressful. Yeah. Full stop, you know, if, or young father of three, you know, or even of one. And, you know, your career is almost always going to stress you out. You got a boss that you don't like, you got a coworker you don't get along with, you have a job you're not particularly happy with. So there are a lot of these stressors, family that we deal, that are going to be there, whether we arm ourselves to deal with them or not.

37:24Gary Brecka:And it's incredible now the correlation that research is able to draw between physical resilience and mental resilience and our ability to be adaptive to stress and have stress be less impactful on our bodies. Well, that's why I'm fascinated with stress because you think like people say how bad stress is. I'm like a certain level of stress I think is good for you. Or manic stress. Yeah, exactly. We go to the gym and we tear our muscle fibers to become stronger and we think that's normal. But I think every single system, us going in a sauna or a cold plunge, our body is adapting to a stressor and an extreme.

38:02And I think right now we've been in such a period where people are avoiding all the things that are hard. And I think that's affecting our mental health more than anything because, you know, just like you were saying earlier with the kids like having to ask a girl out. yeah like that amount of stress and like anxiety and nerves like that made you stronger yeah exactly

38:24Gary Brecka:develop those skill sets i still literally remember the feeling you know how they say like you might not remember what happened but you remember how it made you feel yeah i remember being in eighth grade and like or ninth grade or tenth grade and problems coming up and you know you've got to ask someone if they want to go with you and like just the like loss of breath you know um well that heightened emotional state right is what imprints that memory yeah you know like so that's why that feeling of being anxious and being nervous like that's what made it so sound in your brain to be that memorable yeah and i think if we numb all of those strong feelings we're going to lose a lot of memories yeah i couldn't couldn't agree with you more so when you're you know one thing i find tough for people like me and it's got to be for people like you too is i'm so intellectually curious about what's going on out there like what is the latest and greatest i mean are there new functional labs that we should be pulling are there advances in genetic testing is supplementation being refined how do you um go through the sieve of of what lands in a remedy place because um you could get paralysis of analysis of the possibilities yeah right i mean PMF, oxygen, red light, you know, cold punching sauna, um, vibration acoustics, you know, you could just go down this insane road and then eventually you don't have a business model anymore.

39:52Gary Brecka:Right. No, for sure. And I think, listen, we can pitch things every week, you know, the latest and greatest technology, this new technology. And for me, you know, like I said, remedy is so important to me and not just the short term for my whole life that we don't add a lot of new things to remedy you know everything that's in remedies there because now i've used it for at least 10 years and i know that it works and i want anyone that knows like when they come to remedy i want them to know that anything here is here because they know that it works here yeah and like something like an ai massage i haven't been using an ai massage for a decade but i know the power of a massage right now so the delivery of the modality might change and how people experience it or the design or like how people socialize it will change and evolve.

40:39But for us, we haven't changed much. And these are things that I was using in my practice before Remedy. Yeah. And I just, that's an important thing. Cause if I start doing things to test out in the clubs, we could lose credibility. Right. And right now I just want to make sure we're gaining as much trust as possible and making sure that people just know that it's there because it's the best and it's the safest version. Yeah. And because they have the data to prove that it works.

41:03Gary Brecka:I think there's something interesting about the robotic massage because, like, I remember my father started in the Navy as a pilot. Yeah. He was telling me stories about this years ago, obviously, but he told me stories about how, like, autopilot was just coming into the cockpit of some of these jets. And at first, like, all the pilots were like, there's no way in hell I'm getting in a cockpit with a computer flying the plane. And two years later, they wouldn't get into an airplane that didn't have an autopilot, right? because of the level of comfort with the technology. And the truth is autopilot's safer than a human pilot because of the number of independent variables that it can assimilate and create an actionable result.

41:43Gary Brecka:It's like AI. I think there's something to be said for these kinds of robotic massages because there's potential social stress. Like, oh, my wife is going to get a massage by this really good looking dude. You know what I mean? my husband's going to get a massage by this really attractive woman like and they're going to be oiled up in his underwear so um and you're trying to normalize that but like the robot is like hey you get up and leave he's not asking for your phone number you know yeah it's just you and the ai massager nothing nothing freaky's going down so kind of like you know i might require my wife to only get ai massages now that i think about i'm really comfortable with that sage sorry So funny.

42:28Gary Brecka:But I think the acceptance of artificial intelligence, technology, I feel like it's 25 years ahead of where mainstream medicine is right now. Yeah. It's not an attack on mainstream medicine, but it takes a long time for the regulatory environment to catch up. And as I've traveled the world and met with literally the top functional medicine physicians, leading experts in anti-aging, biohacking, longevity, wellness, whatever you want to call it, researchers, PhDs, MDs, What's fascinating to me is that a lot of this research is bringing us back to the basics. They're like, by the way, you can't sort of eat your way around not exercising and you can't exercise your way around a poor diet.

43:14Gary Brecka:And nothing will supplement for lack of sleep. So there's like some foundational things and that human beings need if you wanna live a long, healthy, thriving life. And I wish I could patent them. You and I'd be the wealthiest guys in the world, but you can't because they're widely available. They're basic. God gave it to us every day. Sunlight, grounding, breath work, movement, sleep. And sometimes I find that it's hard to emphasize the importance of that to people yeah because it seems so basic yeah but the truth is we've gotten so far away from that and it's that simple yeah it's that simple like i saw a video of um gym classes in the 50s and insane i've seen those have you seen those yeah like that's how everybody's in crazy shape guys are just ripping pull-ups for no reason um and you know it was it was it was amazing like Like, you play find the fat person.

44:17Gary Brecka:Everybody, you know, they're going up the walls with the little, you know, with like the sticks, you know, doing pushups. Everybody's running a mile in under nine minutes. And now three quarters of our military aged men and women can't enter the military because of poor health. I mean, that's 77 % of the population that's of the age to enter the military. Like, we are in a crisis. and I think a lot of this crisis could be solved by getting back to the basics. So I really, I can't see anything other remedy than you guys just continuing to explode. Yeah, thanks, man. Yeah, I think it's, like you said, it's that simple and we've made it so complicated.

45:01Gary Brecka:Yeah. And like alternative medicine's been around for a very long time and those were the foundations of those. Like when you provide those foundational things and you put the body in the right state, it heals. HapB is an award-winning digital wellness company, and we invite you to join us in transforming the way people rest, renew, and focus. The goal is to help people take control of how they sleep, how they feel, and how they perform, all without taking drugs, supplements, or high-caffeine energy drinks. The neuroscientists at HapB have created a set of mood-enhancing programs. They're called vibes.

45:37Gary Brecka:So each vibe uses ultra low frequency signals to mimic the effects of relaxants or stimulants in the body. When the brain detects these signals, it reacts as if you're actually taking the substance, giving you all the benefits without the downsides. So it puts you in control of how you wanna feel when you wanna feel it naturally with no chemicals, pills, or side effects. Just select a vibe on the HapB app and let the soothing electromagnetic waves wash over your body. At HapB, we believe a more rested world is a better world. It's time to change the vibe. Now let's get back to the Ultimate Human Podcast.

46:12Gary Brecka:In a functional panel, because I think a lot of my audience is very woke to functional medicine, but a lot of them are new to it and they're sort of on this journey and they're on this platform trying to figure things out. What does it mean to you, like functional medicine, or when you say that you pull these functional panels, what are you kind of looking at so that somebody could understand? What's important is like people like a lot of people think that their annual blood work that they do when they're primary care doctors, their functional medicine. But that's just diagnostic tests. The point of those.

46:43Do you have disease? Do you not? Exactly. It's not telling you, hey, is there things that are concerning that could be a disease? Are there other things that are causing the symptoms that you're experiencing? A lot of people get blood work and their blood works fine when they get their diagnostic blood work. They're like, I can't figure out why I feel this way. I have all of these symptoms. I don't understand why I'm always bloated. I have all these GI problems, but then they get their blood work and they're like, everything's fine. But it's just very surface level. Functional medicine will look at it at a very detailed level in ways that your normal panels won't.

47:17And I think that is what's really missing where it's like, you know, they'll do a couple vitamins in your normal panel, but they're missing, there's so many more to be looking at. And a lot of the times, simple imbalances or deficiencies are causing the symptom that you're experiencing that no one can figure out. Dude, you are singing my tune.

47:36Gary Brecka:I've said for years, we are not as sick or diseased or as pathological as we think we are. We are nutrient deficient. When you deprive the human body of raw materials, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, nutrients, you get the expression of disease. I mean, a lot of brittle bone disease are mineral deficiencies, osteopenia, osteoporosis. A lot of the expressions of deficiency, hypertension, hypothyroid, autoimmune, are deficiencies that have gone on for a long period of time where the body can't defend itself and then eventually it breaks. For sure. You know, and you will eventually blow a motor if you don't put oil in the engine.

48:12Gary Brecka:And so if you're deficient in oil, the expression is blown motor. Yeah. If you're deficient in radiator fluid, the radiator overheats. And it's astounding to me how we accept these things in, you know, mechanics and in plant physiology, but we don't believe it in human physiology. And the psychological component, right? That symptom that turned into a disease and then you're labeled. People feel handicapped because like I have this disease and I'm like, wait, you know that we can fix that. Like it's not a permanent thing. Yeah. And let's look at what's under the hood. Oh, yeah, nobody thinks that.

48:48Gary Brecka:And then, you know, then sometimes people get stuck on these medications for their whole life and they didn't know that there was a simple solution. Right. Unless it's an emergency. Like, don't come to me if it's an emergency, but for a first line of intervention. Right. For anything, functional medicine should be the first thing that we do. Yeah. And if you still have to do all the other medical interventions, you should still do it to be co-managed. Yeah. Because there's no more guessing anymore. Yeah. I totally agree with you. You know, Dr. Leary, first of all, this is amazing and I'm definitely gonna have you back on the podcast.

49:23Gary Brecka:I wanna spend a few minutes going into our VIP group because my VIP community has some very specific questions for you. But for those folks that are watching this that wanna find out more about you or more about Remedy, how do they find you? Best way is Instagram, you know, at Dr. Jonathan Leary or at Remedy Place. We try to keep everything up to date there, whether it's the events, the education, or what is going on that's new in the club. So, you know, either come and stop by because, you know. And where are you located now and where are you anticipating to be, let's say, in the next six months to 12 months?

49:55Yeah, I'm mostly here. So I live between L.A. and New York, but New York, I'm trying to make my main home base. It's easier. We have the two clubs here. We just opened in Boston. So now it's easier. Yeah. And I love it here. I really, you know, I grew up on the East Coast. It feels nice to be back on the East Coast. Yeah. And I just feel like.

50:11Gary Brecka:I'm trying to reel him down to Miami right now. We had a little talk about it. So off camera, I'm going to put a little more pressure on him. When we open there, I'll be there all the time. That'd be great. We'll fill the East Coast first, you know. This is amazing. Dr. Leary, I pray every day for pioneers like you. And I'm excited for your success. And I'm really more excited for the impact that you're making on the world and what you're giving people, which is a way to normalize being optimal in a social situation, give them an alternative to just food and alcohol. And I really appreciate that mission.

50:48Thanks, man. That means a lot.

50:50Gary Brecka:I wind down every podcast by asking my guests the same question, and there's no right or wrong answer to the question. And that is, what does it mean to you to be an ultimate human? Wow. I think it's to constantly pursue change. you know for me i i think personally and professionally in order to continue to be better than your environment allows you to grow yeah um and i think without challenge and without new obstacles without new learnings we plateau and i think to get you get one time not all stress is back totally agree with you you know and i just think everyone has their uniqueness and i just think the more that you're able to allow yours to come out by being healthier and by challenging the norms, you get to like add your value to this world.

51:39Gary Brecka:That's amazing. Well, I'll link everything that he referred to in the show notes below. If you're interested in becoming a VIP, just go over to the ultimate human.com forward slash VIP. It's 97 bucks a month. I provide tremendous value, really trying to build and cultivate this community. Dr. Leary and I are going to go in there and answer some of your direct questions. But definitely make sure you check out the podcast. And until next time, that's just science. Thank you.