Why general anesthesia can cause brain fog

Prepare to rethink surgery, healing, anesthesia, and recovery. This episode gives you a complete, high-performance playbook for surgical preparation and accelerated healing, built on biohacking, functional medicine, neuroprotection, and mitochondrial resilience. You will learn how to recover up to three times faster, protect your brain from anesthesia related inflammation, and enter any procedure with the stability and metabolic readiness of an elite performer. 

Watch this episode on YouTube for the full video experience: 

https://www.youtube.com/@DaveAspreyBPR 

Host Dave Asprey talks with Dr. Cameron Chesnut, a facial plastic surgeon trusted by the world’s high performers. Patients travel from every corner of the globe for his minimally invasive results that look natural, rejuvenated, and untouched. He is known for progressive regenerative medicine techniques, brain safe anesthesia protocols, advanced postoperative recovery strategies, and a personal commitment to performance readiness that mirrors the mindset of elite athletes. His methods bridge functional medicine, metabolism, supplements, sleep optimization, nootropics, and regenerative science to transform the entire surgical experience. 

Together, they reveal how to avoid the hidden pitfalls that create postoperative brain fog, inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and slow recovery. You learn how to work with your anesthesiologist, avoid harmful drug combinations, and stack ketones, fasting, NAD, glutathione, stem cell rich fat grafts, IV therapy, and hyperbarics for rapid healing. Dr. Chesnut explains why fillers migrate, why general anesthesia often disrupts cognition, how exogenous ketones stabilize neurons, and how regenerative peptides, ketosis, circadian timing, and nutritional density shift the biology of recovery. 

You’ll Learn: 

• How Host Dave Asprey prepares his brain and mitochondria before anesthesia 

• Why standard anesthesia protocols increase neuroinflammation and cognitive dysfunction 

• How to use ketamine and dexmedetomidine instead of benzos, opiates, and amnesia drugs 

• Why fillers migrate and how regenerative fat grafting outperforms traditional filler 

• How exogenous ketones enhance neuronal stability during anesthesia 

• Why hyperbarics, red light, PEMF, and IV therapy shorten recovery time 

• How peptides like BPC, GHK copper, and TB4 support tissue repair 

• Why metabolic health, carnivore leaning nutrition, and real protein accelerate healing

• How nicotine influences angiogenesis and when it can help 

• The real difference between healing fast and healing well 

• How to structure your recovery environment for sleep optimization and better outcomes 

• Why elite performers treat surgery like an athletic event and prepare the same way 

• How to talk to your surgical team so your biology stays protected and optimized 

Dave Asprey is a four-time New York Times bestselling author, founder of Bulletproof Coffee, and the father of biohacking. With over 1,000 interviews and 1 million monthly listeners, The Human Upgrade brings you the knowledge to take control of your biology, extend your longevity, and optimize every system in your body and mind. Each episode delivers cutting-edge insights in health, performance, neuroscience, supplements, nutrition, biohacking, emotional intelligence, and conscious living. 

New episodes are released every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday (BONUS). Dave asks the questions no one else will and gives you real tools to become stronger, smarter, and more resilient.  

Keywords: Regenerative surgery optimization, anesthesia brain protection, postoperative cognitive dysfunction, accelerated surgical healing, functional medicine surgery prep, ketamine conscious sedation, dexmedetomidine anesthesia protocol, mitochondrial recovery support, stem cell rich fat grafting, surgical hyperbaric therapy, exogenous ketone neuroprotection, fasting preparation, nootropic assisted recovery, peptide tissue repair, filler migration correction, angiogenesis enhancement, circadian prep, sleep optimized anesthesia, metabolic healing strategy, nicotine angiogenesis 

Thank you to our sponsors! 

-Essentia | Go to https://myessentia.com/dave and use code DAVE for $100 off The Dave Asprey Upgrade. 

-ECHO Water | Go to http://echowater.com/dave and use code DAVE10 for 10% off your ECHO Flask. 

-ARMRA | Go to https://tryarmra.com/ and use the code DAVE to get 15% off your first order. 

-Caldera + Lab | Go to https://calderalab.com/DAVE and use code DAVE at checkout for 20% off your first order. 

Resources:  

• Cameron’s Clinic: https://www.clinic5c.com/

• Dave Asprey's Latest News | Go to https://daveasprey.com/ to join Inside Track today. 

• Danger Coffee: https://dangercoffee.com/discount/dave15  

• My Daily Supplements: SuppGrade Labs (15% Off)  

• Favorite Blue Light Blocking Glasses: TrueDark (15% Off)  

• Dave Asprey’s BEYOND Conference: https://beyondconference.com  

• Dave Asprey’s New Book – Heavily Meditated: https://daveasprey.com/heavily-meditated 

• Upgrade Collective: https://www.ourupgradecollective.com  

• Upgrade Labs: https://upgradelabs.com  

• 40 Years of Zen: https://40yearsofzen.com 

Timestamps: 

0:00 - Trailer 

2:05 - Pre-Surgery Optimization 

5:41 - Stem Cells and Fat Transfer 

9:28 - Brain Safe Anesthesia 

15:43 - Propofol Alternatives 

21:06 - Non-Opioid Pain Control 

27:22 - Recovery Protocols 

29:11 - Xenon Gas Insights 

31:02 - Racetams and Brain Protection 

33:18 - IV Glutathione 

43:24 - Ketones for Surgery 

44:06 - Growth Hormone and Peptides 

55:57 - Nicotine and Healing 

58:37 - Surgical Lighting 

1:05:23 - Filler Migration 

1:15:18 - Final Takeaways 

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