#306 How to Use Fasting, Cold and Effort to Counteract the Effects of Modern Life | Dr Leo Pruimboom PhD

Jul 16, 2025

Dr. Leo Pruimboom, a physiologist and medical biochemist, dives deep into how modern conveniences might actually harm our health. He discusses the 'comfort crisis' and the importance of reintroducing ancient stressors like fasting and cold exposure to boost resilience. The conversation explores our deep connection to nature and the detrimental impact of technology on well-being. Pruimboom argues that embracing discomfort can enhance mental health and even improve immune responses, urging listeners to consider intermittent living as a way to navigate contemporary challenges.

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INSIGHT

Modern Comfort Erodes Health

Modern convenience removes essential biological challenges that maintain metabolic flexibility and resilience.
Reintroducing ancient stressors like fasting and cold exposure acts like a vaccine against chronic diseases.

INSIGHT

Energy Trade-Offs Affect Fertility

Energy distribution forces a trade-off between cognitive function and fertility.
High cognitive energy use in digital activities may reduce fertility in younger people.

INSIGHT

Deserving Health Mindset

Our ancestors' survival involved hunger, thirst, cold, heat, risk, and effort over hours.
This effort created a mindset that health must be deserved, activating the brain's reward system.

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“You can take a human out of being in nature, but you can’t take nature out of the human being” This is the statement I pose to Dr Leo right at the beginning of our chat today, and I think it encapsulates the essence of our conversation.

Today we’re going to discuss the comfort crisis and the importance of ‘ancient stressors’ to support modern health.

To give some context to this discussion, it seems like we’ve made life easier than ever. Meals on demand, warmth at the press of a button, and barely a reason to move. But this relentless convenience could be silently eroding our health. In this episode, we ask the provocative question: Has modern comfort become our newest disease?

In other words, our biology still expects challenge. When we remove all friction from daily life, we also remove the very triggers that kept us metabolically flexible, mentally sharp, and emotionally resilient.

From fasting and thirst to cold plunges and plant toxins, we explore the science of intermittent living, the idea that reintroducing short bursts of ancient stressors might act like a vaccine against the chronic diseases of modern life.

We unpack:

Why stress isn’t always the enemy but a tool, when used wisely
How ancient triggers like hunger, cold, and heat can reboot resilience
What it means to recover well, and how purpose, stillness, and nature complete the cycle
Whether biomarkers like CRP or HRV really change with these practices
How to start your own intermittent living journey safely and simply

Dr Leo Pruimboom is a physiologist, medical biochemist, who has dedicated his

life to the development of PNI as a clinical science converting a translational

medical science into a solution focused discipline in which the body is considered

a complete interconnected soma in which everything is everywhere at the same

time.

In 1987 he established the European Academy of CPNI and collaborated with

multiple international Universities. Today, Pruimboom Institute holds 10 different

Campuses worldwide to provide specialised CPNI training to medical professionals

and other healthcare practitioners.

Throughout his career, Dr Pruimboom has helped thousands of patients from

around the world and has become an internationally recognised researcher and

lecturer.

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