E60: Dr. Darshan Shah Founder of Next Health | How to Take Control of Your Health and Future

Apr 29, 2025

Dr. Darshan Shah, a board-certified surgeon and founder of Next Health, shares insights on optimizing health beyond just treating symptoms. He discusses the critical importance of habit formation and how small lifestyle changes can lead to better health outcomes. Dr. Shah emphasizes proactive health management to increase healthspan instead of just lifespan, highlighting the roles of diet, sleep, and gut health. He also addresses the impact of modern medicine on chronic diseases and encourages embracing innovative health technologies for personal wellness.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

ADVICE

Master Habit Formation

Become an expert at creating habits to improve all areas of health and life.
Small, daily changes build up to sustainable, massive improvements over time.

INSIGHT

Healthspan over Lifespan

Upper human lifespan limit is about 120 years but last 30-40 years often spent with chronic disability.
Lifespan extension means improving healthspan, enabling active, healthy life for longer years.

INSIGHT

Four Causes of Chronic Disease

Chronic disease primarily arises from processed food, sedentary lifestyle, poor sleep, and exposure to environmental toxins.
These new factors have increased since post-WWII, drastically changing health outcomes.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Atomic Habits

James Clear

Atomic Habits by James Clear provides a practical and scientifically-backed guide to forming good habits and breaking bad ones. The book introduces the Four Laws of Behavior Change: make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy, and make it satisfying. It also emphasizes the importance of small, incremental changes (atomic habits) that compound over time to produce significant results. Clear discusses techniques such as habit stacking, optimizing the environment to support desired habits, and focusing on continuous improvement rather than goal fixation. The book is filled with actionable strategies, real-life examples, and stories from various fields, making it a valuable resource for anyone seeking to improve their habits and achieve personal growth[2][4][5].

Good Energy

The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health

Calley Means

Casey Means, MD

In 'Good Energy', Dr. Casey Means and her brother Calley Means present a bold new vision for optimizing health by focusing on metabolic function. The book explains how various health conditions such as depression, anxiety, infertility, insomnia, heart disease, and more can be traced back to how well the cells in our body create and use energy. It offers a four-week plan, cutting-edge research, and personal stories to help readers improve their metabolic health. The book covers topics like dietary principles, sleep and circadian rhythm, exercise, cold and heat exposure, and navigating the healthcare system for optimal health. It emphasizes the importance of monitoring and improving metabolic health to prevent and reverse chronic illnesses[1][3][5].

Food

What the Heck Should I Eat?

Mark Hyman

In this book, Dr. Mark Hyman clarifies the confusion surrounding nutrition by examining every food group and debunking common misconceptions. He provides a roadmap for achieving lifelong health through whole foods and explains how food impacts personal health, the environment, and society. The book offers practical advice and recipes to help readers make healthier choices.

Disease Delusion

Jeffrey Bland

Why We Sleep

Matthew Walker

This book delves into the purpose and power of sleep, explaining how it affects every aspect of our physical and mental well-being. Walker discusses how sleep enriches our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions, recalibrates our emotions, restocks our immune system, fine-tunes our metabolism, and regulates our appetite. He also explores the consequences of sleep deprivation and provides actionable steps to improve sleep quality, including ways to prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes, slow the effects of aging, and increase longevity.

Lies I Taught in Medical School

Joshua Lisec

Robert Lufkin

In this book, Dr. Robert Lufkin explains that metabolic dysfunction is the common underlying cause of most chronic diseases, which has been overlooked for decades. He draws on expansive, peer-reviewed evidence to prove that standard medical recommendations are often harmful. The book chronicles how Dr. Lufkin reversed four chronic diseases in himself and provides strategies to reduce chronic disease risk factors, improve diet and metabolism, stabilize mental health, and manage lifestyle factors such as nutrition, sleep, exercise, and stress. It is a holistic guide aimed at helping readers take control of their health.