Essays
Selected essays from the HealthHippieMD newsletter. Each one opens on Substack. Essays marked Paid are for paid subscribers, and the opening of each is free to read.
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A Physician's Journey to Crohn's Remission Without Medication
Diagnosed at Duke in 2006, offered a biologic in 2012, off all medication since 2015. What I changed, in what order, and what remission looks like day to day.
Unproven ≠ Untrue
Acupuncture took my back pain from a 7 to a 3, and I still can't fully explain why. On the difference between a practice that hasn't been tested and one that doesn't work.
Nine Dimensions: A Map, a Compass, and a Creative Spark
The introduction to the nine-part series, with links to the essay and podcast episode for each dimension.
Zettelnaut
Each Zettelnaut essay follows one mechanism through studies that never cited each other. About the series.
The Two Gates of Sleep
In fruit flies, a 2025 Oxford study traced sleep pressure to mitochondrial damage in sleep-control neurons. Another found bacterial fragments in mouse brains rising and falling with the sleep cycle. Why insomnia may need both ends worked at once.
The Cooling
Average body temperature has drifted from 98.6°F toward 97.5°F since 1868. Over the same 150 years, industrialized populations lost 30 to 40 percent of their gut microbial species.
The Lifeline
In a 2023 NEJM study, adults whose thymus was removed during heart surgery had nearly three times the five-year mortality of matched controls. The organ medicine called vestigial is still training your T-cells.
The Munchies You Didn't Smoke ForPaid
Four nights of short sleep raise the endocannabinoid 2-AG, the same system behind the runner's high. Sleep debt points it at the refrigerator instead.
The Barrier AgePaid
Leaky guts in heart failure, leaky brain barriers in retired rugby players and boxers, and a post-COVID syndrome in children share one family of tight-junction proteins. Medicine treats them as separate diseases.
The Space Between
When a barrier fails, what leaks goes first into the interstitium, a fluid-filled network around every organ, vessel, and nerve. The sequel to The Barrier Age.
The UninvitedPaid
Some Lactobacillus strains are related to those used to fatten livestock, and a 2025 analysis of FDA adverse-event reports flagged anxiety and agitation as possible new signals.
The ReplantingPaid
In a Stanford trial, fermented foods raised gut diversity and lowered a broad panel of inflammatory proteins. Fiber did neither.
Is Your Self-Driving Car Going to Give You Dementia?
Across nearly 9 million death certificates, taxi and ambulance drivers had the lowest Alzheimer's death rates of any occupation. Daily navigation may be the reason, and self-driving cars could take it away.
When the Mirror Stops Being Human
AI models offered emotional validation in 72 percent of cases, human commenters in 22 percent. Aristotle's honest friend, and what it costs to replace him with a machine that agrees.
Don't Ban the Grief Bot. Prescribe It.Paid
AI companion chatbots have drawn a lawsuit and alarm. What psychedelic therapy's path from banned to studied suggests about turning them into clinical tools.
The BottlePaid
Edison napped holding steel balls to catch ideas at sleep onset. A 2021 Paris study confirmed the effect, and a 2026 study suggests the state isn't made of sleep at all.
Field notes
Experiments and observations from my own life.
The Backward Path to My Own Songs
I wrote lyrics for a decade before an AI music tool let me hear them as finished songs. The first time, I cried.
How to Protect Your Gut Microbiome During SurgeryPaid
The average American has nine operations in a lifetime. An anesthesiologist on the gut microbiome before, during, and after surgery.
Why I Ordered a Weighted Vest at 61Paid
Managing Crohn's and hypertension at 61, I paid money to make myself heavier on purpose. The research on carrying weight.
Why Trying Tai Chi Felt Like Learning to Walk Again
A plain auditorium in Carrboro, more than a dozen strangers, and my first class. What neuroscience says about stumbling into presence.
Microplastics Are the New Lead PaintPaid
Microplastic levels in human brain tissue rose about 50 percent in eight years, and ultra-processed food is a major route in. The parallels with lead paint are close.
The Natural Sweetener Tier List
Natural sweeteners are not interchangeable. Some carry polyphenols and prebiotic fiber. One marketed more aggressively than most as the healthy choice has the worst fructose profile of the group.
Dinner for One Is Not Just Dinner
Cooking for others feels like creation. Cooking for yourself feels like maintenance. The psychology of the solo meal, and fixes that don't feel like homework.