I’m a Spartan-running, whiteboard-writing, sleep-tracking, book-devouring, coffee-swilling, clothes-collecting, cat-loving, kimono-sewing, 3D printing, research-hunting, recipe-experimenting believer in optimal human potential. Welcome to my site. You’re already my kind of weirdo, and we’re going to have a great time together.
My name is Heather, and my first love is information. Specifically, I’m flat out obsessed with information about how to make human bodies work better and last longer. Anything that positively impacts the experience of this life we’re all sharing, I’m interested.
My dad had his first heart attacks when I was 7, and he was 44. I knew even then that bodies shouldn’t mysteriously fail. We shouldn’t be afraid of what these bodies we inhabit do. Great, reliable health shouldn’t be mysterious. But I didn’t know what to do with this line of thinking when I was 7. Not all children are surrounded by great support.
As a kid, I didn’t have any idea what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I didn’t get any kind of guidance. I was interested in art, so I followed that for a while, leading to a graphic design degree. Did you know that graphic design has very little to do with actual art? So, while I picked up a ton of useful skills in the process, I’ve never had a graphic design job.
Instead, I floated through crappy jobs that paid the bills and left me enough time to pursue all the other things I was interested in. In a completely unprofessional and disjointed way, I learned about digestion, and heart disease, and cancer, and nutrition, and herbs, and biohacking, and a hundred other topics. When I got sick of stumbling around and patching together the crumbs of real data that I could find, I went back to school to study biology so I could make a real impact in the lives of those with ears to hear. I started putting research together and writing both academically and for a wider audience. Hey, that’s you! 🙂
I used to believe that the answers would only come out of a biotech lab, but these days I’m seeing some disturbing trends in the research world. More than that, I believe that nature gives us all of the answers we seek if we’re bold enough to ask the right questions. While formal research certainly has a place, and done well it’s something to trust, plant medicines hold incredible potential to help us heal our bodies, minds, and spirits, and help us to achieve what we seek, whether that be extended lifespan, enhanced health, or altered states of consciousness.
There is so much misinformation around, and such pervasive limiting beliefs about how healthy a person can be at any given age, and how long someone can live. I’m here to shatter those limiting beliefs with the best wisdom we’ve got, and to empower you to make better decisions for yourself and the people you care about most.
I believe that there is no theoretical upper limit to human lifespan, and I believe that we can enjoy optimal health at any age. We’re learning more every day about how to keep our bodies healthier for longer, and how to regenerate the damage that accompanies the passage of time. We don’t have all the answers yet, but if we don’t try, we automatically accept failure. The status quo doesn’t encourage us to pursue these ideas. Society imprints on us a timeline of how we’re expected to live our lives, and I suggest you take those imprints and toss them unceremoniously out the window, away from bystanders they might infect.
The only person in control of your choices and of your healthspan is you.