Restore Youthfulness & Vitality to the Aging Brain & Body | Dr. Tony Wyss-Coray

Andrew Huberman

Feb 23, 2026

Episode description

Dr. Tony Wyss-Coray, PhD, is a professor of neurology at Stanford School of Medicine and Director of the Phil and Penny Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience who is discovering factors present in young blood and in exercised blood that can improve brain, heart, and other organ health. We discuss how different organs age at different rates and how to accurately measure biological aging. We also discuss the specific proteins found in blood when we are young and that are increased by things such as exercise, sunlight exposure, short-term fasting, specific foods, and social connection that can significantly increase vitality, restore youthful functioning of the brain and body, and potentially increase lifespan.

Show notes: https://go.hubermanlab.com/U67koOl

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Dr. Tony Wyss-Coray
Stanford cademic profile: https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/tony-wyss-coray
Lab website: https://web.stanford.edu/group/twclab/cgi-bin
Publications: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=huboyZcAAAAJ&hl=en
TED talk: https://www.ted.com/speakers/tony_wyss_coray
X: https://x.com/wysscoray
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-wyss-coray-91592010

Timestamps
00:00:00 Tony Wyss-Coray
00:03:00 Young vs Old Animals, Age-Related Disease
00:06:35 Blood Biomarkers, Young vs Old Humans, Alzheimer's Disease
00:12:50 Sponsors: David & LMNT
00:15:28 'Young Blood' Factors, Rejuvenation, Stem Cells
00:20:15 Blood Banking; Dracula
00:23:10 Rates of Aging in Organs, Age Gap & Disease Risk; Risk Profiles & Therapies
00:33:02 NAD Levels & Aging, NMN Supplements
00:36:44 Vitality vs Longevity; Periods of Accelerated Aging
00:43:17 Sponsors: AG1 & Roka
00:45:22 Sunlight; Youthful Blood Factors, Exercise & Brain Function, Fasting
00:51:25 Exercise, Injury & Inflammation
00:56:18 Pro-health Factors, Klotho, GDF11, Stem Cell Injection Risk
01:02:35 Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP); Exosomes
01:05:43 Smoking, EMFs, Plastics, Long-Term Accumulation, Fresh Foods, Organic Food
01:11:28 Sponsor: Function
01:13:16 Intermittent Fasting, Long-Term Fasting, Snacking
01:19:07 Sleep; Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) Factors & Cognitive Function
01:24:44 Exercise Type & Longevity; Exercise Enjoyment
01:32:02 Lifestyle Factors & Alzheimer's Risk; Cognitive Exercise; Chocolate
01:37:05 Alcohol & Social Connection; US vs European Food Culture
01:40:50 Deliberate Deep Breathing; Wearables, Sunlight & Artificial Light
01:49:13 Future Projects
01:56:40 Zero-Cost Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow, Reviews & Feedback, Sponsors, Protocols Book, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter

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Disclaimer & Disclosures: https://www.hubermanlab.com/disclaimer

Mindsip insights from this episode:

Transfer exercise benefits through blood for brain enhancement

The brain-boosting benefits of exercise can be transferred through blood, as shown when blood from an exercised mouse was injected into a non-exercised mouse, improving its brain function.

#brain

#exercise

Balance vitality and longevity to optimize health outcomes

Factors that increase vitality when young, like certain growth hormones, can be detrimental and shorten lifespan when you're older, a concept known as antagonistic pleiotropy.

#aging

#longevity

Measure organ age to predict disease risk

A company called Vero Biosciences can analyze organ-specific proteins in your blood to estimate the age of individual organs, which predicts your future risk of disease in that organ.

#biological-age

#testing

Infuse young cerebrospinal fluid to rejuvenate brain function

Infusing cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from young mice into old mice was shown to regenerate the brain and improve cognitive function, with a strong effect on the cells that myelinate neurons.

#cognition

#regeneration

Utilize plasma exchange to benefit Alzheimer's patients

A large, 500-patient clinical study on Alzheimer's patients found that therapeutic plasma exchange, where their plasma was removed and replaced with albumin, resulted in clear, significant benefits.

#Alzheimer's

#plasma

Utilize pooled young blood for effective rejuvenation

You don't need to bank your own young blood for future rejuvenation, as studies show that pooled blood from multiple young individuals is still effective.

#aging

#regeneration

Recognize waves of aging to navigate health changes

Aging is not a linear process; there are accelerated 'waves of aging' with dramatic changes in blood proteins happening around age 35, in your early 40s, and early 60s.

#aging

Question NMN's effectiveness for lifespan extension

Despite its popularity, there are no validated human studies showing that NMN extends lifespan; it has only been shown to increase NMN levels in the blood.

#lifespan

#supplement

Estimate muscle cell age to predict ALS risk

New research can estimate the age of specific cell types from blood, finding that having 'extremely old' muscle cells is a strong predictor for developing ALS later in life.