The Future of Medicine Is Energy: Dr. Martin Picard Explains

Mark Hyman

Nov 19, 2025

Episode description

I’ve seen so many patients struggle with fatigue, brain fog, and burnout, and this conversation gave me a new way of thinking about why that happens and how to approach it. On this episode of The Dr. Hyman Show, I’m joined by Dr. Martin Picard, a Columbia scientist studying how energy flows through the body, and what that flow means for how we think, feel, and age. We touch on a simple idea that could reframe the way you understand your own energy, and how your daily choices influence it over time. Catch the full conversation on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.

We uncover:

• Why your energy can feel “off” even when labs look normal

• What mitochondria communicate beyond just ATP production

• How stress, recovery, and sleep shift your cellular energy capacity

• Why individuality matters more than group averages in real life health outcomes

• The simple daily choices that build or drain metabolic resilience over time

At the end of the day, energy is the foundation of how we show up in our lives, and we can influence it more than we think.

Resources on the blog:

• Phenomics and the Energy Resistance Principle View Show Notes From This Episode

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Mindsip insights from this episode:

Cultivate optimism and purpose to enhance mitochondrial function

Research shows that psychological states like optimism and purpose are linked to having more and better-functioning mitochondria in the brain's prefrontal cortex.

#mind

#mitochondria

Leverage ketogenic diet to enhance mental health through efficient energy use

The ketogenic diet may be transformative for mental health because ketones provide an energy source that faces less resistance in the mitochondria than glucose.

#keto

#mitochondria

Balance stress and rest for optimal health

Health is built by cycling between periods of high energy resistance (like exercise) and low energy resistance (like rest), which is when adaptation and healing occur.

#recovery

#stress

Recognize metabolic compensation to understand exercise energy burn

Your body compensates for calories burned during exercise by becoming more efficient and saving energy elsewhere, a process known as metabolic compensation.

#exercise

#metabolism

Reduce energy resistance to combat fatigue

The feeling of fatigue or the pressure to sleep arises directly from your mitochondria when energy faces too much resistance to flow easily.

#fatigue

#mitochondria

Recognize yourself as energy flowing through your body

A fundamental shift in perspective is to stop seeing the body as a machine powered by energy and to understand that you literally are the energy flowing through your body.

#energy

Find balance in energy resistance for optimal health

The Energy Resistance Principle proposes that life requires a 'sweet spot' of resistance for energy to be transformed, where too little is ineffective and too much causes disease.

#energy

#homeostasis

Utilize GDF15 as a universal disease marker for chronic illness

The protein GDF15 is emerging as a pan-disease biomarker because it signals high 'energy resistance,' a common root cause of most chronic illnesses.

#chronic-disease

#testing

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