Melanie Griffin: Welcome back to the Better For You podcast. Today, I’m so excited to have our guest, Dr. Brett Osborne, with us. He’s a board-certified neurosurgeon, anti-aging specialist, and fitness enthusiast with decades of experience in advancing health and wellness. He’s a graduate of the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. He completed his neurosurgical residency at NYU Medical Center and has served in several leadership roles, including chairman of the Department of Surgery at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach.
He is a published author of Get Serious: A Neurosurgeon’s Guide to Optimal Health and Fitness and is the president of Sinalytics, a cutting-edge health and wellness company focused on leveraging data-driven insights and innovative technologies to optimize human performance and longevity.
Dr. Osborne, we’re so happy to have you with us today. Thank you for spending some time with us and being here to share your insights on health and longevity with our audience. I’ve been on your social platforms—I can tell you live it. You spend a little time in the gym yourself. We’re very eager to get the conversation started. Thanks for being with us today.
Dr. Osborne: Of course, thanks for having me. I think you guys are doing a great job in delivering a wonderful message.
Melanie Griffin: Thank you for helping us and being a part of it. So let’s jump right in. Exercise—you’ve mentioned that deadlifts and squats are really critical for health and longevity. Can you talk about the importance of physical activity, especially weight-bearing exercise, and what folks need to keep in their routine to age gracefully?
Dr. Osborne: Sure, and that’s a great question. It’s something that’s, I would say, ill-perceived by society in general—namely, that exercises like squats and deadlifts are bad for your back. I hear that constantly. But the most common cause of workplace disability is back pain, and the people who suffer from back pain—chronic or acute—are the people with the weakest backs.
So it is really important to strengthen your back. By far, the two best exercises to do that are squats and deadlifts. Now, people often think, “Oh my god, I’m going to hurt my back.” But bad deadlifts are bad for your back—not properly executed ones. Properly executed deadlifts will help your back pain. There’s a ton of data on that.
They also generate the most robust anabolic response. These exercises electively traumatize the most muscle—which sounds bad, but all exercise is controlled trauma. They’re critical for preventing frailty and sarcopenia, the age-associated loss of muscle. Full-body compound exercises like squats and deadlifts mitigate this.
As a neurosurgeon, I’ll tell you: the most common cause of head injury in people over 50 isn’t car accidents—it’s falls. Not from ladders. From standing. Because they’re frail and sarcopenic. Their nervous system is faltering, they fall, and they hit their heads—many of them are on blood thinners and require operations.
These compound exercises—squats, deadlifts—traumatize the body in a good way. They release growth factors like BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor), which is responsible for connectivity between neurons. It maintains brain integrity and helps form memory.
Not only do the stronger survive longer (there’s data in my book and in the British Medical Journal that backs this up), but people who exercise have brains that work exponentially better than those who are sedentary. Even if their diet isn’t great. Exercise alone makes a huge difference.
Melanie Griffin: That’s amazing—and you’re right. So many people think these lifts are dangerous, especially as they get older. But what you’re saying is the exact opposite. They’re essential. Just do them right. Learn the form. Get a qualified trainer. But get started.
Dr. Osborne: Yes—make sure you’re doing it right. Safety first. Technique is everything. Most people are unfamiliar with these exercises because they’re scared. I always ask my patients, “Does your trainer have hair?” If they say yes, I say, “Go fire him.” (laughs)
You want someone experienced. It’s like surgery. If you go to a surgeon who says they’ve never had any complications—run. To become a good surgeon, you have to learn from mistakes. Same with trainers.
Melanie Griffin: So good. And I love the mindset shift you’re encouraging. Take responsibility for your health. Don’t be afraid of the weight room.
Dr. Osborne: Can I say one more thing? When people ask me, “What’s the best thing I can do for my brain health?” I don’t say supplements or mushrooms. I say: Can you do ten pull-ups? If not, start exercising. By far, the most important thing you can do for your brain—forget your body—is exercise.
Melanie Griffin: That’s exactly what our listeners need to hear. You’ve talked about sarcopenia, bone density, and now hormones. Can we talk more about that? What role do hormones play in healthy aging?
Dr. Osborne: Absolutely. When people come to our clinic, we run a large battery of tests—about a third of which are hormone-related. Hormones are the master regulators of internal biochemistry. They operate like a symphony—everything has to be in balance.
Hormones affect your brain function, your ability to build muscle, lose fat, your libido, motivation, metabolism. And often, people think they’re “fine” until they optimize their hormones. Then they realize how not fine they were.
We’re not looking for “normal.” Normal means you fall within a reference range from a pool of average, often unhealthy people. We want optimal. That’s a huge difference. Without optimal hormones, you will age poorly.
Melanie Griffin: That’s a wake-up call. So what can someone do if their doctor isn’t testing their hormones or doesn’t go beyond “normal”?
Dr. Osborne: Fire your doctor. Find someone else. Someone aligned with a wellness mindset—not just a “testosterone clinic.” A good resource is the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M). They have a physician locator online.
But be discerning. Even some A4M doctors don’t do it right. Interview a few. Ask questions. Avoid the “1-800-TESTOSTERONE” types—they’re just trying to sell you something. We get patients from those places all the time. They come in with blood like syrup because no one was monitoring them. That’s dangerous.
Melanie Griffin: That’s very helpful, thank you. And I appreciate your holistic approach—testing everything, understanding people’s full health profile, even brain function.
Dr. Osborne: Exactly. We’re not just a hormone clinic. We look at carotid arteries, thyroid, kidneys, aorta, heart—everything. Stroke and heart attack are the top killers. We look through multiple lenses. Ultrasound, labs, cognitive testing. Biochemistry is just part of the picture.
Melanie Griffin: If you want to age well and stay vibrant, you have to take your health seriously. And I’d love to ask one more question—nutrition and supplementation. What should folks over 50 prioritize?
Dr. Osborne: Great question. The biggest problem? Simple carbohydrates. They spike insulin, and high insulin levels lead to fat storage and disease. We want to keep insulin low so the body can burn fat.
We use a low glycemic index, anti-inflammatory diet. Not keto. We’re permissive of carbs—but only the right ones. Leafy greens, low-GI fruits like berries, healthy fats like olive oil. Fat helps lower insulin, keeps you full longer, and slows gastric emptying.
A simple trick: eat a salad with olive oil before your meal. It curbs appetite and reduces portion sizes. Another trick: a spoonful of peanut butter or olive oil before dinner. It helps you eat less without feeling deprived.
Calories don’t matter nearly as much as where your calories come from. Low insulin is the goal. Avoid the garbage carbs. The rest—fat and protein—are less likely to hurt you.
Melanie Griffin: That’s wonderful. You explained that so clearly. So, to recap: get in the weight room. Focus on compound lifts. Get your hormones optimized by someone who understands optimal—not just normal. And clean up your nutrition with low-glycemic, anti-inflammatory foods.
Dr. Osborne, you’ve been a tremendous resource for us. Thank you for your passion, your wisdom, and your energy.
Dr. Osborne: Thank you for having me. Keep delivering the message of health. We need it more than ever.
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