A Little Bit About Kwadwo:

Dr. Kyeremanteng was born and raised in Edmonton, where he attended medical school (University of Alberta, completed in 2005). He and his wife then moved to Ottawa, where he completed his Internal Medicine residency training (University of Ottawa, completed in 2008). Dr. Kyeremanteng continued his studies by pursuing a joint two-year fellowship program in Palliative Care Medicine and Critical Care Medicine (University of Ottawa, completed in June 2010).

​Dr. Kyeremanteng’s academic interests are in end-of-life care in the palliative care and critical care settings, and integration of Palliative Care in the Intensive Care Unit. As well as health services research and cost evaluations. More information regarding his current research interests and projects can be found here.

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TRANSCRIPTION:

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng: JP, this has been a long time coming, but this is going to be one of your highlights in 2025. Put that down right now. I’m going to predict that right now, number one viewed and listened to podcasts for this year. Let’s go.

JP McAvoy: Absolutely. Let’s go. An absolute pleasure for all of our listeners as well. In all seriousness, we’ve talked through the years. You’ve been a busy ICU doc. You were a regular feature on the news during the pandemic, right? Very outspoken, and had a lot of amazing things to share things that needed to be shared during the pandemic. Some of those themes continue to run true to this day, and things that you continue to expose. But as we said, all kidding aside, the thing that really got us to the point where we’re having this discussion here today is your latest book. I think I want to start the conversation from there, prevention or prescription. You looked at a lot of the people that you were seeing as patients in the ICU during the pandemic. And through your own research, through the years, you’ve looked and thought of what needs to be done to keep people out of your office. To keep people in the ICU, your thinking evolves. And you got to the point where you said, this is important enough to write on. I want to get this message out to people, and I want to get into some of the messages you have in the book, the first one though to begin with. And I think the first pillar that you describe in your book is of purpose. I want to start there. I want to speak to that first because I want to make it personal. I want to talk about your personal life. You’ve made it a mission to get the word out, to talk to people, to improve their lives. Maybe I’m taking the thunder by saying that in terms of purpose, what drives you? What motivates you to get up beneath the gym and all the things that you’re doing? But what is Dr. K’spurpose? 

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng: Yeah. So first of all, thanks again for having me. If I were to distill it, it’s alleviating suffering. This is probably why I got into this gig in the first place. I was inspired to do medicine from my own experience as a young patient with bad asthma, and that the power my pediatrician had on myself and the family was incredible. Put your hand on your chest, put your hand on mom’s arm, and all of a sudden, all our fears, all our anxiety would dissipate. And this is why I wanted to bring it to people. And as an ICU doc, absolutely, I get to bring that to the table on a regular basis where people are suffering, they’re going through their infections or pneumonias, and we’re there to treat them and to try to get them through their ailment. But what was abundantly apparent during the pandemic was many of these conditions were related to lifestyle choices. So obesity, Type Two Diabetes, Metabolic syndrome. And as I got more and more information that not only can you reverse these conditions and prevent them in many ways, this became an anchor to me. It’s like, hey, how do we avoid letting in ICU where we see all this suffering, you see all this pain, PTSD, anxiety, depression, the fact that has on your family, the financial impact that has on society, the patient and their family, there’s so many trickle down effects from one ICU admission. So if we could prevent that from happening, wow, that’s powerful. And so that’s where I’ve made a pivot in my content, in my life, and that purpose was to take away that suffering from people. And this, to me, was just a natural segue into trying to create that existence.

JP McAvoy: Yeah. You were doing a lot of these things naturally to begin with, but you were there at the stage of where it’s becoming a crisis, where it’s an emergency. I think you’re seeing from your own experience, you’ve watched the succession of events that have led someone to be there. Not in all cases, but certainly there’s a pattern you’ve seen. Can we break that down? Let’s break that down to talk of the pattern, the typical person that you see. And I guess I can’t even say it is the typical person you see, but the things that you see that contribute to somebody being there, and how they can stop it earlier in the process.

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng: Yeah. Great question, so I’ll give the caveat. There’s some conditions where there’s nothing you could do about it. Just end up there, you get into a car accident, some brain bleeds or aneurysms, that gets just bad luck. I don’t want to give the impression that this is going to rescue me from any ailment, but the common thread we saw, for example, during the pandemic was I never treated somebody that, personally, didn’t have a risk factor. And some of this was, we’ll call it metabolic syndrome. So within that syndrome is tied to obesity, so bigger weight, especially around the waist. We saw high blood pressure being linked to that. We saw pre diabetes or diabetes type two linked to that. We saw links to their cholesterol being elevated. And so many of the conditions that we see, not all of them, but many of the conditions we see in the intensive care unit are related to stuff that could be preventable. So we mentioned the issues with metabolic syndrome, but there’s also smokers as an example. There’s alcohol consumption, drug misuse. So a lot of these conditions, if treated early, could have a significant impact. And so the reason it’s a big deal, not only do unfortunately these conditions, you’re not as strong as you or I, for example, where frailty is probably one of the main contributors to poor outcomes in an intensive care unit, but you’re also more prone to infection because you’re more pro inflammatory. Your lungs aren’t as strong because you’ve been smoking or because you’ve had so much weight from your abdomen or from your chest wall, you can’t take deep breaths. So all these things kind of tie into poor outcomes within when you land in the hospital and worse off in the intensive care unit. So the exciting thing is, JP, if you can start today. I don’t care how old you are. The stuff that you could start today can significantly change your prognosis and your general outcome as a result. And so this is why I’m trying to motivate folks and really encourage them like, let’s do this. That’s where I’m at.

JP McAvoy: And we’ve talked about this. You had a number of programs, and I’ve had the pleasure of participating in as well. But if somebody is listening, okay, so yes, I’m in. If I wanted to start today, where would I start? What are the things I need to start focusing on today? 

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng: I love it, JP. We talk about the five pillars. I talk about purpose, and I just want to highlight why purpose is important. Because if you’re not aligned with your why, why do you do the things you do? Why does JP want to help so many business folks and so forth? If you’re not doing what you love, you’re more likely to not be sleeping as well, or you’re less likely to be motivated. You’re eating more poorly. You’re less likely to get up and get to the gym because you’re not aligned. And when you’re not aligned, you’re off, you’re just not motivated. 

JP McAvoy: It’s not all flowing. All your longevity experts, you’re gonna say the same. It’s similar themes. It starts from there, right? Getting yourself going on the right path.

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng: 100%. And this is something that I came late. It didn’t occur to me until I started to reflect on my own. When I’ve had some downturns in my own wellness, burnout and so forth is when I wasn’t tied to my purpose. So I think that that was a big aha moment for me. And then we talk about nutrition, we talk about exercise, and we talk about stress management and connection. And the most important lever, in my opinion, if you’re going to choose, I would say, when we talk about in the book, it’s 80/20. Choose one or two levers in your life that you think will have the biggest impact. And for me and most people that are listening, it’s going to be nutrition. And within that box, it’s protein intake. For sure, most people underdose their protein. And we would be aiming for anywhere from point seven to one gram of ideal body weight. So for me as a 200 plus pound gentleman, I’d be looking for at least 140 grams of protein a day up to about 205, and it’s not as easy as it sounds.

JP McAvoy: What does that mean in practical terms? So someone is not familiar with how to even measure a protein, give us an example of what you gotta get on yourself?

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng: Yeah. So example, if you make just easy one off the top of my head, if you’re doing a protein shake, if you’re doing a big heap and scoop of a shake, you add some Greek yogurt in there, you’re probably going to be around the 40 grams to 45 grams of protein around that realm. If you get a chicken breast, you’re anywhere from 40 to 50 grams within one chicken breast. So usually about a palm of meat is anywhere from, we’ll say 35 to 50 grams, depending on the meat. And so the other one that you’ll see a lot about is eggs. So that’s about seven grams per egg in terms of protein. So it’s not as easy as it sounds. It’s a lot of protein. I know it’s challenging for a lot of folks. But if you can achieve that goal, man, the magic happens because you’re going to increase your lean muscle mass, which allows you to burn more calories and increases your basal metabolic rate so you burn more calories. When you carry more muscle, you’re going to feel fuller, so you’re going to make better food choices. You’re going to be less likely to create carbs or processed food. You’re going to be more energetic because you’re not having big fluctuations in blood sugar. So yeah, protein stabilizes your blood sugar. You are just everything kind of just falls into place when you ingest enough protein. This is why I say, well, if I can only give one recommendation for folks, it would amp up that protein. And I also feel like it’s not as life altering as some of the other stuff. If you want to put on more lean muscle and get to a gym, that’s a lot of changes for a lot of people’s lives. Whereas, instead of that one chicken breast, I put on my plan and put another half.

JP McAvoy: It starts from being aware. As you and I have discussed, and I can’t get over how much what you say aligns with what my trainer says, and the other podcasts I listen to, right? We’re all discussing protein now. I wasn’t aware about how to get it right, so it’s been great talking to you. And others have had to get just there, and you’ve taken on a mission as well to help with that delivery. This talk is just a shameless plug for you. So for me to get back, you mentioned protein shake, but I was like, how do I actually do this? You’ve been good enough to show me as well and then decide to put yours, show us the walk, or walk the talk. But you said, you know what? I’m even a producer that can assist people here with that intake. So talk to just a second about that protein we can take to get some of that protein through a product you develop.

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng: Yeah. Thanks for that, JP. This was one of the things that, as you mentioned, want to walk the walk, and had the opportunity with our partners to produce a high quality New Zealand way protein powder that was delicious mixed well. And I know a lot of people don’t know where to go when it comes to supplements and things like this so I thought, I’ll do my background work, evaluate this, create this product that does Health Canada approved that I give to my own kids, and having that confidence to put that out to the public, I thought, was doing people a service. So it’s walking the walk. What’s my good source of protein when I can’t get enough from natural meat? So as an example, JP, and this might seem counterintuitive to folks, I only probably have a shake three to four times a week. Because most of the time, I could hit my protein goals. But if I’m on the move and I think I’m underdosing my protein just producing a shake, as I mentioned before, to want some Greek yogurt, some fruits to make sure I get my fiber intake, add the creatine in there, add some collagen in there too if that’s your Huckleberry. And I’m meeting my goals. And so it’s just a nice tool to have that you can use, you’re more likely to achieve your goals, and it’s going to be high quality, it’s going to be easier to digest. And so this was an endeavor we took on in about September 2024, and it’s been like, you and I talk about how fun it is to have the side hustles.

JP McAvoy: It all goes down, and when it’s online, as we discuss, everything flows, it comes together because we have a good time with that. And I’ll speak to the product as well, because I was trying to supplement protein before you went, well, would you say two years, you developed for a number of years ago trying to do it. And I know it’s, frankly, with the product, it’s nice knowing that you sourced it, trusting you in the work. Because I was buying it at Costco and trying to find something that made sense as well, I do notice the difference. I’ll leave the show notes for this and say I’m not getting any for this, so I looked at this, the product as well. Because certainly, I’m a fan. I taste the difference, right? Maybe what I should say is, I taste less, which is probably the difference. And I say, it’s nice knowing, because that’s one thing that my nutritionist spoke to me about, beware, because not all these products are the same. 

I’ve got clients that actually produced some of these types of supplements in the past, and they were quite ready to point out that they could source the underlying product from all different places. And there are different qualities, let’s just say that different qualities of what you can source. I know you’ve gone and sourced the best, and I say it’s noticeable as you go to consume the product. Probably a shake, if not every day, every other day, and I’ve got my family doing it as well. I’ve been focused on that protein. I’ve understood how important that is to get simulated, and how important diet is. You speak to that and all those that I’ve spoken to as well, because it’s one of the things that it’s easy to not pay attention to, and there are negative effects to that. God bless my wife who spends a lot of time paying attention to it and is focused on things that are better for the whole family, so we’re lucky to have that. Protein is certainly one of them. And then you talk about some of the other things that can be done and touch the things that keep you out of the ICU. Let’s talk about getting to the gym or whatever gets you moving because you’ve written and spoken a lot about the power of movement. Let’s talk about the beginner steps, and then all the way through to what people ought to be doing if they’re actually able to get to the gym and motivated to do so.

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng: A great point, JP. I say there’s two things that people should focus on, and one’s easier than the other. But step count, increasing your walking during the day is there’s no doubt that the evidence shows that the more you walk is tied to longevity, and that’s strong. And not only are you living longer, probably you’re getting more heart healthy, you are also improving your mental health. Always good to get outside and clear your head. It’s also good for your sleep. So some studies show that increasing that step count also improves your sleep, your recovery and your ability to be cognitively on point, and also improve your metabolic health. So just looking at ways throughout the day that you could increase your step count. I know my superiors probably don’t love this. As an example, if I’m at a Zoom meeting and I’m not sharing it, I’ll take my camera off and walk the dog. I’ll walk throughout the house or throughout the office just to get my body moving. And movement is medicine, and I think we just got to change. Have that little pivot park a little bit further away. Next time you go into Costco after your meal with the family, make it a tradition at least a few days a week where you all get out and walk together, and walk off the meal, which also will burn more calories and blunt that insulin response. So I think that one thing that collectively doesn’t take much in terms of bandwidth to try and incorporate throughout your life is increasing your step count. And then as you have seen, you represent with this, JP. Everyone needs to push weight, everyone needs to do some form of weight training. 

I know it’s intimidating to a lot of people, but you do not need to go to a gym. You do not have to have a bunch of equipment if your rookie status body weight exercises that could scale up is perfectly fine. Because if you’re starting from nothing, you’re going to get the benefit just from doing your air squats. Or if you can’t, even if your hips are not that mobile, sit to stand 10 times, that will even give you some benefit. If you can’t do a push up on your knees, do it off the wall. There’s just ways of scaling everything. And so to me, that’s a really important component to our concept when it comes to weight training. And you could get resistance bands. I still can do a fairly intensive workout with resistant bands if you do it the right way. And so I think the myth that you need all this sexy equipment doesn’t hold water for me. And then obviously, if you can get to a gym and you’re pushing weight, compound lifts to me are what are the most bang for your buck. So that would be like dead lifts, squats of some sort, presses, which means the military press above your head, or bench press, which off your chest. 

And another kind of hack that people could use, if they’re low on the equipment side, I think one of the underutilized tools out there is our kettlebells. You could do a lot of strength training and cardiovascular training with a cardiovascular conditioning with a kettlebell, that’s my favorite tool to use when I don’t have much time. So as an example, I should mention that that’s another myth that I think we need to address. I don’t have time to exercise during my ICU week, my workouts in the morning are less than 10 minutes. I am a big fan of it. As an example is a Tabata exercise, which means you do 22nd sprint, 10 second rest for eight rounds of some form of exercise. My favorite one to do is a kettlebell swing. So I’ll take a relatively heavy kettlebell swing as fast as I can for 20 seconds, and take a 10 second break. And if you’re doing it right. I will be sore, and that’s all I’ll do for that date. So essentially with the warm up, it’s about, we’ll say eight minutes total, or we could do a second round in there too. But all this to say we could find a way for you to squeeze it in if you only have a short period of time. But the last thing I’ll say is this whole concept of exercise has been a game changer in our house. What that is, is implementing exercise, sprinkling in throughout the day. So as an example, you got a big Zoom meeting day, and you’re not doing much. Every 30 minutes, you do some form of exercise. So that could be squats, burpees, whatever you choose to do, but it’s implementing it throughout the day. One of the things that we do in our house is Football Sunday. I have three sons. We all love to watch ball. It’s a lazy day. But during TV time outs, we do some form of exercise. If it’s been a really slow game, then we do some form of exercise. So there’s a way of incorporating this into your day without feeling overwhelming.

JP McAvoy: That’s right. And the key is to get moving, as you say, to get moving as a size you discuss these things. Why is grip strengths so important? Or why is it so indicative of longevity? I guess the fireman’s carry, I just think of it as you mentioned kettlebells. Can you talk to that? Or what is the thinking behind that?

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng: My interpretation of that data is it’s associative. I don’t think necessarily, if you just work on your grip strength now, you’re gonna live longer or whatever. I think it just reflects that you’re strong. And when you’re strong, you live longer. And then the other thing that I learned from Pavel Teslin is that if you do increase your grip strength, though, you will get stronger. So it’s a nice hack, actually, for strength. I’ll give you an example. If you’re doing your bench press and you’re at the last rep, and you’re really pushing hard and you feel like you’re not going to get there, one of the hacks you could do is squeeze a bar as hard as you can. And the theory is it helps recruit some of the muscles that aren’t activated during that time. You squeeze that bar, and you will get some level of additional muscle units that will help you push through. So I think, once again, it’s tied to just being strong. I work on my grip strength because it gets me stronger, as opposed to working on my grip strength so I could live longer, if that makes sense.

JP McAvoy: I think they go hand in hand. Pun intended, I guess, but that’s the rally. So it’s an indicator. But as you do it, it leads to that outcome that we all seek as well. That’s great. We discussed nutrition. Obviously, fitness purpose. Where else are we going? What are the pillars I am standing on here today? 

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng: My God, I don’t know if we’ve had this conversation in our many convos about our sleep, but that’s the one that is my nemesis. So sleep is within stress management. To me, sleep is the 80/20 of stress management. And yeah, this is the one that I’m not the best at because of lifestyle. Three kids, you can imagine. To be honest with you, in our job, I gotta carry some level of stress too. And the way I’ve approached it, on a personal level is yes, we’re all supposed to get the seven and a half hours of sleep, but it’s not realistic in my world all the time. So I’ve approached it more saying, I’m going to get the best quality sleep I can, as opposed to the duration. So the couple of things that we suggest in the book, and then what that I incorporate in my life is getting outside as first thing in the morning, getting that UV light to reset my circadian rhythm. I try to be as active as I can during the day. Get my step count in as we mentioned could be taught to enhance your sleep. I try to avoid screens before bed. I think this is probably the one that most of us can benefit from. I also incorporate blue blocking glasses to reduce that blue light. So those that don’t know the blue light from your screens will suppress your natural melatonin. And as a result, it’ll be harder to get that onset of sleep, so using blue blocking glasses will improve your sleep quality. 

But even better yet is to avoid the squeeze altogether near bedtime. Not eating too close to bedtime as well, not exercising too close to bedtime, keeping the room as cold as possible that your partner will allow the blackout blinds or using eye cover. I’m a big fan of eye covers, earplugs. I’m more of a white noise kind of guy. And in terms of supplementation or sleep aids, I think most of the ones that are prescribed, all the ones that are prescribed that I’m aware of, don’t enhance your deep sleep. It makes you sedated and makes you fall asleep, but won’t enhance your deep sleep. I’m a big fan of magnesium glycinate because it will reduce the amount of stress, and you’ll feel more calm. And there’s some weak studies showing that it may enhance your deep sleep. And some people like taking melatonin. I’m just giving my personal opinion. Best evidence for melatonin is for jet lag. And yes, you will go through a natural sleep cycle with melatonin. But my fear is that if you take it chronically, the message that it says to your own melatonin is like, I don’t need to exist. And the other thing is, there’s a lot of studies out there showing the dose that you’re getting could be quite variable. What they’re claiming is it can be off. It’s going to be more than you think is what I’ve been told. So I reserve melatonin for travel or extreme situations, but my personal opinion is not to take it routinely.

JP McAvoy: There you go. And it’s interesting that these are things we’ve all heard through the years, especially with respect to sleep. I think all the factors we’re discussing, but it’s good to hear that. There’s no silver bullet here, is there? These are things, and a lot of things we’ve been taught even dating back to some of these things we heard back in health class, in high school, so get your sleep. I know it’s easier said than done. If you’re not getting it, understand the importance of it. And if you miss a night, get back to it as soon as you can, I guess, is the other thing, right? Because you say that life gets busy, there are things that happen, but there’s a cumulative effect. And as we’ve been discussing through all this, all these things can lead up to a consequence that we prefer not to see, as opposed to saying Gyata strong all the way through. So yeah, absolutely. So important. We got four of the pillars. Is there a fifth that you discussed in the book?

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng: It’s a bit of a Mother leap, but it’s important that the connection piece is able to avoid that loneliness, and it kind of ties to purpose too. But if we look at what we saw during the pandemic, we literally saw our elderly population die of loneliness, and it was just a strong reminder that we are meant to connect. We are meant to be one. And I think there’s a bit of a trend still that we’re trying to heal from where a lot of people were used to that isolation and trying to get them to connect again is this work. So for some of us, it’s work. You and I and our dinners, there’s nothing I don’t know that’s more rejuvenating. We all get together and we share laughs, and we share stories and talk about the irritations of our children, and it rejuvenates us. It’s what we’re here to do. And so I think what I just highly encourage everybody to do is make sure you feel connected. Make sure you get to those people that you can lean on. I always say five seconds of courage to call up that old friend or text that old friend, but better yet, called a friend. There’s nothing better than getting that call saying, yo, I’m just checking out how you are doing, brother. How have you been? I think we need more of that. And one of the concepts we talk about in the book is that the community piece is easily stackable. If you and I play hockey, that was my community connection piece in this city. The good friends are from Ottawa right now through hockey. And so you get that connection piece, but you also get the exercise piece. You also get the improvement. I think this is the one that’s stackable, but super important. JP, the last thing I’ll say is you all that hype around blue zones that you’ll see on Netflix. I think that’s the magic sauce, in my opinion. The connection is that a lot of people, those elderly populations that are moving and eating well, but they’re also connected to the family. That’s a big part of it.

JP McAvoy: As you see in the Harvard studies as well to launch activity, they’re all pointing to that very connectedness. So important. And again, it’s something you hear, but it’s great to be reminded. And then the benefit of your real thinking here and your medical training say that these things actually have a direct impact. It’s easy to put out of mine or think to yourself, I’m not going to take that five minutes or invest in that relationship, but there’s actually a reason for your own health. And it’s important for us to hear that, to know that, so thank you for that. The book itself is obviously a wealth of this type of information. Reminders for us. How do people find the book to those that are listening and interested in reading more?

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng: There’s two ways that you could do it. Go to drkwadwo.ca, we have it directly on our website. Or just go to Prevention Over Prescription on Amazon. Will be the first hit off of that. But yeah, man, number one best seller already. Depending on when this comes out, we could have a party soon to celebrate the book, which is great. But yeah, this has been a pretty, pretty special endeavor that I think even if one or two people read this and say, hey, I could do this. I could actually take one or two pieces of this and transform my life. Then I know I’ve done it. Our team has done a great job.

JP McAvoy: The impact, obviously, on the personal level. And then on a broad level, societal. I don’t want to make a public conversation, but you seem to strain our resources at the hospitals as well. So if I’m able to keep just one or two people out of the hospital, well, then also a success from a societal perspective. I still appreciate that, please do go look and support the book of Kwadwo, I love that. I love the work that you’ve done. There got a couple of areas I want to take us to before we wrap up the conversation. And one, as we talk about how things have evolved, I want to talk a little about how you’re using AI? Or what is your understanding of AI? The tools that exist right now are changing when you do it on a daily regular basis, assisting those you help, and the way you can envision, again, the way we look at improving our health, making use of AI to improve all the other things that we do. I want to touch on that and one other thing before we part today. 

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng: I’ll try to be concise, but I’ll just want to give a caveat. I am an AI advocate. I’m an optimist. You get the extreme versions of AI folk, and I know there is going to be a negative side. But holy cow, the future looks bright. From a healthcare perspective, I would say that we’ve been one of the co-founders of a company to try and enhance education through this. Long story short, the main pillars that I see AI dramatically impacting things is through efficiency. So your interaction with your family Doc right now in 2025, most of them I think will have an AI scribe where now, you and I, JP, I’m talking eye to eye. I’m not worried about doing my notes. So now, instead of seeing 20 people in the clinic, now I could see 30 people in the clinic because I’m that much more efficient. I think a lot of areas where human factors do not assist in flow and efficiency will be eliminated, so triaging for elective surgeries within the region. I think that’s going to be upcoming. I think decision making too. I have no ties to this company, glasshealth.ai, or something like that. You put in a description of a clinical scenario, the output out of that is unbelievable to me. It’s operating at a second or third year resident level already, and it’s only going to get better. I use AI on my day to day emails. My summaries, my output is increased by 50% just by the AI adoption. So all this to say, just leaning on the positive, and we could get into the negative if you want, but I think there’s so much upside in healthcare. My personal concern is we’re slow at adopting everything, and so I’m trying to be the change here. I’m trying to bring that to my department by leveraging AI so we could really enhance patient care and our efficiencies. But it’s an uphill battle.

JP McAvoy: Absolutely, it’s just so important. In the last season of this show, we had a focus on AI. It’s going to continue to permit everything that we do in society. We’re wanting to make sure that those listening are aware of the powers, how it’s being used in all different fields. And like your health, how important it is to stay on top of that as well. The other thing that’s come up throughout all, I guess, we’re under our 4th season now of the show, and I wanted to ask you, personally, how much meditation impacts? Or do you meditate? Are you using meditation as a tool in your daily life? I’m struck by the range of entrepreneurs and successful business people I’ve had on the show, and how oftentimes they’ve spoken to the power of meditation, and how it is something that they use as tools. So we discuss AI, and then to even think about something on a more primitive level. Meditation, do you do it personally at all? Do you have anything that you can share on that with respect to your findings, and with those that you work with as well?

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng: Yeah. This is something that on paper I should do more of. And I used to be more religious about it, and I think I miss it. If I’m being honest with you, I think the benefits of meditation are clear. I don’t want to speak out of turn. I thought I saw something even on longevity, but don’t quote me on that. But certainly reducing stress, improved mental health, all these things. I think there’s a lot of good coming out of meditation. I’ve incorporated a little bit of a different practice in my world. And just because my pace, I think has increased over the last, I don’t know, little while that I’ve incorporated a little bit of breathing or breath work, as opposed to just formal, mindful meditation or some version of meditation. So I came across this Huberman Hack called the physiologic sigh, which we talk a little bit about in the book. It’s basically a breathing technique that will totally calm down your nervous system. So what you do is you take a deep breath in. And at the top of your inspiration, you take another sniff, and then a slow expiration, and you incorporate that sporadically in your day. So even doing a little bit lightheaded as I do that, if you do it, you’re gonna notice it. Our rate comes down, you’re gonna be in a much calmer state, so I try to incorporate that as a rule before I pick up my phone, while I’m waiting for coffee, while I’m in traffic. Before I get to do a jump on a podcast, before I go on a stage, I try to sprinkle that in throughout the day, as opposed to when I used to do a five minute mindful meditation practice. And I don’t know, it’s just on paper. I think I could go back to it.

JP McAvoy: As you say, trying to fit these things in. I’ve heard many times, though, say those that are busiest are the ones that need to meditate the most. So it’s interesting. And going back to thinking someone like Oprah saying, even a minute a day, right? It could be just the breath work describing. But just to take that pause because we are racing all the time, and I think our physiology today is such with technology and all the things that we try to do, we’re racing. We’re constantly racing, and so to take a moment to reset is good physiologically. And then I found, as I say, this discussion for me that’s most consuming is to hear from entrepreneurs, that’s where they do some of their best thinking. Entrepreneurs that have made a lot of the significant changes we see in society as they do it, as they take that moment to stop and slow down and reflect, it’s where they have some of their most creative thoughts, and where they’re able to take leaps from which is just fascinating here as well. I always ask that question of people to see how much of it impacts them in their daily lives as well. I think it’s important to talk about. And then obviously, see the impact the way it’s reflected and manifested in many people I speak with. 

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng: I agree. Mine are shower thoughts or times where I’m more still. But you made a point there that I think is worth hearing for the audience was that entrepreneurs often are the catalyst of significant change. I’ve come to the conclusion that within healthcare, the significant change is going to come from the entrepreneurial lens. I think we’re too slow from traditional methods. Research is slow. Traditional research is slow. Governments change administration, you could often get into a lot of red tape. I honestly think in this healthcare crisis, the entrepreneurial side is what is going to be front and center. And I hate to say it came to me late, but this is part of why I’ve jumped on that train. Like innovation platforms, startups, that lens is where I think the change is going to come in. If I look at my overall mission, that alleviates suffering, of course, but I also want to be a catalyst to change. I want to be part of the solution. I’ve got experience with research, I’ve got experience from administration. I’ve held a couple hats. But the more I’m around these entrepreneurial that think outside the box that a lot of the stuff I talked about my first book, like values over fear, favoring action, thinking outside the box, seeking diverse perspectives, I think that is where we need to be, and I think this is where it’s going to come from.

JP McAvoy: I’m convinced of that as well. What gets me going is to work with those types of entrepreneurs that are solving those problems, and be there at a foundational level to watch an idea take root and grow that really does change things, because it happens regularly. We see it happen regularly, and we need to see more of it. I think there’ll be that convergence of AI as well that allows us to take that next step forward. I’m sure it’s coming. I’m absolutely sure. We’ll definitely see some of that now. You mentioned these entrepreneurs, and you’ve done quite a bit of work at, obviously, in your job with the ICU. But do you have any programs or things that you can do to support the entrepreneur as well? Or that’s going to be tending the audience that’s going to be listening to this show here? Are there any programs available that you can point people to us?

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng: Thanks for that, JP. We just started our own program looking to help out these entrepreneurs. Obviously, a lot of them have great leadership skills that have led them to success. But you and I both know that if you’re not taking care of your body and your mind, you’re going to falter. You’re not going to get to your maximum potential. So been working with clients now to say like, hey, how do we get you to where you need to be? And a lot of people in that world don’t feel like they have time to take care of themselves. So we go through a process where we evaluate their current state, decide where their priorities are, and figure out one or two things that we’re going to focus on over a course of 6 to 12 months and say, hey, let’s get you to the gym. Let’s get you moving your body more, increasing that step count. Let’s do that moving in a way that you enjoy. Maybe that’s pickleball, maybe that’s going for a run, but working with the client to help them succeed in their goals. And my big thing is realism, no cookie cutter solution. I’ll tell you, I hate running at a personal level. I do not enjoy running. I don’t actually think in some ways, it’s the healthiest option for folks because of your joints. But if you told me today, I love running. We’re gonna figure out a way to incorporate it more in your day. And so I think the reason we’ve really worked with the entrepreneurial and the executives is because y’all are amplifiers. When you see your boss fit, you see your boss prioritize their health, what else happens? The family gets involved. Your managers and directors start to get involved, then all your staff can realize this is a priority. Less sick days, more joy out of the job, less burnout. It becomes a culture. And so this is why we’ve focused on that side, and hopefully we continue to be transformative in people’s lives.

JP McAvoy: Absolutely. It’s so powerful when you see the leader doing just that, or is the most fit person in the room. I can speak firsthand about running. I’ve run five marathons, and my joints feel it, so it’s probably not the best exercise. I try not to run. I certainly don’t run like I used to, because I don’t think it’s the best thing for you, but it is pretty powerful to see that leader that is the most fit person in the room. And so all things taking some of the things we’ve discussed here and putting even one at a time into your life is certainly going to add up to a better future for you. And again, as we talk more broadly, perhaps society. I’d like to ask, leave these shows with a couple of last questions. Or I guess, second to last. If we revisit this conversation in a year or two from now, we’ll have you back for sure. What’s happened in your life between now and then that we can look fondly on or think of, wow, I’m glad I planted that seed here today. We got a third book. What are we going to see in two years, wherever if we come back to this show.

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng: It’s funny. I think there will be a third book. It’s hard to say this without sounding like you’re pumping up your own tires, but I think we’re just bigger and better. I wasn’t clear on my vision for a while. I wasn’t sure on how we could try and create change, and I’ve decided to be more committed to the personal brand. When you build that personal brand when the message is positive, like the one that we’re doing, that ability to be more recognizable and have that positive message, I think things will just build from that. So over the next two years, the big thing will be to continue to build a brand, more speaking engagements, more partnerships, being everywhere, you’re gonna see nutrition everywhere. And then lastly, all our philanthropic initiatives, I want to really scale that up. So we have one called Black Med Collective, which we started in 2020 to try and increase enrollment, and for black students in medical school, which has been, I’ll say successful. We’ve had six medical students, and that got into medical school last year from a group of three to now 30. It’s a nonprofit that’s doing well now. And then the other one is bridges over Barriers, which we also started in 2020 to support our youth and the community to just take away barriers so they could thrive and essentially avoid coming to ICU later on in life. And so this is something that we were currently going from nonprofit to charitable organizations. So we haven’t been able to dig deep as much as we can, but we’ve raised over 250,000 over the course of that time. I would love that to be more recognized. Just being more involved on the philanthropic side, I think would really fill my bucket.

JP McAvoy: A lofty goal. And I think that we’re so lucky in today’s age to be able to build the brand because it’s a platform to get a positive message out. You’re certainly doing that. Thank you for that. The message is important, I love having you as a friend. But also, they say they love supporting the work that you’re doing. What’s the best way for somebody listening to find you if they want to learn more?

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng: Amazing, and thanks for this, JP. I’ve been loving the AI content. Because like I said, I’m an AI enthusiast. So I really appreciate the opportunity. Get a hold of us, go to drkwadwo.ca, our main website. We have all our links, podcasts, socials, books, consulting or coaching, it’s all on there. Otherwise, social media was pretty active. If you go to kwadcast, K-W-A-D-C-A-S-T, on any platform, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X, YouTube. We post frequently on LinkedIn as well. That would probably be the easiest way to get all of us. We respond to DMs, and we appreciate the following.

JP McAvoy: That’s great, and your stuff is great. Thanks for putting it out. You’ve been a big fan of my show as well, and I appreciate your support there. And then what you put is, it’s real. You’ll drop something as you’re on a walk. I think that’s a great way to do that. It’s genuine stuff. It’s great stuff. Thanks for doing it. I love to end these shows with one thing, or perhaps a list of things. I know we’ve talked about a range of them here on the show, but one thing somebody listening here today can take from this show, something you’ve heard along the way that they could take them to show off like, I walk right now. I’m driving right now. Whatever it may be, resonate theory that I can take with them through the rest of the day, rest a week. Got anything to offer there? 

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng: We touched on this, really. But that purpose piece, finding a scenario where you feel like you could be your authentic self and be all in is so powerful. We’re talking about your health and your wellness, but also for impact. I think this is an era within our country, within health that we need innovators. We need people that need to take those moonshots. We need people swinging the bat with our current financial and economic scenarios, or the healthcare scenarios. I feel like this is the time to be bold. I encourage people that if you got that voice inside your head saying, I got this big dream that I think I could help achieve. I have this aspiration that I want to try and nail down. This is the time, as far as I’m concerned. And I’ll tell you, this is what I’m doing. It doesn’t always rub people the right way, but it’s more authentic. It’s what I feel like I’m called to do. We said two years ago now that I’m confident that we’ll have some piece of trying to create a better existence for our Canadians at this time. So long winded answer there. Sorry, I went a little bit off script, but I think this is the time to be bold. 

JP McAvoy: I love the script as well. Thank you. Thanks for being on the show. Thanks for being here, thanks for being my friend. I look forward to continuing the conversation, and we’ll check in again in two years. Have a great day.

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng: You too, brother, thank you.