In a recent episode of the Rena Malik MD podcast, longevity physician Dr. Darshan Shah revealed the habits he refuses to skip.
Shah spent 20 years as a trauma surgeon before founding Next Health, a chain of health optimization clinics.
One nightly habit, he says, quietly drains your wellbeing.
Another tip delivers the biggest bang for your buck, and it costs less than most people guess.
Can you really age in reverse? His answer might disappoint you.
Jump to:
- Basics First, Biohacks Second
- The 5 Things Shah Never Does
- Inside Shah’s Morning Routine
- Why Blood Work Is Step One
- Where to Spend Money for Maximum Payoff
- Sleep Setup Checklist
- Order Matters: Food and Exercise Sequencing
- Hyper-Preventive Heart Testing
- Can You Really Reverse Aging?
- The Wake-Up Call Behind His Career Change
Basics First, Biohacks Second
Shah’s first rule: skip the latest biohacking trends until fundamentals are solid. Some trends work, he concedes, yet none replace foundations.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
The reality is that’s all just icing on the cake. If you don’t have your basics down first, none of that stuff is going to work or it’s going to be just minimally successful.
Whenever his own routine slips, Shah pauses cryotherapy and hyperbaric oxygen. Extras return only when he feels great again.
The 5 Things Shah Never Does
- Chasing biohacking trends before basics are mastered
- Neglecting breakfast, which he calls vital for metabolic health
- Skipping morning supplements
- Sleeping near a cell phone
- Abandoning his morning routine
The Nightly Habit: Phone by the Bed
Here is the answer to the teaser. Even a silenced phone becomes a stress source, Shah argues.
Even if it’s off, it’s a source of anxiety and stress.
He parks his device in the farthest corner of his home. Morning scrolling disappears too, and Dr. Malik admitted she once delayed bathroom trips for notifications.
Breakfast: Not One-Size-Fits-All
Shah believes a wrong breakfast scrambles hunger patterns all day. His own order: eggs, avocado, occasionally sourdough.
Fasting, however, isn’t right for everybody. He fasted for years, then found it backfiring.
Skipping breakfast may suit someone cutting fat temporarily. Others end up snacking more, which defeats the purpose.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
Inside Shah’s Morning Routine
Inspired by Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning and James Clear’s habit stacking, Shah built a three-part ritual:
- Brain: about 30 minutes of reading
- Body: a hill walk, then roughly 20 minutes of heavy lifting
- Spirit: prayer and quiet time
Humble beginnings mattered. Shah started with five push-ups and five sit-ups.
If I skip it one day, it ends up becoming four days, it ends up becoming a month.
His Supplement Basics
Shah calls these fundamentals everyone should consider:
- Omega-3s
- Vitamin D3 with K2
- Creatine
- Magnesium
- Fiber, which Dr. Malik also recommends
Measuring is his guiding principle. His blood work shows low vitamin D, low B vitamins and higher inflammation whenever he stops supplementing, so he personalizes accordingly.
Why Blood Work Is Step One
On a budget? Shah’s top pick is testing roughly 15 to 20 key biomarkers, covering metabolic health, inflammation, hormones, cardiovascular risk and vitamin levels. Prices keep dropping, and home options exist.
It’s admitting to yourself that you’re not going to do that anymore, and you’re going to take personal responsibility.
Targets matter, too. Shah aims for optimal levels rather than merely avoiding disease thresholds.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
Tracking Inflammation
His preferred marker is hs-CRP, which he wants near zero. Trends matter more than any single reading.
Warning signs he lists include bloating, brain fog, being tired but wired, and waking at night. Common culprits: gut irritation, oral health problems and metabolic dysfunction.
Where to Spend Money for Maximum Payoff
- Whole food. Prioritize vegetables and quality protein; meal delivery or a weekly chef counts.
- Exercise support. A trainer for a handful of sessions, or a home setup that cuts friction.
- A wearable. Shah wears a screenless Whoop band.
Data anxiety is avoidable. Shah ignores daily sleep scores, reviewing weekly trends instead.
Sleep Setup Checklist
Shah says I’ll sleep when I’m dead backfires, because you may arrive there sooner. His bedroom checklist:
- Air purifier
- Cool temperature
- Quiet
- Total darkness
- No phone
- Fresh mattress and pillow
Consistency completes the picture. Go to bed at the same time nightly, or at least wake at a fixed time.
Dr. Malik added a crucial point: snorers and people with larger neck circumference should get screened for sleep apnea.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
Order Matters: Food and Exercise Sequencing
At meals, Shah’s sequence is fiber and vegetables, then protein, then carbohydrates last. Send the bread basket back.
It’s transformative just to do that one thing.
His reasoning: fiber slows sugar absorption, fullness arrives sooner, and fewer low-nutrient carbs get eaten. Dr. Malik tries this on her kids by serving vegetables while they’re hungry.
Workouts follow similar logic. After 40, he recommends strength training first, using full-body moves such as sled pushes and pull-ups.
Cardio comes last for him: a seven-minute sprint session. Short on time? A 30-minute routine, even twice weekly, beats an hour you never find.
Hyper-Preventive Heart Testing
Standard preventive care covers only four or five screenings, Shah argues. His “hyper preventive” approach starts with the leading cause of death: cardiovascular disease.
- ApoB: which he considers better than LDL alone
- Lp(a): a genetic risk factor missed on most panels
- Heart scans: a calcium score, or a Cleerly CT angiogram for higher-risk patients
Dr. Malik offered a caveat: a zero calcium score isn’t a free pass. Her own doctor found more disease with angiography than with calcium scoring.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
Can You Really Reverse Aging?
Shah’s blunt verdict: not literally.
There is no supplement, there’s no injection that can like literally take your cells from this age to this age just with like one treatment. That’s not out yet.
Biological age, as he explains, is a statistical comparison of your markers against peers. Improve grip strength or lower A1C, and your “age” improves on that metric.
Epigenetic methylation tests carry a bigger limitation. They show how you compare with others your age, not whether you will live longer.
Shah’s Definition of “More Life”
- Live more fully today
- Age without disability, so health span matches life span
- Gain a few years at the end, which follows automatically from the first two
Realistic gains, he suggests, run from 75 to perhaps 78 or 80. Quality outweighs quantity.
The Wake-Up Call Behind His Career Change
About 15 years ago, Shah’s own health collapsed. Stress, poor diet, no sleep and zero exercise left him with metabolic disease, hypertension, high cholesterol and an autoimmune condition treated with methotrexate.
You can’t get healthy by piling on more medication, which is our typical western model of how do we create health. That’s not health, that’s symptom management.
Nutrition and functional medicine courses changed his course. Within a year, he says, he was about 80 percent better and off blood pressure, diabetes and autoimmune medications.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
His experience is one person’s story. Never stop medication on your own; Shah himself urges working with a specialist such as a rheumatologist first.
Looking back, Shah calls his decline a failure of self-respect.
It was really a failure of me respecting myself.
His closing wisdom: choose experiences over possessions, since daily choices, not one dramatic intervention, add up to longevity.
