Seated in His palm • Learning at His feet. Blooming in my own divine timing ~ Entrepreneurship, Digital Health, Artificial Intelligence, Global Health.
Your body accumulates zombie cells as you age.
They can't function normally. They can't die. But they secrete a constant stream of inflammatory signals that accelerate every other aging process simultaneously.
Scientists coined a term for this in 2000.
INFLAMMAGING 🧵
Beware the student of one teacher. A good idea spirals into dogma when it gets applied to everything and stretched beyond the areas where it is useful. Remain open and embrace a lot of teachers.
As a Doctor, here are 5 things I would do if any loved one, especially over the age of 65, was ever admitted to hospital. To make sure they have the BEST possible outcome:
1. Check at least twice on Day 1 and Day 2 that the medical team knows the exact medications and dosages they are taking at home. You wouldn’t believe how often this is wrong (it’s called Medication Reconciliation”)
2. Make sure that the nurses, physios, aides— get my loved one out of bed and moving ASAP as soon as they are recovering from the condition. Muscular deconditioning, or what I call “Sinking In Bed Syndrome” can set in extremely fast, and will turn someone who was fully independent into a completely different person within a few days.
3. Monitor for any change in mental status/increasing confusion. This is very common, can be disastrous and significantly increases risk of complications. Make sure you communicate as assertively as you can to the medical team that your loved one is not themselves. Is it a medication side-effect, dehydration, infection, or something else? It must be investigated ASAP
4. When the time comes for discharge, the follow-up plan must be crystal clear. The ball cannot be dropped on anything. What was the diagnosis, what abnormal tests need primary care follow up (labs/imaging), restrictions (diet, exercise), what specialists need to be seen, and what to do/who to call if any new symptoms occur.
5. Be at the bedside every hour I’m allowed to be there for my loved one. Rotate with other family members if needed. If it was up to me there would be zero visitation restrictions— as long as no other patients are being disturbed.
I like to see a family member in the room of every patient I see on hospital rounds. If they are not there, I get them on speaker phone so they can listen in and ask questions.
Hospitals are very busy places. There are some great dedicated medical staff, but mistakes happen all the time. I’ve worked in dozens of hospitals and it’s always the same.
Be a solid advocate for your loved one and be on the ball. Don’t be intimidated. Speak up. Ask questions.
I really believe the above can save lives.
Do follow me for more practical tips wellbeing and longevity. I wish you and yours luck and the best of health.
I'm a heart doctor.
I've held a stethoscope to the last beat of a life more times than I can count. And I promise you — nobody, in that final moment, wishes they'd optimized more.
So let me tell you what the heart teaches, from someone who has listened to thousands of them.
1. You are already living the days you'll ache to return to.
Not when the money comes. Not when the body is perfect. This ordinary Tuesday — this is the one your future self will beg to touch again.
2. No one is coming. And that is the good news.
I grew up in Tehran, then England, then here, an exile learning three times over that no one hands you a life. Terrifying — until you feel the pen already in your hand.
3. "Later" is the most expensive word in any language.
I'll call my father later. I'll rest later. I'll live later.
Your children will not be small later. Some hearts stop mid-sentence. Say it now.
4. Choose your hard.
Building something real is hard. Regret is also hard. Loneliness is hard. Every road is hard — so choose the hard that builds you, and walk it like your life depends on it. It does.
5. What you seek is hiding inside what you avoid.
The health you want lives past the walk you skipped. The love you crave lives past the conversation you're dodging. Stop collecting information. The heart already knows the next step.
6. The body keeps a ledger.
Every skipped night of sleep, every swallowed grief, every unspoken word — the heart records it in muscle and rhythm. Live as though your body is listening. Because it is.
7. Joy is in the becoming, not the having.
The arrival is always quieter than you imagined. The real music is the reed being carved — the ache that lets the breath pass through and turn to song.
8. "Be realistic" is a cage.
The ones who changed the world were called unrealistic their whole lives. God did not knit galaxies into you so you could play it safe.
9. You don't plan a future. You plan a today.
If you lived this exact day one hundred more times — better, or worse? That single question is a compass.
10. The climb is not in your way. It is the way.
The struggle isn't the flaw in the story. It's the ink your name is being written in. Be grateful for the mountain. It is making you into someone who can survive the summit.
The world will rush you through every season and sell you the lie that joy is over the next hill.
But I have listened to too many hearts fall silent to believe that.
The life you're dreaming of isn't waiting on the other side of someday.
It's beating in your chest right now.
Don't wait for later.
Later doesn't always come.
Blessings,
Ash
Protecting your energy is just as important as generating it. Learn to say no to unnecessary meetings, toxic conversations, and decision fatigue from low-stakes choices. Every drain you tolerate is stolen from your deep work.
Somewhere in your 20s or 30s you’ll get the opportunity to rebuild your life after a negative loop, heal from what broke you, live in your own space, reconnect with your discipline, and learn to love yourself again. It’s very important that you see that journey through.
I’m not meant for chaos. I don’t resonate with raised voices, constant tension or unnecessary back and forth. I don’t welcome anger in my spirit or anything that pulls me away from who I am at my core. I am gentle. I am loving. I move with intention. If something disturbs my peace or shifts me into negativity, it no longer has a place in my life.