John La Puma: The Indoor Epidemic: How Modern Life Is Breaking Our Biology | Ep 1250

Summary

The Digital Executive – Ep. 1250
Guest: Dr. John La Puma
Episode Title: The Indoor Epidemic: How Modern Life Is Breaking Our Biology
Date: May 14, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this insightful episode, host Brian of Coruzant Technologies welcomes Dr. John La Puma—a physician, bestselling author, chef, and regenerative farmer—to discuss his new book, Indoor Epidemic. Dr. La Puma shares his pioneering work at the intersection of human biology and modern performance, focusing on the physiological costs of our predominantly indoor, tech-centric lives. The conversation explores how culinary and nature-based medicine can optimize individual and organizational health, particularly as digital transformation leaves our biology behind.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Dr. La Puma’s Unique Journey to Culinary & Nature-based Medicine

[02:50]

• Culinary medicine is introduced as the intersection of cooking and medical science:

  “Culinary medicine blends the Art of Cooking with the science of medicine to create restaurant quality meals that help to prevent and treat disease.”
  — Dr. John La Puma [02:50]

• Dr. La Puma pioneered teaching this approach in U.S. medical schools—now used in over 80% of them.

• He sees a similar future for "nature as medicine," leveraging circadian biology for neuro-optimization and high-stakes decision making—explored in his new book.

Why Food—and Nature—Are Overlooked in Healthcare

[03:58]

• Food is often used to address emotions or convenience, not health.

• In contrast, time outdoors is avoided due to various fears, despite its clear biological benefits.

• Dr. La Puma highlights a major oversight in the digital economy:

  “Your listeners built the digital economy and they're paying for it with their biology because they're not optimizing this digital transformation ... Companies optimize AI and cloud and automation, but they ignore the biology of the people who are running it. And that's the failure point.”
  — Dr. John La Puma [03:58]

The Biology of Indoors—and the Cost to Productivity

[06:41]

• Americans spend 93% of their time indoors—a "hidden driver" of lost productivity, especially in tech-centric companies.

• Presenteeism (being at work but not productive) is a bigger cost than absenteeism.

• Stagnant indoor air, low lighting, and constant cognitive effort without recovery degrade decision quality and well-being.

• Simple interventions matter:

  “If you even go to a window a minute an hour to reset your vision, your eyes need distance like your lungs need air. That scrunch around your eyes goes down, your headache goes down, you can go back and function ... but have a little bit of restoration during the day.”
  — Dr. John La Puma [07:34]

Practical Strategies for High-Performance Individuals & Teams

[05:24]

• Light exposure, both morning and throughout the day, resets physical and mental cycles critical for performance.

• Evening time away from screens isn't just for relaxation; it’s essential for executive function and sharp decision making.

• Dr. La Puma’s framework emphasizes low-tech, core biological restoration over more apps or supplements:

  “The core issue is what's really hurting workers who are not just burned out, they're digitally saturated and have a recovery deficit.”
  — Dr. John La Puma [06:06]

Medicine’s Emerging Embrace of Nature-Based Interventions

[08:47]

• Predicts that just as culinary medicine has gone mainstream, “nature as medicine” will follow, backed by chronobiology.

• Reference to testing simple interventions: five minutes outdoors, indoor plants, sensory cues, and their beneficial effects.

• On forest bathing:

  “It really should be called Neuro Optimization in a High Sensory Environment instead of forest bathing.”
  — Dr. John La Puma [09:41]

• Microdoses of nature (even a few minutes) can boost productivity and well-being, without cost.

The Business Case: Productivity, Presenteeism, and Team Health

[10:45]

• Incorporating nature and restoration breaks reduces presenteeism and absenteeism.
• Dr. La Puma calls for organizations and medical academia to recognize and implement these zero-cost, high-yield nature interventions.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Food is health, it really should be.” — Host Brian [03:25]
• “People think of food as eating for all the reasons that we eat badly ... but the opposite is true about going outdoors for intentional reasons.” — Dr. John La Puma [03:58]
• “You can focus on how light and air and timing directly regulate cortisol and heart rate variability and executive function for sharp decision making if you know how to do this.” — Dr. John La Puma [05:36]
• “Indoor time ... is actually a hidden driver of productivity loss, especially in tech-centric organizations.” — Dr. John La Puma [06:41]
• “Specific nature interventions can be a high yield, zero cost kind of intervention that improves presenteeism and reduces absenteeism.” — Dr. John La Puma [10:16]
• “There are 250 ways to do this [recover from the indoor epidemic]. Pick it up and check it out.” — Dr. John La Puma [11:22]

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Important Timestamps & Segments

• 02:21 Welcome and background on Dr. La Puma’s pioneering work
• 02:50 Culinary medicine: origins and mainstream adoption
• 03:58 Food and nature: overlooked essentials in modern health
• 05:24 The biological imperative for light, air, and recovery
• 06:41 The “indoor epidemic”: chronic disease, productivity loss, actionable tips
• 08:47 The future of medicine: integrating outdoor "Rx" and nature-based interventions
• 10:45 Recap: Organizations can harness nature-based microdoses for health and productivity

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Conclusion

This episode powerfully addresses the overlooked cost of our always-connected, indoor digital lives. Dr. La Puma delivers a science-backed, practical roadmap from his book Indoor Epidemic—emphasizing that simple, intentional exposures to nature and light can restore energy, resilience, and cognitive function for both individuals and organizations.

Dr. La Puma closes by inviting listeners to explore his book’s "250 ways to do this," promising actionable strategies for healthier living in a tech-centric world [11:22].

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Recommended for:

• Leaders seeking practical, zero-cost strategies to reduce burnout
• Healthcare innovators interested in lifestyle and environment-based interventions
• Anyone feeling the toll of prolonged indoor, digital-centric life

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Transcript

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[Podcast Host Brian]

Foreign. Welcome to Coruscant Technologies, home of the Digital Executive Podcast. Do you work in emerging tech? Working on something innovative? Maybe an entrepreneur? Apply to be a guest at www.corazon.com brand welcome to the Digital Executive. Today's guest is Dr. John Lauma. Dr. John Lipuma is a physician, author and systems thinker working at the intersection of human biology and modern performance. A board certified internist and two time New York Times Best selling author, he is also a professionally trained chef and regenerative farmer. He pioneered culinary medicine co teaching the first course in a US Medical school, an approach now integrated into the majority of medical schools nationwide and globally. Dr. Lupuma has hosted over 120 episodes of Lifetime TV's Health Corner as Chef MD and has been featured by Fast Company, Healthline, PBS, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. In his new book, Indoor Epidemic, which was released in March 2026, presents a practical model for reversing the physiological cost of modern indoor life and building scalable strategies for healthier, higher performing individuals and organizations. Well, good afternoon John. Welcome to the show.

[Dr. John La Puma]

Brian, Great to be here.

[Podcast Host Brian]

Awesome. Thank you my friend. I appreciate it. I know you're hailing out of Santa Barbara. I'm in Kansas City. I used to live in Orange county so I was just a little drive from you. But I love that area up there and I appreciate you making the time two time zones, a bunch of calendars and pr. Etc. We're here so thank you. Jumping in John, you built a unique career as a physician, chef, author and farmer. What experience has shaped your journey to pioneering culinary medicine and your broader approach to health?

[Dr. John La Puma]

Culinary medicine blends the Art of Cooking with the science of medicine to create restaurant quality meals that help to prevent and treat disease. I taught the first class in the country with my friend Mike Roizen, the founder of the Cleveland Clinic Wellness center over 20 years ago and is now taught in over 80% of American medical schools. I think the same is going to happen with nature as medicine, which as you know, is a topic of my new book Indoor Epidemic, which I use as circadian biology to help people optimize and neuro optimize for high stakes decision making.

[Podcast Host Brian]

That's amazing. I appreciate that being food. I know I worked in healthcare and the tech side, so I got exposed to a lot of different things in that industry. But I like your message. Food is health, it really should be. I know we, as a physician, John, you talked about, you were taught a lot in pharmacology school and a bunch of other things and I know you're taking a little bit different approach here and I, I really, really appreciate that you were instrumental in bringing culinary medicine into mainstream and medical education. Why is food such a critical and often overlooked component of health care?

[Dr. John La Puma]

I think because people think of food as eating for all the reasons that we eat badly. We eat for convenience, we eat for loneliness or sadness, we eat because it's time, we eat because it seems like fun. We because we need a companion. The opposite actually is true about going outdoors for intentional reasons. We fear going outside. Quarter of people are afraid of spiders and people who do go outside think, oh, I'm already outside, I don't need it. But your listeners built the digital economy and they're paying for it with their biology because they're not optimizing this digital transformation that they've created. It has a blind spot. Companies optimize AI and cloud and automation, but they ignore the biology of the people who are running it. And that's the failure point. And both outdoors time and culinary medicine hit that.

[Podcast Host Brian]

Thank you. You touched on some, some foundational things, the basics, right. And humans need to get back to that. Biology is such an important foundational piece of our entire livelihood. And I get it as a year, as a physician, I'm in the tech space. As an executive, it was go, go, go, and we, we build a digital economy like you said. But there's so many things that we forget to do and being outside is so important and it's hard to do in some areas of the country, but

[Dr. John La Puma]

we get it right. I lived in Chicago for 16 years. I spent 10 years in New York as well. I know what bad Weather is. And yet what we'd miss is that having our morning light reset, having reinforcement of that during the day, and having evening time off screens and away from screens is not just kind of a wellness perk. It's an essential part of istakes decision making. You can focus on how light and air and timing directly regulate cortisol and heart rate variability and executive function for sharp decision making. If you know how to do this. So this is Indoor Epidemic. My new book is actually a clinically grounded framework for improving resilience and energy for high upper teams, but without the need for apps or more supplements. Those things are great, but they don't get to the core issue. And the core issue is what's really hurting workers who are not just burned out, they're digitally saturated and have a recovery deficit.

[Podcast Host Brian]

Thank you for sharing. Appreciate that. John, in your latest book Indoor Epidemic, you just mentioned that you argue that modern indoor lifestyles are driving chronic disease. What are the most surprising findings that led you to this conclusion?

[Dr. John La Puma]

It's that indoor time, where we are 93% of the time, is actually a hidden driver of productivity loss, especially in tech centric organizations. In many ways, presenteeism is costing more money than absenteeism because employees are so focused on some hitting their numbers, some just getting through the day to crank out the next task that they don't have any time for restoration. And that's not an employee employer failing. It's the non recognition of how biology works with indoors all the time you have stale air that doesn't circulate, CO2 builds, you have static light which is 25 to 50 times less bright than outdoor light, which is what you need to set your circadian rhythm and to align every cell in your body. That way you have a lot of cognitive over consumption without biological recovery. So your decision quality goes down. And yet if you even go to a window a minute an hour to reset your vision, your eyes need distance like your lungs need air. That scrunch around your eyes goes down, your headache goes down, you can go back and function and do the prefrontal cortex work, the decision making work that we actually need to do in front of screens, but have a little bit of restoration during the day.

[Podcast Host Brian]

Thank you, I appreciate that. And you highlighted some things that I think are pretty simple. You know, like you said, go to the window, get some several minutes of light that way because the light indoors is absolutely at least half of that. But resetting that circadian rhythm like you talked about, I think it's really, really important. We Just we get caught up in this crazy world called work is is first. Right? So I appreciate that. And John, as we look ahead to the future, how do you see medicine evolving to incorporate lifestyle, environment and nature based interventions? And what role will concepts like outdoor RX play in the future of healthcare? Healthcare? I'm sorry?

[Dr. John La Puma]

Well, I think that as culinary Medicine started over 20 years ago with us teaching the first class at SUNY upstate in New York and now being taught in 80% of medical schools nationwide and actually worldwide, I think nature's medicine will evolve that way too with this chronobiological circadian underpinning. We've actually tested this in a burnout test year for a health services organization giving people alternatives about going outside versus taking care of plants versus funny texts about nature versus aromas and other natural sensory inputs and found that even five minutes outdoors made a difference during the day. But not for the reasons you would think, not because you're away from work. It's instead because your brain is getting other information that you're often missing if you're just simply indoors. So I think medical curricula are already beginning to integrate this. I just spoke with a reporter for NPR who asked me about forest bathing, which has a whole chapter in the book which is not taking a bath in the forest. It really should be called Neuro Optimization in a High Sensory Environment instead of forest bathing. And she was going to a class at the Harvard Arboretum. So there is a real interest and passion for knowing a little more about our environment. But what most people don't get is that indoor life is breaking our workers and breaking us in a way that hurts us. Instead of absent productivity and just specific targeted outdoor doses, really microdoses of recovery for your team. Specific nature interventions can be a high yield, zero cost kind of intervention that improves presenteeism and reduces absenteeism in ways that I think we're beginning to understand the biology of in medicine and that business is beginning to adopt already.

[Podcast Host Brian]

That's amazing and thank you for sharing. You did mention several times. I just want to highlight improving present and reducing absenteeism. I thought that was interesting the theme a little bit throughout the podcast here, but I love what you talked about today. Getting outdoors is going to help fix the individual human, but also I really think will help society as well some whole there's just a lot of toxic things coming at us at all angles. So I appreciate that and definitely going to pick up your book Indoor Epidemic. So thank you And John, it was such a pleasure having you on today and I look forward to speaking with you real soon.

[Dr. John La Puma]

Thanks so much. The protocols in the book. There are 250 ways to do this. Pick it up and check it out.

[Podcast Host Brian]

Bye for now.