Philosophy
4 min read
August 5, 2025
The 4 ages of medicine and the one we haven’t met yet

The 4 ages of medicine and the one we haven’t met yet

Healthcare is entering its most radical transformation yet. From reactive medicine to predictive intelligence, this article explores the four major eras of medical evolution — and why Medicine 4.0 will redefine how health is measured, managed, and optimised.

A defining moment in human health

We are standing at the edge of a defining moment in human history — one that will reshape how health is understood, managed, and lived. Most practitioners won’t see it coming until it’s already here. The pace of change is no longer linear; it’s accelerating at a parabolic rate.

Over the next ten years, healthcare will undergo a larger transformation than it has in the past two hundred. What once took generations to evolve will soon happen within a single career span.

Why the next leap will eclipse the last 200 years

In the 1850s, global life expectancy hovered around 35 to 40 years. In industrial cities such as Manchester, it was recorded as low as 26. Up to 40% of children died before the age of five. Since then, humanity has doubled its average lifespan — one of the greatest achievements in modern history.

But that magnitude of progress will soon appear slow compared to what lies ahead. To understand why, we must look at how medicine has actually evolved — not as a straight line, but as a series of paradigm shifts.

Medicine has never moved in a straight line

Medicine does not evolve gradually. It moves through distinct eras, each defined by its dominant questions, tools, and limitations. Every era solves the problems of its time — and creates the blind spots of the next.

Medicine 1.0: survival through intervention

The age of infection and emergency care (1800s–1950s)

The first modern era of medicine was built around one core mission: survival. Its philosophy was direct and uncompromising — find the problem, cut it out, kill the pathogen. The focus was acute illness, trauma, and infectious disease. Surgery, antibiotics, vaccines, early imaging, and public health measures transformed mortality rates almost overnight.

Breakthroughs such as germ theory, penicillin, antisepsis, and sanitation saved millions of lives. Yet this era had little understanding of long-term health. There was no framework for chronic disease, prevention, or personalisation. Medicine 1.0 was exceptional in emergencies, but largely blind to the slow decline of health over time.

Medicine 2.0: managing disease, not health

The rise of chronic disease frameworks (1950s–2010s)

As life expectancy increased, the medical challenge shifted. Infectious disease gave way to chronic illness. Medicine 2.0 emerged with a new goal: management. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and mental health disorders became the dominant focus.

Pharmaceuticals, specialist referrals, evidence-based medicine, and large clinical trials defined this era. Disease was framed as isolated dysfunction within individual organ systems. While imaging, surgical techniques, and electronic health records advanced rapidly, care became fragmented. Poly-pharmacy increased, symptoms were suppressed rather than resolved, and patients often cycled endlessly through the system.

Medicine 2.0 kept people alive — but rarely helped them thrive.

Medicine 3.0: personalisation, prevention, and patterns

From symptoms to systems (2010s–2025)

The limitations of chronic disease management gave rise to a new way of thinking. Medicine 3.0 reframed health as a dynamic, interconnected system shaped by genetics, environment, lifestyle, and time. The focus shifted toward root causes, prevention, and optimisation.

Functional blood work, genomics, microbiome testing, wearables, and systems biology expanded what was possible. Practitioners began looking for patterns rather than isolated markers. Precision nutrition and functional reference ranges replaced one-size-fits-all recommendations.

Yet this era introduced new challenges. Data became abundant but scattered. Interpretation demanded high cognitive load. Standards varied widely, access remained inconsistent, and outcomes depended heavily on practitioner experience. While powerful, Medicine 3.0 was difficult to scale.

Many believe this is the peak of modern healthcare.

Why medicine 3.0 is not the end point

Despite its advances, Medicine 3.0 still relies on humans to manually integrate overwhelming amounts of data, make predictions, and adjust protocols over time. It improved insight — but not intelligence. It offered tools — but not true systems.

The next era changes that entirely.

Medicine 4.0: intelligence, automation, and decentralised health

Predictive, adaptive, and continuously evolving care (2025–2040+)

Medicine 4.0 represents a fundamental shift in how health is defined and managed. Health becomes a continuously evolving dataset, updated in real time across all stages of life. The focus moves from reaction to prediction, from static plans to adaptive systems, from intervention to self-correction.

Artificial intelligence, machine learning, digital twins, predictive analytics platforms, continuous multi-biomarker wearables, synthetic biology, and autonomous medical systems will allow health trajectories to be forecast before disease manifests. Diagnostics will become ambient. Treatment will adapt dynamically. Biology itself becomes increasingly programmable.

But this transformation comes with real challenges — data privacy, equity, over-reliance on technology, loss of human connection, and the risk of eroding individual agency. Intelligence must be guided, not blindly trusted.

Building the infrastructure for medicine 4.0

This is where MyHealthPrac enters — not as a response to Medicine 4.0, but as an early foundation for it.

MyHealthPrac is a decentralised health management system designed to translate complexity into clarity. Built on over a decade of research, line-by-line journal reviews, and clinically informed logic, it transforms vast amounts of health data into actionable, root-cause solutions. Hard-coded algorithms, pattern recognition, and predictive frameworks allow practitioners to move beyond interpretation and into intelligence.

This is not theory. It is not a distant vision.

Not the future of health — the next standard

Medicine 4.0 is not coming someday. It is arriving now. And the systems built today will determine whether this new era empowers practitioners and individuals — or overwhelms them.

MyHealthPrac is being built to lead that transition.

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PMS is characterised by a collection of physical and emotional symptoms that occur in the day before menstruation.

(Awanish Kumar Pandey, et al. 2013) indicated that 100% of girls tested showed a prevalence of at least one symptom of PMS, with 42.5% showing more than five symptoms.

Some of the most common psychological symptoms ranged from:

  • Lethargy (83%)
  • Anger and hypersomnia (74%)
  • Anxiety (68.5%)
  • Feeling overwhelmed (62.5%)
  • Hopelessness (50%)
  • Difficulty in concentrating (33.5%)
  • Tearfulness (26.5%)
  • Insomnia (26%)

Some of the most common physical symptoms ranged from:

  • Joint or muscle pain (77.5%)
  • Headaches (67%)
  • Weight gain (58%)
  • Backache (57.5%)
  • Bloating (41%)
  • Breast tenderness (31%)
  • Acne (*16.5%)

*16.5% may seem low when compared with some of the other figures mentioned above, however, this still equates to 1/6 women suffering from acne every single month around their menstruation.

The conventional approach for addressing PMS uses SSRI’s, which numbs the individual along with increasing the likelihood of suicide ideation, risks post-SSRI-sexual-dysfunction and depletes melatonin.

This complex condition likely has multiple causes, with fluctuations in hormone levels and nutritional deficiencies playing key roles.

OESTROGEN

One of the possible reasons for PMS has been associated with the excess of oestrogen relative to progesterone.

High oestrogen has also been found to increase thyroid-binding-globulin, which will reduce the activity of the thyroid hormones, further leading to apathy and a lack of energy. Ensuring oestrogen’s efficient metabolism through the correct pathways and supporting elimination from the body is paramount.

In short, this requires a range of nutrients from cruciferous vegetables, flaxseed and possibly grapefruit (grapefruit does have the ability to inhibit CYP3A4 enzyme which will decrease the metabolism of medication. Therefore grapefruit should be avoided to prevent medical complications).

PROGESTERONE

Progesterone is also at its lowest during the time of PMS. Progesterone acts on GABA receptors in the brain to produce a calming effect along with supporting thyroid conversion, thus assisting with energy.

The consumption of Wild Yams supports progesterone.

MAGNESIUM

Magnesium deficiencies may be causing or aggravating symptoms of PMS. Magnesium is essential for nerve, muscle function and the ability for the muscles to relax, all of which can be affected in PMS. (Iran J Nurs Midwifery Res. 2010 Dec).

A decrease of 12.42% in serum magnesium levels have been found in the follicular phase when compared to the menstruation with magnesium levels elevating a further 7% in the luteal phase. These fluctuations portray the role of magnesium in accordance with menstruation. Magnesium can be obtained through the consumption of dark chocolate or almonds.

IRON

In a meta-analysis, eating an iron-rich diet was linked to a 31% lower risk of developing premenstrual syndrome (Am J Epidemiol. 2013 May). Iron will be depleted during menses, thus further depleting levels. Iron is essential for energy regulation, along with being an essential a cofactor for the enzyme tryptophan hydroxylase, which catalyses the conversion of tryptophan into 5-hydroxytryptophan, a precursor for serotonin (the neurotransmitter associated with mood and happiness).

Iron obtained from plants is likely to have reduced bioavailability within the body. It is often accompanied by phytic acid and oxolates, both of which bind with the iron to prevent absorption.

Another factor to take into account when seeking to optimise iron levels within the body is stomach acid (HCl). HCl is essential to break iron down from food for assimilation within the body.

One can complete the baking soda challenge test for indication of whether their HCl is low or not, by drinking 250ml of water mixed with 1/4tsp of baking soda first thing in the morning. If the individual belches after the 3-minute mark, this would correlate to low HCl and therefore a likelihood that the individual will have poor digestion and assimilation of iron within their body.

ZINC

Women have a 24%–29% lower risk of PMS when in the top 2 quintiles of zinc to copper ratios (Am J Clin Nutr. 1995). Zinc deficiency is associated with depression while copper up-regulates the CYP19A1 enzyme, which leads to aromatisation of androgens to oestrogen (estradiol) while enhancing estradiol binding affinity to the oestrogen receptors, which amplifies its action.

Below are my preferred dietary sources of zinc per 100g:

  • Oysters – 61mg
  • Beef – 11mg
  • Hemp Seeds – 10mg

Zinc is another micronutrient which requires HCl for its assimilation, therefore assessing HCl status could also correlate with the potential zinc status within the individual.

VITAMIN B6

The effectiveness of Vitamin B6 in the treatment of PMS dates back over 40 years. Results were noted such as ‘significant decreases in all symptoms’ (Goei and Abraham, 1983), ’70% reporting good or partial response’ (Brush, 1988) and an ‘improvement in 63% of patients on pyridoxine’ (Day, 1979). The dose used within these studies ranged from 40-200mg (with possible risk of toxicity at 200mg).

Only one patient of the 940 participating in these trials indicated the presence of any side effects that could be attributed to the neuropathy associated with pyridoxine toxicity (London RS, et al. 1991).

Obtaining this level of Vitamin B6 effectively through food will be extremely difficult as these dosages are 29-115 times that of the recommended daily allowance.

Below are my preferred dietary sources of Vitamin B6 per 100g:

  • Organic liver – 0.6mg
  • Pistachios – 1.7mg
  • Salmon – 0.9mg

Above is just an example of how proper nutrition can support and mitigate against PMS.

Women's Health
6 min read
The prevalence of PMS
The prevalence of PMS
PMS symptoms may be influenced by oestrogen–progesterone balance and deficiencies in magnesium, iron, zinc, and vitamin B6. Addressing nutrition, digestion, and hormone metabolism can play a meaningful role in reducing symptom severity and improving monthly wellbeing.
December 10, 2022

Nutrition is the language of our cells –it dictates how we look, feel, function and perform. It is drastically undervalued when compared the uncountable list of benefits proper nutrition can yield. For this reason, I have decided to write about my top choices of foods that support physiological or neurological changes to favour improved training performance. My initial thoughts were to create a ‘top 10 foods’ article but anyone who knows me, will understand that I really love getting into the nitty-gritty detail.

This will be a 5-part series ranging through meats, nuts, seeds all the way through to vegetables and fruits.

Focal Points

The primary focal point for strength performance is to increase neurological drive (supporting dopamine and acetylcholine production) whilst avoiding any suppression (which would be induced from any GABAergic or serotonergic actions). This will optimise drive, motivation, muscle contraction, muscular tone, focus and clarity whilst avoiding any inhabitation or relaxation.

Other key factors to look at when improving performance would be to ensure that there are optimal levels muscle carnosine levels to buffer PH and offset fatigue, support thyroid function, improve blood flow, support DNA formation, strengthening structural connective tissue and activating the correct pathways to supply the body with available energy stores.

For optimum strength performance, you preferably want to avoid carbohydrates pre-training to ensure there is no pump-induced fatigue and to minimise serotonin secretion – therefore fats and proteins are best choices.

This being said, everyone is individual and what will be highly beneficial for one person may not reap similar effects in another due to food intolerances, nutrient status, hormonal levels and genetic code.

Bone broth – do you even bone though?

This is classed as ‘natures multi mineral’. For thousands of years humans have consumed bones, with theories going as far back as Palaeolithic eras. Bone broths contain bio-available minerals (easily absorbed by the body) such as; calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur to chondroitin sulphate and glucosamine.

Cooking bones in a broth releases a combination of nutrients that support:

  • Healthy joint mobility and function
  • Collagen biosynthesis
  • Modulating appropriate immune and inflammatory responses
  • Improved gut health
  • Joint health is a key limiting factor on strength and performance. The neurological system will inhibit strength as a self-safety mechanism to protect the joints by preventing any further damage.

One of the most valuable components of bone broth is gelatin, this acts like a soft cushion between bones that helps them move without friction. Gelatin also provides us with building blocks that are needed to form and maintain strong bones; helping take pressure off aging joints and supporting heathy bone mineral density. Weight training can increase bone density, joint health and mobility but only when it is complemented with an appropriate nutrient regime to feed the specific prosperities to do so.

Another key nutrient in bone broth is collagen, this is found in everything from our joints, bones, ligaments and tendons all the way down to the cellular level. Collagen supports the function of chondrocytes, these are small cells found within the cartilage of joints. Chondrocytes produce mucopolysaccharides and the formation of new collagen that keep joints cushioned and lubricated. Research done by the Department of Nutrition and Sports Nutrition for Athletics at Penn State University found that when athletes supplemented with collagen over the course of 24 weeks, there was significant improvements in joint comfort and a decrease in factors that negatively impacted athletic performance. (Clark KL1, Sebastianelli W, Flechsenhar KR, Aukermann DF, Meza F, Millard RL, Deitch JR, Sherbondy PS, Albert A)

Another powerful nutrient that supports joint health and functionality in bone broth is hyaluronic acid; this acts as a “shock absorber” for joints. It holds water and forms a gel-like substance, lubricating and cushioning joints by surrounding tissues found around nerves (predominantly found in the synovial fluid between joints).

Bone broth is also loaded with glycine. This is classed as a ‘conditionally essential’ amino acid. It is used in the synthesis of haemoglobin, creatine, porphyrin, bile salts, glutathione and the nucleotides DNA and RNA. Glycine is involved in gluconeogenesis (the manufacture of glucose), it helps drive glucose into cells acting similar to the function of insulin. ‘When glycine was ingested with glucose, the plasma glucose area response was attenuated by > 50% compared with the response after the ingestion of glucose alone’ (Mary C Gannon, Jennifer A Nuttall, and Frank Q Nuttall). This means that the athlete with be able to have a slighter high carbohydrate intake to restore glycogen levels, support mTOR, mitigate cortisol and improve training performance.

Glycine also assists digestion by enhancing gastric acid secretion. Research found that only certain proteins stimulate gastric acid secretion, glycine being one (Wald A, Adibi SA.) – thus helping protein digestion and assimilation for enhanced recovery from workout to workout.

Bone broths help mediate appropriate immune and inflammatory responses due to the nature of healing the gut wall (due to nutrients such as proline, glutamine, arginine, gelatin and collagen). This will improve the gut walls integrity and prevent intestinal damage and permeability. If the gut wall becomes permeable, undigested food, toxins and pathogens can pass through the intestinal barrier and into the bloodstream, resulting in a hyper-vigilant immune and inflammatory response to address the ‘foreign invaders’. A healthy response is required for appropriate modulation of training-induced inflammation and endocrine function to enable efficient recovery and optimise super-compensation for growth and development.

Last but certainly not least; roughly 66% of neurotransmitter (chemical brain messengers dictating functions throughout the body) production is made within the gut. If there is any distress or down-regulation in the gut, neurotransmitter production will decrease – resulting in a decrease neural drive.

If the gut wall is inflamed, there is high chance that the brains barrier (blood-brain-barrier) will also be inflamed due to inflammatory stimulation from the vagus nerve, a nerve connecting the gut directly to the brain. This will decrease the brains performance and neurotransmitter reception in the brain.

Go hard or go bone.

Learning to love liver

Organs meats are incredibly abundant in B vitamins, these are essential in detoxification, the citric acid cycle (energy production), neurotransmitter conversions amongst many other key functions within the body crucial for training performance and recovery.

Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT) is one of several enzymes that degrade dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine. COMT introduces a methyl group to catecholamines, donated by the nutrient S-adenosyl methionine (SAMe). Nutrients such as 5-methylfolate (bioactive B9) or methylcobalamin (bioactive B12) support the production of SAMe (Goodman JE, et al. Carcinogenesis. 2001). This is crucial for training performance as the accumulation of too much epinephrine or norepinephrine can lead to over-excitation ‘burn out’ from central nervous system (CNS) fatigue.

Vitamin B12 deficiency is associated with elevated levels of homocysteine (a proinflammatory molecule), fatigue, weakness and adrenal dysfunction (consequently leading to poor energy regulation and a lower androgenic profile).

The recommended minimum intake for B12 is 2.4mcg per day, this is easily hit from beef liver which supplies over 70mcg per 100g (now this may seem extremely high when compared to the RDA, due to it’s nature of being a water-soluble vitamin, toxicity levels are far higher, with no signs of oral toxicity from up to 2,000mcg).

Liver also has a considerable amount of folate (roughly 290mcg per 100g). In 100g of beef liver, there is just over 70% of the RDA requirements for folate (sitting around 400mcg) however this is roughly 3 times less than the optimal levels. We must note, folate is different to folic acid – folate is the bioavailable form that the body actually requires rather than the synthetic version, folic acid, which can place your body under greater amounts of stress dependent if you have a defect in the MTHFR gene. Folate is quintessential for proper methylation whilst also assisting with the recycling BH4 back from its used form, BH2 (Coppen A, et al. J Affect Disord. 1989). This is a key co-factor for the conversion of dopamine (amongst other neurotransmitters) and nitric oxide – thus increasing neural drive and performance whilst increasing the delivery of nutrient-rich, oxygenated blood to throughout the body.

Now I am going to talk about nucleotides, this is a classification of nutrients that are very powerful but unfortunately only known by a minority within the strength and performance world. You name it, Liver is incredibly abundant in this nutrient. They form the backbone of the DNA double helix – this is the most basic genetic material found in the nucleus of a cell that helps forms a blueprint of life. Nucleotides serve varied roles in energy metabolism (integral role of fat, protein and carbohydrates metabolism), enzymatic regulations, signal transduction and as structural components of coenzymes.

Dietary nucleotides are needed by certain cells and their functions for cellular regeneration, largely within the gastro-intestinal tract. Epithelial cells are situated within the intestines, their own production is too low to cover there needs for mucosa growth and its repair process (Sanderson IR, et al. J Nutr. 1994). Within the intestinal flora, specific strains are unable to produce their own nucleotides such as bifidobacterium longum (Rossi M, et al. Arch Microbiol. 2000). The health of the gut dictates your recovery capacity, and you can only train as hard as you can recover. This is done through mediating appropriate immune and inflammatory responses whilst optimizing nutrients digestion and assimilation required for new cellular turnover.

Another aspect how nucleotides can drastically support optimal recovery is the formation of lymphocyte and macrophage cells (Coffey RG, et al. Fed Proc. 1985). These cells are required for appropriate immune function and therefore your management of your biochemistry from training induced stress and inflammation. They have a fast proliferation rate which places a very high demand on nucleotide availability, therefore having a bigger pool of nucleotides means that they have a more efficient production rate.

Nucleotides support the oxygenation of blood, as erythrocyte cells are unable to produce their own nucleotides (Micheli V, et al. Quad Sclavo Diagn 1983). This will increase the circulation and flow of blood around the body to optimize performance and nourish muscles and organs with nutrients in order to heal.

Dietary nucleotides have indirect benefits to support other organs and metabolic processes such as liver function, repairing damaged DNA from oxidative stress and support RNA formation required for the formation of new proteins.

Nucleotides have also been shown to reduce post-exercise immunosuppression and hypothalamic-pituitary axis (HPA) axis activation, whilst also lowering cortisol and creatine kinase (J Strength Cond Res. 2016 Feb) therefore favouring a physiologically anabolic state.

Nutrition
6 min read
Top foods for improved training performance
Top foods for improved training performance
Part 1 of a five-part series exploring performance nutrition through a functional lens. This article examines how bone broth and liver support neural drive, joint health, recovery, and metabolic resilience to enhance strength and training performance.
September 10, 2025

If you are unfortunate and have had your palatine tonsils removed or have reoccurring infections with your tonsils, this may just help …

The group of tonsils provide:

  • Protection against pathogens and toxins
  • Lymphatic detox
  • Excretion organ
  • One of the greatest immune modulators
  • Supporting the brain's glymphatic system

This last point is massively overlooked, here’s why …

The glymphatic system is essential in mitigating risk against neuro-developmental disorders and degeneration, this ranges from Autism, Alzheimer’s through to some categories of depression.

This system clears the brain during sleep (mostly delta-wave sleep) of harmful proteins (such as amyloid-beta) and waste products by pumping the cerebral spinal fluid through the brain’s tissues. This flushes the waste into the body’s circulatory system in which it eventually reaches the liver where it can be eliminated.

This process is roughly 10 times more active during sleep as opposed to when awake. The brain also shrinks by around 60% of its original size to increase the efficiency of waste removal.

The removal of tonsils will also reduce the efficiency of the immune system, resulting in an increased chance for the development of food intolerances and possibly acting as a contributing factor towards autoimmune diseases (the severity of this risk is not currently quantifiable). If you have had your tonsils removed, there are several options you can do.

In my opinion, here are two of the most important:

  • Massage the intracranial lymph (around the jaw and neck) to improve glymphatic circulation and possibly decrease neuroinflammation
  • Ensure you have a good duration and quality of sleep (promoting delta wave sleep through binaural beats, gratitude logs or specific devices may help)

* The group of tonsils provide direct lymphatic drainage through the cribriform plate to Waldeyer’s Ring – this is a formation of lymphatic tissue situated in and around the:

  • Pharyngeal tonsils (adenoids)
  • Two tubal tonsils (posterior to Eustachian tu)
  • Two palatine tonsils (this is what the tonsils is most commonly referred to)
  • Lingual tonsil (base of tongue)
  • Laryngeal tonsil (near the vocal cords in the larynx)
Gut Health
6 min read
Tonsils – the brain’s drain
Tonsils – the brain’s drain
Tonsil removal or chronic tonsil infections may reduce immune efficiency and impair glymphatic circulation. Supporting lymphatic flow around the jaw and neck, alongside deep, high-quality sleep, may help compensate and protect long-term brain and immune health.
December 10, 2022
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