The Success Nuggets #62 - Dr. Lisa Corsa The Five Pillars Of Longevity

Pain, fatigue, poor sleep, and “I just don’t have the motivation” often feel like separate problems, but we have learned they are usually one tangled system. David Abel sits down with Dr Lisa Korsa, a rehabilitation medicine specialist and clinical scientist known for helping people recover when traditional routes have stalled, from chronic pain and failed surgeries to stroke rehab and performance-level athletics. Her promise is bold but grounded: stop guessing, start following a repeatable framework.

We walk through her five pillars of longevity in the order that makes healing possible. Sleep comes first, with clear sleep hygiene rules, consistent bedtimes, and a practical way to reset your circadian rhythm by changing light exposure, meal timing, and evening habits. Nutrition follows, with “food is medicine” and a strong emphasis on adequate protein for muscle, bone, and tendon health, plus a deep dive into anti-inflammatory foods you can actually buy. If you are curious about blueberries, walnuts, cherries, oats, leafy greens, and what to avoid when inflammation is driving pain, you will leave with a shopping list and a plan.

Then we get into the part most people skip: daily movement, stretching, and the uncomfortable truth that sitting quietly for hours is a serious health risk. Dr Korsa shares why exercise should be a daily practice, how to think about stimulus and adaptation, and why mobility work protects you from the “text neck” and low back pain loop. We also explore recovery tools like mirror therapy and neuroplasticity, plus supportive habits such as swimming, sauna, and cold exposure.

If you want a simple, science-led approach to longevity, rehabilitation, and chronic pain recovery that you can apply immediately, press play. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a review with the one habit you are going to change this week.

Transcript

Welcome And A 1% Better Rule

SPEAKER_02 0:09

Have you ever wondered what you could learn on how to inspire TV to ask incredible people from around the world about the drive progress? Get ready to dive into a world of insights to inspiration. With the founder of the Digital Light Bulb and your host, David Abel.

SPEAKER_03 0:31

Today's guest has been called the Navy Steel of Rehabilitation Medicine, helping elite athletes, stroke patients, and chronic pain patients recover faster than traditional medicine ever imagined. Dr. Lisa Korsa is my guest today, and we're in for a great show. So, I'm one of those people that if I'm in the mood, I'm in the mood. And splay it with ChatGPT the other day, and it said, I train my body, I don't let my mood decide. And I was like, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Absolutely. I'm gonna tell you that whatever mood you're in, you and me to look, wake up in the morning and say, if I don't make myself 1% better, I can't move forward. We're not talking about 50% change, I gotta do 35 things. One thing has to change your life each day to move forward. So, sure, you know, the best workout in the world is the one you never wanted to go do. That's why look, I wake up at, you know, four in the morning, I'm at the gym at five. There are days I'm sleeping six hours because I'm taking care of medical crises, but I'm still going to go to the gym. And that's really key point. Don't let mood affect your longevity. Period end of story.

The Five Pillars Of Longevity

SPEAKER_03 1:51

So the five pillars of longevity has become your signature piece now. And that's your mission. And I love that. You know, you've you've got it down. Can you explain about your your your studios and your works?

Sleep Hygiene That Actually Works

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Absolutely. So I own Premier Therapy Solutions, which is a private boutique, medical concierge clinic located in sunny Boco Town, Florida. They have sun all year round, no excuse to get out and move. I really take the complex medical cases. You know, these failed back surgery syndromes, complex regional pain. When the doctor says you're never gonna walk again, you're gonna be in pain for the rest of your life, there's nothing I can do, they come to me. And we we solve it. We solve the medical mysteries, we solve the complex problems, all using my five pillars of longevity. So, pillar number one is sleep. And they're really ranked in this order. So you must get an average of eight to ten hours a night. So if you're traveling and you're having one bad night for the week, it's okay. Get back on the program. Get that eight to ten hours. Sleep is when your body heals. Sleep is when your brain heals. That is important to note. So, your first factor is fixing sleep. Number two, nutrition. Food is medicine. The standard American diet is just what it is. Sad. Terrible, horrible. SAD, it's so sad what we're doing here. Eating healthy is so expensive. But I knew prep. On Sunday, I make my six meals, my six chicken breasts, my six things of broccoli, rice. That's incredible. Our food pyramid has changed for the better. Why? Because I'm gonna tell you that you need to eat more protein. Protein is vital for the muscles, bones, ligaments, tendons to function. You know, 90s. We can't stick to the low carb, no fat, we just can't. So nutrition, food is medicine. 3. Exercise. So, absolutely, exercise is truly the key factor in living longer. It's more important than any other metric right now. Exercise, not three is a week, not four, not five. The number is seven. That's right. I said seven. There's no reason why on Sunday you can't go for a walk in the park, do a few these six spots. I came up with the course of conditioning kit. It's no excuse therapy. No excuse. It's a small little thing. You don't need a gym. You can do it anytime, anyplace, anywhere. Get expensive. Done and done. You don't need to spend two hours, join an expensive membership. Just get out and move. Because truly, mobility and movement is medicine. Number four. Something that I don't know anyone truly really does on a regular basis. It's called stretching. Worse sitting. Sitting is worse than smoking. No one gets up and stretches. One airplane is a lone 14-hour flight. I'm the only one walking in the back, moving my legs. I'm physically getting off the lady's like you're coming back again. Yes. I gotta move on this 14-hour flight. So I stretch my calves. I stretch my back. I stretch my neck. So I don't get texting neck. The whole world has texting neck. The whole world has chronic low back pain. And I've got the algorithm to solve it. Done, done, and done. And the last pillar of longevity, which truly has been a metric, most scientists have studied, is what we're doing now. Communicating with human beings, thinking, cognitive behavioral, meditation, getting out and socializing, not on our iPhones, not reclusive loneliness. Move, talk to human beings. Not just email text. No. Doing what we're doing now, having a wonderful conversation. And this really is longevity.

SPEAKER_03 6:07

I was curiously scribbling those, even though I love this framework. And I'm not perfect. I'm sure everybody in this can get on board with that. Let's go back through and then. Okay, so sleep. 8 to 10 hours. And so we'll go to bed at 10 o'clock, 6 o'clock, I can get up. Do you recommend going to bed earlier, like 9? Nothing happens after 9 and 9 p.m., does it?

SPEAKER_00 6:29

I really love that. I think that's what I tell my children in college. Nothing good happens after midnight, beyond by midnight. So I will tell you that the key focus is to always set the same time at night. That's more important. So if it's nine, keep it at night. If it's ten, keep it at ten. Honestly, if it's eleven, keep it at eleven. I'm okay with that. I really am. But keep it that same number within a 30-minute variable. So that's really important. And you really want to get that restful sleep. You know, unfortunately, we are an addiction of pain and sleeping pills. But I've reset patients' circadian rhythm and sleep disorders with my sleep physicians in 72 hours. There's just no excuse. But you have to practice sleep hygiene. No bowel light. Get off your iPhone one hour before. Do not eat. Don't eat a big meal and then you come home and you lay down. You actually need two to three hours to digest before lying down. And don't drink alcohol and come home and think you're gonna fall asleep. It doesn't happen. So really, you know, remember the our grandparents used to do the early bird special? That is the right idea. Eat the early bird special at 5 o'clock. I'm eating dinner at 6 o'clock at night. I don't want to do 8, 9, 10. It's so bad for you. So sleep hygiene, you know, the glasses. Don't drink caffeine at night, be careful of chocolate at night, it's got caffeine. Don't have an espresso after dinner. That's crazy. And really, once you just remove those, I promise your circadian rhythm and sleep will be better.

SPEAKER_03 8:14

Yeah, that's an interesting one, the circadian rhythm. It came into my perspective this weekend for me, just in speaking to a business owner. And I asked them about uh rehab. It could be an area of your speciality, though. And some people who have had gut problems, where they come off, they just can't sleep. They're wide awake, and then they said it's probably their circadian rhythm. And I was like, what's that? They said it's probably all over the place. Me personally, I'm a bit of a late-eye snacker. I'm trying not to, but I'll have a piece of dark chocolate. I've replaced mel shop there with dark chocolate and some baits. How do you reset the circadian rhythm? So many people probably don't even know it exists, and sleep is number one, right? See you.

Resetting Circadian Rhythm With Light

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Slip is number one. Really, in my clinic here in Florida, I have done studies as a clinical scientist, PhD. I've actually done those studies where they come to me with failed back and product sciatica or a shoulder rotator cuffed here. I can't get them better. I will do my exact treatment algorithm, and they're still not sleeping, their tissues don't heal. Their bones, their ligaments, their muscles, they do not heal. So, you know, the circadian rhythm is our body's natural ability to fall asleep, number one, stay asleep restfully, and then wake up calmly. It's that ebbs and flows of our cotazol. You know, the brain chemicals that are good. Every single person is born with a normal circadian rhythm. It's what we do to it to disturb it. You just said it. Drugs, alcohol, vaping, it's all of these things that destroy our circadian rhythm. And you know, some of the top three ways you can reset it is exactly removing those negative items. Drugs, alcohol, bad chemicals, paint pills, you know, sleeping pills. You remove it, it's not gonna be easy. You force yourself at the set time, say it's 10, lights out, blackout traits, no noise. Some people need the white noise. Are you gonna sleep rate the first night? No. Absolutely not. But you're gonna do it the second night. You're gonna eat dinner at 5 o'clock at night. You're gonna not late night snack. You're not gonna have the espresso. You're gonna remove the medications. Some people take some over-the-counter natural elbows like melatonin. Which are safe if you're prescribed by your physician. There's some safe tablets. And you're gonna do sleep hygiene. Day two. 9 o'clock, lights out. I'm gonna try it again. I didn't eat at 9 o'clock at night. Nope, I ate at 5. And if you do that 7 days, honestly, on that seventh day, your body's gonna fall asleep. Now, you do need to incorporate exercise. Not at night. We're not running on a treadmill at 9 o'clock at night and expecting your body to sleep at 10. You need to do the workouts in the morning. So the body gets into that calming nighttime sleep. Make sure the lights are down. And now they're even selling, which is fantastic, these normal light that you can put on your skin if you work in a dark realm, or you're a radiologist that sits in a dark realm or a photographer, or you never see the day of light. They've got daylight light-up mirrors that you can put on your body to really feel like vitamin D. Well lucky in Florida. I got vitamin D every day outside. But if you're living in cold Seattle and it's dark, or even London, you're some of your dark days, you know, it's tough. You're not getting that normal light that you need. So that's really some tips.

SPEAKER_03 11:49

Being in London last week, you know, I was looking around a shared workspace, and and some offices had nice, calming light, and others had like real oppressive strip lights in. And I think that actually affected me. I think I guess gave me headaches where when I worked in in those big corporate offices. And I wear blue light glasses. I don't know if you recommend people do that, you know, with like a yellow tin from time to time.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

It's really important you say this. Lighting really is a big factor. I do recommend the blue light, those yellow dark lenses, absolutely. Um, at the end of your day, absolutely. You're right. We are, you know, people are going to nightclubs, strobe lighting. You know, we're doing these bright LEDs. Everyone's on their Instagram late at night, or they've got the podcast light on their iPhone and they're filming 11 o'clock at night, bright light. You you can't. You know, do you know that the eyes have these really unique reflexes in them that also helps to reset brain health, balance, chemicals, you know, circadian rhythm. Fascinating. Our eyes are really important for our sleep.

SPEAKER_03 12:55

Well about afternoon naps. I'm known in my house for being able to just stick a pillow on my head to warm the telly's on and just let me out for two hours, you know, love it. But maybe I'm just exhausted.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

See, look at the blue zones. There was that book years ago about the blue zones and the five places that are amazing. One of them was in my heritage country of Italy, they took naps. There's nothing wrong with taking a nap. There is nothing wrong. As long as it doesn't disrupt your sleep at night. If you're taking a long nap, now you can't go to bed at 11 o'clock at night, or you're set down because you took a long nap. That's the issue. But there's nothing wrong with a wonderful restful hour nap is part of longevity.

SPEAKER_03 13:37

Great stuff. I love that blue zone standard. It's Sardinia, isn't it? Is that why your friend Sardinia?

SPEAKER_00 13:43

I have family in Sardinia.

SPEAKER_03 13:44

Wow, yes, and I'm fascinated by that. I'm fascinated as a place in China as well where they live to around 102. And they drink from the plants and the trees. And I'm like, the certain things, right? Technology has advanced us a bit past what we're capable of as humans. And some, you know, medical science would take our hat off of that. But the other fast pace, now I wonder if the diets we had once upon a time were actually perfect. And the medical science survey is absolutely perfect.

Naps Blue Zones And Protein Truths

SPEAKER_00 14:13

You are so late. Don't you remember your grandmother's old chicken soup pedicillin? I mean, look, I really believe in this. You know, we have humbles out there, plants, mushrooms that really were used back in the old days for medicines. You know, I was vegan for a very, very long time. 20 years where I had no meat, nothing. And I truly felt amazing. It's only recently that I went the last three years and went back to just chicken and fish to increase my protein because I was struggling to actually put on muscle. And as a scientist, I did a body experiment and I did something called body recomposition. Could I recomposition my body to change from 24% body fat down to 14%? I did it. To only having 15 pounds of muscle mass to 100 pounds of muscle mass. I put muscle on me extensively. And a lot of women say, oh, I can't do it when I'm older. I'm in menopause or perimetopause, or I'm too old. Muscles don't age. They need stimulus. You've seen the 80 and 9-year-olds, they're bodybuilders, they're out there. Muscles don't age, you need to provide it stimulus. So I'm really beat about plants. I agree with you that we should be continuing to look that way before we do medicines. I've gotten people to get off furry medications. Literally, by following my five pillars.

SPEAKER_03 15:53

That's it. And then some of the work you've done has outpaced other science and medicines as well. I have heard of some real injuries. A real good friend of mine had a horse ride accident and they said she'd been walk again. And she pretty much said she thought herself better. She she closed your eyes and said knee bend, heel flex, and that. But you, you've got loads of these, haven't you?

SPEAKER_00 16:16

Absolutely. I have hundreds of cases in my practice here where we do just that. They were never gonna walk again, massive strokes, Parkinson's disease, massive fraction femur, and every single patient is walking again with the use of, you know, you just said it. Mirror therapy, do you know that we actually have mirror neurons in our brain? So I make the patient stare at a mirror, we talk it, we say it out loud, he hears it, and we're seeing it. And there is 100% validity in that science. You know, and then I use my part of my course a method, which I developed, is using electrons and specific electrotherapies to activate specific muscles and monomeurons to regenerate the muscle. As I said, the muscles heal, the muscles regenerate. We know that the neurons regenerate. So, you know, this is science. And as a clinical scientist, I read the research and then I practice here in the clinic, and that's why everybody gets better. And we've got food science data. Do you know there's like over 35 anti-inflammatory plant-based foods? Why are you not eating them every single day? I mean, I don't understand. And I eat those every single day. And that's why I've got no inflammation. Even playing three hours of tennis, or you doing heavy weights in the gym. I'm not tearing my muscles up.

SPEAKER_03 17:48

I'm sorry to read raw ginger because some things are his nature's ibuprofen. What else can I be chewing on? I've started chewing on basil, would you be happy to hear? What are these other natural inflammatories that we can all get our hands on now?

SPEAKER_00 18:01

Now for the natural inflammatory foods, is blueberries, walnuts, really, really good. You know, a good apple is a low glycemic load. You know, organic apple, you have to be careful of those pesticides. You know, you gotta stay away from nightshades. Nightshades, if you look those up, are inflammatory foods. It's tomato sauce, eggplant. You know, those are some but white potato cherries, dark cherry cherry juice is anti-inflammatory. Pineapple has glanoline in it, anti-inflammatory. Oatmeal, buy do a gloty-free, well, real old actually, your English oats and porridge is phenomenal. Really, really anti-inflammatory dairy. A lot of our dairy now, unfortunately, is very high in inflammatory factors. So a lot of the non-dairy plant-based milks are really good for you. You know, plant-based yogurts, definitely it's out there and though not expensive. You need to make a choice. Almost every single green, leafy vegetable. If it's got the color green, it's good every morning, noon, and night, you should have a color green on your plate. That's it. Absolutely.

Recovery Science Mirror Therapy Results

SPEAKER_03 19:17

We do broccoli oil and peas. That's very British peas. Here I am, age 47. I used to work very hard on the personal train, and you had me running out walls and very quick doing music jumping and stuff like that. But in the last few years, I've got into swimming, and as part of that comes steam rooms and sorners, and a lot of personal connection in those rooms, as in we just sit and chat, and the stories you hear from all kinds of ages and what someone just did for a swim. There's a lady 76 who does a mile every day. She had a bad knee, and they said, just go swimming. She goes, I hate swimming. Do 10 lents next week, go do one more, and next week more and more, she did 11, 12, 13. She got to 50 and she changed from boring breaststroke to learning bilateral, and then she ran two lengths of bilateral, and 48 breaststroke, then four, flipped it over 50, 60, 70, 80, and she goes is the consistency. The same consistency, just here, pushing it forward. What are the sort of lies people tell themselves about pain and recovery?

Anti-Inflammatory Foods And Diet Rotation

SPEAKER_00 20:24

Well, the biggest lie is Doc, I work out every single day and I don't lose weight. Come on. Doc, I eat nothing. I barely eat. I'm eating salad every day and I don't lose weight. Come on. No, no, and no. So follow the simple rules. Simple math, calories in versus calories out. Period. End of story. You're going to lose weight. If you go to the gym and lift and provide a stimulus heavy, you're going to gain muscle. But if you're walking on the golf course and you're wondering why you haven't gained muscle, come on. These are the lies we tell ourselves. You absolutely need to continue to provide a different stimulus. So this is important. It's called the said principle. Specific adaptations to imposed demands. The body adapts. You've got to change it. So you know, every four weeks, I'm changing my cardio routine, changing my weight routine, I'm even changing my food routine. Because you develop food allergies if you eat the same food, you know, months and months and months. So I do alter it every month. Don't you remember the old days? We never ate a tomato year round. We only ate foods in season. Now we eat everything because everything's in season. How is that possible? Raspberries only grow a certain time of the year. But we've genetically modified everything and made everything big and huge. And it's a disaster, our food system. So. So I'm going to tell you that don't lie to yourself, because you're only lying to your body. And then your body's gonna fail. And I'm going to tell you when you come to my clinic, top five reasons your body failed, and top five ways you're gonna fix it. And you will fix it. If you follow the algorithm, the course of method, you will fix it. So, yeah, and those recovery things, you're right. Saunas are good. Infrared sauna, we have one here in the clinic. I think people should be in it every day. You know, cold plunges, those are great. Your swimming is phenomenal. There's no compression on your joints. But I will tell you this: osteoarthritis, which is arthritis in the joints, is one of the number one preventable conditions. So when someone says, Doc, I got away of my knees, they're so arthritic, I'ma say I'm laying immune for it. Sure fault. Now, rheumatoid arthritis and other types of arthritis are not hereditary genetic inherited autoimmune. But asteroid arthritis, which is just pulveruse syndrome and muscle asymmetries, not taking care of your body is preventable. Very important to know.

SPEAKER_03 23:13

With your four-week diet planning, tell us about our process. How far advanced do you look? I now fancy cherries, like you say, that will be something different to me.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

So definitely, I really am OCD when it comes to that, because your body's a machine. You know, every single disease in the world has the letter I in it. Stands for inflammation. Everything, whatever we eat in our body, we cause an inflammatory reaction. Our body is biology, chemistry, and physics. Remember those subjects you hated to do when you were in high school and college? No, you actually need to know those. So every four weeks, I'm like, done. I'm not gonna have a coconut milk latte. I'm now gonna have an almond milk latte. No, I'm not gonna eat an apple every day. I'm gonna eat dried cherries, some prone's, or dried apricots. I'm gonna change it up. I am not gonna eat broccoli six days a week. I'm now gonna go with spinach, asparagus, cabbage, bok choy. There's so much out there. I'm not gonna eat chicken every day, which I do. I'd rather change it up. Your English Scottish salmon, amazing. Some sea bass, phenomenal. So you gotta change it up. We develop food allergies as we get older. We do. We all do. So I make a note every four weeks. And listen, your body tells you the entire world is on pepsin and an acids. Why are we popping an acids? That means whatever we ate caused an inflammatory reaction and didn't respond. And do you know that your gut lining changes every 90 days? Fix it! We can do it.

Kids Food Allergies And More Protein

SPEAKER_03 24:56

I love this. This is so good. And once again, you're confirming how routine makes a machine. Let's see if you've ever dealt with this kind of case. My son's nine, couple of food allergies. Available choice is limited. He's not fussy, but how'd you get more protein in him then?

SPEAKER_00 25:13

It's a great question. There definitely are childhood allergies that can be severely deleterious. You know, peanut allergies can cause someone to be in an anaphylaxis shop, you know, and need an epipen. That's a serious food allergy that needs to be monitored by the pediatrician and really the allergists. So you should 100% identify those and follow the protocols accordingly. But if your child has just an aversion, it says, Mama liking, they actually do say, every two weeks, re-enter that food back in. Bring it back on the table. Or take that food and mix it with something. Mix it in a smoothie. How is your kid gonna know that your strawberry smoothie throws some spinach in it? They're not gonna know. Because you can stick some raspberries to make it red. So, you really there's clever ways to reintroduce food. Some kids even have food aversions on the tongue. It's called a sensory processing disorder. Some autistic spectrum children have tongue factors, which we actually help parents here manage and manipulate the receptors on the tongue so that the child can eat jello or a healthy pudding or, you know, chopped up asparagus. So protein sources, sure, do your kids want chicken nuggets? Instead of frying the chicken nuggets, bake them. Forget ketchup because it's got pie fructose corn syrup. You can make your own ketchup without the pie fructose. Actually, I think in Europe, you ban that harmful chemical, thank God. So your ketchup is better than ours. But um, you know, have them. Mom, I don't like a grilled chicken nugget. That's okay, honey. We're gonna dip it in this kind of ketchup and we're gonna air fry it. So even fish. Your fish fingers, you know, why can't you dip that fish and air fry it instead of breezy fry it? Ground beef, make a grass-fed hamburger on a really good gluten-free bun. But they do say every two weeks, reintroduce that food that your kid hates, and eventually they're gonna like it.

Golden Nugget And Where To Follow

SPEAKER_03 27:28

Right, super. Thank you so much for that, Lisa. We could talk all day, but we will finish the show with what's your one golden nugget for life. So book to this of course. Do you have a one golden nugget for life?

SPEAKER_00 27:41

My one golden nugget for life is definitely going to be movement and mobility equals longevity. So get out and move.

SPEAKER_03 27:52

Yeah. Guys, this and pain isn't always a problem. It's sometimes the signal that your body wants to heal. But as Dr. Lisa says, try not to get to that point. There are so many things you can do, thousands of ways. Well, I completely find you, Lisa, so they can follow on more, and I'm gonna make notes as well because it's so good.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

Thank you. So, my website, I'm located in Florida, it is pinktvikehealth.com. I'm also on Instagram, Creamier Therapy Solutions, and you can message me there. I'd love to answer questions on any of this for your listeners. And I have a passion for healing, passion for you know, really getting that person back to integrating a healthy life. So happy to reach out to me anytime.

SPEAKER_03 28:35

Oh, wonderful. Thank you so much for coming. It's been a real pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

Thank you so much for having me. Join David and his incredible guests next time on the Success Nuggets Podcast. And to find out more, visit oneGoldenNugget.com. Thank you for listening.