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Brandon Luu, MD

@BrandonLuuMD

Aug 21 • 8 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X

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🏃 Head-to-head trial: Running therapy matches antidepressants (SSRIs) for depression remission

The catch: SSRIs worsened every metabolic marker measured

Running improved them all 🧵1/8

The MOTAR trial setup: 45 patients took escitalopram 10-20mg daily, 96 chose supervised running (45min outdoor sessions 2-3x/week)
Both groups allowed psychotherapy
After 16 weeks, mental health outcomes were identical, but metabolic health diverged dramatically /2

SSRI group gained 7.3 pounds, waist +1.5cm, blood pressure rose 3.8/1.9 mmHg Heart rate variability reduced -14.4ms (worse stress response) Inflammation marker CRP increased +1.5mg/L

The pills that fixed mood were harming metabolism /3

Running group lost weight (-0.6kg), trimmed waist circumference (-1.6cm), dropped BP (-2.5/-2.9 mmHg)
Heart rate variability improved, resting pulse dropped -3.4bpm

Among adherent runners: VO₂max increased 2.9 ml/kg/min /4

The protocol:
Weeks 1-4 at 50-70% heart rate reserve (can speak full sentences)
Weeks 5-16 at 70-85% HRR (only short phrases possible) 10min warmup + 30min main effort + 5min cooldown /5

Only 52% of runners completed ≥22 sessions vs 82% medication compliance
15% assigned to running never even started
Yet running STILL matched SSRI effectiveness despite low adherence
Imagine if we solved the adherence and motivation puzzle /6

In summary, running therapy had similar remission rates for depression and anxiety while every metabolic marker improved in the opposite direction of SSRIs, adding to a growing body of research about the benefits of exercise on mental health /7

Full analysis + weekly protocols and research breakdowns here /8
brandonluumd.com

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Brandon Luu, MD

@BrandonLuuMD

Sep 4

You're probably studying wrong.

I was too, until medical school forced me to examine what the research actually says about learning.

These 8 evidence-based protocols helped me learn twice as much in half the time 🧵 1/8

Stop rereading your notes. Start testing yourself.
Students who tested themselves retained 21% more after one week vs those who reread 4x in the same amount of time.
After longer periods: testers forgot 14% while re-readers forgot 52% /2

Watch everything at 2x speed.
Study of 231 students: No difference in retention between 1x and 2x speed. Threshold is 2.5x.
Better yet: Watching at 2x twice (week apart) beats watching 1x once. Same time, better retention. /3

Read 9 tweets

Brandon Luu, MD

@BrandonLuuMD

Aug 28

Our immune cells have internal clocks.

Misaligned clocks = higher infection rates and impaired cancer protection.

Here's how to use temperature, meal timing, and exercise to optimize your cellular timekeepers 🧵1/8

Morning eating amplifies your natural temperature rise through diet-induced thermogenesis. Evening fasting lets it drop naturally. Plus, timing glucose spikes when baseline glucose is already high (daytime) helps keep your immune cell clocks aligned /2

Cortisol isn't just stress, it's a critical immune timekeeper. Natural pattern: sharp rise before waking, peak within an hour, gradual decline to bedtime. This rhythm controls T cell migration and viral response. Morning exercise stacks perfectly onto this natural cortisol spike /3

Read 8 tweets

Brandon Luu, MD

@BrandonLuuMD

Aug 14

What if you could cut ~300 calories daily without changing your diet?

A landmark RCT found extending sleep by just 1.2 hours did exactly that: participants spontaneously ate less without trying.

Here's how sleep is a powerful weight loss tool 🧵 1/8

1/3 of adults get <7 hours of sleep while spending billions on diet programs. This University of Chicago trial on people sleeping less than 6.5h/night changed how I think about weight loss in people with sleep deprivation. No diets, no exercise, just sleep /2

A single sleep counseling session → 1.2 hours more sleep → spontaneous weight loss. The sleep group lost 0.87 kg in just 2 weeks. Energy expenditure didn't change: they simply ate less without trying /3

Read 8 tweets

Brandon Luu, MD

@BrandonLuuMD

Aug 3

🧠 Most people spend $100s on nootropics and brain supplements.

But a free cognitive enhancer our brains evolved from outperforms them all: exercise

Here's how to use movement to improve cognitive performance 🧵1/9

Exercise reshapes your brain through key mechanisms:
🧪 BDNF - grows new neurons like "Miracle-Gro"
⚡ Neurotransmitter surge - dopamine + norepinephrine boost focus
🩸 Increased brain blood flow
📈 Improved insulin sensitivity /2

One randomized trial even showed aerobic exercise increased hippocampal volume by about 2%, reversing nearly two years of age-related decline /3

Read 9 tweets

Brandon Luu, MD

@BrandonLuuMD

Jul 15

I’ve worked countless 26-hour shifts. Zero sleep. No room for error.

I joined @InVivoPodOnX to break down the protocols I developed to keep my brain sharp.

Here’s the science behind creatine, nicotine, binaural beats, and circadian alignment 🧵 1/9

Creatine isn't just for the gym. Under stress, it boosts brain energy by regenerating ATP.

21-hour sleep deprivation study: A single high dose (0.35 g/kg) restored several cognitive tests to baseline (or even better)

👉 I take 10g/day regularly /2

Nicotine is mildly cognitively enhancing, improving attention in humans.

In mice, it reverses learning deficits from severe sleep-deprivation up to 48 hours (figure below).

But it's addictive, may raise HR/BP, and human studies are lacking. I use cautiously (gum only) /3

Read 9 tweets

Brandon Luu, MD

@BrandonLuuMD

Jun 28

Circadian biology may be the next frontier in cancer care.

Patients with lung cancer who got chemo-immunotherapy before 11:30 AM had:
📉 53% lower risk of death
📆 Median overall survival: 33 vs. 19.5 months
📈 Improved treatment response

Let’s break it down 🧵1/7

Your body runs on a clock.
Cortisol, insulin, immune cells all peak at certain times.
Yet most cancer therapy is scheduled without considering circadian rhythms. That’s a problem, especially for immunotherapy, which depends on immune activation /2

Researchers analyzed patients from France & China with advanced NSCLC.
They grouped them by the median time of their first 4 infusions:
🕗 Before 11:30 AM
🕛 After 11:30 AM
Same treatment, different timing, very different outcomes /3

Read 7 tweets

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