Coach Debbie Potts - The Gut-Brain Connection & Parkinson’s: Martha Carlin’s Mission to Find a Cure
by Kevin Danielson March 06, 2025
In this episode, we dive deep into the groundbreaking research of Martha Carlin, a visionary systems thinker and citizen scientist dedicated to uncovering the root causes of Parkinson’s disease through the gut microbiome. After her husband, John, was diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s in 2002, Martha embarked on a mission to connect the dots between gut health, environmental toxins, and chronic disease.
In a recent interview, Chris Wark spoke with Martha Carlin—author of Connected: Love Loss and the Unseen Forces Behind Chronic Disease, microbiome researcher, and founder of BiotiQuest—about her 24-year journey investigating the root causes of neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases.
At the end of August, I flew from Kentucky to Australia for three weeks. By the time I arrived in Canberra, I had crossed the International Date Line, lost an entire day, and completely flipped my normal schedule. I did what I could to prepare. I fasted before the flight, took my Simple Slumber and another herbal sleep supplement, and managed to get some sleep on the overnight flight. Even so, I arrived expecting my body to have absolutely no idea what time it was. What surprised me was how quickly it began to figure it out.
Behind closed eyes, the brain is carrying out a carefully coordinated night shift. And research into the microbiome raises an intriguing question: how might the activity in our gut influence the sleep that gives this work its opportunity?