NBI Health - Fix Your Gut? It Starts in the SOIL! | Soil Health and Your Microbiome with Martha Carlin
by Kevin Danielson March 28, 2025
When Martha’s husband was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, she went on a mission to help him. This citizen-scientist took it into her own hands to find answers and solutions. She received an NIH grant and uncovered the hidden connections between the gut microbiome and many chronic diseases.
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?