All in Life

Life-Sparring Podcast - Round 15: Henrik Widegren (MD) - Never Google Your Symptoms

I always get real experts in their respective feels to join me in the virtual Life-Sparring ring. However, this time, I hit one out of the ballpark and convinced an actual rockstar of medicine to spar with me. Henrik Widegren (MD) is based in Lund, Sweden, where he works in the university clinic as Otolaryngologist or Ear, Nose & Throat doctor.

When Henrik is not seeing patients or is participating in clinical research, he is composing, writing, and performing songs about healthcare and medicine. He published several albums in Swedish and English, and in 2019, Henrik landed a viral hit with his song “Never Google Your Symptoms,” attracting more than 4.3 million views on YouTube.

My conversation with Henrik covers a lot of ground, Henrik’s musical career from playing the recorder to becoming a recording artist; why he chose Otolaryngology over heart surgery, how it feels to become a viral sensation, and being the most prominent singing medical professional since Dr. Alban (It’s my Life – you remember?).

Last but not least, we talk about the state of the medical profession and what we believe could improve the communication between doctors and patients. We also discuss critical medical topics such as the Man Cold, snoring, excessive earwax, and losing your voice to a spicy Malaysian dish.

I had an absolute blast talking to Henrik, and I am sure you will also enjoy this one.

Life-Sparring Podcast - Round 14: Jonathan de Potter - Lo and Behold, We talk Plant Medicine

In Life-Sparring Round 14, Jonathan de Potter, founder and CEO of Behold Retreats, takes us on a trip far outside my comfort zone and our usual range of topics. Lo and behold, we are talking psychedelic plant medicine!

Psychedelics received in recent years a scientific renaissance. Reputable institutes like Johns Hopkins or the Imperial College London are conducting studies on substances like Psilocybin and Ayahuasca, showing promising results in treating addictions, trauma, and depression.

However, when talking about psychedelics, you quickly enter a rabbit hole that leads from science to philosophical questions and the esoteric. Is the self just an illusion? Where does our consciousness come from? Is there really a god molecule? My discussion with Jonathan de Potter touches on a lot of these topics.

Life-Sparring Podcast - Round 13: Prof. Elizabeth George & Prof. Prithviraj “Raja” Chattopadhyay - Identity (Re-)Search

Round 13 of the Life-Sparring Podcast is an ambitious one. With Professor Elizabeth George and Professor Prithviraj Chattopadhyay, I face not just one but two academic heavyweights in the virtual Life-Sparing ring, and our topic is nothing less than the eternal question “Who Am I.”

As Professors of Management, both Elizabeth and Raja have spent large parts of their professional lives researching and teaching what makes organizations run. The social and personal identity of employees is a recurring theme of their research. In our almost one-hour-long discussion, we cover many aspects of Elizabeth’s and Raja’s Identity (Re-)Search.

How to define identity? What role does identity play in our lives? How does Social Media or working from home influence our identities? These and a lot of other questions we are trying to answer in our discussion.

Life-Sparring Podcast - Round 12: Fabian - Shadowboxing June/July 2021 - Quantified Starch

Shadowboxing rounds are solo episodes, where I, Life-Sparring host Fabian Gruber share “What’s On and Poppin” in my life, what current books provide “Food for Thought,” and what else is going on. No interviews, just a bit of solo rambling and occasionally some awful singing.

The summer heat in Hong Kong made for a slow summer. What’s On and Poppin’ is all about carbohydrate supplement UCAN SuperStarch, which I have tried for the first time. I also recap a German podcast that I just did, talking about one of my favorite topics, the quantified self.

In Food For Thought, I talk about John Irving’s The Water-Method Man and The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho. For good measure, I also throw an article in the mix on the economics of Dollar Stores in the US.