Your Brain Isn’t Broken—You’re Living Out of Sync With Your Biology | Benjamin Smarr PhD

Your brain doesn’t just run on chemistry.
 It runs on time.
 

Every day your body broadcasts signals through sleep timing, light exposure, body temperature, hormones, and circadian rhythms—yet most people ignore these patterns while chasing pills, supplements, and productivity hacks.
 

In this episode of the Crackin’ Backs Podcast, we sit down with Benjamin Smarr to explore a new frontier of human biology: how time-series biology and wearable data may unlock powerful, non-drug ways to improve brain health, mood, and performance.
 

Dr. Smarr’s research looks at the body not as a snapshot—but as a movie, where continuous biological signals reveal patterns that traditional medicine often misses.
 

In this episode, we explore:

• Why “normal” is a misleading concept in human biology

• How circadian rhythms and sleep timing shape mental performance and mood

• What wearable devices can reveal about your hidden biological patterns

• Why body temperature rhythms may be linked to depression and mental health

• The overlooked role of light timing, temperature regulation, and daily rhythms

• How “social time” vs biological time affects cognition, sleep, and productivity

• Where self-tracking and wearable data help—and where they can backfire

• Whether the future of medicine could include “time prescriptions” instead of drugs

This conversation reframes how we think about health, performance, and mental well-being—not as something fixed, but as something that shifts with how we live in time.
 

If you’re interested in sleep science, circadian biology, wearables, mental performance, precision health, and the future of non-drug brain optimization, this episode will challenge how you think about your own body.
 

About Dr. Benjamin Smarr

Benjamin Smarr is an Associate Professor of Bioengineering and Data Science at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He earned his PhD in Neurobiology from the University of Washington, and later served as an NIH fellow at UC Berkeley in Psychology.
 

His research focuses on biological rhythms, neuroendocrinology, wearable health data, and HealthAI, developing technologies that improve precision medicine while reducing algorithmic bias for diverse populations.
 

The Smarr Lab works at the intersection of women’s health, aging, circadian biology, and data science, aiming to accelerate the future of personalized healthcare and population-level health insights.
 

Dr. Smarr’s work and insights have been featured in global media outlets including NPR, BBC, Forbes, and many others. He is also a strong advocate for science communication and community empowerment in discovery and health innovation.
 

Learn more about his research and work HERE:
 
 

We are two sports chiropractors, seeking knowledge from some of the best resources in the world of health. From our perspective, health is more than just “Crackin Backs” but a deep dive into physical, mental, and nutritional well-being philosophies.
 

Join us as we talk to some of the greatest minds and discover some of the most incredible gems you can use to maintain a higher level of health. Crackin Backs Podcast