My 2025 Functional Blood Work: Blood Sugar, Stress & Performance – Part 6
In the first five parts of this series, I unpacked a lot.
From immune system stress and gut health to liver, kidney, and hormone function. This post might not sound as exciting as “testosterone” or “gallbladder,” but it’s just as important, maybe even more.
Why?
Because blood sugar regulation isn’t just about diabetes or fat loss. It’s about performance, recovery, energy, and brain clarity, especially in midlife.
And when I reviewed my latest blood markers, a few things jumped out that most GPs would skim over... but from a functional lens, they’re full of clues.
My 2025 Functional Blood Work: High-Performer’s Guide to Sex Hormones & Adrenals – Part 5
This week, I’m diving into sex hormones and adrenal function. Interestingly, this category didn’t come back with a scary dysfunction score, it was flagged at around 45% probability. But there were still patterns worth paying attention to. Patterns that a conventional doctor might completely ignore, but functional medicine digs deeper to connect the dots.
What If My Liver’s the Reason I’m Waking at 3am?
For a few months now, I’ve been waking in the early hours of the morning, not consistently, but a 1-3 times a week.
Sometimes it’s 2:30am. Other times it’s 4am. But the pattern is familiar.
I wake up wired, alert, almost like my body thinks it’s time to wake up and attack the day. But my mind is foggy, and I'm wired. I can’t seem to fall back asleep.
I’ve done the usual checklist:
Stress? Yes, a bit. Running a business and raising a toddler will do that.
Screen time? I’m pretty dialed there.
Stimulants? Not late in the day.
Sleep hygiene? Covered.
What the liver connection?
My 2025 Functional Blood Work: A High-Performer’s Guide to Liver and Gallbladder Heal - Part 4
In Part 1, I unpacked the signs of an overactive immune system. In Part 2, I explored my kidney markers and why “dysfunction” might be misleading. In Part 3, I looked at my GI function (gut health) and my sub-optimal total protein.
This week, we’re reviewing my liver and gallbladder results. According to my Functional Blood Analysis Report, my liver function has a 56% probability of dysfunction and my gallbladder has a 50% probability of dysfunction.
Not catastrophic. But not optimal either. And when you're training hard, running a business, parenting, and pushing for growth, suboptimal can catch up to you.
My 2025 Functional Blood Work: Gut Health, Protein, and the Hidden Clues - Part 3
My gut health story goes back to around 2010, when I was deep into the endurance world — marathons, triathlons, and Ironman events. At the time, I thought endurance athletes were the fittest people on the planet. That more hours, more miles, more pain meant more health.
It took a few years (and plenty of symptoms) to realise just how wrong I was.
Endurance sports can do a number on your gut — especially when training volume is high, sleep is poor, stress is chronic, and recovery is an afterthought. If you want to read more about how that chapter impacted my health.
My 2025 Functional Blood Work flagged a 62% probability of GI dysfunction.
My 2025 Functional Blood Work – Part 2: Kidneys, Creatine & Context
In Part 1 of this series, I broke down my immune system results and what they meant through a functional medicine lens. Today, we’re diving into my kidney function — a system that showed up as needing attention in my report.
According to the functional blood work algorithm, I scored a 77% probability of kidney dysfunction.
Now, that might sound dramatic — but let’s take a breath and look at what’s really going on.
My 2025 Functional Blood Work: Immune System - Part 1
Earlier this year, as part of the Midlife Mavericks Blood Work Workshop, I took a deep dive into my own blood results. And let me tell you — it's a strange mix of confronting and empowering when your own blood starts whispering secrets about your health.
My results are in, and I’m sharing them with you — not because I want sympathy, but because I want more men to take their health seriously before the wheels fall off.