Welcome to It’s Brain Surgery, where we explore the mental, physical, and philosophical tools that help high performers thrive in high-stakes, uncomfortable, and uncertain parts of life.
I’m Dr. Andrew Brunswick, a neurosurgeon, athlete, and wellness advocate sharing first-hand insights from the operating room and the training ground. Here you’ll find conversations, strategies, and tools to help you:
•Strengthen your mindset 🧘
•Optimize physical and mental performance 💪
•Improve recovery and resilience 🔄
•Learn practical lessons from real neurosurgery stories 🧠
•Explore the latest in fitness, mindfulness, and wellness 🌱
Expect weekly podcast episodes, in-depth explainers, and highlight clips featuring guests ranging from doctors and elite athletes to thought leaders in mindset and recovery.
If you’re passionate about neurosurgery, health, fitness, mindset training, or unlocking peak human potential, you’re in the right place.
👉 Subscribe now and join a growing community of high achievers committed to mastering both body and mind.
Send a text What does it really look like to build a meaningful life in one of the most demanding professions in the world? In this episode of It’s Brain Surgery, Andrew Brunswick sits down with Dr. Betsy Grunch, board-certified neurosurgeon, researcher, mother, and globally recognized creator known as @LadySpineDoc. Dr. Grunch shares her personal journey into neurosurgery, inspired by her mother’s spinal cord injury, and how that early experience shaped the way she treats patients, deliver...
17 Dec 2025
How a Neurosurgeon Stays Human with Dr. Howard Weiner
Send a text Dr. Howard Weiner is one of the most respected pediatric neurosurgeons in the country — Chief of Neurosurgery and Endowed Chair at Texas Children’s Hospital, and Professor at Baylor College of Medicine. But titles barely scratch the surface of who he is. In this deeply personal conversation, Andrew talks with his former mentor about the part of medicine most people never hear about: how you stay human while doing the hardest job in the hospital. They get into: • How a childhood...
20 Nov 2025
The REAL Sauna Experience: What Finland Knows That We Don’t
Send a text Most of us think of a sauna as just “a hot room.” In Finland, it’s a way of life, a ritual, a community practice, and surprisingly a powerful tool for training the mind. In this episode of It’s Brain Surgery, Dr. Andrew Brunswick sits down with Lassi Liikkanen, one of the world’s leading experts on Finnish sauna design, tradition, and research. His books The Secrets of Finnish Sauna Design and Finnish Sauna: Steam, Wood, Stone, and How to Build Your Own have reshaped how the wo...
13 Nov 2025
The Only Neurosurgeon in Sierra Leone: Dr. Alieu Kamara’s Fight to Save Lives
Send a text Imagine being the only neurosurgeon in a country of over 8 million people. No backup. Limited equipment. Families raising money before life-saving surgery can begin. That is Dr. Alieu Kamara’s daily reality in Sierra Leone. In this episode, Dr. Kamara shares how growing up during the civil war shaped him, why he left a secure post abroad to return home, and what it takes to make life-or-death decisions when resources are thin. We talk trauma care, CT access, weekends in the OR, t...
6 Nov 2025
How Boredom Shapes the Brain with Dr. James Danckert
Send a text Cognitive neuroscientist Dr. James Danckert joins me to unpack what boredom really is, why the brain evolved it, and how to respond to it in a healthy, purposeful way. We dig into trait boredom proneness, addiction-like phone use, kids and screens, the default mode network, interoception, endurance sports, and what clinicians see after traumatic brain injury. If you’ve ever wondered whether to “embrace boredom,” or how to help your kid handle it without an iPad, this one’s for you...
29 Oct 2025
How to Build a Life You Don’t Need a Break From | Eric Hinman on Discipline, Mindset & Resilience
Send a text Elite athlete, entrepreneur, and wellness advocate Eric Hinman has built a life around training, recovery, and community — but his real strength isn’t just physical. It’s mental. In this episode of It’s Brain Surgery, host Andrew Brunswick dives deep into Eric’s philosophy for living: how discipline, structure, and intentional choices can transform not only your body but your entire mindset. From Ironman competitions to daily cold plunges, Eric reveals the routines and habits tha...
23 Oct 2025
Resilience Under Fire with Dr Brian Hoeflinger
Send a text What do you do when life shatters everything you thought you knew? Dr. Brian Hoeflinger a neurosurgeon who has faced unimaginable loss shares how he found strength, meaning, and purpose through tragedy. In this powerful conversation, we talk about resilience, grief, and the courage it takes to turn pain into something that helps others. From surviving a brain injury to losing his teenage son, Dr. Hoeflinger opens up about what it truly means to heal, grow, and live authentically....
15 Oct 2025
What It’s Really Like Being Married to a Neurosurgeon | The Truth About Sacrifice, Isolation & Love
Send a text What does it really take to build a life alongside someone chasing one of the most demanding careers in medicine? In this powerful episode, Dr. Andrew Brunswick sits down with his wife, Rebecca, to have an unfiltered conversation about what it’s like being married to a neurosurgeon, from the years of residency and exhaustion, to the emotional distance, loneliness, and resilience it demanded from both of them. Together, they explore: The reality behind the “neurosurgery widow” m...
8 Oct 2025
Protecting the Asset with Mel Thacker | Perfectionism, Burnout & the Hidden Costs of Being a Surgeon
Send a text In this powerful episode of ItsBrainSurgery, ENT surgeon and mindset coach Mel Thacker opens up about hitting rock bottom after the pandemic stripped away her identity as a surgeon — and how that led to an awakening. She talks about the emotional cost of perfectionism, the unspoken shame in medicine, and why surgeons (and all high-performers) need mindset work just as much as technical training. If you've ever struggled with burnout, identity loss, or the feeling of "is this all...
2 Oct 2025
Operating Outside of the OR
Send a text What does it take to hold a diamond drill 3 millimeters from someone’s carotid artery, knowing a single mistake could end a life? Neurosurgery taught me that the hardest battles aren’t under the microscope, they’re in the mind. Welcome to It’s Brain Surgery, a podcast about training the mind like we train the body. Here we’ll explore the mental game of life: resilience, performance under pressure, suffering less, and living true to yourself. Every week, I’ll share raw lessons fr...
2 Oct 2025
8 Stoic Tools for Neurosurgery & Life
Send a text What do you do when everything goes wrong, in life, in surgery, in the chaos of your own mind? In this raw and powerful solo episode of ItsBrainSurgery, a neurosurgeon shares the 8 Stoic tools that helped him navigate grief, burnout, failure, pressure, and everyday life. These aren’t just quotes for Instagram, they’re practical mental frameworks forged in the OR, in marriage, in injury, and in dark moments we all face. 🎙️ What You’ll Learn: Memento Mori: How death awarene...
2 Oct 2025
The Stoic Way to a Better Life with William B. Irvine
Send a text In this mind-expanding episode of ItsBrainSurgery, we sit down with acclaimed stoic philosopher and bestselling author William B. Irvine to explore how ancient wisdom can transform modern lives. Irvine shares actionable insights from Stoicism — not as cold indifference, but as a powerful toolkit to reduce anxiety, master desire, and reclaim inner peace in a chaotic world. 🎙️ Topics Covered: How to become emotionally bulletproof The real reason modern life makes us miserable...
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