I live in the bay area of San Francisco and my favourite retreat is three hours' drive north up Highway 1 into Mendocino county. It's known as the Lost Coast. The area used to be part of the logging industry, but now it's more of a beauty and vacation spot, with fantastic beaches, forests, and coastline.
During my work there I've found a huge discrepancy between the sexes. Women are 10 times more likely to be on anti-depressants, and men are ten times more likely to take drugs that produce dopamine. It gives pleasure and makes them feel good. During new relationships there is challenge, success, danger - all of which produces dopamine. And for women there is a lot of hope, optimism and expectation.
But after a while relationships need new stimulation. That is why vacations are so great. You are being taken care of and it's new and different. Women tend to be happy because their needs are being met, and men are happy to take the credit for that.
The Lost Coast is so fantastic I ended up buying a small 20-acre ranch there. It is surrounded by 1m acres of redwood forest and looks down over the ocean 1,000 feet below.
I've created a spa centre - people stay in nearby Fort Bragg and drive up to the retreat for treatments. In a five-day period they spend 21 hours in the spa getting a mixture of organic oxygen - it's non-medical oxygen similar to that you find near a waterfall. Due to pollution there is only 7% oxygen in Tokyo's air, whereas we have 35% oxygen in the spa's air. People come away with their brains re-energised.
Interview by Gavan Naden
