Illvolution was a talk by Owaves founder Royan Kamyar, M.D., MBA, at a TEDxUCSD Salon on 27 February 2014, subtitled A New Era, the Diseases of Abundance. Owaves describes Illvolution as the study of how disease evolves over time. Since then, the World Health Organization has counted at least 43 million deaths from noncommunicable diseases in 2021.
Key takeaways
- On 27 February 2014, Royan Kamyar, M.D., MBA, founder and CEO of Owaves, spoke at a TEDxUCSD Salon event; the 13-minute video was posted on 2 May 2014.
- Diseases of abundance, also called diseases of affluence, are chronic conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers that grow more common as food gets plentiful and daily life gets less active.
- The World Health Organization reports that noncommunicable diseases killed at least 43 million people in 2021, 18 million of them before age 70.
- In the US, about 3 in 4 adults have at least one chronic condition, according to the CDC, and 60% of adults aged 18 to 34 already have one.
- Owaves: My BodyClock plans sleep, meals, movement, relationships and work on one 24-hour circle, the daily habits the talk’s subject turns on.
What was Illvolution, the 2014 TEDxUCSD talk?
Illvolution was a 13-minute talk that Royan Kamyar, M.D., MBA, gave at a TEDxUCSD Salon event on 27 February 2014, under the theme The Power of One, The Power of Many. Owaves’ page for the talk gives its subtitle as A New Era: The Diseases of Abundance, and Owaves posted the video on YouTube on 2 May 2014.
The video description introduces Kamyar as the founder and CEO of Owaves, then a lifestyle medicine brand in Encinitas, California, founded in May 2013 and making software tools for wearable devices to motivate healthy lifestyle activities. He had co-founded Sanitas Inc., a maker of FDA-cleared outpatient software, and holds an M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine, an MBA from the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego, and degrees from UC Berkeley.
The timing matters. The talk came about ten weeks before Owaves put its first app, an iPad wellness planner, on iTunes on 8 May 2014 (when Owaves launched). Three months earlier, in November 2013, Kamyar had published an essay on owaves.com arguing that light at night and round-the-clock schedules work against a body that evolved with the sun; we revisited it in Is light at night bad for you?.
What are the diseases of abundance?
Diseases of abundance are the chronic, noncommunicable illnesses that rise when calories are cheap, work is sedentary and days run late: heart disease and stroke, type 2 diabetes, many cancers and chronic lung disease. Owaves’ summary of the talk describes Illvolution as the study of how disease evolves, or illvolves, over time, and why recognizing that matters for the health of future generations.
The WHO’s current fact sheet lists the behaviors behind most of this burden: tobacco use, unhealthy diets with excess salt, sugar and fat, harmful use of alcohol, and too little physical activity. These are everyday choices made hour by hour, which is why a planner, not only a clinic, can be part of the answer.
What has changed since 2014?
The problem has not gone away, and the science of daily timing has caught up. The table sets the February 2014 talk beside what major sources report as of November 2026.
| Around the 2014 talk | As of November 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Global toll | The subject of the talk | At least 43 million noncommunicable-disease deaths in 2021, 18 million before age 70 (WHO) |
| US adults | Not covered in the talk listing | About 3 in 4 adults have at least one chronic condition; 60% of those aged 18 to 34 (CDC) |
| Lifestyle medicine | An emerging field | A medical specialty with six pillars: nutrition, physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, connectedness and avoiding risky substances (ACLM) |
| Body clocks | Studied since the 18th century, clock genes since the 1970s, no Nobel yet | 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the molecular mechanisms of the circadian rhythm |
| Owaves | Pre-launch, founded May 2013 | Owaves: My BodyClock on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, 1.3M+ downloads |
Two shifts stand out. First, sleep and social connection sit beside diet and exercise among the six American College of Lifestyle Medicine pillars, and the American Heart Association added sleep to its own list in 2022; we compare that framework with others in pillars of lifestyle medicine. Second, timing has become part of the story. In 2017, Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young won the Nobel Prize for showing how the body’s inner clock works, and the committee noted indications that chronic misalignment between lifestyle and that clock is associated with higher risk of various diseases.
Kamyar’s own framing has followed the science. In a September 2025 UC San Diego profile (source 6), he argued that US health care is built around sick care more than prevention, and that small, ongoing circadian disruption may contribute to much chronic disease, especially metabolic and mood conditions. That is a hypothesis, not a settled finding.
How does the Owaves app address diseases of abundance?
Owaves turns the pillars of lifestyle medicine into a plan for the whole day. As of November 2026, per the App Store listing and owaves.com, here is how the app’s real features line up with the habits behind chronic disease:
| Lifestyle medicine pillar | In Owaves: My BodyClock |
|---|---|
| Physical activity | Move blocks on My BodyClock; Peak Fitness recommendations in BodyClock Plus |
| Nutrition and meal timing | Eat blocks; Eating Windows in BodyClock Plus (how to use Windows) |
| Restorative sleep | Sleep blocks; Deep Sleep recommendations in BodyClock Plus |
| Stress management | Relax and Play blocks |
| Connectedness | Love blocks and My Moai, a peer support group |
| Seeing the whole day | BodyClock Score, a daily 0–100 view of circadian alignment (how to use it) |
A few details matter. Every activity gets one of eight color-coded categories (Move, Eat, Relax, Love, Play, Work, Flow and Sleep), explained in what the colors in Owaves mean. Apple Health connects to compare what you planned with what you did (how to connect it). My BodyClock, My Goals and My Moai are free; BodyClock Plus costs $12.99 a month or $99.99 a year on the US App Store. Owaves also reports a seven-week randomized trial with UC San Diego students whose results it labels preliminary.
Owaves is not a medical device or a substitute for your doctor. It is a planner that makes healthy hours visible, so they get scheduled instead of squeezed out.
Your day on My BodyClock
The day above on My BodyClock is a weekday built on the six pillars. It opens with a walk outside shortly after waking, eats breakfast, lunch and an early dinner at regular times, and holds a three-hour Work block for deep focus. A late-afternoon strength session covers movement, an evening call with family covers connectedness, and a screen-free hour of reading winds the day down. Commutes and chores are Flow, so the circle has no gaps, and eight hours of Sleep close it, from 10:30 PM to 6:30 AM.
Take the Body Clock Quiz to find your Body Clock Type, then plan a day like this free in Owaves on the App Store. On Android, join the waitlist.
FAQ
What are diseases of abundance?
Diseases of abundance, or diseases of affluence, are chronic conditions that become more common as societies grow richer: heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, many cancers and chronic lung disease. The WHO links most of them to tobacco, unhealthy diets, harmful alcohol use and physical inactivity.
Who gave the Illvolution TEDxUCSD talk?
Royan Kamyar, M.D., MBA, founder and CEO of Owaves, gave it at a TEDxUCSD Salon event on 27 February 2014. The 13-minute video was posted on the Owaves YouTube channel on 2 May 2014.
Can a planner app prevent chronic disease?
No app can promise that. What a planner can do is protect time for sleep, regular meals, movement and people, the daily habits that lifestyle medicine and the WHO tie to lower chronic disease risk.
Is Owaves free?
Yes. Owaves: My BodyClock is free on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, with My BodyClock, My Goals and My Moai included. BodyClock Plus, the optional subscription, costs $12.99 a month or $99.99 a year on the US App Store as of November 2026.
Sources
- Owaves (YouTube). “illvolution: Royan Kamyar at TEDxUCSD.” TEDxUCSD Salon Event, 27 February 2014; posted 2 May 2014. https://youtu.be/SmcMUOYAdR0
- World Health Organization. “Noncommunicable diseases” (fact sheet). 25 September 2025. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/noncommunicable-diseases
- US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “About Chronic Diseases.” 14 May 2026. https://www.cdc.gov/chronic-disease/about/index.html
- American College of Lifestyle Medicine. “About Lifestyle Medicine.” Accessed 12 November 2026. https://lifestylemedicine.org/about-lifestyle-medicine/
- Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet. “The 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine — Press release.” 2 October 2017. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2017/press-release/
- UC San Diego Today. “Dr. Royan Kamyar Is Pioneering the Perfect Day.” 19 September 2025. https://today.ucsd.edu/story/dr-royan-kamyar-is-pioneering-the-perfect-day
- Royan Kamyar, M.D., MBA (Owaves). “Cigarettes, Trans Fats and Light Bulbs.” owaves.com, 23 November 2013. https://owaves.com/cigarettes-trans-fats-light-bulbs/
- Apple App Store. “Owaves: My BodyClock” (US listing). Accessed 12 November 2026. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/owaves-worlds-first-wellness/id869648628
- Owaves. “The visual calendar for a healthier day” (home page). Accessed 12 November 2026. https://owaves.com/
- Owaves. “Illvolution” (talk page). 3 May 2014. https://owaves.com/illvolution/
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