Engage in regular physical exercise to stress muscle cells, which activates gene programs that increase antioxidant defenses, clear damaged proteins and dysfunctional mitochondria, and produce protective heat shock proteins, making cells stronger and more resilient.
Keep your mind intellectually engaged through activities like conversations or learning to increase electrical activity in nerve cells, which boosts mitochondrial function and can increase the number of synapses, improving brain resilience.
Adopt an eating pattern that includes intermittent periods of not eating for at least 10 hours to deplete liver glucose stores, causing a metabolic switch to burning fat and producing ketones, which is important for health benefits.
Compress your daily eating window to 6-8 hours (e.g., eating between noon and 6 p.m. and skipping breakfast) to achieve a 16-18 hour fast, which is sufficient to induce daily metabolic switching and elevate ketone levels.
Exercise in a fasted state, such as a morning run after an overnight fast, to enhance the elevation of ketones and potentially amplify beneficial effects on the brain, cardiovascular system, and physical performance.
Prioritize a diet that is mostly plant-based, minimizes simple sugars and saturated fats, and favors fish over red meat, as this aligns with patterns observed in populations with exceptional longevity and supports overall health.
Incorporate fruits and vegetables containing naturally occurring phytochemicals (e.g., sulforaphane in broccoli, curcumin in turmeric, caffeine) into your diet, as these compounds trigger mild adaptive stress responses in cells, enhancing antioxidant defenses and cellular resilience.
Be mindful of maintaining sufficient muscle mass as you age, ensuring adequate energy intake and potentially incorporating resistance training, especially if you have a low BMI or are undergoing significant weight loss.
Use saunas or hot baths to mimic the cardiovascular benefits of aerobic exercise, including enhanced parasympathetic activity, improved heart rate variability, and reduced blood pressure, which is especially useful for maintaining muscle mass and recovery when injured.
Expect initial hunger and irritability for the first 2-4 weeks when starting an intermittent fasting regimen, as it takes time for the body and brain’s neuroendocrine systems to adapt to the new eating pattern.
For two days a week, consume only one moderate-sized meal of approximately 600 calories, while eating normally on the other five days, to induce metabolic switching on those two fasting days.
Combine different types of hormetic stressors, such as exercise, intermittent fasting, and plant-based phytochemicals, because each may activate distinct or more robust stress response pathways, leading to a broader range of health benefits.
Do not attempt extreme prolonged fasting regimens (e.g., 5 days fasting with only 1 day recovery repeatedly) as this can lead to significant problems and long-term adverse consequences, including muscle loss.
Exercise caution and avoid relying on ‘fasting mimetics’ like 2-deoxyglucose, nicotinamide riboside, or rapamycin for long-term health benefits, as there is insufficient data in humans to support their safe and effective use, and some have shown adverse long-term effects.
While a ketogenic diet can provide some benefits like efficient energy for neurons and signaling functions from ketones, it may not offer the full range of benefits seen with intermittent fasting, such as increased neural network activity and broader neurotrophic factor activation.
For overweight or obese children, intermittent fasting, with parental buy-in and under the guidance of a pediatrician, has shown success in helping kids reduce body weight by switching their eating patterns.
Pregnant women should engage in some exercise during pregnancy, contrary to older advice, as it is beneficial for their health.
Explore the use of ketone esters, which have shown promising beneficial effects in animal models of Alzheimer’s disease and anecdotally for symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and essential/orthostatic tremors, by rapidly inducing ketosis.