Always consult your board-certified physician before adding or removing any supplement or prescription drug from your regimen to ensure safety and appropriateness for your individual health.
Before considering any supplements or drugs, ensure you have the basics of sleep, morning sunlight, quality nutrition, sufficient movement (exercise), stress control, and quality social relationships correctly established. These foundational elements have a ‘huge outsized effect’ on mental health, physical health, and performance compared to anything taken in pill or infusion form.
Get sufficient amounts of quality sleep each night. This is considered the most fundamental and important basic for a quality and long life, as not doing so can reduce lifespan and lead to less happiness and energy during the day.
Engage in a minimum of 180 to 220 minutes of Zone 2 cardiovascular exercise per week. This type of cardio allows you to maintain a conversation but would make it hard to complete sentences if intensity increased, and it leads to known improvements in health metrics related to longevity.
Perform high-intensity VO2 max work, getting your heart rate way up, at least once per week. This is another form of exercise that contributes to known improvements in health metrics related to longevity.
Do resistance training (with weights, machines, or bodyweight) at sufficient intensity, with a minimum of six sets per body part per week. This maintains muscular size, strength, and nerve-to-muscle connectivity, which correlates with cognitive function and other important longevity metrics.
Prioritize and maintain a regimen of quality nutrition. This is a fundamental component of a quality and long life, contributing to overall mental and physical health.
Actively eliminate toxic social connections and increase interactions with people you genuinely like, enjoy spending time with, and feel enriched by. Quality social connection is a key basic for a quality and long life.
Develop and practice effective strategies for stress modulation or control. This is identified as a fundamental basic for maintaining mental and physical health and performance.
Expose yourself to morning sunlight. This practice is crucial for setting your circadian rhythm, which anchors all other foundational health elements.
View supplements as enhancements, not replacements, for foundational health practices. They can potentially enhance mental and physical health if they fit within your safety and economic frameworks, but they are not the foundation.
Consider taking 400 to 800 milligrams of grapeseed extract daily, usually with a meal. This is taken as a general insurance policy for vascular function and blood flow, among other potential benefits, due to reasonably strong data and low downsides.
If you have a limited budget or are looking for top-tier benefits, prioritize other supplements over grapeseed extract. It is not considered a top five or even top ten supplement recommendation.
Take 500 milligrams of an NR (nicotinamide riboside) supplement every day. This is done to increase NAD levels, which subjectively provides sustained mental and physical energy throughout the day.
Take 1 to 2 grams of NMN (nicotinamide mononucleotide) as a sublingual powder daily. This is also taken to increase NAD levels, which subjectively provides sustained mental and physical energy throughout the day.
Consider combining NR and NMN supplementation daily. This protocol aims to increase NAD levels for sustained mental and physical energy throughout the day.
Take NR and NMN supplements in the morning, typically within one to two hours of waking and at least 30 minutes to two hours before your first meal. This timing is intended to provide sustained energy throughout the day that tapers off nicely by evening, allowing for sleep.
Do not take NR and NMN with the expectation that they will increase your lifespan. At present, the data do not sufficiently substantiate a direct link between increased NAD levels and extended human lifespan.
Consider NAD infusions (500-1000mg intravenously) when feeling particularly run down or post-illness. Subjectively, this has led to improved sleep and vigor, though it is described as ‘pretty darn uncomfortable’.
If undergoing an NAD infusion, request the administrator to adjust the drip rate to be slower. This can make the infusion more tolerable and reduce discomfort.
Schedule NAD infusions earlier in the day. Anecdotal evidence suggests that infusions later in the day may lead to challenges with sleep.
Do not take metformin with the goal of increasing lifespan. Current peer-reviewed data do not sufficiently support its efficacy for this purpose in humans.
Be aware that berberine, sometimes called ’the poor man’s metformin,’ can cause brutal headaches. This side effect is likely due to its blood glucose-lowering effects.
Do not take rapamycin with the goal of increasing lifespan at this time. The current data do not justify its use for longevity, and it has a significant side effect profile.