Incorporate a daily non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) or yoga nidra protocol for 10-30 minutes to reduce stress, replenish dopamine, and enhance mental and physical vigor, either in the morning or later in the day.
Supplement with 1-3 grams of EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) per day, checking product labels for actual EPA content, to support brain and body health, provide building blocks for nerve cells, and potentially achieve a mild to moderate antidepressant effect. Choose high-quality fish oil tested for contaminants like mercury.
Get morning sunlight as often as possible, even on overcast days, to help shift circadian rhythm and amplify morning cortisol/catecholamine release for improved mood, focus, and alertness.
Use a red light bulb unit or red party lights in the evening, switching off regular overhead lights, to quickly lower cortisol levels and make it easier to fall asleep.
Brush and floss your teeth daily, with brushing before sleep being especially critical for remineralization, and avoid antiseptic alcohol-based mouthwashes.
Gently brush your tongue with a separate soft toothbrush (different from your teeth brush) to remove bad bacteria and promote healthy bacterial turnover. Replace the tongue brush every few weeks to months.
Ensure you consume enough prebiotic and probiotic fibers from fruits and vegetables for gut motility and to offset gut cancers.
Ingest 1-4 servings of low-sugar fermented foods daily (e.g., sauerkraut, kimchi, natto, kefir) to support gut health.
Avoid overusing antiseptics such as mouthwashes and hand rinses to maintain a healthy and diverse microbiome.
Encourage microbiome diversity through safe environmental interactions, such as allowing children to play outside and eat with slightly dirty hands (in a safe environment), or owning pets.
If you feel excessively sleepy after morning workouts, reduce intensity or duration, aiming for 80-90% of your maximum output to maintain energy and vigor throughout the day, rather than pushing to failure and causing depletion.
The most crucial aspect of fitness is to avoid injury, as getting hurt prevents you from training altogether.
Determine your consistent daily workload capacity (e.g., 4-8 hours with weekend breaks) that allows you to maintain sleep, mental, and physical health, as this sustainable approach leads to greater long-term productivity than overworking.
Do not dwell on past dietary or lifestyle mistakes, as biological systems are robust, and you can always improve your health, health span, and lifespan by making positive changes now.
Eliminate trans fats from your diet, as there is universal agreement on their detrimental health effects.
Get hormone levels checked once in late teens, mid-20s, and 30s for baseline, then annually after age 40, to monitor key markers like IGF-1, testosterone (total and free), estrogen (estradiol), DHT, cortisol (fasted morning), creatinine, LDL, ApoB, SHBG, and for women, progesterone and prolactin, always considering ratios and consistency in timing for women’s cycles.
Consider taking 5-10 grams of creatine monohydrate per day (depending on body weight) to enhance creatine phosphate metabolism in the forebrain and improve brain function, especially under conditions of high altitude or TBI. Monitor for increased DHT if you experience hair thinning and stop use if concerned.
For traumatic brain injury (TBI) recovery, prioritize adequate sleep for glymphatic outflow, consider transcranial magnetic stimulation, hyperbaric chambers, or hyperoxygenation treatments if accessible, and elevate your feet 5-15 degrees during sleep to increase glymphatic flow and debris clearance. Avoid sleeping upright in a chair.
Be cautious with high-dose turmeric or curcumin supplementation due to potential negative effects (e.g., limiting DHT production) and lead contamination; check sourcing carefully, and cooking with it is generally fine.
Treat OCD by working with a psychiatrist for appropriate medication (e.g., SSRIs) to create a neurochemical environment conducive to plasticity, combined with behavioral interventions like exposure and response prevention (resisting compulsions with therapist support) or replacement behaviors, possibly augmented by transcranial magnetic stimulation.
To quickly shift your circadian rhythm in a new place or become an early riser, combine morning sunlight, movement, social engagement, and caffeine (or breakfast if preferred).
To quickly shift your circadian rhythm to a local schedule, try to align your meal times with the local schedule.
When traveling east across time zones (e.g., San Francisco to New York), gradually shift your wake-up time earlier by an hour two days before, then another hour the day before, completing the shift upon arrival.
To shift your circadian rhythm earlier for eastbound travel, identify your temperature minimum (approx. 2 hours before normal wake-up) and expose yourself to bright light for 5-10 minutes between this minimum and your normal wake-up time for a few days before travel, even if you go back to sleep. Avoid bright light before your temperature minimum.
Alternatively, for eastbound travel, fly to your destination and immediately force yourself to wake up early, using caffeine, exercise, and social engagement to align with the local rhythm, but be prepared for late morning fatigue which can be mitigated by a 30-90 minute nap.
If feeling dizzy, stop and sit (or stand bracing yourself) and close your eyes, then determine if you feel like falling straight down (lightheadedness) or spinning and falling (vertigo) to aid diagnosis.
To address vertigo or nausea, fixate your gaze on a point 3-4 feet away and move closer, or look at your finger held out and slowly move it towards your nose, then back out, to anchor the visual part of the vestibulo-ocular reflex.
If feeling nauseous, seasick, or generally unwell after being in a closed environment, get outside and look at a distant fixation point to help re-calibrate your visual system.
When feeling unwell (without fever), go outside and fixate on the furthest possible point, walking towards it if safe, or perform the finger-to-nose exercise to anchor the vestibular-ocular reflex.
If you feel reasonably good and aren’t falling asleep during the day, your 5-6 hours of sleep might be sufficient, possibly supplemented by a brief 10-30 minute afternoon nap.
Do not obsess over specific sleep quantity (e.g., 7-8 hours) if you feel good, as individual sleep needs vary and less sleep doesn’t automatically lead to severe health issues like dementia.
When assessing your sleep, consider the QQRT framework: Quality (consistent sleep, slow-wave & REM), Quantity (how much you get), Regularity (consistent sleep/wake times), and Timing (sleep aligned with your chronotype).
One trip to the restroom at night is considered normal, but multiple awakenings or trips should be addressed to improve sleep quality.
Assess if you feel emotionally rested upon waking as an indicator of whether you are getting sufficient rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which is crucial for emotional recovery.
Wait until halfway through your day to check sleep tracker scores (e.g., Oura, Whoop) to avoid the ‘belief effect’ where a poor score can negatively impact performance regardless of actual sleep quality.
Ensure the timing of your sleep within the 24-hour cycle is correct for your chronotype and fairly consistent (regularity) for optimal benefit.
Oil pulling is not strongly recommended by dentists due to lack of clear evidence for benefit, but it’s not considered particularly harmful if you enjoy it.