Ingest 1-2 servings of fermented foods (e.g., sauerkraut, kimchi) daily, potentially increasing to 3-4 servings, to significantly improve gut microbiome diversity, reduce inflammatory markers, enhance cognition, sleep, infection resistance, wound healing, and positively adjust autoimmune symptoms.
To enhance interoceptive awareness and strengthen vagal connections, take 1-2 minutes periodically to consciously perceive your heartbeat. This practice quickly improves your ability to sense your internal state, influencing mood, focus, and interactions with others.
Emphasize nasal breathing most of the time, especially during sleep, and refrain from mouth breathing. This improves the nasal microbiome, creating an additional layer of immune defense against infections.
Ensure your gut maintains a proper acidic pH, as bacteria thrive in alkaline conditions. This proper gut chemistry is crucial for a healthy, well-functioning brain and body, and for populating the gut with beneficial microbiota.
Actively manage stress, as it disrupts gut-brain communication by shutting down the vagus nerve and quieting gut neurons. This disruption leads to poor digestion, negative feelings, and altered gut chemistry.
To quickly calm down, perform a physiological sigh: two inhales (ideally through the nose) followed by a long exhale. This maximally fills the lungs and expels carbon dioxide, slowing the heart rate and promoting calmness.
To increase alertness, take deep or vigorous inhales followed by shorter or less vigorous exhales. Repeating this 2-3 times can make you feel more alert, and 25-30 repetitions can significantly increase adrenaline and wakefulness.
While sitting or lying down (never near water), take 25-30 vigorous inhales (e.g., nose) followed by passive exhales (e.g., mouth). After the last exhale, expel all air and hold your breath for 15-30 seconds to shift blood chemistry, leading to alert calmness and positively impacting immune function and inflammation.
Take 10-20 seconds to consciously sense the fullness or emptiness of your gut at various times. This awareness helps you override signals from stretch receptors, allowing better control over eating impulses, especially during practices like intermittent fasting.
To reduce sugar cravings, replace sugary foods with those high in omega-3 fatty acids or amino acids. Ingesting a teaspoon of glutamine, optionally mixed with full-fat cream, can make sugar cravings disappear by signaling nutrient presence to gut neurons.
If overheated or experiencing a high fever (e.g., 102-104°F), avoid cooling the neck, as this can cause the brain to increase body temperature further. Instead, cool the bottoms of the feet, palms of the hands, and the upper part of the face.
Consume an electrolyte drink with sodium, magnesium, and potassium in correct ratios, without sugar, to maintain proper hydration. This is critical for optimal brain and body function, as dehydration and electrolyte imbalance diminish cognitive and physical performance.
Utilize Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) or Yoga Nidra protocols, even for short 10-minute sessions, to significantly restore cognitive and physical energy.
If experiencing food allergies, mood, or autoimmune issues linked to gut pH or microbiota, consider supplementing with betaine HCL pepsin tablets during meals. Start with 1-2 tablets and adjust to a comfortable level, but consult a healthcare provider first.
To reduce nausea, ingest 1-3 grams of ginger (pill, capsule, or fresh), or use peppermint. Cannabis (THC and/or CBD), where legal and appropriate, has also been shown to reduce nausea.
To achieve a state of alert calmness, practice box breathing: inhale for 2-3 seconds, hold for 2-3 seconds, exhale for 2-3 seconds, and hold for 2-3 seconds. This equal duration breathing pattern helps regulate brain state.
Be aware that excessive supplementation with probiotics or prebiotics can sometimes lead to brain fog. The goal for gut health is to increase microbiota diversity, not just the sheer number of microbes.
Take Athletic Greens daily to cover basic nutritional needs, address deficiencies, and support microbiome health with probiotics. Supplement with Vitamin D3K2, as D3 is essential for brain and body health, and K2 regulates cardiovascular function and calcium.