Behaviors

Get light exposure at the correct times of day, specifically morning and evening, as part of healthy cortisol timing and regulation.

If you want to examine your hormones, do so with a medical doctor; ideally an endocrinologist can help interpret the results.

Competitive environments themselves can increase testosterone in the short term, independent of whether you win or lose.

Participating in sex can significantly increase testosterone during the physical act; one cited study reported about 70% increases versus modest increases during observing sex.

During grief-processing periods, actively disengage from "what if" thoughts such as imagining alternate routes or earlier calls. This type of thinking is linked to guilt and can strengthen maladaptive ties to episodic memory.

Apnea, especially sleep apnea, is associated with poor estrogen/testosterone levels and general health; reducing or eliminating apnea is recommended for hormone optimization.

If the goal is to keep the immune system tuned up, especially if around children, in healthcare settings, or prone to getting sick, do a short-term adrenaline-increasing behavior at least two or three times per week.

Recommended to stimulate melanocytes and offset stress-induced graying of hair.

His personal protocol: skip breakfast, drink water, delay caffeine 90 minutes to 2 hours, and have the first meal around lunchtime, typically 11:30 or 12.

Sitting down to eat can calm you down by blunting cortisol and epinephrine.

If combining weight training and cardio/endurance exercise in the same workout, do weight training first and cardio afterward to better optimize testosterone levels. When done on separate days, the order does not seem to matter.

Do not over-sanitize everyday environments with antimicrobial products; guest says sanitization has gone overboard with antibiotic-impregnated items.

Perform static stretching after running, weight training, resistance training, cardiovascular training, or other physical activity when already warm, as this appears most beneficial and allows immediate transition into stretching.

Avoid static stretching before running or cardiovascular training, and possibly before resistance training, because it may limit performance. Exception: use static stretching before training when it improves form or safety, such as when overcoming tightness, returning from injury or surgery, or needing greater confidence and safer movement even if speed or load is reduced.

Cooking can increase protein bioavailability from plant sources by breaking some of the bonds in the plant material.

Loading creatine can saturate phosphocreatine stores faster, usually within about a week, but involves trade-offs.

If you wake from a dream you were enjoying and want to re-enter it, keep your eyes closed.

Approach sleep directly and navigate from the transition state; described as powerful for resetting the system and changing rigid schemas.

Intentionally waking in the middle of the night can be used to explore liminal states and appreciate a different mode of awareness.

Set an alarm between 3 and 4 a.m. and get up to grieve during that period; described as allowing more intense mourning and changing the sleep/wake challenge around grief.

Maintain a nightly pre-sleep prayer practice; if you fall asleep during it, resume upon waking, and if needed get out of bed to complete it before returning to sleep.

Use very short periods of practice to integrate meditative state into daily life rather than relying only on long sits or retreats.

Walk around while keeping a problem in mind as much as possible; when attention drifts, bring it back to the problem.

Use cold showers or hot showers regularly in a directed, targeted, practiced way to evoke awe or sensory intensity.

Practice sky gazing for 10 minutes a day; the eyes cannot grab onto things, which is part of the effect.

Use difficult physical postures such as holding your arms straight out for about 3 to 5 minutes or doing horse stance; practice especially at the end of the day when tired, waiting for the critical moment of resistance.

Practice tolerating ambiguity and incompleteness by engaging with unresolved material such as puzzling symbolic texts, parables, Tarkovsky or Jodorowsky films, and contemporary dance you cannot easily define.

Even with Alzheimer's, sensory loss, or degraded feedback, continue challenging the system rather than accepting deprivation.

After injury, return to motion rather than immobilizing completely; offered as an analogy for broader rehabilitation.

For osteoporosis and structural health, lift something heavy and use impact loading by pounding the ground in the right dosages and ways.