Behaviors

Avoid getting too hot after acute brain injury; get inside and cool down quickly if needed. Preventing hyperthermia was emphasized over active hypothermia, and an ice bath was not required.

Standard of care if cognitive or physical symptoms persist for about a month or more after traumatic brain injury.

Some evidence for improving cognitive symptoms after TBI using virtual reality or augmented reality physical activity.

Recommended for balance and dizziness issues after concussion.

Increasingly emphasized for convergence and other eye issues after concussion.

Use sounds as a meditation anchor by closing the eyes and directing attention to sounds.

Cultivate equanimity by not grasping at pleasant or interesting experiences and not pushing away unpleasant, boring, or non-engaging ones; allow everything to appear without clinging or reacting.

Let attention fully rest in the present; locate well-being in the present moment by relaxing brooding about the past and anxious thinking about the future long enough to discover that the present is enough.

Use Alpha GPC only maybe once or twice a week, three times maximum, because daily or more than three to four times weekly use leads to diminished effect.

Go into late-day workouts relatively rested by getting proper sleep the night before, and get your mind in the right frame so you can pour everything you can into the workout mentally and physically.

After a late moderate to high intensity workout, eat something even in the final hour before sleep to avoid waking hungry and to replenish recovery needs.

Recommended as part of weekly exercise; host does it three times per week. Weekly structure examples include one longer session such as an hour-long hike or jog, brief HIIT sessions, and moderate-intensity sessions.

When learning, push past current ability and make errors through deliberate effort; this is necessary to trigger neuroplasticity.

If a male is 15% body fat or less, avoid sustained calorie restriction below maintenance across most days for multiple weeks because it likely reduces testosterone and free testosterone and may impair fertility; probably no more than a 500-calorie daily deficit for extended periods if trying to conceive or maintain fertility.

Do not reduce body fat so far that menstruation stops or fertility is adversely impacted; discuss with an OBGYN.

Increase low-sugar fermented foods gradually over a few weeks rather than jumping from none to a lot; build from one serving to two and up to about four servings per day.

Make sure to get adequate sleep during perimenopause or menopause, and make lifestyle changes that make it easier to fall asleep if sleep is suffering.

Before surgery, be as fit and rested as possible to improve recovery and preserve muscle and fitness; avoid exhausting or injuring yourself by overtraining.

After surgery, maintain as normal a circadian rhythm as possible by getting ambient light early in the day, being positioned near a window if possible, and getting outdoor time and fresh air during recovery.

Avoid eating a big meal until after finishing the day's physical activity; in Jocko's example this is usually at night around 6–7 PM because eating slows him down.

Keep a regular meal schedule that allows good sleep at night and supports activity and focus during the day; individualized to what works for you.

Do not eat before cognitively demanding work such as consulting or podcasting, or before performance-demanding tasks such as missions; eat afterward instead to maintain clarity and avoid feeling slowed down.

After completing demanding work, debrief and finish cleanup tasks, then eat a big meal and go to sleep.

Use action and bodily engagement to help break out of depressive or ruminative mental states.

Deliberately include some discomfort regularly or from time to time to build discipline and resilience; resilience is developed through repetitions of doing things that require you to be tougher.

Water fasting is not recommended.

Abstinence or sex without ejaculation for a week or more may increase testosterone levels, with some reports citing increases of up to 400%.

When experimenting with dopamine-increasing tools, consider doing them individually rather than stacking everything at once; deploy based on context such as travel, diet quality, and sleep quality.

Observing others exchange gratitude is described as immensely powerful for evoking serotonin and serotonergic circuit activity in the observer.

For women after about age 25, aim for testosterone in the top half of the normal range.