Behaviors

Anyone with diabetes should get at least an annual eye exam or retinal photograph screening for diabetic retinopathy.

In type 2 diabetes, especially when caught early, improve eating habits, get good exercise, and try to lose weight to help improve blood sugar and blood pressure control.

If prescribed glaucoma drops, use them consistently despite lack of immediate symptom relief.

Do not smoke, vape nicotine, or expose yourself to secondhand smoke; these are major risk factors for macular degeneration and are also harmful for glaucoma and dry eye.

Follow a cardiovascular-healthy lifestyle for eye health, especially if you have glaucoma or are at high risk: avoid smoking, eat healthy, take a multivitamin, and get some exercise.

In select glaucoma patients, cannabis products before bed may help control nighttime eye pressure when pressure is highest; discussed as a possible adjunct, not standard primary treatment.

For typical floaters, do not worry and intentionally ignore them; the brain often filters them out and they usually go away over months.

Avoid keeping a turned-on smartphone in your front or back pocket because of possible reproductive effects; if you must carry it in a pocket, use airplane mode as a risk-mitigation step while evidence is still being clarified.

Use whole-body hyperthermia, often excluding the head, as a potentially interesting intervention for depression; Tim notes adherence and access limitations.

On the slow-carb diet, choose meals from the approved categories and repeat the same meals for 1–2 weeks to improve adherence.

Take one day off per week on the slow-carb diet and indulge freely; Tim says this acts as a release valve and should be one contained day, not spread across two days. Saturday is a good cheat day for most people. Keeping a running list of foods you want to eat on cheat day can help adherence during the week.

Remove foods that trigger compulsive overeating, such as almonds or mixed nuts, from the house.

Measure outcomes while following the diet; Tim notes the scale is a blunt instrument and other methods may be better, though the scale can work if someone is extremely overweight.

Do a glycogen depletion workout before cheat day to limit the damage.

Do not count calories on the slow-carb diet; Tim says it tends to be self-limiting because of the fiber and protein content.

When using DEXA to assess body composition, standardize both hydration and time of day.

Do pushups a few times a week as part of a simple fitness routine.

Add some core work to a simple training routine.

Use guided meditation as an option; Tim specifically recommends Sam Harris's app.

Spend time in silence in nature without tasks; Tim says this provides benefits similar to meditation. During this time, disallow activities like note-taking and reading.

Extended water-only fasts of about seven days are practiced, often in nature, with added restrictions such as no talking, reading, or writing. This approach carries risks and should be done with caution.

If you have the option, be in nature and exercise several hours a day to exhaustion and see how many problems seem to go away.

When possible, structure the day so exercise and movement happen in the first portion of the day.

If you spend all your time in yoga, spend one day a week lifting weights.

If you spend all your time in the gym and can barely touch your toes, do some yoga; Tim specifically mentions doing more downward dog.

Use self-feedback and praise tied to effort, persistence, and process rather than labels like smart, talented, or great athlete. This applies to yourself and others, after mistakes and especially after good performance.

Improve across domains by practicing a lot, doing many repetitions, analyzing why you didn't get something right, and getting back to the drawing board after mistakes.

When you make mistakes, focus attention on the error, what led to it, and the verbs or processes behind it. Be analytic rather than minimizing errors or focusing mainly on emotion. If emotions are too strong, wait a day or two or longer, move through the emotional response, then return to analysis.

Explicitly learn what growth mindset is and how it differs from fixed mindset; recommended for both students and teachers.

Ask others for help analyzing poor performance, discuss mistakes with peers, dig into why you got things wrong, and also seek input about the verbs or processes that contributed to good performance.