Behaviors

Guest describes mild hypothermia as reducing brain/body temperature from 37°C to about 33°C and says he still lets patients cool a few degrees because of possible neuroprotective benefit, while cautioning against excessive cooling.

Do not cool too much after head injury/TIA context; excessive cooling can interfere with metabolic functions and clotting parameters and increase infection risk if temperature goes too low for too long. Guest explicitly would not recommend sticking your head in a snowbank.

Avoid unproven stem cell clinics or traveling abroad for stem cell therapy after stroke or head injury. Guest warns you may not know what you are getting and cites risks including tumors, blindness, and other harms; be careful about therapies that are not proven.

If you feel like you need a bathroom break to urinate, don't hold it too long because it may be harmful.

Begin higher-protein habits during perimenopause to set up a healthier postmenopause.

Ask your mother and aunts when they went through menopause and whether any medical conditions were associated with it, since genetics is the biggest factor in timing.

Use waist-to-hip ratio as a better measure of metabolic risk than weight or BMI. Measure the smallest part of the waist, or use the belly button if there is no narrow waist; stay relaxed, measure first thing in the morning with an empty bladder when not bloated; measure the widest part of the hips with feet parallel and standing up straight; track about once per month, not daily.

Break protein into smaller amounts across the day rather than stacking most of it at dinner.

Especially in menopause, alcohol may be poorly tolerated and can trigger middle-of-the-night waking and sweating; even more than one glass of wine may impair sleep.

After resistance training, maybe follow up with some easy cardiovascular training.

Before exploring testosterone replacement or augmentation, first get foundational behaviors right: sleep, exercise, nutrition, stress control, and training.

When trying to optimize testosterone naturally, do not train too hard or too long.

If someone chooses testosterone therapy or augmentation, use the minimal effective dose.

Start later rather than sooner.

Encourage children to engage with music, including playing an instrument, as part of learning, development, and regulating their inner landscape.

Do not give a child their own smartphone before high school, and avoid giving young children their own iPad or similar internet-connected device for unrestricted use in their room or around the house. Occasional supervised access is distinguished from owning a personal device. The rationale is to avoid giving children the entire internet in their pocket and allowing the world to reach them anytime.

Schools should be phone-free during the school day so children can learn instead of using TikTok or texting in class.

Increase children's independence, unstructured free play, and real-world responsibility as part of restoring a healthier childhood and replacing phone-based childhood with adventurous, self-directed development.

Never send a child to a summer camp that allows phones; choose camps that ban phones to maximize detox and restoration of healthy social behavior.

Encourage kids to play team sports; described as very protective for mental health and community rootedness, with some evidence they may be better than individual sports.

Prefer sports that are more intramural and informal, where kids enforce the rules themselves, rather than highly supervised, high-pressure leagues.

Playing an instrument with others, such as in a band, duet, quartet, orchestra, marching band, or choir, is discussed as beneficial for neuroplasticity and synchrony.

Shut off nearly all notifications; exception given for Uber because its interruption can be useful.

Keep phones away during meals; meals should be for being with each other, looking at each other, tasting the food, and experiencing the food attentively.

Create a weekly free-play block on Fridays with no piano lessons or other scheduled activities; kids gather, start at someone's house, go out, and do what they want.

Allow children independent bike riding, starting with short loops and expanding as confidence grows.

If you feel hungry, first drink some water and then see if you're still hungry, since people can confuse thirst with hunger.

Use exercise to increase carbohydrate tolerance; per hour of exercise, depending on intensity, roughly 40–70 grams of carbohydrates can be safely disposed of over a two-hour period.

In one effective protocol discussed, participants walked 30 minutes five days per week.

Avoid inactivity defined here as fewer than 5,000 steps per day; sedentary behavior is framed as a disease state.