In this episode 22 protocols
▶ 4:19 Optimize Sleep Behaviors “One of the most important things to build and maintain your focus and concentration is to optimize your sleeping behavior. That is to get enough quality sleep, I would say 80% of the nights of your life.” ▷ 5:14 Pink Noise Tools “There are quality peer-reviewed studies supporting the idea that white noise or pink noise have been shown to not improve concentration per se, but to improve people's ability to transition into concentrated states.” ▷ 5:28 White Noise Tools “There is indeed some data to support the fact that white noise, and to some extent, pink noise and brown noise can amplify the activity of neurons in the so-called prefrontal cortex, this front area,” ▷ 5:28 Brown Noise Tools “There is indeed some data to support the fact that white noise, and to some extent, pink noise and brown noise can amplify the activity of neurons in the so-called prefrontal cortex, this front area,” ▷ 8:31 90-Minute Focus Bouts Behaviors “I acknowledge and accept the fact that the first five to 10 minutes of that 90 minutes are a transition time. It's like the warm-up for focus, but I do include it in that 90 minutes.” ▷ 11:16 Water With Electrolytes During Fasted Focus Diet “I always think of this as my hard work early in the day and I do that fasted. I'll be consuming water with electrolytes.” ▷ 11:34 Use Fasting for Focus Behaviors “So to make this very simple or as simple as I can for you, being fasted is great for focus and concentration, provided you're not thinking about food the entire time.” ▷ 11:53 Avoid Large Meals Before Focus Behaviors “So one way to manage this is if you're going to have a lunch to make sure that you don't stuff yourself at lunch, that you're not overeating and to not get quite so full that you push your nervous system into this parasympathetic mode and make it hard to focus in the afternoon.” ▷ 12:52 Caffeine Supplements “But most people do quite well to ingest 100 to 200 milligrams of caffeine prior to doing some focused work. I will caution those of you that think that you can drink caffeine in the evening or nighttime and still fall asleep.” ▷ 13:07 Stop Caffeine 8–12 Hours Before Bed Behaviors “Even if you're able to fall and stay asleep, the sleep you're getting is simply not as good as the sleep you would get if you were to shut off your caffeine intake at least eight hours before bedtime, and ideally more like 10 or even 12 hours before bedtime.” ▷ 15:49 Deliberate Cold Exposure Behaviors “This is something I've talked about on the podcast before, but deliberate cold exposure can be achieved by getting into a cold shower for one to five minutes.” ▷ 19:03 Daily Focused-Breath Meditation Behaviors “Ideally, you would do just nasal breathing for a period of 13 minutes, concentrating on that breathing, and concentrating, meaning bringing your awareness to a point just about an inch inside of your forehead while also concentrating on your breathing.” ▷ 23:04 Limit Your Visual Field Behaviors “That's also why sometimes wearing a hoodie or a hat or limiting your visual field in some way can help you enhance your cognitive focus. It can help limit distraction.” ▷ 23:17 Visual Focus Training Behaviors “What is a practice that has been studied in various laboratories and that's being employed in various schools is to have children or adults visually focus on one location for a given period of time. How long? Anywhere from 30 seconds to three minutes.” ▷ 27:16 Omega-3 EPA Supplements “And it's really clear that getting somewhere between one and three grams of EPA essential fatty acid per day can improve outcomes, that is can improve mood and can improve cognitive function.” ▷ 28:18 Creatine Monohydrate Supplements “So my read of the literature has led to a practice in which I ingest five grams per day of creatine monohydrate, the sort of standard form that's available, really isn't geared towards muscle growth or strength or performance as much as geared toward tapping into the creatine phosphate system within the brain” ▷ 29:15 Choline-Rich Foods Diet “As I mentioned earlier, there are a number of different foods which contain choline. You can look those up online.” ▷ 29:29 Alpha-GPC Supplements “The most effective one I've found is alpha-GPC. Alpha-GPC consumed at dosages of 300 milligrams to 600 milligrams prior to a work bout or prior to a workout greatly increase one's ability to focus and concentrate.” ▷ 30:18 Garlic Supplements “And one known way to offset increases in TMAO that are associated either with alpha GPC or increases due to other things, so ingestion of particular food compounds actually can increase TMAO, is to offset that by taking 600 milligrams of garlic.” ▷ 31:18 Coffee Diet “I use L-tyrosine in capsule form. I will take 500 milligrams of L-tyrosine, 300 milligrams of alpha-GPZ, and a cup of coffee. Do this early in the day before a workout or before a bout of concentrated mental work.” ▷ 31:18 L-Tyrosine Supplements “I use L-tyrosine in capsule form. I will take 500 milligrams of L-tyrosine, 300 milligrams of alpha-GPZ, and a cup of coffee.” ▷ 36:50 Deliberate Decompression and Defocusing Behaviors “and see and realize how having a period of deliberate decompression and defocusing can allow your brain to focus so much better when you do decide to return to about of focus concentrated work or physical work.”