In this episode 26 protocols
▶ 38:26 Alcohol Intake Limit Diet “Turns out two drinks a week, probably fine health-wise. Zero would be better. If we're honest, zero is better than any alcohol. But two drinks a week is probably fine. Past two drinks, you start running into problems.” ▷ 50:43 Complete Abstinence During Addiction Recovery Behaviors “I should mention one thing about recovery from addiction, which is that the reset of all that dopamine circuitry from unhealthy to healthy often involves, depending on the addiction, 30 days of complete abstinence.” ▷ 51:06 Work With an Addiction Specialist Behaviors “Now, of course, there are some addictions such as severe alcohol addiction, and in some cases, opiate addiction, that immediate and sustained abstinence cannot be used as the tool. Somebody really needs to work with an addiction specialist.” ▷ 51:47 Binding Behaviors Behaviors “And for that, there is the requirement for what are called the binding behaviors... binding behaviors are behaviors in which people bind their behavior around a particular substance use or around a particular behavioral addiction... in space and or time.” ▷ 55:17 Sufficient Quality Sleep Behaviors “Those are going to be getting sufficient amounts of quality sleep each night... Getting sufficient sleep each night literally restores your dopamine reserves.” ▷ 56:32 Meditation Behaviors “Meditation itself is a focusing exercise. It is not known to increase dopamine... oftentimes a brief five to 10 minute meditation... is... an additional tool in your kit that you can use anytime you are feeling amotivated and procrastinating.” ▷ 56:35 NSDR Behaviors “However, non-sleep deep rest, so-called NSDR... Those have been shown to increase the amount of dopamine in your dopamine reserves by up to 65%, which is a remarkable number.” ▷ 56:35 Yoga Nidra Behaviors “However, non-sleep deep rest, so-called NSDR, very similar, although different to what's sometimes called yoga nidra, which is where you lie there. You do a sort of body scan, some long exhale breathing.” ▷ 57:29 Tyrosine-Rich Foods Diet “Tyrosine is present in varying levels in different foods... everything from particular cheeses, like Parmesan cheese has high levels of tyrosine, certain meats, certain nuts, certain vegetables.” ▷ 58:29 Morning Sunlight Exposure Behaviors “You want to try and view sunlight, sunlight, sunlight, as early in the day as possible. Five to 10 minutes on a clear day, minimum. 10 to 20 minutes on a cloudy day, minimum. 20 or 30 minutes on a very overcast day, minimum.” ▷ 1:00:01 Regular Exercise Program Behaviors “What we're really talking about here is getting into a regular exercise program of if not every day, at least five days a week... That we also know is known to elevate and maintain an elevated level of baseline dopamine.” ▷ 1:05:29 Deliberate Cold Exposure Behaviors “Exposure of your body up to the neck to cold water... has been shown to increase baseline levels of dopamine... for not just one, but at least two, and probably as long as four or five hours.” ▷ 1:06:09 Cold Plunge Tools “You could get into an ice bath. You could get into a cold plunge.” ▷ 1:10:04 Modafinil Supplements “The typical drugs, and here I'm talking about legal prescription drugs for increasing dopamine, are things like Ritalin, Adderall, Modafinil and Armodafinil... all of those compounds do significantly increase baseline levels of dopamine for many, many hours.” ▷ 1:10:04 Armodafinil Supplements “The typical drugs, and here I'm talking about legal prescription drugs for increasing dopamine, are things like Ritalin, Adderall, Modafinil and Armodafinil... all of those compounds do significantly increase baseline levels of dopamine for many, many hours.” ▷ 1:10:04 Adderall Supplements “The typical drugs, and here I'm talking about legal prescription drugs for increasing dopamine, are things like Ritalin, Adderall, Modafinil and Armodafinil... all of those compounds do significantly increase baseline levels of dopamine for many, many hours.” ▷ 1:10:04 Ritalin Supplements “The typical drugs, and here I'm talking about legal prescription drugs for increasing dopamine, are things like Ritalin, Adderall, Modafinil and Armodafinil... all of those compounds do significantly increase baseline levels of dopamine for many, many hours.” ▷ 1:16:33 Avoid High-Dose L-Tyrosine Used in Studies Behaviors “I do not recommend, I will say it again, I do not recommend following the dosages that were used in these two studies because they are exceedingly high. They used 100 milligrams per kilogram of body weight of tyrosine one hour prior to these cognitive tasks.” ▷ 1:17:16 L-Tyrosine Supplements “There are papers showing that as little as 500 milligrams, but perhaps up to one gram, that is a thousand milligrams, or 1500 milligrams, a gram and a half of L-tyrosine, taken 30 to 60 minutes before a cognitive or physical task, can increase baseline levels of dopamine... So for most people, 250 to 500 milligrams is going to be a reasonable starting dose.” ▷ 1:18:07 Monitor L-Tyrosine Combined With Caffeine or Other Stimulants Behaviors “Keep an eye on whether or not you're combining it with caffeine or with any other stimulants.” ▷ 1:18:16 Monitor for a Dopamine Crash After L-Tyrosine Behaviors “Pay attention to whether or not you experience a crash that same day or the next day.” ▷ 1:19:27 Wait Out the Dopamine Trough Behaviors “If however, you find yourself in that trough, you now have the knowledge to understand that that trough will resolve if you wait enough time. That baseline level of dopamine that you were at prior to the peak will come back.” ▷ 1:19:58 Do Not Re-Engage the Peak Experience to Escape the Trough Behaviors “What they end up doing is thinking about what caused that peak experience and then go back and try to re-engage in the behavior and try and regenerate that peak experience. But you now know that that is a terrible strategy.” ▷ 1:28:57 Protect Intrinsically Enjoyed Activities From Extra Rewards Behaviors “I recommend that you leverage this knowledge, to make sure that any activities that you enjoy to do... that you guard and protect by making sure that you don't start layering in or attaching reward or other sources of dopamine releasing behaviors or substances to that specific behavior.” ▷ 1:54:05 Keep a Short List of 5 Effortful Activities Behaviors “The key is to have a short list of about five different effortful, aka painful activities that you can employ anytime you're feeling amotivated or in a state of procrastination.” ▷ 1:54:35 Use Safe Effortful Activities to Deepen the Trough and Rebound Faster Behaviors “It's about forcing your body and mind into a deeper state of pain and discomfort... because in steepening and deepening that trough, we know that the return from that trough to normal and even elevated levels of baseline dopamine is going to be faster and more robust.”