In this episode 35 protocols
▶ 1:53 Record Wake Time Behaviors “The first thing I do after I wake up is I take the pen that's on my nightstand and the pad of paper on my nightstand and I write down the time in which I woke up. The reason for writing down what time I wake up is because I want to know what's called my temperature minimum.” ▷ 2:23 Morning Walk Behaviors “The second thing I do after I wake up is to get into forward ambulation, which is just nerd speak for taking a walk. There's a phenomenon whereby when we generate our own forward motion, forward ambulation, visual images pass by us on our eyes, so-called optic flow, experiencing visual flow has a powerful effect on the nervous system.” ▷ 3:54 Morning Outdoor Light Exposure Behaviors “Getting sunlight in your eyes first thing in the morning is absolutely vital to mental and physical health. Even if there's cloud cover, more photons, light information are coming through that cloud cover than would be coming from a very bright indoor bulb.” ▷ 5:48 Morning Hydration Behaviors “I try and make sure that I'm hydrated early in the day before I begin any work. So, I make myself drink this water with a little bit of sea salt.” ▷ 5:52 Sea Salt in Water Diet “So, I make myself drink this water with a little bit of sea salt. How much sea salt? If you really want to get detailed, it's you I suppose it's about half a teaspoon.” ▷ 6:07 Delay Caffeine Behaviors “I purposely delay my caffeine intake to 90 minutes to 120 minutes after I wake up. The reason I delay caffeine is because one of the factors that induces a sense of sleepiness is the buildup of adenosine.” ▷ 7:45 Intermittent Fasting Behaviors “I found that the best way for me to achieve that state is through fasting. So, I don't eat anything until about 11:00 a.m. or 12 noon.” ▷ 9:05 Position Screen at or Above Eye Level Behaviors “Try and position your screen or your tablet, whatever device you happen to be working on, at least at eye level and ideally slightly higher. Most people are looking down at their computer or tablet or are angling their eyes at their screen at about 30°.” ▷ 10:00 90-Minute Focus Work Block Behaviors “I set a timer for 90 minutes and I try and get a strong bout of work done inside of that 90 minutes with the full understanding that the entire 90 minutes is not going to be uniform in terms of my ability to focus.” ▷ 10:28 White Noise Tools “In addition, I use low-level white noise. White noise, which is essentially all frequencies of sound or all frequencies of sound that we can perceive mixed up kind of randomly.” ▷ 15:14 Strength and Endurance Training Across the Week Behaviors “Endurance work and strength training or hypertrophy training done in combination meaning not necessarily in the same workout but done across the week is immensely beneficial” ▷ 15:50 Resistance Training Intensity Distribution Behaviors “Well, approximately 80% of the resistance training you do should be resistance training that doesn't go to what they call failure, where you can't actually move the resistance anymore.” ▷ 16:32 High-Intensity Endurance Work Behaviors “And so there's increasing interest in generating the lactate or pushing past that lactate threshold for small portions 20% or so of endurance work in order to support brain health and function.” ▷ 17:29 Avoid Large Meals When You Need to Think Diet “If you eat a large volume of anything, because it diverts blood to your gut, you will feel lethargic and you will have less blood going to your brain. That seems like a simple and trivial fact, but if you want to be able to think, you can't ingest large volumes of anything into your gut.” ▷ 17:44 Lower-Carbohydrate Lunch Diet “So for lunch, I do emphasize slightly lower carbohydrate or low carbohydrate intake for the simple reason that adrenaline and dopamine and their associated neurom modulators are going to support alertness.” ▷ 18:03 Protein and Vegetables at Lunch Diet “Then I eat a lunch that consists of some sort of protein thing like a some meat or some chicken or some salmon and some vegetables, etc.” ▷ 18:11 Starches After Exercise at Lunch Diet “And if I've exercised previously, which I do as I mentioned five days a week, then I will ingest some starches. I'll ingest some red bread, excuse me, or rice or oatmeal and butter and nuts and things like that.” ▷ 19:06 Omega-3 Fatty Acids (EPA) Supplements “Ingesting at least 1,000 milligs per day of the EPA form of essential fatty acid is as effective as prescription anti-depressants in relieving depression.” ▷ 19:27 Post-Meal Walk Behaviors “A key aspect to the midday meal, if you want that meal to benefit you, is to take a brief walk afterwards. It turns out that brief walks of 5 to 30 minutes after ingesting food can accelerate metabolism and actually can accelerate and improve nutrient utilization” ▷ 20:12 Afternoon Outdoor Light Exposure Behaviors “A key protocol for sleep health and wakefulness and metabolism and hormone health is viewing light in the afternoon.” ▷ 22:32 Starchy Carbohydrates at Dinner Diet “So my dinner generally is comprised of things that are going to support rest and deep sleep and that means starchy carbohydrates. It's absolutely clear that one of the major ways that we can increase serotonin which helps in the transition to sleep is by ingesting starchy carbohydrates.” ▷ 22:52 Protein at Dinner Diet “So my dinner is carbohydrates and some protein. So maybe some chicken or fish or something like that, maybe some eggs or sometimes just pasta or just rice and vegetables.” ▷ 22:52 Vegetables at Dinner Diet “So my dinner is carbohydrates and some protein. So maybe some chicken or fish or something like that, maybe some eggs or sometimes just pasta or just rice and vegetables.” ▷ 23:41 Avoid Serotonin and Serotonin-Precursor Supplementation Supplements “And indeed, you can. However, many people, including myself, find that when they supplement with serotonin in the evening or at night that can cause problems in the architecture or the structure of sleep” ▷ 24:07 Avoid Dopamine Supplementation Supplements “So I don't like to supplement with anything that is directly dopamine or a precursor to dopamine at any time or directly serotonin or a precursor to serotonin.” ▷ 25:28 Sauna Tools “One way to accelerate that drop in temperature somewhat counterintuitively is to use hot baths, hot showers, or if you have access to one, a sauna.” ▷ 25:28 Heat Exposure Before Sleep Behaviors “One way to accelerate that drop in temperature somewhat counterintuitively is to use hot baths, hot showers, or if you have access to one, a sauna.” ▷ 25:54 Keep Bedroom Very Dark Behaviors “It is absolutely true that keeping the room very dark is beneficial.” ▷ 25:58 Keep Bedroom Cool Behaviors “The other thing is keeping the room cool. The reason keeping the room cool is useful for getting into and staying asleep is that throughout the night there are phases of sleep where you are paralyzed so-called REM sleep.” ▷ 27:29 Magnesium Glycinate Supplements “So for many people taking 300 to 400 milligrams of magnesium diglycinate or magnesium 3enate 30 to 60 minutes before sleep can aid them in falling asleep.” ▷ 27:29 Magnesium Threonate Supplements “So for many people taking 300 to 400 milligrams of magnesium diglycinate or magnesium 3enate 30 to 60 minutes before sleep can aid them in falling asleep.” ▷ 27:51 Apigenin Supplements “So apagenine is the substance that's found in chamomile and 50 milligs of apagenine taken 30 minutes before sleep can act as a another way to shut off the forebrain and reduce rumination, reduce anxiety and allow people to fall and stay asleep.” ▷ 28:06 L-Theanine Supplements “And then the third compound is theine. T H E A N I N E. Theonine is a compound that can also increase GABA but also increases activation of something called chloride channels.” ▷ 29:19 Go to Bed Earlier if Sleepy in the Evening Behaviors “You may not like this advice, but one of the things that you can do to offset that is to simply go to bed earlier.” ▷ 29:30 Keep Lights Dim if You Wake at Night Behaviors “It's perfectly fine to flip on the lights, but keep the lights dim. But if you flip on those lights, try and flip them off as soon as possible and try and get back into bed.”