In this episode 25 protocols
▶ 5:40 Dark Leafy Greens and Cruciferous Vegetables Diet “So if you're interested in adaptogens at all, I highly recommend that you include at least two to four servings of dark leafy greens and or cruciferous vegetables per day.” ▷ 5:52 Avoid Overcooking Dark Leafy Greens and Cruciferous Vegetables Behaviors “And just be aware that excessively heating dark leafy greens or cruciferous vegetables can actually destroy the very nutrients and micronutrients that act in an adaptogenic way.” ▷ 6:32 Ingest Cooking Liquid from Vegetables Diet “Well, then you would be well off to ingest that fluid as well because contained in the water or the fluid that's leaching out from the cruciferous vegetables or from the dark leafy greens are going to be a lot of those very adaptogenic molecules that you're interested in in the first place.” ▷ 10:37 Morning Sunlight Exposure Behaviors “One of the best ways to restrict that cortisol peak to the early part of the day is to get morning sunlight in your eyes as soon as you can, once the sun is up. Get outside, face in the direction of the sun, even on overcast days. Don't wear sunglasses. Look at it for five to 30 minutes.” ▷ 11:13 Bright Artificial Light Exposure Behaviors “And if you don't have access to sunlight for whatever reason, then you want to do the same thing with bright artificial light. Light's indoors, either so-called sad lamp or otherwise.” ▷ 11:13 SAD Lamp Tools “And if you don't have access to sunlight for whatever reason, then you want to do the same thing with bright artificial light. Light's indoors, either so-called sad lamp or otherwise.” ▷ 14:16 Ashwagandha Supplements “I would recommend that people take their first dose of ashwagandha, anywhere from 250 to 300 milligrams, sometime in the early afternoon, and then again in the evening, as opposed to taking a morning dose and an afternoon dose. If you're interested in using ashwagandha as an adaptogen, I would restrict it to later in the day if you can, and not before exercise, divided into two doses of 250 to 300 milligrams.” ▷ 14:42 Avoid Taking Ashwagandha Before Exercise Behaviors “Then I recommend that you not take your ashwagandha prior to exercise, because part of the adaptation response is triggered by increases in cortisol during exercise.” ▷ 17:18 Lion's Mane Supplements “There are good data showing that 1,000 milligrams, that is one gram of lion's mane per day... can act as adaptogens in, again, reducing cortisol, but also and mainly reducing some of the anti-inflammatory cytokines.” ▷ 18:05 Single-Ingredient Supplement Formulations Behaviors “I'm a big fan of mainly focusing on taking supplements in single ingredient formulation, so that you can figure out what dosages are best for you, and so that you can toggle in and out those adaptogens as needed.” ▷ 19:08 Chaga Supplements “Well, then I would suggest, adding 1,000 milligrams or 1,000 milligrams of chaga per day and seeing how that further benefits your system in terms of buffering stress.” ▷ 19:54 Cycle Off Lion's Mane and Chaga Behaviors “If, however, you're taking them every day, I recommend that you cycle off them after a period of 30 days or so.” ▷ 20:06 Use Adaptogens Short-Term During Stressful Periods Behaviors “So for instance, if you know that you're coming home, coming up on a big week of stress, well, then you could take ashwagandha and or lion's mane and or chaga for that week or just that week or heading into that week or in the following week and then stop.” ▷ 23:05 Early-Day Bright Light and Movement Behaviors “Being awake and busy and outside or indoors with bright lights and moving about in the early part of the day and into the early afternoon. That's the best possible way that we are aware of to try and get those catecholamines released at the highest levels in the early part of the day.” ▷ 24:00 Deliberate Cold Exposure Behaviors “So quick one-minute cold shower even, or a three-minute cold shower... doing that early in the day is really going to create that peak of cortisol, dopamine, epinephrine early in the day.” ▷ 24:02 Ice Bath Tools “Or if you have access to an ice bath early in the day, plus some sunlight, doesn't matter which one you do first, doing that early in the day is really going to create that peak of cortisol, dopamine, epinephrine early in the day.” ▷ 24:17 Exercise Behaviors “And exercise, if you can, early in the day. Some people can't exercise till later in the day. I'd rather see people exercise later in the day than not at all, provided it does not disrupt their nighttime sleep.” ▷ 25:33 Mindfulness Meditation Behaviors “Five minutes or even, my laboratory and other laboratories have shown it's even five minutes a day of just what would be called mindfulness meditation. Very simple.” ▷ 25:45 Waking Up App Tools “You could use a great app like the Waking Up app or another app of that sort.” ▷ 26:08 Physiological Sigh Behaviors “The two that I recommend the most would be double inhale, followed by a full exhale, and then repeat for a period of five minutes, known to substantially reduce anxiety, stress, and the various physiological systems associated with arousal. One to three of those will reduce your stress substantially.” ▷ 26:20 Box Breathing Behaviors “You could also use box breathing, inhale, hold, exhale, hold for equal durations for a period of five minutes, will substantially reduce stress.” ▷ 26:27 NSDR / Yoga Nidra Behaviors “I'm a big fan, as many of you know, of yoga nidra, which involves no movement. It involves just lying there, listening to a script, lots of yoga nidra scripts available online. If you can do longer, 20 or 30 minutes in the afternoon, that's known to buffer cortisol substantially as well.” ▷ 27:15 Longer Afternoon Relaxation Practice Behaviors “If you can do longer, 20 or 30 minutes in the afternoon, that's known to buffer cortisol substantially as well.” ▷ 27:51 Hot Bath or Hot Shower Behaviors “You could take a hot bath, you could take a hot shower, you can listen to some pleasant music. You know, anything that reduces your stress technically is an adaptogen.” ▷ 28:33 Ingest Sufficient Calories Diet “If you restrict calories too much, you are going to increase cortisol output. So keep that in mind. So ingest sufficient calories for you and for your goals.”