All protocols

Recommended as part of weekly exercise; host does it three times per week. Weekly structure examples include one longer session such as an hour-long hike or jog, brief HIIT sessions, and moderate-intensity sessions.

Ensure adequate protein intake as part of a sustainable healthy diet and fertility-supportive nutrition.

When learning, push past current ability and make errors through deliberate effort; this is necessary to trigger neuroplasticity.

Use ChatGPT to generate tests on recently learned or older material and adjust difficulty upward as needed; example prompt was to design a basic test at about the level of second-year graduate school.

For smell training, use distinct odors such as lemon, rose, chocolate, and coffee.

Consume enough calories to support fertility, but avoid excess calories.

If a male is 15% body fat or less, avoid sustained calorie restriction below maintenance across most days for multiple weeks because it likely reduces testosterone and free testosterone and may impair fertility; probably no more than a 500-calorie daily deficit for extended periods if trying to conceive or maintain fertility.

Do not reduce body fat so far that menstruation stops or fertility is adversely impacted; discuss with an OBGYN.

Increase low-sugar fermented foods gradually over a few weeks rather than jumping from none to a lot; build from one serving to two and up to about four servings per day.

Make sure to get adequate sleep during perimenopause or menopause, and make lifestyle changes that make it easier to fall asleep if sleep is suffering.

Before surgery, be as fit and rested as possible to improve recovery and preserve muscle and fitness; avoid exhausting or injuring yourself by overtraining.

After surgery, maintain as normal a circadian rhythm as possible by getting ambient light early in the day, being positioned near a window if possible, and getting outdoor time and fresh air during recovery.

Use earplugs in the hospital to reduce noise and support sleep; described as helping keep it as quiet as possible.

Preferred hospital room feature for recovery to enable early-day light exposure; specifically an east-facing window if possible.

Avoid eating a big meal until after finishing the day's physical activity; in Jocko's example this is usually at night around 6–7 PM because eating slows him down.

Keep a regular meal schedule that allows good sleep at night and supports activity and focus during the day; individualized to what works for you.

Do not eat before cognitively demanding work such as consulting or podcasting, or before performance-demanding tasks such as missions; eat afterward instead to maintain clarity and avoid feeling slowed down.

After completing demanding work, debrief and finish cleanup tasks, then eat a big meal and go to sleep.

Use action and bodily engagement to help break out of depressive or ruminative mental states.

Deliberately include some discomfort regularly or from time to time to build discipline and resilience; resilience is developed through repetitions of doing things that require you to be tougher.

Adjust sodium intake to individual needs rather than following a one-size-fits-all rule, taking into account blood pressure, activity level, environment, and diet. Lower-risk intake is around 2.3 g sodium/day, while some people with low blood pressure, orthostatic symptoms, heavy exercise, extreme climates, or low-carbohydrate diets may need more sodium; some orthostatic disorders may benefit from about 2,400–4,000 mg sodium/day.

Water fasting is not recommended.

Purported to free up testosterone in the blood, but it may also have potent effects on the prostate and liver, making it potentially unattractive or tricky.

Abstinence or sex without ejaculation for a week or more may increase testosterone levels, with some reports citing increases of up to 400%.

When experimenting with dopamine-increasing tools, consider doing them individually rather than stacking everything at once; deploy based on context such as travel, diet quality, and sleep quality.

Observing others exchange gratitude is described as immensely powerful for evoking serotonin and serotonergic circuit activity in the observer.

For women after about age 25, aim for testosterone in the top half of the normal range.

Monitor cycle shortening and symptoms such as anxiety and difficulty sleeping as signs of perimenopause; for example, cycles moving from 28 days to 25 days.

Choose smoothie flavors the person likes to make vegetable-containing smoothies easier to stick with, such as chocolate or vanilla with berries.

Included among practices for relieving stress.