All protocols

Avoid energy drinks and most stimulant products before training due to associated problems and detrimental ingredients.

Build lunch around a protein source plus vegetables; examples given include meat, chicken, or salmon with vegetables.

Eat fatty salmon regularly as a food source of omega-3s; if doing so regularly, you probably do not need omega-3 supplementation.

Use algae-based sources if you prefer non-animal omega-3 intake instead of fish oils.

Consume butter in moderation as a cholesterol source to support sex steroid hormone production, if compatible with your lipid profile.

Drink water immediately after hypnosis or NSDR as a linked habit to maintain hydration.

Include some protein and vegetables at dinner alongside carbohydrates; examples given include chicken, fish, eggs, rice, pasta, and vegetables.

Do not use serotonin, 5-HTP, or tryptophan supplements for sleep if they disrupt sleep architecture or cause middle-of-the-night waking.

Avoid melatonin supplements for sleep because doses are often too high, they may affect sex steroid hormones and puberty timing, and they may help sleep onset without maintaining sleep.

If your melatonin pulse starts too early and you wake too early, get a little more bright light around 7 or 8 p.m. to delay melatonin onset.

If the goal is to reduce perceived pain, provide advance warning roughly 20 to 40 seconds before the painful stimulus; 2 seconds is too short and 2 minutes is too long.

Agmatine has shown notable effects on several types of pain, including osteoarthritis and injury-related pain, and has been studied for lumbar disc-associated radiculopathy. Use study-specific dosage regimens rather than taking it arbitrarily.

SAMe has shown benefit for various types of pain and, in some studies, worked at least as well as naproxen at certain dosages. Pain-relieving effects may take up to about a month to appear.

Provided it does not worsen the injury, rub the painful area or apply pressure near it—typically above the injury, though below can also help—to activate mechanoreceptive pathways that inhibit pain signaling.

If the same behavior yields less and less pleasure over time, reduce how often you engage in it and/or lower your expectation of reward each time you engage in it.

Avoid overnight flights because they disrupt sleep timing and can impair brain function and well-being for days afterward.

Choose a gym with large east-facing windows to combine exercise with strong morning light exposure.

Use a spin bike facing a window to combine morning cardio exercise with daylight exposure.

Evidence was described as insufficient and dose-dependent; low doses around 5-10 mg may be wake-promoting, while higher doses above about 25 mg may increase sleepiness or sedation-like effects.

General magnesium supplementation was described as unsupported for improving sleep in healthy, non-deficient people; benefit may mainly apply when correcting deficiency, especially in older adults with insomnia.

Evidence was described as largely negative, with most good studies showing no sleep benefit.

Whole kiwi fruit, including the skin, was described as potentially beneficial for sleep; one human study found faster sleep onset, longer sleep duration, and less time awake at night. The skin may contain part of the active sleep-related benefit.

Consensual, age-appropriate sexual activity resulting in orgasm was described as improving subjective sleep quality and objective sleep measures; masturbation was also mentioned as showing sleep benefit for some people.

Avoid TV in bed because it can emit too much light and be too activating.

Use voluntary exercise as a stress-mitigation practice; voluntary exercise is presented as beneficial in contrast to forced exercise, which can produce stress-related downsides despite identical movement.

Increase predictability with a warning signal shortly before a stressor; about 10 seconds beforehand is described as protective because it allows coping preparation and indicates when safety returns, whereas warning too far in advance can worsen stress by prolonging dread.

Used as a voluntary outlet for stress; described as protective when the animal can choose to run on it.

Temporarily stop checking the news; Sapolsky describes stretches of not looking at the news as 'wonderfully freeing.'

Deliberately avoid phones during social interactions to focus on being together rather than bringing in outside contexts; this captures the broader recommendation to restrict social media/phone use in social settings.

Do not sample or eat non-food items such as dirt, rocks, or metal, as this is extremely dangerous.