All protocols

If baseline dopamine has dropped due to addictive behaviors or substances, the path forward is to limit interactions with the dopamine-evoking behavior or substance, either through complete abstinence or a taper.

Do not use stimulants every time you study or every time you work out if you want to preserve enjoyment and motivation for those activities over time.

Train yourself to associate dopamine and reward with friction, strain, and effort rather than only with the end result. Avoid spiking dopamine before or after hard effort, and use self-talk during difficult work to frame the effort itself as the rewarding part and something you are choosing to do.

Use cognition and self-talk to reinforce beneficial behaviors by telling yourself they are good for you. He gives examples including exercise, fasting, studying, and listening better, saying this can strengthen their rewarding properties at a chemical level.

Avoid highly palatable processed foods for about 2 days so that simpler whole foods regain their appeal and taste rewarding again.

Actively engage in and pursue healthy social interactions because oxytocin and social connection directly stimulate dopamine pathways.

For growing muscle, favor high-intensity, shorter-duration sessions with restricted rest rather than long, slow sessions. Shorter rests preserve metabolic stress and were described as likely producing greater hypertrophy than longer rests in otherwise similar workouts; the workout should feel challenging from both load and metabolic stress.

Outside the 2 very hard hypertrophy-oriented sessions, vary the rest of the week with some workouts emphasizing higher reps and lower intensity (about 12-15-20 reps) and other workouts emphasizing lower volume but higher intensity to drive different adaptations.

Use pre-workout routines, including music, to raise anticipatory arousal before demanding exercise. Greater pre-event arousal was described as beneficial for physical exertion and sustained force output.

Treat technically or cognitively demanding drill sessions as requiring fueling and refueling, even if they are not physically intense. Lower-intensity sessions can still create substantial cognitive demand and recovery needs.

Use diet manipulation and some exercise manipulation to teach the body to preferentially use fat at lower intensities and carbohydrate at high intensities. Longer cardio bouts and somewhat lower carbohydrate intake were discussed as ways to improve fat utilization and metabolic efficiency.

Match food intake to current exercise demands; consciously adjust diet based on training status.

For recreational self-experimentation with training, diet, heat, or cold, use about 12 weeks/3 months to assess whether an intervention is helping or hurting.

Mentioned as a food source of phosphatidylserine and also as a vegetable source of glutamine.

Anthocyanin-rich supplement for cognition. One study used 428–598 mg anthocyanins daily for 12 weeks and found improvements in verbal learning and memory in older adults. Broader discussion suggests blueberry extract doses of about 5.5–11 g, with 10–11 g potentially more beneficial.

If consumed, have it away from meals, especially away from foods that raise blood glucose.

Used as a strategy to learn to prefer healthy foods by pairing them with foods that raise blood glucose; kale was given as the example.

He warns that repeatedly eating progressively sweeter and highly palatable foods shifts the dopamine system and narrows what feels rewarding; instead, consuming less sweet or less savory, non-super-palatable foods can help reset what feels attractive and rewarding.

Socks impede heat loss from the feet; minimizing foot insulation can improve cooling when maximum heat loss is the goal.

Pad with circulating cool water used as a crude cooling method, such as placing the feet on it; convection improves heat transfer.

Warm liquids can be used as part of rewarming a hypothermic person.

Warm pads, ideally circulating-water pads available in hospitals, placed on the feet to help rewarm hypothermic individuals.

Using a knit cap at the start of a run in cold weather can reduce heat loss from the head and help you warm up more quickly; remove layers later as needed.

Helmet with enough space and ventilation holes to allow air circulation so the scalp is not thermally insulated.

Do not use screens within a couple of hours of bedtime because their blue-light-rich output delays circadian sleep signals.

If too warm under covers, expose the hands and/or legs to help regulate body temperature during sleep.

Socks may help sleep by insulating the toes, which are highly temperature-sensitive; useful for comfort when feet feel cold, but not if the environment is already too warm.

Do not touch or wipe your eyes after touching other people or other surfaces, because the eyes are a primary entry point for bacteria and viruses.

Perhaps lower iron intake to below typical intake during periods of infection; framed cautiously and as a possibility rather than firm advice, with mention of potential glymphatic-system effects.

Think about a future, ideally a positive future, to activate dopamine/reward pathways that may accelerate healing and recovery.