All protocols

Alcohol breaks a fast; even a half glass of wine a couple hours after dinner is said to absolutely break the fast.

Use the sauna three or four times per week, about 1-2 hours before sleep.

Place specific habitual routines at particular intervals throughout the day to leverage dopamine and divide the day into functional units. Have one specific dopamine-evoking habit after waking, insert another regular habit around breakfast or later in the morning, and keep the sequencing regular without being obsessively precise about exact timing. Example given: habit markers around 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. to define distinct epochs within the morning.

Use a timer to regulate how long you stay in a cold shower or other cold exposure session.

May be useful for people prone to seasonal affective symptoms from insufficient winter light exposure, especially during winter in northern climates.

To relieve ear pressure during altitude changes, open the passageway behind the eardrum by plugging the nose and blowing out, plugging the nose and sucking in, or moving the jaw; the key is opening the passageway so the pressure differential can resolve.

One optional way to increase autonomic arousal before gratitude work is cyclic hyperventilation: very deep inhale-exhale breathing for 25 to 30 breaths, followed by meditation or writing gratitude notes.

Write down the things you are grateful for and then spend a moment thinking about or feeling into them. This common gratitude practice may be slightly more effective if preceded by increased autonomic arousal.

Center the practice on receiving genuine, wholehearted thanks rather than only expressing gratitude, because receiving gratitude appears especially potent for activating gratitude-related prefrontal circuits. A useful version is to recall a time when someone sincerely thanked you and focus on how it felt.

After choosing your gratitude story, write 3 or 4 short bullet points on a small sheet of paper or in your phone to cue the practice later. Include the struggle or pre-gratitude state, the help or gratitude event, the post-gratitude state, and any emotionally salient elements or how it impacts you emotionally. Read these bullet points as a cue to your nervous system before feeling into the experience.

Calming breathing can be done before a gratitude practice, but it is optional and not required. Examples include exhale-emphasized breathing or physiological sighs to help slow the heart rate and calm down beforehand.

Kanna (also called Zembrin or Sceletium tortuosum) is a legal over-the-counter herb that may increase serotonin and may enhance pro-social, comfort/pleasure, and gratitude-related circuitry. It is generally taken in doses of 25 to 50 mg and may be considered before a gratitude practice if safe, legal, and appropriate for the individual.

Sinclair describes dinner as a regular healthy meal that is mostly vegetables, consistent with his broader mostly plant-based approach. He may include some fish or shrimp and says he rarely eats steak.

Lower amino acid availability, especially leucine, isoleucine, and valine, to help downregulate mTOR, which senses protein intake. Leucine-driven growth signaling may be pro-aging.

Sinclair groups testosterone with growth hormone and leucine-driven growth signaling as giving immediate benefits at the expense of long-term health.

Time eating and supplements strategically so muscle can be built at certain times without constant growth signaling.

Do not take certain supplements continuously; instead use every-other-day dosing or periodic breaks to give the body rest.

Sinclair fasts during the day and then breaks the fast with a nutritious dinner.

Sinclair says he drinks a glass of red wine a day if he gets the chance, but warns that more than one glass adds calories and can contribute to fatty liver.

Take 1,000 mg/day of pure resveratrol in the morning with fat to improve absorption, such as mixing it into a couple teaspoons of olive oil until dissolved. Use light gray or white resveratrol rather than brown material, which may be degraded or contaminated and can cause diarrhea.

Sinclair previously used a couple spoonfuls of Greek yogurt to dissolve resveratrol, but later switched to olive oil because oleic acid may activate sirtuin defenses. He considers a spoonful of yogurt or olive oil acceptable even during a fasting window for quality of life and supplement delivery.

When using olive oil as his supplement vehicle, Sinclair adds a little vinegar and sometimes a basil leaf if available.

Sinclair says he will drink Diet Coke on occasion and considers it far less harmful than sugary soda.

Sinclair notes that anti-inflammatory drugs can lower CRP.

PCSK9 inhibitors are a newer cholesterol-lowering option to discuss with a doctor. They are injections given every two weeks that block LDL release from the liver.

Sinclair says foods once avoided for cholesterol, such as eggs and butter, need not be banned for that reason because dietary cholesterol appears to have little impact on blood cholesterol.

Sinclair does not take a multivitamin because he wants to avoid excess iron and unnecessary antioxidants.

Sinclair tries to eat plants that have undergone some biological stress because they may contain more xenohormetic molecules. He uses bright coloration as a cue and suggests organic or fresh local produce because the plants may be less perfect and richer in these compounds.

Sinclair says quercetin activates sirtuins and may help kill senescent cells. He groups it with compounds that should be taken with something fatty for absorption and may add it to his olive oil-resveratrol mixture.

Sinclair says antioxidants are not harmful unless taken in megadoses; he specifically warns against overdoing vitamin C and vitamin E.