All protocols

Use water plus electrolytes—especially sodium, with potassium and magnesium when available—when rehydrating after waking, after caffeine, or around exercise and heavy sweating. A small pinch of salt in water or an electrolyte-containing drink can help replace losses, support hydration, and improve nerve-to-muscle function and physical performance.

After finishing a workout or hard training session, spend a few minutes deliberately slowing your breathing to shift out of high alert and into recovery. The common protocol is about 3–5 minutes of calm, mostly nasal breathing with a long exhale, ideally done right after training before checking your phone or jumping into work. This helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system, lower arousal, and speed the transition from performance mode to recovery.

Use carbohydrates strategically around intense or repeated training sessions rather than eating them broadly all day. The common protocol is to take in carbs before, during, or especially after hard work—often with starches or high-glycemic foods plus protein—to restore glycogen and support recovery when energy demands are high or sessions are close together. This helps maintain performance in high-intensity efforts and speeds replenishment when recovery time is short.

Limit the habit of combining multiple dopamine-boosting inputs at once or repeatedly chasing another high after a crash. The practical move is to avoid piling on stimulants, intense exercise, loud music, or other high-reward behaviors when you already feel amped up or depleted. This helps prevent the sharp peak-and-trough cycle that can leave motivation, focus, and energy worse in the hours or days that follow.

A phosphatidylserine protocol used to support learning and memory by taking it late in a study session or immediately after learning, rather than before. The idea is to pair it with the consolidation window so it may better support retention and recall.

Take about 2 g of glycine every third or fourth night, usually as part of a standard sleep stack, to make it easier to fall asleep. The intermittent schedule matters because using it too often seems to blunt the benefit and can make overall sleep worse.

N-acetylcysteine is used as a precursor to glutathione to support redox balance and detoxification. In the dominant protocol, people take it regularly during higher-risk periods or as part of a mercury-reduction strategy, with one common winter regimen being 600 mg twice daily. It’s also valued for its mucolytic effects and for helping the body handle oxidative stress.

A broad multivitamin/multimineral taken regularly to help fill common micronutrient gaps that diet alone often misses. The idea is to use it as a simple nutritional backstop for overall coverage, especially when food intake is inconsistent or not perfectly balanced. It can help reduce the chance of falling short on essential vitamins and minerals over time.

An acetylated form of L-carnitine commonly taken in divided doses around 500 mg to 2 g per day. It’s favored because it crosses the blood-brain barrier more readily than standard L-carnitine, supporting mitochondrial energy production and potentially offering mood and cognitive benefits.

A Fadogia agrestis supplement protocol used to support testosterone-related outcomes. The commonly discussed approach is about 300 mg per day in human-equivalent terms, with alternate schedules like 600 mg every other day or 600 mg three times weekly. It’s valued for its subtle but meaningful support of androgen-related performance and vitality.

Gradually make training harder over time by adding load, reps, sets, tempo, frequency, or reducing rest while keeping form solid. The goal is to provide enough repeated challenge for muscles to adapt, since strength and hypertrophy respond to progressive tension and hard sets more than novelty or “muscle confusion.”

Human chorionic gonadotropin used alongside testosterone therapy to help preserve testicular function and sperm production. The common protocol is about 500 to 1,000 IU every other day, sometimes staggered with testosterone cypionate, to counter testosterone-related suppression of sperm count for men who may want children.

Keep nights dark as a foundational circadian practice before layering in peptides or other interventions.

Use iodized table salt as a routine dietary source of iodine, and include iodine-rich foods like seaweed or kelp when needed. The goal is to keep iodine intake sufficient without overdoing it, since iodine is required for normal thyroid hormone production and helps prevent deficiency-related problems like goiter.

During resistance training, deliberately direct attention to the target muscle and try to contract it hard through each rep, rather than just moving the weight efficiently. This often means using strict form, minimizing momentum, and choosing variations that make the target muscle do more of the work. The goal is to create a stronger localized stimulus, which may improve muscle growth by increasing the quality of the contraction and the muscle’s perceived challenge.

Keep the hard work portion of resistance or strength training to roughly 45–60 minutes, and generally avoid pushing past about an hour unless there is a specific reason to do so. The idea is that shorter sessions are easier to recover from and may help avoid the fatigue, elevated stress response, and stalled progress that can come with overly long workouts.

Drink water with a small pinch to about half a teaspoon of salt, often first thing in the morning and sometimes during fasting or before a workout. The idea is to improve hydration and sodium balance, which may help with lightheadedness, shakiness, low blood pressure, or reduced alertness when sodium intake is low.

An eating pattern built around mostly whole, minimally processed foods while limiting fried, ultra-processed, and other inflammatory foods. It is commonly framed as Mediterranean- or Ayurvedic-style and emphasizes anti-inflammatory choices over packaged foods. The goal is to lower systemic inflammation and support better symptom control, including skin, fertility, and perimenopause-related concerns.

Use bright light about 45–60 minutes before your usual wake time, ideally for a few days in a row, to nudge your circadian clock earlier. This can be done with a lamp or by opening blinds so morning light reaches you before you get up; the goal is to phase-advance sleepiness and make it easier to fall asleep earlier, often increasing total sleep time.

For men trying to conceive or bank sperm, limit heat exposure to the groin for roughly one sperm-production cycle (about 60–90 days). That means skipping hot tubs, very hot baths, and prolonged sauna sessions, and avoiding other sources of scrotal heat like seat warmers when possible. The goal is to keep the testes cooler than core body temperature so sperm count, motility, and DNA quality are less likely to be impaired.

Use whey protein as a high-quality protein supplement to help meet daily protein needs, especially around training. It’s favored because it’s rapidly digested and rich in leucine, which supports muscle protein synthesis, recovery, and gains in muscle mass and strength.

Move social media apps like Instagram or X off your main phone and onto a dedicated old device, or use desktop only when needed. Keep that device put away or locked down most of the day so access requires an intentional step, which reduces reflexive checking, protects attention, and makes compulsive scrolling less likely.

Use starchy carbohydrates as a deliberate fuel source rather than avoiding them entirely, especially around hard resistance training. Common choices include oatmeal, rice, potatoes, pasta, and similar “clean” starches, with portions kept controlled and the plate method used to keep them in the smallest section. The goal is to support training performance, replenish glycogen, and improve long-term adherence without overdoing calories.

Discuss hormone replacement therapy early in perimenopause or menopause rather than waiting until symptoms or hormone deficits have been present for a long time. The idea is to review whether estrogen and/or testosterone replacement is appropriate with a clinician while still in the treatment window, since earlier initiation may offer better symptom relief and stronger long-term protective benefits, including cardiovascular protection.

Keep non-caloric sweeteners to a minimum rather than using them as a default substitute for sugar. The common rationale is that they can still promote insulin release, cravings, and hunger, and in larger amounts may also disrupt the gut microbiome. Water or other unsweetened drinks are preferred when the goal is better appetite control and metabolic health.

Using nicotine in very small doses as a cognitive enhancer, typically discussed for short-term attention, alertness, or plasticity support via cholinergic signaling. It’s also sometimes mentioned as a symptomatic aid in Alzheimer’s-related cholinergic dysfunction, but the emphasis is on cautious, minimal use because nicotine is highly addictive and can raise blood pressure.

Limit or stop cannabis use during preconception, especially if pregnancy is taking longer than expected. This includes smoking and vaping, since cannabis exposure has been linked to poorer sperm concentration, motility, and morphology, as well as reduced egg quality and fertility in some people.

Skip alcohol in the evening, especially in the 4–8 hours before sleep, and ideally avoid using it as a nightcap or sleep aid. Alcohol may make you feel drowsy, but it fragments sleep and suppresses REM and slow-wave sleep, leading to poorer sleep architecture and lower-quality rest.

A daily NMN regimen used as an NAD precursor to support sirtuin activity and cellular energy metabolism. The common protocol is 1,000 mg taken in the morning, with the goal of raising blood NAD levels; one cited effect is that about two weeks of use can roughly double NAD on average.

This recommendation is to avoid alcohol entirely rather than treat moderate drinking as healthful. The practical protocol is simple: if you drink at all, keep it to the smallest possible amount, with some speakers suggesting no more than one drink in a day, but the dominant advice is complete abstinence. The rationale is that even low doses of ethanol may carry health and behavioral costs, while stopping drinking can also support weight control and better self-regulation.