All protocols

Cease food intake as bedtime approaches.

When trying to optimize sleep, feeding, and exercise timing, start by regulating light exposure first because it is viewed as the strongest time cue.

Get exposed to sun clearly in the morning and again around noon.

Keep office windows completely open to maximize daytime light exposure.

After staying up very late, allow yourself to sleep in rather than forcing an early wake time immediately.

Put your phone into a sealed pouch in the evening to remove both light exposure and distraction.

Use light exposure as a first-line behavioral intervention for mood, sleep-wake cycle, and productivity when appropriate.

Use modern LED lighting capabilities to change spectra and regulate intensity in ways that improve sleep-wake cycle, productivity, and well-being.

If you wake briefly at night, use the bathroom, and can fall back asleep, that is probably not a problem.

If you want a 10-hour real-world feeding window, select 8-9 hours; if you want 8 hours, aim for 6-7 hours, because most people underestimate their actual eating window and tend to eat outside it.

Avoid 4-6 hour feeding windows for most people, as they tend to promote overeating and may not improve weight outcomes. In practice, do not go much below 8 hours if training hard, under high life stress, or trying to maintain ovulation/fertility, due to hormone and stress considerations.

Once a comfortable feeding window is established, maintain it for at least 30 days; ideally indefinitely.

High-intensity interval training later in the day can lower blood glucose and help accelerate the transition into a fasted state before sleep, provided you do not eat afterward and do not use caffeine or anything else that disrupts sleep.

Aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin were discussed as having broadly similar effects: they may cause transient increases and then decreases in blood glucose and can increase hunger in some people. In moderation they probably do not meaningfully break a fast, but excess may negatively affect the gut microbiome.

Mild glucose disposal agent that can reduce blood glucose.

Free app for marking the start and end of feeding windows and fasting periods, logging progress, and tracking averages.

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.

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.