All protocols

If you want to relax, use long exhales or physiological sighs and consciously relax the core and fists.

After time off from training, take 1–2 weeks to ramp back up to full workout duration and intensity rather than jumping straight back in.

Apply through bsl.stanford.edu for clinical trials for depression and other mood disorders.

Choose a meditation style based on your specific goal and current state, such as focus, mood, sleep, or performance, rather than treating meditation as one generic practice. Assess whether you are more internally focused or externally distracted, and generally choose the style that trains against your default bias.

For many meditation practices, stop moving and either sit or lie down before beginning. In most cases, close your eyes to shift perception toward interoception, although eyes-open meditation is also valid depending on the practice.

Before each meditation session, assess whether attention naturally goes inward or gets pulled outward. One simple test is to sit or lie down, close your eyes, and notice whether attention flees to external sounds/events or stays on the internal landscape; then open your eyes, focus on something external, and evaluate how well you can disengage from internal sensations.

Choose the meditation style that is harder for you in that moment rather than the one that comes naturally, because challenge drives neuroplasticity. If internal focus comes easily, use exteroceptive meditation; if external distractions dominate, use interoceptive meditation.

Use a 3-minute meditation session as a practical minimum; evidence suggests even 3 minutes can benefit focus and anxiety management.

Use a timer if helpful when doing meditation sessions.

Treat meditation as repeatedly bringing attention back after mind wandering. Reframe mind wandering as training rather than failure, and think in terms of refocus ability rather than uninterrupted focus ability; more refocusing repetitions can mean more effective training.

Use a breathing cadence of inhale, inhale, exhale during meditation if desired.

Use slow inhale-exhale cyclic breathing as a common meditation breathing pattern.

Use a cadence of 3 to 6 seconds inhale, 2-second hold, and 7-second exhale.

Use deliberate control of breathing depth and cadence during meditation to shift brain and body state. First ask whether you want to be calmer, more alert, or remain in the same state when you finish.

Keep inhales and exhales relatively balanced in duration if you want to end the meditation at about the same calm/alert level you started.

If you are stuck in your head and want to get out of it, pair exteroceptive meditation with natural cyclic breathing rather than more complex breathwork.

If you feel pulled out of yourself and want to bring awareness into the body and calm down, use a deliberate somewhat unnatural or non-default breathing pattern.

Traditional focus/refocus meditation close to bedtime may impair sleep onset in some people.

Regular meditation reduces stress and may improve functioning on reduced sleep by offsetting unhealthy cortisol patterns.

If using cannabis, edibles from controlled sources allow more defined THC/CBD milligram dosing than smokable forms from unclear sources.

Do not use CBD during pregnancy or while lactating/breastfeeding; includes smoked or edible forms. He explicitly includes CBD in the warning because cannabinoid exposure can interfere with endogenous cannabinoid signaling important for fetal development.

If cannabis was used during adolescence and brain function recovery is desired, stop using cannabis in any form.

Recommended as part of the general health practices that support recovery of brain function; he groups healthy metabolic function and healthy body weight together.

He strongly warns that cannabis use in adolescents, teens, and young adults up to age 25 disrupts brain development, accelerates prefrontal cortical thinning, and raises later risk of anxiety, depression, and psychosis.

Avoid cannabis use entirely if possible, especially for adolescents, teens, and people age 25 or younger. If cannabis is used at all, keep both frequency and potency very low to reduce the risk of psychosis.

Foundational prerequisite for mental health, physical health, and performance; also described as part of the general environment of health.

Use a container of ice water or very cold water and place one or both hands in/on it to cool the core; avoid temperatures so cold that they constrict the vasculature.

Use urine ketone strips as a general guide to determine whether ketosis has been achieved; less accurate than blood ketone measurement but still useful as a general guide.

Measure ketones and adjust the diet based on ketosis level and clinical response; Palmer mentions both general ketone measurement and specifically recommending urinary ketosis in Atkins-style ketogenic approaches because clinical benefit often appeared only once patients got into ketosis.

If reducing psychiatric medications, do it safely, cautiously, gradually, and with supervision from a mental health professional or prescriber; do not stop cold turkey because rebound symptoms can be severe or dangerous.