The Science of Age-Defying Focus: Strategies for Rekindling Cognitive Performance | Ben Greenfield

[00:00:06] [SPEAKER_02]: I need to get healthier in every possible way.

[00:00:10] [SPEAKER_02]: Because, A, I want my brain to be healthier.

[00:00:14] [SPEAKER_02]: I've sort of recognized that I'm going through this experience right now, this adventure,

[00:00:20] [SPEAKER_02]: this quest where I'm trying to obtain the ranking I had in chess tournaments

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_02]: that I now, that I had 25 years ago.

[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_02]: And it's an incredible adventure.

[00:00:32] [SPEAKER_02]: It's really difficult.

[00:00:33] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm trying to prove that essentially, just because somebody is 25 years older

[00:00:38] [SPEAKER_02]: or just older in general, you can't pursue your passions and be just as successful at them

[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_02]: and return to the things you love and still get better no matter what age you are.

[00:00:48] [SPEAKER_02]: But I do see specifically what's different about my brain now as opposed to 25 years ago.

[00:00:55] [SPEAKER_02]: And a lot of it is not just, you know, I need to take some pill or whatever,

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_02]: but I need to just be healthier in general.

[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_02]: And Ben Greenfield is the expert on all aspects of health that I know.

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_02]: He wrote the book, Boundless.

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_02]: He also wrote Boundless Parenting.

[00:01:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Also he has boundlesscookbook.com. Check that out on the site.

[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_02]: But Boundless, I recommend that book to everyone.

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_02]: There's so much detailed information and very specific and technical information about your health.

[00:01:22] [SPEAKER_02]: It's much more than any book I've ever seen.

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_02]: And I called Ben because I said, I just, he's always experimenting on himself to try out the latest supplements and devices,

[00:01:34] [SPEAKER_02]: you know, everything from like red light therapy to stem cells to nootropics and so on.

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_02]: So I called him to say, look, I need help. What should I do?

[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_02]: So we've made a podcast about it and he's got very specific, very detailed.

[00:01:46] [SPEAKER_02]: I know you're going to appreciate this podcast.

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_02]: I certainly did.

[00:01:49] [SPEAKER_02]: Check it out right now and then check out his book Boundless.

[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_02]: But here's Ben.

[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_01]: This isn't your average business podcast and he's not your average host.

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_01]: This is the James Altiger Show.

[00:02:16] [SPEAKER_02]: Ben, how's life in general?

[00:02:18] [SPEAKER_02]: Life is pretty good, dude.

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_02]: How are you doing?

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_02]: Good, good.

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_02]: But I think I could be healthier.

[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_02]: I think in the past few years I have finally felt older than I normally feel.

[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_02]: And also I'm trying to get, you know, I'm trying to achieve certain goals and certain competitive goals.

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_02]: And I want to start optimizing my brain a little more.

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_02]: You're the go-to guy that I want to go to and get help from.

[00:02:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, yeah.

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Getting old definitely doesn't necessarily help with getting smarter, which is kind of counterintuitive

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_00]: because you're definitely wiser.

[00:02:50] [SPEAKER_00]: It's just harder to get the brain to fire as well sometimes.

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_00]: That's probably your feeling a little bit of a decline in a few specific things.

[00:02:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Dude, we could get into a whole bunch of stuff, but I'll give you two examples if you want.

[00:03:03] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:03:03] [SPEAKER_00]: The first is, this is probably why it's becoming such a popular thing amongst the Baby Boomers Plus

[00:03:09] [SPEAKER_00]: and even earlier than that is that your stem cell levels, you know, your endogenous stem cell levels

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_00]: tend to decline with age.

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_00]: And a lot of times your bioavailable stem cell pool and a lot of what's in your bone marrow

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_00]: just begins to disappear.

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_00]: You'll do again.

[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_00]: So a lot of people now are doing things like intranasal stem cells,

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_00]: stem cells, injections or IVs or different ways to kind of bring the stem cell pool back up.

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_00]: And that seems to have a pretty remarkable cognitive effects too.

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_02]: So intranasal, that sounds like the easier one.

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Like I could just like squeeze some tube into my nose or how do I get a prescription?

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_00]: That wouldn't be a prescription.

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_00]: They'd administer it in a medical office and usually it's like some type of,

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I believe they use an umbilical source for that for the intranasal stem cells.

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_00]: That'd be what would be referred to as a non-autologous stem cell source, not coming from self.

[00:04:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Other more advanced protocols, they'll literally like use your own bone marrow or fat cells

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_00]: and derive your own stem cells from that.

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_00]: That'd be called an autologous stem cell infusion or intranasal puffing, so to speak.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_00]: So that'd be probably a little bit more advanced compared to some of the other low hanging fruit we could go over.

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_00]: But that's one example of why if you would actually feel that decline.

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And there are certain things that you could do from a dietary or supplement standpoint also to support stem cells,

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_00]: which could be again, lower hanging fruit until you're able to hunt down something like a good stem cell doctor.

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I think my favorite guy, he's over in San Jose, California, Dr. Matthew Cook.

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_00]: He's a regenerative medicine physician who's been on my podcast a few times.

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, yeah.

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_00]: They do a lot with stem cells.

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_00]: So he's a good guy.

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_00]: You've written about him on your site, right?

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, several times.

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_00]: He's kind of like, I mean, I have about 10 doctors because I interview so many doctors on my podcast.

[00:05:07] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll just kind of pick the one who's a specialist in a certain area when I have a question

[00:05:10] [SPEAKER_00]: about whatever, cancer or peptides or stem cells or anything else.

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_00]: But he's the guy I always go to when I've got a question about stem cells or anything that's sort of regenerative medicine related.

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Regenerative medicine meaning when you've got a bum joint or an injury or even some anti-aging type of questions.

[00:05:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And those type of doctors are really good at that stuff and he's one of the best, I think.

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_02]: And what kind of cognitive results have people seen from doing this stem cell therapy?

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, it originated as a treatment for TBI and concussion, like traumatic headache type of stuff.

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_00]: And so most of the studies are on that, not on like taking somebody who's already got good executive function to great executive function.

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_00]: So a lot of the data if you want to call it that on stem cells for enhanced cognition is more anecdotal than anything else.

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_00]: But if you want to look at something that's more research specifically for the so-called neutropic effect,

[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_00]: like the ability to help the brain work better and increase things like executive function and focus,

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_00]: something similar to stem cells are what are called peptides.

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_00]: And peptides are very, very small chains of amino acids, the same things that make up proteins.

[00:06:26] [SPEAKER_00]: And they have different functions like some are good for healing up injuries more quickly.

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And they have odd names are like Star Wars robots, like the BPC-157 or TB-500,

[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_00]: for example, of peptides that you'd use on a joint.

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_00]: And then there are some that are good for say like gut issues, like one called LL37 is one my wife recently took

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_00]: when she had parasites and just eradicated them in a few days with this peptide.

[00:06:53] [SPEAKER_00]: They tend to work really, really powerfully and quickly, which is why honestly I think they're kind of being given

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_00]: a close scrutiny by the FDA right now, but they're still available and legal in the US.

[00:07:05] [SPEAKER_00]: And then the ones for the brain, they have two names.

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_00]: One's called C-Lank and one's called C-Max, S-E-L-A-N-K and S-E-M-A-X.

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_00]: There's a guy if you want to look into him, he's a real, real good resource on peptides

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_00]: and he has some that are available online.

[00:07:23] [SPEAKER_00]: His name is Jay Campbell and the C-Lank and the C-Max originally was an injectable peptide.

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_00]: You had to inject it like with an insulin syringe into the soft tissue around the abs.

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_00]: And now it's available as a nasal spray so you can do a few huffs of that peptide.

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Now that one's super powerful as well.

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously I'm sharing with you things that would go beyond just say a cup of coffee,

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_00]: but the peptides are really good.

[00:07:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Those have been studied for depression, anxiety, head injury and even again,

[00:07:54] [SPEAKER_00]: executive function and cognitive performance.

[00:07:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Can you just buy these in a store? Where do I get these?

[00:08:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Peptides most of them you got to order online.

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_00]: There are a few good resources out there.

[00:08:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Probably the best sources online.

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_00]: One's called Limitless Life Neutropics.

[00:08:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Neutropics is N-O-O-T-R-O-P-I-C-S and the other one is Peptide Sciences.

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Those are two websites that have more purity in their peptides and tend to have in stock what most people are looking for.

[00:08:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Your body's levels of peptides though, unlike the stem cell thing,

[00:08:30] [SPEAKER_00]: that's not something that would be an example of what would cause you to feel a cognitive decline with age.

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_00]: They don't kind of deep-pruce in your body like stem cells do,

[00:08:39] [SPEAKER_00]: but that would be more of like a supplement that you would take to kind of like combat the effects of that.

[00:08:44] [SPEAKER_00]: But another example I was going to give you, and this is another reason that a lot of people will feel like they recover less quickly as they age.

[00:08:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Like they have less focus or energy. Sometimes they heal less quickly,

[00:08:55] [SPEAKER_00]: and that would be related to NAD, which you've probably heard a little bit about. It's kind of a popular...

[00:09:01] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah. No, I actually take that.

[00:09:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I take N-R supplements from Thorn.

[00:09:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, okay. So that's perfect. Thorn is a great company.

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_00]: And N-R, that's a... So NAD is nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide.

[00:09:17] [SPEAKER_00]: It's something that basically allows for the mitochondria to work better and helps to repair the DNA.

[00:09:23] [SPEAKER_00]: And there are precursors to that, one being something called nicotinamide riboside

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_00]: that gets converted into NAD in the body when you take it orally,

[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_00]: because you actually can't get much bioavailability from regular old NAD orally.

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_00]: And so N-R, which has been studied a lot by David Sinclair at Harvard,

[00:09:43] [SPEAKER_00]: is something that helps to replenish the declining pool of NAD that accumulates as you age.

[00:09:50] [SPEAKER_00]: So that would be another example in addition to stem cells of two reasons

[00:09:55] [SPEAKER_00]: that you feel a little bit of that cognitive decline with age.

[00:09:58] [SPEAKER_00]: And then one other interesting thing to think about, and this is good not only for the brain,

[00:10:04] [SPEAKER_00]: but also when you're considering things like the loss of muscle with age,

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_00]: the loss of strength with age, and some of the onset of frailty that honestly is one of the reasons people

[00:10:15] [SPEAKER_00]: kind of wind up dying early as they'll break a hip, they'll fall down, et cetera,

[00:10:19] [SPEAKER_00]: then they wind up in the hospital and they get sick with something else

[00:10:22] [SPEAKER_00]: and they kind of like start this gradual decline.

[00:10:24] [SPEAKER_00]: But a big, big part of that is due to declining availability of amino acids

[00:10:30] [SPEAKER_00]: and poor conversion of protein intake into amino acids with age.

[00:10:36] [SPEAKER_00]: And what that means is that there's been a lot of research on this.

[00:10:40] [SPEAKER_00]: As people get older, you need more protein in their diet simply because you're able to utilize

[00:10:47] [SPEAKER_00]: the protein that you do have a little less effectively

[00:10:49] [SPEAKER_00]: and you're experiencing greater decline in muscle.

[00:10:53] [SPEAKER_00]: And so when it comes to protein, a couple of recommendations that I make are if you take your weight in pounds,

[00:11:00] [SPEAKER_00]: you would, and I won't ask you how much you weigh on the show, I've heard that's rude,

[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_00]: but you take your weight in pounds and...

[00:11:08] [SPEAKER_02]: No, I'll tell you, I'm like 154 or 155 and I'm 5'9".

[00:11:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, everybody knows James exact stats now.

[00:11:16] [SPEAKER_00]: So you multiply that by about 0.8.

[00:11:21] [SPEAKER_00]: So 0.8 times 155.

[00:11:23] [SPEAKER_00]: It's about 120.

[00:11:24] [SPEAKER_00]: 120, that would be how many grams of protein that you would shoot for per day.

[00:11:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And that would be...

[00:11:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I don't think I eat anywhere near that.

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's about...

[00:11:36] [SPEAKER_00]: That's around five servings with a serving.

[00:11:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Easy way to calculate this is you hold up your hand and you take the entire size of your palm

[00:11:44] [SPEAKER_00]: and that's about a serving.

[00:11:46] [SPEAKER_00]: And you would want to eat around four to five palm size servings of a good protein source,

[00:11:53] [SPEAKER_00]: like fish or chicken or beef or something like that in order to get about 120 grams of protein per day

[00:12:01] [SPEAKER_00]: unless you're doing something like protein shakes or protein bars.

[00:12:05] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, those typically have anywhere from 10 to 30 grams

[00:12:08] [SPEAKER_00]: and then depending on how much you're doing.

[00:12:10] [SPEAKER_00]: So protein is interesting also because as you age,

[00:12:15] [SPEAKER_00]: you also experience a decrease in the amount of digestive enzymes that you make.

[00:12:19] [SPEAKER_00]: And enzymes are what are used to break down the protein and make it bioavailable in the body.

[00:12:24] [SPEAKER_00]: And because of that, a lot of the older clients that I work with,

[00:12:28] [SPEAKER_00]: I recommend that most of them take some type of digestive enzyme with any meal

[00:12:32] [SPEAKER_00]: for which they're having an appreciable amount of protein.

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_00]: You mentioned you take the NR from Thorne.

[00:12:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Thorne actually has a pretty good digestive enzyme.

[00:12:40] [SPEAKER_00]: They have one called biogest and it has pretty much everything that your body would need to break down protein.

[00:12:47] [SPEAKER_00]: And so protein would be kind of like a third thing that you would face an uphill battle against having enough of as you age.

[00:12:55] [SPEAKER_02]: Sorry, the first two things were stem cells and what was this number two that starts to decline?

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Stem cells and then NAD or NR, which you are using.

[00:13:04] [SPEAKER_00]: And then protein.

[00:13:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Protein and you can take also there's a protein supplement called essential amino acids.

[00:13:11] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's just protein that's completely already broken down and bioavailable.

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER_00]: So you wouldn't have to take digestive enzymes with something like that,

[00:13:17] [SPEAKER_00]: but increased protein intake is a good idea also.

[00:13:21] [SPEAKER_00]: And then real quick back to the stem cell piece to put a ball on what I mentioned earlier.

[00:13:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I did say that there were some dietary strategies that can help you maintain your stem cells as you age,

[00:13:32] [SPEAKER_00]: even if you're not going out and getting the fancy injections or nasal sprays or whatever.

[00:13:37] [SPEAKER_00]: And a few dietary strategies that appear to help with stem cells.

[00:13:41] [SPEAKER_00]: One would be a high intake of fermented foods like kimchi, sour crowd, really good yogurt from a good source.

[00:13:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Kiefer would be an example like fermented dairy.

[00:13:53] [SPEAKER_00]: It kind of depends on whether or not your gut agrees with dairy on some of this stuff.

[00:13:56] [SPEAKER_00]: And there are Japanese permits like fermented tofu or miso or tempeh or natto.

[00:14:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Those are really good sources as well.

[00:14:05] [SPEAKER_00]: So a wide variety of fermented foods seems to be good for stem cells.

[00:14:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Another one would be any of the really dark greenish blue algae-like plants.

[00:14:16] [SPEAKER_00]: You'll a lot of times see people supplementing with things like chlorella and spirulina.

[00:14:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Another one would be marine phytoplankton.

[00:14:24] [SPEAKER_00]: All these seem to have a pretty good effect on your stem cells as well.

[00:14:28] [SPEAKER_00]: The protein that I mentioned is pretty important.

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And then one of the worst things ever for stem cells is alcohol.

[00:14:37] [SPEAKER_00]: As a matter of fact, if you're to get a stem cell procedure, doctors tell you to be super careful with alcohol

[00:14:42] [SPEAKER_00]: for at least a couple of weeks and up to three months because you have all these baby stem cells in your body

[00:14:47] [SPEAKER_00]: and that alcohol is one of the top things that kind of kills off stem cells.

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_00]: So you'd want to be pretty careful with a high intake of alcohol

[00:14:57] [SPEAKER_00]: and then work in things like fermented foods, adequate protein,

[00:15:01] [SPEAKER_00]: some of these dark greenish blue sources of plants.

[00:15:04] [SPEAKER_00]: And those would be just a few examples.

[00:15:22] [SPEAKER_02]: Let me ask you, I was reading on your site about infrared therapy.

[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_02]: So my wife recently got some kind of near-infrared device.

[00:15:30] [SPEAKER_02]: It's this molding up the pan, it's platinum LED therapy lights.

[00:15:33] [SPEAKER_02]: I've never used it and she says it's great.

[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_02]: And I know you've written about it. What's the story with that?

[00:15:39] [SPEAKER_00]: It's becoming quite popular now.

[00:15:41] [SPEAKER_00]: People use these panels and beds and infrared saunas.

[00:15:45] [SPEAKER_00]: And it turns out there's a specific spectrum of light

[00:15:48] [SPEAKER_00]: and you get a lot of it from sunlight.

[00:15:50] [SPEAKER_00]: The problem is, you know, a lot of time out in the sun

[00:15:52] [SPEAKER_00]: and you can get a little bit of UVA and UVB radiation or burn.

[00:15:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And then the other issue is that of course many of us are relegated to working indoors

[00:16:01] [SPEAKER_00]: or living indoors or have harsh winters or, you know, a lot of cloud cover

[00:16:05] [SPEAKER_00]: might not get enough sunlight to get those beneficial spectrums of light.

[00:16:10] [SPEAKER_00]: And specifically the infrared and red light spectrums that fall into,

[00:16:15] [SPEAKER_00]: it's about 650 to 800 nanometer wavelengths of light.

[00:16:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Those specific forms of light are absorbed into your body via photonic absorption.

[00:16:26] [SPEAKER_00]: They can heat the tissue up a little bit.

[00:16:28] [SPEAKER_00]: They can cause the mitochondria to create more ATP.

[00:16:32] [SPEAKER_00]: They can cause a little bit of collagen and elastin production for things like skin health or beauty.

[00:16:37] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, a lot of people will even use like infrared masks on their face

[00:16:42] [SPEAKER_00]: after they apply a moisturizer or a lotion.

[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_00]: It can also interestingly cause a little bit of increased hormone production

[00:16:49] [SPEAKER_00]: in specific areas where the infrared light is focused

[00:16:53] [SPEAKER_00]: such as around the neck can improve thyroid hormone production

[00:16:58] [SPEAKER_00]: or for men around the testes can increase testosterone production.

[00:17:02] [SPEAKER_00]: And this is why a lot of people will have like big red light panels.

[00:17:07] [SPEAKER_00]: I have one beside me here in my office and I'll literally strip all my clothes off

[00:17:12] [SPEAKER_00]: for about my first 20 minutes of emails and things in the morning

[00:17:14] [SPEAKER_00]: and just bathe my entire body in red light.

[00:17:17] [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm getting the organ exposure to the light,

[00:17:20] [SPEAKER_00]: which again allows for better hormone production and organ function.

[00:17:24] [SPEAKER_00]: So there's a lot of benefits to it.

[00:17:25] [SPEAKER_00]: And generally it's only about 20 minutes a day that you would need a treatment with a device like that.

[00:17:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And like you've personally noticed the benefits when you started using it?

[00:17:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, absolutely.

[00:17:36] [SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of addicting because you get a little bit of an endorphin release

[00:17:39] [SPEAKER_00]: like you feel really good when the lights turn out similar

[00:17:41] [SPEAKER_00]: like if you were just, you know, if you just walked outside

[00:17:43] [SPEAKER_00]: and you'd been inside for a long time and the sun hits your face

[00:17:46] [SPEAKER_00]: and you just get this feel good effect.

[00:17:47] [SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of similar to that.

[00:17:49] [SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, interestingly these wavelengths of light

[00:17:53] [SPEAKER_00]: that are in this red light spectrum are probably heavily concentrated

[00:17:58] [SPEAKER_00]: or most heavily concentrated during sunrise and sunset.

[00:18:03] [SPEAKER_00]: And the body sleep cues in our circadian rhythms are naturally tuned to sunrise and sunset.

[00:18:10] [SPEAKER_00]: And so if you're not experiencing a lot of sunrises

[00:18:13] [SPEAKER_00]: or experiencing a lot of sunsets, sometimes you miss out on some of the sleep benefits for that

[00:18:18] [SPEAKER_00]: or the wakefulness benefits of it if earlier in the day.

[00:18:21] [SPEAKER_00]: And so red light in the morning and then flipping it on again at night

[00:18:26] [SPEAKER_00]: can be really good for circadian rhythm.

[00:18:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Now like I mentioned about 20 minutes a day is adequate for the use of these red lights

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_00]: and more is not necessarily better.

[00:18:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes too much red light can cause your mitochondria to just work too hard

[00:18:39] [SPEAKER_00]: and create what are called oxidative species, which would be a little bit more deleterious.

[00:18:44] [SPEAKER_00]: And so my fix for that is I do about 20 minutes of red light

[00:18:48] [SPEAKER_00]: like that one that you held up in the morning,

[00:18:50] [SPEAKER_00]: which also of course doubles as me kind of experiencing sunrise in my office

[00:18:55] [SPEAKER_00]: before I flip the other lights on.

[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And when I go to bed at night, I've replaced the cans in the bedroom

[00:19:02] [SPEAKER_00]: with incandescent red light bulbs,

[00:19:05] [SPEAKER_00]: which are a little bit different than these red light panels

[00:19:07] [SPEAKER_00]: in that you could have them on all day and they're not going to have any issues.

[00:19:10] [SPEAKER_00]: But my entire bedroom at night when I'm reading in my bed at night, et cetera

[00:19:14] [SPEAKER_00]: all looks kind of like the sunset because it's all incandescent red light.

[00:19:19] [SPEAKER_00]: So I use a red light panel in the morning and then I light my room with red light in the evening

[00:19:24] [SPEAKER_00]: and it's really great for your sleep cycles.

[00:19:27] [SPEAKER_02]: Is this the sort of thing like what does Jeff Bezos do?

[00:19:29] [SPEAKER_02]: He must have like every possible thing for anti-aging.

[00:19:32] [SPEAKER_02]: Like does he get like regular stem cell injections or just like the little boys

[00:19:37] [SPEAKER_02]: just feed them him plasma all day long or what's the story?

[00:19:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Probably a little bit of that is going on.

[00:19:43] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know Jeff, but I can tell you most of the wealthy older executive males

[00:19:50] [SPEAKER_00]: who seem to be functioning pretty well or at least maintaining muscle

[00:19:53] [SPEAKER_00]: or appearing to have a great amount of vigor and energy with age

[00:19:57] [SPEAKER_00]: are using testosterone replacement therapy.

[00:20:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm pretty surprised now when I run into somebody who has a little bit of money

[00:20:06] [SPEAKER_00]: is concerned about their health and is an older male who is not on some kind of

[00:20:10] [SPEAKER_00]: testosterone cream or gel or injection or they even have little pellets implanted

[00:20:17] [SPEAKER_00]: kind of around the butt or the abdomen.

[00:20:20] [SPEAKER_00]: And so testosterone is kind of like the secret for a lot of these folks.

[00:20:25] [SPEAKER_00]: And I can say that similar to NAD and stem cells you do see,

[00:20:28] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean there's some people, I've seen some 80 and 90 year old men

[00:20:32] [SPEAKER_00]: and they have blood work and they aren't on testosterone

[00:20:34] [SPEAKER_00]: and their testosterone levels are just fine.

[00:20:37] [SPEAKER_00]: But painting with a broad brush unless you anecdotally just have naturally high testosterone

[00:20:41] [SPEAKER_00]: even as you get older, a testosterone therapy is something that seems to be

[00:20:47] [SPEAKER_00]: a pretty effective strategy for a lot of older males particularly.

[00:20:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Some of the subtle nuances though are A, if you're still trying to have babies

[00:20:55] [SPEAKER_00]: and trying to maintain fertility, it usually decreases fertility pretty considerably.

[00:21:01] [SPEAKER_00]: B, if you are on it and then you ever get off of it, you don't feel very good.

[00:21:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes for like a year, like you have really low energy levels in your sluggish

[00:21:11] [SPEAKER_00]: because your late excels in your testes kind of forgot how to make testosterone

[00:21:14] [SPEAKER_00]: and they got to figure it out again.

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_02]: Let's say your testosterone is low and like I don't know, I've never tested it.

[00:21:20] [SPEAKER_02]: I should probably go test my blood or something.

[00:21:22] [SPEAKER_02]: But let's say your testosterone is low.

[00:21:24] [SPEAKER_02]: Does it really matter if you get on it then get off it?

[00:21:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Because your testosterone was already, you already were not producing a lot of testosterone

[00:21:31] [SPEAKER_02]: is what people tell me when I asked this exact question.

[00:21:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, if you have what would be called like diagnosed hypogonadism

[00:21:38] [SPEAKER_00]: and you get on testosterone to fix it and then you're going to get off testosterone

[00:21:42] [SPEAKER_00]: it's probably still going to be a little bit lower than the low level that it was at before.

[00:21:47] [SPEAKER_00]: But nonetheless most people just accept the fact that once they start taking it

[00:21:51] [SPEAKER_00]: they're going to keep taking it as a life extension strategy

[00:21:53] [SPEAKER_00]: and as a feel-good strategy for most of their lives anyways.

[00:21:57] [SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, it's kind of one of those things where you'd probably

[00:22:00] [SPEAKER_00]: if you got diagnosed with hypogonadism you'd want to stay on it anyways.

[00:22:04] [SPEAKER_00]: And then the third thing to consider is that you never just want to like,

[00:22:07] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, use some underground pharmacy or, you know,

[00:22:11] [SPEAKER_00]: something from a friend to get on testosterone

[00:22:12] [SPEAKER_00]: that has to be monitored by a physician with pretty regular blood work

[00:22:17] [SPEAKER_00]: and there's a lot of telemedicine companies now.

[00:22:20] [SPEAKER_00]: One I was recently looking at called Maximus.

[00:22:25] [SPEAKER_00]: They do a telemedicine based testosterone therapy.

[00:22:27] [SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of others out there, but you can do a telemedicine consult with a doc.

[00:22:32] [SPEAKER_00]: They send you a blood test to your house.

[00:22:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Usually that you do, you send it back and then depending on the levels

[00:22:37] [SPEAKER_00]: you'll get a prescription for testosterone.

[00:22:39] [SPEAKER_00]: But the nice thing about a lot of these companies is whatever you're paying

[00:22:42] [SPEAKER_00]: on a monthly basis for testosterone includes the type of blood work

[00:22:46] [SPEAKER_00]: and telemedicine meetings with the doctor to make sure that your levels are within control

[00:22:51] [SPEAKER_00]: that you're not making too much estrogen, you know,

[00:22:54] [SPEAKER_00]: that your prostate levels aren't going up a little bit.

[00:22:56] [SPEAKER_00]: And so there's all sorts of little things to manage when you're on testosterone.

[00:23:01] [SPEAKER_00]: But I should throw this in.

[00:23:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I always tell any man is like, well, I want to get on TRT

[00:23:06] [SPEAKER_00]: or testosterone placement therapy to make sure you're already addressing variables

[00:23:12] [SPEAKER_00]: in your life that would either increase or decrease testosterone.

[00:23:15] [SPEAKER_00]: And those are pretty straightforward.

[00:23:18] [SPEAKER_00]: It's basically like anything that is a manly man activity,

[00:23:22] [SPEAKER_00]: whether it's squats or deadlifts or they even shown like chopping wood can increase testosterone.

[00:23:27] [SPEAKER_00]: So kind of like lifting stuff which kills two birds with one stone

[00:23:30] [SPEAKER_00]: because obviously you're addressing some of the muscle loss piece as well

[00:23:33] [SPEAKER_00]: and then really good sleep and low stress

[00:23:36] [SPEAKER_00]: because essentially nature doesn't want to mail to be able to like

[00:23:40] [SPEAKER_00]: propagate the human species in a state of high stress or low sleep

[00:23:46] [SPEAKER_00]: or, you know, or a lot of problematic issues.

[00:23:48] [SPEAKER_00]: So good stress management and good sleep, lifting heavy stuff,

[00:23:53] [SPEAKER_00]: eating adequate protein.

[00:23:55] [SPEAKER_00]: And then another one that's interesting is there's a lot of people who are into like

[00:23:59] [SPEAKER_00]: the super low carbohydrate, ketogenic diet who get very, very low carbohydrate

[00:24:03] [SPEAKER_00]: and making sure you have adequate carbohydrate is also pretty important

[00:24:06] [SPEAKER_00]: for that testosterone piece.

[00:24:08] [SPEAKER_00]: You might be interested that guy who I recommended for peptides, J. Campbell.

[00:24:12] [SPEAKER_00]: He has a really great downloadable online resource called the testosterone optimization manual

[00:24:19] [SPEAKER_00]: or something like that.

[00:24:20] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's probably one of the better short reads that I can find

[00:24:24] [SPEAKER_00]: for naturally increasing testosterone and then also some of the information

[00:24:28] [SPEAKER_00]: on testosterone replacement therapy.

[00:24:30] [SPEAKER_00]: And then I've got a lot of that in my book, Balmous as well.

[00:24:33] [SPEAKER_02]: And so what would you do?

[00:24:35] [SPEAKER_02]: Let's say as if you notice some of your functions declining or you're getting older,

[00:24:40] [SPEAKER_02]: what would be your go to therapy that you would do?

[00:24:43] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm very data driven, James.

[00:24:45] [SPEAKER_00]: I typically when somebody asked me that question,

[00:24:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I tell them that they do need to go get blood work.

[00:24:51] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, it might be low testosterone, but your testosterone levels might be just fine

[00:24:54] [SPEAKER_00]: and it'd be a waste to go after testosterone.

[00:24:57] [SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, getting a full blood panel and there's even online companies now

[00:25:02] [SPEAKER_00]: that a lot of this stuff you can do from your home, you know,

[00:25:04] [SPEAKER_00]: thorn has at home blood tests inside tracker wellness FX.

[00:25:09] [SPEAKER_00]: But for example, your testosterone might be fine,

[00:25:11] [SPEAKER_00]: but maybe you have super low vitamin D and a sluggish thyroid.

[00:25:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Right? So you go after adequate vitamin D supplementation and dietary intake

[00:25:19] [SPEAKER_00]: and you might even do something like take some kind of a thyroid supporting supplement.

[00:25:26] [SPEAKER_00]: It might be that you aren't getting enough protein and your amino acids are low.

[00:25:30] [SPEAKER_00]: It could be that your inflammation measures high while everything else is fine,

[00:25:34] [SPEAKER_00]: which typically indicates there's something in the diet that's causing inflammation

[00:25:38] [SPEAKER_00]: or something in the environment like, you know, say mold or something like that.

[00:25:42] [SPEAKER_00]: That could be causing inflammation.

[00:25:44] [SPEAKER_00]: So I realized it's not a very satisfactory answer,

[00:25:46] [SPEAKER_00]: but from a data driven standpoint, that would be the answer.

[00:25:50] [SPEAKER_00]: However, if we were to just say, okay, well, what are the things that if you did it,

[00:25:54] [SPEAKER_00]: you'd feel good no matter what.

[00:25:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, the NR that you're on is a pretty good idea.

[00:26:00] [SPEAKER_00]: The adequate protein that I talked about and some of the other things to support stem cells.

[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_00]: And then I would also consider if we're really talking more about like, I don't know,

[00:26:10] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, chess, podcasting, you know, reading, speaking,

[00:26:14] [SPEAKER_00]: a lot of the things that you in particular do.

[00:26:16] [SPEAKER_00]: The world of something I mentioned a couple of times now,

[00:26:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Neutropics is pretty interesting.

[00:26:22] [SPEAKER_00]: And there are specific things that you can take, like in the morning, for example,

[00:26:26] [SPEAKER_00]: to balance neurotransmitters and to allow for cognitive function that goes way above and beyond

[00:26:32] [SPEAKER_00]: what you would get from something like a cup of coffee.

[00:26:35] [SPEAKER_00]: A few examples of that in terms of like done for you supplements

[00:26:39] [SPEAKER_00]: that can really, really help with cognitive performance.

[00:26:42] [SPEAKER_00]: There's one company called on it.

[00:26:44] [SPEAKER_00]: They make a supplement called Alpha Brain.

[00:26:45] [SPEAKER_00]: There's another company called quality and makes one called mind.

[00:26:50] [SPEAKER_00]: And then probably my favorite is there's a company called Neutopia like N O O T O P I A.

[00:26:58] [SPEAKER_00]: And if you go to their website, there's actually like a questionnaire on there that you fill out

[00:27:03] [SPEAKER_00]: and based on the questionnaire, it figures out your unique neurotransmitter profile

[00:27:08] [SPEAKER_00]: and which specific ingredients would work really well with your brain.

[00:27:13] [SPEAKER_00]: And then they formulate a special box of capsules and powders with different functions

[00:27:19] [SPEAKER_00]: like some for better verbal fluency, some for word recall,

[00:27:26] [SPEAKER_00]: some for something like focus and energy, some for wakefulness in a sleep deprived state, etc.

[00:27:33] [SPEAKER_00]: And they send this whole box to your house and you just kind of keep it in your fridge.

[00:27:37] [SPEAKER_00]: And depending on how you feel during the day, you know,

[00:27:39] [SPEAKER_00]: you just grab whichever packet is indicated for that particular cognitive need.

[00:27:44] [SPEAKER_00]: And that would be an example of another really well formulated Neutropic.

[00:27:49] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I guess they're research driven like how much research is done on the effects

[00:27:53] [SPEAKER_02]: of these different powders and vitamins and so on.

[00:27:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Most of them what they've done and you see this a lot in the supplements industry.

[00:28:00] [SPEAKER_00]: They've taken a whole bunch of individual molecules,

[00:28:03] [SPEAKER_00]: each of which have good amounts of research behind them for the intended effect.

[00:28:08] [SPEAKER_00]: But then they've combined them and most companies won't pay for the research to look at

[00:28:13] [SPEAKER_00]: what the combined effects of all the stuff put together is like that quality of mind stuff.

[00:28:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I mentioned it's got like 40 ingredients in it and you take, you know,

[00:28:21] [SPEAKER_00]: six to eight capsules, which for a lot of people is a lot of capsules.

[00:28:25] [SPEAKER_00]: And if you look at each of the individual ingredients in it,

[00:28:28] [SPEAKER_00]: all of that has research mostly good human research in it.

[00:28:31] [SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, nobody's done an actual study on the effects of everything combined

[00:28:36] [SPEAKER_00]: because it's expensive for a company to do.

[00:28:39] [SPEAKER_00]: So if you want to look at what to expect in terms of how you'd feel when you just take it all at once,

[00:28:45] [SPEAKER_00]: all that stuff is more like anecdotal Reddit forums talking to friends,

[00:28:50] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, talking to bio hackers, you know, which ones work well, which ones don't.

[00:28:53] [SPEAKER_00]: And so yeah, some of it's anecdotal, but if you look at the actual individual ingredients,

[00:28:58] [SPEAKER_00]: most of them have pretty good research behind them.

[00:29:00] [SPEAKER_02]: Let me ask you this is about memory specifically.

[00:29:03] [SPEAKER_02]: Like I've noticed my memory has definitely been on the decline.

[00:29:07] [SPEAKER_02]: And I don't know if it's related to aging or one thing I was wondering is if it's related to podcasting

[00:29:12] [SPEAKER_02]: because before I do a podcast, I have to not really memorize,

[00:29:17] [SPEAKER_02]: but I have to remember so many things about the person I'm interviewing like I'll read their book

[00:29:21] [SPEAKER_02]: and I have, you know, and it's all in my short term memory.

[00:29:24] [SPEAKER_02]: And then it gets maybe unnaturally flushed out of my short term memory as soon as the podcast is done

[00:29:30] [SPEAKER_02]: because I'm moving on to the next podcast.

[00:29:32] [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm wondering if that's like affected my memory muscles.

[00:29:35] [SPEAKER_00]: I would consider three things here.

[00:29:38] [SPEAKER_00]: The first is sensory stimuli for associative memory.

[00:29:43] [SPEAKER_00]: For example, I have in my office an essential oil diffuser that diffuses peppermint, rosemary or cinnamon,

[00:29:52] [SPEAKER_00]: essential oil, any of those three because those are known to increase alertness and focus.

[00:29:56] [SPEAKER_00]: But the double whammy effect of that, and you've probably heard about these studies is that they'll have students,

[00:30:01] [SPEAKER_00]: for example, do aromatherapy with a specific scent while they're studying for a test.

[00:30:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And then later when they take the actual test, compare their performance with or without that same sensory stimuli

[00:30:13] [SPEAKER_00]: and they perform better when they have that same stimuli on their memory and there will be call.

[00:30:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Another example would be sound.

[00:30:22] [SPEAKER_00]: And this is a little bit more difficult, but there are specific sounds probably the most popular would be like brain FM.

[00:30:27] [SPEAKER_00]: And you listen to brain FM while you're studying and the problem with that for you is of course you're not going to listen to it while you're podcasting,

[00:30:34] [SPEAKER_00]: but it comes in handy if you're reading or writing and wanting to remember something later on.

[00:30:38] [SPEAKER_00]: You play the brain FM while you're digesting the information then you play it again when you're needing to focus back upon it or spit it back out.

[00:30:45] [SPEAKER_00]: And then the second thing I think about in addition to some type of sensory stimuli in your office would be,

[00:30:52] [SPEAKER_00]: we were talking about new tropics and there's a couple specifically that seem to have pretty good data on them for memory.

[00:30:59] [SPEAKER_00]: And that would be Ginko Biloba and Bacopa Monieri.

[00:31:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I realize those are kind of a mouthful but Ginko Biloba and Bacopa Monieri are two supplements that can be effective for memory particularly.

[00:31:11] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think the of the three products I mentioned earlier, I think quality actually has one or both of those in it.

[00:31:18] [SPEAKER_00]: And then the third thing I think about and this kind of flies under the radar but electro-piper sensitivity or kind of like gradual sensitivity to things like Wi-Fi routers and Bluetooth and headphones around you all the time

[00:31:36] [SPEAKER_00]: and being in this electronic soup, that can leave a lot of people feeling kind of brain foggy or with poor focus or memory.

[00:31:43] [SPEAKER_00]: And so because of that for example, the Wi-Fi is not on in my office.

[00:31:48] [SPEAKER_00]: It's actually not on in my entire house.

[00:31:50] [SPEAKER_00]: The whole house uses CAT7 metal shielded ethernet cables,

[00:31:54] [SPEAKER_00]: which means that you plug directly into the wall router or the router rather than having the Wi-Fi signal producing the signal.

[00:32:01] [SPEAKER_00]: So everything's hardwired in my office.

[00:32:04] [SPEAKER_00]: I have what are called dirty electricity filters.

[00:32:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I got them from a company called Shielded Healing and I have those plugged into the outlets in the office and those will lower a little bit of the surges in AC current also that some people are very sensitive to.

[00:32:21] [SPEAKER_00]: A couple of other things is there is a company called Ultimate Longevity and they have these things called grounding mats.

[00:32:28] [SPEAKER_00]: They're also called earthing mats and you stand on them when you're at your office or you sit on your chair with your feet on them and they plug into the grounding outlet of your home.

[00:32:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Or if you'd like, like I have a ground floor office with the backyard behind it.

[00:32:43] [SPEAKER_00]: So I just have like a cable going from it to a metal stake out in the ground and the earth amidst this natural anti-inflammatory frequency that kind of combat the effects of non-natural EMFs.

[00:32:55] [SPEAKER_00]: This is one of the reasons people feel so good sometimes when they walk outside in their barefoot or they lay on their back on the ground or they go for a walk on the beach or a swim in the ocean.

[00:33:03] [SPEAKER_00]: You're getting exposed to a massive amount of natural EMF and that can help to combat a little bit of the dirty electricity that you get in an office setting.

[00:33:12] [SPEAKER_00]: And then for a podcast or even like the headphones, like these headphones, they're the Ultra Zone Pro 780s.

[00:33:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I did some research and these are headphones that actually produce a lot lower signal than other headphones.

[00:33:25] [SPEAKER_00]: And so I'm getting a little bit lower amounts of electricity around my head when I had my headphones on during a day of podcasting.

[00:33:32] [SPEAKER_00]: So those are a few examples of how you can kind of clean up the office from electricity standpoint as well.

[00:33:52] [SPEAKER_02]: What about in a competitive situation?

[00:33:54] [SPEAKER_02]: So let's say I'm playing in a chess tournament and I'm trying right now.

[00:33:58] [SPEAKER_02]: I've got this goal where I'm trying to reach the same level I reached when I was younger and it's hard like it's a different world out there.

[00:34:07] [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm different than when I was 30 years younger.

[00:34:10] [SPEAKER_02]: And so what about in a competitive situation where pre-competition during the competition in the middle of like, let's say between games,

[00:34:19] [SPEAKER_02]: you know, some tournaments or multi-day tournaments and I'm staying in a hotel and all sorts of things are going on.

[00:34:27] [SPEAKER_02]: So what would you say? What would you recommend for competitive situations?

[00:34:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I can tell you a few things that I would do in a scenario like this.

[00:34:35] [SPEAKER_00]: I've had a couple of poker players I've worked with and I kind of make some similar recommendations to them.

[00:34:41] [SPEAKER_00]: The first is that if you're able to at some point prior to or leading up to the competition up in your hotel room or, you know, the hotel pool or whatever,

[00:34:51] [SPEAKER_00]: a little bit of cold water can get the endorphins going and maintain a high amount of adrenaline and norepinephrine levels for a pretty significant amount of time afterwards.

[00:35:01] [SPEAKER_00]: So some type of cold plunge, cold bath, cold shower before you head down to the tournament.

[00:35:06] [SPEAKER_00]: The second would be that same type of aromatherapy that I talked about earlier, particularly peppermint.

[00:35:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Taking peppermint essential oil, smearing it on your upper lip, putting a few drops in the water that you might drink during the match.

[00:35:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Peppermint is really, really good and maintains this kind of wakefulness effect.

[00:35:24] [SPEAKER_00]: The next would be due to the kind of like low-level flicker from the overhead lighting in a lot of these type of scenarios.

[00:35:31] [SPEAKER_00]: A pair of daytime blue light blocking glasses, not the ones with the dark red lenses which block so much light that you get a little sleepy,

[00:35:39] [SPEAKER_00]: but the ones with more of the yellow or the clear lenses that you wear to avoid the retinal irritation and overhead flicker from like bright overhead fluorescent LED-style lights.

[00:35:50] [SPEAKER_00]: That can also be another good strategy.

[00:35:52] [SPEAKER_00]: One other thing that I would think about, you've probably heard a lot of chatter about this whole idea of microdosing with plant medicines.

[00:36:04] [SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of different effects from microdosing with psilocybin could increase creativity or microdosing like whatchuma could increase sociability.

[00:36:13] [SPEAKER_00]: But there's one compound you can microdose with that will increase coordination of the left and right hemispheres of the brain,

[00:36:20] [SPEAKER_00]: increase your ability to be able to burn fat for long periods of time without eating a lot of food,

[00:36:26] [SPEAKER_00]: and also increase wakefulness for several hours.

[00:36:30] [SPEAKER_00]: That one is a Surgamide LSD or LSA at about 10 to 20 micrograms, which would be considered a microdose that's 1-5th to 1-10th of what you need to get a real perceptible, almost like dropping acid trip type of effect.

[00:36:47] [SPEAKER_00]: That one can be really, really good.

[00:36:49] [SPEAKER_00]: As a matter of fact, what's interesting is the ultrarunning or the marathoning community, if you look at a lot of the top athletes in that community,

[00:36:56] [SPEAKER_00]: particularly ultrarunning, most of the top competitors are stacking low-dose THC for the pain killing and euphoric effect,

[00:37:05] [SPEAKER_00]: and low-dose LSD for the fat burning and the focus enhancing effect for their races.

[00:37:11] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's kind of like the go-to stack right now in the ultrarendurance community.

[00:37:16] [SPEAKER_02]: That's so interesting because I would think that THC would make you tired while you're running.

[00:37:20] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't really know what the effects of microdosing LSD are, but in terms of focus, wouldn't you lose focus?

[00:37:28] [SPEAKER_00]: If you took too much, you'd want to start with no more than 10 micrograms.

[00:37:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And at very low-dose, you definitely don't get that hyperactive type of bouncing around distracted effect.

[00:37:38] [SPEAKER_00]: And then for the THC, there's a really interesting book about this called Runners High.

[00:37:44] [SPEAKER_00]: For the THC, interestingly, if you use low-dose THC like 5 milligrams and you're just sitting around watching a movie or probably playing chess or anything like that,

[00:37:57] [SPEAKER_00]: you do get kind of sleepy.

[00:37:58] [SPEAKER_00]: But when paired with motor unit activity such as running or lifting weights,

[00:38:03] [SPEAKER_00]: low-dose THC doesn't really cause any type of sleeping effect.

[00:38:07] [SPEAKER_00]: And you can actually have kind of a little bit of a pain-killing effect with it.

[00:38:11] [SPEAKER_00]: But I wouldn't recommend the THC for you, but the low-dose LSD would also be another thing that's an interesting option.

[00:38:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, proceed at your own risk within the bounds of legality,

[00:38:21] [SPEAKER_00]: but that would certainly be something if I were playing chess and I wanted an advantage I would consider using.

[00:38:27] [SPEAKER_02]: That's so interesting. I had not considered that at all.

[00:38:30] [SPEAKER_02]: I've never tried that.

[00:38:31] [SPEAKER_02]: So in terms of habits, how would you approach a competitive situation like a chess tournament or poker or whatever?

[00:38:39] [SPEAKER_02]: What do you mean when you say habits?

[00:38:40] [SPEAKER_02]: I guess sleep is very important.

[00:38:43] [SPEAKER_02]: Sleep is critical during a tournament because let's say it's a four- or five-day tournament.

[00:38:47] [SPEAKER_02]: By the end, your brain is exhausted.

[00:38:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's a great question.

[00:38:51] [SPEAKER_00]: So first is light.

[00:38:53] [SPEAKER_00]: So like I mentioned, those daytime blue light blockers when you're playing and then if you get two pair,

[00:39:00] [SPEAKER_00]: for example, there's one company called Raw Optics, R.A. Optics.

[00:39:03] [SPEAKER_00]: They have daytime blue light blockers and nighttime blue light blockers.

[00:39:07] [SPEAKER_00]: I would have both.

[00:39:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I wear the nighttime ones in the evening before you go to bed

[00:39:11] [SPEAKER_00]: when you're up in your hotel room getting ready for bed and the daytime ones during the day.

[00:39:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Next related to light, I would also take that red light device that you held up earlier,

[00:39:20] [SPEAKER_00]: bring that with you and use that as the way that you light up your hotel room at night

[00:39:24] [SPEAKER_00]: rather than regular overhead lights.

[00:39:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Or my cheap like $20 hack that I travel with because it's smaller is I bought a little headlamp off of Amazon

[00:39:35] [SPEAKER_00]: and it's the red light producing headlamp.

[00:39:37] [SPEAKER_00]: So when I'm in my hotel room at night, I use that to get around and see things and read and anything else

[00:39:43] [SPEAKER_00]: because I can get to sleep a lot better without the bright overhead lighting.

[00:39:47] [SPEAKER_00]: So that would be one. Another would be the actual temperature.

[00:39:51] [SPEAKER_00]: As soon as I walk into a hotel room, bring the temperature down as low as it can go.

[00:39:55] [SPEAKER_00]: If you're lucky, they'll have it set by the engineer to go as low as 64.

[00:40:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Most hotels will at least go as low as 65 or 66 degrees Fahrenheit.

[00:40:04] [SPEAKER_00]: And you want the room as cool as possible for sleep.

[00:40:07] [SPEAKER_00]: And if it's in a warm location, I'll usually take a lukewarm or slightly cold shower

[00:40:11] [SPEAKER_00]: right before I go to bed or at least an hour leading up to bedtime.

[00:40:15] [SPEAKER_00]: And that helps to lower the body's temperature a little bit more.

[00:40:18] [SPEAKER_00]: A heavy meal or like a lot of hot, spicy, oily food in the two to three hours leading up to bed

[00:40:25] [SPEAKER_00]: can also be a pretty bad idea for sleep.

[00:40:27] [SPEAKER_00]: So a little bit lighter like you know, fish and a salad and that type of thing

[00:40:31] [SPEAKER_00]: can be a little bit better for nighttime sleep when it comes to core temperature.

[00:40:35] [SPEAKER_00]: So light and temperature would be two.

[00:40:38] [SPEAKER_00]: The third would be make sure that when you're in a place where you're outside of your normal sleeping environment

[00:40:44] [SPEAKER_00]: like a hotel, you don't train your body to associate the bed with anything related to business or work.

[00:40:51] [SPEAKER_00]: I used to like walk into a hotel room and you know, I plopped down on my belly

[00:40:54] [SPEAKER_00]: and put the laptop on the bed and kind of worked there for a little while

[00:40:56] [SPEAKER_00]: or as you fall asleep, you pop the laptop open and fire off a few emails.

[00:41:00] [SPEAKER_00]: But now my rule in a hotel room is I don't allow the laptop

[00:41:04] [SPEAKER_00]: or any type of working devices or even like business books or anything like that.

[00:41:08] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, printed PDFs, whatever, anywhere near the bed.

[00:41:10] [SPEAKER_00]: So when my body gets into bed, anything related to work is like across the room in the desk area of the hotel room and not in the bed.

[00:41:18] [SPEAKER_00]: So never allow your body to associate the bed with anything but sleep

[00:41:22] [SPEAKER_00]: and kind of like keep the computer away from the bed.

[00:41:25] [SPEAKER_00]: And then as far as the phone, you know, the only thing that should be used for is like light, pleasurable reading

[00:41:30] [SPEAKER_00]: like a fiction book on that or your Kindle or things that don't really involve a lot of mental willpower.

[00:41:37] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I don't think anybody's going to stop, you know, briefly checking social media or whatever before they go to bed.

[00:41:42] [SPEAKER_00]: But no like work emails, you know, trying to open the email app, things like that is a really good idea when you're in bed.

[00:41:49] [SPEAKER_00]: And then the last thing would be noise.

[00:41:52] [SPEAKER_00]: At least for me, you occasionally hear the slamming door or the voices in the hallway or the really loud fan or whatever.

[00:41:59] [SPEAKER_00]: And so I have an app on my phone that's called Sleep Space, and it plays special sounds that lull you to sleep and cover up ambient noise.

[00:42:11] [SPEAKER_00]: And I also have, and this is pretty cheap from Amazon, a pair of what are called sleep phones, which are like soft headphones,

[00:42:18] [SPEAKER_00]: which allow you to sleep on your side and still have headphones in.

[00:42:21] [SPEAKER_00]: And so I plug those into the phone, I put the phone in airplane mode.

[00:42:26] [SPEAKER_00]: And then I am able to sleep with sound that covers up any ambient noises.

[00:42:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And if I'm in a really loud location or if there's like, I don't know a wedding in the lobby or whatever,

[00:42:35] [SPEAKER_00]: and you can hear the pulsing music or something like that.

[00:42:38] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll also put earplugs in and pull the headphones over the earplugs.

[00:42:42] [SPEAKER_00]: So temperature, the light, what you do or do not do in the bed particularly.

[00:42:47] [SPEAKER_00]: And then also the sounds that drown out other sounds and lull you to sleep would be for habits that would be really good for helping you out with the sleep.

[00:42:55] [SPEAKER_00]: And then in the morning when you wake up, you could take one of like the new tropics that I talked about or the micro dose or whatever

[00:43:02] [SPEAKER_00]: and then do the red light for the first little bit, like the first half hour or so.

[00:43:07] [SPEAKER_00]: When you get up, keep the red light as the main way that you light up the room and then flip on all the lights,

[00:43:11] [SPEAKER_00]: open the curtains, really send the body this big light signal.

[00:43:14] [SPEAKER_00]: And then you'd be pretty good to go with a habit stack like that.

[00:43:17] [SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, I read something on your site about something called Tai Chi Shaking.

[00:43:22] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't really know what the purpose was, but it looked interesting.

[00:43:25] [SPEAKER_00]: It's interesting you bring this up because, you know, at home when I get up at some point before I start work,

[00:43:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I stretch and I do breath work and I kind of swing the body around for about 15 minutes.

[00:43:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Usually I heat up the water for coffee or tea or whatever.

[00:43:40] [SPEAKER_00]: And then I go stretch and stuff.

[00:43:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Then I come back and grab my coffee and head down into the office and turn the red lights on.

[00:43:46] [SPEAKER_00]: And when I travel, I also do the same thing.

[00:43:49] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll get up and I'll do a certain series of exercises.

[00:43:52] [SPEAKER_00]: And when I'm at home, you know, I'll use like foam rollers and, you know,

[00:43:56] [SPEAKER_00]: even not like a mini trampoline that will jump up and down.

[00:43:58] [SPEAKER_00]: But obviously I'm not going to travel with a trampoline and a big long foam roller.

[00:44:02] [SPEAKER_00]: So when I travel and you can look this up, I think I have an article about my website or video

[00:44:07] [SPEAKER_00]: and you could also just Google it and find them.

[00:44:09] [SPEAKER_00]: But I do what are called the five Tibetan longevity exercises.

[00:44:14] [SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, the lore is that these came from these extremely long,

[00:44:17] [SPEAKER_00]: livid Tibetan monks.

[00:44:19] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's a series of different moves and twists and some of like the shaking that I talked about.

[00:44:24] [SPEAKER_00]: And I just do these five moves.

[00:44:26] [SPEAKER_00]: It takes about 10 to 15 minutes and you kind of pair it with a little bit of breath work.

[00:44:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes I'll put a really uplifting song on.

[00:44:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And those would be an example of some really good exercises,

[00:44:36] [SPEAKER_00]: the five Tibetan longevity exercises that you could do when you wake up to get the body going.

[00:44:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Or the other option would be a breath work session.

[00:44:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Probably my favorite app for that is called Other Ship.

[00:44:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Even though there's also another really good one called the breath source.

[00:44:51] [SPEAKER_00]: And both of those have anywhere from like five to hour long breath work sessions

[00:44:56] [SPEAKER_00]: that kind of charge the body up with oxygen.

[00:44:58] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if you've ever done breath work James.

[00:45:00] [SPEAKER_02]: Not really.

[00:45:01] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I used to do yoga where, which is kind of breath work,

[00:45:04] [SPEAKER_02]: but I haven't done anything like using these apps.

[00:45:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:45:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Kind of hyper oxygenates the body and some of them really pick you up.

[00:45:12] [SPEAKER_00]: They have like nighttime sleep sessions and stuff on there too.

[00:45:14] [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, morning breath work and or morning stretching and shaking

[00:45:19] [SPEAKER_00]: and jumping up and down can be really good.

[00:45:21] [SPEAKER_00]: And then you could just like finish that hit the cold shower

[00:45:23] [SPEAKER_00]: and you'd be a lot more amped up than just, you know,

[00:45:26] [SPEAKER_00]: rolling out of bed and putting on the clothes

[00:45:28] [SPEAKER_00]: or taking a warm shower and heading down.

[00:45:30] [SPEAKER_02]: Now I know you're always like trying different experiments

[00:45:34] [SPEAKER_02]: and using yourself as the subject.

[00:45:36] [SPEAKER_02]: Like what are some of the latest experiments you've been up to?

[00:45:39] [SPEAKER_00]: The classic, what gives you explosive diarrhea and what doesn't question.

[00:45:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's see.

[00:45:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll just throw a few out that come top of mind

[00:45:47] [SPEAKER_00]: because these are like recent in the past few days.

[00:45:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Somebody sent me a bed of nails for your feet

[00:45:53] [SPEAKER_00]: which basically involves standing on two platforms

[00:45:55] [SPEAKER_00]: with tiny nails built into each platform or acupressure.

[00:46:00] [SPEAKER_00]: And it looked really painful.

[00:46:02] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think it was the name of the company's gravity mind

[00:46:04] [SPEAKER_00]: and they're meant to be standing on like maybe if you're at your standing desk

[00:46:08] [SPEAKER_00]: or doing some type of breath work session in the morning

[00:46:12] [SPEAKER_00]: or doing sunrise gazing or whatever.

[00:46:14] [SPEAKER_00]: And apparently it's like a 2000 plus year old tradition in India

[00:46:18] [SPEAKER_00]: for increasing your pain killing in dolphins and focus

[00:46:22] [SPEAKER_00]: and wakefulness molecules.

[00:46:23] [SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, I just got them a couple of days ago.

[00:46:27] [SPEAKER_00]: I've been standing around on them and they're actually are kind of cool

[00:46:29] [SPEAKER_00]: and they look super intimidating.

[00:46:31] [SPEAKER_00]: But once you get used to it and kind of know how to put your weight on them,

[00:46:34] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, probably not as good as Tony Robbins bed of coals that you run over or whatever.

[00:46:38] [SPEAKER_00]: But they seem to really kind of have an effect

[00:46:41] [SPEAKER_00]: in terms of the acupressure points on the feet.

[00:46:43] [SPEAKER_00]: And you've found a difference?

[00:46:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. Yeah. You kind of noticed this like it's almost like this

[00:46:49] [SPEAKER_00]: relaxed focus type of effects.

[00:46:50] [SPEAKER_00]: But again, like this is all just like brand new stuff fresh to your podcast, James.

[00:46:54] [SPEAKER_00]: So I haven't had a chance to mess around that much.

[00:46:57] [SPEAKER_00]: They seem pretty cool.

[00:46:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Another one there's a little device I've really been liking a lot lately.

[00:47:03] [SPEAKER_00]: You wear it on your ankle or your wrist and it vibrates for a specific responsive cue

[00:47:09] [SPEAKER_00]: that it's meant to get from the body like energy or focus or calm.

[00:47:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Like right before our podcasts, I usually take an afternoon siesta

[00:47:17] [SPEAKER_00]: and I put it in power nap mode and it plays calm and then it shifts into sleep.

[00:47:21] [SPEAKER_00]: And then it gradually goes back up into focus to wake you up.

[00:47:24] [SPEAKER_00]: So I took a power nap before our podcast and then I went and jumped into cold pool

[00:47:29] [SPEAKER_00]: and came in here and that one's called the Apollo.

[00:47:33] [SPEAKER_00]: And I also like it because if you wake up in the wee hours of the morning

[00:47:36] [SPEAKER_00]: and you want to go back to sleep,

[00:47:37] [SPEAKER_00]: you don't even have to pick up your phone or anything.

[00:47:39] [SPEAKER_00]: You just press a little button on it and it replays whatever sleep setting

[00:47:43] [SPEAKER_00]: that you were on when you were putting it on to first go to sleep.

[00:47:45] [SPEAKER_00]: So that one's pretty cool.

[00:47:47] [SPEAKER_00]: And then one other that is like a brand new thing I've been messing around with

[00:47:53] [SPEAKER_00]: is kind of interesting that my brother sent me a TikTok video yesterday

[00:47:58] [SPEAKER_00]: of this clinic in LA that is using for like vets with PTSD

[00:48:02] [SPEAKER_00]: or people who want to kind of do something like a plant medicine journey

[00:48:06] [SPEAKER_00]: without plant medicine.

[00:48:07] [SPEAKER_00]: They're using like these light strobes where you lay back with your eyes closed

[00:48:12] [SPEAKER_00]: and the light strobing over your head paired with specific sound and music

[00:48:16] [SPEAKER_00]: and audio cues to have a pretty profound effect on things like PTSD

[00:48:22] [SPEAKER_00]: and kind of rewire the brain.

[00:48:23] [SPEAKER_00]: And he sent me the video and I replied and I was like,

[00:48:26] [SPEAKER_00]: oh, I've had something very much like this for the past few weeks.

[00:48:29] [SPEAKER_00]: It's this thing called a neurovisor.

[00:48:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think it's made by a company out of Finland, I believe.

[00:48:34] [SPEAKER_00]: And you put it on and you close your eyes

[00:48:37] [SPEAKER_00]: and it makes all these flashy lights and you select on the app like creativity

[00:48:42] [SPEAKER_00]: or focus or decrease stress or whatever.

[00:48:46] [SPEAKER_00]: And it does this like 11 minute session and you put in your headphones

[00:48:50] [SPEAKER_00]: and it cues music to the lights and it's really cool.

[00:48:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know, you can lay back and do a session.

[00:48:55] [SPEAKER_00]: You feel like you're laying there for like an hour

[00:48:57] [SPEAKER_00]: and just 11 minutes go by and then you kind of just like sit up

[00:49:01] [SPEAKER_00]: and it's like a mini power nap or a creativity session

[00:49:04] [SPEAKER_00]: or whatever for your brain.

[00:49:05] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's light sound stimulation.

[00:49:07] [SPEAKER_00]: That one's called the neurovisor spelled with this.

[00:49:10] [SPEAKER_00]: This seems like a great thing.

[00:49:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Have you noticed this like kicking in?

[00:49:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Like, does it work?

[00:49:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it does.

[00:49:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Like if you're super tired and you don't have time for a longer nap,

[00:49:18] [SPEAKER_00]: like it seems to work well for that.

[00:49:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I put it on before sleep a couple of times

[00:49:21] [SPEAKER_00]: and then also just for almost like a movie in your brain,

[00:49:25] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, with a, you know, it's almost like you've just taken

[00:49:28] [SPEAKER_00]: a heroic dose of psilocybin or something like that,

[00:49:30] [SPEAKER_00]: but it's not all in your system and you're not like laid out for hours.

[00:49:33] [SPEAKER_00]: You just put it on and then when it's done, you turn it off.

[00:49:36] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's actually pretty cool.

[00:49:38] [SPEAKER_00]: And then over the weekend I experimented with plugging the phone audio

[00:49:44] [SPEAKER_00]: into this giant sound mat that I have.

[00:49:48] [SPEAKER_00]: It's made by a Korean company called Biomat.

[00:49:51] [SPEAKER_00]: They have something called an acoustic therapy mat

[00:49:53] [SPEAKER_00]: and it plays sound to the entire mat almost like you're soaking up

[00:49:56] [SPEAKER_00]: the sound through your body and then you plug headphones

[00:49:58] [SPEAKER_00]: and you could hear the sound through your ears too.

[00:50:01] [SPEAKER_00]: And so basically I plugged the Neurovisor app into that,

[00:50:05] [SPEAKER_00]: laid back and literally had a full sound bath session for my body

[00:50:10] [SPEAKER_00]: while looking at these lights with the headphones

[00:50:12] [SPEAKER_00]: and playing music in my ears.

[00:50:14] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's pretty cool.

[00:50:15] [SPEAKER_00]: It's like this mini little light sound trip

[00:50:18] [SPEAKER_00]: that just whisks you off to another planet for 11 minutes.

[00:50:21] [SPEAKER_02]: And this sounds like it's something you can easily travel with.

[00:50:24] [SPEAKER_02]: You could pack both of those in a bag.

[00:50:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Not the sound therapy mat.

[00:50:28] [SPEAKER_00]: That thing's pretty big,

[00:50:28] [SPEAKER_00]: but you could certainly pack Neurovisor.

[00:50:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And that Apollo thing, that little wearable,

[00:50:33] [SPEAKER_00]: that's like the size of a Fitbit.

[00:50:35] [SPEAKER_00]: So that one you can easily travel with.

[00:50:36] [SPEAKER_00]: And I actually like that on airplanes too,

[00:50:38] [SPEAKER_00]: for sleeping on airplanes.

[00:50:39] [SPEAKER_02]: And what about let's say actually in the competition?

[00:50:42] [SPEAKER_02]: So let's say I'm in...

[00:50:44] [SPEAKER_02]: So there's the glasses you mentioned,

[00:50:47] [SPEAKER_02]: the blockers,

[00:50:49] [SPEAKER_02]: but what else...

[00:50:51] [SPEAKER_02]: Let's say I feel like I'm losing focus during a game

[00:50:53] [SPEAKER_02]: or during a competition.

[00:50:55] [SPEAKER_02]: Or for anybody who's listening to this,

[00:50:56] [SPEAKER_02]: let's say they're losing focus during a test

[00:50:58] [SPEAKER_02]: or a musical competition or whatever it is they do.

[00:51:03] [SPEAKER_02]: What would be a good thing to like spike focus at the moment?

[00:51:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Pull out your eyelashes.

[00:51:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Now seriously, one thing I just mentioned it,

[00:51:11] [SPEAKER_00]: that Apollo device that you wear,

[00:51:13] [SPEAKER_00]: you could put that around your ankle,

[00:51:15] [SPEAKER_00]: put your phone in focus mode,

[00:51:16] [SPEAKER_00]: and anytime you're feeling a little leg and energy,

[00:51:18] [SPEAKER_00]: turn it on again.

[00:51:20] [SPEAKER_00]: That thing would be amazing.

[00:51:21] [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't even think of that

[00:51:22] [SPEAKER_00]: when I was telling you about some of the other stuff,

[00:51:23] [SPEAKER_00]: but that would definitely be up there.

[00:51:25] [SPEAKER_00]: The peppermint oil that I talked about,

[00:51:27] [SPEAKER_00]: just dabbing a little bit of extra on the lip,

[00:51:29] [SPEAKER_00]: that would be really good to get a little bit more advanced.

[00:51:32] [SPEAKER_00]: If you did wind up hooking up with Mad

[00:51:33] [SPEAKER_00]: or Limitless Life or Peptide Sciences

[00:51:36] [SPEAKER_00]: or anybody else and you have that intranasal

[00:51:37] [SPEAKER_00]: C-Lank, C-Max spray,

[00:51:39] [SPEAKER_00]: going in the bathroom, doing a few huffs of that,

[00:51:42] [SPEAKER_00]: coming back out, that would be also

[00:51:43] [SPEAKER_00]: a huge pick me up,

[00:51:45] [SPEAKER_00]: especially at the end of a long day.

[00:51:48] [SPEAKER_00]: And then...

[00:51:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay so we talked about NAD

[00:51:50] [SPEAKER_00]: and obviously maybe you don't have your bottle

[00:51:53] [SPEAKER_00]: at NAD capsules or whatever, your NR capsules there,

[00:51:55] [SPEAKER_00]: but they actually make patches.

[00:51:57] [SPEAKER_00]: There's a company called Ion Layer

[00:51:58] [SPEAKER_00]: and I use this on airplanes

[00:52:00] [SPEAKER_00]: because sometimes you feel kind of crappy after a long flight

[00:52:04] [SPEAKER_00]: flying to London

[00:52:04] [SPEAKER_00]: on Thursday and I'll wear one of these the whole flight.

[00:52:07] [SPEAKER_00]: But you just slap it on your inner thigh

[00:52:09] [SPEAKER_00]: or your butt or if you don't have a lot of hair

[00:52:11] [SPEAKER_00]: and it gives you like a 12 hour

[00:52:13] [SPEAKER_00]: slow bleed of NAD

[00:52:15] [SPEAKER_00]: directly into your bloodstream

[00:52:17] [SPEAKER_00]: almost like you were sitting there playing with an IV hooked up

[00:52:19] [SPEAKER_00]: but it's literally just putting

[00:52:21] [SPEAKER_00]: massive amounts of NAD into your system

[00:52:23] [SPEAKER_00]: and you feel pretty good on that.

[00:52:24] [SPEAKER_00]: And the interesting thing is that let's say

[00:52:27] [SPEAKER_00]: that you did have a poor night of sleep

[00:52:29] [SPEAKER_00]: NAD is fantastic

[00:52:31] [SPEAKER_00]: for sleep deprivation as well

[00:52:32] [SPEAKER_00]: but this is a high dose, this would be like

[00:52:34] [SPEAKER_00]: taking a couple of capsules of that thorn stuff

[00:52:36] [SPEAKER_00]: like every 15 minutes or whatever

[00:52:38] [SPEAKER_00]: but it's just like constantly going into your system

[00:52:40] [SPEAKER_00]: and you feel pretty good on that stuff too.

[00:52:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Could there be negative effects of taking so much?

[00:52:45] [SPEAKER_00]: If you took a whole lot

[00:52:47] [SPEAKER_00]: probably like more than about

[00:52:48] [SPEAKER_00]: 2000 milligrams you would probably

[00:52:50] [SPEAKER_00]: start to get like kind of queasy

[00:52:52] [SPEAKER_00]: and stomach upset but this is like

[00:52:54] [SPEAKER_00]: 1000 and it's

[00:52:56] [SPEAKER_00]: spread out over 12 to 14 hours

[00:52:58] [SPEAKER_00]: so there's not really

[00:53:00] [SPEAKER_00]: a problem with that. That's interesting.

[00:53:02] [SPEAKER_02]: I never really, with the NR

[00:53:04] [SPEAKER_02]: I've never really noticed kind of a daily effect

[00:53:06] [SPEAKER_02]: from it. I always thought it kind of just built up in your blood

[00:53:08] [SPEAKER_02]: over a long period of time and that's how it helped you.

[00:53:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Well to experience

[00:53:12] [SPEAKER_00]: it, try this, the next time you only sleep

[00:53:14] [SPEAKER_00]: about five hours or a poor night of sleep you're traveling

[00:53:16] [SPEAKER_00]: take about triple the dosage of it

[00:53:19] [SPEAKER_00]: and notice how you feel

[00:53:21] [SPEAKER_00]: after about a half hour.

[00:53:22] [SPEAKER_00]: If you normally take two capsules, take like six

[00:53:24] [SPEAKER_00]: and you actually do notice a pretty significant

[00:53:26] [SPEAKER_00]: effect when you take a little more NR

[00:53:28] [SPEAKER_00]: NAD on a sleep-deprived day.

[00:53:31] [SPEAKER_02]: That's fascinating because at the

[00:53:32] [SPEAKER_02]: end of these tournaments I'm always sleep-deprived

[00:53:35] [SPEAKER_02]: like there's no way to not be sleep-deprived

[00:53:37] [SPEAKER_02]: by the end. So I'm going to try that.

[00:53:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah there's

[00:53:41] [SPEAKER_00]: two other sleep deprivation.

[00:53:43] [SPEAKER_00]: One would be yoga nidra

[00:53:45] [SPEAKER_00]: typically you would play a yoga nidra session

[00:53:48] [SPEAKER_00]: like that sleep space app I told you about

[00:53:50] [SPEAKER_00]: there's a yoga nidra session on that and it's kind of

[00:53:52] [SPEAKER_00]: like a full body scan combined with relaxation

[00:53:54] [SPEAKER_00]: and you can do it within like

[00:53:56] [SPEAKER_00]: 20 minutes and they've shown that to

[00:53:58] [SPEAKER_00]: assist with a quick rest

[00:54:00] [SPEAKER_00]: in the middle of a sleep-deprived state

[00:54:01] [SPEAKER_00]: to put a little bit of energy back into your system

[00:54:03] [SPEAKER_00]: and then similar to NAD

[00:54:05] [SPEAKER_00]: the other kind of like molecule

[00:54:08] [SPEAKER_00]: that has good research behind it

[00:54:10] [SPEAKER_00]: for wakefulness

[00:54:11] [SPEAKER_00]: in the face of sleep deprivation

[00:54:13] [SPEAKER_00]: is pretty cheap and widely available

[00:54:16] [SPEAKER_00]: and that's just plain old creatine

[00:54:18] [SPEAKER_00]: about five grams of creatine powder

[00:54:20] [SPEAKER_00]: that you can mix into your coffee or your morning water or whatever.

[00:54:23] [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't know that isn't so creatine what is that?

[00:54:27] [SPEAKER_00]: It is an amino acid

[00:54:28] [SPEAKER_00]: that traditionally was made popular because of its effects on muscle strength

[00:54:32] [SPEAKER_00]: and power but

[00:54:33] [SPEAKER_00]: ongoing research has demonstrated it to be beneficial

[00:54:36] [SPEAKER_00]: for things like staving off muscle loss

[00:54:38] [SPEAKER_00]: with age

[00:54:39] [SPEAKER_00]: for wakefulness in a sleep-deprived state

[00:54:41] [SPEAKER_00]: for a little bit of a DNA protective effect

[00:54:43] [SPEAKER_00]: and it's probably

[00:54:45] [SPEAKER_00]: in addition to fish oil

[00:54:46] [SPEAKER_00]: one of the most studied and proven

[00:54:49] [SPEAKER_00]: safe, effective

[00:54:51] [SPEAKER_00]: affordable and widely available

[00:54:53] [SPEAKER_00]: supplements that exist.

[00:54:55] [SPEAKER_02]: Now what's the deal with things like

[00:54:57] [SPEAKER_02]: both caffeine and at the other

[00:54:59] [SPEAKER_02]: extreme Adderall?

[00:55:01] [SPEAKER_02]: Like do they work

[00:55:02] [SPEAKER_02]: or the nootropics you recommended

[00:55:05] [SPEAKER_02]: are better or how does all that come into play?

[00:55:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Caffeine can induce

[00:55:10] [SPEAKER_00]: the wakefulness enhancing state

[00:55:12] [SPEAKER_00]: depending on how fast you oxidize

[00:55:15] [SPEAKER_00]: or metabolize it. It can also cause

[00:55:17] [SPEAKER_00]: a lot of jitteriness

[00:55:18] [SPEAKER_00]: and a come down effect that dictates

[00:55:20] [SPEAKER_00]: that I think that

[00:55:22] [SPEAKER_00]: the main reason I drink coffee in the morning is to have

[00:55:24] [SPEAKER_00]: a good poop about a half hour later

[00:55:26] [SPEAKER_00]: but I don't think coffee

[00:55:28] [SPEAKER_00]: I think coffee is pretty old school and doesn't work as well

[00:55:30] [SPEAKER_00]: as a lot of these nootropics

[00:55:32] [SPEAKER_00]: many of which have caffeine in them. The other problem with coffee

[00:55:34] [SPEAKER_00]: of course is you got to have like good organic coffee

[00:55:36] [SPEAKER_00]: because coffee is notoriously kind of like a

[00:55:38] [SPEAKER_00]: moldy bean so you want to be careful with that.

[00:55:41] [SPEAKER_00]: And then Adderall

[00:55:42] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, Adderall

[00:55:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I think it has some issues

[00:55:46] [SPEAKER_00]: in terms of

[00:55:47] [SPEAKER_00]: a little bit of irritability that you'll see

[00:55:51] [SPEAKER_00]: associated with it

[00:55:52] [SPEAKER_00]: sometimes ups and downs in the focus

[00:55:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm a much, much bigger fan

[00:55:56] [SPEAKER_00]: as a matter of fact I've had some people who have used

[00:55:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Adderall and switched off it to these more natural

[00:56:01] [SPEAKER_00]: nootropics or even

[00:56:02] [SPEAKER_00]: peptides and found that they get much more

[00:56:04] [SPEAKER_00]: stable energy and focus

[00:56:06] [SPEAKER_00]: and not quite as much irritability

[00:56:08] [SPEAKER_00]: as they would get on something like Adderall

[00:56:10] [SPEAKER_00]: which some people report. So I think there's better

[00:56:12] [SPEAKER_00]: alternatives to Adderall out there now

[00:56:15] [SPEAKER_02]: You know so much stuff

[00:56:16] [SPEAKER_02]: like you go to your 10 doctors but I go to

[00:56:18] [SPEAKER_02]: you so

[00:56:20] [SPEAKER_02]: I love one of the 10 doctors because you're going to them

[00:56:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Dude, I'm a dummy I just learned all this stuff from

[00:56:24] [SPEAKER_00]: people I interview on podcasts

[00:56:26] [SPEAKER_02]: That's fine

[00:56:27] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't interview them because you do and then I talk to

[00:56:30] [SPEAKER_02]: you so what else are you

[00:56:32] [SPEAKER_02]: working on? Where can people find your stuff?

[00:56:34] [SPEAKER_02]: What should they look for in your site?

[00:56:37] [SPEAKER_00]: I've been getting a lot into parenting

[00:56:38] [SPEAKER_00]: and family and been

[00:56:40] [SPEAKER_00]: doing a lot of content related to that

[00:56:42] [SPEAKER_00]: you know education, discipline, legacy

[00:56:44] [SPEAKER_00]: finances and building family

[00:56:46] [SPEAKER_00]: wealth things along those lines so I just

[00:56:48] [SPEAKER_00]: published a book called Boundless Parenting

[00:56:50] [SPEAKER_00]: That was my last book and you could get

[00:56:52] [SPEAKER_00]: down on Amazon or whatever the audio book

[00:56:54] [SPEAKER_00]: just came out. I interviewed like 32 different

[00:56:56] [SPEAKER_00]: parents and they each like recorded

[00:56:58] [SPEAKER_00]: their own chapter of the audio book and

[00:57:00] [SPEAKER_00]: it's got all sorts of wit and wisdom from

[00:57:02] [SPEAKER_00]: from all different types of really

[00:57:04] [SPEAKER_00]: impressive parents and entrepreneurs

[00:57:06] [SPEAKER_00]: and teachers and educators and so that

[00:57:08] [SPEAKER_00]: one's my newest work

[00:57:10] [SPEAKER_00]: and then I'm currently

[00:57:12] [SPEAKER_00]: working on a new cookbook. It's actually finished

[00:57:14] [SPEAKER_00]: all the I have a team in Australia

[00:57:16] [SPEAKER_00]: doing all the food photography right now

[00:57:18] [SPEAKER_00]: but the original cookbook is at

[00:57:20] [SPEAKER_00]: boundlesscookbooks.com and the second cookbook

[00:57:22] [SPEAKER_00]: comes out soon and then

[00:57:24] [SPEAKER_00]: my website, my podcast everything is just

[00:57:26] [SPEAKER_00]: just at Ben Greenfield life.com

[00:57:29] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah and I highly recommend to people all the articles

[00:57:31] [SPEAKER_02]: on your site. It's always fascinating stuff

[00:57:33] [SPEAKER_02]: you're definitely always hitting

[00:57:35] [SPEAKER_02]: the cutting edge it's not all the usual

[00:57:37] [SPEAKER_02]: stuff it's extra like you just

[00:57:39] [SPEAKER_00]: did in this podcast. Just put the finishing touches

[00:57:41] [SPEAKER_00]: it comes out tomorrow morning

[00:57:43] [SPEAKER_00]: huge article on NAD

[00:57:44] [SPEAKER_00]: you're gonna love that one. Okay great

[00:57:46] [SPEAKER_02]: yeah no I had David Sinclair on my podcast

[00:57:49] [SPEAKER_02]: several times he's always such a smart guy

[00:57:51] [SPEAKER_02]: and I've had the guys from Thoranon

[00:57:52] [SPEAKER_02]: so I've done a lot of anti-age I also had that

[00:57:54] [SPEAKER_02]: what do you think of that guy Brian Johnson? He's come on the podcast

[00:57:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah he's super informed and well researched

[00:57:59] [SPEAKER_00]: I think he's almost like

[00:58:01] [SPEAKER_00]: people might laugh about this coming from me but he's almost like

[00:58:04] [SPEAKER_00]: too strict for me

[00:58:05] [SPEAKER_00]: like I don't think I could keep up with him

[00:58:07] [SPEAKER_00]: you know not eating anything after

[00:58:09] [SPEAKER_00]: noon and having the same thing seven days a week

[00:58:11] [SPEAKER_00]: to eat and taking the

[00:58:13] [SPEAKER_00]: 100 and some supplements in the morning it's impressive

[00:58:15] [SPEAKER_00]: like I would not be surprised if that dude

[00:58:17] [SPEAKER_00]: lives a very long time

[00:58:18] [SPEAKER_00]: but I don't know if I could keep up with him

[00:58:20] [SPEAKER_00]: as far as the attentiveness

[00:58:22] [SPEAKER_00]: and thoroughness and strictness that he

[00:58:24] [SPEAKER_00]: that he manages his longevity program by

[00:58:26] [SPEAKER_00]: but everything I've seen him

[00:58:28] [SPEAKER_00]: do is something that I can definitely say there's

[00:58:30] [SPEAKER_00]: good research behind so

[00:58:32] [SPEAKER_00]: if you can keep up with him. That's funny

[00:58:34] [SPEAKER_02]: because I would think you would be able to

[00:58:36] [SPEAKER_02]: like how many supplements a day do you take?

[00:58:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh

[00:58:41] [SPEAKER_00]: probably about

[00:58:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I would say maybe 20 different

[00:58:44] [SPEAKER_00]: supplements

[00:58:46] [SPEAKER_00]: compared to like 120

[00:58:49] [SPEAKER_00]: and I'm a foodie

[00:58:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I do like hard exercise I do

[00:58:52] [SPEAKER_00]: dangerous things sometimes you know spear fishing

[00:58:54] [SPEAKER_00]: and freediving and bow hunting and like he's

[00:58:56] [SPEAKER_00]: very into risk mitigation

[00:58:58] [SPEAKER_00]: on all fronts I also

[00:59:00] [SPEAKER_00]: kind of like I'm in the lifting heavy weights

[00:59:02] [SPEAKER_00]: like I do some stuff that technically

[00:59:04] [SPEAKER_00]: would kind of like tear up the body

[00:59:06] [SPEAKER_00]: or beat it up a little bit I mean hell I did like 20 years

[00:59:08] [SPEAKER_00]: of triathlon racing which

[00:59:10] [SPEAKER_00]: theoretically is really bad for your heart at the level I was

[00:59:12] [SPEAKER_00]: doing it so I think I

[00:59:14] [SPEAKER_00]: I live a little bit too

[00:59:16] [SPEAKER_00]: fast dangerous exciting

[00:59:18] [SPEAKER_00]: widely varied life

[00:59:20] [SPEAKER_00]: to do Brian's full protocol

[00:59:22] [SPEAKER_02]: it's interesting

[00:59:23] [SPEAKER_02]: interesting the role of risk mitigation because I would think to some extent taking risks

[00:59:27] [SPEAKER_02]: is

[00:59:28] [SPEAKER_02]: rewarded by nature

[00:59:30] [SPEAKER_00]: yeah not really

[00:59:31] [SPEAKER_00]: because it would potentially

[00:59:33] [SPEAKER_00]: put the population at risk

[00:59:35] [SPEAKER_00]: and you know potentially

[00:59:37] [SPEAKER_00]: have a lot of people you know dying off from

[00:59:39] [SPEAKER_00]: risk activities versus staying as safe as possible managing

[00:59:42] [SPEAKER_00]: calories as well as possible

[00:59:43] [SPEAKER_00]: keeping the environment as predictable as possible

[00:59:45] [SPEAKER_00]: and engaging in

[00:59:48] [SPEAKER_00]: some things that would cause the bite to become stronger

[00:59:51] [SPEAKER_00]: like high intake of plant-based antioxidants

[00:59:54] [SPEAKER_00]: or

[00:59:55] [SPEAKER_00]: you know sane amounts of training

[00:59:58] [SPEAKER_00]: or sauna or things like that

[00:59:59] [SPEAKER_00]: but I think that

[01:00:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Brian will definitely if we continue on the same path

[01:00:04] [SPEAKER_00]: live significantly longer than me

[01:00:06] [SPEAKER_00]: but I might have more fun than him

[01:00:08] [SPEAKER_00]: well what about calorie restriction what's your views on that

[01:00:11] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm a fan

[01:00:12] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm a fan of again

[01:00:14] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't go as deep into it as Brian

[01:00:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I probably eat about 3,000 calories a day

[01:00:18] [SPEAKER_00]: but I'm also pretty active

[01:00:20] [SPEAKER_00]: and

[01:00:20] [SPEAKER_00]: I sometimes feel like eating a wide variety of foods

[01:00:23] [SPEAKER_00]: and adequate calories and then staying very active

[01:00:25] [SPEAKER_00]: you kind of feel like you have more energy and more vigor

[01:00:27] [SPEAKER_00]: than restricting calories and sitting around a lot

[01:00:30] [SPEAKER_00]: but I do it intermittent fast

[01:00:31] [SPEAKER_00]: so 12 to 16 hours a day typically

[01:00:33] [SPEAKER_00]: at bedtime all the way up until like 10 a.m. in the morning

[01:00:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't eat any calories

[01:00:38] [SPEAKER_00]: and then a couple of times a month

[01:00:40] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll do it longer fast usually like if I'm traveling

[01:00:42] [SPEAKER_00]: doing airline travel stuff like that I'll do it

[01:00:43] [SPEAKER_00]: 16 to 24 hour fast

[01:00:45] [SPEAKER_00]: I think there's definitely something to it

[01:00:47] [SPEAKER_02]: do you think I once read that

[01:00:49] [SPEAKER_02]: not eating the 24 hours before you go on

[01:00:52] [SPEAKER_02]: let's say a

[01:00:53] [SPEAKER_02]: you know transatlantic flight

[01:00:55] [SPEAKER_02]: that you'll avoid jet lag do you think there's some truth to that

[01:00:58] [SPEAKER_00]: yeah there is

[01:01:00] [SPEAKER_00]: simply because the oxidation of food

[01:01:02] [SPEAKER_00]: the increase in metabolic rate

[01:01:03] [SPEAKER_00]: and some of the inflammation that gets piled on top

[01:01:05] [SPEAKER_00]: of the radiation and inflammation

[01:01:07] [SPEAKER_00]: that you're already experiencing on the airplane

[01:01:09] [SPEAKER_00]: dictates that

[01:01:10] [SPEAKER_00]: if you're able to restrict the appetite

[01:01:13] [SPEAKER_00]: while you fly it can be a good idea

[01:01:14] [SPEAKER_00]: problem is I get very hungry when I'm sitting around

[01:01:16] [SPEAKER_00]: and bored and watching movies on an airplane or whatever

[01:01:18] [SPEAKER_00]: so I travel with liquid ketones

[01:01:21] [SPEAKER_00]: and those keep my appetite really well

[01:01:23] [SPEAKER_00]: satiated but still allow your body

[01:01:25] [SPEAKER_00]: to be in a fasting state

[01:01:26] [SPEAKER_00]: so there are companies like HVMN

[01:01:29] [SPEAKER_00]: or ketone aid

[01:01:30] [SPEAKER_00]: and they sell these little 2 to 3 ounce ketone shots

[01:01:33] [SPEAKER_00]: and I'll typically just like slam one of those

[01:01:35] [SPEAKER_00]: every few hours during a long plane flight

[01:01:37] [SPEAKER_00]: and it seems to help out quite a bit

[01:01:39] [SPEAKER_00]: with jet lag and ketones

[01:01:41] [SPEAKER_00]: also have a little bit of an anti-inflammatory effect

[01:01:43] [SPEAKER_00]: so you know something like that

[01:01:45] [SPEAKER_00]: and then just lots of water can be a pretty good idea

[01:01:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Ben I can't tell you how much I appreciate all this

[01:01:50] [SPEAKER_02]: like you have so much information

[01:01:51] [SPEAKER_02]: you're always so knowledgeable about all this stuff

[01:01:54] [SPEAKER_02]: and

[01:01:54] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm gonna have to just read the transcript

[01:01:56] [SPEAKER_02]: because I'm gonna forget everything after this podcast is over

[01:01:59] [SPEAKER_02]: but

[01:02:00] [SPEAKER_02]: chat GPT do the summary for you

[01:02:02] [SPEAKER_02]: yeah that's a good idea actually

[01:02:04] [SPEAKER_02]: what app do you use there's read.ai

[01:02:06] [SPEAKER_02]: there's the script

[01:02:08] [SPEAKER_02]: what do you use to summarize a podcast

[01:02:10] [SPEAKER_00]: I use two different

[01:02:12] [SPEAKER_00]: things I use

[01:02:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Adify if it's a YouTube

[01:02:16] [SPEAKER_00]: video as a plugin

[01:02:18] [SPEAKER_00]: for YouTube and then I just

[01:02:20] [SPEAKER_00]: use the iOS or

[01:02:22] [SPEAKER_00]: the browser based chat

[01:02:24] [SPEAKER_00]: GPT plus

[01:02:26] [SPEAKER_00]: and tell it to summarize

[01:02:28] [SPEAKER_00]: and sometimes it'll depend on podcasts

[01:02:30] [SPEAKER_00]: and how much time I have sometimes I'll request

[01:02:32] [SPEAKER_00]: like a one page summary with quick bullet point

[01:02:34] [SPEAKER_00]: sometimes I'll request like a six page summary

[01:02:37] [SPEAKER_00]: that has time stamps and

[01:02:38] [SPEAKER_00]: breaks down each author etc

[01:02:40] [SPEAKER_00]: so that's usually what I'll use

[01:02:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Ben again thanks so much

[01:02:44] [SPEAKER_02]: what's the URL of your website

[01:02:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Ben Greenfield Life.com

[01:02:49] [SPEAKER_02]: and also people should

[01:02:50] [SPEAKER_02]: check out the boundless cookbook.com

[01:02:53] [SPEAKER_02]: what's the and boundless parent thing

[01:02:55] [SPEAKER_02]: plus I recommend to everybody

[01:02:56] [SPEAKER_02]: boundless I have it like

[01:02:58] [SPEAKER_02]: right there on my shelf

[01:03:00] [SPEAKER_02]: so boundless incredible book it's like

[01:03:03] [SPEAKER_02]: the best book I've ever read about

[01:03:04] [SPEAKER_02]: physical health thanks man

[01:03:06] [SPEAKER_02]: that means a lot coming from you

[01:03:07] [SPEAKER_02]: I recommended it all over the place

[01:03:10] [SPEAKER_02]: so hopefully it keeps on selling

[01:03:13] [SPEAKER_02]: awesome well I appreciate it

[01:03:14] [SPEAKER_02]: I'll send you a royalty check soon I promise

[01:03:15] [SPEAKER_02]: no worries Ben thanks so much

[01:03:18] [SPEAKER_02]: thank you