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Tis' the season to raise our glasses with friends and family! The good news is that the resulting hangovers can be hacked.
Many biohackers choose to abstain from spirits altogether but especially during the holidays, they are missing out on a lot of good times, unforgettable memories, and festive fellowship with their loved ones. This article will present a holistic protocol for mitigating all the downsides of rowdy revelry so you can indulge in some drinkingĀ guilt-free and without hating yourself the morning after.
Skip the pre-packaged "Hangover Cures"
Years ago I had a dubious career as a nightclub promoter, my job was to organize and host raucous parties at nightclubs. Several companies offering "hangover cures" sent me ample samples of their funny-tasting dissolving tablets and packets. I did quite a bit of drinking, I tried them all and they really didn't do much to mitigate the headache, sluggishness, acid reflux, and cognitive downgrade the morning after. I suspect that a lot of these products don't contain high-quality, bioactive individual ingredients or just rely on the placebo effect. Hacking a hangover requires a few supplements and vitamins, you'll want to get these individually from credible sources which ideally verify purity with a publicly published certificate of analysis.
Block the Acetaldehyde
Crucially, you want to take some supplements that will block the alcohol from converting into poisonousĀ Acetaldehyde.Ā Acetaldehyde is the culprit to blame for much of the damage that alcohol does to our health;Ā it causes cancer,Ā liver damage, fatigue, loss of intelligence (as you've certainly experienced after too many drinks) along with skin wrinkles (just go and look at the current Facebook photos of your old drinking friends if you want to see this!)
You'll want to start your booze biohacking with N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC), take 500 - 1000 milligrams BEFORE drinking.
Vitamin CĀ - Is a notable poor man's boozing biohack (which even an elitist like myself uses). Vitamin C is ascorbic acid which helps your liver to metabolize the liquor and clear the toxins from the body. Take it before or while drinking, serious boozing biohackers will take one Vitamin C tablet with each drink.
Detoxify the Liver
While you're relaxing and enjoying a drink, your liver is doing the dirty work of processing the booze and filtering out the worst of the toxins in it. You'll want to take some steps to fortify your liver and detox it.
Ā Glutathione is the master antioxidant, and it's a smart idea to supplement it if you're going to be doing a little (or a lot of) drinking. In a sense, you always have a mini-hangover asĀ your body is depletingĀ Glutathione all the time but alcohol is especially costly of your Glutathione stores.
* It's rocket fuel for your liver function. From a 2017 clinicalĀ trial,Ā Glutathione plays crucial roles in the detoxification and antioxidant systems of cells and has been used to treat acute poisoning and chronic liver diseases...Ā
* It's a powerful intercellular antioxidant.Ā Glutathione as a molecule is very charitable with its electrons, thus blocking the oxidizing free radicals that the booze introduces from their rape and pillaging of your biology.
* It enhances immunity. As you may have experienced, alcohol retards immunity. If you've ever caught the flu or a cold in the chilly days following some holiday binge drinking you have only yourself to blame! Glutathione fortifies the immune system, from some German researchĀ The immune system works best if the lymphoid cells have a delicately balanced intermediate level of glutathione.
Double Wood Supplements offers COA-verified pureĀ S-Acetyl L-Glutathione, manufactured in the USA.Ā Glutathione supplements are all the rage but mostĀ Glutathione is not highly orally bioavailable (nor is it cheap) so I suggest you choose theĀ S-Acetyl version which is better absorbed. Double Wood's customers praise it highly as aĀ boozing biohack, Juan reported:
I put it to the test by consuming alcoholic beverages [to] the point of intoxication (in a safe monitored environment) and then immediately took two capsules of the Acetyl L-Glutathione. Surprisingly the next morning my hangover was dramatically reduced. I then repeated the test a week later with the same amount of alcohol without the supplement and my hangover was very bad. I did this 4 more times and every time the hangover was almost nonexistent with the supplement vs not taking it.
From a verified customer review,Ā Works great for detox and hangovers,Ā on Amazon:Ā
I take this with DHM when having a few cocktails. 1 of each before drinking, 1 of each before bed, and 1 of each first thing in the AM. Hangovers are either completely prevented or very short lived!Ā
Take 100-300 milligrams during or after drinking.
Colostrum - Taking your Glutathione hacking to the next level demands the chelation of the heavy metal iron in the gut. Chelation comes from the Latin word, Chela which means Claw, so chelators claw stubborn toxins out of your body. Chelating supplements and foods are a smart idea for any biohacker, but Colostrum contains Lacto-Theron, a quintessential Glutathione cofactor.
Ā Alpha Lipoic AcidĀ - This is another formidable antioxidant that supports Glutathione. The ALA supplements should be refrigerated. Take 400 milligrams before drinking.
Clean up the Toxins
What makes you hungover is the toxins in the alcohol that hang around in your body wreaking havoc. There are a couple of supplements you'll want to take after drinking that have a molecular affinity for toxins, they capture toxins so they can be washed out of your body.
Ā One of the more pharmacologically interesting and effective hangover hacks I've tried is Dihydromyricetin (DHM), it's been widely studied (+200 papers on Pubmed). It has the curious effect of sobering you up when 300 - 900 milligrams are taken after a few drinks.
It was evaluated against a placebo in a 2015 clinical trial ofĀ sixty adults withĀ nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
We conclude that dihydromyricetin supplementation improves glucose and lipid metabolism as well as various biochemical parameters in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and the therapeutic effects of dihydromyricetin are likely attributable to improved insulin resistance and decreases in the serum levels of tumor necrosis...
What people are reporting...
Mary S.
effective at reducing intoxication and preventing hangover.
Mr D.
Only thing Ive had reduce the heavy hangover after a night of [indulging].
D.
It really works for me. I wake up feeling ready to take on the day. Hangovers get worse as you get older... These have been a lifesaver.
Staci
I am known for terrible hangovers and praying to the porcelain Gods most of the morning, sometimes the whole day. Never a fun experience. After reading reviews on this hangover miracle, I decided to try it out myself. It definitely works!
Mitch U. - Don't Drink Without It
As I've gotten older, my hangovers have gotten much worse. After the equivalent of 2 drinks, I'll wake up feeling at least a little crummy. As an avid consumer of craft beers, that can sometimes mean that 1 beer is actually closer to 3-4. I've now started taking DHM as a way to help make that 3-4 drinks make me feel more like how 1-2 really should the next morning. I'll also take it whenever we have a bottle share, which can turn a completely useless next day into merely an uncomfortable one.
DHM is a great idea for Asians, who may suffer from Asian Flush while drinking...
I have used other products for hangover relief, but they don't help with Asian Flush. This condition affects 20-25% of Asians from southern regions. I inherited it from my father, who came from Guangdong, China. The most obvious symptom is that my face turns bright red after only 2 sips of beer, but it also gives me headaches while drinking, and it increases my risk of stomach/esophageal cancer and peptic ulcers due to a genetic inability to efficiently metabolize alcohol... I learned about DHM from a study which found that DHM specifically alleviates this condition. I've been using this product for 10 months, and it has worked very well for me.Reported Ronny on Amazon
ActivatedĀ CharcoalĀ hacks your hangover by cleaning up toxins lingering in your system.
Imagine the carbon of the activated charcoal as an accordion, it's a stretchy molecule that envelops and captures toxins. Importantly, you want to take the Activated Charcoal a few hours after the other supplements - taking it with them may disrupt their absorption and function. Typically, I'll take the other supplements (DHM, NAC, or Glutathione) before or while drinking, and then a few hours later before going to sleep, I'll take a tablet or two of charcoal. Funnily, chewing up charcoal tablets will turn your mouth black but, don't worry, it won't stain your teeth. Just wash down the tablets with water.
If you can afford to splurge a little, Bulletproof offers fancy coconut charcoal - yes, coconuts are so healthy that even consuming burned coconut shells is good for you. If not, you can buy cheap activated charcoal at almost any pharmacy.
Charcoal is a historical biohack, since time immemorial people have been consuming charcoal to improve digestion...
Protect Your DNA
Shockingly (sarcasm!) alcohol is not good for your DNA. The toxins in booze throw a wrench into the process of cellular genesis, thus alcoholism is a causal factor in various cancers of the mouth, throat, liver, colon, rectum, and breasts. B-Vitamins protect your DNA from everything from air pollution to toxins and oxidants.Ā
Biohacking Boozing Protocol
* Before drinking take 500 - 1000 milligrams of NACĀ
* Take 400 milligrams of ALA before drinking
* Before or while drinking take someĀ Vitamin CĀ tablets
* While or after drinking take 100 - 300 milligrams of Glutathione
* After drinking, a few hours after taking the other supplements, take a tablet or two of Activated CharcoalĀ
* The next day stay hydrated and take some B Vitamins
Do the hangover hacks need to be taken in exactly this order? Not necessarily. Alcohol and hangovers are notoriously unpredictable, so you'll want to do some A/B testing. Try taking the Glutathione, NAC, or DHM in isolation and see how that compares with another night out (eating and drinking the same stuff) stacking those supplements. Try just using Activated Charcoal, try taking it before, during, and after drinking, and see how that affects the occurrence of a hangover. If you're drinking with some regularity there's no reason not to do some experimentation and self-monitoring to figure out what works for you.
Ā Choose Your Poison...
What you drink has a lot to do with how you'll feel the next morning.Ā In Search of a Cure for the Dreaded Hangover published in Scientific American explains thatĀ alcoholās congeners...
...include acetaldehyde itself as well as acetone, fusel oil, furfural, methanol's metabolites, polyphenols, histamines, esters, tannins, amines and amides, among others...Ā congeners increased hangover severity, with people feeling worse after bourbon. Bourbon whiskey has 37 times the congeners as vodka because bourbon ages in oak barrels, leaching out various molecules.
The darker liquors contain more congeners. So avoid brandy, tequila, whiskey, dark beer, red wine, and especially bourbon. Drink the lighter stuff,Ā white rum, white wine, clear tequila, vodka, and gin.
If you love wine, you'll want organic, biodynamic wine in your glass which is offered by FitVine WineĀ and Dry Farm Wines, both based in California.
So drinking triple-distilled vodka is your best bet. For those who don't mind dropping some coin, Chopin VodkaĀ is the top-ranked organic potato vodka, I dare you to sip some of this smooth stuff and not feel limitless!
Everclear, surprisingly, is a good option for your boozing, if you want to minimize toxin intake and the corresponding hangover. As its name suggests, it's a highly filtered liquor that isĀ clear of the toxins that most liquor is rife with according to ethical hedonist and pro-biohacker Thomas DeLauer.
For the elite biohacking beer drinkers out there, you'll want to start drinking Groot or Gruit beer. The vast majority of the tasty beers that you can find refrigerated in a liquor store near you are made from fermented hops, as Mark Sloan explains in the video below, hops has a concerning estrogenic effect. Contrary to the message of millions of beer ads you've seen, beer, hormonally, makes you less manly.
Groot beer is a heritage European-style beer made of fermented testosterone-promoting herbs as opposed to hops. Reportedly, it tastes amazing and enhances the libido and cognition making you just a bit wittier and verbose while imbibing. I'd love to try it but it's hard to find in stores, you'll likely need to order it from an online beer store.
Biohacking Your... Skin?
Since the Acetaldehyde in alcohol is bad for your skin, it's advisable to take some additional steps to care for your skin. Eat raw coconut, and take the Adaptogen Schisandra along with Collagen. If you want to take your skin hacking to the next level (affordably) you'll want to useĀ EXOMITINĀ® which is infused with the innovative mitochondrial antioxidant SKQ1.
Phenibut - The Alcohol Alternative
Perhaps you're reading this and thinking to yourself...
Alcohol is a ridiculous waste of money. Even if I took all these supplements it's still not great for me. I wish there was some legal social lubricant that wasn't so costly...
There is! You can replace a social drinking habit for about $2 nightly with Phenibut, one of my favorite social life lifehacks.
Phenibut has a Gabaergic effect similar to alcohol, it makes you more playfully social and takes the edge off. The notable difference is that Phenibut makes music sound cooler, you'll know that the Phenibut is working when you enjoy music more.
Downloadable Gabaergics?
When I don't have Phenibut, I take it as an infocuetical cocktail with Piracetam,Ā Diazepam, Duloxetine, Fluoxetine, and Venlafaxine. This isĀ a non-pharmacological, side-effect-free version of the drug that takes advantage of the phenomenon ofĀ water memoryĀ - which is imprinted on water via quantum collocation and electromagnetism using this device...
Infocueticals typically have 1/3 or half the effect of the actual medicine being imprinted. It may sound too good to be true but I find that the water infused with the GabaergicĀ infoceutical reliably has a tranquilizing, relaxing effect similar to what I'd expect from Phenibut. And yes, the hangover-hacking supplements listed here are available asĀ infoceuticals, I combined them in the Hangover Prevention Super Stack, chase your cocktails with that!
If you're skeptical of Infopathy that's understandable, it's a game-changing application of a little-known scientific phenomenon. But I'd urge you to evaluate the scientific evidence (presented in my biohacker review) thatĀ downloadable medicine is no longer science fiction...
A few other boozing lifehacks...
* Sniff twice, sip once - The slower you drink the less you drink and the less hungover you'll be. My lifehack for this is to raise my drink to my face and sniff my drink twice, every time I take a swig. Those around you will rarely notice you're not sniffing and not sipping.
* Drink the good stuff - The cheap stuff often tastes like stale pond water and contains more toxins. Spend a little more to drink the stuff you'll really enjoy. It costing more will (hopefully) motivate you to drink less.
* Sleep hack
* Intermittent sobriety - Try taking 30 or 60 days off booze; when you take some extended time off booze you break the dependency your neurobiology has on the stuff. I don't consider myself an alcoholic, I very rarely get drunk, but I'll often have a single drink with dinner 4-6 nights a week. If I'm honest with myself I do develop a bit of a dependency - when I enjoy a drink at dinner I'm less mindful about managing my stress with daily meditation and exercise - which is good to break from time with a month or two of intermittent sobriety. When I didĀ 100 Days of Ethical Hedonism in South America's #1 Vice City I discovered that staying sober for a couple of months sharpens your social skills and trains you to master your mindset; to draw state from within as opposed to relying on booze to be socially confident.
* Non-alcoholic adult beverages - Try non-alcoholic beer, some non-alcoholic beers taste great. It's still a hoppy sugar avalanche but if you don't want to look like a total dork at a party it's a good option. Elite non-boozers opt for aesthetically bottled adult beverages, you'll look like a real cool cat drinking premium glass bottled or sparkling water (San Pellegrino, Voss, Perrier, etc).
Cheers! To your health!
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Personal genotyping is a Biohacking gamechanger
It gives you an ocean of actionable data about yourself - what kind of diet is ideal for you, how much coffee you should be drinking, how much Vitamin D you need to supplement, which vices you can flirt with and which you must absolutely avoid, if you should do endurance or power training in the gym, etc. And it lets you know which kind of life-ruining genetic conditions you might need a prevention plan for to enjoy a long life of beauty, joy, and meaning.
Personal genotyping gets complicated fast, so I recently read the book on personal genotyping, Outsmart Your Genes by Dr. Brandon Colby, and I learned some things about the common mistakes health-conscious, prevention-minded people make when it comes to personal genotyping. These are high-stakes mistakes with perhaps the ultimate consequence if you end up misinformed by the genotyping results you get.
1. Freaking out over red-flagged genes correlated to disease based on preliminary research
The real value of a personalized genetic report is the insight into the potential health disasters looming in your future; diabetes, Alzheimer's, cognitive decline, Glaucoma, Schizophrenia, mental health disorders, heart disease, and cancer.We've all got some problematic genes. Some diseases are 100 percent genetic, and if you have one dominant or two recessive genes for one of these diseases you will most likely be affected by it to some degree.What's crucial, however, is that we distinguish between preliminary and replicated research, in your genetic risk assessment. We don't want to freak out about a problematic allele if there's anything less than conclusive, replicated scientific research indicating that it may wreck your life. Sadly, not all personal genomics services provide the level of clarity needed in their reports.
2. Choosing anything less than whole genome sequencing
From the book
Full genome sequencing is the pinnacle of genetic testing technology. While other testing technologies have provided us with pieces of information, this is the method by which we are able to determine all 6 billion letters of your entire genetic makeup at a single time. Thanks to the latest advances in genetic testing technology, what took the Human Genome Project 13 years and almost $3 billion to accomplish we can now do in a few days or weeks...
Anything less and you're not getting the whole picture, which is what you really need if the genotyping is going to inform the lifestyle decisions you make for the rest of your (hopefully long) life.
3. Genetic analysis by unregulated or non-certified labs
it is very important for you to ensure that whatever laboratory the company uses has either CLIA or ISO- 15189 certification... which means it is regulated and certified by an independent federal agency. The most important thing for you to understand right now is that there is tremendous variability in the laboratories that offer genetic testing and that not all of them are regulated.
Not surprisingly, many services cut corners by getting the analysis done at labs that don't meet the highest standards. We've all heard horror stories about labs mixing up customer samples leading to dire misdiagnoses (or more humorously, men being told they are pregnant!) This is why you really don't want your genotyping done at a cut-rate lab.
4. Skimping on crucial variant analysis for rare diseases
This is a concern even with whole genome sequencing services...
One misrepresentation Iāve encountered quite often is that a company may advertise the number of genetic variants it tests for, but that doesnāt mean it uses them all in its analysis. For example, the companyās website or marketing materials might state, āWe read more than 500,000 locations in your genome,ā āWe capture over 900,000 markers in the genetic code,ā or āWe test over 1 million places in your DNA,ā but notice that the wording here (read, capture, and test) does not ever mention analyze in relation to disease risk.
If you're going to get your personal genotyping done you don't want to save $100 going with a service that omits the crucial analysis of a gene variant that may be linked to a rare form of cancer, for example. Dr. Colby concludes
The bottom line is that not all companies are able to test for and/ or analyze a large number of variants that are known to be associated with a disease. Even a personal genomics company that offers full genome sequencing (and therefore tests for all variants) may only use a very small amount of that information in its analysis of disease risk.
5. Pre-determination doom-mongering avoidance
Many don't like the idea of personal genotyping because they don't want to live their life in fear of an "inevitable" condition they might suffer from. But this is shallow, low-agency thinking, as almost every disease can be Biohacked and prevented. Dr. Colby writes
The most important piece of information to remember is that even if your genes predispose you to a disease, your total risk of contracting the disease is not set in stone... By predicting your future, you are empowered to change it.
When it comes to your genetic risk factors, ignorance is not bliss and the wages of ignorance may be decades of wholely preventable suffering leading to death.
After writing Outsmart Your Genes, Dr. Brandon Colby went on to found Sequencing.com, a genome sequencing platform, with regulated CLIA or CAP accredited labs, that analyzes 3 billion genetic variants for more than 15,000 rare diseases and critically distinguishes in its reports and on its Next-Gen Disease Screen app between preliminary and conclusive science when it comes to any problematic genes you may have.Ā I also really like their Privacy Forever policy.
When you get your genetic analysis reports from them you can dive into the ocean of data about you, and you'll emerge with a pearl, the closest thing to a perfect prevention plan, that you can use to go on the offensive against the specific to the genetic risks you face.
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For more about my time in the "wild wild east" read the chapter, A Spy in Kyiv? from my book, hereā¦
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I interview fitness guru,Ā Nootropics impresario, and large human,Ā Neal Thakkar of Evolvere.
We discuss the downsides to bodybuilding, fitness hacks, Modafinil vs Mindfulness, and the potent Nootropic stack he's created -Ā QUANTUMiND. Whether or not you should bring your smartphone to the gym. Why Modafinil is a problematicĀ anti-empathy drug. We discuss the workout supplements HMB, Yohimbine, CBD, and Creatine.Ā Neal warns aboutĀ common mistakes to avoid making in the gym, like why...
āYou shouldn't do cardio in the gym BEFORE lifting weights.ā
Listen to this on the go here with the Castbox.FM app
Discussed...
1:21 About Neal3:35 Why quit bodybuilding6:22 Nootropics and Bodybuilding7:30 Key Performance Indicators in the gym?13:54 Appropriate frequency and intensity of workouts for newbies16:02 Should you use your smartphone in the gym?20:26 Mistakes to avoid when youāre new to the gym22:26 Pre and post-workout mealsWorkout Supplements28:10 Yohimbine29:47 HMB32:03 Creatine36:47 CBD39:50 Why Muy Thai?44:00 Modafinil vs Mindfulness51:27 Modafinil is Problematic [Infographic]56:36 QUANTUMiND - a COA-verified Nootropic StackFood Forensics Book Review1:00:00 QUANTUMiNDās ingredients1:07:37 Nealās Nootropic journey1:16:06 Liberating humanity from the dark ages of health science...
Check out Neal on Instagram orĀ FacebookĀ and learn more about his productĀ QUANTUMiND, here...
Update: Unfortunately,Ā QUANTUMiND is no longer available. I'm glad I got the chance to try it.
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Start by downloading three types of Biohacking apps and conducting a simple daily self-quantification experiment...
1. Brain Training App
This will help you establish a baseline of your cognition and memory, which will be enhanced by Nootropics.Ā I'm a big fan of Dual N-BackĀ which is the most clinically efficacious brain training task.
The popular appsĀ LumosityĀ and Focus - Train your Brain are decent options if you find Dual N-Back too boring.
2. Meditation App
10-20 minutes of meditation a day is important to increase your awareness of your state of mind and how it's affected by smart drugs. The Headspace app app is free and a great place to start if you a new to meditation.
3. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) App
I like Instant Heart Rate by AzumioĀ for Android,Ā for iPhone try Elite HRV or the native Apple Health app on the Apple Watch. The Nootropic agents in Caballo will improve your stress management.
Try to pick a consistent time to use these three every day, usually around lunch in the afternoon or early evening. I recommend taking the HRV stress measurement first, the brain training second, and the meditation third - this is your self-quantificationĀ mindfulness regimen. Ideally, you want to conduct it during a time when no major life events are occurring, as the purpose of using these three apps is to establish your baselines of stress and cognition.
4. Audio Recording App
This might seem a little weird but you are going to be recording yourself speaking, you want to record yourself in a variety of social situations; like just hanging out with friends or family, at work, and in a high-pressure social situation if possible (like on a date!) I like Miidio Recorder for Android (Evernote voice notes will also work on any device) you just pull your phone out (which is totally normal in social settings), tap the record widget, and nonchalantly leave your phone on the table. This requires just a little stealth, make sure whoever you are with does not see that you are recording your conversation. Then listen back to your conversation, before you go to bed or whenever, and you can hear how you sound and establish a baseline of your verbal ability.
5. Sleep Tracking App
Nootropic ingredients should improve the quality of your sleep, so we are going to integrate some sleep quality tracking into our self-quantification experiment. The best app I've found for this is Sleep Cycle. So download Sleep Cycle, and add a sleep note for whatever Nootropics you're taking - you shouldn't be taking stimulating Nootropics before bed but there may be an effect on your sleep quality on the days you take them.
It's going to take about 20 minutes a day for several days, then...
Take a Racetam-Rich Nootropic Stack
Some of Nootropic's ingredients are water-soluble and some are fat-soluble so it's a good idea to take it with a healthy fat source (Tuna, avocado, or DHA fish oil capsules) and a drink (water or tea is fine).Day 1: Take the recommended dosage in the morning. Make a note of the time you take the Nootropics and how much later it takes for it to kick in (when you find yourself deep in the focus zone) and when it loses its effect (usually within 4-6 hours).Day 2: Just repeat Day 1, unless you found the recommended dosage too intense. The purpose of these two days is to figure out what the approximate half-life of the Nootropics is in your system.Day 3: Once you've established the half-life of Nootropics in your system (usually in between 4-6 hours) take a 3rd dose about 30 minutes before the half-life ends.Day 4: If you haven't found your intake of Nootropic too intense up to this point this time decrease the third dosage. The objective here is to find the upper limit to which you can be comfortably cognitively enhanced too.
Of course, you are going to continue the self-quantification apps when you start taking Nootropics. There should be a very acute difference in the quantifiable measurements of your mindfulness practice and your verbal wittiness while you are dosed onĀ Nootropics - particularly Racetams, likeĀ Piracetam.
IF you get headaches...
That's a sign that you may need to increase the choline in your system, a Nootropic stack should include bioavailable sources of Choline, but you may need more choline to balance the Racetams. Choline is easy to get from dietary sources, my favorite is eggs!
IF you get tired...
That's a likely sign of excessive Choline in your system - probably means you are getting a lot of Choline from elsewhere in your diet that you could probably cut back on, at least on the days you are taking a Choline rich-stack - I'm looking at you guy who has 8 eggs every morning!
I developed this holistic self-experiment protocol originally for the smart drug I created, Caballo. It's now EXCLUSIVELY AVAILABLE to clients of our flagship transformationalĀ program, AnakainoĢsis.
However, you can enhance your cognitive capital by using the self-quantification protocol described here in conjunction withĀ any Nootropic stack, particularly Racetam-rich Nootropics.
For more self-quantification protocols and guides for taking your biohacking to the next levelā¦
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The placebo effect is one of the most reliable things in science, so much so that every goodĀ human clinical trial accounts for it. Belief has power, clearly. And this book delves into how to yield it without invoking too much pseudospiritual silliness.
You've probably heard all your life that belief and consciousness have power. Power to transform your life, to determine your future, to heal your body, and to change the world around you. This book, better than any other I've read, breaks down why and how that works without delving into a lot of pseudoscientific nonsense.
The placebo effect is the healing power of belief
how people can take a sugar pill or get a saline injection and then their belief in something outside of themselves makes them get better.
The flip side of the placebo effect is the nocebo effect
a harmless substance that, thanks to strong expectations, causes harmful effects.
nocebo (Latin for āI shall harm,ā as opposed to āI shall please,ā the Latin translation of placebo), referring to an inert substance that causes a harmful effectāsimply because someone believes or expects it will harm her.Ā (p. 29)
The book thoroughly documents a number of fantastic cases of the placebo effect working...
* The author's own story, his back was badly broken as a young man when a car hit him while he was cycling, he was told by doctors that he would never walk again unless he received invasive surgery. Instead, he chose to heal himself with the power of the mind. He went home, spent hoursĀ daily meditating and visualizing his body healing and amazingly in 12 weeks his severe back injury was totally healed and he was back to lifting weights!
* In a 2002 trial of 180 patients (that's statistically significant), some received sham placebo surgery, and amazingly their knees healed themselves, their pain went away and the patients could walk again,Ā neither of the two groups who actually had the surgery improved any more than the patients who received the placebo surgeryāand this held true even after two years.
* Fake heart surgery is similarly effective,Ā 67 percent of the patients who had received the actual surgery felt less pain and needed less medication, while 83 percent of those who had received the sham surgery enjoyed the same level of improvement. The placebo surgery had actually worked better than the real surgery!
* A Harvard study of elderly men who were placed in an environment for several days that was meticulously and convincingly designed to feel like it was from 22 years earlier and the men's biological aging markers when measured showed a positive regression towards a more youthful state. They felt and acted younger and amazingly various symptoms of aging disappeared in just a few days.
* A wheelchair-bound woman suffering from crippling multiple sclerosis who healed herself and reversed her condition just by the power of meditation.
* People who died of cancer that upon autopsy didn't actually have cancer.
The power of the placebo is well documented in this book and the scientific literature referenced. In your own experience (or that of those close to you) you can probably think of examples of the placebo effect working. The placebo effect is so common that over 150,000 published clinical trials mention it prominently, it's a universal factor in our health.
The Red Pill formula for Biohacking cognitive capital. A combination of the highest potency Racetams for a profoundly enhanced cognitive experience.
Update:Ā Caballo is now EXCLUSIVELY AVAILABLE to clients of our flagship transformationalĀ program, AnakainoĢsis.
*Warning: May turn you into a James Bond villain.
The Caballo Story
I had heard of this mysterious, yet potent stack for a long time, from some of the biohackers in my inner circle. After identifying the highest quality, 3rd-party-verified pharmaceutical-grade individual components and putting them through a thorough quality control process, I've created an efficacious smart drug that equals Modafinil.
Why Caballo?
I wanted to name my smart drug something that communicates power and grace, so I named it after the legendarily graceful and powerful beast that has carried humans to build their empires since time immemorial. I choose to use the Spanish word for Horse because I was living in MedellĆn, Colombia when I discovered this potent stack of cognitive enhancers that empowers a spirit of vivacity and zest for life which is quintessentially Latin.Caballo Pronunciation: Kab-eye-show
Half Piracetam
I've taken the Caballo stack myself for years and while it creates a great sensation of pleasantly intense focus similar to Modafinil. I've found that if I take two 800-milligram capsules of Piracetam at the same time, it adds some body energy (like coffee) and gives me an extra degree of verbal ability. So I've added Piracetam to Caballo, Piracetam will comprise half of the Caballo supplement.Piracetam is going to go in black capsules and the Caballo stack in red capsules. This will allow the biohacker (you) to self-experiment with the amount of Piracetam - the truth about Piracetam is you need to experiment a little bit with the dosage to figure out what works well for you.For me, 1000 milligrams of Piracetam and 1000 milligrams of the red pill formula stackĀ puts me in the zone. For you it may be a 1:2 proportion, a 1:3 proportion or you may even find that Piracetam works better than Caballo for you, it's certainly cheaper. In which case you'll probably stop purchasing Caballo and you'll start buying Piracetam, which is fine with me. I'm confident enough in the proprietary Caballo stack I've created that, I'm not going to hide the proportion of Piracetam it contains.I genuinely just want to sell people the smart drugs that will work the best for them.
A Pharmaceutical-Grade Stack
This is a pharmaceutical-grade product and all the individual ingredients have been 3rd party laboratory verified. See the PDFs below.
The pharmaceutical-grade nootropic ingredients of Caballo
Shown in +40Ā human studies to Biohack...
* Cognition
* Cognitive Decline
* Cognitive Disorders
* Creativity
* Depression
* Fatigue
* Forgetting
* Functionality in Elderly or Injured
* Growth Hormone
* Memory
* Migraine
* Power Output
* Quality of Life
* Sleep Quality
* Symptoms of Alzheimer's
* Subjective Well-Being
* Stress
* Verbal Fluency
* Working Memory
A Modafinil Alternative
This animated infographic compares Caballo and Modafinil in over 20 different dimensions...
The Invisible Game
There's an invisible game being played around you.For the winners, this game ROIs in the form of being hooked up with cool stuff. It's the inside track to the most lucrative business opportunities. It's where trade secrets are exchanged, peak experiences are shared, and the most sublime flavors of hedonism are enjoyed. To win in this invisible game you must participate in a secret society. I know because I've been a part of three secret societies...
The 1st is Biohackers; people who take their personal development seriously and hack it - using drugs, technology, diet, and mindfulness to gain an unfair advantage in all the arenas in which they compete.The 2nd I'll describe as dudes who do business on the Internet and aren't afraid to travel to dodgy countries. We have a certain kinship because we know that it takes a keen savvy, boldness, and madness to make one's living while disregarding borders and geopolitical risk.The 3rd I'm going to refrain from naming here.
Sometimes, I'll meet someone and within minutes from just a few subtle gestures, mannerisms, or expressions I'll know they are in one of these secret societies. We have a bond immediately. We'll go out of our way to help each other. We play a little game of trying to be the one giving the most value to the other. Our private conversations will be frank, useful, and free of political correctness or meaningless small talk.
If you scoff or are skeptical of what I'm saying here - if you hold the quaint belief that the only way to be successful and get what you want in life is to work hard - it's because you aren't in a secret society. You don't know how much we get hooked up. Someone in the secret society, over a succulent meal at one of the better restaurants in Medellin, Colombia shared with me a formula for a novel smart drug, that would become Caballo.
This smart drug and the similarly peerless AnakainoĢsis program are filters for a secret society; a narrow gateway for those willing to play the invisible game. Learn more about our flagship transformational program here.
Share this with a biohacker who has tried over 50 Nootropicsā¦
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NMNĀ is a refined form of Vitamin B3 that feeds your Mitochondria the crucialĀ fuel, NAD, that it needs to empower your health.
Elite anti-aging researchers at places like Harvard identify it as a promising molecular piece to the longevity puzzle and, most interestingly to me, the self-quantification community has identified it as a Nootropic; an enhancer of energy, motivation, and cognition.
When deciding on a Nootropic or anti-aging tool I urge biohackers to take a dual-pronged approach...
* Look at the science on Pubmed - Pubmed is the international database of scientific studies, papers published in journals, and clinical trials.Ā There areĀ over a hundred scientific papersĀ about NMN and 34 items of human research, which is a respectable body of science.
* Consider the anecdotal evidenceĀ - Along with the published science you want to give some consideration to what rigorous self-experimenters are reporting about the effects of a given Nootropic or anti-aging agent. A single anecdote is not really useful, it's just an unverifiable data point, but if ten people are saying the same thing that's meaningful. On Longecity.org, the most popular anti-aging forum, you can find several hundred posts discussing the subjecting effects and documenting the blood test data resulting from NMN experimentation.
This article will delve into the science and some of the more credible anecdotal signals of what to expect from NMN.
Anti-Aging
As the decades pass, the entropy of life throws a wrench into our Mitochondrial function which manifests as dementia, Alzheimer's, and heart disease. Dr. Philip Milgram of the NAD Treatment Center in San Diego, California proclaimed:
"NAD will turn out to be one of the greatest advances in medical science since Fleming invented penicillin."
The esteemed Harvard researcher David Sinclair has devoted years to studying the NAD molecule and takesĀ 500 - 1000 milligrams of NMN daily.
Notably, over 70% of NMN users responded positively to the survey question,Ā Does taking NMN make you feel younger?
Alzheimerās Treatment
There are 15 papers indicating NMN as a promising treatment forĀ Alzheimerās disease, a 2017 Chinese paper goes as far as saying that NMN reverses Alzheimerās via a JNK activation mechanism. A 2015 animal study out of theĀ University of Maryland, School of Medicine in Baltimore found that it preserves mitochondrial function, it was demonstrated that:
...mitochondrial respiratory function was restored in NMN-treated AD-Tg mice. Levels of SIRT1 and CD38 change with age and NMN treatment. Furthermore, we found a shift in dynamics from fission to fusion proteins in the NMN-treated mice.
Weight Loss
A pioneering and articulate biohacker,Ā LawrenceW, used NMN for about a year and meticulously reported the effects and subjective experienceĀ on Longecity.Ā
My weight beginning to drop within a couple of days. Within weeks I felt that I was shedding belly fat and noticed a visible flattening of my tummy...Ā On January 7, 2016, I recorded my lowest weight of 196.8, a loss of 19.1 lbs.Ā At that time, I also noticed an increase in strength, endurance and muscle size.Ā By the end of the program I weighed 208 and I believe that I had lost around 20 lbs. of fat and replaced it with around 12 lbs. of muscle.
This is a place where the anecdotal reports don't necessarily agree with the study results, two animal studies done by David Sinclair are inconclusive about NMN's weight loss effects but concluded that:
Overall these data suggest that while exercise and NMN-supplementation can induce similar reversal of the glucose intolerance induced by obesity...
Diabetes Treatment
27 Pubmed results draw a connection between NMN and Diabetes. A 2019 Japanese paper summarizes:
Additionally, a decline in NAD levels is closely related to the development of various metabolic disorders, including diabetes and fatty liver disease. In addition, many studies have revealed that administration of NAD precursors, such as nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN)... efficiently increase NAD levels in various tissues and prevent such metabolic diseases.
David Sinclair credits the combination of NMN and the controversial drug Metformin for reversing his pre-diabetic status. In the survey, respondents indicated that theĀ biomarkersĀ C-reactive protein andĀ blood urea nitrogen (BUN)Ā a as a result of extended NMN use.
Addiction Recovery
Before the New York Times was praising (and then criticizing, and then praising) NAD+ as an anti-aging gamechanger it was renowned as a powerful tool by addiction centers in the noble business of saving souls lost to drug and alcohol addiction. Three books on Amazon detail rehab protocols and case studies of success with NAD treatment. There are no scientific papers discussing NMN specifically and addiction but it stands to reason that it would be helpful to those with more mild addictions, in addiction centers they use NAD intravenously, which is a more direct way of getting the NAD molecule which NMN is a precursor of.
Increased Energy and Motivation
According to the clickbaity title of this Daily Mail article (which is surrounded by an atrocious amount of annoying banner ads!), NMN gave David Sinclair's 70-year-old father the energyĀ of a 30-year-old, which sounds unbelievable but it's corroborated by a handful of anecdotal reports by elderly and middle-aged biohackers.Ā LawrenceWĀ here has found NMN to be the closest thing to a real-life Benjamin Button Biohack:
Several months into the original regimen of NMN my neighbors were stopping me and commenting that I was looking healthier, younger, more energetic, buff, really good, etc.Ā One of the more interesting comments was that I was moving like a much younger person. After that comment I focused on my walking mechanics and realized that I was walking with a much straighter posture with shoulders back, chest out and a looser, more fluid and quicker stride as all my joints were more flexible and pain free. Physically, I felt like my body did 20 years earlier.
Workout Performance Enhancer
500 - 1000 milligrams of NMN reportedly unlocks greater reserves of physical strength. A middle-aged biohacker enthusiastically reports:Ā
The big change was increased endurance in the gym and on my bike. I had more and more āgood daysā, and found I was increasing the weights I used, and getting better times when I worked hard on the bike...Ā Now, I can push weights in the gym like I did 20 years ago.
The majority of the respondents to the NMN survey noted an uptick inĀ physical energy.
Arthritis Treatment
LawrenceW,Ā an elderly (but very sharp) biohacker reported:Ā
When I was on NMN, the arthritis in my knuckles began to clear in the 3rd week. By the 3rd month all of the arthritis in every joint in my body had cleared. That was the same experience for 3 other members of our NMN group that also had arthritis. When I went off the NMN, the arthritis started to come back after about a month and after 1 year of no NMN, it had returned to all of the joints that were previously affected but not to the pre-NMN degree of pain and stiffness. After 1 year of no NMN, I tried Niagen for 3 months. After 3 months I did not notice any clearing of arthritis from any of my joints. After the 3 months on Niagen I restarted my NMN regimen. Once again by the 3rd week I noticed that the arthritis had started clearing from my joints and by the 3rd month the arthritis had once again cleared from every joint in my body... NMN had cleared the arthritis from every joint in my body.
And a handful of other anecdotes can be found around the internet hinting that it could be a real godsend to those suffering from arthritis. A single 2019 animal study evaluated NMN's role in addressingĀ arthritis.
Anti-Inflammatory
Chronic inflammatory response is at the core of much chronic disease and suffering. There are a handful of published papers and studies evaluating NMN as an inflammation hack. A 2019 animal study out of the Medical College of Georgia summarizes...
Further studies showed improvement in mā¦
To anyone who stays abreast of wide social trends, itās increasingly obvious that the world is rapidly becoming worse for those of lower and average intelligence.
The extinction of jobs comprised of rote, repetitive, and unsophisticated tasks is a dire inevitability thanks to the aggressive innovation that our economy fundamentally relies on. In the past, those of low or average intelligence were practically guaranteed an unremarkable life of labor in a factory or a field, fast forward to the very near future and nothing is guaranteed. The only hope is to stay well ahead of the curve of automation. Itās time to invest in your own cognitive capital.
Update: The red pill formula is the differentiating feature of the smart drug that I created, Caballo. It's now EXCLUSIVELY AVAILABLE to clients of our flagship transformationalĀ program, AnakainoĢsis.Ā However, you can enhance your cognitive capital by using the Nootropics and biohacking protocol described here.
What is Cognitive Capital?
Competitive firms are increasingly considering the impact on their bottom line of that which cannot be automated or outsourced; the cognitive abilities of their organizationās members.Professor Jerry Muller, the author of The Mind and the Market, articulated it best:
āā¦a period of growing equality of access to education and increasing stratification of marketplace rewards, both of which have increased the importance of human capital. One element of human capital is cognitive ability: quickness of mind, the ability to infer and apply patterns drawn from experience, and the ability to deal with mental complexity. Another is character and social skills: self-discipline, persistence, responsibility. And a third is actual knowledge. All of these are becoming increasingly crucial for success in the post-industrial marketplace.ā (March 2013, Foreign Affairs)
Abilities heightened in those who are rich in Cognitive Capital...
* Working memory
* Rapid access to episodic memory
* Problem-solving ability
* Pattern recognition
* Mathematics proficiency
* Geo-spatial awareness
* Fluid intelligence
* Decision making
* Accuracy of semantic memory
The red pill
The ingredients of the Red Pill are selected for the advantage they imbue in cognitively demanding work, making it ideal for...
* Fixing a programming error in a block of RoR code
* Preparing a risk assessment for a client
* Studying for the MCAT exam
* Clarifying the quantitative analysis of a stock's trading patterns
* Engineering a widget
* Performing a backlink audit
* Making sense of sloppy accounting records
* Designing a really intuitive app or website
The Red Pill Formula is comprised of these pharmaceutical-grade Nootropics...
Oxiracetam
An Ampakine that modulates the AMPA Receptor and promotes long-term potentiation (LTP) according to a paper published in the British Journal of Pharmacology. Long-term potentiation is the foundation of memory, itās the process of signal enhancement on a microscopic level between neurons. We rely on it for personal development, learning new skill sets, and much more.The racetam is reported anecdotally all over the Internet to aid logic, mathematic, or spatial intelligence-intensive tasks. To quote an insightful review of the smart drug:
āSometimes ideas and concepts will come to mind seemingly void of emotion, meaning it is (apparently) easier to get to the point of the matter. This is a difficult concept to articulate. I can see a potential advantage in those cases in where emotional bias might otherwise cloud oneās logical reasoning process.ā
In the second part of Professor Mullerās statement, he lists self-discipline as an important factor in human capital, Iāve often called Oxiracetam the discipline molecule, because when Iām on it I just do a hundred percent of what I know I should be doing. Itās one of the most effective biohacks for self-control.
Pramiracetam
A University of Modena study of 35 men compared and contrasted the effects of memory training and Pramiracetam, it concluded:
Results showed that objective memory gains of the two groups receiving pramiracetam were significantly larger than that of the [memory training] and [control] groups⦠In the [drug therapy] group, the level of depression, negatively interfered with metamemory but not with actual memory performance.
From a 2010 review:
[Pramiracetam] significantly improved some memory activities, especially delayed recall (30ā50%) during 18 months of therapy and 1 month of follow- up.
Alpha-GPC
The third factor of human capital is technical skill sets and abilities. Neuroplasticity is the capacity of our minds to adapt to novelty ā learning Portuguese, studying philosophy, or starting a martial art ā and thrive. Personal development of any significance requires that the gears of the mechanisms of Neuroplasticity are well-greased.A 2009 paper Alternative medicine review stated:Ā [Alpha GPC] is neuroprotective and supports neuroplasticity via nerve growth factor receptors.Ā ACh plays an especially important role in the formation of new long-term memories;Ā a 2007 German study of 12 healthy human subjects, includes some great insights,Ā Cholinergic neuromodulation is pivotal for arousal, attention, and cognitive processesā¦Ā The German study went on to say thatā¦
ā¦it has been hypothesized that ACh enhances the signal-to-noise ratio of input processing⦠These findings are in line with a cholinergic focusing effect that optimizes the detection of relevant signals during information processing in humans.
This finding is great news for overwhelmed lifehackers, entrepreneurs, professionals, and students, who face the continual challenge of distraction. The healthy Germans in the study got better at focusing on the important information due to the long-term excitability that ACh facilitates. Itās well said that we live finite lives in an age of infinite distraction; the screens that are rarely further than an armās reach away from us are constantly socially engineering us to ignore our actual goals and instead get stuck in the quicksand of digital amusement. Nootropics like this are a potent tool for getting unstuck.
Noopept
There are two proposed mechanisms of action of Noopept...
* Sensitizing effect on acetylcholine processes ā Noopept has a synergistic ācholinosensitizingā effect with the Alpha-GPC in Caballo, wherein acetylcholine delivery to the neuron is improved.
* Induction of neurotrophin production ā according to a 2008 studyĀ which found that it calibrated Brain-derived neurotrophic factor. To quote the study: Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that neurotrophin synthesis in the hippocampus determines cognitive function, particularly in consolidation and delayed memory retrievalā¦
TyrosineY and MagnesiumX
The proprietary nutraceutical ingredients of Caballo, our secret cognition sauce.
Caballo is a tool for biohacking Cognitive Capital in the long and short term.
In the short term, it imbues an appreciable cognitive advantage within 4ā6 hours of dosing. If youāve followed the Caballo Protocol, the data will reveal a statistically significant uptick in your brain training scores while you are on Caballo for geospatial tasks, math ability, reaction times, and working memory. Which will manifest in professional performance improvements inā¦Taking second and third doses of Caballo, Iāve maintained a persistent focus on difficult web development and SEO tasks for up to 12 hours.
Caballoās long-term positive effects correlate to the second half of Professor Mullerās statement...
āā¦Another is character and social skills: self-discipline, persistence, responsibility. And a third is actual knowledge. All of these are becoming increasingly crucial for success in the post-industrial marketplace.ā
Smart drugs are the gateway drug to genuine personal development, which is a lot of grueling, hard work with limited immediate payoff. When people first experience the near-instantaneous upgrade of focus, memory, motivation, and cognition resulting from smart drugs they begin to ask what else they can do that will make theā¦
Nootropics are more than smart drugs, increasingly the science being done by leading anti-aging researchers is showing us that they are crucial pieces to the puzzle of longevity.
Defeating death may sound totally hyperbolic, a pipe dream of transhumanists. Are you going to live forever because of any one of these Nootropics? Probably not, but they contribute powerfully toward escape velocity longevity.
Ray Kurzweil subtitled a book Live Long Enough to Live Forever, and that's the goal here. Science has not yet unlocked the formula for immortality, but all the incentives are aligned for it to do so, it's not unrealistic to expect that in this century it will. If you can avoid being taken out by heart disease, cancer, cognitive decline (or an errant SUV!) for about the next 80 years, medicine will likely offer you the option to live as long as you want (if you can afford it).
These Nootropics do enhance the mind, but not by stimulating you like caffeine or spiking a particular neurotransmitter. They energize you simply by empowering the body to do what it does naturally. They feed your mitochondria, the fundamental energy generation mechanism of all life, what it needs to thrive and detox your body from the daily onslaught of toxins in the environment.
Carbon 60 Fullerenes
This is 60 carbon molecules arrayed symmetrically which is aĀ super antioxidant.Ā
In longevity clinical trials, it holds the distinction of extending lifespan by an unprecedented 90%, this was an animal trial in which it prevented the tumors that typically kill off the rats. Will it have the same effect in humans, extending lifespan from say 70 years to 133? We won't know until someone takes C60 from cradle to grave, but death has a formidable opponent in this beautiful little molecule!
The carbon molecule has a remarkable effect of chelating toxins in the body. It's such a powerful antioxidant that it can create a (temporarily unpleasant)Ā Herxheimer reactionĀ when it starts clawing a lot of toxins out of your deep tissues and they enter your bloodstream, so you want to start with a moderate lower dose, be mindful of how it's affecting you the first week on it and be patient with the detox process.
C60 is one of my favorite anti-aging supplements because unlike a lot of Nootropics it's not weird a tasting powder or another capsule that you have to remember to take, you consume it in tasty pure olive oil.
NMN/NR/NAD+
NAD supplementation is a hack for smarter genes. If you left all the lights in your house on all the time, you would be wasting a lot of electricity and have to change lightbulbs all the time. Similarly, our health really suffers when the epigenetic switches on our genes don't get switched on and off properly. That's just what the NAD molecule does, it's metabolized from Vitamin B3, NMN is the most bioavailable form that can be taken as a supplement.
The champion of NAD research is the Harvard anti-aging scientist and author Dr. David Sinclair, he did an interview with Joe Rogan discussing its important role in epigenetic function:
āYou can think of resveratrol as the accelerator pedal for the sirtuin genes, and NMN as the fuelā
Dr. Philip Milgram, an addiction treatment practitionerĀ proclaimed:
"NAD will turn out to be one of the greatest advances in medical science since Fleming invented penicillin."
Glutathione
Is recognized as the master antioxidant. Without getting too academic,Ā antioxidants are crucial because as Aubrey De Grey is fond of saying...
"Breathing is bad for us."
Breathing (and eating and, well, pretty much everything else we do) produces a lot of errant molecules bouncing around in our cells generally wreaking havoc and eventually causing aging. Glutathione lends electrons to all these troublesome molecular interlopers allowing them to be cleaned up and washed out of the body. Imagine a big house full of a bunch of crazy little kids that are bouncing off the walls and tearing up the place, Glutathione is like the rich uncle who shows up and says Look, here's $10 for each of you. Go outside to play and let me get some peace and quiet here!
Like a lot of anti-aging supplements, you don't want just any old Glutathione, as it's not very bioavailable in many forms, you want either liposomal or the S-Acetyl form.
CoQ10
If you're in your late 30's or older this Nootropic should be on your biohacker RADAR (and hopefully in your cabinet). It is a darling of anti-aging researchers worldwide with overĀ 100 human clinical trials in the past 5 years alone. Dr. Lee Know recently wrote a book summarizing the state of the art of mitochondria research.
He holds CoQ10 in high esteem, writing...
Iām pretty sure few would willingly suffer through the host of degenerative diseases associated with dysfunctional mitochondria brought about by CoQ10 deficiency. Iām sure most readers would like to live their lives ā whether long or short ā in the best health possible.Ā Thus, preventive use of CoQ10 could possibly start in our late thirties.Ā (2467-2472)
Unfortunately, several forms of CoQ10 are quite useless (which doesn't stop your local pharmacy from selling them!). Dr. Know advises
Ubiquinol ( reduced CoQ10 ) seems to offer much better absorption than ubiquinone ( oxidized CoQ10), and water-soluble ( solubilized ) ubiquinol is even better absorbed. (2364-2368)
A few sources that meet this high standard...
* Ā Qunol Mega Ubiquinol CoQ10
* Ā Nordic Naturals - Ubiquinol
* Ā Jarrow Formulas QH-Absorb
The conclusion reached in the book is that Mitochondrial dysfunction is what underlies almost all common diseases of aging. Get your Mitochondria right and you can anticipate living as long as you want to in good health. CoQ10 is a quintessential hack for healthspan; you don't want to be the 89-year-old hobbling around a nursing home forgetting your grandchildren's names, you want to be a 109-year-old who can go hiking with your great-grandchildren.
SKQ1
SKQ1 is a smart antioxidant, it's a molecular tug that drags a molecule of the antioxidant PQQ directly into the mitochondria, which it has a magnetic affinity for.
Of these anti-aging tools, SKQ1 is the furthest out of the bleeding edge of innovation, currently, its only applications are in mitochondrial eyedrops (which I've used and do recommend, especially if you spend way too much time staring at computer screens) and a beautification skin cream. SKQ1 is the in process of clinical trials for approval by the FDA, I anticipate that in the coming years, we'll see some exciting anti-aging drugs and supplements developed using it.
You might be asking...
Which of these anti-aging Nootropics is the best? If you could only afford one which would it be?
Sorry, there's no simple answer to that. They all have different mechanisms, corresponding strengths, and are demonstrated to treat different health issues. Even if you're a millionaire, what I wouldn't do is order them all and take them altogether. When you stack a bunch of different things, the effects of an individual Nootropic get conflated with everything else. My recommendation is to try each of them alone for at least a month, that's usually the minimum amount of time needed for the effects of an anti-aging supplement to start to become apparent. The anti-aging Nootropics are powerful and effective, you should notice something after a month and perhaps sooner. Keep a journal about how you're feeling week-to-week and note...
* How you're sleeping
* How much energy you have
* Your general mood
* Any appetite change
* Any weight change
* Any change to your libido
* Improvements to your skin or hair
* Brain training scores (I recommend Dual-Back)
If you're willing to spend a little bit of time and track how these different supplements affect you over several months you'll figure out a few things that work for you. Once you know what to expect from a Nootropic you can experiment with stacking Nootropics.
If you have a limited budget, I would invest in the ones toward the top of the list because there seems to be a stronger alignment between what the science sā¦
From the publisher's feed