Developing a Rational Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance

00:00:00.000 | - Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast,

00:00:02.260 | where we discuss science and science-based tools

00:00:04.900 | for everyday life.

00:00:05.900 | I'm Andrew Huberman,

00:00:10.260 | and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology

00:00:13.140 | at Stanford School of Medicine.

00:00:14.940 | Today, we're discussing supplements.

00:00:16.700 | We're more specifically a rational guide to supplementation.

00:00:20.620 | Now, to be forthright,

00:00:22.380 | I want to tell you that I am not a fan of the word

00:00:24.420 | supplements because it stems from this idea

00:00:26.620 | that all supplements are somehow food supplements

00:00:29.140 | or designed to compensate

00:00:30.900 | for what one could otherwise get from food.

00:00:33.860 | And that's simply not the case.

00:00:35.700 | Many supplements are compounds

00:00:37.720 | that are extremely efficacious,

00:00:39.740 | for instance, for enhancing sleep

00:00:41.920 | or for enhancing hormone function or for enhancing focus.

00:00:45.580 | And many of those compounds are simply not found in food

00:00:48.980 | or are not found in enough abundance in food

00:00:51.660 | to have the desired effect.

00:00:53.660 | Now, that raises the issue as to whether or not

00:00:55.900 | these compounds are good to take, safe to take,

00:00:58.700 | and whether or not they are actually beneficial for us.

00:01:01.260 | And the short answer is that like everything else,

00:01:03.940 | supplements can either be good for us or dangerous for us,

00:01:06.340 | depending on dosage, sourcing, et cetera.

00:01:08.700 | But more importantly, we need to think about supplements

00:01:11.340 | and a rational guide to supplementation

00:01:13.660 | as taking into account a number of different factors.

00:01:15.940 | And we need to set aside the idea

00:01:18.340 | that all non-prescription compounds

00:01:20.140 | that fall under this umbrella term supplements

00:01:22.620 | are simply things that could be extracted from food,

00:01:25.980 | but most people don't either ingest enough of those foods

00:01:29.560 | or pay enough attention to their diet

00:01:31.820 | in order to obtain them.

00:01:33.240 | In fact, during today's episode,

00:01:34.820 | I'm going to give you a number of different,

00:01:36.340 | very specific questions that you can answer

00:01:38.980 | in order to decide whether or not you should be taking

00:01:41.340 | any so-called supplements or not,

00:01:43.960 | and whether or not you should be taking

00:01:45.340 | one type of supplement or another type of supplement

00:01:47.360 | more or less than the other.

00:01:48.940 | I'm also going to discuss safety, of course,

00:01:51.460 | and I will discuss cost because obviously,

00:01:54.620 | monetary cost is a serious consideration for most,

00:01:57.420 | if not everybody, considering the use of supplements.

00:02:00.020 | During today's episode, I will also discuss

00:02:01.700 | which specific supplements are optimal

00:02:03.660 | for achieving specific endpoints,

00:02:05.540 | such as improved sleep, such as improved focus,

00:02:08.360 | and such as improved hormone function, among other things.

00:02:12.360 | I plan to cover the full range

00:02:13.780 | of what are referred to as supplements,

00:02:15.420 | including so-called foundational supplements

00:02:17.820 | that are designed to act as a sort of insurance policy

00:02:20.900 | against any deficiencies that might exist within your diet,

00:02:23.740 | all the way up to very targeted outcome

00:02:26.800 | supplements and compounds.

00:02:27.860 | That is, compounds that are non-prescription

00:02:30.980 | that are designed to achieve very specific endpoints,

00:02:33.540 | such as enhanced focus over the next four to six hours

00:02:36.700 | of physical work or mental work, so on and so forth.

00:02:40.020 | I plan to cover everything in between that as well,

00:02:42.280 | and I promise to cover how supplements interact

00:02:45.380 | with other things, such as behavioral tools,

00:02:47.120 | prescription drugs, when supplements might be

00:02:49.920 | a good alternative to prescription drugs,

00:02:51.620 | when they might not be a good alternative

00:02:53.220 | to prescription drugs, when supplements can serve

00:02:56.020 | as an augment to already excellent nutrition

00:02:59.380 | and prescription protocols, and every feature of supplements

00:03:03.620 | as it relates to mental health,

00:03:04.880 | physical health, and performance.

00:03:06.380 | By the end of today's episode,

00:03:08.020 | you should be armed with a number of different questions,

00:03:10.180 | as I mentioned before, that will allow you

00:03:12.060 | to develop the most biologically effective

00:03:14.700 | and cost-effective supplement regimen for you.

00:03:18.180 | And of course, I want to acknowledge that for some people,

00:03:21.360 | the total amount or dosages of a given supplement

00:03:24.340 | or supplements that you might need to take could be zero,

00:03:27.280 | there are such individuals, but that many people

00:03:29.640 | can in fact arrive tremendous benefit from supplements

00:03:32.220 | in a way that can be more cost-effective

00:03:34.300 | than trying to obtain the same non-prescription nutrients

00:03:37.180 | from food.

00:03:38.180 | As we head into today's conversation,

00:03:39.660 | I want to emphasize something very important,

00:03:42.220 | not just as it relates to supplements,

00:03:43.800 | but as it relates to all aspects of mental health,

00:03:46.220 | physical health, and performance.

00:03:47.660 | And that is, I take the stance that behavioral tools,

00:03:51.380 | that is specific actions that we take

00:03:53.740 | and specific actions that we avoid form the foundation

00:03:57.580 | of mental health, physical health, and performance.

00:04:00.060 | So things like viewing morning sunlight

00:04:01.760 | and exercise are behavioral tools,

00:04:04.040 | they don't require the ingestion of anything.

00:04:06.500 | Within the realm of behavioral tools,

00:04:07.940 | there are also some don'ts or do nots

00:04:10.660 | that can greatly enhance our mental health,

00:04:12.640 | physical health, and performance,

00:04:14.060 | such as avoiding bright light exposure to your eyes

00:04:16.740 | between the hours of 10 PM and 4 AM,

00:04:19.060 | or avoiding caffeine too late in the afternoon,

00:04:22.180 | because even if you can fall asleep

00:04:23.820 | after ingesting caffeine in the late afternoon,

00:04:26.100 | we know it disrupts the architecture of your sleep

00:04:27.980 | in ways that greatly diminish your mental health,

00:04:30.380 | physical health, and performance the following day,

00:04:32.560 | for instance.

00:04:33.400 | So behavioral tools form the foundational layer

00:04:36.880 | of all tools for mental health,

00:04:38.580 | physical health, and performance.

00:04:40.120 | Second to that, I would say the next layer

00:04:42.420 | is in fact nutrition.

00:04:44.460 | No amount of supplementation or non-prescription compounds

00:04:47.460 | or prescription compounds for that matter

00:04:49.540 | can ever compensate for poor nutrition,

00:04:52.020 | at least not for very long.

00:04:53.820 | Okay, so this is a key point,

00:04:55.100 | even though many supplements are not simply food supplements

00:04:58.900 | because they are not designed to compensate

00:05:01.140 | for anything that you could otherwise get from food,

00:05:03.980 | that is not to say that you can live on supplements.

00:05:06.780 | You know, I suppose you could live on whey protein

00:05:08.840 | and fish oil capsules and vitamin capsules or tablets

00:05:13.120 | for a short while,

00:05:14.360 | but before long, you'd either suffer from boredom

00:05:18.140 | to the extent that you'd want to go back to food

00:05:19.640 | or some other deficiency would show up.

00:05:21.780 | I think it's the rare individual that tries to survive

00:05:23.940 | entirely on food supplements and things of that sort.

00:05:27.960 | Most everybody, and I would hope everybody,

00:05:30.460 | is paying attention to their nutrition.

00:05:32.060 | So I would place behavioral tools, do's and do nots,

00:05:35.160 | as layer one, the deepest layer,

00:05:37.260 | the bedrock of all mental health,

00:05:39.260 | physical health, and performance.

00:05:41.140 | On top of that, I would place nutrition.

00:05:43.080 | And of course, that's going to mean different things

00:05:44.560 | to different people with the understanding

00:05:45.840 | that there's a huge array of different food choices

00:05:50.140 | and nutritional programs.

00:05:52.340 | Nutrition is fundamentally important for macronutrients,

00:05:55.660 | for storage of energy in the form of glycogen fats

00:05:58.960 | and phosphor creatine stores and so forth,

00:06:01.300 | but also for obtaining basic nutrients,

00:06:03.940 | vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients, okay?

00:06:06.020 | So we've got behavioral tools, nutritional tools,

00:06:08.180 | then on top of that,

00:06:09.580 | I would place what is typically called supplementation,

00:06:12.560 | although today I'm trying to expand that word to include

00:06:15.260 | not just things that compensate for food deficiencies

00:06:18.460 | or that are layered on top of food

00:06:20.740 | as a way to enhance the amount of nutrients

00:06:22.900 | that you could get from food, but as I mentioned before,

00:06:25.900 | compounds that are non-prescription

00:06:28.020 | that can be for a variety of different purposes

00:06:30.980 | and many of which are not available in food.

00:06:32.940 | So I would place supplementation right on top of nutrition.

00:06:36.460 | Then past that, I would say prescription drugs,

00:06:39.540 | obviously prescribed from a board-certified MD,

00:06:43.700 | can serve a very vital purpose in the treatment

00:06:46.800 | or augmentation of mental health,

00:06:48.200 | physical health, and performance goals.

00:06:49.600 | So some people do in fact need prescription antidepressants,

00:06:52.360 | other people do not.

00:06:53.200 | Some people do in fact need prescription drugs

00:06:56.080 | for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

00:06:58.380 | or sleep-related disorders, so on and so forth.

00:07:01.160 | The whole issue of whether or not

00:07:03.280 | there is an over-prescription epidemic or not

00:07:07.800 | is a separate conversation for a separate podcast.

00:07:10.280 | I would argue that many prescription drugs

00:07:12.100 | do in fact save lives.

00:07:13.920 | This includes the category of prescription drugs

00:07:16.300 | related to statins and cardiovascular health,

00:07:19.520 | related to any number of different things,

00:07:21.920 | even sleep disorders and insomnia, narcolepsy, and so forth.

00:07:25.140 | That said, there are many instances

00:07:28.520 | in which people can either reduce their dosages

00:07:31.200 | of prescription compounds

00:07:33.240 | or can replace those prescription compounds

00:07:36.400 | with quality behavioral tools,

00:07:39.480 | nutrition, and supplementation.

00:07:41.740 | But there are many instances in which prescription drugs

00:07:45.640 | are the only route by which people can achieve

00:07:47.560 | the mental health, physical health, and performance goals

00:07:49.960 | that they wish to achieve.

00:07:51.280 | So I would place that as the fourth layer

00:07:53.680 | in this stack of layers directed towards mental health,

00:07:56.320 | physical health, and performance.

00:07:57.680 | So just to list off again,

00:07:59.160 | I fundamentally believe that behaviors, dos and do nots

00:08:02.640 | form the foundation

00:08:03.480 | of mental health, physical health, performance.

00:08:05.360 | Next in line would be nutrition,

00:08:08.160 | that is the specific foods we eat,

00:08:10.280 | the amount that we eat,

00:08:12.520 | the combinations of foods that we eat in a given sitting,

00:08:15.120 | and the timing in which we eat our food.

00:08:17.600 | Then on top of that, I would place supplementation,

00:08:19.680 | the topic of today's episode,

00:08:21.540 | and finally prescription drugs.

00:08:23.520 | And of course, all of these things interact

00:08:25.760 | in important and interesting ways,

00:08:27.600 | many of which interactions we will discuss

00:08:29.880 | during today's podcast,

00:08:31.200 | as we drill into the topic of supplementation,

00:08:33.900 | developing a rational supplementation protocol,

00:08:36.640 | and one that is most biologically and cost-effective.

00:08:39.560 | Before moving further into today's episode,

00:08:41.520 | I want to emphasize a very important point,

00:08:43.520 | which is that I am not a physician,

00:08:46.400 | that is, I'm not a clinician,

00:08:47.920 | so I do not prescribe anything,

00:08:49.680 | nor am I going to do that today.

00:08:51.200 | I'm a professor, I review the research literature,

00:08:54.600 | I describe tools gleaned from the research literature

00:08:57.240 | and developed from the research literature.

00:08:59.640 | So I profess many things,

00:09:00.800 | but I do not prescribe anything,

00:09:02.280 | and I think it's vitally important

00:09:04.700 | that anytime you are thinking of adding or subtracting

00:09:08.100 | any behavioral protocols, nutritional protocols,

00:09:10.980 | supplementation-based protocols,

00:09:12.700 | and certainly prescription drug-based protocols,

00:09:15.320 | for whatever purpose,

00:09:17.260 | that you consult a trusted, board-certified physician.

00:09:21.300 | That's absolutely essential.

00:09:22.600 | I don't say that merely to protect me,

00:09:24.760 | I mainly say that to protect you.

00:09:27.620 | The most important aspect of today's episode

00:09:29.640 | is not going to be that you discover

00:09:31.720 | one particular supplement or category of supplements

00:09:34.140 | or blend of supplements that is going to transform

00:09:37.040 | your mental health, physical health, and performance.

00:09:39.600 | No, the purpose of today's episode

00:09:41.720 | is for you to understand where you have needs

00:09:45.080 | that can be met by supplementation

00:09:46.760 | better than any other approach,

00:09:48.560 | and most importantly, how to think about supplementation.

00:09:51.520 | That is, how to think about the different categories

00:09:53.920 | of supplements that are out there

00:09:55.680 | and how those interact with your nutrition

00:09:58.320 | and your behaviors so that you can maximize

00:10:01.840 | your immediate and long-term health.

00:10:04.440 | What I mean by this is that we have this word,

00:10:07.740 | supplements or supplementation,

00:10:09.340 | but that means many, many different things.

00:10:11.340 | It means vitamins, it means minerals, it means adaptogens.

00:10:14.000 | Most people probably don't even know

00:10:15.240 | what an adaptogen really is,

00:10:16.960 | and in fact, many people talking about adaptogens

00:10:20.220 | never actually define what an adaptogen is

00:10:22.800 | or it's designed for,

00:10:24.260 | or the fact that many adaptogens

00:10:25.960 | are also used for other purposes.

00:10:27.960 | So today's discussion is really about

00:10:30.280 | you learning how to think about supplementation

00:10:32.780 | the same way you would learn to think about nutrition

00:10:35.520 | or exercise or anything related to brain and body health

00:10:39.040 | for that matter, in a way that lets you navigate

00:10:41.680 | this vast space that we call supplementation

00:10:44.440 | and develop protocols that are optimal for you.

00:10:47.360 | And indeed, it may be the case that the ideal dosage

00:10:51.520 | of a given supplement for you is zero milligrams.

00:10:54.920 | For instance, if I ask you, are you sleeping deeply

00:10:58.520 | and enough each night?

00:10:59.760 | Do you feel rested throughout the day?

00:11:01.040 | Maybe you need a short nap and that's it,

00:11:02.440 | or maybe you don't.

00:11:03.640 | And you say, yes, I feel great, I sleep great,

00:11:06.240 | I wake up feeling great.

00:11:07.280 | I only need a short nap or no nap during the day

00:11:09.320 | to feel rested throughout the day.

00:11:10.980 | Well, then there's really no discussion

00:11:12.640 | about sleep supplementation to be had between you and me.

00:11:15.520 | However, if you are not sleeping well,

00:11:18.400 | then a big discussion opens up as to what the reasons are.

00:11:21.120 | Is it related to nutrition or when you're exercising

00:11:23.280 | or ingesting caffeine?

00:11:24.960 | In other words, no discussion about supplementation

00:11:26.960 | can be had in a vacuum.

00:11:29.060 | Rather, discussions about supplementation

00:11:31.200 | need to be considered in a larger context.

00:11:33.200 | So today you're going to learn how to place the discussion

00:11:35.160 | in thinking about supplementation in a larger context

00:11:37.800 | and think about how specific supplements,

00:11:40.560 | that is specific ingredients and combinations of ingredients

00:11:44.380 | can indeed be used to buffer and support

00:11:47.280 | your overall health and lead you to specific health

00:11:51.200 | and performance outcomes. Before we begin,

00:11:53.320 | I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate

00:11:55.620 | from my teaching and research roles at Stanford.

00:11:57.840 | It is however, part of my desire and effort

00:12:00.060 | to bring zero cost to consumer information about science

00:12:02.620 | and science related tools to the general public.

00:12:05.240 | In keeping with that theme,

00:12:06.560 | I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast.

00:12:09.280 | Our first sponsor is Momentus.

00:12:11.360 | Momentus makes supplements of the absolute highest quality.

00:12:14.600 | The Huberman Lab podcast has decided to partner with Momentus

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00:12:23.740 | As we'll discuss more on today's episode,

00:12:25.380 | single ingredient formulations are essential

00:12:27.640 | for most all aspects of developing a rational,

00:12:30.960 | highly efficacious supplement regimen.

00:12:33.360 | And that's because the ideal supplement regimen

00:12:35.700 | allows you to adjust the dosages of individual ingredients

00:12:39.160 | as well as alternate days in which specific ingredients

00:12:42.160 | are consumed.

00:12:43.240 | It also allows you for instance,

00:12:44.520 | to assess whether or not one given ingredient works for you

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00:13:57.640 | That's what allows you to think, to feel, to move,

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00:15:39.320 | Let's talk about supplements and supplementation

00:15:41.340 | and how to develop a rational supplementation regimen.

00:15:45.060 | One of the things that's really emerged

00:15:46.700 | over the last 20 years is that supplements,

00:15:49.800 | and there I'm referring to non-prescription compounds

00:15:52.280 | designed to augment nutrition, prescription drugs,

00:15:55.620 | and behavioral protocols,

00:15:57.120 | have emerged as a mainstay within the health and wellness,

00:16:02.720 | but also the medical communities

00:16:05.020 | that are focused on developing mental health,

00:16:07.040 | physical health, and performance for their patients

00:16:09.680 | and their athletes.

00:16:10.940 | And for the everyday person.

00:16:12.600 | Essentially what I'm saying is that 20 years ago,

00:16:15.360 | a discussion about supplements would mainly take place

00:16:18.160 | within the niche communities of health food stores

00:16:20.680 | or of particular athletes.

00:16:22.560 | But nowadays, I think almost everyone is familiar

00:16:25.240 | with the fact that yes, indeed,

00:16:26.800 | there are standard vitamin supplements,

00:16:28.680 | but that there are also supplements such as vitamin D3,

00:16:31.800 | which are designed to make sure that people have

00:16:34.040 | certain amounts of hormones in their bloodstream

00:16:37.340 | because they might not be getting enough sunshine.

00:16:39.160 | Although I'll be very clear over and over

00:16:40.940 | throughout this episode

00:16:42.000 | that there is no pill replacement for sunshine,

00:16:44.720 | nor is there a pill replacement

00:16:46.540 | or food replacement for that matter for exercise

00:16:49.000 | or for social connection or for sleep

00:16:51.760 | or for simply getting smarter.

00:16:54.000 | Again, there is no pill that's going to replace

00:16:56.600 | excellent behavioral protocols.

00:16:57.940 | In fact, a physician friend of mine has a great saying

00:17:00.260 | that I think everybody should keep in mind

00:17:02.820 | as we wade into this conversation,

00:17:04.700 | which is that better living through chemistry

00:17:07.340 | still requires better living.

00:17:09.740 | And I think that's a very important phrase to keep in mind

00:17:12.320 | when thinking about the optimal supplementation

00:17:14.420 | or prescription drug protocol for you.

00:17:17.080 | So what is an ideal supplementation protocol?

00:17:19.660 | Well, I think what we need to do is to take a step back

00:17:22.620 | and ask what are different supplements designed to do?

00:17:26.700 | For instance, there are foundational supplements.

00:17:29.600 | These are supplements that are designed

00:17:31.420 | to establish a foundation or provide insurance

00:17:34.620 | along with your nutritional intake

00:17:37.160 | to ensure that you're getting all the things that you need

00:17:40.180 | in order to have a basic level of mental health,

00:17:43.220 | physical health, and opportunity for optimal performance.

00:17:46.740 | Now, this is the one category of supplements

00:17:49.940 | for which I think it's appropriate and in fact advantageous

00:17:54.940 | to have multiple ingredients in a given supplement.

00:17:58.180 | Throughout the rest of today's discussion,

00:17:59.620 | I'm going to talk about the advantage of mainly focusing

00:18:03.120 | on taking single ingredient formulations

00:18:05.580 | for a variety of reasons.

00:18:07.300 | But when it comes to foundational supplements,

00:18:10.000 | what we're mainly talking about are supplements

00:18:12.220 | that contain vitamins and minerals

00:18:15.240 | that are designed to compensate for any deficiencies

00:18:17.560 | you might have from diet or from lack of adequate diet.

00:18:21.580 | How would such a lack of vitamin and mineral intake arise?

00:18:26.000 | Well, for instance,

00:18:26.840 | if you're somebody that practices intermittent fasting

00:18:29.060 | or other components of fasting,

00:18:30.980 | or if you're somebody who does not get enough vitamins

00:18:34.860 | and minerals from vegetables and fruits and grains and meats,

00:18:39.860 | well, then taking a supplement that can act

00:18:44.800 | as an insurance policy against any vitamin

00:18:47.420 | and mineral deficiencies in many ways can be advantageous.

00:18:50.260 | Although I will talk about some of the safety concerns

00:18:53.560 | in just a few minutes.

00:18:54.780 | Now, I want to acknowledge that as soon as we talk

00:18:56.540 | about vitamin mineral supplements,

00:18:59.100 | the skeptics immediately raise their hands and say,

00:19:01.420 | well, all that vitamin and mineral supplements do

00:19:03.680 | is give you very expensive urine.

00:19:05.220 | And there, the skeptics are referring to the fact,

00:19:07.900 | the reality that when you ingest high levels

00:19:10.800 | of water soluble vitamins,

00:19:12.300 | so think vitamin C and some of the other vitamins,

00:19:14.700 | that indeed you will excrete them in your urine.

00:19:17.580 | However, it's also the case that many people

00:19:22.020 | are not getting enough of the water soluble vitamins

00:19:24.820 | from their foods.

00:19:25.860 | And it's also the case that many people are.

00:19:28.280 | And it's also the case that ingesting higher

00:19:30.820 | than needed amounts of most water soluble vitamins,

00:19:34.360 | provided those levels aren't exceedingly high is,

00:19:38.640 | or at least we should say can be safe.

00:19:41.160 | And again, this is provided that the levels

00:19:43.900 | that they're ingesting are not exceedingly high.

00:19:46.020 | So the typical vitamin mineral supplement

00:19:47.640 | is indeed going to cover any gaps or deficiencies

00:19:50.460 | that might arise in the water soluble vitamins

00:19:52.660 | from your food intake.

00:19:53.960 | But the reality is that most people are getting enough

00:19:56.900 | of the water soluble vitamins from their food.

00:19:59.100 | If they are paying attention to a couple of things.

00:20:02.540 | And those things are very simple to lay out,

00:20:04.720 | regardless of whether or not you're a vegan,

00:20:06.980 | a vegetarian, a more traditional omnivore,

00:20:10.060 | eating from both animal-based and plant-based sources,

00:20:13.260 | grains, et cetera.

00:20:14.400 | Or even if you're in the pure carnivore or strict,

00:20:18.220 | I guess it's called the lion diet

00:20:19.580 | where it's just meat and salt.

00:20:21.500 | Regardless of what type of nutrition you follow,

00:20:24.180 | you will get vitamins and minerals,

00:20:26.240 | but you'll get more or fewer of them

00:20:28.060 | depending on the nutritional program you follow.

00:20:30.300 | And of course, depending on how often and how much you eat.

00:20:33.540 | That's just sort of obvious.

00:20:34.980 | Most people who take a vitamin mineral supplement

00:20:39.500 | will indeed excrete a lot of the water soluble vitamins.

00:20:43.300 | They will retain the fat soluble vitamins.

00:20:46.420 | And there again, the skeptics will raise their hands

00:20:48.540 | and say, you do not want to take high levels

00:20:51.340 | of fat soluble vitamins

00:20:52.500 | because they will be stored in your system,

00:20:54.240 | potentially to levels that are dangerous.

00:20:56.300 | Again, provided that vitamin mineral supplements

00:20:58.660 | are not taken in excess,

00:21:00.580 | it's unlikely that you're going to have such a buildup

00:21:03.480 | of the fat soluble vitamins in your system

00:21:05.300 | that they're going to be a problem.

00:21:07.000 | So that raises a very specific question that you need to ask.

00:21:10.060 | Do you want to take a vitamin mineral supplement?

00:21:12.020 | Well, the answer to that will be highly individual,

00:21:13.900 | but you really just need to address two things.

00:21:15.580 | First of all, is the cost within the range

00:21:19.060 | that you can afford and want to pay, right?

00:21:22.420 | Oftentimes these vitamin mineral supplements

00:21:24.140 | can be quite inexpensive,

00:21:25.860 | but some of them can be quite expensive.

00:21:27.780 | And you can see the full range of ones

00:21:30.620 | that are pennies per day,

00:21:32.460 | all the way up to many dollars or tens of dollars per day

00:21:35.920 | because of what are reported to be variations

00:21:38.620 | in quality and sourcing and so forth.

00:21:40.840 | I'm not aware of any real differences

00:21:42.760 | between the quality of the water soluble

00:21:44.980 | and fat soluble vitamins found in the less expensive

00:21:48.220 | versus the more expensive vitamin mineral supplements.

00:21:51.100 | More typically the cost scales with the dosages

00:21:54.920 | of these different vitamins and minerals.

00:21:57.100 | And as could probably be expected,

00:22:00.160 | the more expensive to obtain and source vitamins and minerals

00:22:05.160 | tend to be in lower quantities

00:22:08.420 | in the less expensive versions

00:22:10.020 | of vitamin mineral supplements.

00:22:11.160 | That's just kind of obvious.

00:22:12.000 | So you need to ask yourself, can you afford it financially?

00:22:14.540 | And then you need to ask yourself,

00:22:16.040 | are you able to regularly ingest enough foods

00:22:19.320 | with enough variety to cover your vitamin mineral needs

00:22:24.100 | just from food?

00:22:25.500 | And for some people,

00:22:26.900 | the answer is going to be an immediate yes.

00:22:28.860 | They are careful to get enough of the foods

00:22:31.020 | that allow them to obtain their vitamin and mineral quota.

00:22:34.740 | And for other individuals, the answer will be no.

00:22:37.060 | I would say for people that are extremely physically

00:22:39.460 | and or mentally active,

00:22:41.180 | and for people that perhaps are following

00:22:43.820 | a intermittent fasting schedule

00:22:45.300 | so they are not ingesting a lot of food in general

00:22:48.760 | or restricting their food intake to specific times of day,

00:22:51.760 | well then a vitamin mineral supplement

00:22:53.460 | likely makes sense for them.

00:22:54.860 | However, it's going to be very important

00:22:56.580 | to ingest that vitamin mineral supplement with food

00:22:59.920 | and ideally early in the day.

00:23:01.580 | So that can set up a little bit of a challenge

00:23:03.120 | for the intermittent fasteners

00:23:04.260 | who are restricting their feeding window to late in the day.

00:23:06.240 | Why do I say this?

00:23:07.340 | Well, many of the water soluble vitamins,

00:23:09.100 | in particular the B vitamins need to be ingested with food

00:23:12.620 | because otherwise they can cause some stomach upset.

00:23:15.180 | And again, there's a range there.

00:23:16.340 | Some people like myself can take B vitamins

00:23:18.220 | on an empty stomach and feel fine.

00:23:19.820 | Other people feel really lousy when they take B vitamins.

00:23:22.420 | There are a few other things that we'll talk about later,

00:23:24.760 | namely zinc and coenzyme Q10

00:23:27.700 | that really should also be taken with food.

00:23:29.880 | But the best time to take a vitamin mineral supplement

00:23:32.580 | is with food.

00:23:33.880 | And I believe that if you're going to take

00:23:35.760 | a vitamin mineral supplement,

00:23:37.160 | that you want to take it with food

00:23:39.940 | and you don't want to take dosages of vitamins and minerals

00:23:42.620 | from supplements that are exceedingly high

00:23:45.340 | for a couple of reasons.

00:23:46.640 | One is the buildup of fat soluble vitamins

00:23:48.820 | that we talked about before.

00:23:50.000 | The other reason is that when people tend to take

00:23:52.180 | very high levels of vitamins and minerals from supplements,

00:23:56.500 | they tend to spend less time and focus

00:23:58.820 | on making sure that they're optimizing their nutrition

00:24:01.100 | or at least trying to get their nutrition right.

00:24:03.020 | What do I mean by getting their nutrition right?

00:24:05.780 | Well, I think regardless of whether or not

00:24:07.980 | your keto, omnivore, carnivore, vegan,

00:24:12.160 | or any other nutritional plan,

00:24:14.660 | the key thing is to get most,

00:24:18.780 | that is about 75 to 80% of your foods or more

00:24:21.900 | from non-processed or minimally processed sources.

00:24:25.640 | I think there is agreement across the board

00:24:27.700 | that most people should avoid highly processed foods.

00:24:30.920 | Highly processed foods are going to be foods

00:24:32.980 | with very long ingredient lists

00:24:35.260 | that have very long shelf lives.

00:24:36.860 | So this often includes snack foods.

00:24:39.340 | It does include snack foods like chips, et cetera,

00:24:42.380 | pastries that could sit on the shelf a long time.

00:24:45.060 | But it also includes things like canned soups

00:24:47.100 | and number of different other foods

00:24:49.020 | that have many, many ingredients preservatives.

00:24:50.980 | Most people would do well to avoid those kinds of foods

00:24:53.300 | and focus most of their intake

00:24:55.300 | on things that are non-processed.

00:24:57.380 | So these would be things like fruits and vegetables.

00:24:59.260 | You'll notice that the non-processed foods

00:25:00.620 | will tend to have very short shelf life

00:25:02.920 | or require refrigeration in some cases,

00:25:05.040 | such as meat, eggs, et cetera,

00:25:07.360 | or minimally processed foods,

00:25:09.200 | such as rice and oatmeal and pastas,

00:25:12.100 | beans and things of that sort.

00:25:13.660 | Beans oftentimes can be completely unprocessed as well,

00:25:15.960 | of course.

00:25:16.800 | This is two general categories,

00:25:17.700 | unprocessed and minimally processed

00:25:19.500 | that should make up about 80% or more of your food intake

00:25:22.600 | if your goal is health and obtaining adequate amounts

00:25:25.100 | of vitamins and minerals.

00:25:26.380 | The so-called foundational supplements

00:25:27.900 | include of course, vitamin and mineral supplements,

00:25:30.780 | but has expanded over the last decade or more

00:25:34.060 | to also include supplements that have vitamins and minerals,

00:25:37.820 | but also things like digestive enzymes.

00:25:40.380 | And again, here we have an example where indeed

00:25:43.280 | you can get digestive enzymes from foods.

00:25:46.500 | For instance, eating a bit of papaya

00:25:48.580 | or even a little bit of pineapple can assist

00:25:51.860 | in the digestion of certain aspects of macronutrients

00:25:54.460 | because these are naturally occurring enzymes

00:25:57.100 | that help digest things like carbohydrates, fats,

00:25:59.780 | and proteins.

00:26:01.320 | And there are other food-based sources of enzymes.

00:26:03.500 | You're welcome to look those up online

00:26:05.340 | if you just put food-based sources of enzymes

00:26:07.380 | and you'll find those.

00:26:08.680 | But nowadays, a lot of the foundational supplements

00:26:11.920 | will include papain or they will include different lipases

00:26:17.060 | or anytime you hear the word ACE, by the way,

00:26:19.460 | it means an enzyme.

00:26:21.460 | An enzyme is designed to break down

00:26:23.060 | or to catalyze some sort of reaction

00:26:25.660 | in biology and in nutrition in particular.

00:26:27.900 | So you can find foundational supplements

00:26:30.200 | that include vitamins and minerals and digestive enzymes.

00:26:32.660 | And nowadays more and more,

00:26:34.940 | the quality foundational supplements

00:26:36.500 | are also including things like adaptogens.

00:26:39.180 | And here the name adaptogens is sort of vague

00:26:43.220 | and it indeed has no specific operational definition.

00:26:46.600 | This is something really important to understand

00:26:48.600 | about supplementation is that companies and indeed podcasts

00:26:52.460 | can talk about adaptogens without actually defining

00:26:54.820 | what an adaptogen is in an operational way.

00:26:58.080 | When we say operational, what we mean is a definition

00:27:00.640 | that everyone in a given arena or space,

00:27:04.400 | research for instance, can agree on

00:27:06.540 | so that when we talk about the adaptogenic effects

00:27:09.160 | of a given compound, we're all talking about the same things.

00:27:11.300 | Well, foundational supplements nowadays include vitamins,

00:27:14.260 | minerals, digestive enzymes, and the so-called adaptogens.

00:27:17.260 | And the adaptogens broadly speaking

00:27:20.120 | are thought to improve the body and brain's ability

00:27:23.420 | to buffer against various stressors.

00:27:25.720 | So these could be things like herbs, like ashwagandha

00:27:28.380 | that are designed to reduce cortisol levels.

00:27:30.660 | In that sense, ashwagandha is an adaptogen,

00:27:33.300 | but ashwagandha has other effects

00:27:34.820 | related to hormone augmentation

00:27:36.940 | in both the testosterone and estrogen

00:27:38.680 | and maybe even the thyroid pathways.

00:27:40.060 | We'll talk about this a little bit later

00:27:41.120 | when we talk about supplements for hormone augmentation.

00:27:43.560 | So foundational supplements has really expanded

00:27:46.240 | to include a lot of different categories

00:27:48.340 | of nutrients and micronutrients,

00:27:50.260 | vitamins and minerals, digestive enzymes,

00:27:52.860 | designed to achieve a broad spectrum of effects.

00:27:56.040 | Again, this is the one category of supplementation

00:27:58.920 | where I think it makes sense

00:28:00.680 | to explore multi-ingredient formulations.

00:28:04.360 | And the other thing that's often included

00:28:05.700 | in these so-called foundational supplements

00:28:08.480 | are probiotics or prebiotics,

00:28:12.120 | which are designed to augment

00:28:14.580 | and support the so-called gut microbiome.

00:28:17.240 | The gut microbiome is the collection

00:28:19.280 | of trillions of little micro bacteria

00:28:21.280 | that exist in all of us.

00:28:22.980 | They mainly exist in the mucus membrane

00:28:27.040 | lined tissues of the body.

00:28:28.860 | So that would be your nasal passages, your mouth,

00:28:32.120 | the vagina, the urethra, and the gut,

00:28:35.520 | the whole way from your mouth

00:28:37.120 | all the way out the other end.

00:28:38.440 | So not just your stomach.

00:28:39.960 | Trillions of bacteria live there.

00:28:41.860 | Trillions of micro bacteria also live on your skin.

00:28:45.640 | In fact, every time you shake someone's hand,

00:28:47.040 | you are exchanging micro bacteria.

00:28:49.320 | These micro bacteria often are healthy for us, good for us.

00:28:53.260 | They support a huge number of positive biological functions,

00:28:56.640 | but there are other micro bacteria that live in our gut

00:29:00.120 | and elsewhere on those mucus line tissues

00:29:01.820 | that can be disadvantageous for us,

00:29:04.160 | that can harm our health.

00:29:05.960 | A growing idea these days

00:29:07.280 | based on a number of different laboratories work,

00:29:09.680 | including the laboratory of my upstairs neighbor at Stanford,

00:29:13.580 | Dr. Justin Sonnenberg, who's been a guest on this podcast,

00:29:16.300 | is that having a great diversity, a range of microbiota,

00:29:20.260 | as they're called, microbiome, microbiota,

00:29:23.540 | and these micro bacteria

00:29:25.260 | are all essentially referring to the same thing.

00:29:27.720 | The microbiome is the whole collection

00:29:29.160 | of these micro bacteria,

00:29:30.400 | but having a lot of different so-called species

00:29:32.620 | of these micro bacteria is known to be advantageous

00:29:35.860 | for immune system function, hormone function.

00:29:38.740 | It supports the so-called gut-brain axis

00:29:41.620 | that's important for a number of things,

00:29:43.500 | including mood and motivation.

00:29:44.980 | It actually supports the production of neurotransmitters

00:29:47.360 | in the brain and body that can help keep you motivated,

00:29:49.880 | elevated mood, support the general function of neurons.

00:29:53.880 | Well, not surprisingly,

00:29:55.960 | there are ways to support the gut microbiome

00:29:58.920 | and there are ways to harm the gut microbiome.

00:30:00.600 | I'll refer to the podcast episode we did

00:30:03.460 | with Justin Sonnenberg.

00:30:04.960 | You can find that at HubermanLab.com

00:30:06.400 | if you want to learn all the different ways

00:30:07.620 | that you can support your gut microbiome,

00:30:09.440 | but for sake of today's discussion,

00:30:11.080 | I want to emphasize that some of those methods

00:30:13.560 | of supporting the gut microbiome

00:30:15.320 | are through the direct consumption of particular foods.

00:30:18.360 | And there are two categories of foods

00:30:20.580 | that if you're getting enough of them,

00:30:22.540 | it's likely that your gut microbiome is diverse

00:30:26.700 | and is going to support all those important functions

00:30:28.800 | I just listed off and other functions as well.

00:30:31.640 | The two sources of gut microbiota supporting foods

00:30:35.420 | are low sugar fermented foods.

00:30:37.360 | So these would be things like sauerkraut,

00:30:39.420 | kimchi, Greek yogurt, again, low sugar, Greek yogurt,

00:30:44.020 | kombucha in particular as a drink, things like kefir.

00:30:50.560 | There are a bunch of other varieties of fermented foods,

00:30:54.220 | different cultures have different fermented foods.

00:30:55.960 | So the Japanese natto is another source of ferment

00:31:00.720 | that is very good for the gut microbiome

00:31:03.200 | and work from Justin Sonnenberg's lab

00:31:05.540 | and close by labs at Stanford School of Medicine

00:31:08.200 | have shown that if people ingest four servings a day

00:31:13.140 | of these low sugar fermented foods,

00:31:14.780 | it greatly improves the function of the gut microbiome

00:31:18.440 | and in particular enhances the function

00:31:20.880 | of the immune system and it reduces

00:31:23.060 | the so-called inflammatome.

00:31:24.400 | It reduces inflammation in the brain and body

00:31:26.320 | in the ways that are helpful and effective for brain and body

00:31:30.320 | that is mental health, physical health, and performance.

00:31:32.240 | So there are ways to support your gut microbiome

00:31:34.480 | strictly from food, but it should come as no surprise

00:31:38.240 | that most people are not ingesting four servings a day

00:31:41.840 | of fermented foods.

00:31:44.200 | Hopefully they're getting enough fiber,

00:31:46.880 | especially prebiotic fiber,

00:31:48.520 | which is one other way to support the gut microbiome.

00:31:51.200 | Although the studies from Justin Sonnenberg's lab

00:31:53.460 | point to the fact that fiber intake itself

00:31:56.960 | was not directly supportive of the gut microbiome

00:31:59.640 | in everybody, it was in some individuals,

00:32:01.940 | but not in others and some had no effect

00:32:04.240 | and in other individuals, it actually made the category

00:32:08.000 | or I should say the array of inflammatome markers worse.

00:32:11.720 | It actually led to more inflammation.

00:32:14.440 | So that is not to say that fiber is bad.

00:32:16.240 | In fact, in the episode that we did with Dr. Lane Norton,

00:32:19.480 | he discussed the many benefits of getting enough fiber.

00:32:22.120 | There are a lot of reasons why people should get enough fiber

00:32:25.080 | in their diet, but at least for supporting

00:32:27.300 | the gut microbiome, four servings a day

00:32:30.700 | of low sugar fermented foods seems to be the best way

00:32:34.080 | to support the gut microbiome

00:32:36.080 | through the intake of nutrition.

00:32:38.080 | Again, most people are not achieving that

00:32:39.940 | and therefore these foundational supplements

00:32:42.360 | that can be just vitamin and mineral supplements

00:32:45.660 | or it could be vitamin and mineral supplements

00:32:47.200 | plus digestive enzymes or both of those things

00:32:50.560 | plus adaptogens now also tend to include prebiotics

00:32:54.880 | and probiotics that are designed to support

00:32:57.960 | the proliferation and maintenance of enough gut microbiota

00:33:02.280 | in order to support the gut microbiome

00:33:04.840 | and the gut brain axis.

00:33:06.380 | Now, because of the importance of the gut microbiome

00:33:08.360 | and because most people are not getting enough support

00:33:10.720 | for the gut microbiome in the form

00:33:12.520 | of low sugar fermented foods

00:33:14.040 | and prebiotic fiber from their diet,

00:33:17.040 | I think perhaps one of the most essential

00:33:20.400 | foundational supplements irrespective of whether or not

00:33:24.880 | it includes vitamins and minerals, adaptogens

00:33:26.840 | and digestive enzymes is some way

00:33:29.000 | to support the gut microbiome.

00:33:31.420 | Now, this gets into a whole dimension of categories

00:33:35.260 | of prebiotic and probiotic capsules

00:33:37.520 | and one needs to be very careful there.

00:33:39.260 | I do want to say that most of the prebiotic

00:33:42.140 | and probiotic capsules that you can buy,

00:33:44.200 | first of all, are very expensive.

00:33:46.060 | The best ones are going to be refrigerated

00:33:48.900 | or require refrigeration just as do any good

00:33:52.800 | low sugar fermented foods, by the way.

00:33:54.920 | So for instance, pickles are a low sugar fermented food

00:33:57.280 | that can support the gut microbiome.

00:33:58.780 | But if you're buying pickles from the section

00:34:00.360 | of the grocery store where the pickles

00:34:02.260 | are not refrigerated, well, then you're not going

00:34:05.860 | to get the gut microbiome supporting effects

00:34:08.360 | from those pickles.

00:34:09.560 | It's sort of funny we're even having this conversation

00:34:11.260 | talking about pickles, but the reality

00:34:12.600 | is they can greatly enhance the microbiota

00:34:16.100 | if you are getting the pickles that are

00:34:19.120 | and require refrigeration and include the brine,

00:34:21.600 | which is the liquid around them.

00:34:23.780 | The same is true for sauerkraut.

00:34:25.080 | Non-refrigerated sauerkraut is not going

00:34:27.480 | to support your gut microbiome.

00:34:28.980 | It will supply some other things perhaps,

00:34:31.420 | but it's not going to support your gut microbiome.

00:34:32.980 | It has to be the refrigerated versions.

00:34:34.500 | For the reason that most people are not getting enough

00:34:36.500 | food-based support for the gut microbiome

00:34:38.820 | and because of the importance of the gut microbiome,

00:34:40.940 | one of the key categories of foundational supplements

00:34:43.480 | are supplements that create support for the microbiome

00:34:47.080 | through prebiotics or probiotics.

00:34:49.180 | Again, they tend to be the refrigerated varieties

00:34:51.760 | are the ones that are actually going to work.

00:34:53.220 | Those also tend to be very expensive.

00:34:56.360 | And there are some evidence that taking excessive amounts

00:34:59.680 | of prebiotics and probiotics that is typical

00:35:03.360 | of these capsule forms of prebiotics and probiotics,

00:35:06.820 | if they're taken ongoing, not for short periods of time,

00:35:09.440 | but if they're taken ongoing,

00:35:10.800 | can lead to some issues like brain fog.

00:35:13.200 | There's a nice literature on this

00:35:14.880 | and a growing one at that.

00:35:16.680 | So my suggestion is that if people are going to take

00:35:19.960 | supplements to support the microbiome,

00:35:22.260 | that those supplements include low enough levels.

00:35:26.160 | That is small enough amounts of prebiotics and probiotics

00:35:29.880 | that you don't start to venture into the realm of brain fog

00:35:33.660 | and some of the other issues that could be associated

00:35:35.760 | with taking too much prebiotic and probiotic

00:35:38.560 | in the form of supplements.

00:35:39.920 | I'd like to take a brief break

00:35:41.560 | and thank our sponsor, InsideTracker.

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00:36:04.880 | however, is that you get data back about metabolic factors,

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00:36:26.400 | and other things that impact your immediate

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00:36:44.640 | The other category of foundational supplements

00:36:46.320 | are those adaptogens that we mentioned earlier.

00:36:48.840 | Adaptogens, again, being a very poorly defined category,

00:36:52.760 | but these are typically micronutrients, herbs.

00:36:57.760 | Sometimes they go into the mushroom category.

00:36:59.760 | Again, these are non psychedelic mushrooms

00:37:02.580 | that provide either some buffering to the stress system

00:37:05.740 | by reducing cortisol typically,

00:37:08.260 | or that are thought to or known to based on research studies

00:37:12.220 | to enhance things like blood flow to the brain

00:37:14.560 | or to enhance some aspect of cognitive function

00:37:16.940 | by way of enhancing neurotransmitter function.

00:37:19.720 | This category of so-called adaptogens

00:37:22.040 | is an important one.

00:37:22.960 | We'll get back to this a little bit later.

00:37:24.740 | The reason I mention it now is that it is indeed hard

00:37:28.320 | to get the so-called adaptogens in sufficient concentrations

00:37:31.280 | from food-based sources.

00:37:33.720 | I have to assume that most people aren't out there

00:37:35.400 | collecting chaga mushroom or the ashwagandha herbs

00:37:38.080 | and then combining them with their salads or their foods.

00:37:40.960 | And so that's why this adaptogen category

00:37:42.800 | fits into foundational.

00:37:44.400 | Now, this opens up the category of foundational supplements

00:37:47.920 | that are broad spectrum.

00:37:49.160 | That is that include vitamins and minerals

00:37:51.520 | that have digestive enzymes that have adaptogens

00:37:54.400 | and that also have prebiotics and probiotics

00:37:57.060 | at the appropriate dosages.

00:37:58.840 | This is one reason why I'm a big fan of supplements

00:38:01.140 | like Athletic Greens, which is, as many of you know,

00:38:04.000 | a sponsor of this podcast and does really nicely cover

00:38:07.460 | all of these categories of foundational nutrition.

00:38:10.000 | But I do want to emphasize that this is not a way

00:38:12.780 | to focus on Athletic Greens specifically.

00:38:15.400 | There are other categories and brands

00:38:18.000 | of excellent foundational nutritional supplements

00:38:20.860 | that cover these categories of vitamins and minerals,

00:38:23.900 | probiotics, prebiotics, digestive enzymes, and adaptogens.

00:38:28.160 | It just so happens that Athletic Greens is the one

00:38:30.940 | that I discovered and that works best for me

00:38:32.660 | and that many people find works really well for them.

00:38:35.180 | So this is why when people approach me and they ask me,

00:38:38.420 | as they often do, very, very often do, I should say,

00:38:41.740 | if I'm only going to take one supplement,

00:38:43.260 | what supplement should I take?

00:38:44.840 | Rather than just give them one specific answer,

00:38:47.420 | I actually ask them three questions.

00:38:49.260 | First question I ask them is,

00:38:51.060 | how well are you sleeping at night?

00:38:52.700 | Are you getting enough sleep?

00:38:53.620 | Are you waking up feeling rested?

00:38:55.340 | Because if they're not,

00:38:56.820 | that opens up a whole different set of interactions

00:38:59.980 | that we need to have and discussions around

00:39:01.700 | what sorts of things they need to do and possibly take

00:39:04.980 | in order to get their sleep right,

00:39:06.180 | because sleep is the foundation of mental health,

00:39:08.060 | physical health, and performance.

00:39:09.540 | We will have that discussion a little bit later

00:39:11.340 | in this episode.

00:39:13.020 | The second question I ask them is, how's your nutrition?

00:39:17.020 | That is, are you eating regularly?

00:39:20.140 | Have you found the combination of macronutrients

00:39:23.220 | or which diet is right for you?

00:39:25.020 | Do you think you're getting enough vitamins and minerals?

00:39:27.000 | How's your digestion?

00:39:28.260 | We have that conversation.

00:39:29.860 | And then the third thing that I ask,

00:39:31.780 | which is extremely important, is what's your budget?

00:39:36.020 | Because if somebody has $10 a month total

00:39:38.540 | to spend on supplements versus $1,000 a month

00:39:41.340 | to spend on supplements total,

00:39:43.100 | well, then there's a different set of conversations

00:39:45.900 | to be had as to which supplements they should take.

00:39:48.220 | Now, once those three questions have been answered,

00:39:51.860 | assuming that somebody is able to spend about $100

00:39:56.260 | or more on supplements per month,

00:39:59.140 | then my recommendation is that they not focus

00:40:02.180 | on any specific supplements directed towards sleep

00:40:04.860 | or toward focus or hormone augmentation,

00:40:07.100 | but rather that they focus on buffering

00:40:09.260 | and enhancing their foundational nutrition, adaptogens,

00:40:13.060 | probiotics, prebiotics, and digestive enzymes,

00:40:16.220 | because of the simple fact that if they do that,

00:40:18.580 | they're going to raise the tide on all the biological

00:40:22.100 | and organ systems that are going to lead

00:40:23.480 | to enhanced mental health, physical health,

00:40:25.060 | and performance, including sleep.

00:40:27.140 | So this is one reason why if people say,

00:40:29.900 | well, if I can only take one supplement, what should I take?

00:40:32.220 | I say, well, what's your budget?

00:40:33.660 | If they say they can meet that $100 threshold per month,

00:40:36.820 | then my recommendation would be athletic greens

00:40:38.940 | or something like it,

00:40:40.740 | or that they invest the time and energy to go find

00:40:43.300 | the various combinations of vitamins and minerals

00:40:45.820 | and probiotics and prebiotics and adaptogens and so forth

00:40:50.040 | in individual components that they can then take

00:40:54.180 | in combination in order to meet their foundational needs.

00:40:57.040 | But most people are not interested in doing all that homework

00:40:59.740 | and legwork to figure out exactly what those dosages are.

00:41:02.860 | That's one reason why indeed I have taken athletic greens

00:41:05.740 | since 2012, I like it, it makes me feel better,

00:41:07.900 | I have more energy, I sleep better,

00:41:09.240 | my digestion is certainly better,

00:41:10.520 | and it supports the gut microbiome.

00:41:11.780 | I do that for that reason, but again,

00:41:14.400 | I want to emphasize that there are other great sources

00:41:17.100 | of all the relevant things within those foundational formulas

00:41:20.860 | that athletic greens contains.

00:41:22.240 | So it's certainly not the only route

00:41:24.120 | to covering your foundational health needs.

00:41:27.300 | There are other ways to do that.

00:41:28.780 | Now, if somebody has a budget lower than $100 per month

00:41:31.660 | to spend on foundational supplementation,

00:41:34.260 | well then there are a couple of discussions to be had.

00:41:37.440 | Now, if the amount of money that they have to devote

00:41:39.420 | to foundational supplementation is zero,

00:41:42.380 | of course, respect that,

00:41:43.620 | and then it becomes a discussion about what sorts of foods

00:41:47.340 | and patterns of food intake are going to best support

00:41:50.380 | their mental health, physical health, and performance.

00:41:52.960 | Now, if somebody has somewhere between $0 and $50

00:41:57.060 | to spend on supplementation for sake of this thing

00:42:00.560 | we're calling foundational health per month,

00:42:02.860 | well then a different category of supplement discussion

00:42:05.920 | arises and we'll have that in a moment.

00:42:07.740 | But to sort of close the conversation

00:42:09.700 | on foundational supplementation,

00:42:12.300 | again, that means many different things.

00:42:14.660 | It's vitamins and minerals.

00:42:15.960 | Sometimes that's one vitamin and mineral supplement.

00:42:18.640 | It means digestive enzymes.

00:42:21.020 | That could be its own supplement

00:42:22.480 | or in combination with vitamins and minerals.

00:42:24.300 | It means often not always adaptogens,

00:42:27.720 | things like ashwagandha,

00:42:28.860 | different plant-based and mushroom-based formulations

00:42:32.560 | that can buffer stress

00:42:33.800 | and provide other brain and body support.

00:42:36.540 | And it often, although not always,

00:42:39.320 | but should I believe include the probiotics and prebiotics

00:42:43.020 | or anything that supports healthy gut microbiome.

00:42:45.960 | Once again, I think a broad spectrum supplement

00:42:49.840 | that has many, many ingredients of high quality

00:42:52.480 | that covers all these bases is going to be the best route

00:42:56.140 | to ensuring foundational supplementation is covered.

00:42:59.500 | And I do think that should be the starting place

00:43:02.860 | for any and all supplementation regimens.

00:43:06.740 | I'll say that once again,

00:43:07.580 | I think covering your foundational needs

00:43:10.660 | in the realm of vitamins, minerals, probiotics,

00:43:12.900 | digestive enzymes, and adaptogens

00:43:16.700 | is going to give you the most benefit by cost

00:43:20.820 | and the most benefit across the board

00:43:22.980 | in terms of brain and body systems

00:43:24.580 | that's going to allow you to feel better overall,

00:43:27.100 | sleep better overall, focus better overall,

00:43:30.060 | and support all the different systems

00:43:32.280 | in your brain and body

00:43:33.300 | that are going to allow you to be at your best

00:43:35.660 | while of course also paying careful attention

00:43:38.820 | to your nutrition

00:43:39.640 | because you simply cannot abandon nutrition.

00:43:42.660 | Again, better living through chemistry

00:43:44.300 | still requires better living.

00:43:46.040 | So now that we've had that discussion

00:43:47.540 | about foundational supplementation,

00:43:49.940 | and again, highlighting the fact

00:43:51.180 | that that's the one category of supplementation

00:43:53.840 | where multi-ingredient formulations make the most sense,

00:43:58.100 | I'd like to now shift our attention

00:44:00.060 | to single ingredient formulation supplements

00:44:02.880 | that are designed to achieve specific endpoints.

00:44:05.800 | And here again,

00:44:06.780 | rather than focus on specific ingredients and supplements

00:44:10.680 | to achieve specific endpoints,

00:44:12.400 | because we've done that already in episodes

00:44:14.420 | related to sleep and focus, et cetera,

00:44:17.200 | I'd like to take a step back

00:44:18.780 | and focus on the larger theme of today's episode,

00:44:21.940 | which is how to think about supplementation

00:44:24.920 | in a rational, cost-effective,

00:44:26.780 | and biologically effective way

00:44:28.700 | for each of these categories.

00:44:30.520 | And the three categories that I'm going to cover

00:44:32.700 | are sleep, hormone support,

00:44:36.100 | and cognitive enhancement and focus,

00:44:38.340 | cognitive enhancement and focus

00:44:39.460 | being the final third category.

00:44:41.420 | Let's talk about sleep and the rational approach

00:44:45.380 | to thinking about supplementation for sleep.

00:44:47.680 | As I mentioned earlier in this episode

00:44:49.560 | and on many previous episodes of this podcast,

00:44:52.580 | sleep is the foundation of mental health,

00:44:55.140 | physical health, and performance.

00:44:57.900 | You might be somebody who can do an all-nighter

00:44:59.980 | and feel okay the next day, or maybe even great,

00:45:03.140 | but most everybody, once they start to have minimal sleep

00:45:07.380 | for one or two nights in the form of broken sleep,

00:45:10.520 | poor sleep, not enough sleep,

00:45:12.020 | or sleeping at the wrong time of night,

00:45:13.900 | there is such a thing, or day,

00:45:15.820 | they start to suffer.

00:45:18.420 | Their mood starts to suffer,

00:45:19.980 | their cognitive clarity and performance starts to suffer,

00:45:23.640 | their mental health can suffer severely,

00:45:25.340 | and physical performance definitely suffers,

00:45:27.300 | hormones suffer, everything suffers.

00:45:29.720 | Conversely, when people are sleeping well,

00:45:33.780 | that is deeply and enough,

00:45:35.980 | 80% of the nights of their life,

00:45:37.780 | mental health, physical health,

00:45:40.100 | and performance all flourish,

00:45:41.600 | and I think most people start to be almost amazed

00:45:45.220 | at how well they're doing in various domains of life

00:45:48.260 | that previously they might've struggled with.

00:45:50.400 | So sleep is fundamental, that's established.

00:45:53.920 | When thinking about supplementation for sleep,

00:45:56.940 | we need to ask ourselves a number of important questions.

00:45:59.580 | First of all, you should ask yourself

00:46:02.020 | how well that is, how deeply,

00:46:03.580 | and how much are you sleeping per night?

00:46:05.220 | Assuming you're somebody who can fall asleep easily,

00:46:07.140 | stay asleep through the night,

00:46:08.720 | wake up feeling relatively rested, maybe a little groggy,

00:46:11.580 | and then can move about your day

00:46:13.220 | with plenty of energy and focus,

00:46:14.780 | you're not falling asleep in class or at work

00:46:16.900 | or behind the wheel,

00:46:18.220 | whereas a passenger on public transportation,

00:46:20.800 | well, then you're probably getting enough sleep.

00:46:23.780 | And by the way, it's perfectly normal

00:46:25.700 | to require anywhere from a 10 minute

00:46:27.620 | to a 90 minute nap in the afternoon for some people.

00:46:30.000 | If you're not a napper, no big deal.

00:46:32.860 | It's known that naps can disrupt nighttime sleep,

00:46:35.420 | but provided that they're early enough in the day,

00:46:37.980 | if you take a nap

00:46:38.920 | and you are still able to fall asleep at night,

00:46:41.800 | then naps are fine for you.

00:46:43.420 | If you're somebody who doesn't like naps

00:46:44.940 | 'cause you wake up groggy or grumpy,

00:46:46.820 | which often happens to certain people, then don't nap.

00:46:51.440 | You certainly do not need to nap.

00:46:52.940 | But if you're feeling energetic throughout the day,

00:46:54.920 | chances are you're getting enough sleep at night.

00:46:57.620 | But there are people, of course,

00:46:58.660 | who are struggling with sleep,

00:46:59.880 | either falling asleep, staying asleep,

00:47:01.380 | or they're not feeling alert enough during the day

00:47:03.100 | or all of the above.

00:47:04.380 | And then it makes sense to step back

00:47:06.020 | and take a look at what supplementation can provide.

00:47:09.400 | If you are one of those people who is not sleeping enough

00:47:12.520 | or well enough at night

00:47:13.620 | that you are suffering during the day in whatever way,

00:47:16.440 | mild to severe,

00:47:17.900 | there are two questions you should ask yourself.

00:47:19.540 | First of all, are you ingesting caffeine after 2 p.m.?

00:47:22.820 | If the answer is yes, you want to limit

00:47:25.320 | or eliminate caffeine after 2 p.m.,

00:47:27.600 | maybe even push it back to noon or earlier.

00:47:30.320 | I know that can be excruciating for some folks,

00:47:32.500 | but it can really help with your ability

00:47:34.800 | to fall and stay asleep at night.

00:47:36.280 | The second thing is most people would do well

00:47:38.260 | to avoid food within the two hours prior to bedtime.

00:47:41.500 | But of course, you don't want to be so hungry

00:47:44.680 | that you can't fall asleep.

00:47:46.420 | So those are the nutrition and behavioral tools

00:47:48.900 | that everyone needs to consider.

00:47:50.280 | If you are not ingesting caffeine 2 p.m. or onwards,

00:47:54.860 | and you are not eating excessively

00:47:57.000 | immediately prior to bedtime

00:47:58.240 | or within the two hours prior to bedtime,

00:48:00.040 | and you're not hungry when you go to sleep,

00:48:02.360 | well, then there are certain supplements

00:48:03.680 | that can support your sleep.

00:48:04.860 | And we've talked about these in the perfect sleep episode

00:48:07.620 | and in the episode with our guest expert,

00:48:10.000 | Matt Walker from University of California, Berkeley,

00:48:12.000 | and in the master of your sleep episode.

00:48:13.360 | And we have a toolkit for sleep

00:48:15.040 | that you can access zero cost by going to herunelab.com

00:48:17.960 | and going to the menu, go to the newsletter,

00:48:19.360 | and you can find that toolkit.

00:48:20.660 | You can sign up for other free toolkits like it.

00:48:23.500 | But the point here is not to go systematically

00:48:26.700 | through each of the supplements that is beneficial

00:48:29.000 | or has been shown to be beneficial for sleep,

00:48:30.880 | but rather to address specific aspects of sleep

00:48:33.940 | that can suffer and why and how certain patterns

00:48:37.440 | of supplementation can support

00:48:39.320 | or alleviate those pain points.

00:48:41.600 | If, for instance, you're somebody who falls asleep just fine

00:48:45.580 | but wakes up in the middle of the night

00:48:48.320 | around two or three a.m. or any time for that matter

00:48:50.580 | and has trouble falling back asleep,

00:48:52.820 | there are two categories of supplements

00:48:54.560 | that you might want to consider.

00:48:56.400 | The first is myoinositol,

00:48:58.220 | typically taken as 900 milligrams of myoinositol.

00:49:01.200 | Myoinositol can help shorten the amount of time

00:49:03.400 | that it takes to fall back asleep

00:49:05.400 | if you wake up in the middle of the night.

00:49:07.160 | Myoinositol has other beneficial uses as well

00:49:10.580 | for mood, et cetera.

00:49:12.080 | If you'd like to see many of the different effects

00:49:14.560 | that have been explored in the scientific literature

00:49:16.360 | for myoinositol, you can go to examine.com.

00:49:18.660 | It's an excellent site, not just for inositol,

00:49:21.400 | but for all supplements for that matter.

00:49:23.640 | It talks about the human effect matrix,

00:49:25.680 | that is the different effects

00:49:27.040 | of different supplement compounds on different aspects

00:49:29.520 | of hormone, brain, and body health,

00:49:31.520 | where the evidence is strong, where the evidence is weak,

00:49:33.880 | has links to studies, and so on.

00:49:35.300 | Again, it's examine.com, amazing website,

00:49:37.420 | wonderful website, provided such a rich resource for me

00:49:40.620 | and for many, many other people.

00:49:44.640 | Other people who wake up in the middle of the night

00:49:46.480 | will wake up because their dreams are very intense,

00:49:49.720 | or they were having dreams that were so vivid

00:49:52.380 | that suddenly they were jolted from their dreams.

00:49:54.720 | Those people would do well to avoid certain supplements.

00:49:58.580 | So in a moment, I'll talk about the value of a supplement

00:50:01.080 | called theanine for falling asleep.

00:50:03.720 | But theanine, which typically is taken in dosages

00:50:07.240 | anywhere from 100 milligrams to 400 milligrams,

00:50:10.760 | depending on body weight and experience

00:50:13.880 | and what you find to be most effective for you,

00:50:16.040 | minimally effective for you.

00:50:17.420 | Well, theanine can be great for many people,

00:50:19.360 | but for people who have excessively vivid dreams,

00:50:23.140 | those excessively vivid dreams can lead to immediate waking

00:50:26.640 | and sometimes a little bit of anxiety upon waking

00:50:28.920 | in the middle of the night.

00:50:29.960 | So some people who wake up in the middle of the night

00:50:32.400 | sort of jolted mentally and physically out of sleep

00:50:36.680 | because of their intense dreams would do well

00:50:40.140 | to avoid theanine supplementation.

00:50:42.840 | I've talked about this a bit before,

00:50:44.320 | but it's something that I think a lot of nighttime

00:50:47.400 | middle of the night wakers might be familiar with

00:50:50.080 | and would want to take into consideration.

00:50:52.520 | Now, for those of you that are not waking up

00:50:54.060 | in the middle of the night

00:50:54.900 | or not having excessively vivid dreams,

00:50:56.840 | but are having trouble falling asleep,

00:50:58.780 | two supplements in particular have been shown to be effective

00:51:02.760 | for shortening the transition time to sleep

00:51:04.840 | and allowing people to ease into sleep more readily.

00:51:08.360 | And those are magnesium threonate,

00:51:10.640 | which is interchangeable with magnesium bisglycinate.

00:51:15.040 | Magnesium bisglycinate and magnesium threonate

00:51:17.640 | both have transporter systems

00:51:20.400 | that allow them to readily cross the blood-brain barrier,

00:51:22.800 | and they lead to a mild form of drowsiness,

00:51:25.320 | mild in the sense that it's not going to prevent you

00:51:27.400 | from operating a motor vehicle

00:51:28.880 | or kind of any conditions under emergency

00:51:31.960 | that might arise in the middle of the night,

00:51:33.560 | or if they did arise during the middle of the night,

00:51:34.900 | you'd still be able to function,

00:51:35.960 | so it's not like a sleeping pill,

00:51:37.560 | but people who take those often find

00:51:39.820 | that their transition time into sleep is much faster

00:51:42.300 | and their sleep is also much deeper.

00:51:43.740 | Incidentally, those supplements are also thought to be useful

00:51:47.960 | for cognitive support and neuroprotection,

00:51:51.460 | although there's less data on that.

00:51:53.800 | Okay, so that's for falling asleep.

00:51:54.880 | That's one category, either magnesium threonate

00:51:58.360 | or bisglycinate would be interchangeable

00:52:00.320 | for assisting the transition time into sleep.

00:52:02.600 | And then the other supplement is apigenin,

00:52:05.260 | A-P-I-G-E-N-I-N, apigenin,

00:52:07.480 | which is a derivative chamomile.

00:52:08.880 | I've talked about this in various podcasts before.

00:52:11.180 | Also acts as a bit of a anxiety-lowering compound,

00:52:15.620 | which is essential prior to sleep

00:52:17.180 | for people to essentially turn off their thinking

00:52:19.960 | or to be able to reduce the amount of ruminating

00:52:21.920 | and problem solving and future anticipation

00:52:23.960 | that they're doing,

00:52:24.800 | which is a requirement for falling asleep.

00:52:26.720 | So what's the rational approach to supplementing

00:52:30.160 | in a way that allows you to fall asleep more quickly

00:52:33.120 | and stay asleep?

00:52:33.960 | Well, would you immediately take magnesium threonate

00:52:37.240 | and apigenin together?

00:52:38.520 | Well, that depends.

00:52:39.360 | If you have the budget

00:52:40.180 | and you just simply want to fall asleep quicker

00:52:42.080 | and you don't care which of those two ingredients

00:52:43.800 | is going to be more effective for you,

00:52:45.440 | well, then you could try one,

00:52:47.080 | for instance, magnesium threonate,

00:52:48.820 | and try it for perhaps a week

00:52:51.160 | and see how that affects your latency to sleep time.

00:52:53.520 | That is how quickly you fall asleep.

00:52:55.040 | Or you could try apigenin in the first week,

00:52:56.960 | or you could combine them both,

00:52:58.480 | or you could try magnesium threonate for a week,

00:53:01.160 | then switch to only apigenin for a week

00:53:03.920 | and evaluate which one works better for you.

00:53:06.440 | If neither works for you,

00:53:07.440 | I do recommend trying the combination together.

00:53:09.880 | Again, this is just the way

00:53:10.920 | that any scientist would design an experiment

00:53:13.560 | to try and understand which variables,

00:53:15.960 | that is, which ingredients are most effective

00:53:19.640 | for the result that you want,

00:53:21.160 | as opposed to just lumping them together and taking them.

00:53:23.800 | That said, a lot of people want excellent sleep so badly

00:53:27.800 | that they just say,

00:53:28.640 | "Okay, I'm just going to take magnesium threonate,

00:53:30.200 | I'm going to take apigenin, I'm going to take theanine.

00:53:32.300 | If my dreams are too vivid

00:53:33.400 | or I'm waking up in the middle of the night

00:53:34.880 | from excessively vivid dreams, I'll drop the theanine."

00:53:37.800 | And many people actually derive great benefit

00:53:40.020 | from that approach.

00:53:41.080 | But because today we're talking about

00:53:42.360 | the most rational, cost-effective,

00:53:43.760 | and biologically effective approach to supplementation,

00:53:46.600 | if you're not sleeping as well as you would like to,

00:53:49.700 | or if you want to explore

00:53:50.800 | what sleeping even more deeply might do

00:53:54.080 | for your mental health, physical health, and performance,

00:53:56.760 | well, then it makes sense to think about

00:53:59.480 | the various supplements for falling asleep

00:54:01.880 | versus remaining asleep,

00:54:03.480 | what to include, what not to include,

00:54:05.340 | and to do that systematically.

00:54:06.680 | And again, I think one week's time of taking something,

00:54:09.560 | provided it doesn't induce any negative effects, right?

00:54:14.000 | If something induces a negative effect,

00:54:15.800 | I recommend ceasing taking it immediately.

00:54:18.200 | But if something does not produce any negative effects,

00:54:20.720 | then I think you want to try a single ingredient formulation

00:54:23.480 | for about a week while not varying anything else,

00:54:26.560 | not changing anything else in your overall protocols

00:54:30.260 | of nutrition or supplementation.

00:54:32.360 | I mean, it's impossible to clamp everything perfectly

00:54:34.900 | from week to week,

00:54:35.740 | but don't change anything else dramatically

00:54:37.900 | and just add that supplement for a given week,

00:54:40.620 | see how it benefits your sleep,

00:54:42.640 | maybe add in a second supplement if you like,

00:54:45.120 | or rather swap and try a different supplement for a week

00:54:48.720 | and then see what works best

00:54:50.360 | and see if the combination works even better.

00:54:52.680 | Now, I acknowledge that what I just described

00:54:54.480 | is exceedingly basic,

00:54:56.160 | but it's something that I don't think most people do.

00:54:59.320 | Most people either decide they have the budget

00:55:02.120 | and the interest in just improving their sleep

00:55:03.720 | across the board and they don't care what ingredient

00:55:05.860 | is providing the maximum benefit,

00:55:07.920 | or they simply try something and decide,

00:55:11.220 | oh, well, it didn't work for me

00:55:12.380 | and so I'm not going to try anything else.

00:55:13.960 | Supplements don't work for me

00:55:15.120 | or magnesium doesn't work for me,

00:55:16.480 | or I woke up in the middle of the night from vivid dreams.

00:55:19.560 | And that's because they're taking more of a shotgun approach

00:55:21.840 | without teasing out the different variables.

00:55:24.280 | In fact, if there's an overriding theme

00:55:25.700 | of today's conversation,

00:55:26.800 | it's really about learning how to isolate variables

00:55:30.280 | in the realm of supplementation,

00:55:32.020 | because once you do that,

00:55:33.840 | and once you start to develop that intuition

00:55:36.720 | or sensitivity of sorts

00:55:38.780 | to how different ingredients impact you,

00:55:42.060 | it is an enormously powerful stance to have

00:55:44.840 | because you're going to keep your costs limited.

00:55:47.480 | You're also going to find the things

00:55:49.100 | that work particularly poorly for you.

00:55:51.440 | And more importantly,

00:55:52.680 | the things that work particularly well for you

00:55:54.840 | toward your goals.

00:55:55.920 | Any discussion about supplementation for sleep,

00:55:58.540 | I feel has to include a discussion about melatonin.

00:56:01.920 | I've talked about melatonin before on numerous podcasts,

00:56:04.560 | mine and others.

00:56:05.920 | And I will say once again,

00:56:07.540 | I am not a fan of melatonin for a couple of reasons.

00:56:10.120 | Melatonin is a hormone known to induce sleepiness,

00:56:13.600 | but not keep us asleep.

00:56:14.880 | So oftentimes people will take melatonin,

00:56:16.440 | fall deeply asleep and then wake up

00:56:18.120 | and have trouble falling back asleep.

00:56:20.240 | The other reason is that melatonin supplements

00:56:22.760 | almost always include levels of melatonin

00:56:24.760 | or amounts of melatonin that far, far exceed

00:56:27.980 | the normal biological levels

00:56:30.700 | or so-called endogenous levels of melatonin

00:56:32.800 | that we would normally produce.

00:56:33.920 | And yes, it's true that as we age,

00:56:35.800 | we produce less melatonin,

00:56:37.900 | but melatonin as a hormone also impacts

00:56:40.960 | other hormone systems,

00:56:42.440 | particularly the reproductive hormone access

00:56:44.280 | to testosterone, estrogen, et cetera,

00:56:46.160 | which is not to say that if you've been taking melatonin

00:56:47.920 | for some period of time,

00:56:49.400 | that you've disrupted your fertility or those hormone axes,

00:56:53.380 | but it's possible that you've disrupted them somewhat.

00:56:56.160 | And it's very clear that melatonin can impact

00:56:59.160 | not just sleep, but other systems in the brain and body.

00:57:02.240 | It can be useful for jet lag and for occasional use,

00:57:05.800 | but there also, I want to voice a message of caution.

00:57:09.420 | There have been studies exploring the dosages of melatonin

00:57:14.320 | contained in various supplements

00:57:16.960 | and whether or not what's listed on the bottle matches

00:57:19.160 | what's actually contained in those formulations.

00:57:22.040 | And despite those formulations coming from quite reliable,

00:57:25.500 | quote unquote, or thought to be reliable sources,

00:57:28.500 | it was found that these supplements contain

00:57:30.620 | anywhere from 15% of what's thought to be

00:57:35.140 | or is told to be in those supplements

00:57:37.500 | or many times more melatonin than is listed on the bottle.

00:57:42.300 | So the dosaging does not seem to be consistent

00:57:44.420 | with what's often listed on the bottle.

00:57:46.020 | And this is even true within

00:57:47.060 | some of the more reputable brands.

00:57:48.980 | So that's of real concern.

00:57:50.760 | So we need to highlight melatonin

00:57:52.500 | as perhaps something that's only used occasionally.

00:57:55.500 | If you want to talk about dosages for melatonin,

00:57:58.340 | use for jet lag, et cetera, go to examine.com.

00:58:01.920 | There's some excellent references to studies there.

00:58:05.080 | Just put melatonin into the search function.

00:58:06.940 | It'll tell you everything you need to know about melatonin.

00:58:09.300 | But now you know my stance on melatonin.

00:58:11.440 | One question I often get about supplementation for sleep

00:58:13.920 | is does it create a dependency?

00:58:16.220 | That's an excellent question to ask.

00:58:18.720 | I think most people worry about even fear

00:58:22.820 | relying on something so heavily

00:58:24.420 | that if they did not have it for whatever reason

00:58:26.620 | that they couldn't sleep.

00:58:28.420 | In my experience,

00:58:30.180 | there is no problem falling and staying asleep

00:58:34.080 | in the absence of a supplement for sleep.

00:58:37.300 | Even if you've been taking that supplement for sleep

00:58:40.100 | consistently, seven days a week for months and months,

00:58:42.320 | maybe even years on end.

00:58:44.020 | I confess that I occasionally fall asleep

00:58:47.460 | having not taken my pre-sleep supplements.

00:58:51.120 | And I happen to take magnesium threonine and apigenin.

00:58:54.140 | I also take inositol.

00:58:55.940 | It greatly enhances my sleep.

00:58:57.580 | And there've been nights when I've fallen asleep

00:58:59.160 | not having taken any of those things and I've slept fine.

00:59:02.300 | That said, if I were to explore multiple nights

00:59:06.060 | of trying to sleep without that supplementation,

00:59:08.180 | I find that my sleep is not as good.

00:59:10.120 | I'm still able to fall asleep,

00:59:12.060 | but the depth of my sleep and the duration of my sleep

00:59:15.220 | is not as good as when I'm supplementing.

00:59:17.380 | So I think that's refreshing news, at least to me,

00:59:20.680 | that there isn't a dependence on these supplements

00:59:23.300 | in order to be able to fall asleep.

00:59:25.120 | It's not the same sort of dependence that people experience

00:59:27.760 | from things like sleeping pills.

00:59:29.580 | That said, any compound, any compound

00:59:33.900 | can create a placebo type effect

00:59:36.540 | where we think we need something

00:59:38.500 | in order to achieve a certain effect.

00:59:40.540 | We had a guest on this podcast some time ago,

00:59:43.980 | Dr. Ali Krom, who's a professor at Stanford

00:59:46.060 | and works on these mindset effects, belief effects,

00:59:49.200 | and placebo effects.

00:59:51.280 | And placebo effects can be very real.

00:59:53.980 | And in some sense, dovetail with any conversation

00:59:57.460 | about dependency, meaning if you are somebody

01:00:00.120 | who loves your sleep supplements and sleeps great with them,

01:00:03.720 | and one night you discover you don't have them

01:00:06.240 | or you can't access them for whatever reason,

01:00:08.720 | that can create a little bit of an anxiety

01:00:11.280 | around the idea that, oh, in their absence,

01:00:13.960 | you're not going to be able to sleep.

01:00:15.440 | And that's a sort of a placebo effect in reverse,

01:00:17.940 | if you will, because what it suggests is that

01:00:20.860 | there's a emotional or a cognitive association

01:00:24.200 | with taking these things that allows you to sleep well.

01:00:26.880 | I would highly recommend that people explore

01:00:30.000 | this issue of dependency and placebo effects

01:00:32.500 | for sleep supplements on their own and under conditions

01:00:35.200 | in which there's nothing pressing the next day.

01:00:37.340 | That is, you don't have a big presentation, et cetera.

01:00:40.120 | So what I recommend is that every two weeks or so,

01:00:43.740 | maybe every month or so, take one night off completely

01:00:47.400 | from all your sleep supplements

01:00:48.940 | or leave out one sleep supplement.

01:00:50.960 | Try to understand to what extent

01:00:52.320 | you might've established a dependency,

01:00:54.960 | either real or placebo-based on these sleep supplements.

01:00:59.000 | And again, I suggest doing this on perhaps a Friday night

01:01:01.960 | so that it's a weekend the next day

01:01:03.840 | so you don't have to work if perhaps you don't sleep well.

01:01:06.800 | I think what you'll find is what most people find,

01:01:09.520 | and that's in the absence of taking your supplement stack

01:01:13.900 | for sleep one night, you're still going to sleep just fine.

01:01:17.900 | Now, does that mean that these supplements

01:01:19.480 | are not actually working under normal conditions

01:01:22.720 | where you're taking them each night?

01:01:23.900 | No, what this means is that many of these things,

01:01:27.320 | magnesiums in particular, can build up in the body and brain

01:01:31.720 | in a way that can be beneficial.

01:01:33.160 | And what probably explains the fact that you can still sleep

01:01:36.960 | if you miss a night of taking them

01:01:38.600 | is that the neural circuits that are involved

01:01:41.240 | in turning off thinking or in not thinking

01:01:44.160 | and in falling asleep,

01:01:45.480 | those neural circuits undergo what's called plasticity.

01:01:48.020 | In other words, if you get better at falling

01:01:49.680 | and staying asleep over time,

01:01:51.020 | even if you got better at that through the assistance

01:01:54.060 | or with the assistance of some supplement

01:01:55.840 | or combination of supplements,

01:01:57.580 | well, then those circuits are still going to function

01:01:59.760 | just fine even in the absence

01:02:02.120 | of not taking those supplements just once.

01:02:04.660 | We'll get back into this conversation a little bit later

01:02:07.180 | when we talk about cognitive enhancement and focus.

01:02:10.480 | It's the same story there where indeed there are things

01:02:13.940 | that people can take in stimulant form

01:02:16.380 | and non-stimulant form

01:02:17.720 | that can enhance cognitive ability and focus,

01:02:20.380 | but that does not mean that you become so dependent on those

01:02:23.800 | that you can't focus unless you take them.

01:02:26.220 | This has been shown multiple times over.

01:02:28.260 | So again, to answer the question,

01:02:30.140 | is there a dependency established

01:02:31.980 | by taking supplements for sleep?

01:02:34.100 | The short answer is no with the caveat

01:02:36.220 | that placebo effects and belief effects

01:02:38.460 | are always going to be at play

01:02:40.140 | whether or not you're talking about supplementation,

01:02:41.580 | prescription drugs, or even behavioral protocols,

01:02:43.760 | for that matter.

01:02:44.660 | I'd like to take a brief break

01:02:46.060 | and acknowledge our sponsor, Athletic Greens.

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01:03:53.360 | The next category of supplementation

01:03:54.960 | that I'd like to talk about is hormone support.

01:03:58.140 | Improving or so-called optimizing your hormones

01:04:01.540 | is a critical aspect of mental health,

01:04:03.920 | physical health, and performance.

01:04:05.740 | We've done multiple episodes about hormones,

01:04:08.140 | including testosterone and estrogen

01:04:10.900 | for both men and women and for people of different ages.

01:04:13.440 | We've also had episodes on thyroid hormone,

01:04:15.840 | growth hormone, and so on.

01:04:17.800 | You can find all those at hubermanlab.com.

01:04:19.640 | In fact, you can go to the hubermanlab.com website.

01:04:22.360 | There's a search function

01:04:23.300 | where you can just put in a keyword

01:04:24.560 | and it will take you to all the episodes

01:04:26.260 | and specific time points

01:04:28.000 | where that topic happens to be covered.

01:04:30.040 | Now, hormone health is such an important topic to discuss

01:04:33.060 | in the context of supplementation

01:04:35.120 | because indeed there are compounds

01:04:38.520 | that are non-prescription-based so-called supplements

01:04:41.700 | that can improve hormone function.

01:04:44.540 | Again, anytime we are discussing a particular aspect

01:04:47.300 | of mental health, physical health, or performance,

01:04:49.900 | we need to start with a mention of the few behavioral tools

01:04:53.540 | and nutrition-based tools,

01:04:55.100 | or at least some top contour coverage of those

01:04:58.140 | in a way that frames up the discussion

01:04:59.720 | about supplementation appropriately.

01:05:02.180 | So in the context of hormone support and augmentation

01:05:05.620 | and optimization,

01:05:06.740 | if you are not getting adequate calories

01:05:11.080 | from high quality sources,

01:05:13.380 | hormones like testosterone and estrogen will suffer.

01:05:16.760 | This is one of the reasons

01:05:17.820 | why women will stop having their periods

01:05:21.280 | if they're not ingesting enough calories.

01:05:23.200 | This is one of the reasons why testosterone levels will drop

01:05:26.400 | if people are not ingesting enough calories.

01:05:28.540 | In fact, on the episode with expert guest

01:05:31.120 | and medical doctor Peter Attia,

01:05:33.360 | he described how sex hormone binding globulin,

01:05:36.260 | this is a protein that's present in males and females

01:05:39.340 | that binds to testosterone and other hormones

01:05:42.360 | and prevents it from being in its free form,

01:05:44.680 | which is the more active form.

01:05:46.800 | Well, insulin, which of course is going to increase

01:05:49.720 | after the ingestion of carbohydrates in particular,

01:05:52.560 | insulin actually inhibits

01:05:54.420 | or reduces sex hormone binding globulin.

01:05:56.960 | What this means is that for you intermittent fasters

01:05:59.340 | or people that are ingesting very few carbohydrates

01:06:01.520 | who have very low blood glucose,

01:06:03.520 | or perhaps are taking things like metformin or berberine,

01:06:07.040 | which is a supplement based approach

01:06:09.740 | to reducing blood glucose,

01:06:11.380 | well, your sex hormone binding globulin

01:06:14.420 | is going to increase dramatically.

01:06:16.120 | Conversely, if you are eating enough calories

01:06:18.920 | in the form of foods that allow your insulin

01:06:21.980 | to be a bit higher, not excessively high, we hope,

01:06:24.800 | but a bit higher,

01:06:25.840 | well then sex hormone binding globulin will go down

01:06:27.960 | and free testosterone will go up.

01:06:29.740 | So the discussion about hormone support and augmentation

01:06:33.140 | has to include some nod toward

01:06:35.540 | or understanding of the fact that nutrition

01:06:37.840 | and the way that nutrition impacts hormones

01:06:40.080 | and the way that hormones such as insulin

01:06:41.720 | impact other hormones, such as free testosterone,

01:06:44.600 | that all has to be acknowledged.

01:06:46.060 | That is not the topic of today's discussion,

01:06:47.740 | but it's important that I remind everybody

01:06:50.140 | that nutrition matters for general hormone status.

01:06:55.020 | It's also important to remember that behaviors matter

01:06:58.220 | for hormone status.

01:06:59.980 | Getting morning sunlight increases cortisol levels.

01:07:02.780 | Cortisol levels are very important

01:07:05.600 | to have elevated early in the day for focus and alertness

01:07:08.400 | and for immune function,

01:07:10.020 | and to make sure that cortisol levels are low at night

01:07:13.160 | and thereby levels of growth hormone and testosterone,

01:07:16.800 | which is secreted mainly in the early morning,

01:07:18.880 | can be elevated at night and in the early morning.

01:07:22.020 | So getting morning sunlight,

01:07:23.620 | getting strenuous exercise

01:07:24.900 | in the form of both cardiovascular exercise,

01:07:26.760 | but also relatively short,

01:07:29.140 | meaning an hour or less bouts of intense resistance training

01:07:34.140 | a few times per week

01:07:35.620 | can also dramatically alter hormone profiles.

01:07:38.180 | In fact, in the episode that we did with Dr. Duncan French,

01:07:41.500 | again, you find that episode at hubermanlab.com,

01:07:43.420 | he described a very strenuous, but still brief,

01:07:48.340 | two day a week protocol of using resistance training

01:07:51.180 | specifically to increase testosterone and free testosterone

01:07:54.140 | and growth hormone and so on.

01:07:56.220 | So nutrition matters, exercise matters

01:07:59.220 | when it comes to increasing,

01:08:01.260 | supporting or augmenting different hormones.

01:08:03.140 | And that's just the discussion about testosterone,

01:08:05.500 | free testosterone and estrogen.

01:08:07.380 | There's also the vast discussion

01:08:08.780 | about thyroid hormone, et cetera.

01:08:10.060 | Again, we've covered all those topics in previous episodes,

01:08:13.060 | but once those behavioral tools are in place,

01:08:17.280 | once you're doing the right things

01:08:18.620 | and you're avoiding the wrong things,

01:08:21.020 | doing the right things to support your hormones

01:08:22.860 | and avoiding the things that diminish hormones

01:08:25.820 | in the ways that can be detrimental,

01:08:28.720 | once your nutrition is in place to support your hormones,

01:08:32.260 | then it makes sense to turn and consider

01:08:35.420 | what supplements can support hormones.

01:08:37.920 | But I do believe that you want to get your behaviors

01:08:40.280 | and your nutrition correct

01:08:41.460 | before you start thinking about supplementation for hormones.

01:08:44.140 | Again, I'll repeat that,

01:08:44.980 | get your nutrition and your behaviors correct

01:08:48.340 | for sake of hormones and for other health purposes

01:08:51.120 | before you start thinking about supplementation for hormones

01:08:54.260 | and certainly before you start thinking

01:08:55.360 | about prescription-based approaches to improving hormones.

01:08:58.260 | Once all of those other elements are in place,

01:09:03.540 | the supplements that make sense

01:09:05.920 | in terms of augmenting hormones come in two forms.

01:09:08.660 | One are broadband support for multiple hormones

01:09:13.420 | and then the others are supplements

01:09:16.220 | that are designed to increase

01:09:18.180 | or in some cases decrease specific hormones

01:09:20.820 | or hormone pathways.

01:09:21.660 | So let's consider each of those in tandem.

01:09:25.040 | There are certain supplements,

01:09:26.520 | things like Shila G, for instance,

01:09:28.580 | something from Ayurvedic medicine,

01:09:30.020 | which may mainly has the active ingredient fulvic acid,

01:09:34.200 | which is known to, for instance,

01:09:35.620 | increase things like FSH, follicle stimulating hormone,

01:09:39.100 | which in women is going to increase certain aspects

01:09:42.640 | of egg growth, hence the name follicle stimulating hormone.

01:09:47.660 | It's going to stimulate certain aspects of fertility.

01:09:50.640 | It's pro-fertile and in males can make

01:09:53.940 | for more sperm production or more motile sperm.

01:09:57.700 | FSH is also going to indirectly

01:09:59.780 | increase testosterone in males.

01:10:01.260 | It's known to increase libido in both males and females.

01:10:04.300 | So things like Shila G can indeed augment multiple hormones

01:10:08.580 | and support multiple hormone systems,

01:10:10.200 | generally in the direction of pro-fertility,

01:10:13.180 | pro-libido and increasing estrogen and testosterone.

01:10:18.180 | Now, there are other supplements such as Ashwagandha

01:10:21.800 | that also fall into this category

01:10:23.580 | of affecting multiple hormones.

01:10:25.380 | Ashwagandha is a very potent supplement

01:10:28.980 | in terms of reducing cortisol levels.

01:10:31.540 | It has also been shown to increase testosterone levels,

01:10:35.340 | but probably indirectly.

01:10:36.740 | And that's because cortisol and testosterone

01:10:39.100 | sort of exist on a seesaw in terms of pathways.

01:10:42.420 | They're on separate pathways,

01:10:43.580 | but those pathways interact enough

01:10:45.500 | that when cortisol is lowered in general,

01:10:47.740 | testosterone tends to increase.

01:10:49.560 | Now, it is important that with certain hormones

01:10:51.500 | like Ashwagandha that you don't take them

01:10:53.380 | for more than two weeks at a time at high dosages.

01:10:55.560 | If you want to know more of the specifics around Ashwagandha

01:10:57.900 | and how long to take it, how to cycle it, et cetera,

01:11:01.000 | please see our episode on master stress.

01:11:03.100 | Please also see the examine.com website

01:11:06.060 | and put in Ashwagandha.

01:11:07.460 | It will get into some of that description.

01:11:09.860 | But Shilajee, Ashwagandha, and things for instance,

01:11:14.360 | like L-carnitine, a supplement that we often discuss

01:11:17.500 | in terms of fertility because it can indeed

01:11:19.880 | improve sperm motility and quality and egg quality.

01:11:23.680 | So it's a pro-fertile compound,

01:11:26.220 | but it also impacts various mitochondrial pathways.

01:11:29.020 | So it's having a more indirect effect on hormones.

01:11:32.220 | There are many other compounds present

01:11:35.520 | and available supplements that are purported

01:11:37.820 | to be pro-hormone support in particular

01:11:40.940 | for testosterone, estrogen, fertility, and libido.

01:11:44.300 | There is a description, for instance,

01:11:45.840 | of things like maca root.

01:11:47.720 | Maca root can increase libido.

01:11:49.900 | It's found to be particularly effective in women,

01:11:52.980 | but in men as well.

01:11:54.460 | And in all people who are suffering from lowered libido

01:11:57.900 | due to intake of SSRIs,

01:12:01.060 | selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors for whatever reason.

01:12:04.020 | SSRIs are used to treat OCD,

01:12:05.640 | they're used to treat depression,

01:12:06.800 | any number of different things.

01:12:08.360 | Maca root can be, in many instances,

01:12:10.600 | effective in increasing libido.

01:12:12.740 | It does that, however,

01:12:14.040 | through augmentation of dopamine-related pathways

01:12:17.060 | and some of the hormone pathways

01:12:18.760 | upstream of testosterone and estrogen.

01:12:21.180 | The reports that maca increases testosterone

01:12:23.800 | are somewhat scant and a little bit weak, to be honest.

01:12:28.420 | So it's having these indirect effects

01:12:30.200 | that may impact testosterone downstream.

01:12:32.500 | So again, I'd put maca alongside ashwagandha,

01:12:35.180 | alongside Shilajee,

01:12:36.940 | as supplements that are impacting multiple hormone pathways

01:12:40.820 | toward increased libido, increased fertility,

01:12:43.380 | increased testosterone or estrogen,

01:12:46.160 | likely through indirect pathways.

01:12:48.780 | Okay, now with all that said,

01:12:50.380 | like to provide some examples of supplements

01:12:53.880 | that work more directly on specific hormone pathways

01:12:57.000 | aimed at achieving more specific goals,

01:12:59.520 | such as elevated testosterone or elevated free testosterone

01:13:03.960 | or elevated growth hormone, for that matter,

01:13:06.460 | and elevated thyroid hormone.

01:13:08.680 | I'd like to talk about growth hormone first

01:13:10.700 | because it's actually a pretty short discussion.

01:13:13.120 | First of all, the best way to augment growth hormone

01:13:15.860 | is to get quality deep sleep,

01:13:17.420 | especially the sleep that occurs

01:13:18.940 | in the first three or four hours of the night

01:13:20.580 | is when growth hormone is released.

01:13:22.780 | And it's going to be beneficial to avoid caloric intake

01:13:25.900 | in the two hours preceding sleep.

01:13:27.800 | Again, don't go to bed so hungry

01:13:30.060 | that you wake up an hour or an hour and a half later

01:13:32.380 | or you have trouble falling asleep,

01:13:34.100 | but avoiding food intake in the two hours prior to sleep

01:13:36.660 | and certainly avoiding alcohol and cannabis

01:13:39.520 | is going to facilitate growth hormone release

01:13:42.420 | in the first hours of sleep.

01:13:44.400 | Many people use intermittent fasting

01:13:46.360 | or even longer periods of fasting

01:13:47.700 | to increase growth hormone.

01:13:49.660 | One of the interesting things I learned

01:13:51.440 | from an expert guest, Dr. Kyle Gillette,

01:13:53.160 | who's a medical doctor on this podcast is that indeed,

01:13:57.720 | while lengthier fast or intermittent fasting

01:14:00.560 | can increase growth hormone levels very substantially,

01:14:04.220 | it has indirect effects on the genetic pathways

01:14:07.720 | and the receptors for growth hormone

01:14:09.860 | that actually are detrimental

01:14:11.840 | for the function of growth hormone.

01:14:13.160 | So avoiding food for the two hours prior to bedtime

01:14:15.720 | is a good idea.

01:14:16.560 | If you avoid food for longer,

01:14:18.080 | that's just going to assist even more,

01:14:20.500 | certainly isn't going to hurt

01:14:21.960 | in terms of growth hormone release,

01:14:23.840 | but extended fast specifically

01:14:26.180 | for the purpose of increasing growth hormone

01:14:28.820 | are not really logical when you look at the broader effects

01:14:33.020 | of extended fast.

01:14:34.120 | That is not to say that extended fasting

01:14:36.080 | is not appropriate for some people,

01:14:37.460 | it can be in certain instances

01:14:39.540 | or that intermittent fasted,

01:14:40.760 | so-called time-restricted feeding

01:14:42.000 | is not beneficial for some people, it can be.

01:14:44.640 | Here I'm only referring to the effects or in this case,

01:14:47.560 | the lack of effects of intermittent fasting,

01:14:50.160 | time-restricted feeding on growth hormone specifically.

01:14:53.200 | Now, in terms of supplements to increase growth hormone,

01:14:56.600 | there are very few supplements

01:14:58.560 | that have been shown to augment this pathway.

01:15:00.580 | There is some idea that arginine supplementation

01:15:03.800 | prior to bedtime can further elevate levels

01:15:07.320 | of growth hormone, especially when fasted.

01:15:09.800 | That literature is rather weak, to be honest,

01:15:11.680 | I encourage you to go to examine.com

01:15:13.320 | if you want to peruse those particular studies.

01:15:16.440 | Really the things that increase growth hormone

01:15:19.220 | very potently fall outside the realm of supplementation.

01:15:22.880 | They include exercise,

01:15:24.600 | again, look at the Duncan French episode

01:15:26.720 | or in the Kyle Gillette episode

01:15:29.160 | on optimizing hormones in males in particular,

01:15:31.380 | but this also pertains to females

01:15:32.960 | that avoiding food two hours prior to bedtime

01:15:35.440 | really can boost growth hormone significantly in sleep

01:15:39.120 | beyond what it would be otherwise,

01:15:40.640 | but it's really only once you get

01:15:41.760 | into the realm of prescription compounds,

01:15:44.120 | things like peptides, like sarmorelin,

01:15:46.480 | which increase IGF-1 and growth hormone,

01:15:48.800 | things like growth hormone itself by prescription

01:15:51.760 | if and only if it's prescribed by a doctor, of course,

01:15:54.620 | and is safe for you,

01:15:55.640 | that's when you start getting into

01:15:57.200 | really significant increases in growth hormone.

01:15:59.920 | Not a lot of supplements out there

01:16:01.880 | to increase growth hormone potently.

01:16:03.960 | Now, it's a different story when you start thinking about

01:16:06.880 | and talking about testosterone and free testosterone

01:16:10.040 | and luteinizing hormone.

01:16:11.360 | Luteinizing hormone is released from the pituitary,

01:16:14.380 | which is this gland not far from the roof of your mouth

01:16:17.800 | and its nearby neighbor.

01:16:19.640 | The hypothalamus is a collection of neurons

01:16:21.920 | that sits above the roof of your mouth

01:16:23.440 | and talks to the pituitary, talks to it

01:16:25.640 | through neural connections and hormone-based connections.

01:16:28.820 | There is a hormone called GnRH,

01:16:30.780 | gonadotropin-releasing hormone,

01:16:32.680 | that is released from the hypothalamus into the pituitary.

01:16:35.120 | It stimulates the release of luteinizing hormone, or LH,

01:16:39.180 | which then travels in the bloodstream

01:16:41.180 | to impact multiple tissues in the body,

01:16:42.960 | but mainly the ovary in females and the testes in males

01:16:45.680 | to stimulate estrogen production and testosterone production.

01:16:49.820 | There are supplements that can potently increase GnRH

01:16:54.180 | and or luteinizing hormone

01:16:56.000 | and then indirectly increase testosterone and estrogen.

01:16:58.900 | And I always like to remind people testosterone and estrogen

01:17:01.720 | are present in both males and females, okay?

01:17:04.500 | And both are important for things like libido,

01:17:07.460 | muscle growth, and so on.

01:17:09.640 | A lot of people think that, oh, in males, you know,

01:17:11.540 | having very high testosterone and low estrogen

01:17:13.860 | is actually ideal.

01:17:14.780 | It's actually not ideal if you want to keep your libido.

01:17:17.500 | Anything that lowers your estrogen too far

01:17:19.960 | is going to reduce your libido.

01:17:21.860 | You don't want estrogen too high,

01:17:22.980 | but you also do not want it too low.

01:17:25.560 | So supplements that can tickle this pathway

01:17:29.040 | or actually can act as a bit more of a directed hammer

01:17:32.220 | on this luteinizing hormone pathway

01:17:33.980 | may also impact GnRH are things like Fidogia aggrestus.

01:17:38.980 | This is an herb that I've talked about before on the podcast

01:17:43.580 | that when taken at dosages of 600 milligrams per day,

01:17:48.080 | many people, not all, report elevated levels of libido,

01:17:51.980 | elevated sperm production, elevated testosterone,

01:17:56.280 | in some cases, elevated estrogen,

01:17:57.940 | a bunch of hormones downstream of luteinizing hormone.

01:18:00.760 | Now, are you going to be a Fidogia aggrestus responder

01:18:04.580 | or a non-responder?

01:18:05.980 | There's simply no way to know except by trying it.

01:18:09.180 | If you are going to go down this route,

01:18:11.820 | there are two very important considerations.

01:18:13.620 | First of all, there's a fairly extensive literature

01:18:16.420 | on the fact that Fidogia aggrestus can be toxic

01:18:20.120 | to testicular cells and perhaps other cells

01:18:22.540 | when taken at very high dosages.

01:18:24.320 | So obeying the particular dosages of Fidogia aggrestus

01:18:27.760 | that are recommended on various product labels

01:18:31.060 | and cycling Fidogia aggrestus can be important.

01:18:34.820 | Some people need to cycle it eight weeks on, two weeks off.

01:18:38.620 | Other people opt for 12 weeks on, a month off.

01:18:41.940 | I know a few people who have taken it continuously

01:18:44.100 | with no issues, but I do want to suggest caution

01:18:47.980 | when taking Fidogia aggrestus.

01:18:49.980 | The cautionary notes are stay within

01:18:53.020 | the recommended dosage ranges.

01:18:54.500 | You can go lower, but certainly don't go higher.

01:18:56.820 | And I think it is wise to cycle every eight weeks or so

01:19:01.160 | to come off it for two weeks and then going back on,

01:19:04.020 | if that's your choice, if you feel it benefited you.

01:19:07.260 | Or taking it for 12 week periods of time

01:19:09.620 | and then cycling off for a full month

01:19:11.300 | before repeating again.

01:19:12.540 | The best way to know whether or not Fidogia

01:19:17.100 | or any of these other supplements

01:19:18.460 | is impacting your hormone levels

01:19:19.820 | in the direction that you want

01:19:20.900 | and not impacting your hormone levels

01:19:22.620 | or other aspects of your biology

01:19:24.020 | in ways that you don't want is from a blood test.

01:19:26.480 | There is simply no better tool to evaluate

01:19:29.700 | whether or not these supplements are working

01:19:32.220 | to support your hormones in the ways that you want

01:19:34.460 | and not causing issues, except to take a blood test.

01:19:37.780 | This podcast has Inside Tracker as a sponsor

01:19:41.220 | that can do in-home blood tests and give you blood panels.

01:19:44.220 | There are other sources of blood tests

01:19:46.620 | that are quite good as well, of course.

01:19:48.660 | And in the first episode of the Huberman Lab Podcast

01:19:51.220 | that I did with Dr. Kyle Gillette,

01:19:53.280 | again, a medical doctor, expert in hormones,

01:19:55.780 | diabetes, and various other aspects of medicine,

01:19:58.540 | he described, and it is timestamped,

01:20:01.300 | how to stand the best probability of getting your insurance

01:20:03.900 | to cover a blood test,

01:20:05.260 | how to talk to your doctor about getting a hormone panel,

01:20:07.740 | and so on.

01:20:08.580 | So I'll refer you to that episode for that.

01:20:10.240 | But blood tests are going to be very important.

01:20:12.780 | I recommend taking them before adding in any supplement

01:20:16.460 | to increase hormones of any kind

01:20:18.920 | or decrease hormones of any kind for that matter.

01:20:20.820 | And then again, after about four to eight weeks

01:20:24.700 | of taking that particular supplement

01:20:26.380 | in order to evaluate whether or not it worked

01:20:28.660 | and whether or not it had any negative effects

01:20:31.300 | that you would like to avoid.

01:20:33.140 | I also want to remind people of the dosage conversation

01:20:36.300 | that we had earlier,

01:20:37.300 | just because there's a recommended dosage

01:20:38.800 | of Fidogia agrestis of say 600 milligrams per day.

01:20:42.060 | First of all, that is not an invitation

01:20:44.980 | to take twice as much and expect twice the positive effects.

01:20:47.540 | That is not a good approach,

01:20:49.160 | especially with something like Fidogia agrestis,

01:20:51.680 | which can at high dosages be toxic.

01:20:56.400 | But it's also important to perhaps consider

01:20:58.300 | taking a lower dosage and seeing

01:20:59.820 | how that affects your hormones.

01:21:01.980 | That approach requires a bit more patience.

01:21:03.640 | I know most people are thinking,

01:21:04.480 | I want the effect and I want it now,

01:21:06.460 | but I think it's very important when thinking about exercise

01:21:09.180 | or nutrition or supplementation to really play the long game,

01:21:12.380 | to think about what's going to work for you

01:21:15.020 | in the immediate end in the long-term

01:21:16.940 | and to ease into any kind of supplement regimen.

01:21:19.640 | For instance, by taking one thing at a time,

01:21:21.660 | varying one supplement out and one supplement in,

01:21:24.620 | starting at minimal effective dose

01:21:26.380 | and build up your protocols over a year or several years,

01:21:30.180 | it really can be beneficial.

01:21:31.620 | I can say for myself,

01:21:32.480 | I started exploring the supplement space

01:21:35.060 | and taking different supplements in different combination

01:21:38.180 | and alone evaluating which ones worked

01:21:40.460 | and did not work for me.

01:21:41.620 | Some were absolutely dreadful for me.

01:21:43.860 | I have tons of stories about supplement fails,

01:21:45.860 | some of which were just kind of innocuous,

01:21:47.740 | meaning they were a waste of money, which isn't innocuous,

01:21:50.320 | but at least it wasn't detrimental to my health.

01:21:52.520 | Other supplements,

01:21:53.360 | which fortunately don't exist on the market anymore,

01:21:56.180 | I think actually were quite dangerous

01:21:58.540 | and I feel lucky that I did not experience

01:22:01.060 | even greater negative effects from them.

01:22:02.820 | Other supplements have been tremendously useful for me

01:22:05.700 | and for other people for things like sleep

01:22:07.720 | and hormone support focus and so on.

01:22:10.060 | So Fidogia aggressis is a good example of a supplement

01:22:13.820 | that is known to have potent effects,

01:22:15.920 | but you need to approach it with the appropriate,

01:22:20.020 | I would say respect for the fact that the dosage ranges

01:22:22.420 | in which it works have to be kept pretty narrow

01:22:26.280 | without causing issues.

01:22:28.860 | It does increase luteinizing hormone

01:22:31.500 | and thereby testosterone and estrogen.

01:22:34.120 | So if you're somebody who's already excessively high

01:22:36.580 | in one or the other,

01:22:37.560 | it's going to be very hard to just direct it

01:22:40.180 | to only testosterone or only estrogen.

01:22:42.580 | Now, the topic of today's episode

01:22:44.540 | is not about Fidogia aggressis per se.

01:22:47.300 | I highlight it because it is one of the more potent

01:22:50.600 | supplements for sake of hormone augmentation,

01:22:52.860 | but it's still fairly broadband.

01:22:54.740 | It's a little more specific than something like Shilajee,

01:22:58.020 | but it's still fairly broadband

01:22:59.940 | in terms of hitting multiple end point hormones,

01:23:02.860 | testosterone and estrogen,

01:23:04.120 | and maybe some other hormones as well.

01:23:06.740 | There are other supplements in particular, Tongat Ali,

01:23:10.460 | which is known to, for instance, increase libido,

01:23:13.980 | whether or not it does that by way of augmenting

01:23:16.580 | dopamine related pathways or testosterone pathways

01:23:19.540 | still isn't clear.

01:23:20.540 | It is known to increase free testosterone

01:23:24.460 | by reducing sex hormone binding globulin.

01:23:28.320 | Tongat Ali can be beneficial both for men and for women

01:23:34.220 | in dosages anywhere from 200 milligrams

01:23:36.480 | to 600 milligrams per day.

01:23:38.480 | So there, I would say scale according to body size,

01:23:41.260 | although start with the minimum amount

01:23:42.760 | and find the minimal effective dose for you.

01:23:44.900 | Again, blood work is going to be the most effective way

01:23:47.380 | to determine what's working or not working

01:23:49.520 | at the level of objective numbers,

01:23:51.660 | but subjective experience matters too.

01:23:53.860 | You know, if you take it at 400 milligrams for four weeks

01:23:56.620 | and you don't notice any effect,

01:23:58.080 | you might try it at 600 milligrams, but not higher.

01:24:01.460 | And if you still don't see an effect,

01:24:03.780 | well then it doesn't appear to have worked for you.

01:24:06.020 | Other people experience dramatic effects

01:24:07.880 | from things like Fidoja and Tongat Ali.

01:24:09.780 | Why would that be the case?

01:24:10.940 | Well, if you look to the scientific literature,

01:24:13.060 | what you find is that the studies

01:24:15.940 | that report the biggest effects of any supplement

01:24:18.540 | usually start with a population

01:24:20.540 | that somehow diminished or back on its heels

01:24:22.980 | in one particular dimension.

01:24:24.340 | So for instance, people that are hypogonadal,

01:24:27.500 | that are not making enough testosterone or free testosterone,

01:24:30.140 | in fact, their levels are very, very low.

01:24:32.220 | They're subclinical, off range in terms of the charts,

01:24:36.900 | below the normal.

01:24:38.220 | Well, those people, when they take supplements

01:24:41.060 | like Tongat Ali, Fidoja, tend to experience greater effects

01:24:43.860 | because they're starting from a lower level

01:24:45.660 | than people who perhaps are close to the optimal levels

01:24:48.500 | achieved through either age, genetics, exercise, nutrition,

01:24:51.620 | or some combination of those.

01:24:53.260 | So that's an important thing to think about.

01:24:54.620 | These are called floor effects and ceiling effects.

01:24:57.580 | Ceiling effects are, for instance,

01:24:59.520 | if an individual already has very high testosterone

01:25:01.860 | and free testosterone and they take a supplement

01:25:04.300 | to increase it further, they might not see any increase.

01:25:06.660 | Whereas somebody who sits more in the middle to low range

01:25:08.940 | stands to experience a much greater increase.

01:25:12.520 | In fact, one individual I know who took Tongat Ali,

01:25:16.120 | admittedly on my recommendation,

01:25:18.180 | his testosterone was initially very low

01:25:20.820 | and he was having a number of different symptoms.

01:25:22.860 | He did blood work.

01:25:24.700 | That's how he knew it was low.

01:25:26.060 | And he then took Tongat Ali and Fidoja in combination

01:25:30.480 | 'cause he decided he just wanted results.

01:25:32.780 | He didn't care which thing was going to give him the results

01:25:35.460 | and he experienced big increases in testosterone.

01:25:38.340 | This would be not free, but total testosterone.

01:25:40.980 | He experienced as much as 600 nanograms per deciliter

01:25:43.500 | increase from where he was before, which is very dramatic.

01:25:46.100 | It was a near tripling of where his testosterone

01:25:49.280 | had started off to where he ended up.

01:25:51.320 | I don't know if he's ever done the experiment

01:25:52.740 | of removing Fidoja or Tongat to find out which one it was.

01:25:55.420 | And this is why many people just take them in combination.

01:25:57.520 | And if you have the budget for it

01:25:59.040 | and you are interested in just finding what works,

01:26:01.980 | but not isolating what works

01:26:04.360 | at the level of single ingredients,

01:26:05.900 | that would be the approach I recommend.

01:26:08.060 | However, again, I think most people would do well

01:26:10.560 | to figure out which specific ingredients

01:26:12.140 | are going to work best for them

01:26:13.540 | by isolating the variables the way I've described

01:26:15.700 | repeatedly throughout this episode.

01:26:17.240 | To my knowledge, Tonga Ali does not need to be cycled,

01:26:19.620 | meaning you don't have to take periods of time off from it.

01:26:22.520 | I should note that the effects of Tonga Ali

01:26:24.620 | can take a little bit longer to experience.

01:26:27.300 | So perhaps blood work should be done eight to 12 weeks

01:26:29.980 | after initiating the Tonga Ali protocol as opposed to earlier

01:26:34.380 | and it does seem to have sort of cumulative effects

01:26:38.040 | on libido and that points to the likelihood

01:26:41.620 | that it's having some impact on neural pathways

01:26:43.960 | as opposed to hormone pathways.

01:26:45.280 | Hormone pathways can be slow, but in general,

01:26:48.100 | neural pathways are the ones that are going to explain

01:26:50.840 | slow rising shifts in any kind of physical or mental aspect

01:26:54.980 | that then remain stable over time.

01:26:57.300 | So the exact effects of Tonga Ali and where,

01:27:00.740 | meaning where they arise in the brain and body aren't known.

01:27:03.840 | I will provide a link to a really beautiful review article

01:27:07.100 | that covers the literature on Tonga Ali.

01:27:09.060 | This came out fairly recently

01:27:10.580 | and that I've reviewed with a number of other MDs

01:27:14.200 | and medical or medicine related podcasters.

01:27:17.900 | It's a really nice review.

01:27:19.020 | I'll provide a link to that.

01:27:20.240 | It gives a survey of Tonga Ali, what people are discovering,

01:27:22.740 | what they're finding, what they're not finding and so forth.

01:27:24.960 | As a final note on supplements for hormone augmentation

01:27:27.720 | and supplementation, I want to make a brief mention

01:27:30.200 | of something specifically related to female health,

01:27:33.260 | which is of course the menstrual cycle

01:27:34.720 | and across the menstrual cycle,

01:27:35.800 | different hormones are present at different levels.

01:27:37.540 | Follicle stimulating hormone is very high

01:27:39.740 | during the so-called follicular phase, right?

01:27:41.820 | And then you have your luteal phase.

01:27:44.080 | We have an entire episode coming up

01:27:45.520 | about female hormones and hormone health

01:27:47.380 | that will cover this.

01:27:48.380 | We also have covered a little bit of this

01:27:50.040 | in the other episodes on testosterone and estrogen.

01:27:54.000 | But the point I'd like to make now is that for women,

01:27:56.960 | they should fully expect that certain supplements,

01:28:00.080 | not all, but certain supplements,

01:28:01.780 | because of the way they impact different hormones

01:28:04.880 | would have different effects, maybe even opposite effects

01:28:07.900 | at different phases of the menstrual cycle.

01:28:09.760 | And for that reason, I believe it is especially important

01:28:13.640 | to have tight control over dosage and individual ingredients

01:28:18.240 | in your supplement regimen.

01:28:19.420 | So for instance, if you're somebody who takes Shilajean,

01:28:22.000 | I know many women who take Shilajean or Tonga Ali,

01:28:25.680 | for instance, or Maca,

01:28:27.420 | and you find that it really serves you well,

01:28:29.880 | that is it provides the mental and physical benefits

01:28:32.080 | that you want and enjoy

01:28:34.480 | at certain phases of your menstrual cycle,

01:28:36.380 | but at other phases of your menstrual cycle,

01:28:38.200 | it feels like too much,

01:28:39.360 | or it actually can start to give you

01:28:40.600 | negative mental or physical effects,

01:28:42.480 | well then obviously having control

01:28:44.120 | over those specific ingredients

01:28:45.800 | is going to be extremely important

01:28:48.340 | so that you can titrate the dosage

01:28:50.420 | or increase the dosage as the case may be,

01:28:52.440 | or cease taking those things entirely

01:28:54.940 | at certain phases of your menstrual cycle.

01:28:57.520 | That's not to say that some women can't just continuously

01:29:00.120 | take these supplements throughout their menstrual cycle.

01:29:01.780 | Some can, but some find that

01:29:04.540 | that makes them very uncomfortable

01:29:06.200 | or that they would do well to alter different ingredients

01:29:09.440 | at different phases of their cycle.

01:29:10.760 | So again, this speaks to the critical importance

01:29:13.320 | of single ingredient control, dosage control,

01:29:16.280 | and the ability to cease taking

01:29:18.320 | individual or multiple ingredients

01:29:20.400 | according to the backdrop of your health generally,

01:29:22.600 | and obviously the menstrual cycle is a profound shift

01:29:25.220 | in the hormones and thus the entire biological

01:29:28.480 | and psychological milieu that exists in the body.

01:29:31.560 | And of course, there's the issue of birth control

01:29:33.480 | and whether or not people are taking

01:29:34.520 | hormone-based birth control.

01:29:36.300 | Certain forms of hormone-based birth control in women

01:29:38.980 | involve tonically elevating,

01:29:40.720 | that means consistently elevating estrogen.

01:29:43.120 | That's certainly going to reduce the fluctuations

01:29:46.560 | and thus the probability that certain hormones

01:29:48.820 | and hormone pathways will change across the menstrual cycle,

01:29:50.920 | but not eliminate it altogether.

01:29:52.840 | Also, there's the key issue of fertility

01:29:55.320 | in both males and females.

01:29:57.020 | One important note,

01:29:58.180 | even though this is not an episode about fertility,

01:30:00.520 | we're going to have one soon,

01:30:01.800 | but the important point about fertility

01:30:04.160 | is that there are supplements, not just Shilaji,

01:30:06.680 | but there are supplements and supplement protocols

01:30:08.580 | such as L-carnitine, in particular injectable L-carnitine,

01:30:12.720 | which does require a prescription, at least in the US,

01:30:14.740 | but also orally ingested L-carnitine

01:30:17.880 | that can improve sperm health and motility

01:30:20.120 | and egg health and motility, I mentioned that earlier.

01:30:22.880 | But if couples are trying to conceive,

01:30:26.140 | it is important that if you're going to take something

01:30:28.860 | that is a supplement directed towards sperm

01:30:31.220 | and or egg health,

01:30:32.800 | that you also consider how that interfaces

01:30:35.260 | with some of the other hormone-based compounds

01:30:38.280 | that is prescription drugs that you may be taking.

01:30:40.060 | This is true for people

01:30:40.900 | who are doing IVF in vitro fertilization or not.

01:30:44.520 | Again, that entire discussion will be handled

01:30:47.080 | in our episode on fertility and on female hormone health,

01:30:50.200 | and we already did the episode with Dr. Kyle Gillette

01:30:52.680 | on male hormone health optimization.

01:30:54.920 | The next category of supplementation

01:30:56.540 | that I'd like to address

01:30:57.380 | is supplements related to cognitive enhancement and focus.

01:31:01.080 | And here, there are a number of very useful strategies

01:31:03.560 | that one could take.

01:31:04.880 | I'd like to divide this conversation

01:31:06.420 | into two general categories of supplements

01:31:08.940 | to address cognitive enhancement and focus.

01:31:11.420 | The first category are supplements that increase energy

01:31:15.620 | by way of stimulant properties.

01:31:18.400 | So the most obvious of these is caffeine.

01:31:21.360 | Caffeine is, of course,

01:31:23.480 | a molecule that can increase levels of alertness.

01:31:26.740 | It also can increase levels of focus

01:31:28.660 | provided that dosages are in the appropriate range.

01:31:32.420 | The appropriate range in most cases

01:31:34.740 | is going to be one to three milligrams per kilogram

01:31:36.940 | of body weight taken 30 minutes or so

01:31:40.740 | before any kind of mental or physical endeavor.

01:31:43.740 | We did an entire episode about caffeine

01:31:45.380 | where you can learn lots of facts about caffeine,

01:31:48.420 | how best to utilize caffeine.

01:31:50.020 | And indeed, I'll just give you a few of those now.

01:31:52.100 | It turns out that if you're a regular caffeine user,

01:31:54.800 | you can still derive the cognitive enhancing

01:31:57.880 | and focus enhancing effects of caffeine

01:32:00.600 | if you ingest caffeine every day.

01:32:03.160 | But if you were to take two days off

01:32:05.860 | from caffeine completely,

01:32:07.120 | and right now I hear all the caffeine addicts out there

01:32:10.380 | just kind of cringing at the idea,

01:32:12.460 | and then take caffeine in the 30 minutes

01:32:15.300 | prior to some especially important event,

01:32:18.260 | physical or mental event where you really need to focus

01:32:21.060 | and be able to sustain that focus for long periods of time,

01:32:23.520 | it would have an even greater effect than it normally would.

01:32:26.440 | But since most people are taking caffeine

01:32:28.020 | in a kind of ongoing, regular way,

01:32:30.460 | I just want to emphasize that it still has pro-cognitive

01:32:33.400 | and pro-focus effects, even if it's taken every day

01:32:36.560 | or even multiple times per day.

01:32:38.000 | Again, a cautionary note,

01:32:39.680 | don't drink caffeine too late in the day, past 2 p.m.

01:32:42.440 | it can really start to impede your sleep at night.

01:32:45.460 | Even if you can fall asleep at night,

01:32:46.680 | the architecture of that sleep is not going to be great

01:32:48.980 | if you're ingesting caffeine

01:32:50.260 | in the preceding eight to 10 and even 12 hours.

01:32:53.480 | And that actually raises another tangential,

01:32:55.960 | but still important point.

01:32:56.920 | So I'm going to make it and then get back to supplements,

01:32:59.520 | which is the best cognitive enhancer that you will ever take

01:33:03.420 | is a really good night's sleep of sufficient duration.

01:33:07.600 | Okay, so sleep is going to be the bedrock

01:33:10.840 | of your ability to focus and remember things.

01:33:13.700 | In fact, it's during sleep that neural connections remodel,

01:33:16.400 | so-called neuroplasticity.

01:33:19.000 | It's actually not when you trigger learning,

01:33:20.780 | but it's when you consolidate and reinforce learning

01:33:23.320 | and a number of other things

01:33:24.460 | that relate to cognitive enhancement and focus.

01:33:26.920 | The other thing, of course,

01:33:27.760 | is that you're going to need

01:33:29.440 | to have sufficient levels of nutrition.

01:33:32.560 | So you don't want to be overly hungry

01:33:34.400 | or it's going to be hard to focus,

01:33:35.880 | nor do you want to be overloaded with calories

01:33:38.640 | or a volume of food or have your blood glucose to be so high

01:33:42.140 | that it's going to make you sleepy.

01:33:43.360 | There's a reason why when discussing stress

01:33:46.860 | and the so-called autonomic nervous system

01:33:48.640 | that the phrase rest and digest comes into play.

01:33:51.920 | Rest and digest, as the name implies,

01:33:55.960 | relates to the fact that when we have

01:33:58.520 | a lot of food in our gut, it tends to make us sleepy.

01:34:02.040 | In other words, it's hard for us to focus

01:34:04.320 | and it's hard for us to maintain cognitive attention

01:34:06.480 | and remember things, et cetera.

01:34:07.800 | So there are a bunch of behavioral tools

01:34:09.840 | for enhancing focus.

01:34:10.800 | We did an entire episode on enhancing focus.

01:34:13.360 | It does touch on supplementation.

01:34:14.800 | Again, you can find links to that

01:34:16.320 | in all formats at hubermanlab.com.

01:34:18.560 | We also have a newsletter related to this topic

01:34:20.800 | also at hubermanlab.com at zero cost.

01:34:24.000 | With all of that said, and in particular,

01:34:26.060 | the highlight about sleep being the best way

01:34:27.880 | to enhance your cognitive abilities and focus.

01:34:30.800 | Anytime we're having a discussion about supplements

01:34:32.920 | for enhancing cognitive ability and focus,

01:34:35.300 | a major category of those supplements

01:34:37.000 | is going to fall into the stimulant category.

01:34:40.080 | And that's going to include most often caffeine,

01:34:43.080 | although there are other sources of stimulants.

01:34:46.440 | I'm not going to touch on those for the moment.

01:34:48.240 | Just talk about caffeine.

01:34:49.560 | When people hear caffeine, they think,

01:34:50.720 | well, I can just drink coffee

01:34:52.040 | and indeed that's a great source of caffeine.

01:34:54.080 | So is yerba mate.

01:34:55.360 | I would caution people to,

01:34:57.280 | if you're going to use yerba mate for whatever purpose,

01:34:59.680 | caffeine or otherwise,

01:35:01.260 | that you avoid the smoked versions of yerba mate.

01:35:04.840 | They are carcinogenic.

01:35:06.160 | That is the smoked versions are carcinogenic

01:35:09.160 | and to consume the non-smoked varieties instead.

01:35:13.980 | The important thing to understand about caffeine

01:35:17.160 | is that while it can be ingested in the form of a drink

01:35:20.040 | or an energy drink, tea or coffee,

01:35:22.400 | it can also be ingested as a pure supplement.

01:35:27.000 | That is there are caffeine supplements.

01:35:28.880 | And I know a number of people,

01:35:29.820 | including a very, very prominent podcaster

01:35:32.340 | whose name I won't mention,

01:35:33.800 | who drinks herbal tea,

01:35:35.320 | but takes a 100 to 300 milligram tablet of caffeine

01:35:40.140 | with the herbal tea.

01:35:40.980 | So in that case, it is no longer herbal tea.

01:35:43.020 | It is caffeinated herbal tea.

01:35:45.560 | When you take caffeine in pill form,

01:35:48.160 | it tends to have a much more potent and long lasting effect

01:35:51.880 | than when you take caffeine in the form of coffee or tea.

01:35:56.480 | It's actually a world apart in terms of its effects.

01:36:00.560 | And if you haven't experienced this before,

01:36:03.440 | it might be something that you want to explore.

01:36:05.480 | It might not be something you want to explore.

01:36:07.020 | In particular, if you're somebody who experiences anxiety

01:36:09.160 | or panic attacks, be very careful

01:36:10.580 | with your intake of caffeine.

01:36:11.920 | Again, see the episode of the Huberman Lab Podcast,

01:36:14.720 | All About Caffeine for more on that.

01:36:16.900 | But it is the case

01:36:19.560 | that even 100 milligrams of caffeine in tablet form,

01:36:22.960 | I suppose it could be in capsule form as well,

01:36:24.660 | but in its pure form,

01:36:26.260 | leads to much greater enhancement of alertness and focus

01:36:31.260 | than does often the comparable amount

01:36:35.240 | or even twice the amount of caffeine

01:36:36.880 | contained in coffee or tea.

01:36:38.200 | Now, why would that be?

01:36:39.800 | Has a lot to do with the other things

01:36:41.460 | that are in coffee and tea.

01:36:43.140 | So here, I'm not encouraging people to become reliant

01:36:47.040 | on caffeine capsules or on caffeine tablets,

01:36:50.140 | but if you want to increase alertness and focus,

01:36:53.560 | caffeine is a potent way to do that.

01:36:56.100 | It works.

01:36:57.440 | The other category of stimulant that can work

01:37:00.240 | in terms of enhancing alertness and focus

01:37:02.920 | are going to be things that increase adrenaline

01:37:06.320 | in some other way or epinephrine,

01:37:09.080 | as it's also called, adrenaline, epinephrine, same thing,

01:37:11.600 | in some other way that are going to touch into

01:37:15.060 | or augment the so-called adrenergic and adrenaline systems.

01:37:19.680 | And there are things like yohimbine

01:37:22.060 | and different forms of yohimbine, like alpha-yohimbine.

01:37:25.440 | There are multiple forms of these things.

01:37:27.320 | Now, I would go to examine.com

01:37:29.100 | to explore the different forms of yohimbine.

01:37:31.500 | About 10, 20 years ago,

01:37:32.620 | yohimbine was marketed primarily as a pro libido

01:37:35.200 | and pro erectile agent.

01:37:37.400 | Turns out it has very low efficacy for both of those things,

01:37:40.740 | but there are certain forms of yohimbine

01:37:42.940 | that act as stimulants that are effective

01:37:46.900 | and are separate from those claims and pathways.

01:37:49.860 | One particular form is called alpha-yohimbine.

01:37:52.700 | It sometimes goes by the name rauwolcine,

01:37:55.740 | and that's spelled R-A-U-W-O-L-S-C-I-N-E.

01:38:00.700 | Again, that's alpha-yohimbine,

01:38:02.540 | and it's used as a stimulant,

01:38:04.260 | often to also promote fat loss and alertness.

01:38:07.380 | I have to say that it's a very potent and somewhat

01:38:10.900 | precarious supplement.

01:38:12.860 | Some people experience a lot of anxiety on it.

01:38:15.380 | That could also be because they tend to take it

01:38:17.840 | on either an empty stomach

01:38:19.820 | or in combination with subcaloric diets.

01:38:22.780 | It's sort of getting out on the edge of things

01:38:24.940 | that for some people can work not so well.

01:38:27.420 | For other people, they might actually find it

01:38:29.780 | to be a very effective stimulant.

01:38:31.500 | In general, in terms of supplement-based approaches

01:38:34.380 | to increase cognitive function and focus,

01:38:37.900 | caffeine, either in coffee or tea form

01:38:41.280 | or in tablet or capsule form,

01:38:43.660 | but at lower dosages than you would find in coffee and tea,

01:38:46.740 | I think is actually a reasonable way

01:38:48.420 | to explore stimulant-based approaches

01:38:51.660 | for enhancing cognitive function and focus.

01:38:55.140 | I mentioned all that not because I think

01:38:56.500 | that you probably already didn't know

01:38:58.560 | that caffeine can enhance alertness and focus.

01:39:00.600 | Most people already know that, and I acknowledge that,

01:39:02.940 | but rather as a contrast point

01:39:04.620 | for the other supplement-based approach

01:39:06.840 | for increasing cognitive function and focus,

01:39:09.760 | which is to increase certain neurotransmitter pathways

01:39:14.000 | that are not stimulant-based.

01:39:16.440 | So for instance, alpha-GPC,

01:39:19.900 | which is essentially a choline donor,

01:39:21.920 | acts in the pathways related

01:39:23.300 | to the neuromodulator acetylcholine and can enhance focus.

01:39:27.100 | So it dosages of anywhere from 300 to 600 milligrams.

01:39:30.860 | People experience heightened levels of focus

01:39:33.620 | for sake of mental work or physical work.

01:39:36.740 | The half-life of alpha-GPC is about four to six hours,

01:39:40.100 | so it's relatively short lasting,

01:39:41.940 | although you wouldn't necessarily want

01:39:43.620 | to take it right before bed.

01:39:44.700 | I don't recommend that.

01:39:46.000 | It is not a stimulant.

01:39:47.340 | It tends to enhance focus by augmenting acetylcholine

01:39:50.620 | and acetylcholine pathways specifically.

01:39:53.020 | Now, it does create a little bit

01:39:54.500 | of an increase in alertness.

01:39:56.620 | So some people actually perceive it subjectively

01:39:59.300 | as an increase in overall stimulation,

01:40:03.500 | but it's different than a caffeine-type stimulant.

01:40:06.200 | So for instance, 300 milligrams to 600 milligrams

01:40:09.460 | of alpha-GPC taken alone will allow people to be more focused

01:40:13.340 | but doesn't tend to make people feel jittery

01:40:15.300 | or overstimulated.

01:40:16.520 | Similarly, 500 milligrams to 1,000 milligrams

01:40:22.100 | or somewhere in between of something like L-tyrosine,

01:40:25.380 | which is an amino acid precursor to dopamine,

01:40:27.660 | a different neuromodulator,

01:40:29.100 | taken alone or in conjunction with, again,

01:40:32.580 | I believe in separating these things out by product,

01:40:34.740 | but I suppose you could take alpha-GPC

01:40:36.740 | and L-tyrosine together if you had already tried them

01:40:39.100 | separately and decided they worked well for you,

01:40:41.440 | and then you decided to combine them.

01:40:43.080 | What people tend to experience is that the cholinergic

01:40:46.280 | stimulation from alpha-GPC and the dopaminergic stimulation

01:40:50.340 | from L-tyrosine or simply L-tyrosine alone

01:40:54.380 | or alpha-GPC alone leads to increased levels of focus

01:40:58.380 | without the kind of overall feelings

01:41:00.500 | of stimulant-based alertness

01:41:02.400 | that one would experience with caffeine.

01:41:04.380 | And indeed, or I should say, of course,

01:41:06.640 | there are products out there and there are people out there

01:41:09.100 | that combine all three of these things together,

01:41:11.500 | caffeine, alpha-GPC, and L-tyrosine.

01:41:14.380 | And while I'm not suggesting that's a good or a bad thing,

01:41:17.620 | I would suggest that anytime you start to explore

01:41:20.740 | the cognitive enhancing effects

01:41:23.640 | and the focus enhancing effects of any supplement

01:41:26.100 | that you ask, which ones are stimulant?

01:41:28.180 | So for instance, caffeine and alpha-Uhimbine,

01:41:30.840 | which ones tend to tap more into neuromodulator systems

01:41:34.420 | like alpha-GPC and L-tyrosine,

01:41:37.820 | and to separate those out conceptually,

01:41:40.940 | because whereas things like alpha-Uhimbine and caffeine

01:41:43.540 | will mostly serve the role of increasing levels

01:41:45.940 | of alertness, but not tightening your focus,

01:41:48.420 | things like alpha-GPC and L-tyrosine tend to serve the role

01:41:53.860 | of less elevation and alertness,

01:41:56.440 | but more tightening of focus.

01:41:57.600 | And this of course is why people often stack these

01:41:59.840 | and take them in combination.

01:42:01.280 | So I think it's a very important distinction

01:42:02.860 | that most people aren't aware of.

01:42:04.440 | And I'm not here to tell you

01:42:06.100 | that the stimulant-based approach

01:42:07.980 | or the neuromodulator-based approach is better or worse.

01:42:11.420 | They are simply different from one another.

01:42:13.420 | Although I will say that I think it is important

01:42:15.800 | to explore them separately

01:42:17.840 | if indeed you're going to explore any of them

01:42:20.060 | before you would start to combine them in a single formula.

01:42:23.400 | Again, individual ingredients are going to be the way to go

01:42:26.300 | in terms of figuring out what's best for you.

01:42:28.540 | If anything, some people may find

01:42:30.660 | that even the slightest bit of caffeine

01:42:32.420 | or even the slightest bit of alpha-GPC or L-tyrosine

01:42:35.740 | just places them into a state of mind and or body

01:42:39.380 | that's just uncomfortable and not compatible

01:42:42.700 | with the kind of work that they want to do.

01:42:44.760 | Whereas other people, such as myself,

01:42:47.640 | regularly rely on taking 300 milligrams of alpha-GPC.

01:42:51.440 | It turns out more than that kind of doesn't work for me,

01:42:54.480 | or it tends to send my mind down a pathway

01:42:57.180 | that I don't like to be in for sake of cognitive work.

01:43:00.520 | But I will routinely take 300 milligrams of alpha-GPC

01:43:03.740 | prior to some cognitive work or prior to a workout.

01:43:06.520 | I do often combine that with some caffeine,

01:43:08.660 | not in capsule or pill form,

01:43:09.860 | but rather in the form of a cup of coffee or yerba mate.

01:43:12.840 | And it turns out that for me, just by way of example,

01:43:16.440 | L-tyrosine is something that works very powerfully

01:43:19.200 | to elevate my level of focus,

01:43:21.160 | but that I tend to crash pretty hard afterward.

01:43:23.760 | And so I tend to err away from L-tyrosine,

01:43:26.040 | but some people tolerate it really well

01:43:27.780 | and actually really like it.

01:43:29.080 | I rely on something else for dopamine augmentation,

01:43:31.320 | which is phenylethylamine,

01:43:33.580 | which is a little bit more short lasting.

01:43:35.460 | Again, I arrived at these protocols for myself

01:43:38.000 | by mixing and matching,

01:43:39.940 | but mostly by trying individual ingredients alone

01:43:43.200 | before combining them into any sort of cocktail

01:43:46.400 | before taking them before a workout

01:43:48.280 | or before a cognitive work bout.

01:43:50.500 | And I suggest that you explore them in the same way

01:43:52.540 | because that's going to deliver you

01:43:54.020 | to the best possible protocols for you,

01:43:56.180 | which only you can determine.

01:43:58.500 | And then of course, there's the category of supplements

01:44:00.440 | that can support cognitive function and focus,

01:44:03.780 | but that also touch on other general functions

01:44:06.300 | related to brain and body health,

01:44:08.120 | such as metabolic health, mood, et cetera.

01:44:10.520 | And the one that comes to mind here

01:44:12.200 | are the omega-3 fatty acids.

01:44:13.820 | I've talked a lot about omega-3 fatty acids

01:44:16.280 | that are available in the form of foods.

01:44:18.500 | So for instance, fatty ocean fish,

01:44:20.720 | and there's certain plant-based sources for these as well,

01:44:23.500 | certain algaes and things of that sort.

01:44:25.520 | Touched on this in the episodes on depression

01:44:27.680 | that I've done.

01:44:28.900 | But this topic mainly comes up around the issue of fish oil,

01:44:33.440 | fish oil capsules, and liquid.

01:44:34.900 | And this is a discussion I think is worth having.

01:44:38.000 | Early on in the episode,

01:44:39.080 | we talked about foundational nutrition

01:44:40.720 | and supplements that include

01:44:42.520 | a bunch of different ingredients.

01:44:44.240 | We touched on the idea that some people

01:44:46.120 | might have the budget to take one such product

01:44:49.360 | or any number of different products

01:44:50.880 | that combine all those ingredients.

01:44:52.920 | I should say that for those that are interested

01:44:56.120 | in taking a supplement but have a lower budget

01:44:59.660 | than would allow for taking one of those general categories

01:45:03.360 | of supplements we talked about earlier

01:45:05.120 | for foundational nutrition that combines everything,

01:45:07.160 | vitamins, minerals, probiotics, prebiotics,

01:45:09.480 | adaptogens, digestive enzymes.

01:45:11.300 | I do think that there's a category of supplements

01:45:14.080 | that can greatly enhance the probability

01:45:16.460 | of offsetting depression

01:45:18.320 | and maybe even improve mood directly or indirectly.

01:45:21.100 | There's evidence for what I'm about to tell you

01:45:23.220 | within the scientific literature.

01:45:24.980 | And/or offset the amount of antidepressant medication

01:45:27.340 | that people need to take, that's also been demonstrated,

01:45:29.720 | and improve metabolic function, cardiovascular function,

01:45:33.880 | and also enhance our ability to do focused work.

01:45:37.540 | And here I'm referring to the so-called omega-3

01:45:39.440 | essential fatty acids, in particular the omega-3 form

01:45:43.220 | of the essential fatty acids.

01:45:44.580 | There's now a lot of data showing that ingesting

01:45:47.640 | one to three grams of EPA in particular

01:45:52.240 | in the form of either fish oil capsules or liquid

01:45:56.500 | can be beneficial for a number of different aspects

01:45:59.740 | of brain and body health

01:46:01.060 | and can enhance focus and cognitive ability.

01:46:05.520 | This is especially true in developing brains.

01:46:08.760 | And there's actually an extensive data out of a laboratory

01:46:11.320 | at the University of California, Santa Barbara

01:46:12.920 | talking about how mothers who supplement omega-3s,

01:46:16.480 | in particular the EPAs,

01:46:17.960 | although they also need to get the DHAs,

01:46:20.500 | that leads to greater brain weights and health of offspring.

01:46:24.580 | This is something we will definitely explore

01:46:26.220 | in a future episode, likely with an expert guest

01:46:28.900 | who's doing that work in that laboratory

01:46:30.820 | at UC Santa Barbara.

01:46:32.360 | The point here is that if somebody has a limited budget

01:46:37.620 | to purchase supplements

01:46:39.740 | and cannot afford a foundational supplement

01:46:42.340 | in the sort that we talked about earlier,

01:46:43.900 | athletic greens are similar, but they do have a budget

01:46:46.600 | that would allow them to purchase a high quality

01:46:49.100 | omega-3 fatty acid fish oil

01:46:52.160 | and to ingest it in quantity sufficient enough

01:46:54.840 | to get above that one gram of EPA per day.

01:46:58.200 | Again, this is really important.

01:46:59.320 | If you look at the product labels, you'll often see,

01:47:02.120 | 1500 or 1600 milligrams of essential fatty acids.

01:47:07.120 | But the key is you get above that one gram of EPA

01:47:12.280 | per day threshold and as high as three grams per day.

01:47:14.440 | We had a guest on this podcast, Dr. Rhonda Patrick,

01:47:17.040 | who takes anywhere from I believe three to four,

01:47:19.080 | maybe even more grams of EPA per day

01:47:22.720 | for a variety of reasons,

01:47:23.920 | including some of the reasons we're discussing now.

01:47:26.040 | Before we move on to discussing

01:47:27.360 | some of the more global themes related

01:47:28.920 | to developing a rational supplementation protocol,

01:47:31.920 | I do want to touch on this vast category of supplementation

01:47:35.640 | that includes food-based or food mimic type supplements.

01:47:39.160 | So this would be, for instance, whey proteins

01:47:42.420 | or milk proteins or egg proteins or plant proteins.

01:47:45.600 | That's a discussion that in and of itself

01:47:48.160 | deserves an entire episode.

01:47:50.060 | If you want to understand which types of protein

01:47:53.340 | and source of proteins are going to be

01:47:55.440 | the most bioavailable, the best for protein synthesis,

01:47:58.940 | for recovery from exercise, building muscle, et cetera,

01:48:01.440 | I'd like to refer you to a segment within the episode

01:48:04.600 | that I did with Dr. Lane Norton,

01:48:05.960 | where he talks about total protein needs per day.

01:48:08.400 | It's about one gram per pound of body weight per day

01:48:12.420 | for most people, although there's some variation

01:48:14.240 | depending on activity, et cetera.

01:48:16.420 | And the quality of sourcing of those various proteins

01:48:20.720 | is extremely important.

01:48:22.160 | And that of course leads to a discussion

01:48:23.960 | about the quality and type of protein

01:48:25.240 | that would be present in a supplement

01:48:27.440 | like a whey protein supplement or casein,

01:48:29.600 | which is a milk protein based supplement.

01:48:32.320 | That discussion is segmented and timestamped

01:48:36.080 | in the episode that I did with him.

01:48:37.520 | You can find it at hubermanlab.com.

01:48:39.160 | He actually pointed to some interesting data

01:48:41.360 | on potato protein as perhaps being

01:48:43.960 | a great plant-based substitute

01:48:45.480 | for those that don't want to take whey-based protein.

01:48:47.560 | But the fact that whey-based proteins can be very useful

01:48:50.680 | for getting to and above a protein threshold

01:48:54.160 | for all sorts of reasons, not just for muscle building,

01:48:58.000 | although it's great for that,

01:48:59.360 | but for other purposes as well.

01:49:01.760 | And that's but one category of food-based

01:49:05.600 | or food mimic type supplements.

01:49:07.680 | There are, for instance, branched-chain amino acids.

01:49:10.400 | There are, for instance, green tea supplements.

01:49:12.920 | There's a huge landscape of this,

01:49:14.880 | far too much for us to get into

01:49:16.480 | in any kind of reasonable detail.

01:49:19.800 | But I do want to acknowledge that those all exist.

01:49:23.060 | The key thing to understand is that

01:49:25.140 | while they can serve a great role

01:49:27.160 | in providing replacement for meals

01:49:30.780 | that you perhaps couldn't have consumed otherwise,

01:49:33.980 | and while they often are very convenient

01:49:36.000 | because you can drink as opposed to eat your calories,

01:49:38.100 | I think that most people would agree

01:49:40.200 | that getting some significant fraction of your nutrition

01:49:44.640 | from whole foods is going to be useful

01:49:47.040 | for a variety of reasons,

01:49:48.060 | in particular, the fiber that comes along with it,

01:49:49.900 | the bulk of the food that tends to make us feel sated,

01:49:53.000 | and of course, the fact that a lot of vitamins and minerals

01:49:56.080 | and other things that are contained within foods

01:49:58.320 | as well as essential fatty acids

01:50:00.360 | in foods like animal-based proteins

01:50:02.180 | are not going to be present in most,

01:50:04.520 | if not all of those kind of food mimic type powders

01:50:07.820 | and replacements for food.

01:50:09.800 | Another point is this question about age-related effects.

01:50:14.180 | So for instance, should kids be taking supplements?

01:50:17.280 | Well, I mentioned earlier that there's some evidence

01:50:19.380 | that making sure that kids are getting enough

01:50:21.160 | omega-3 fatty acids can be beneficial.

01:50:23.480 | They certainly could get those from food-based sources.

01:50:25.320 | Just look up online food-based sources

01:50:26.960 | of omega-3 fatty acids and EPAs, and you'll see lists there.

01:50:31.040 | Some people choose to supplement on top of that,

01:50:33.800 | in particular, in kids that are developing very quickly.

01:50:36.820 | Regardless of whether or not

01:50:39.420 | they're consuming enough EPAs from food,

01:50:42.240 | some parents choose to supplement on top of that.

01:50:44.460 | I am personally not a fan of children taking melatonin

01:50:49.220 | for the reason that melatonin

01:50:50.240 | is already chronically elevated in kids,

01:50:52.220 | and there's a growing body of literature

01:50:54.340 | that melatonin supplementation in kids

01:50:57.040 | can be potentially harmful.

01:50:59.140 | I don't want to create alarm among those

01:51:00.720 | that have already been taking it or giving it to their kids

01:51:02.880 | or that gave it to their kids in the past,

01:51:04.800 | but I do think that melatonin in particular

01:51:07.920 | should be approached with a lot of caution,

01:51:09.800 | especially for kids.

01:51:11.840 | And then of course, there's the issue

01:51:13.800 | of whether or not all these other supplements

01:51:15.320 | that we've discussed,

01:51:16.160 | whether or not kids can take them safely.

01:51:18.140 | And again, it's highly individual.

01:51:19.480 | I would say that for the supplements

01:51:22.080 | that relate to hormone augmentation and support,

01:51:25.920 | unless your physician, a board-certified MD,

01:51:29.260 | specifically recommends them,

01:51:30.920 | I would strongly suggest avoiding intake of those things

01:51:34.720 | until at least after puberty

01:51:37.080 | and probably into the late teens and early twenties,

01:51:40.520 | because the body and brain are still developing

01:51:42.600 | and hormone systems are still active.

01:51:44.560 | Even though puberty may happen between ages 11 and 14

01:51:48.420 | or even 15, puberty can be a long lasting event

01:51:51.360 | with a long taper and tail on it.

01:51:54.280 | So you want to be cautious about augmenting hormones

01:51:57.840 | in young people through the use of supplementation,

01:51:59.920 | unless a physician is working very closely with you

01:52:02.620 | or rather you with them.

01:52:04.300 | And then in ages of say 22 years old, 24 and older,

01:52:08.300 | I don't see any reason why people who are in their fifties

01:52:11.580 | or sixties would have any different protocols

01:52:13.780 | than people in their thirties and forties,

01:52:15.840 | except perhaps in the domain of cognitive enhancement,

01:52:18.360 | where it might make sense,

01:52:19.840 | again, might provided it can be done safely

01:52:22.160 | and with the consult of a physician,

01:52:24.580 | it might be beneficial for people

01:52:26.840 | who are approaching their later years

01:52:28.300 | to consider increasing dosages

01:52:30.320 | or the variety of things and approaches that they take

01:52:32.880 | for cognitive enhancement,

01:52:34.200 | because age-related cognitive decline is a reality.

01:52:37.780 | There is no person that escapes that.

01:52:39.820 | The question is whether or not the slope of that decline

01:52:42.120 | is very steep or very shallow.

01:52:44.120 | And of course, this is an opportunity for me to raise

01:52:46.940 | the point that I made much earlier

01:52:48.640 | and that I'll make over and over again,

01:52:50.000 | because it really is the most important point

01:52:52.440 | to today's discussion,

01:52:53.360 | which is that behaviors, both exercise, sleep,

01:52:58.360 | making sure that your relationship to light,

01:53:00.900 | getting sufficient sunlight early in the day

01:53:03.280 | and throughout the day, if you can,

01:53:05.040 | and limiting your viewing of bright artificial light

01:53:08.520 | in the late evening,

01:53:09.560 | and especially between the hours of 10 PM and 4 AM,

01:53:12.080 | things of that sort, all the dos and don'ts.

01:53:15.120 | And of course, cardiovascular exercise

01:53:17.000 | and resistance training exercise,

01:53:18.360 | and maybe even flexibility training exercise,

01:53:21.200 | topics we've covered extensively on this podcast

01:53:23.360 | and for which we will soon have a special series airing

01:53:26.120 | with Dr. Andy Galpin that gets into a lot of detail

01:53:28.680 | and protocol development that you can all employ.

01:53:31.840 | All of that needs to be done at every age,

01:53:35.800 | certainly past puberty,

01:53:37.560 | in order to maximize cognitive function,

01:53:40.920 | in order to maximize cardiovascular function,

01:53:43.200 | in order to maximize focus,

01:53:45.400 | and every aspect that we really all stand to

01:53:49.120 | and want to enhance when we think about supplementation.

01:53:52.420 | So again, get your sleep right,

01:53:54.160 | do that by getting your relationship to light right,

01:53:56.520 | get your exercise right, quality social connection right,

01:53:59.240 | and then of course, there's that landscape of nutrition

01:54:01.120 | that we talked about extensively earlier

01:54:03.120 | and for which we have other episodes that really dive deep,

01:54:05.760 | including that episode, or I should say in particular,

01:54:08.520 | that episode with Dr. Elaine Norton,

01:54:10.200 | where we really took a full survey

01:54:12.320 | of the landscape of nutrition,

01:54:13.820 | everything from protein needs,

01:54:15.040 | vitamins, minerals, fiber, microbiome,

01:54:17.480 | it's a deep, deep discussion

01:54:19.940 | with a lot of actionable takeaways.

01:54:21.840 | If you're curious about nutrition,

01:54:23.720 | and in particular, if you're a vegan or vegetarian

01:54:27.000 | or a carnivore based,

01:54:28.460 | but even for the more common omnivores, such as myself,

01:54:31.720 | I found that to be an incredible learning journey,

01:54:34.700 | thanks to Dr. Elaine Norton,

01:54:36.120 | just so much useful knowledge in that episode,

01:54:39.720 | if you want to learn more about nutrition.

01:54:41.600 | The behavioral tools, the nutritional tools,

01:54:43.800 | are really going to serve as the primary two layers

01:54:46.240 | upon which your supplementation protocols are going to rest.

01:54:49.280 | And again, I want to emphasize

01:54:50.440 | that your supplementation protocol may be zero supplements.

01:54:54.120 | It could include no supplements whatsoever,

01:54:56.280 | and that would be perfectly fine,

01:54:57.560 | provided that you're sleeping as well as you want to

01:54:59.760 | and need to, you're able to focus and work

01:55:01.800 | as well as you want to and need to,

01:55:02.960 | you're able to perform physically

01:55:04.920 | as well as you want to and need to,

01:55:05.940 | and you feel that your hormones and related functions

01:55:08.680 | are where you want them.

01:55:10.120 | However, for most people who are doing most everything right

01:55:16.200 | they want to explore how they can make things

01:55:18.900 | like their sleep, their focus,

01:55:20.960 | their hormone function even better,

01:55:22.760 | and that's where supplementation makes a lot of sense.

01:55:25.200 | And when I say makes a lot of sense,

01:55:26.320 | I mean it makes a lot of sense

01:55:27.400 | to explore in a rational and regimented way.

01:55:30.200 | There are a couple of big themes

01:55:31.340 | that we've talked about a few times during today's podcast

01:55:33.800 | that I'd like to reiterate now,

01:55:35.420 | because they are so crucial

01:55:36.600 | to developing a rational supplementation protocol.

01:55:39.660 | The most important of which is,

01:55:41.120 | unless we're talking about foundational nutritional support,

01:55:44.520 | that is coverage of vitamins, minerals, digestive enzymes,

01:55:47.700 | probiotics, prebiotics, and adaptogens,

01:55:50.320 | we should really be focusing

01:55:52.880 | on single ingredient formulations.

01:55:55.060 | Foundational supplements that include all those things

01:55:57.400 | I just listed off, all combined in one supplement are fine.

01:56:01.040 | I simply don't see any other practical or reasonable way

01:56:03.800 | to get each and every one of those things

01:56:06.120 | through single ingredient formulations.

01:56:08.160 | However, when you want to start thinking about

01:56:10.120 | and actually practically exploring

01:56:12.320 | things like supplementation for sleep

01:56:13.920 | or hormone health or cognitive function,

01:56:16.200 | the single ingredient formulations

01:56:17.580 | are going to give you the most power and control.

01:56:20.300 | They're going to make sure

01:56:21.760 | that you can find the minimal effective doses,

01:56:23.560 | that you can rule out things that are not effective for you

01:56:27.000 | or that may be detrimental for you in whatever fashion.

01:56:31.520 | And it's not just about cost-effectiveness,

01:56:34.400 | it's also about arriving at small kits

01:56:37.820 | or cocktails of supplements

01:56:39.560 | that you can really manage and work with,

01:56:41.840 | that you're not dependent on,

01:56:43.280 | but that you really feel can augment the various aspects

01:56:46.280 | of your health that are important to you.

01:56:48.020 | So that's really what today's episode is about.

01:56:50.160 | Even though we had coverage of specific supplements

01:56:52.400 | and their functions in these different domains

01:56:54.560 | of mental and physical health and performance,

01:56:56.560 | today's episode was really geared

01:56:58.520 | toward giving you resources and a framework

01:57:01.480 | to think about how to approach supplementation,

01:57:03.940 | how to navigate sticking points

01:57:05.720 | and pain points in supplementation,

01:57:07.700 | how to get the most out of your supplementation regimen

01:57:11.040 | without spending an excessive amount of money

01:57:13.100 | and if you don't have finances

01:57:15.580 | to allow for a lot of exploration of supplements,

01:57:18.320 | how to narrow in on the most effective supplements

01:57:20.900 | the most quickly and derive all the benefits

01:57:24.640 | that you can from them.

01:57:26.320 | And as a final point that is redundant

01:57:29.080 | with a few of the themes we talked about today,

01:57:30.720 | but that I don't think I ever really explicitly stated

01:57:34.020 | is that while the word supplement makes it sound

01:57:37.380 | like these compounds are something just to add on top of

01:57:41.740 | or compensate for deficiencies in nutrition

01:57:44.120 | or other areas of your life,

01:57:45.660 | many of them are actually quite potent compounds.

01:57:49.400 | These are potent non-prescription molecules

01:57:53.420 | that really can move the needle

01:57:55.320 | in terms of your ability to think more clearly,

01:57:57.680 | sleep better, support your hormone function.

01:58:00.720 | But as always, they are just one element

01:58:03.760 | within an ecosystem of other factors,

01:58:06.540 | such as your behaviors, which includes do's and don'ts,

01:58:09.600 | such as your nutrition, maybe even such as prescription drugs

01:58:13.200 | that you also might happen to be taking

01:58:15.080 | or hoping to be taking less of or removing completely.

01:58:18.620 | Again, that has to be done in discussion with physicians

01:58:21.120 | if you're going to do it at all.

01:58:22.760 | But the real point here is that what we call supplements

01:58:26.520 | are actually a powerful gear within a larger system

01:58:29.840 | aimed at each and every one of us customizing tools

01:58:33.600 | for our mental, physical health, and performance.

01:58:36.320 | If you're learning from and/or enjoying this podcast,

01:58:38.900 | please subscribe to our YouTube channel.

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01:58:48.480 | you can leave us up to a five-star review.

01:58:50.500 | If you have questions for us or topics you'd like me to cover

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01:59:07.140 | During today's podcast and on many previous episodes

01:59:09.560 | of the Huberman Lab Podcast, we discuss supplements.

01:59:12.560 | Again, while supplements aren't necessary for everybody,

01:59:14.680 | many people can derive tremendous benefit from them.

01:59:17.600 | We've partnered with Momentous Supplements

01:59:19.700 | because Momentous Supplements are of extremely high quality,

01:59:22.400 | they have single ingredient formulations,

01:59:24.200 | and they ship internationally

01:59:26.000 | because we know many of you reside

01:59:27.360 | outside of the United States.

01:59:28.960 | If you'd like to learn more about the supplements

01:59:30.480 | discussed on the Huberman Lab Podcast,

01:59:32.480 | please go to Live Momentous, spelled O-U-S,

01:59:34.920 | so that's livemomentous.com/huberman.

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01:59:45.420 | I cover science and science-related tools,

01:59:47.340 | some of which overlap with the contents

01:59:49.160 | of the Huberman Lab Podcast,

01:59:50.700 | much of which is distinct, however,

01:59:52.580 | from the contents of the Huberman Lab Podcast.

01:59:54.340 | Again, it's @hubermanlab on all social media platforms.

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02:00:28.460 | So thank you once again for joining me

02:00:29.820 | for today's discussion, all about supplementation,

02:00:32.420 | and more importantly, how to develop a rational

02:00:35.100 | and especially effective supplementation protocol for you.

02:00:38.300 | And last, but certainly not least,

02:00:40.820 | thank you for your interest in science.

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Developing a Rational Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance | Huberman Lab Podcast

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