Protocol Context:
I’m fairly often asked what my current protocol is in terms of activities, supplements and hormones for delaying or negating aging. While I may try many things and have some guesses, my main aim is to engage critically with the emerging literature and relevant market options. I am also engaged in communities of other experimenters, some of which are considerably older than me and getting very interesting results.
The younger you are the less you need to worry about implementing anything. You can save your money while learning and paying attention. Of course, once you understand the psychological effects of all the proaging, pro-obesity, pro-depression, pro-anxiety factors in our modern environment you might consider some simple or cheaper interventions just to feel better and engage better in life.
If you are older, we can assume your motivation to take action is likely low because nature, through the aging process, saps you of the very components that drive motivation to do or fight anything - kind of like depression, well because it is mostly the same as depression. On some level it’s a beautiful mechanism for reducing resistance to death.
Yet, if you really want to be healthier; the continuity of will power and energy is a serious obstacle. An obstacle that seems to undermine pretty much everyone. Substances and interventions that increase drive and motivation are critical to keeping a cycle of positive behavior change going. The tools I think about for this are of three types:
androgens: DHEA, Testosterone and DHT;
dopamine and dopamine agonists: metergoline, selegiline
cellular energy aids: thyroid, nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), creatine and caffeine (for those able).
Anti-inflammatories: vitamin D (the older one is the more important reducing inflammation is)
Not feeling like doing anything towards improving one's condition is a symptom of the siren’s song unto death. One’s sensitivity to this song seems inextricably linked to one’s production and sensitivity to dopamine and serotonin. From my current understanding, dopamine drives planning and action into the future, while serotonin likely allows feeling satisfaction and driving a sort of surrender.
Avoidances:
First and foremost, I just avoid things known to be deleterious to one’s health (except sitting in this chair). I avoid most alcohol, don’t smoke, avoid night shifts and actively try to get sun on my skin. I avoid blue light at night and work environments full of negative stress. Avoiding commutes is also a good idea and I’ve been lucky enough to not commute other than walking or riding a bike for the last 5 or so years. I also avoid most polyunsaturated fats, and a number of other industrial products like carrageenan gum. I limit most other gums, soaps, solvents, fillers and texturizers except in my pile of oral supplements. They are hopefully a net benefit. I avoid crowds, mobs, and modern politics as best I can. This is becoming harder and harder, and the rhyme with history is a little unsettling. The other fringe stuff I just let slide, choosing more or less to let the worry go, even about plastics. They are not good, but my aim is to just keep the pro-energy and detoxification pathways high enough to compensate or beyond compensate for everything out of focus. My effort at prioritizing and budgeting is not rigorous at the moment.
Additions:
Testosterone is a big recent addition. I’ve been trying Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) for a few months for the increase in free testosterone (my total was already very high), the increase in dopamine and most importantly to allow myself to take very large amounts of progesterone which would otherwise suppress Testosterone. I also find the doing and trying important to talk coherently about what it’s really like, and how one goes about it. For years I’ve taken pregnenolone, Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), Vitamin D, Vitamin K, Zinc, Magnesium, Astragalus and Boron. This “stack” for testosterone has had me well over 1000ng/dl for most of my adult life. I’m not really sure how ideal the increased free T is, especially in the context of receptor sensitivity which might just decrease to normalize effects. I may only be paying for less sensitive receptors, faster aging and a non zero chance of gynecomastia, but on the flip side a good amount of recent research seems to be finding testosterone important organs and tissues other than muscle.
Metabolism:
I take thyroid T3/T4 daily. As winter approaches I’ll increase the dose by adding desiccated beef thyroid. I take Oxytocin a few times a week.
Systemic aging:
NMN, Cycloastragenol, Melatonin, Oxytocin and DHEA are at the top of my list for slowing aging. Pregnenolone and progesterone I expect to be also useful for aging. I am just adding calcium-alphaketogluterate (CaAKG) to this list, and will perhaps add something that activates SIRT6 after that like black elderberry. Spermidine is also on my list, but I don’t like the current price.
I have taken months of doses of epitalon and related peptides including ghk-cu and mot-c, but I am not currently using peptides.
Others:
Astaxanthin, Creatine, Melatonin, Progesterone, and Glycine are all good for the skin and various other organs. On these, I don’t really burn from significant amounts of sun, but I also can not say I’m reversing skin aging. HGH would be amazing for the skin, but the costs are currently too high for me.
Lifestyle:
I like to get good sleep and usually strive to be part of a healthy social network and exercise regularly. This and all the above said, I’m not yet testing my methylation and I feel like I’m probably still aging, so I have no validated credibility for all that I’m trying. I have my own autoimmune (vitiligo) and gut issues (a FODMAP intolerance). I haven’t yet figured out how to unwind either condition.
I hope my caveats are clear, I’m absolutely not dogmatic about anything on my list and assume some will turn out to work against my goals. We have just entered the area of methylation tests, but they are a bit too expensive for frequent use.
My rules of thumb:
I usually keep things that seem to support sleep and relaxation in the evening and energy during the day but the energy has to seem smooth rather than from irritation or sympathetic activation.
If money was not an object for anti-aging:
I would build or buy a carbon dioxide bath.
I would use epithalon more regularly.
I would arrange to get more red and infrared light daily - think Novothor or equivalent.
I would take a larger variety of supplements from a few niche companies.
I would consider regular use of hyperbaric oxygen - ideally also setup for hypercapnia.
I might sleep at altitude.
I would be getting new albumin and blood dilution regularly.
I would try NAD+ and other vitamin infusions.
In Sum:
I do a good bit more than most people, and a good deal less than the most committed. I’m fairly engaged in trying things while I’m letting the world of interventions mature. I am most committed to simply keeping up with the longevity space. Overtime I have ended up taking views on interventions and frameworks, but it’s open for revision with better frameworks and findings. One of my strongest opinions is that evolution is programmed and not a production of biological incapacity. This might turn out to be incorrect, but it currently seems consistent with the most
I am eagerly waiting for the publication of an article by Harold Katcher describing the five combined substances (E5) that have turned back mammalian physiology from a purely additive approach. That said, the bulk of my focus or obsession is currently on the psychological and social implications of widespread dysregulation of physiology. It seems there is a race between the life-extending, biology--correcting alchemists and the stress, psychosis and death urges of masses deprived of nutrients, touch and vitality.
A Protocol of an informed community leader - he happens to be in his late 60s:
The perceptible part of the protocol of Nils Omar - An organizer of the Facebook group: Life Extension and Anti-Aging:
NMN and RESVERATROL: I went through a stretch of time when I was feeling an intense (not always comfortable) burst of energy after taking NMN and resveratrol. (This was a little over two years ago.) Taking them together, particularly in a large dose, would send my thoughts racing. That effect died down fortunately. I now feel a kind of underlying energy which I associate with NMN, but not the frenetic energy I experienced when I started taking them. (ME: Take these in the morning)
ASHWAGANDHA and ASTRAGALUS: I feel "calm and centered" (for lack of better words) when I take Gaia Herbs' ashwagandha (an adaptogenic herb used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine). I feel energized after taking Gaia Herbs' astragalus, a similar herb. (ME: Take these at night)
SIRTUIN 6 ACTIVATORS: I feel energized and alert when taking a combination of Gaia Herbs' black elderberry extract together with DoNotAge's SIRT6 activator. (Both activate the sirtuin 6 gene). I actually feel an odd craving to go take more of the SIRT6 Activator, as if my body really likes something it's doing and wants more.
B12: I feel extraordinary mental clarity after taking Solgar sublingual B12. (I'll sometimes take a dropper full before teaching a class.)
LECITHIN: I feel an unusual awareness of pleasurable sensations on my skin after taking a teaspoon or two of Lekithos liquid organic sunflower lecithin. Love the stuff.
PS: I was going through a stretch a few years ago when my short term memory went to hell. I was having ten or more memory glitches a day -- really alarming. (I'd get up out of my chair to get something, and not remember why I'd stood up.) Taking Jarrow PS (phosphatidyl serine) for a few weeks completely cured my short term memory problems. I would also feel an immediate calming effect when I took it, probably because it reduces cortisol.
AKG. I feel a slight energizing effect after taking AKG. I took plain AKG for a while, but got stomach problems and muscle cramps from taking it; I'm now taking DoNotAge's Ca-AKG, which doesn't give me these problems.
NIACIN: I get a strong "flush" response when I take niacin... I don't always like the flush or the way it raises blood glucose, so will drift away from taking it. Oh, and niacin also makes me sleepy. So it's one that I feel a result from, but not always a result that I like.
T BOOSTERS AND HGH BOOSTERS: There are groups of supplements I can feel effects from (when I take them together), though I can't pin the effect down to a particular one.
When I take a bunch of testosterone boosters together (including tongcat ali, boron, ashwagandha and tribulus), my libido gets a noticeable rebound.
Taking several HGH boosters (such as creatine, l. citrulline and beta alanine) also has an energizing effect when I take them together.
I like taking NMN, resveratrol, SIRT6 activator, and black elderberry together with lecithin. I'll fill a little glass with water; pour in some elderberry syrup; add a teaspoon of NMN and half teaspoon of resveratrol; drink it down and chase it with a teaspoon of lecithin. The lecithin is a fat and an emulsifier, so helps the resveratrol get absorbed. When I take them all together, I get the mental boost from the lecithin but am also more aware of the impact of the other supplements.