David’s August 2019 5-Step Health+Longevity Program

Constantly adjusting and tweaking my longevity-focused health routine based on what we are learning here every day is an on going process. This is what I am doing this month.

1. Longevity supplements. I take 1 gram of Resveratrol every day. It went out of fashion a few years ago, but the science still seems to indicate that it is useful for sirtuins. I also take 1 gram of metformin every day. It’s a cheap diabetes medication with decades of testing and wide use with no known side effects other than some stomach irritation —which I don’t get. We wrote about it here last year. The last thing I take is NAD+, which we had Dr. Mike James investigate for us recently here. The one change is that I am now using a NAD+ nasal spray which seems to be more effective as it bypasses the liver and goes directly into the bloodstream.

2. Health supplements: Vitamin D3 because even though I live in a sunny place, I don’t get that much direct sunlight exposure, so I take 5000IU 3x per week. Twice a year I get my levels tested and this does a good job of keeping me in range. The other one I take is a fish oil supplement. This one I have been taking for 25 years. When I started taking it, there was an almost immediate improvement in my LDL/HDL levels. I’ve stopped all other supplements with the exception of an occasional lypo-spheric vitamin C when I am feeling run down.

3. Fitness. I do heavy lifting 3 times a week, each day hitting different muscles. I find I need about 5-7 days for full muscle recovery.  I am now doing stretching and foam rolling in the mornings 3 times per week. Pilates, which I sort of love, is something I manage to get to twice a month. For cardio, I have recently adopted sprint training. Warning on this one, it’s horrible, and do not try this unless you have consulted a doctor first. It involves 30 seconds of 100% effort, then a 3-4 minute rest, then another round. I do 3 rounds twice a week. Although one can do this in a variety of ways, I use a treadmill so I can carefully monitor the speed and keep from cheating. My current speed is 11.5, which kills me. This is the same speed at which I could run entire miles at age 19, but alas, that won’t be happening again. Walking is my main exercise on off days when I try for 10,000 steps.

4. Food. I have recently been reducing my protein intake to prevent an mTOR reaction. This is something we need to have Dr. Mike James investigate further. It is a reaction that seems activated by red meat among other things. Keeping the muscle mass up but not overdoing it to impact longevity is a balance that I keep working on. Overall, a low-glycemic diet is still what I am focused on — keep the insulin levels from spiking. I eat lots of brightly colored vegetables, and my morning smoothie is a plant festival of color. No fasting for me other than I try to keep my eating within a 10-hour window, finishing dinner by 6:30 pm. This gets tricky with travel, but I do my best. The last bit is water water water — I need to constantly be aware of drinking water.

5. Sleeping. I have left this one for last as it is, for me, the most critical. I absolutely need 8 hours of sleep or I don’t function well. Reading Why We Sleep scared me into taking this very seriously. If I had a heavy workout that day, it will be more like 9 hours. To help keep me asleep through the night if I have not exercised enough, I take a very low dose of time-release Melatonin.