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Nootrope's Update
Posted by
nootrope
,
25 December 2009
·
1,534 views
I've been away from this blog for a while. I guess one has to be a paying member of the Immortality Institute to post? For some reason I used to be able to post, but then the software wouldn't let me. When I first started writing here, there was a prize for the best blog here (I won, go me!) Maybe the blogs were free back then for that purpose?
Anyway, as it's been a while, I should write an update. There are other corners of the web where I express myself, but I like the anonymity here, and the intersection of topics surrounding health and immortality and the future.
I'm a 42 year old male astrophysicist. Probably the most severe health problem I've had is bipolar disorder, which thankfully only impacts my life during infrequent episodes. For the past year I've been taking hardly any medication and have not had an episode. I've found some natural herbal remedies to be very helpful: ashwagandha and bacopa (from the ayurvedic tradition) in particular. Lately though I've taken a break from the bacopa. One study suggested that high doses in rodents could cause a temporary drop in fertility, which could be restored by stopping treatment. Though I'm not trying to father a child just now, that kind of side effect made me feel a little queasy about the stuff.
As the pseudonym nootrope suggests, I'm interested in improving the clarity of my thinking in general. When I started this blog I was between jobs, and that was a good time for tending to self-improvement. Now I'm burnt out by the daily routine, where I become unmotivated and sometimes make careless errors. When I get home from work I'm no longer so energetic that I want to improve my skills. The one region of my life I have been consistently improving myself in has been physical fitness. I've continued to work out at the gym, both cardio and weight lifting sessions. As studies and anecdotes attest, exercise can be a nootropic. Having a week off between Christmas and New Year's now allows me to take stock a bit and, perhaps if I feel rested enough, start some more self-improvement projects.
Nutrition: A couple of years ago, I was vegetarian. Now I am a healthy carnivore, trying to navigate between the healthiest traditions, incorporating meals from the Mediterranian diet, while often thinking along the lines of the paleo-dieters (i.e., what did we humans evolve to eat?) I've incorporated grass-fed beef into my diet, and some more obscure meats, and liver, while continuing to dine on lots of fatty fish (particularly those low in mercury, like anchovies), fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds, olive and coconut oil, and some grains and beans. Now and then I'll have a pizza or a dessert. I still drink at least 10 cups of tea a day, usually green or white tea, but sometimes black or oolong. Now I sometimes have a cup or two of coffee as well, and a couple of days a week I'll have a chocolate bar (75% or higher). A couple of days a week I'll have a glass of red wine.
Supplements: still taking the ashwagandha. I find it most useful for when I've woken up early and want to sleep a few more hours. Then 1/4 teaspoon of 5% withanolides powder will put me back to sleep and I'll wake up rested. I'm glad to see there is a study in progress that will look at how bipolar patients respond to the sensoril brand of ashwagandha. I'm also taking cordyceps mushroom extract, zinc, magnesium, borage oil, vitamin D, sometimes gotu kola, sometimes ginkgo, sometimes drink some aloe juice, sometimes resveratrol, sometimes ALCAR, sometimes lecithin, sometimes echinaecia, sometimes schisandra, sometimes siberian or american ginseng. By "sometimes" I mean these are supplements I experiment with, or cycle, or take before going to the gym. Supplements I'm considering: CDP choline, considering adding back lion's mane mushroom, reishi mushroom.
Genetics: Following the discovery through 23andme.com that I'm a "slow methylator" I've been taking methylfolate and methylcoalbumin supplements. However, now I've added TMG (trimethylglycine) as a methyl donor.
I've stopped playing the "n-back" test though perhaps this vacation I'll get started again.
Overall, knock on wood, I'm in good shape: good mental health, muscular yet not overweight, all my hair on my head in its original color (though a few gray hairs creep into my beard). My life itself could use some improvement: more time to myself away from work to be creative, more self-direction at work, the independence and motivation and support to make some major accomplishments in life, the search for a girlfriend or life-long mate. I could probably use some involvement in something like yoga or meditation.
These are all only personal aspects of my life, and all intertwined with extending healthy human lifespan for myself... As for the movement itself, I will probably discuss that in later entries on this blog.
Anyway, as it's been a while, I should write an update. There are other corners of the web where I express myself, but I like the anonymity here, and the intersection of topics surrounding health and immortality and the future.
I'm a 42 year old male astrophysicist. Probably the most severe health problem I've had is bipolar disorder, which thankfully only impacts my life during infrequent episodes. For the past year I've been taking hardly any medication and have not had an episode. I've found some natural herbal remedies to be very helpful: ashwagandha and bacopa (from the ayurvedic tradition) in particular. Lately though I've taken a break from the bacopa. One study suggested that high doses in rodents could cause a temporary drop in fertility, which could be restored by stopping treatment. Though I'm not trying to father a child just now, that kind of side effect made me feel a little queasy about the stuff.
As the pseudonym nootrope suggests, I'm interested in improving the clarity of my thinking in general. When I started this blog I was between jobs, and that was a good time for tending to self-improvement. Now I'm burnt out by the daily routine, where I become unmotivated and sometimes make careless errors. When I get home from work I'm no longer so energetic that I want to improve my skills. The one region of my life I have been consistently improving myself in has been physical fitness. I've continued to work out at the gym, both cardio and weight lifting sessions. As studies and anecdotes attest, exercise can be a nootropic. Having a week off between Christmas and New Year's now allows me to take stock a bit and, perhaps if I feel rested enough, start some more self-improvement projects.
Nutrition: A couple of years ago, I was vegetarian. Now I am a healthy carnivore, trying to navigate between the healthiest traditions, incorporating meals from the Mediterranian diet, while often thinking along the lines of the paleo-dieters (i.e., what did we humans evolve to eat?) I've incorporated grass-fed beef into my diet, and some more obscure meats, and liver, while continuing to dine on lots of fatty fish (particularly those low in mercury, like anchovies), fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds, olive and coconut oil, and some grains and beans. Now and then I'll have a pizza or a dessert. I still drink at least 10 cups of tea a day, usually green or white tea, but sometimes black or oolong. Now I sometimes have a cup or two of coffee as well, and a couple of days a week I'll have a chocolate bar (75% or higher). A couple of days a week I'll have a glass of red wine.
Supplements: still taking the ashwagandha. I find it most useful for when I've woken up early and want to sleep a few more hours. Then 1/4 teaspoon of 5% withanolides powder will put me back to sleep and I'll wake up rested. I'm glad to see there is a study in progress that will look at how bipolar patients respond to the sensoril brand of ashwagandha. I'm also taking cordyceps mushroom extract, zinc, magnesium, borage oil, vitamin D, sometimes gotu kola, sometimes ginkgo, sometimes drink some aloe juice, sometimes resveratrol, sometimes ALCAR, sometimes lecithin, sometimes echinaecia, sometimes schisandra, sometimes siberian or american ginseng. By "sometimes" I mean these are supplements I experiment with, or cycle, or take before going to the gym. Supplements I'm considering: CDP choline, considering adding back lion's mane mushroom, reishi mushroom.
Genetics: Following the discovery through 23andme.com that I'm a "slow methylator" I've been taking methylfolate and methylcoalbumin supplements. However, now I've added TMG (trimethylglycine) as a methyl donor.
I've stopped playing the "n-back" test though perhaps this vacation I'll get started again.
Overall, knock on wood, I'm in good shape: good mental health, muscular yet not overweight, all my hair on my head in its original color (though a few gray hairs creep into my beard). My life itself could use some improvement: more time to myself away from work to be creative, more self-direction at work, the independence and motivation and support to make some major accomplishments in life, the search for a girlfriend or life-long mate. I could probably use some involvement in something like yoga or meditation.
These are all only personal aspects of my life, and all intertwined with extending healthy human lifespan for myself... As for the movement itself, I will probably discuss that in later entries on this blog.
