0
Introduction
Posted by
nootrope
,
02 January 2008
·
920 views
Recently I've become interested in life extension, natural health remedies, nutritional supplements, etc. This blog is for me to keep track of my experiences and ideas on the subject and to get feedback.
I'm 40 years old, an unemployed astrophysicist. I've been a teacher and a researcher, but I've also had problems with some combination of bipolar disorder and temporal lobe epilepsy. I take trileptal to treat those.
Part of what I'm looking for as I experiment with supplements, diet, and exercise, is to find alternate ways of treating the mood disorder. I'm also looking for ways to keep myself smart and motivated in spite of possible side-effects of the trileptal and in spite of the fact that I'm aging.
I also want to stay physically fit. I'm 5' 8", 165 pounds, with a muscular build. Since September, I've been paying special attention to my health, and have been going on a daily 5 mile / 1.5 hour hike.
These are the possible problems I see with natural remedies and supplements:
*placebo effect: hard to judge on one's own whether something's working. "Hey, this makes me feel smart!" But what if it makes you actually dumb and part of that is thinking that you're smart? Well, at least I can look at how I approach my work, the quality of my writing, my piano playing, my exercise, and the soundness of my sleep. Those are easy to measure or at least notice.
*It's easy to get excited when reading about studies that show positive effects of some substance. But many of these studies are on animals or even just on cells. Not being a medical doctor, I may not recognize which studies are really sound and which aren't. On the other hand, I think many of the prescription patent medications are being over-sold and are being investigated more than the natural substances because they bring so much profit. (A generic version of trileptal just came to market, but the brand-name stuff is very expensive!)
*Experimenting on oneself with more than one item at a time can make things confusing.
Anyway, these are the supplements and the diet experiments I've been making and the results I've been feeling.
I think the number one most effective supplement for me so far has been ashwagandha, an Indian root compared with ginseng as an adaptogen. I take it in the evening to help me sleep and I think it's really been helping my mood disorder. It's also supposed to have nootropic (smarts-increasing) properties. The active ingredient isn't known, and it's not known how it works. It may act similarly to the neurotransmitter GABA (which may inhibit too much action in the brain), it may tone down body's adrenaline response, and it may actually help dendrites and axons grow within neurons. It's also supposed to increase physical endurance as ginseng does.
I've also experimented with other adaptogens, including siberian ginseng, which may help me athletically but otherwise doesn't seem to have effects as dramatic.
I've been drinking about 10 cups of green tea a day for years. Now I'm trying only to drink organic green tea because so much green tea is grown in China and I wonder about what kind of chemicals they may be spraying there!
I'm afraid the ashwagandha may be making me a little too mellow during the daytime though. In the last 4 months, while I've been taking the stuff, have been free of problems of bipolar disorder, it's also been harder for me to be motivated in doing research (I'm still writing research papers).
So I tried the currently popular R alpha lipoic acid / acetyl L-carnitine combination, even though I'm not so sure if the side-effects of long-term human use are known. It picks me up a bit, but I'm not that impressed. I've also been drinking a cup a day of coffee, and two cups of hot chocolate (for the antioxidants).
I'm vegetarian except for fish. Sometimes I've taken omega-3 fish oil supplements (supposed to be good for mood disorders) but they're not in my regimen now. I'm just eating lots of fish. Also, the pink chemical in salmon is supposed to be a good brain antioxidant. I'm still running through a pillbox of evening primrose oil. Gamma linolenic acid is supposed to have some benefits, perhaps in balance with omega-3 fatty acids. Sometimes I've also been trying to get GLA through hemp seeds, which the local organic grocery sells. I've added in one hard-boiled egg (with omega-3) a day. Although some chemicals in the yolk may be harmful, I think the choline may do the brain some good. Another possible action of ashwagandha is that it may prevent the breakdown of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.
In addition to the ashwagandha, I often take a small amount (0.25 mg) of melatonin to help me sleep. Lately I've also been drinking a cup of tulsi (holy basil) tea. I also take some magnesium before bed. (I also supplement with a multivitamin and extra zinc.)
I experimented for a month with lion's mane mushroom, which is supposed to stimulate neural growth factor. It may have added to a sense of general well-being but otherwise I didn't notice much of a dramatic effect. It's expensive, so I think I'll cut it out.
I've tried, a few months apart, a few pillboxes of resveratrol. I didn't notice much that was dramatic, although perhaps (as with GLA) my hair was a little shinier. The resveratrol supplements sometimes also had quercetin and other extracts. Similar results from grape seed extract.
I enjoy experimenting: for anthocyanins I've been eating black sesame seeds and black ("forbidden") Chinese rice. I've started to make a "tea" out of the black Chinese rice, too. I try to be conscious about which plants are rich sources of beneficial compounds. I try not to let my focus on micronutrients keep me from an overall balanced diet too.
I'm not really expecting life extension or trans-humanist technology to go dramatically far during my lifetime. Maybe calorie restriction can help some people live healthy to or past 120 years. I'm mostly trying to get benefits from the growing knowledge out there and the easy access to centuries of folk-wisdom.
I'm 40 years old, an unemployed astrophysicist. I've been a teacher and a researcher, but I've also had problems with some combination of bipolar disorder and temporal lobe epilepsy. I take trileptal to treat those.
Part of what I'm looking for as I experiment with supplements, diet, and exercise, is to find alternate ways of treating the mood disorder. I'm also looking for ways to keep myself smart and motivated in spite of possible side-effects of the trileptal and in spite of the fact that I'm aging.
I also want to stay physically fit. I'm 5' 8", 165 pounds, with a muscular build. Since September, I've been paying special attention to my health, and have been going on a daily 5 mile / 1.5 hour hike.
These are the possible problems I see with natural remedies and supplements:
*placebo effect: hard to judge on one's own whether something's working. "Hey, this makes me feel smart!" But what if it makes you actually dumb and part of that is thinking that you're smart? Well, at least I can look at how I approach my work, the quality of my writing, my piano playing, my exercise, and the soundness of my sleep. Those are easy to measure or at least notice.
*It's easy to get excited when reading about studies that show positive effects of some substance. But many of these studies are on animals or even just on cells. Not being a medical doctor, I may not recognize which studies are really sound and which aren't. On the other hand, I think many of the prescription patent medications are being over-sold and are being investigated more than the natural substances because they bring so much profit. (A generic version of trileptal just came to market, but the brand-name stuff is very expensive!)
*Experimenting on oneself with more than one item at a time can make things confusing.
Anyway, these are the supplements and the diet experiments I've been making and the results I've been feeling.
I think the number one most effective supplement for me so far has been ashwagandha, an Indian root compared with ginseng as an adaptogen. I take it in the evening to help me sleep and I think it's really been helping my mood disorder. It's also supposed to have nootropic (smarts-increasing) properties. The active ingredient isn't known, and it's not known how it works. It may act similarly to the neurotransmitter GABA (which may inhibit too much action in the brain), it may tone down body's adrenaline response, and it may actually help dendrites and axons grow within neurons. It's also supposed to increase physical endurance as ginseng does.
I've also experimented with other adaptogens, including siberian ginseng, which may help me athletically but otherwise doesn't seem to have effects as dramatic.
I've been drinking about 10 cups of green tea a day for years. Now I'm trying only to drink organic green tea because so much green tea is grown in China and I wonder about what kind of chemicals they may be spraying there!
I'm afraid the ashwagandha may be making me a little too mellow during the daytime though. In the last 4 months, while I've been taking the stuff, have been free of problems of bipolar disorder, it's also been harder for me to be motivated in doing research (I'm still writing research papers).
So I tried the currently popular R alpha lipoic acid / acetyl L-carnitine combination, even though I'm not so sure if the side-effects of long-term human use are known. It picks me up a bit, but I'm not that impressed. I've also been drinking a cup a day of coffee, and two cups of hot chocolate (for the antioxidants).
I'm vegetarian except for fish. Sometimes I've taken omega-3 fish oil supplements (supposed to be good for mood disorders) but they're not in my regimen now. I'm just eating lots of fish. Also, the pink chemical in salmon is supposed to be a good brain antioxidant. I'm still running through a pillbox of evening primrose oil. Gamma linolenic acid is supposed to have some benefits, perhaps in balance with omega-3 fatty acids. Sometimes I've also been trying to get GLA through hemp seeds, which the local organic grocery sells. I've added in one hard-boiled egg (with omega-3) a day. Although some chemicals in the yolk may be harmful, I think the choline may do the brain some good. Another possible action of ashwagandha is that it may prevent the breakdown of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.
In addition to the ashwagandha, I often take a small amount (0.25 mg) of melatonin to help me sleep. Lately I've also been drinking a cup of tulsi (holy basil) tea. I also take some magnesium before bed. (I also supplement with a multivitamin and extra zinc.)
I experimented for a month with lion's mane mushroom, which is supposed to stimulate neural growth factor. It may have added to a sense of general well-being but otherwise I didn't notice much of a dramatic effect. It's expensive, so I think I'll cut it out.
I've tried, a few months apart, a few pillboxes of resveratrol. I didn't notice much that was dramatic, although perhaps (as with GLA) my hair was a little shinier. The resveratrol supplements sometimes also had quercetin and other extracts. Similar results from grape seed extract.
I enjoy experimenting: for anthocyanins I've been eating black sesame seeds and black ("forbidden") Chinese rice. I've started to make a "tea" out of the black Chinese rice, too. I try to be conscious about which plants are rich sources of beneficial compounds. I try not to let my focus on micronutrients keep me from an overall balanced diet too.
I'm not really expecting life extension or trans-humanist technology to go dramatically far during my lifetime. Maybe calorie restriction can help some people live healthy to or past 120 years. I'm mostly trying to get benefits from the growing knowledge out there and the easy access to centuries of folk-wisdom.
