4 replies to this topic

[expat42451]

I have been reading fairly extensively here on stacks and their effects on cognitive function. I turn 70 this month. To help me better understand  whats being discussed  and the reasons  for the different stack ingredients, can someone suggest  a book or other reading material that will help me understand cognitive function and the different compounds used to modify this--

 

Many thanks

[Bikubum]

Hi Expat,

I'm new to LongeCity and to Nootropics as well. Having just turned 60 and finding myself having to peddle faster (mentally) at work these days.

I came across your forum question with much hope only to find crickets and tumbleweeds ;-). It's a bit disappointing, eh?

 

While I can't recommend any books, you might start (if you already haven't) on Amazon. If you are looking for a trusted recommendation I would just keep searching here  and see if members mention anything. You could search on PubMed and NIH, look for "Nootropic" podcasts, etc. I follow a Dr Rhonda Patrick (Found My Fitness). An interesting website is Examine.com but it has mixed reviews. Good luck on your journey.

[expat42451]

Hi Bikubum

Thanks for the interest and kind message. Also thanks for the recommendations. I have both PubMed and NIH bookmarked as well but that is excellent advice.  I did not know Examine.com but will look into it. I would have thought  that there would have been a lot more community around the idea of stacks and longevity per se. 

 

Spent the afternoon above where I live on Cotacachi volcano. Bicycled about 10 Km up the side to a community of Topo.  Took the attached photo of the top of Cayembe across the Southern flank of Imbabura so I cant complain about my health. I do find myself slower  doing things like photo editing which I do a lot of these days.

 

Thanks again for the kind reply, the recommendations and the encouragement.

 

Looks like the photo didnt make it. Sorry abut that. Thanks again.

 

Edited by expat42451, 31 July 2021 - 11:07 PM.

[Bikubum]

Hi Expat,

Too bad about the picture - I'll visit Topo on Google Earth and imagine you there on a bike ;-)

Give yourself a pat on the back. If you can have an outing like that then you are in better shape than me.

 

Now, something interesting. In your reply you typed the word "stacks". The forum software highlighted it as a known word (in blue) and when "moused over" this came up:

"Users can share their customized combination of nutritional supplements with the community. LongeCity forum: Regimens"

 

If you click on the blue "Regimens" link, you will be taken to a page where regimens (stacks) are discussed. It looks active so perhaps posting your question there might be productive.

 

Best of luck!

 

[expat42451]

Bikubum

I have been to the stacks discussion several times. Its interesting but I go with caution.....in any case thanks for the pointer....

 

Today was a short ride, 10 Km or 6 miles. Problem with going from Cotacachi to Topo  is the elevation change, its a difficult ride. I have a mountain bike that I bought last year here and so far have almost 3000 miles on it. I was a cyclist most of my life, sold the 3 bikes I had in the US when I left there in 2012. Was bikeless until last year.  The first couple of months riding here almost killed me. Most of my cycling experience with the exception of a trip I did  many years ago in Central America has been along the coast where its flat and at sea level.  Here I am at 8400 feet altitude and everything is either up or down.  So it was tough adapting. I do between 50 and 60 miles a week generally split in 3 or 4 rides with a day in between. Aside from eating well and carefully and staying mentally active thats my only exercise other than a few calisthenics here on off days. Today was a short ride day because  when I got up this morning it was severe clear..... normally we are the recipient of all of the air that the prevailing N.E. (most prevalent) wind pics up when it comes across the Amazon basin  from Venezuela,Colombia and Peru. The air gets pushed up the east side of all of the mountains and makes clouds and rain on the other side. So I went up Cotacachi to shoot Imbabura because i have not seen that peak exposed in almost a month and it was worth it. Beautiful cloudless day here.  I had a trip planned up Cotacachi by truck on the night of the 24th to try to shoot moon rise over our neighboring volcano, Imbabura but it turned out cloudy that whole day so maybe next month.

 

For me personally a big part of what I am able to do is staying mentally active as well as physically. Many days I have to force myself to get out--I can get involved with the computer photo editing or doing what little coding I still do.... and end up burning an entire day in front of the monitors and when I do I dont feel very good about either myself or life.  On days when I do get out and ride  or---a combination of riding and shooting like today I feel great when I get home--tired yes but even on the 20 Km ride days (and my 20 Km route is all on Cotacachi and is exhausting)  I get home, cook, then have trouble sleeping many times because of the whole endorphin rush I have from the ride. For me anyway, its having a purpose in getting up in the morning and overcoming the desire to sit  and not do anything. I fight that every day but I do it by living with what some people call mindfulness.

 

My take on it is that when we get older we are shoved into a box by many cultures....supposed to be a certain way. Thats the primary reason I left the US in 2012, dont like boxes and categorization. Since I have been here I have spent time with tribal medicine men, participated in Ayahuasca ceremonies--- but in conjunction with that learning the Kechua (one of the two tribes here Kechua and Ashuar--Kechua in the majority of Ecuador, Ashuar in the southern part) attitudes about nature, the world and how we relate to it. That  as much as anything else verified to me, my decision that I made in 2012 to leave the US. I lived in Mexico for 10 years until the internecine violence  between drug cartels made that a somewhat dangerous proposition. Came back to the US in 2009 and had enough by 2012 so left again.  Where I live is a block from the woods and I can walk all the way from where I am to the Atlantic Coast sans civilization. During the quarantine year plus here I spent time in the woods, lots of walking.

 

For me the most  difficult thing to do day to day is to continue to have purpose and given the box in which many cultures put people older than about 40, that indicates that we have to each find our own purpose independent of others. Its easier to do now I think with the internet. 

 

As far as stacks and medicinal intervention I am all for it, I believe in each human's ultimate freedom and right to have responsibility  both for their psyche and health, both mentally and physically.  A close friend here is  a herdsman that runs his  dozen or so cows down in the fracture zone between Cotacachi and Imbabura along River Ambi. He brings the cows down  2-3 times a week for a day or sometimes two to feed on property he has on the river, then takes them back  to their pen at his home in Calera. He does this by himself, walking a 12 mile round trip with an elevation change of about 1000'  either up or down. He is 84 years old. So I think stacks are an alternative medicine  that possibly has great mental benefits but again....and he is an example for me--staying active mentally and physically as much as one is able is whats important. Just my 2 cents. Sorry to have rattled on.

 

Regards and thanks again for the reminder on the stacks section here.