Team Asprey

Supplement Stacks for Sex, Sleep, Stress, and More

February 23, 2017 by Team Asprey

Supplements are a tricky business. With so much misinformation and no regulation, it can be overwhelming to know where to start with them. What are good brands? What’s the dose? What about purity? Delivery method? Form? Time of day to take them? With food or without?

You can find a Bulletproof breakdown of the best supplements to take here. It’s a good place to start if you’re putting together a baseline supplement routine. What you’re about to read is geared more toward enhancing specific facets of your life when you want them: sleep, stress, sex, mood, and focus/memory. You’ll get all the details about how to supplement, including recommended brands, and stacks to use.

What is a “stack”?

The term started in the bodybuilding community and refers to a group of different nutrients that work together to enhance the intended goal. Big muscles are cool, but big brains and getting busy in the bedroom are cooler.

The supplements in this article are split into stacks you can take together, but you can also try each compound individually. Experiment to find a balance that works for you.

Sleep

Magnesium stimulates GABA and melatonin release, helping you fall asleep faster, reach deeper phases of sleep, and wake up less at night [1]. You’ll feel it within a few minutes. Magnesium also prevents muscle cramps while you sleep.

Recommended brand: Natural Calm magnesium citrate (start slow; this form can cause disaster pants) or Doctor’s Best magnesium glycinate

Dose: 400-600 mg

Time taken: Before bed

Phenibut is GABA (the major calming neurotransmitter in your brain) with a phenyl ring attached, which allows the molecule to pass your blood-brain barrier and reach receptors in your brain. Phenibut was originally developed for Russian astronauts, to ease the stress of flight and help them sleep in space. It relieves anxiety and drives you into deeper sleep [2]. Phenibut is also a nootropic: it boosts cognition, giving you relaxed clarity of thought.

Phenibut can be addictive, so it’s very important to take it correctly. The two common mistakes people make are taking phenibut daily and increasing the dose over time. Phenibut’s effects last for 48-72 hours, so you only want to take it once every three days (twice a week max). You also want to cycle it to avoid tolerance. Go two weeks on phenibut, two weeks off. Don’t go past 250mg doses; if you stop feeling the effects at 250mg, cycle off for a couple weeks. Don’t mix phenibut with alcohol, either. It amplifies the effects, which can be dangerous.

Dose: 250 mg (never higher)

Time Taken: Anytime, but only twice a week max (Monday and Thursday, for example). Do two weeks on phenibut, two weeks off.

Kava is like chamomile on steroids. It contains compounds called kavalactones that increase both GABA [3] and serotonin [4], two neurotransmitters that are key for priming your body to sleep. You can brew kava tea or buy an extract. Be warned: it tastes like mud. Don’t be alarmed if kava makes your mouth go numb; it’s two natural anesthetics, dihydrokavain and dihydromethysticin, binding to receptors on your tongue. You can find a full breakdown of kava here.

Recommended brand: Yogi kava tea (you can find this at most grocery stores) or NOW kava extract

Dose: 1-2 teabags, or follow package instructions for extracts

Time taken: An hour before bed, with fat (kavalactones are fat-soluble)

Bulletproof Sleep Mode contains L-ornithine, an amino acid that decreases cortisol response and normalizes sleep patterns [5]. It also has melatonin, the hormone you produce throughout the day that makes you sleepy at night. Most melatonin supplements contain anywhere from 2-10mg melatonin, which is excessive and can lead to issues over time. Sleep Mode has 0.3mg, a dose that’s still bioactive but far more sustainable.

Recommended brand: Bulletproof

Dose: 2 softgels

Time taken: before bed

Note: Kava and phenibut work on different GABA receptor subtypes, which means they aren’t dangerous when you mix them. That said, the combination will really knock you out. That’s great if you have trouble sleeping, but it can also be overwhelming for some people. If you find you feel especially groggy and you don’t like it, drop either kava or phenibut.

Stress & anxiety

Kava is also great for stress. Kava extract is comparable to benzodiazepines like Valium when it comes to relieving stress and anxiety, with none of the side effects [6,7,8]. It relaxes you without impairing mental clarity, either [9], which makes it a nice alternative to drinking. See the breakdown above for dosage. The one difference is that for stress, you’ll want to take kava in the morning, and maybe a couple more times throughout the day.

L-theanine curbs both your physiological and psychological stress responses [10]. It also promotes alertness, leaving you in a calm, focused state [11]. Pair it with caffeine to increase your cognitive function [12], or take it on its own to chill out.

Recommended brand: Powder City

Dose: 200 mg

Time taken: With a fat source (L-theanine is fat-soluble)

Ashwagandha is a powerful adaptogen. Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies have found that ashwagandha decreases cortisol response by 15-30% in healthy but stressed adults [13,14]. “Ashwagandha” is Hindi for “smell of horse,” referring to the herb’s potent smell and taste. Get this one in pill form to avoid the unpleasantness.

Recommended brand: Powder City
Dose: 500-1000 mg

Time taken: Morning

Astragalus is one of the better-studied Chinese/Korean herbs. It contains polysaccharides that protect your mitochondria from stress-induced oxidative damage [15,16], which makes it a good choice if you’re chronically stressed or pushing to meet a deadline.

Recommended brand: NOW Foods Astragalus Extract

Dose: 500 mg

Time taken: With a fat source (astragalus is fat-soluble)

He Shou Wu is rich in antioxidants and contains chrysophanol, which protects against inflammation and improves brain function under stress [17]. It also reverses liver damage in vitro [18].

Recommended brand: Now Foods

Dose: 560 mg

Time taken: With a fat source (he shou wu is fat-soluble)

Gynostemma, also called southern ginseng, doesn’t have solid clinical studies to back up its effect on stress. It’s on this list because data from 40 Years of Zen has found that gynostemma reliably increases alpha waves, the brain waves associated with a calm meditative state. Not convinced? Try it on its own and see if you feel a difference.

Recommended brand: Paradise Gynostemma Extract

Dose: 250 mg

Time taken: With fat (gypenosides, the active compounds in gynostemma, are fat-soluble)

Sex

Maca gets both men and women in the mood [19,20,21]. It also improves sperm motility [22] and erectile dysfunction [23]. You want gelatinized (cooked) maca – raw maca has antinutrients and extra starches. Some maca gets moldy, which can affect cognition. If you feel like you lose mental clarity after taking it, try switching brands.

Recommended brand: Gaia MacaBoost (it’s paired with ginger and cacao, which makes it taste far less disgusting than pure maca powder)

Dose: 3-5g (1-2 tbsp)

Time taken: With a fat source (maca is fat-soluble)

Tribulus terrestris is a powerful aphrodisiac in both men and women, although we still don’t know how it works [24,25,26]. Tribulus does not increase testosterone, which many marketers claim, but it does reliably increase libido and erection strength.

Recommended brand: NOW Foods Tribulus Terrestris Extract

Dose: 1000 mg

Time taken: Morning or an hour before sex, with a fat source

Mood

EPA & DHA, the two animal-based omega-3 fatty acids, support a healthy mood [27]. Also, unlike the omega-6 fatty acid arachidonic acid, omega-3 fatty acids are not used by the body to generate inflammation. Wild fatty fish like salmon, anchovies, mackerel, and sardines are high in EPA and DHA. You can also supplement, and probably should, as most people don’t get nearly enough omega-3s through diet alone.

Recommended brand: Bulletproof Omega Krill Complex

Dose: 1000+ mg

Time taken: Morning and night

5-HTP is what your body naturally makes from the amino acid tryptophan. From there, 5-HTP is converted into serotonin and melatonin. You know serotonin, the neurotransmitter responsible for boosting mood and emotional well being – all while helping your body deal with stress? But your body can sometimes struggle with turning 5-HTP into that all-important happy neurotransmitter. Supplementing with 5-HTP — which readily crosses the blood-brain-barrier — is the easiest way to organically support your levels of the mood-lifting neurotransmitter serotonin.

Recommended brand: NOW Foods 5-HTP

Dose: 50 mg

Time taken: Take one capsule, up to 6 times spread evenly throughout your day, to support emotional well-being and a balanced mood.

Mucuna pruriens is high in L-dopa, the precursor to mood-boosting dopamine [28]. Mucuna has been used to relieve the symptoms of Parkinson’s related to low dopamine, a discovery that later led to researchers manufacturing synthetic L-dopa as a treatment. Even if you’re in good shape cognitively, mucuna can give you a boost in mood.

Recommended brand: NOW Foods mucuna extract

Dose: 100-200 mg

Time taken: with food

Magnesium deficiency can contribute to depressed mood, and many people are deficient in it [29,30]. Try supplementing with 400-600 mg per day. Even if it doesn’t help with mood, it’ll help with stress and sleep, and sleep is essential to balancing hormones and neurochemicals related to mood. See above for brand and timing recommendations.

Focus & memory

There are a lot of different ways to increase your focus and memory. This guide to smart drugs breaks down 13 different options for you to try. Everyone’s brain is different; experiment to find out what works for you. The three smart drugs below are a great place to start and work for most people.

Aniracetam doesn’t have many studies behind it, partly because it’s in a regulatory gray zone. It’s legal to buy without a prescription, but it’s effective enough that it may become a drug soon. It markedly improves both memory and mental turnover, which explains why so many people take it for public speaking (far fewer “ums” and “ahs”). One study in rats found that aniracetam improves memory and counters depression [31].

Recommended Brand: BeamZen. Go for capsules; racetams are bitter and don’t dissolve in water.

Dose: 650 mg, 1-2 times daily

Time taken: Morning, with a fat source (and afternoon for a second dose, if you’d like)

Phenylpiracetam is a cousin of aniracetam with slightly different effects. Most studies focus on using phenylpiracetam to repair brain cells: it helps restore neurologic function after strokes [32] and in patients with epilepsy-related brain damage [33]. Anecdotally, healthy people report increased memory, faster recall, improved ability to switch attention, and more energy from phenylpiracetam.

Recommended Brand: BeamZen

Dose: 100 mg, 1-4 times daily

Time taken: Morning, with a fat source (and more throughout the day, if you’d like)

Note: Members of the racetam family, like the two above, deplete acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that affects energy and attention [34]. Some people are choline-dominant, and won’t have an issue taking racetams. Others don’t produce as much choline, and may crash a few hours after taking racetams. If you feel sleepy or low-energy after taking racetams, add in a choline source. You can either take a choline supplement or down a couple pastured raw egg yolks in the morning.

L-tyrosine is a precursor to dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine, three crucial neurotransmitters for focus and mood. Supplementing with it can improve cognitive function under pressure [35], which has led to tyrosine research by the military, for possible use with soldiers [36]. You get tyrosine in your diet, but supplementing with it in purified form drives more l-tyrosine to making new neurotransmitters, as opposed to getting it with the other amino acids contained in dietary sources, where it favors things like protein synthesis [36].

Recommended brand: Jarrow Formulas

Dose: 500-1000 mg

Time taken: any time

What else would you like to see supplement stacks for? Anything this article missed? Leave your thoughts in the comments below. And for more on supplements, check out the basic Bulletproof guide to daily supplements, as well as this breakdown of 13 nootropics for a sharper brain. Thanks for reading and have a great week!

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8 Ways to Increase BDNF and Keep Your Brain from Aging

February 18, 2017 by Team Asprey

“BDNF is like Miracle-Gro for your brain.” That’s how Harvard psychiatrist John Ratey describes brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a powerful little protein that stimulates your production of new brain cells and strengthens existing ones. More specifically, when you release BDNF, it flips the switch on a series of genes that grow brand new brain cells and pathways. High BDNF makes you learn faster, remember better, age slower, and rapidly rewire your brain.

BDNF also increases your brain’s plasticity. When your brain cells get damaged or face a stressful situation, BDNF protects them and helps them come back stronger. Your neural pathways become more flexible instead of shutting down, which could explain why higher levels of BDNF are associated with warding off depression. [1].

With a few well-placed daily habits, you can set your brain up to release more BDNF all the time, keeping your brain resilient and priming it to grow stronger.

8 ways to increase BDNF

Exercise. Endurance exercise releases a protein called FNDC5 (fibronectin type III domain-containing protein 5. Catchy, right?). FNDC5, in turn, increases BDNF by 200-300% [2]. The increase is long-lived, too: men who cycled daily for 3 months nearly quadrupled their resting BDNF [3,4].

Strength training increases BDNF, but only for a few minutes post-workout. Opt for moderately intense cardio, like Mark Sisson recommends. Not a fan of running? Swim, cycle, do fast-paced yoga, or pick up a sport. Whatever gets your heart rate going.

Deep sleep. You release BDNF during the deeper stages of sleep [5]. There are four sleep stages, and you cycle through them every 90 minutes or so. On average, you spend about a third to half the night in stages 3 and 4, the ones that give you deep, restorative sleep.

With a few biohacks, though, you can drop into deep sleep faster and stay there longer in each sleep cycle. That means more BDNF release and better rest in less time. Here’s a full guide to hacking your sleep.

Meditation. Stress is toxic to BDNF [5,6]. No surprise, then, that meditation increases BDNF [7], specifically strengthening areas of the brain that correlate with pain tolerance, body awareness, meta-thinking (awareness of how you think), memory, emotional control, happiness, and attention [8].

Start by meditating for 5 minutes every morning. Some days you may quiet your mind. Other days your thoughts may run rampant. Don’t get too attached to the results, either way. Consistency is more important than “getting it right.”

Psychedelics. Both psilocybin (mushrooms) and LSD (acid) increase BDNF production and neurogenesis [9,10,11]. That could explain why there are so many studies coming out about psychedelic-assisted therapy helping with depression and PTSD – perhaps the combination allows people to rapidly rewire stubborn pathways causing them pain [12].

Here’s a breakdown of several psychedelics. They’re probably illegal where you live, and they can cause psychological distress if you take them without care. Remember to always biohack responsibly.

Polyphenols. These antioxidants stimulate BDNF and protect your brain from stress [13]. Coffee, green tea, dark chocolate, blueberries, and colorful veggies are all excellent polyphenol sources.

Coffee fruit extract. 100 mg of extract of coffee fruit (the red fruit surrounding coffee beans) raised BDNF by about 140% in several studies [14,15]. The boost lasted for a few hours. Coffee fruit extract is a useful supplement to add to your brain hacking toolbox.

Check out Neuromaster, which can boost BDNF levels up to 140%!

Hypoxia. Depriving your brain of oxygen for a brief period triggers instant BDNF release [16,17]. You can do this anytime in under 2 minutes with simple breathing exercises like the Wim Hof method. Or you could go for something kinkier…

Sunlight. Simple sun exposure increases BDNF [18]. It also improves mood, increases vitamin D production, and actually decreases your risk of skin cancer, provided you don’t burn yourself [19]. Get outside in direct sunlight for 10-20 minutes a day. Leave your sunscreen and sunglasses at home. You want the UV rays hitting photoreceptors on your skin and in your retinas.

3 things that block BDNF

Stress. Stress is one of the biggest BDNF inhibitors [20,21]. You’re constantly bombarded with work, advertisements, information, pollution, artificial lighting, and all kinds of other stimuli that tax your biology. Make it a part of your day to manage your stress. A few options are meditation, gratitude, forest bathing, and adaptogens.

Sugar. Eating sugar, and fructose in particular directly curbs BDNF production in rats [22] and links to cognitive decline in humans [23]. That doesn’t mean you have to cut out sweets, though. Swap sugar for one of these high-quality alternative sweeteners (not Splenda or aspartame). And if you’re struggling with sugar cravings, this may help.

Social isolation. Lack of meaningful mental stimulation leads to lower BDNF levels [24,25]. Social isolation also contributes to depression, which decreases BDNF. Make it a point to spend time with friends regularly; the complex richness of social interaction challenges your brain and keeps it adaptable.

BDNF is one of the most powerful biological triggers for sharpening your mind. Incorporate one or several of these habits into your daily life to think faster and better. And for more brain hacks, check out one of these articles:

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

References:

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How To Eat For A Stronger Brain

February 11, 2017 by Team Asprey

Diets usually focus on your body. Rightfully so: staying lean and muscular keeps you thriving well into your later years.

Of course, a sound body isn’t much good without a sound mind to run it. What you eat also has a tremendous impact on your brain, which makes tweaking your diet a valuable opportunity to hack everything from mental clarity to anxiety and mood. Your brain uses food as fuel; fill it with premium, and it will run beautifully for years. Fill it with junk, and it will break down.

The Bulletproof Diet is designed to boost both physical and mental performance (check out the free Bulletproof Diet roadmap here). This article takes things even further with a special focus on using nutrition to hack specific aspects of brain health. You may get something new from it, even if you’ve been eating Bulletproof for a long time.

The nice thing about these hacks is that they’re powerful enough that you’ll feel them right away, but they’ll also add up over time, slowly strengthening pathways that make your brain more resilient. Enjoy.

Polyphenols to keep your brain young

Right now, as you breathe, you’re flooding your system with oxygen, which your mitochondria (the power plants of your cells) latch onto and use to make fuel. They leave behind free radicals, the part of the oxygen they can’t use.

A few free radicals are good; they destroy damaged cells so you can replace them. But excess free radicals start attacking strong cells, causing inflammation and prematurely aging you. Chronic stress, toxins from smog and low-quality indoor air, mold, sugar, pesticides, and many other trappings of modern life produce free radicals at high enough levels to make you old fast.

The solution? Eat your veggies. All vegetables contain polyphenols that neutralize free radicals and prevent them from doing damage. Low inflammation boosts blood flow to your brain, providing it with the oxygen to make more energy [1]. Increased blood flow gives you stable energy and focus. Polyphenols also help you make more BDNF (Brain-derived neurotrophic factor), a protein dubbed “Miracle-Gro for the brain” that causes you to build new brain cells [2].

Dark green veggies are a good source of polyphenols. For an extra anti-inflammatory boost, add in dark red, purple, and blue plants. They tend to have the strongest polyphenols in the largest amounts. Here are some of the most powerful polyphenol sources:

Coffee is the densest source of polyphenols in the Western diet [3], with over a thousand different beneficial compounds in every cup [4]. It also has special polyphenols that protect high-fat cells, and your brain is made up of some of the fattiest cells in your body [5]. Coffee is strongly neuroprotective. No surprise that regular coffee drinkers have a significantly lower risk of death from all causes [6].

Green tea contains theanine and catechins, both of which prevent cognitive decline [7,8]. Theanine also improves attention and mood when you pair it with caffeine [9], so take your green tea caffeinated. You won’t find green tea’s polyphenols in coffee. Drink a cup of each for extra cognitive performance in the morning.

Blueberries get their deep blue color from anthocyanins, potent polyphenols that increase blood flow [10] and, in animals, dramatically increase lifespan [11]. Blueberry polyphenols also directly increase BDNF, helping you create new brain pathways [12]. Blueberries are fairly low in sugar, but they do still have a few grams, so stick to a couple of handfuls a day or find an extract.

Pomegranates contain ellagitannins, special polyphenols that get directly into your mitochondria and protect them from damage [13]. In addition to that, your gut bacteria break pomegranate down into something called urolithins that may protect the brain from cognitive decline [14]. Again, stick to a couple of handfuls of pomegranate seeds per day or a concentrate. Avoid popular juices that include pomegranate. Again, too much sugar.

Red cabbage contains anthocyanidins that are particularly powerful at curbing inflammation. They’re what give red cabbage its color; white or green cabbage doesn’t have the same powerful effect.

Most polyphenols are fat-soluble, so be sure you get them with a good dose of quality fat (that’s part of the idea behind Bulletproof Coffee).

Saturated fat to keep your brain cells insulated

Your brain is about 60% fat, 25% of which is cholesterol. If you’ve ever tried a low-fat diet and felt tired or unfocused all the time, you now know why: you’re starving your brain of one of its main components. No surprise that low cholesterol links to cognitive decline [12].

Brain cells send signals to each other along long branches. Many of the branches are covered in myelin sheaths, fatty coatings that insulate your brain cells so electrical signals travel faster across your brain. It’s similar to the way electricity travels through an insulated wire.

If your myelin start to break down, electrical communication in your brain slows. That’s when you start forgetting your keys and losing your train of thought. Myelin are made almost entirely out of cholesterol, which you get from saturated fat. Cholesterol is also the basis for all sex hormones: testosterone, estrogen, cortisol (which you want in healthy amounts), and so on. Give your body plenty of cholesterol to work with, and it will balance your hormones.

You don’t want to eat lots of carbs alongside saturated fat. Carbs cause oxidative inflammation that ultimately forms arterial plaques from saturated fat and cholesterol. In other words, it’s the inflammation from excess carbohydrates that weaken your heart, not the saturated fat alone. A high-fat, low-carb, anti-inflammatory diet is ideal for most people.

Here are some of the best sources of saturated fat and cholesterol:

Grass-fed butter. Kerrygold and Anchor are two great brands. Notice the sunny yellow color and creamy consistency – you can literally see the extra nutrients. White or waxy butter is a sign that the cow producing it ate a poor diet.

Pastured eggs. Again, look for a deep yellow or orange yolk. The shell should be difficult to crack, too – both are signs that the chicken producing the egg grew up on pasture eating grubs, wild seeds, and all kinds of other nutrient-dense goodies. Fun fact: chickens are surprisingly good hunters. They’ll chase down and eat field mice. “Vegetarian-fed” eggs are actually a bad sign, not a good one. Instead, look for “pasture-raised” on the label. Vital Farms sells excellent pasture-raised eggs.

Dark chocolate. Watch out for added sugar. The darker the better. Chocolate is full of polyphenols, too.

Grass-fed beef and lamb. Looking to save a few bucks? Go for the fattiest ground beef available. It tends to be the cheapest because most people still think fat is bad, not good. Take full advantage. 75% lean grass-fed ground beef makes a phenomenal burger. US Wellness Meats and Alderspring Ranch both sell superb grass-fed beef online.

Omega-3s for inflammation and brain structure

There are two types of omega-3s that offer powerful brain upgrades. Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) competes with omega-6 fats, decreasing inflammation across your whole body, and your brain in particular. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is the main structural component of your brain and central nervous system [13]. In fact, there’s strong evidence that high-DHA diets played a huge role in the evolution of the modern human brain [15].

DHA is one of the most important factors in sharp memory and brain cell integrity [16]. It’s also essential for mood: a global study on fish consumption, DHA levels, and depression showed that eating more DHA-rich fish correlates strongly with greater happiness [17]. It’s not a proven cause-effect relationship, but it’s compelling.

The third kind of omega-3 is alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), the variety of omega-3 in plants. Your body can’t use ALA, so it converts it to DHA and EPA … but the conversion is inefficient [18]. You only convert about 6% of ALA to DHA/EPA. All those superfood companies boasting that their plant-based products are high in omega-3s are using deceptive marketing; with the exception of a couple of species of algae, plants only contain ALA, which doesn’t actually do you much good. Get your omega-3s from animal fats (or algae, if you’re vegetarian/vegan).

Here are top sources of omega-3s (DHA and EPA):

Wild-caught, low-mercury fish. Alaskan salmon, anchovies, sardines, mackerel, and trout are all good sources. Make sure they’re wild-caught, and if you get them canned, check that the cans are BPA-free.

Fish/krill oil. Krill oil tends to be a little better, but it’s also more expensive. Bulletproof Omega Krill Complex combines them both.

Grass-fed organ meats are also high in omega-3s. Brains are by far the best source. Skip cow brain (the whole mad cow disease thing is troubling), but lamb brain is excellent if you can find it. Heart, liver, and kidney are also high in DHA and EPA. Make sure your organ meats are grass-fed. Here’s a guide to making them tasty.

Incorporating the above foods into your daily diet is a solid foundation for a fast, resilient brain. This article covers the tip of the iceberg: you can boost your brain even more by removing grains and carbs and fasting on occasion.

Want a complete guide to upgrading your brain?

Check out Head Strong, a practical guide to tweaking your diet, lifestyle, habits, environment, and more for the most powerful mind possible.

References:

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3 Things Every Woman Should Know About Hair Loss

January 14, 2017 by Team Asprey

If you thought losing your hair was just a worry for men, think again.

“About one-third of women experience hair loss (alopecia) at some time in their lives; among postmenopausal women, as many as two-thirds suffer hair thinning or bald spots.” – Harvard Medical School [1]

That means, in the United States alone, more than 52 million women will experience hair loss based on the current population.

How can you prevent this from happening to you or maybe regain some growth? Here are a few possible causes of hair loss, along with hacks to keep your hair thick and shiny.

1. Switch to higher-quality hair products

Hair products are more prevalent than ever. Dyes, dry shampoo, relaxer, mousse, toner, conditioner, bleach – many hair products contain harsh chemicals and hormone disruptors that soak into your pores and diffuse into the air you breathe.

Bleach is especially rough on your hair. Your hair color depends on the ratio of two types of melanin in your hair: eumelanin, which makes hair darker, and pheomelanin, which makes it redder. Brown hair, for example, is mostly eumelanin with a moderate amount of pheomelanin, while black hair is almost entirely eumelanin. Bleach strips both melanins from your hair, leaving your hair lighter. But bleach also destroys precious oils that protect your hair’s integrity. The result is permanent damage that leads to brittleness and split ends. Even worse, bleach seeps into your hair follicles, which can weaken your roots and cause hair loss. Bleach your hair as little as possible, or preferably not at all.

Dye also strips your hair of protective oils, both on the strand and in the follicle, which causes damage. On top of that, most dyes contain phenylenediamine (PPD), which can trigger spontaneous allergic reactions, even if you’ve been fine with it in the past. PPD allergies have doubled in recent years, probably because so many people dye their hair repeatedly [3]. Switch to a natural hair dye to avoid PPD and most drying, oil-stripping chemicals. Better yet, embrace your hair’s original color.

Shampoos, conditioners, relaxers, mousses, and other hair products often contain phthalates and parabens, two chemicals that throw off your hormone balance by mimicking estrogen [4,5]. Estrogen plays a central role in regulating collagen production; when you disrupt balanced estrogen levels, you don’t make collagen efficiently, and your hair, skin teeth, nails, and joints all suffer. Like bleach and dyes, many hair products also contain detergents that strip natural oils, damaging your hair from tip to root.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a non-profit that ranks cosmetics based on the safety and quality of their ingredients. Use the EWG’s free database to look up the rankings for your cosmetics and, if necessary, find better alternatives. You can also make your own cosmetics with almost no effort:

Charcoal Dry Shampoo. Mix 1:1 activated charcoal and chemical-free baby powder and lightly dust onto your roots. This dry shampoo has the added benefit of detoxifying your scalp and follicles and leaving you with cleaner, lighter hair.
Coffee Ground Hair Mask. Keep those grounds after you brew your morning coffee! Coffee is full of antioxidants and polyphenols that can help return shine and life to your locks. Stir the grounds from 1-2 cups of coffee in with 1 tsp Brain Octane Oil (or XCT Oil) and 2-3 drops of peppermint oil. Add enough water to make a thin paste and apply to wet hair. Let sit for 5-10 minutes (you may feel a little tingle–that’s the peppermint), and rinse with warm water, then a shot of cold at the end to lock in shine. You can also use this on your face and body – the grounds act as an exfoliant and the caffeine will tighten your skin.
Brain Octane Conditioner. Coconut oil is becoming more and more popular in homemade cosmetics because of the sheen and moisture it imparts. But coconut oil is too heavy for many people and can clog pores; Brain Octane does not [6]. Brain Octane is also antimicrobial, so it’ll leave your hair clean without stripping it of its natural oils. Massage Brain Octane into your hair and scalp, leave it on for a few minutes, and then wash it out with a natural shampoo.
Activated charcoal eyebrow mask. Most eyebrow pencils and powders focus on covering up your eyebrows, rather than making them more healthy and vibrant to begin with. A hydrating and detoxifying mask can help restore moisture to the skin under your brows, which can get dry from chemical-laden makeup and cleansing products, helping you to grow full, even brows. Mix 2 capsules of Activated Charcoal with 1 tsp maple syrup and ½ tsp of Brain Octane or XCT oil. Let sit for 5 minutes and rinse with warm water. Warning: before putting charcoal on your skin, use coconut oil to cover the skin on either side of your brow, so as not to stain your face (you would look quite odd the next morning at work).
Charcoal also makes a great, chemical-free substitute for big brand eyebrow-filling powders. Anyone with cool-toned hair can attest that finding a true black eyebrow powder can be nearly impossible. Empty a few capsules into a clean eyeshadow palette. A little goes a long way.
E.V.O.O. makeup remover. A teaspoon of olive oil gently removes dirt and makeup from your eyes without rough scrubbing and pulling, which can cause premature shedding, i.e. shorter, thinner, eyelashes. You can also use olive oil to remove makeup on your face. Use the olive oil straight or add a bit of witch hazel. (Note: your olive oil doesn’t have to be a virgin).

2. Get off the pill and other hormonal birth control

Thinning hair is one of the most common side effects of hormonal birth control, affecting about 25% of women who use it. Hormonal birth control includes:

Oral contraceptives (birth control pills)
Progestin implants (like Norplant)
Hormone injections (like Depo-Provera)
Skin Patches (like Ortho Evra)
Vaginal rings (like NuvaRing)

Oral contraceptives sap vitamin, mineral, and antioxidant stores while simultaneously promoting oxidative stress [7,8]. This can leave women nutrient-depleted and at risk for inflammatory conditions like heart disease and cancer [9].

There’s a bit of complicated hormone talk in the next two paragraphs. If you want to skip it, the TL;DR version is that hormonal birth control can cause hair loss through a variety of shifts in your hormones. If you love biochemistry, here’s a technical explanation of why hormonal contraception can cause hair loss.

You may have heard that people with higher testosterone tend to go bald. It’s actually more thanks to higher dihydrotestosterone (DHT) [10]. Stress and inflammation from pure estrogen birth control decrease the effectiveness of progesterone, which increases conversion of testosterone to DHT. That can cause hair loss and a host of other side effects. When birth control companies discovered this, they began adding synthetic progesterone to counter the side effects…

…but synthetic progesterone can increase sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), a hormone transport protein that makes sex hormones available throughout your body [11]. A rise in SHBG often decreases your available thyroid hormones, which can make your hair fall out and also diminish energy, mood, digestive function, and a healthy sex drive [12]. Altered SHBG, testosterone, and thyroid hormones could be one reason why women on hormonal birth control report significantly higher rates of depression than those who aren’t taking the pill [13].

Note that the pill is also prescribed to prevent hair loss in women with low estrogen. If you’re in that boat, fix the underlying problem with a functional medicine doctor, or better yet, an anti-aging doctor (they tend to be experts in balancing hormones).

Birth control is, of course, very individual. Consider trying more Bulletproof forms of birth control, or if you know the pill works best for you, try one that’s lower on the androgen index to decrease side effects.

3. Minimize stress for stronger hair

Stress is one of the biggest causes of hair damage and graying [14]. It causes systemic inflammation and rapid aging in your whole body, including your hair. In fact, there have been a few cases of extreme stress causing baldness overnight. Make it a priority to manage your stress. Here are a few ways to do it:

Meditate. Take 5-20 minutes every morning or night to sit quietly and focus on your breathing. For more meditation hacks, check out this post.

Take adaptogens. Adaptogens are herbs that increase your body’s ability to deal with stress. Here’s a complete guide to them. Ashwagandha is an excellent option.

Try one of these six other ways to manage stress.

Any other hacks to add? Leave your thoughts in the comments. Subscribe below for weekly articles about how to upgrade your body and mind, and for more beauty hacks, check out this guide to Bulletproof skincare. Thanks for reading and have a great week!

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How To Strengthen Your Willpower Muscle

December 31, 2016 by Team Asprey

“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” -Mahatma Gandhi

Humans are capable of extraordinary feats. You have the potential to run longer than any creature in the animal kingdom, churning out hundreds of miles without breaking [1]. You could go without food for over a year and survive [2]. Not that you’d want to. But what if you could put in 80 hours a week at the office like it’s nothing, or set goals and never give up on them?

It helps to have willpower: the ability to dig deep and keep going, even against crushing odds. Willpower seems abstract – it can feel like some people have it, and others don’t.

In reality, though, willpower is more like a muscle. It’s seated in a particular part of your brain, and you can build it a little bit stronger, every day, with a few simple hacks. Here’s a guide to how willpower works, and how you can strengthen your will to reach your goals.

[Tweet “#Willpower is like a muscle. And you can build it stronger every day, with a few simple hacks.”]

Decision fatigue: your brain on willpower

How long you can go without making bad decisions depends on the strength of your anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a little C-shaped part of your brain right by your temple [3,4,5].

Think of your ACC as an energetic bank account. When you start your day it’s flush with energy. Every time you exert effort, you withdraw a bit of fuel, slowly emptying your ACC. Choosing what to wear in the morning takes out a little bit. Same with deciding what to make for breakfast. Bigger tasks – working a 12-hour day to finish a project, for example – empty your account faster. If you overdraw, your ACC stops responding and your willpower runs out. That’s when you give in to bad decisions.

This phenomenon is called decision fatigue: the more decisions you make, the worse your judgment becomes. Corporations have known about decision fatigue for years. That’s why they put brightly packaged candy at registers – as you make decisions while shopping, your brain glucose dips. By the time you’re ready to check out, you’re more likely to crave sugar to replenish your glucose stores than you were when you came in the door (unless you follow the Bulletproof Diet and you’re running on fat). By the same token, you’re more likely to get a favorable parole decision from a judge in the morning than you are at the end of a long day [6]. So if you ever get arrested, aim for an early morning hearing. 😉

The good news is that you can build up the amount of energy you store in your ACC, and you can reduce the number of decisions you make with a few steady habits.

Push your comfort zone to build a stronger will

Your brain is a wonderfully flexible tool. It adapts to the demands you put on it, which means you can train your willpower the same way you would train a muscle. Every time you empty your willpower reserve, it comes back a little bit stronger. You want to control the depletion, though, to avoid bad decisions.

The best way is to choose something that that takes self-control and make it into a habit.

[Tweet “Want to build willpower? Set a goal right now. Something to do every day but nothing too difficult.”]

Set a goal for yourself right now. Choose something you can work toward every day, and start off slowly. You want it to be sustainable. For example, choose to stop using electronics at 7 PM every night, or to go for a one-mile run every morning. Choose something that isn’t so difficult you’ll avoid it, but is enough of a challenge that you’ll have to work at it.

After a few weeks, your brain will adapt to your new habit. When you find you’re meeting your goal without trying, either up the ante (start running for two miles every morning, for example) or keep your habit as it is and start another one. That way you’re constantly stressing your willpower enough that it’s growing, every day. Before long, you’ll be doing things that seemed impossible when you started out.

The self-control will bleed into other parts of your life too. People with more self-control [7]:

Do better at work
Have stronger relationships
Are more emotionally stable
Are happier overall

You’ll want to free up as much willpower as possible to apply to your new habit. Let’s talk about how to do that now.

[Tweet “Willpower Hack #1 – Minimize your wardrobe. Hack #2 – Replace breakfast with #BulletproofCoffee”]

Save up willpower with these 4 hacks

Structure provides freedom. Every time you eliminate a choice from your day, you save a little bit of willpower to put toward something important to you. When you have your day-to-day routine so dialed in that you don’t even think about it, you can focus all your energy on your goals. Here are 4 ways to simplify your daily habits and free up willpower.

Minimize your wardrobe

Steve Jobs was famous for his black turtleneck and New Balance sneakers. Mark Zuckerberg has 10 identical gray t-shirts in his closet. Barack Obama cycles through three or four suits every week.

All three of them understand the power of eliminating decisions. When you reach for the same outfit every day, you never have to think about what to wear or how you look. It seems minor, but you’re saving a lot of mental energy.

Not ready to go full Steve Jobs? Try a capsule wardrobe. Pick 3 or 4 tops, bottoms, jackets, and shoes, all in neutral colors like gray and navy. Plan it out so everything in your closet complements everything else, to the point where you could get dressed in the dark and still look good. Then get rid of all your other clothes so you only have 15-25 items in your closet. You can find capsule wardrobe guides online for inspiration.

Replace breakfast with Bulletproof Coffee

Bulletproof Coffee will keep you running until the afternoon. It’s quicker and cheaper than a typical breakfast, and it means you don’t have to think about cooking in the morning. The ketones from the Brain Octane Oil give your brain immediate fuel, too. You’ll have sharp, stable energy until lunch, and you’ll never again have to think about what to eat for breakfast. Here’s the recipe.

Cycle through the same few delicious meals

Get really good at making 5 or 6 different tasty dishes. You’ll buy groceries and cook on autopilot because you’ll always reach for the same ingredients. When you get tired of one of the meals, swap it out for a new one. Good nutrition supplies your brain with an abundance of fuel. Your brain draws on much deeper stores of energy, which means it takes a lot more for you to run out of willpower.

You can find simple, delicious Bulletproof recipes in Bulletproof: The Cookbook, and plenty of free ones on the blog.

Schedule your day

Pencil out your day, hour by hour, and tailor it to your biology. If you find you lose focus in the early afternoon, put a workout or a couple hours of fun in your schedule at that time. Are you a night owl? Schedule work starting later in the day. Have you been trying to read more? Write in some time before bed when you put down your screens (which improves your sleep) and pick up a book, every night. Love watching TV? Write that in too.

You’ll find you have a lot more time in the day when you map everything out and stick to it. Building habits also becomes much easier if you have them written down in front of you or scheduled out on your calendar. Bonus hack: Listen to this episode of Bulletproof Radio with Michael Breus. He’ll teach you how to figure out the best times of day for you to work, sleep, and play.

For more on simplifying and structuring your life, check out this interview with The Minimalists on Bulletproof Radio. They talk about how consuming less and removing distractions leads to a more enriching life.

Subscribe below for more tips on enhancing your biology. Thanks for reading and have a great week!

References

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Bulletproof Alcohol: What to Drink During the Holidays

December 17, 2016 by Team Asprey

Even if you’re totally committed to the Bulletproof lifestyle, odds are you relax with a drink every now and then. Clean alcohol will still impact your performance a little bit, but sometimes it’s worth it for the fun.

Drinking can get trickier during the holiday season. Typical holiday libations tend toward the more toxic side of alcohol – beer, wine, and sugary drinks like eggnog will probably leave you feeling rough in the morning and affect your performance throughout the day. With a little tweaking, though, you can make holiday classics as Bulletproof as alcohol can be. Here are a few recipes to carry you through Christmas and New Year’s.

[Tweet “Real Talk: Alcohol isn’t Bulletproof! But if you do imbibe, these recipes are as close as it gets.”]

Bulletproof Eggnog

If you take out the sugar, eggnog is one of the most Bulletproof cocktails you can make. The egg yolks are full of good fats and brain-boosting nutrients like choline, and bourbon is a pretty clean spirit. Here’s a Bulletproof eggnog recipe with no sugar:

Ingredients:

4 pastured egg yolks
1 can coconut milk (or raw, grass-fed cream, if you tolerate dairy)
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ground organic Madagascar vanilla
2 tbsp xylitol/erythritol/stevia
4 beaten egg whites (beat these before you combine and blend!)
bourbon (optional)

Combine all ingredients and blend until creamy!

Biohacked wine

Typical wine can have 76 different additives, none of which the producers have to disclose on their labels. Artificial coloring, ammonia, defoaming agents, metals, added sugar, and all kinds of other odd chemicals contribute to the crushing hangover a lot of people get from wine.

Wine can also be high in inflammatory, carcinogenic mycotoxins from moldy vats or poor fermentation practices. Then there’s the huge pesticide load that wine grapes carry. Yuck.

The most Bulletproof wine comes from Dry Farm Wines. Todd, the founder, sources natural, organic, biodynamic, low-alcohol wine and lab tests it to be free of mold and additives. That means minimal inflammation and little to no hangover the next morning. You can hear Todd talk in-depth about biodynamic wine here on Bulletproof Radio.

Lighter cocktails

Alcohol saps your vitamin B stores, which is part of what leaves you hung over. FATwater makes a good mixer for cocktails because it’s high in B vitamins and doesn’t have sugar. Here are three refreshing Bulletproof versions of classic cocktails that use FATwater:

Greyhound

1.5 oz gin or potato vodka
Grapefruit FATwater
Ice
Grapefruit slice for garnish (optional)

Pour the liquor over the ice and top with the FATwater. Simple as that.

Rosemary Lemon Drop

1.5 oz potato vodka
Fresh rosemary sprigs
Lemon FATwater
Lemon slices
Lemon zest
Ice

Drop 3-4 rosemary sprigs into your bottle of potato vodka and let it infuse for at least 24 hours. Combine the rosemary-infused vodka, lemon FATwater, ice, lemon slices, and lemon zest in a shaker. Shake and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with an extra slice of lemon or sprig of rosemary if you want to get fancy.

Pineapple Coconut Cooler

1.5 oz potato vodka or clear rum
Pineapple FATwater
Coconut milk
Ice

Blend ingredients together until creamy. Use about a 50/50 mix of pineapple FATwater and coconut milk.

[Tweet “Test out these holiday cocktail classics with a Bulletproof twist! #cheers”]

No matter what you drink, you won’t escape the fact that alcohol is a toxin. Here’s a complete guide to hacking your hangover to minimize the damage drinking does. Do you have favorite holiday cocktails? Leave your recipe in the comments! You can also subscribe below for more recipes and ways to upgrade your biology. Thanks for reading and have a great week.

Get on
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Team Asprey

Sleep

Stress & anxiety

Sex

Mood

Focus & memory

8 ways to increase BDNF

Check out Neuromaster, which can boost BDNF levels up to 140%!

3 things that block BDNF

Polyphenols to keep your brain young

Saturated fat to keep your brain cells insulated

Omega-3s for inflammation and brain structure

1. Switch to higher-quality hair products

2. Get off the pill and other hormonal birth control

3. Minimize stress for stronger hair

Decision fatigue: your brain on willpower

Push your comfort zone to build a stronger will

Save up willpower with these 4 hacks

Minimize your wardrobe

Replace breakfast with Bulletproof Coffee

Cycle through the same few delicious meals

Schedule your day

Bulletproof Eggnog

Biohacked wine

Greyhound

Rosemary Lemon Drop

Pineapple Coconut Cooler

Get on “The Inside Track” with Dave

See What Trouble Dave’s Getting Into on Social

Start hacking your way to better than standard performance and results.

Get on
“The Inside Track”
with Dave