← The Human Upgrade: Biohacking for Longevity & Performance
The Human Upgrade: Biohacking for Longevity & Performance
The 4,000-Year-Old Asian Focus Drug That Is Not A Drug : 1468
00:13:54
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Poor recovery speeds up aging. When you don't recover from stress properly, your cells get weaker and accumulate damage. HeartMath changes that the inner balance coherence plus trains your body to recover at the source your nervous system. The setup is pretty simple. You connect a sensor to your ear that pairs to the HeartMath app, which guides you through an HRV exercise. In five minutes a day, your body shifts out of stress mode and into coherence, the state where recovery, focus and peak performance happen. Most devices only track recovery. HeartMath trains it. It works by targeting heart rate variability, or hrv, your body's most reliable marker of resilience. Higher HRV means faster recovery, deeper sleep, and stronger performance. Decades of Science prove that HeartMath works. Over 400 studies show measurable results in as little as six weeks. That means less anxiety, better sleep, more energy, and sharper focus. That's why elite athletes, hospitals, and the US Military all use the interbalance Coherence plus this is one of the things I think everyone should be doing. Don't just track recovery. Train it to get 15% off. Go to heartmath.com Dave
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Caffeine is awesome, even for longevity. But what if you could make it even better? 4,000 years before coffee culture spread around the world, monks were using a natural compound to stay calm and deeply focused. And this focus molecule works really well with caffeine to create calm and controlled attention. Today, you're going to learn how this powder helps you feel calm and sharp at the same time, and how to stack it with your coffee to create the focus of a monk. Over the past couple decades, I've spent well over $2 million upgrading my biology, reversing my age, and learning how to perform at a level I didn't think was possible. I've tested stacks of pretty much every nootropic that there is. I've tried thousands of supplements, and I've experimented with pharmaceutical cognitive enhancers, smart drugs, even simulants, which I'm not a fan of. And I spent money on meditation tech and brain training devices. Some of the tech, some of the supplements, some of the pharmaceuticals work, some of them were a waste of money, and some of them had way more of a downside than upside. Sustaining real focus depends on how well you regulate your nervous system and on whether your cells can make enough energy. So to have strong focus, you've gotta obviously be alert. But you need to be able to focus your alertness, and that means developing control so you don't become too ampy or too tired is the key. So let's talk about caffeine. Studies show that people use caffeine more than any other psychoactive substance on earth. It makes you more alert, it improves your reaction time in lots of studies, and it increases your motivation. These are good things. And a lot of us use coffee as a daily ritual. That sets your mental momentum for the day ahead. Plus, it tastes really good. But most people don't, don't learn how it interacts with the state of your nervous system. Unless you have a triple espresso when you're already wired and kind of tired, then maybe you get a hint of what I'm talking about. Caffeine changes perception because it interacts directly with adenosine receptors in your brain and other cells in your body. And when caffeine blocks those receptors, you don't get a signal for fatigue. You still need to recover, but you just don't feel tired. And caffeine also really beneficially increases adrenaline. And noradrenaline, those are signals that give you energy in your body. So having adrenaline is great. Having noradrenaline helps you focus and have energy, but having too much of them equals jitter. So when it comes to caffeine, the time you take it, the amount you take it, and the context you take it in is going to shape your experience. So whether it's a good experience or a bad experience is a combination of variables. And if your nervous system is really well regulated, caffeine supports that sustained Focus that you want and just getting stuff done. And that focus is not just about beta brainwaves because you also want something called alpha brainwaves. And these are the calm engagement and internal stability and awareness. Your brain produces alpha brainwaves when you're awake, when you're absorbed and when there's no threat or urgency. So you're unlikely to be in alpha. If you're out playing soccer, you're going to be more in beta. But if you're sitting solving a problem that you're not hyper focused on, but just sort of like meditative but aware, that would be alpha. And this is a trainable state as well. If you meditate Regularly, you do 40 years of Zen, you just satoria or at home neurofeedback, you've learned what alpha feels like. And this is deep, meaningful work zone. So sustained concentration comes when you have enough alert beta activity and you have enough stabilizing alpha activity. If you can do that, you're going to feel really good. And caffeine can be really, really helpful. You have cognitive control and the energy feels clean. So what could you do if you wanted to reach that state and you wanted to do it more easily? It's an amino acid. And studies in the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition show that this specific amino acid can increase alpha brainwave activity. And a separate study in the Nutritional Neuroscience Journal found it improves attention and speeds up reaction time in adults. If those adults are prone to anxiety, that means that if you're using it right, it shifts the way it feels to be on caffeine, so you still get the mental sharpness, you don't have unnecessary tension. It's easier to think and to not feel anxiety because you can think about stressful stuff or you can think about solving the problem. And having sustained meaningful work to do helps. So most people never experience this outcome because they're using this amino acid without understanding when they should take it and the right context to take it in. And that's why I want to walk you through this next part. The secret focus powder is called L Theanine. You can find it in nature, especially in green tea. And you'll see the highest levels in something like Matcha. And for thousands of years, monks have used tea as a part of their meditation rituals because they do get some caffeine and they get some L Theanine, but not that much. They didn't know the name L. Theanine, but they were feeling its effects, a quieter nervous system. And their minds were still able to focus on meditation. And today we can pull that same molecule out of tea. We can purify it, amplify it, and put it into a capsule or a scoop of powder. And that gives you the part of tea that creates the calm alertness without needing to drink a ton of green tea. Another problem is a lot of people buy low quality sources of L Theanine. If you grab the cheapest focus or relaxation blend, well, you might get what you pay for. A lot of those blends are putting in those tiny amounts so they put the name on the bottle or they're using L. Theanine that's not standardized or even tested. And you're going to get a different result. If you're putting a ton of sugar in your moldy coffee with a green logo or you have a junkie pre workout with artificial sweeteners. So the sugar alone in a high sugar diet or high sugar beverage can create spikes and crashes in your blood glucose that will destabilize your neurotransmitters and create more cortisol and adrenaline than you want it. So L. Theanine is trying to smooth out the ride while sugar is constantly kicking the roller coaster back into motion. And it doesn't feel right. Another problem is that some people think L. Theanine should act like a stimulant, but it's not. You're not going to swallow it and feel a hit like you do with caffeine. It's not what L. Theanine does, it's a modulator. So L. Theanine and caffeine need to rise in your bloodstream together. And when their levels climb at about the same time, caffeine is going to increase your beta activity, keep you awake and give you more energy. Now, a clean source of caffeine like Danger Coffee shouldn't make you feel jittery unless you just drink too much. And here's how to actually build a focus stack. Instead of just throwing L Theanine on top of your usual moldy coffee habit and just hoping for the best, the first thing you want to do is decide on your caffeine dose. Most people do best somewhere between 50 and 150mg of caffeine per focus session, you want to take a 2 to 1 ratio of L theanine to caffeine. So you have 100 milligrams of caffeine. That's 200 milligrams of L theanine. Most people under dose. And if your caffeine is closer to 75 milligrams that's 150 milligrams of L theanine. And that ratio is where most people feel the sweet spot between calm and alert. You don't have to be mathematically perfect every time, but stay somewhere in that neighborhood. The next thing I want to do is make sure that you fix your timing. So take your L Theanine and drink your danger coffee at the same time, or at least within 10 minutes of each other. You can stir powdered L Theanine into your danger coffee or you could swallow a capsule right before you drink. I recommend taking a capsule because it's easy and then give your brain about 20 or 30 minutes before you expect those peak effects because that's the window where your blood levels of both caffeine and L Theanine should be rising together, where you should start your deep work, studying or your creative session. And you might want to pair your coffee and your L Theanine with some sort of intentional focus retention ritual. Maybe clear your desk, close down unnecessary tabs, put on a playlist that helps you focus, or put on noise canceling headphones, maybe some true dark glasses that just reduce the horrible lighting that's probably in your office and decide exactly what problem you're going to solve or what work you're going to do for the next 60 and at most 90 minutes. And over time, if you do that ritual regularly, it can be something small becomes another trigger for turning on monk mode. Even the perfect L Theanine to caffeine ratio isn't going to save you if the rest of your lifestyle is just slamming your nervous system into overstimulation and you know you're eating the wrong foods. You didn't sleep last night, you're hungover. There's lots of things you can do to sabotage yourself, but if you did most things reasonably well, you should feel more with the right amount of coffee and some L Theanine. Now earlier in the video I talked about how having a well regulated nervous system can help you perform better. And you've got to address the nervous system. The caffeine and L Theanine stock is going to give you that clarity and help you focus more than either one alone would. But if you're just stressed in your nervous system, those ingredients have to work harder. We've all used caffeine after an all nighter and it works better than not using caffeine. But you probably weren't at your very best that day. And that's because sleep forms the foundation for all the focus work that you do. Being well rested works better, but being well rested and having some coffee and maybe some L theanine works best of all. So understand that if your sleep is regular, this stack works way better with your biology, but it'll still help if you got garbage sleep. If you regularly get garbage sleep and rely on caffeine and L theanine over time, you're not going to get the results you want. You've also got to pay attention to chronic stress. So if you have continuous notifications from your phone and distractions all the time, even relationship issues or your boss yelling at you, things like that will raise your baseline stress levels. Which means adding more coffee without L theanine probably isn't going to move you in the direction you want. You could also let yourself chill out a bit with just short pauses between tasks. Working for an hour and then taking a five minute break really does give your nervous system a chance to reset during that break. One to three minutes of slow breathing or a brief walk or just doing some air squats will lower your tension enormously and it gives the stack a better baseline to work with. Here's a simple set of guidelines to help you get the most out of your focus stack. Rule 1 Manage your total coffee intake. Most people do well with anywhere between 100 and 300 milligrams per day split into one to three doses and studies show up to 400 milligrams in coffee is associated with all kinds of benefits including a reduction of all cause mortality. So upper limit 400 milligrams. And if you're sensitive, you might want to aim for 100 or 200 milligrams and you want to drink your coffee and put your focus session earlier in the day. So think about a primary L theanine caffeine stack between 9 and 10am if you want another cup later, that's fine. Or maybe you want one earlier, that's fine too. After 2pm, switch to decaf so that you don't screw up your sleep. Some people who are caffeine sensitive need to quit even earlier and you can switch to decaf after that. My company, Danger Coffee makes a mold free decaf that is really good. And rule number two, you've got to make sure that your caffeine is clean. If coffee sometimes makes you feel edgy, distracted or hungry, gives you sugar cravings as soon as you drink it, that's a huge sign that it has mold toxins that directly harm mitochondrial function. This is very common in coffee and I've pioneered mold free coffee Danger Coffee is the only brand that follows my latest standards for mold and toxin prevention. Danger Coffee is also upgraded with a therapeutic dose of over 50 trace minerals that gives you steady whole body and brain energy. Because your body needs trace minerals in order to function. So always go for coffee that supports your biology instead of sabotaging it with mold toxins. And rule number three Protect your sleep window Set a clear caffeine cut off at least eight hours before bedtime. In the evening, dim your lights, reduce your screen use or at least dim your screens and maybe wear some glasses like trudarks that block junk light
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Modern life keeps your nervous system in overdrive. Most solutions try to change your brain chemistry, but your body also runs on electrical signals and rhythms. Your brain uses electrical waves, your heart beats in patterns and your nervous system sends signals through tiny pulses. Light and sound are also forms of energy your body can sense. Scientists have studied them for decades because certain wavelengths and frequencies influence how cells and nerves respond. That's why I use the One Device. It combines light and sound in a wearable. It sends gentle signals your body can respond to while you work, meditate or wind down. Most wearables just track stress. The One device supports your nervous system directly without any Bluetooth or emfs. People who wear it report sleeping more deeply and feeling calmer, more focused, energized and grounded. It's wearable frequency support you can use all day long. Learn more@the1device.com Dave
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your hair is a sign of how healthy you are. So what actually works if you want to grow new hair? There are tons of products that sound good on paper, but they really don't do much in practice. Irestore is different because it is powerful and it's targeted and it's light therapy. Your hair follicles directly absorb the light energy, which means blood flow increases and that means dormant hair follicles can wake back up. The Elite delivers that through 300 lasers and 200 LEDs directly to your scalp and it takes an easy 12 minutes a day and you can wear it while you're working, while you're doing chores around the house. And the clinical results from it are amazing. Double blind study 100% of participants grew more hair. In four months their hair count increased an average of 43.2%. And this thing really works. Plus you get a 12 month money back guarantee. Try for a year and see what happens and you'll like it. Spring savings is happening right now, so go to irestore.com, use code Dave and get an exclusive discount on the elite. That's irestore.com code Dave. Those choices support the same alpha wave patterns that L Theanine helps reinforce. In fact, the TrueDark glasses in a clinical study published in a journal increases alpha and decreases beta Beta, which is good for chilling out. And rule number four Reduce constant stress inputs doesn't mean you're going to change your apps or quit your apps or change your career, but just build a few short rest moments into your day where you look out the window, you take a deep breath and you just aren't focused all the time. Because no brain is wired to be focused for eight or ten hours every day without a break. You might be able to do it, but it's not good for the long term. Taking a deep breath between tasks really works. Going for a quick walk instead of scrolling. Huge benefits. It's going to lower the baseline activation of beta and make your focused work more sustainable. When you live this way and do most of it right, you don't have to be perfect. Your brain's going to get the message. Mornings are for calm focus, afternoons are for steady output, and nights are for recovery. And this is how a legal focus powder like L Theanine and a cup of coffee like Danger Coffee can turn into a system to help you have that monk like focus. Not for just a day or a week or a month, but for decades. At least that's what I do.
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A Human Upgrade Formerly Bulletproof Radio was created and is hosted by Dave Asprey. The information contained in this podcast is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended for the purposes of diagnosing, treating, curing, or preventing any disease. Before using any products referenced on the podcast, consult with your healthcare provider carefully, read all labels and heed all directions and cautions that accompany the product. Information found or received through the podcast should not be used in place of a consultation or advice from a healthcare provider. If you suspect you have a medical problem or should you have any healthcare questions, please promptly call or see your healthcare provider. This podcast, including Dave Asprey and the producers, disclaim responsibility for any possible adverse effects from the use of information contained herein. Opinions of guests are their own and this podcast does not endorse or accept responsibility for statements made by guests. This podcast does not make any representations or warranties about guest qualifications or credibility. This podcast may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products or services. Individuals on this podcast may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to herein. This podcast is owned by Bulletproof Media.