Tag: l-theanine

What is a Bio-hack? Plus 3 Simple Hacks You Can Use Today

What is a bio-hack? For one thing, it’s a buzzword and one with no real clear cut definition. But for our purposes, a bio-hack is any method, technique or substance that one can use and apply that improves efficiency and a given output.

The concept of bio-hacking is all about adjusting and tweaking your own biochemistry, biomechanics or your outlooks and beliefs, in order to greatly improve a given outcome, whether it be enhanced focus, greater fat burning, faster learning, less anxiety, or any combination of things.  

Bio-hacking can range from the very simple to the outrageously complex; from everything from swallowing a pill to hooking electrodes up to your brain in order achieve certain mental states; even using a bright light to beat depression and entrain circadian rhythms.

Here are some of my personal favorite forms of bio-hacking that you can start using right now to improve your performance.

Hack Focus with Caffeine + L-Theanine

This is hands down the easiest and most bang-for-your-buck bio-hack you can use, and one that has great potential to enhance your focus. It’s also the easiest way to get into the field of nootropics, or cognitive-enhancing substances.

We’re all familiar with that glorious little molecule called caffeine – it’s the world’s most used drug, helping us suffer through otherwise intolerable morning meetings, and improves both cognitive and physical performance.

Me every morning
Me every morning (from The Oatmeal)

The common protocol for many people is that they will sit down to work on their given project and slam 3 shots of espresso before hand to give them the energy to do so. What so often happens, however, is that 3 hours later, they’ve done a hell of a lot of texting, cruising through Facebook, and calling their Aunt Trisha, but have accomplished very little actual work. They had the energy, they had their materials right in front of them, but.. What happened?

This is where L-Theanine comes in. It’s an amino acid that is only found in the leaves of Camellia Sinensis, the plant that we get green and black tea from. Green tea has high levels of L-theanine, and it is what’s responsible for that calming, focusing effect from a good quality cup.

L-Theanine on it’s own is able to enhance focus, reduce anxiety and alleviate stress, and also has anti-depressant effects. A 2009 study concluded that L-theanine facilitated “longer-lasting processes responsible for sustaining attention across the timeframe of a difficult task”.

The real magic comes when L-theanine is paired with caffeine, however. The combination has neuro-protective effects, improves cognitive performance and increases alertness, and enhances the ability to switch between tasks and ignore distraction. It also enhances the activity of Alpha brainwaves, which correlate to a relaxed state with enhanced creativity.

A 2008 study states “In addition to improving RVIP (Rapid Visual Information Processing) accuracy and ‘mental fatigue’ ratings, the combination also led to faster simple reaction time, faster numeric working memory reaction time and improved sentence verification accuracy.” Groovy.

Most dosages use a 2:1 L-theanine to caffeine ratio – so 200 mg L-theanine to every 100 mg caffeine. You can buy caffeine + L-theanine in an encapsulated form that already come in this ratio off of Amazon, or buy straight L-theanine to mix with your caffeine of choice – I simply put some right in my morning coffee.

Build more muscle, become smarter and live longer using Saunas

Who would have thought that sitting in a hot box a few times a week could have such wide and varied benefits?

Use of “hyperthermic conditioning” contributes a wide array of benefits to those willing to sit in a sauna for 20-30 minutes a few times a week.

A big shout out to Dr. Rhonda Patrick for bringing a lot of this information into the limelight.

Benefits include –

Most gyms and health clubs have saunas that you can use, if that’s within your price range. And remember, more is not necessarily better. Make sure you are in good health before doing so, and drink plenty of mineral water before, during and after to rehydrate.

Hack motivation by optimizing Dopamine

Lovely, beautiful dopamine. Dopamine is the neurotransmitter most involved in feelings of pleasure, energy, drive and motivation. That buzz you get from a cup of coffee? Mainly from a combination of dopamine and norepinephrine. The feelings of pleasure involved in eating a nice meal when hungry, or engaging in sex? More dopamine. The sense of exhilaration and accomplishment when you finish a big project or hike a mountain? Dopamine, my friend.

The most over-used photo when it comes to neurons firing
The most over-used photo on the web when it comes to neurons firing

The unfortunate thing is, much of todays world is constructed to hack into your dopaminergic system, with the intent of being addictive. Facebook. Tv. Social media. Texting. Overly-palatable foods. Coffee, sugar, nicotine. All of these provide hits of dopamine.

And like moths to a flame, we are drawn repeatedly to things that give us any hit of dopamine we can get. Unfortunately, over time, the brain begins to rewire itself, a process called neuroplasticity – dopamine receptors desensitize, meaning we need more frequent and stronger hits of dopamine. Ultimately this leads to a brain that is dependent upon fast-paced and overly-stimulating experiences, leaving very little will power or drive to get the actual important things done.

Don’t believe me? Try going 3 days without any social media. Count how many times you unconsciously check your phone throughout the day. Eat a diet of plain foods with little to no salt or seasoning, and see how you suffer. Give up sugar, coffee, nicotine and/or alcohol for 2 weeks. Tell me if you aren’t just slightly irked after a few hours of any of the above.

So whats the fix? Reclaim your will power by reclaiming your brain.

First, cut back on any and all repetitive, highly-stimulating and meaningless input. This means overly-palatable junk foods, incessant web browsing, social media, constant texting, excessive coffee and alcohol, or games like Candy Crush or swiping through Tinder. Stop gossiping so much. Try to limit social media to ten minutes in the morning and ten minutes in the evening, and thats it. Give up social media for an entire day, then the next week, for two. These are very minor tweaks, but ones that if held to over time, provide huge benefits.

Second, actively train your focus, attention and motivation. There are many ways to do so –

  1. Set goals each day, and just get them done. Do the worst ones first. Best of all, you’ll get a hit of dopamine each time you complete and cross that goal off your list. This will train your brain to seek its rewards by getting productive stuff done, not from seeing how many likes you got on that post about cats. Read up on decision fatigue – the more often you have to choose between two things, whether it’s what clothes you’re going to wear or how you’re going to spend your time, the more you drain your willpower.
  2. Practice meditation – one study’s results suggest that “meditation produces long-term increases in the efficiency of the executive attentional network“. This means being able to direct your attention where you want it to go – towards being a boss and getting stuff done. Remember the concept of neuroplasticity – “neurons that fire together, wire together”. This will change the wiring of your brain for the better, and will make accomplishing goals second nature.
  3. Embrace the Indian concept of Tapas – one of the branches in the traditional system of Raja (Royal) Yoga is that of the Niyamas, which are beneficial habits, behaviors and observances – one of which is the concept of Tapas. As I’ve posted before, Tapas is the friction and heat created by spiritual practices that burn away negative qualities of the mind. I’m all for spiritual enlightenment, but you can use the concept of Tapas to improve your motivation as well – long story short, learn to embrace and even welcome the uncomfortable into your life. Your muscles won’t grow unless you stress them. You won’t learn a new language without being completely confused at first. You’ll never get a date without overcoming those butterflies in your stomach. Eleanor Roosevelt was quoted as saying, “Do one thing every day that scares you.” I’d like to modify that to, “Do one thing every day that gets you out of your comfort zone,” and preferably towards something productive. Feel that uncomfortableness and just plow through it.

Finally, there are always a few supplements that can help out as well.

  • The first is an herb called gynostemma, and comes with a multitude of benefits – being a superb antioxidant, an immune booster, a strong adaptogen and a regenerator of dopaminergic neurons. I enjoy it in tea form, though it is available encapsulated as well. 
  • Inositol is able to actually increase dopamine receptors within certain areas of the brain – the more receptors available, the more effective dopamine is, the more you’re able to get done and experience pleasure. I would go ahead and buy bulk powder, as it has a pleasantly sweet taste.
  • Lastly, supplementing with the precursor to dopamine itself will improve motivation – stick to DL-Phenylalanine, which is also a precursor to endorphins (natural feel-good molecules), and which should provide a nice boost in mood and motivation.

In Conclusion, bio-hacking is a relatively simple concept, one of hacking into your own biology in order to achieve a given result. There are plenty more options out there, suited to a huge variety of needs and goals. And as always, feel free to contact me to learn more ways to enhance cognition, de-stress, burn fat faster and beat depression and anxiety.

Hangover Prevention 101

New Year’s Eve is just around the corner, and with it comes for many folks an abundance of booze. Don’t be bedridden your first day of the new year – practice some damage control with this hangover prevention guide.

Me, the morning after
Me, the morning after

Note – this is NOT a green light or go-ahead to consume huge amounts of booze, or an excuse to consume booze regularly. Nothing in here prevents you from getting drunk, nor does it prevent or treat alcoholism – if you have a problem, go see a doctor. Above all else, drink responsibly – don’t drink and drive.

Look at this guide in two ways – there’s the “basic hangover prevention” protocol which entails only the first two steps, food/hydration and using antioxidants. This is the bare minimum and will work wonders for those who don’t drink too much, too often – if that’s you, then that’s all you need.

It will also work wonders in preventing hangovers for those who drink more heavily, but those who do should definitely consider some extra supplements to help combat the long term damage alcohol does to the body and brain.

Part 1 – The Night Of

1. Eat a good meal prior, and hydrate frequently

I remember vividly one night in Montreal a few summers back. It was the last night on a two week trip I took with my dad, complete with hiking Mt. Washington, seeing the Bay of Fundy, and experiencing some insane live music in Montreal.

We went out to celebrate – we managed to score a reservation at one of the best restaurants in town, Au Pied de Cochon, where we ate lavishly.

A dish of bone marrow topped with caviar - my $40 appetizer.
A dish of bone marrow topped with caviar – my $40 appetizer.

With britches loosened, I then did what any warm-blooded 20-something would do on his last night in a foreign city – try his hardest to get very drunk.

Something very odd happened that night, however. Despite trying to get drunk, and taking no antioxidants or other prophylactics, I simply never made it passed tipsy. Pretty tipsy, mind you, but never drunk, and when I awoke the next morning, I was simply a bit sleepy. And granted, this wasn’t just youth on my side – I’d had more than my fair share of vicious hangovers at this age.

Two things contributed to this – one, I ate a huge amount of food for dinner, and being French food, it was rich and high in fat.

Two, as my dad had reminded me ever since I reached the legal drinking age, I drank one glass of water per alcoholic drink – mainly because he was physically there to remind me.

Lesson learned – eat a big, rich meal, and drink a ton of water, at least one glass per alcoholic beverage, to help ward off a hangover.

Bonus tip – drink clear liquors. Clear liquors contain the least amount of congeners, by products of the fermentation process that worsen hangover symptoms.

2. Use quality antioxidants

One of the most effective ways to prevent hangovers is to prevent the actual damage done to your body from drinking alcohol. The best way to do this? Antioxidants, specifically ones that protect your liver and brain, the two organs that receive the brunt of the damage. It’s important to choose antioxidants that are able to cross the blood-brain barrier, a highly selective barrier made up of brain cells that only allow certain nutrients into the brain.

Astaxanthin is an extremely powerful antioxidant that is proven to cross the blood-brain barrier, and in one study was able to prevent damage done to the brains of rats by up to 40%. I personally use 4 mg of astaxanthin per 2-3 drinks. 12 mg pills are also available for the bacchanalians out there.

I personally also add 400 mg of Coenzyme Q-10 (CoQ-10) per 2-3 drinks as well, another powerful antioxidant that is able to cross the blood-brain barrier. If tight on cash or just plain lazy, stick to astaxanthin.

Out of all the antioxidants I’ve tried, these are the only two that reliably spare me from head-splitting migraines the day after.

For the liver, I highly suggest using N-Acetyl Cysteine and a high quality Milk Thistle extract, prior to drinking. Both are dirt cheap and work wonders to prevent damage done to the liver from excess alcohol consumption, as well as speed up the rate at which the body is able to breakdown alcohol.

This product contains both N-Acetyl Cysteine and milk thistle, as well as some other liver-protecting goodies, for just 20 dollars.

LifeExtension offers an all-in-one product that contains both antioxidants and liver supporting substances. This is a great pick for anyone who imbibes just occasionally, but for the regular weekend warriors out there, it’s both more economical and more effective to stock up on the items listed above.

You can opt to finish the night off with 200 to 400 mg of L-theanine, a calming and neuroprotective amino acid derived from green tea that not only helps your body to break down alcohol more quickly, but helps to deepen your sleep, allowing you to recover better from your binge. This is critical as alcohol worsens the deepest stage of sleep, REM sleep, in which dreams occur, memories are formed and learning is solidified.

3. Replenish what you’ve lost

Alcohol is one hell of a draining substance, and depletes your body of numerous essential vitamins and minerals.

The easiest way to replenish what you’ve lost from boozing is to at least pop some high-octane multivitamins. Add probiotics and a greens drink if you have the money.

A multivitamin such as LifeExtensions Two Per Day capsules is a quick and easy way to replenish most vitamins and minerals that are depleted from excessive drinking. Consume 2-3 pills before, during or after drinking.

For additional support, I would add a quality greens powder the same night after drinking. My top picks are Vitamineral Green and Green Vibrance – both are insanely nutrient-dense green powders, and both pack huge doses of probiotics. However, both are also expensive, and rightfully so.

For those on a budget (myself included), take 6-12 tablets of chlorella, which is both a strong detoxifier and packed with nutrients and antioxidants, along with 1-2 probiotic capsules. Both products are quite affordable and help to further replenish nutrients and probiotics that are depleted or killed off by excessive alcohol intake. Consume with coconut water – see part two.

4. Additional support

Adaptogens are any number of substances that help to normalize the functions of the body, increase energy and prevent stress. Would they be any help in keeping you sharp the day after a few libations?

Turns out Siberian ginseng is able to prevent hangover symptoms. According to this study, the authors concluded that “… PEA (Siberian ginseng) may have potential to reduce the severity of the alcohol hangover by inhibiting the alcohol-induced hypoglycemia and inflammatory response.”

Here is a strong and very affordable Siberian ginseng extract – each 400 mg pill is the equivalent to 11 grams of the un-extracted, raw herb – all for just $14.

Red Chinese ginseng is also able to help prevent hangovers and reduce damage from alcohol. This study concluded that ginseng “showed positive effects on hangover symptoms. Considering the reduction of plasma alcohol levels, expiratory concentrations, and hangover severity, we conclude that red ginseng relieves the symptoms of alcohol hangover.”

Unfortunately, with Chinese ginseng you get what you pay for, and cheap versions found at CVS or Walmart aren’t going to do much. I personally use either Dragon Herbs’ Ginseng Sublime, or if money is tight, their more affordable but still high quality House Ginseng. Again, these items aren’t necessary, but do help.

Part 2 – The Morning After

1. Hydration in the form of coconut water

Lots of electrolytes are lost when you drink. Alcohol also slows the production of anti-diuretic hormone (ADH), which causes you to lose water through urination – the real reason behind the whole “breaking the seal” concept.

When you stop drinking, your body goes on to over-produce ADH in a rebound-type effect. This causes water retention, leading to puffy hands, feet and face, as well as a headache as your blood pressure increases. Your body also over-produces a hormone called vasopressin, which causes your body to retain sodium and lose potassium.

Drinking coconut water, which is extremely high in potassium, helps to lower blood pressure, rehydrate and prevent the excessive retention of water. I’m a huge fan of dehydrated coconut water – it’s cheaper, lighter and takes up less space, while providing all the benefits of liquid coconut water. Consume at least two tablespoons worth in a big glass of water.

Add two to three teaspoons of Natural Calm magnesium citrate to further replenish lost minerals and electrolytes, and reduce the inflammation caused by alcohol.

2. Caffeine 

Lets face it, a cup of joe is just what the doctor ordered after a long night. Combine with L-theanine for less jittery side-effects and enhanced focus.

3. Nootropics

Nootropics (new-trope-icks) are a class of substances that act to increase cognitive function, and are commonly referred to as “smart drugs” – they’re great for students, for desk jockeys, for musicians, athletes, busy moms, hell, just about everyone. CEO’s of million dollar companies and Silicon Valley startups rely heavily on nootropics, as do professional level gamers. I’ve personally noticed a huge improvement in performance, focus and productivity, as well as improvements in mood and a decrease in stress from perfecting my nootropic use.

However, they’re also a tricky bunch – what works great for one person may not do much for another. There’s a great variety of nootropics out there as well, each one aimed at enhancing a specific area of cognitive function – memory, motivation, creativity, reaction time, energy, etc.

For this reason, your best bet is to contact me so you can quickly sort through which ones would be right for you, and avoid spending money on those that many in the community consider to be duds.

4. Optional – more antioxidants, liver cleansers and multivitamins

It depends on how much you drank and how bad you feel, but it never hurts to double up on antioxidants and vitamins, especially if you drunkenly forgot the night before. More greens powder or chlorella helps as well.

Party on, Garth!

So remember – at it’s most basic, you can simply eat a good dinner, stay hydrated, and take some antioxidants before and during drinking. This alone does wonders.

To take it up one more notch, add a high quality multivitamin and coconut water to rehydrate. Astaxanthin, NAC/milk thistle plus a quality multi will run you 20 to 30 bucks for multiple month’s worth of supply.

Everything beyond that is very helpful, but not necessary if you’re not regularly consuming multiple drinks per night.

Party On

Fine Tuning Your Biochemistry to Suit Your Needs

What do 90% of Americans do first thing when they wake up in the morning? They get out of bed, go downstairs and reach for some coffee or tea. Why? It gives them energy, motivation, focus and transforms them from grumpy, sleepy zombies into happy little worker bees, buzzing about. This is because of caffeine’s effect on their biochemistry. 

Caffeine blocks adenosine in the brain, which is a neurotransmitter that causes sleepiness. Caffeine also causes dopamine to be released, which is responsible for the increase in attention, motivation and improved mood, as well as norepinephrine to be released, which makes you alert and energized. Norepinephrine is also why you’ll find yourself on the john half an hour after your first cup.

Photo fred The Oatmeal and DBG Technologies
Photo cred The Oatmeal and DBG Technologies

Caffeine is just one substance that you can use to alter your biochemistry in a favorable fashion. I’d love to help you learn how to do just that, but first you have to agree that you understand that this is just a website, that I’m not a doctor, and that anything you decide to do because of this article should be checked out with your primary care physician first, especially if you’re on prescription meds or have depression, anxiety or any other mental illness. There are no cures presented here, just ways to help you get the most out of life.

Let’s get on with it.

First, we need to understand a few terms and concepts. A neurotransmitter is a molecule used for communication between neurons in your brain and nervous system, and can be either excitatory, inhibitory, or both.

Excitatory neurotransmitters include

  • dopamine
  • epinephrine (adrenalin)
  • norepinephrine
  • acetylcholine
  • PEA
  • glutamate

Inhibitory neurotransmitters include

  • GABA
  • serotonin
  • melatonin
  • glycine

Your mood, outlook and energy levels are strongly correlated to the exact ratio and proportions of the neurotransmitters that are active in your brain at any given moment. This means that if you can tweak the levels of your neurotransmitters, you can positively steer your mood and outlook as you see fit. 

Don’t overdo it, though. The body is always trying to maintain homeostasis, and increasing one neurotransmitter too much leads to its receptors becoming de-sensitized, and eventually even a loss in those receptors – this is how addiction and withdrawal forms.

Increasing dopamine – Results in increased drive and motivation, increased pleasure gotten out of most activities, and improves mood and confidence. You’ll remember this feeling as the first cup of coffee of the day, having sex, eating delicious food, or engaging in any rewarding activity

Beautiful, beautiful dopamine. My favorite neurotransmitter. This is responsible for the buzz or high coming from caffeine, cocaine, adderall and other ADHD meds, as well as the more subtle “high” to be achieved from completing rewarding tasks. Go hike a mountain, and when you reach the summit, drink deep from the springs of dopamine.

There are two methods you want to utilize to enhance dopamine, the first of which is making use of long term supplements and strategies to resensitize and increase dopamine receptors. This will have the net effect of causing you to be more motivated, energetic, confident and focused, as well as receiving more pleasure out of most actives, without having to take any substance. It will also enhance the effects of short-term dopaminergics, making them more effective.

You can simply have a few cups of gynostemma tea, an adaptogenic herb from China, to resensitize your dopamine neurons. Inositol works as well, but I find it easier to simply drink a few cups of tea. On top of this, cut back on activities that deplete dopamine – things like constantly texting, checking Facebook and other social media, drinking too much alcohol or coffee, or any other semi-addictive behavior.

Both intense physical exercise as well as fasting are perhaps the strongest methods to re-sensitize the brain to dopamine, and act as a “reboot” for the brain in general. If you aren’t getting regular exercise we need to sit down and have a serious talk, and I strongly advise fasting at least a full day once a month.

Remember, these are long term strategies, and while you may notice benefits within a week or two, it’s ideally something you’d continue to do throughout life.

You can also use occasional supplements to increase the body’s production of dopamine, in much the same way you can use coffee as a morning or mid-afternoon pick me up. L-Tyrosine has been my go-to dopaminergic substance, as it is easily converted into dopamine within the body.

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You can also use DL-Phenylalanine, as some of the Phenylalanine will be converted into L-Tyrosine and thus dopamine, and some of it will be converted into PEA, a feel-good neurotransmitter that some have dubbed the “love chemical”. You can also get hefty doses of PEA and the endogenous cannabinoid anandamide (ananda = bliss in Sanskrit), from cacao, either in powder form or in a very dark chocolate bar. Both are very potent mood-boosting compounds.

Further, dopamine can be converted into epinephrine and norepinephrine, two more neurotransmitters that increase energy and alertness.

Have a serious coffee addiction? Try cutting the amount of coffee you consume in half, and use a bit of L-Tyrosine or Phenylalanine for a synergistic energy boost. Both work well any time you need a pick-me-up or need the extra focus and attention. Use anywhere from 100 to 1000 mg, at once or split evenly in 3 doses throughout the day. Take note that those on prescription MAOIs, those with hypertension or those with Phenylketonuria should not take tyrosine or phenylalanine.

GABA – An increase in GABA results in feeling relaxed and at ease. Prescription anti-anxiety meds act on GABA receptors in the brain. That relaxing feeling you get after drinking a nice glass of wine is due to alcohol releasing GABA within the brain.

GABA, which stands for gamma-aminobutyric acid, is the main inhibitory neurotransmitter within the brain. GABA produces a nice relaxed feeling, and is involved in decreasing stress and calming the brain enough to fall asleep.

Increasing GABA is especially useful for those who are stressed or suffer from anxiety. Instead of taking pharmaceutical drugs, why not just try to increase the body’s own production of GABA?

According to this study, performing one hour of yoga resulted in an average of 27% increase in GABA levels, which is huge. 

One of the best ways to relieve anxiety is by using ashwagandha, one of my favorite Ayurvedic herbs. It’s been found to a be a potent GABA-mimetic, mimicking the effects of GABA without actually changing brain levels of the neurotransmitter. Perhaps even more beneficial is it’s rejuvenating effect on the brain –

Ashwagandha, its constituents and the metabolites of its constituents promote the growth of nerves after taking it for 7 days… It has anxiolytic effect [relieves anxiety] and improves energy levels and mitochondrial health.

Ashwagandha also has a unique ability to lower the stress hormone cortisol. A 2008 double blind, placebo controlled study showed that, “Over a 60-day period, doses ranging from 125 mg to 500 mg daily of a patented ashwagandha extract (Sensoril®) significantly improved scores on a standardized measurement of stress intensity, and also favorably modulated several biomarkers… Moreover, at the end of the study period subjects that received 500 mg of ashwagandha daily had cortisol levels nearly 30% lower than subjects who took a placebo, and their DHEA-s levels were significantly higher as well.”

I recommend this ashwagandha product, which contains 250 mg of the patented ashwagandha extract Sensoril used in the study above. It’s 10 bucks, you have no excuse.

Another excellent choice for reducing anxiety and inducing a sense of calm is L-Theanine, a rare amino-acid like compound found only in green tea.

The most cliched picture of green tea I could find.
The most cliche picture of green tea I could find

Straight from the LEF website, L-Theanine, “has traditionally been used to enhance relaxation and improve concentration and learning ability (Vuong 2011; Wakabayashi 2011; Nathan 2006).

L-theanine is chemically related to the neurotransmitter glutamate, and binds to glutamate receptors in the brain (Cho 2008). Unlike glutamate, however, which can cause a state called excitotoxicity that can destroy nerve cells, L-theanine protects brain cells against excitotoxicity, calming the nerve networks in the brain (Kakuda 2002; Nagasawa 2004; Di 2010).

L-theanine reduces evidence of anxiety and depression in several different animal models of stress (Yin 2011; Heese 2009). In one animal model, L-theanine led to decreases in nearly all frequencies of brainwave activity, indicating a state of calmness and relaxation (Dimpfel 2007).

In one study, healthy subjects took a soft drink containing green tea enriched with L-theanine while their brainwave power was measured (Dimpfel 2007). Power was initially reduced in all frequencies and areas during the first hour, indicating relaxation. Later changes indicated both an increase in mental performance and a higher degree of relaxation. In this case, L-theanine seemed to produce desirable increases in attention, accompanied by durable relaxation—that means subjects could concentrate better without being distracted by anxiety.

A third trial concluded that L-theanine plays a general role in sustaining attention during a long-term difficult task (Gomez-Ramirez 2009).”

L-Theanine has such wide-ranging and strong effects because it increases brain levels of GABA, Dopamine and Serotonin, as well as having affinities for a few other receptors involved in attention and cognition.

As I commented on in my post about A Few Effective Biohacks, combining L-Theanine with caffeine is a powerful brain boosting combo – all the benefits of increased attention, mood and energy from the caffeine, as well as the neuroprotective and zen-like focus from L-Theanine. Some people recommend a dosage of 2:1 L-theanine to caffeine ratio, but I get better effects from a 1:1 ratio. You can play around with the doses and see what works best for you.

You can supplement with straight L-Theanine, or you can consume matcha green tea, which has high levels of L-Theanine, more caffeine than regular green tea, as well substantially more EGCG, the potent anti-cancer, fat-burning antioxidant.

Serotonin – Serotonin is responsible for feelings of relaxation, as well helping to curb hunger, improve mood and help with sleeping patterns. You know that warm, happy, comfortable feeling you get after eating a large bowl of ice cream or anything sugary? That’s serotonin.

I’m personally not a big fan of trying to increase serotonin. While I like dopamine’s mood- and energy-boosting effects, and GABA is useful for focus or relaxing, serotonin makes me feel dopey and lazy. Everyone’s different however, and many people do benefit from a little boost in serotonin, so I don’t want to leave it out.

Me on serotonin
Me on serotonin

Serotonin is the neurotransmitter targeted by most anti-depressants, but considering up to 50% of people don’t respond to these anti-depressants, I wouldn’t be quick to claim serotonin is the “happiness” neurotransmitter. That said, if you’re on anti-depressants or taking any MAOIs, don’t try to supplement with any extra serotonin, and nobody should take huge doses of serotonin supplements (or any other supplements) as it can lead to serotonin syndrome.

The reason sugar leads to a serotonin buzz is because the insulin released from consuming sugar sweeps most other amino acids out of the blood stream, but leaves behind tryptophan. Tryptophan then makes its way to the brain unimpeded by other amino acids, where it is first converted in 5-HTP, and then into 5-HT, or serotonin.

While you can supplement with 5-HTP, I suggest you don’t as there is concern about it affecting the heart, and instead simply eat more carbs or supplement with tryptophan.

Acetylcholine – While being a very important neurotransmitter, acetylcholine doesn’t have much of a “feeling” or affect your mood. It is extremely important for memory and learning, however, and may be involved in creativity.

This is the neurotransmitter you want to focus on if you have a lot of studying to do, if you’re trying to learn something quick, or if you just have bad memory. Many people who use nootropics, or cognitive enhancers, have at least one supplement that tries to increase levels of acetylcholine within the brain.

To increase acetylcholine, you can simply consume more choline – the best food sources are liver (just eat it), eggs, grass-fed milk and cheese products, peanuts and cruciferous veggies. You can also supplement with choline – Alpha GPC is a highly bioavailable source of choline, or you can use Acetyl-l-carnitine (ALCAR), which can increase levels of acetylcholine by donating its acetyl group. ALCAR has a whole host of other benefits as well, including being a potent neural antioxidant, helping the mitochondria to burn fat for energy, and is a strong cognitive enhancer in its own right.

In conclusion, many people are unaware that you can tweak your biochemistry to get an edge in life, or just to help you unwind or handle stressful events calmly. This knowledge can make a huge difference in your life and your ability to get things done.

 

A Few Effective Hacks

I’ve mentioned in passing before that people use “bio-hacks” to stay ahead of the curve (or in my case, just stay on the curve). A bio-hack is anything that improves health and performance in a quick and easy, and often unconventional way. The term is adopted from the cyber community – just as a computer programer hacks into a computer program, we too can “hack” into our own biology. These practices range everywhere from using certain supplements, to brain training, either through games, devices or meditation, or even hooking yourself up to expensive technological devices to improve your cognitive performance.

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 Zapping your brain with a Transcranial Low Level Laser Therapy device..?

I must admit, some of these bio-hacks are a bit far out there, even for me. Between LLLT devices, which are said to improve the mitochondria in your brain by zapping them with infrared light, to tCDS, or transcranial direct stimulation devices, which literally apply electrical currents to your brain to strengthen neuronal connections, I currently neither have the funds nor the guts to try some of these, despite how effective the research makes them out to be. However, there are quite a few bio-hacks I do personally use, and while the cream of the crop are going to be saved for my one-on-one clients, I’m more than happy to share a few here with you.

Hack your focus with L-Theanine

L-Theanine is a rare amino-acid like compound found only in a few plants, most notably in green tea. Ever wonder why a cup of quality green tea has that wonderful calming and focusing effect? Yup, that’s L-Theanine at work.

L-Theanine reduces feelings of stress, boosts cognitive function, improves mood and even boosts brain levels of BDNF, a compound that helps protect and grow new brain cells. Further, researchers have yet to be able to determine a toxic dose (but please be reasonable).

L-Theanine has been proven to increase the brain’s alpha waves, which correlates to a state of relaxed alertness. This study states –

“L-theanine significantly increases activity in the alpha frequency band which indicates that it relaxes the mind without inducing drowsiness.” See? Told you so.

Further, L-Theanine and caffeine are a match made in heaven. Need to get some studying done? Need that brain focusing in peak condition, but also need to stay focused? Pairing L-Theanine with caffeine is the way to go – caffeine gives you the mental boost you need to plow through work, while L-Theanine negates the negative effects of caffeine, and increases your focus to keep you from constantly checking your Facebook and email. Most people recommend a 2:1 Theanine/Caffeine ratio, but I do better at a 1:1 ratio. Play around and see what works for you.

Start with just one of these pills per cup of coffee or whenever you’d like some relaxation, and play around until you find your sweet spot. You can also just drink green tea, with gyokuro and white tea being highest in L-Theanine.

Boost motivation and accelerate fat burning with Gynostemma and Green Tea

We all know what green tea is, and how it’s loaded with antioxidants, and you now know it’s got that lovely L-Theanine in it as well. But most people haven’t heard of Gynostemma Pentaphyllum, or jiaogulan in Chinese.

Gynostemma is a delicious adaptogenic tea hailing from southern China. Researchers stumbled upon it when they noticed a village that had an unusual amount of octogenarians who remained quite active and involved in the community. Upon further questioning the researchers discovered that almost everyone in the village regularly drinks a tea made from a plant they called “Miracle Grass”, or what we call Gynostemma.

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Jiaogulan

Turns out Gynostemma is one hell of a plant. It has over 80 different saponins, the molecules that give it it’s adaptogenic properties, beating the previous record holder, ginseng, four times over. It’s immune-regulating, boosts energy, improves cellular function and delays fatigue.

But what I really like about it is that it improves your sensitivity to dopamine. Dopamine is that wonderful little neurotransmitter that everyone loves, released after a nice cup of coffee, during sex and when eating tasty food, the one involved in motivation and feelings of reward and pleasure. It’s important that you have ample amounts of dopamine and that your dopamine receptors are sensitive, or else you’ll be going through life unmotivated and without feeling much pleasure, a state known as anhedonia.

This is key in my eyes – if you want to be motivated enough to accomplish your goals, you need to have your dopaminergic system running in tip top shape. There’s a lot more to this topic than simply drinking gynostemma tea, so be on the lookout for upcoming posts or possibly even an ebook.  I recommend Dragon Herbs’ Spring Dragon tea, or their Gynostemma capsules.

Gynostemma also improves insulin sensitivity, making it a great addition not only to diabetics but people in general, as improving insulin sensitivity also improves weight loss parameters. Green tea is also a fantastic choice for people looking to lose weight. Green tea is high in an antioxidant called EGCG. EGCG has a three-pronged effect on weight loss. First, it increases the rate at which stored body fat is released to be burned as energy. EGCG also sensitizes your muscles’ cells to insulin, while decreases your fat cell’s sensitivity to insulin. This means that the food you eat after a cup of green tea is more likely to be burned for energy in your muscles than stored away as fat. Finally, EGCG is actually able to destroy fat cells altogether. See, when a person loses weight, they don’t actually lose fat cells – those cells remain, they just release their stored fatty acids. If a person gains that weight back, those fat cells simply fill back up. EGCG is able to actually destroy those fat cells, something that is very rare in a natural compound.

If you want to maximize all these benefits, just combine gynostemma and green tea together and drink a few cups a day. You can also use a high quality matcha green tea, which contains significantly more EGCG than regular green teas.

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Shade-grown, stone-ground, Theanine and EGCG rich Matcha 

Hack your circadian rhythms with Melatonin and Full Spectrum Lights

Having a proper circadian rhythm is paramount to feeling and looking your best. Nothing is more rejuvenating than a full night’s rest, and it’s easy to see how much performance is affected when you either go to bed late or have to get up early. Nothing is as surefire to improve mood and energy levels as consistently as being well rested, so making sure you have this aspect of your life down is critical.

“Maintaining synchronized circadian rhythms is important to health and well-being,” says Dieter Kunz, director of the Sleep Research and Clinical Chronobiology Research Group at Charité–Universitätsmedizin Berlin. “A growing body of evidence suggests that a desynchronization of circadian rhythms may play a role in various tumoral diseases, diabetes, obesity, and depression.”

Eeesh.

Naturally, there are ways to hack your circadian rhythm to get more bang for your buck. Start by avoiding blue light 2-3 hours before bedtime. Blue light is emitted from phones, tablets, laptops, computers and tvs, and has been found to suppress the release of melatonin within the brain. Melatonin is the circadian rhythm entraining hormone in the body, and is the main hormone involved in you falling asleep. As the meta-study linked above states “The blue wavelength suppressed melatonin for about twice as long as the green.”

While some bio-hackers like to wear red-tinted glasses to completely block out blue light in the evenings, I simply make sure to avoid phone, tv and computer light exposure as much as possible after sunset – granted, sometimes this is a futile effort. You can also download a free program on your computer and smart phone called f.lux, which will automatically tint your screen more and more red as the sun sets, naturally blocking out the blue light emitted from your devices.

A few nights a week I like to hit the hay early. Not only does this make me feel like a million bucks the next day and improve everything from my metabolism to optimizing my hormone levels, it helps to keep my circadian rhythm in balance. A few times a month, when I’m going to bed early, I’ll take 1 to 1.5 milligrams of melatonin, to “entrain” my circadian rhythm to falling asleep at that hour, usually around 9 or 10. When I take melatonin early at night, I’m basically telling my body, “Now is when you should naturally be falling asleep. This is when you should start releasing melatonin.” Melatonin is also great for jet lag or adjusting to a new timezone – just take it the first few nights to entrain your circadian rhythm to the new timezone.

Quick note – I do not recommend taking melatonin every night, or using big doses. This is a hormone after all, and it’s not to be taken lightly. Just how bodybuilders produce very little testosterone after using steroids, using too much melatonin for too long can shut down your body’s natural production of the hormone. Please keep this in mind.

In the mornings when I wake up, especially in the winter time, I’ll throw on my Verilux HappyLight to signal to my body that the night has ended and it’s time to start producing all the hormones I need to naturally wake up. Photorecptors in our eyes send signals to our hypothalamus that help to wake us up in the presence of bright, full spectrum light, whether from the sun or from a full spectrum bright light. Let’s allow Wikipedia to get real nerdy for us –

“They [Intrinsically photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells] play a major role in synchronizing circadian rhythms to the 24-hour light/dark cycle, providing primarily length-of-day and length-of night information. They send light information via the retinohypothalamic tract directly to the circadian pacemaker of the brain, the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus. The physiological properties of these ganglion cells match known properties of the daily light entrainment (synchronization) mechanism regulating circadian rhythms.”

Long story short, a nice dose of strong, full-spectrum light in the mornings sends all the right signals to your body to fill you with energy and wake you right up. It’s not critical to use a full-spectrum bright light, but if you’re the type that has a difficult time waking up in the mornings or experiences the winter-time blues, it’s a great investment. I’ve personally gotten great results from mine – more energy in the mornings and no winter-time moodiness.

Hack your hormones with Yoga

Be prepared for many posts to come in the following weeks and months on yoga, as I’m a huge fan and there is a lot to cover. One of the biggest benefits of yoga that is rarely touched upon is how yoga is the best way to naturally improve and regulate almost all the hormones your body produces. Proper hormone levels are vitally important to vibrant health, as hormones regulate your physiology and behavior. Throw even one hormone out of whack, and a chain event of disastrous consequences occurs.

All the twisting, bending and stretching of the postures in yoga have many beneficial effects, one of which is to squeeze and massage all of the endocrine glands within the body, the glands that produce and release your hormones. This squeezing and massaging pushes stale blood and toxins out of the glands, and when the twist or bend is released, fresh blood rushes in like water to a dry sponge. This revitalizes the glands and improves their functioning. Inverted postures, especially shirshashana, the headstand pose, improves the functioning of the pituitary, the “master gland” of the endocrine system, which has downstream effects on all your other endocrine glands and body systems.

As you can see, “bio-hacking” is actually a pretty easy and accessible concept, and we’ve barely just scratched the surface. Keep your eyes peeled for future posts on various bio-hacks, including how to use cold to burn more fat, how to use heat to build more muscle, make you smarter and recover faster from workouts, and multiple ways to improve cognition and even grow your brain. Contact me to find out more.