At a deeper biochemical level, exercise really does act like a drug. To be more precise, it prompts the body to produce its own, endogenous drug-like chemicals. When we are exercising, our muscles generate molecules known as cytokines that send signals to other parts of our bodies, helping to strengthen our immune system and stimulate the growth of

EPILOGUE

Other potential interventions that have shown some promise in studies include lowering homocysteine with B vitamins, while optimizing omega-3 fatty acids. Higher vitamin D levels have been correlated with better memory in e4/e4 patients but it’s difficult to know from the current literature if this means supplementing with vitamin D will reduce

The first step in this process echoes the first step in a recovery program: we must renounce our “addiction” to chronic sleep deprivation and admit that we need more sleep, in sufficient quality and quantity.

Rice and oatmeal are surprisingly glycemic (meaning they cause a sharp rise in glucose levels), despite not being particularly refined; more surprising is that brown rice is only slightly less glycemic than long-grain white rice.

Training grip strength is not overly complicated. One of my favorite ways to do it is the classic farmer’s carry, where you walk for a minute or so with a loaded hex bar or a dumbbell or kettlebell in each hand.

Most important, you must create an environment for yourself that is conducive to sleeping well. The first requirement for good sleep is darkness. Light is the enemy of sleep, full stop. Thus, you want to make your bedroom itself as dark as possible—installing room-darkening curtains if you live somewhere with a lot of outdoor evening light, and

This dysfunction is represented by the four branches of the trauma tree: (1) addiction, not only to vices such as drugs, alcohol, and gambling, but also to socially acceptable things such as work, exercise, and perfectionism (check); (2) codependency, or excessive psychological reliance on another person; (3) habituated survival strategies, such as

Yet the NIH researchers found that their calorically restricted monkeys had not lived longer than the controls. There was no statistically significant difference in the lifespans of the two groups. From a headline writer’s point of view, caloric restriction had not “worked.”