#475 Q&A: Biggest things that contribute to my health, does caffeine age the brain, can you make up for lost sleep and more

Siim Land (0:00)

All right, first question. If I do moderate intensity cardio for many hours in a row, do I risk increasing oxidative stress? Are there ways to counteract the negative effects? So any kind of exercise does increase inflammation and oxidative stress in the short term. During the exercise, yes, your body has, you know, higher blood pressure, higher blood sugar, higher amounts of inflammation. So if you just look at it in isolation, then you could say that exercise is harmful for you. But what's interesting is that after the fact, after you've stopped exercising, the inflammation and oxidative stress are lower. So you're increasing your body's endogenous antioxidant capacity. You actually lower inflammation. That's why people who exercise regularly have lower inflammation as a baseline. They have lower resting heart rates, lower blood sugar as a baseline, lower blood pressure as a baseline. So the short-term acute effect is actually beneficial in the long term, that your body in the long term does experience improved health. Now, other ways to counteract some of those negative side effects. You know, yes, first of all, don't overtrain. So if you overtrain, then you're increasing the likelihood of getting sick, getting other negative side effects, experiencing harmful effects in terms of body composition or mental health, etc. So overtraining obviously is not beneficial, but a moderate exercise trying to progress in your training is generally beneficial. Now, overtraining does increase the risk of respiratory tract infections. So elite athletes tend to have higher risk of respiratory tract infections because of the overtraining component, especially when combined with sleep deprivation or undernourishment, etc. So if you are training a lot, then counteracting the risk of respiratory tract infections can be done with a sauna. So there is a research that people who take the sauna have lower risk of respiratory tract infections, they have better immune system functioning, they get sick less often, etc. So taking a sauna after exercise, after any form of vigorous exercise, especially can mitigate any potential risk. And it also promotes recovery. Saunas promote muscle repair, muscle recovery. They also lower inflammation, lower blood pressure in the long term. So it's a perfect combination. And there's quite interesting research that people who take the sauna while exercising, they see greater reduction in blood pressure than exercise alone. And the same with VO2 max. If you do sauna while exercising, well, not in the exact moment that you're riding a bike or doing some kettlebells in the sauna, not like that. But if you exercise and you also take the sauna regularly, then you also see increased VO2 max gains. So the small cardiovascular workout you get from the sauna contributes to increased VO2 max as well, as well as a lower resting blood pressure. So yeah, it's the best combination. You exercise and you also take a sauna after the workout is the best recovery tool. And it also lowers your risk of inflammation or increased risk of respiratory tract infections that can come from overtraining. Next question. Have you followed any of Russell Reiter PhD research on melatonin? It's very interesting. He's 88 and researched melatonin since 1965 Yes, I am aware of that research. And it's very interesting to me. I think this concept of mega-dosing melatonin for the sake of anti-aging and other longevity benefits is very interesting for me. I've been a fan of melatonin myself for many years. I've tested mega doses. I've tested 10 milligrams. I've taken more than that as well. I haven't really tested the 100- or 200-milligram dose yet, but I'm definitely or probably going to try it out in the near future. So unfortunately, there's no actual clinical trials on this mega-dosing of melatonin, but people anecdotally have said that it has benefits for them. But obviously, it's very limited evidence, these self-reported cases. But generally, yeah, melatonin as an antioxidant, as an anti-inflammatory hormone is, yeah, super interesting. I think there is quite a lot of untapped potential for like mega-dosing melatonin for just not sleep, but just overall metabolic health and maybe cardiovascular or brain health or other health benefits. Next question. Could you compare the top anti-aging supplement formulas like Blueprint, NovaScore, or DoNotAge? Yeah, I have reviewed actually all three of them on my channel before. I've reviewed Blueprint, I've reviewed NovaScore, and I've reviewed DoNotAge as well. Now, yeah, Blueprint and NovaScore are somewhat similar. Blueprint has a lot more products than NovaScore, but generally they're like a mix of ingredients. And the DoNotAge is different because they sell individual ingredients. They don't sell mixes. They sell just the single ingredients. So, obviously, they're completely different in terms of that. My review of DoNotAge was that some of those ingredients are very good, very research-backed, like creatine, omega-3s, berberine, they have glycine and NaC, a few other good supplements. Some of them might be a bit more limited, like SIRT6, or some other ones like calcium alfa-glycerate, or reseratrol as well. But the ones that they do sell are quite high-quality, and third-party-tested, et cetera. Blueprint and Novelscore, so I made a review on Blueprint. My thoughts on Blueprint was that some of the ones are good. I liked the Softgel formula. Actually, that was the only one I would take from their stack, which had astaxanthin and lutein and vitamin K2, et cetera. I wouldn't take their capsules. I wouldn't take their mix powder. And my overall rating was maybe like 3.8 or 4, I think, out of 5 for the Blueprint. So yeah, that's my thoughts on Blueprint pretty much. The only one I would take is the Softgel. And Novo's core, I think Novo's mix, the powder mix is quite good. I would consider it like a pretty solid stack. It's kind of on the safer end of not having any unnecessary ingredients and not having any potential ingredients that could potentially cause some negative reactions to some individuals. So it's kind of like a safe bet. Yeah, but I do think that there's a lot of untapped potential in Novo's as well, that they don't have ingredients that have a lot of research and potential additional benefits. So they're leaving a few ingredients on the table, in my opinion. If I were to stack them in terms of like a tier system, these three, then I think Novo's is better than Blueprint, in my opinion. But Junetech is a different league, in terms that they sell only individual ingredients, so they don't sell mixed powders. So yeah, it's kind of a pros and cons. But I am actually coming out with my own mix as well in the near future next year. And yeah, I'm just formulating it based on what I would take and what I will take myself, and what all of the ingredients that have evidence and in their optimal doses. So both the Blueprint and Normal Score, they tend to miss on some of the optimal doses, which can be hard because... Or it's self-explanatory because it can be hard to fit all the ingredients into the mix. But what I've done actually achieved that. So yeah, it has the optimal doses and minimalistic setup. So yeah, you don't have to start taking 20 pills a day or 30 pills a day like you would do with maybe some individual ingredients. Next question. Even though you share a lot of what you do, what are the things that you do directly or that might contribute indirectly to your health that you tend to not mention? The things that give you the extra 1% to 5% of longevity and health benefits based on your subjective opinion? Yeah, I've always thought that one of the biggest contributors to my personal health has been innovative fasting. So the research about inner fasting is that it does help with weight loss, but it's not superior to regular calorie restriction. And when it comes to longevity, then we can't say if it's going to make you live longer or something like that. I personally think that at least it certainly helps me to maintain very optimal body composition year-round without any effort. So I just skip a few meals, eat in a smaller window, and it just makes it easier to stick to a diet. There's some other longevity pathways that get activated with intermittent fasting, such as these AMPK and Olthophagy and FOXO3, et cetera, but we don't know whether or not it will actually contribute to a maximum lifespan in humans. But personally, I do think that I'm biased towards thinking that it does, at least for me. Obviously, it can also improve lipids and blood pressure and HRV and blood sugar and all these other biomarkers that can correlate to healthspan and longevity. So that's my opinion. And I've been doing it over fasting for over 10 years by now. So it's always been my go-to just because I like it. What other things I think have played a big role is I have a very strong immune system. For some reason, I never really get sick. If I do get sick, then I recover super fast and I don't get severely sick ever. I lived in a molded house for two decades without any symptoms. And yeah, I can be exposed to a lot of pathogens or viruses and mold and those kinds of things without even getting sick. So I have a strong immune system. And the reason I think I have it is because I grew up in the countryside. I played in the dirt. I ate the dirt probably. I grew up with animals, farm animals, touching the animals, getting exposed to a lot of different bacteria and microbes. So that builds a strong immune system. I ate raw milk when I was a kid.