Weird Health Hacks That Actually Work
Steal these 87 odd interventions
Mornings
Wake up with glutamine, creatine, electrolytes & extra magnesium
Before you take down the AM coffee. Glutamine for the gut barrier. Creatine for cell energy metabolism. Electrolytes for mineral balance. Magnesium pidolate for nerve & muscle function.
Reframe “sunlight” as “daylight”
Doesn’t matter if it’s cloudy. Indoor lighting is ~500 lux. An overcast sky still delivers 20 times that amount at 10,000+. Shift the wording → nudge the habit → perform & sleep better.
Sip bone broth with eggs & soft veggies to break a fast
Bone broth for electrolytes, collagen, & L-glutamine for gut lining repair. Eggs for a choline-dense, complete bioavailable protein. Soft, cooked vegetables for easy digestion, micronutrients, minimal fiber load when cooked.
Analog-dump before logging onto any device
Map out what you’re logging on for. Clear path before means less negotiating later. Analog notes build the most efficient, algorithm-resistant digital workflows.
Focus
Start with 15 min of uninterrupted long-form reading
The small block of time you dedicate to training an uninterrupted flow state will make up for itself and then some. Build the reading queue every Sunday. 15 min daily to break the shackles of attentional discomfort.
Put your phone in another room
The ultimate cognitive tax of our day. Good news – you can just opt out.
Install the One Sec & Leech Block extensions
one sec for delayed openings. LeechBlock for hard blocks. Increase the friction to the unwanted. The cheapest behavior-change tool that exists.
Bound your day with sacred time slots
Guard the first and last hours. The edges of the day shape the middle more than the middle shapes itself. Waking hour sets your intention before your OODA loop is held hostage by a slop algorithm. Pre-bed hour closes mental tabs.
Chew gum
Lowers anxiety. Increases alertness. Improves memory recall. Counters sleep deprivation.
Pull your hood up to “lock in”
Cut peripheral vision. Narrow the sensory field. Wrangle the scattered thoughts into creative output. A symbolic cue for a lock in physical ritual.
Use music as an amplifier, not a distraction
The right music never rips your attention away. It amplifies the self to the ambient conditions you’re otherwise embedded in. Music done properly is an incredible tool.
Save your dopamine hits post work sprints
Earn the dopaminergic hit so it reinforces behavior. Reward before a task trains you to hedonically chase rewards. Reward after effort trains you to execute the work.
Choose one priority per day
One thing that, if it’s the only thing you finish, makes the day a win. Attack it first so that anything else accomplished is a bliss-inducing bonus. Impossible to lose. Improves depth of sleep too.
Practice exercising indifference
You don’t need to care more. You need to care about fewer things. Life is a game of tradeoffs. Allocate your finite resources wisely. The cost of concerning yourself with too much is becoming a man who lacks the intensity & depth needed to curate excellence.
“The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.”
– Michael Porter, author of Competitive Strategy
Training
Tongue on the roof of your mouth during lifts
Pressing the tongue to the roof of the mouth increased hamstring strength by ~30% vs. a neutral tongue position. Tongue acts as a stabilizer → improve posture → more stable head + spine → better stability in the spine → hams are freed up → greater power output. Applies to training generally.
Split antagonists if you’re prone to elbow tendonitis
Chest & biceps one day. Back & triceps another. Bis don’t get pre-fatigue from initial back exercises. Tris don’t get pre-fatigue from initial chest exercises. Overall better stimulus to muscle tissue with identical weekly volume. Rotate neutral grips through the curls and rows as well.
Grip strengtheners
Keep them on your desk. Easy, cheap tool to increase grip strength & energy expenditure while you’re reading/logging meeting time. A must for desk jobs.
Tadalafil pre-training
S-tier pump product with the added bonus of longevity/cardiometabolic benefits. 2.5 mg. 30 min before training (cardio & resistance training).
Wall sits for blood pressure
Strongest exercise modality for BP reduction. Wall sits. Planks. Isometric leg extension. Grip strengthener holds. Sustained contraction occludes flow → release floods it → vessels adapt.
Nasal breathing only for Zones 2 & 3
If you can’t nasal breathe, slow down. Dallam’s runners hit the same VO2max on 22% less ventilation after six months of nose-only training. Efficiency >> more oxygen.
“Stop thinking about the levels of ventilation required for oral breathing as normal and consider the level of ventilation seen when breathing nasally as standard”
– George Dallam, Professor Emeritus in Health Science & Human Movement at Colorado State University
Morning fasted cardio + sauna for mood
Anti-depressant synergy. Raise BDNF (brain fertilizer) and endogenous opioids. Pre-sauna cardio = sweat already flowing. Minimum 1x/week. Just the tip of the benefits iceberg.
Interrupt sitting periods every 1 hr
Get a standing desk (added bonus with a walking pad). Every hour of prolonged unbroken sitting = 10% HIGHER cancer mortality. Every hour broken up by movement = 18% LOWER risk. Great way to fend off back pain with age too.
Backwards walking for low back pain
Reverses fatigue-driven spinal loading pattern. Recruits spinal erectors to greater degree than forward walking. Greater pain and disability reduction than conventional programs alone.
Flex core to avoid standing up lightheaded
Forces the blood pressure back into your brain. Take a deep diaphragmatic breath. Start an exhale. Hold for 2 seconds. Stand up.
Recovery
Drive blood into sore muscles
Zone 2. Foam roller. Lacrosse ball. Direct blood to the sore tissue to clear metabolites and deliver oxygen for repair. Superior to passive rest.
“Muscles and joints love circulation. And they really love it when they need more of it. And they need more of it when they are recovering from a challenging workout.”
– Jonathan Ross (ACE Personal Trainer of the Year )
Lacrosse ball release
Roll each foot 60–90 seconds while you work. Plantar release improves hamstring extensibility. Pressure downregulates protective guarding and raises stretch tolerance.
Psoas release for low back pain before bed
Press fingertips into the muscle beside the navel. Wait for it to soften. Slow exhale. Also nudges you parasympathetic.
Floor stretch release for pelvic floor dysfunction
Highly underrated use of 10–15 min before bed with some added mobility benefits. Hips, adductors, hamstrings, T-spine. Pair it with slow diaphragmatic breathing to pull sympathetic tone down at the same time.
Legs up on the wall with elevated hips for lymphatic drainage
Hips on a pillow & legs up for 10 min. Lymph and pooled venous blood clear from the legs. Swelling drops. Improved blood flow to the head, face, & hair follicles. Reduces tension in the neck, back, & hips. Decompresses the lumbar spine and unloads the hips.
Topical magnesium chloride
Bypasses the gut for quick absorption into muscle & bloodstream. Back of the neck/forearms/thighs. Reduces irritability & anxiety symptoms. Supports GABA-glutamate balance. Spray & massage before bed.
How to make your own low-cost solution with distilled water, MgCl flakes, & a glass spray bottle.
Contrast showers
Cycle hot to cold. Vessels dilate, then constrict, then dilate. A mechanical pump for circulation and lymphatic movement. Finish cold.
Calm the System
Let breathwork become resting-heart-rate work
Slow nasal exhale-biased breathing raises vagal tone. Vagal tone is tracked via RHR pattern. Simple method to discover what breathwork is the bioindividualized best for you.
Vortex method breathing
Cultivate: rapid diaphragmatic breathing to load CO₂ & warm the system.
Circulate: full inhale, full exhale, then breath hold on empty.
Concentrate: shift to 5-second in, 5-second out
Cycle: awareness head to feet.
Ice roller to the face
Cold to the periorbital region (eye socket + eye lids) and cheekbones. Drops heart rate within seconds. Spleen contracts (reservoir for red blood cells) to boost oxygen availability. Also reduces inflammation locally.
Anti-anxiety cocktail
✔ L-theanine — 600mg
✔ Taurine — 3g
✔ Magnesium acetyl taurate — 2g
✔ Agmatine sulfate — 500mg
✔ Electrolyte mix (your preference based on bioindividual needs)
✔ Sour candy → gives an intense oropharyngeal input
Inositol for racing thoughts
A sweet sugar-alcohol tied to serotonin signaling. High doses (12–18g/day) reduced panic-attack frequency as well as SSRIs.
Nutrition
Retrograde your carbs
Rice. Potatoes. Pasta. Oats. Cook → cool → transform to resistant starch. An easy metabolic hack.
Cook rice with anything BUT water
Bone broth for glycine & trace minerals. Coconut water for potassium. Dashi for iodine. Pomegranate juice for polyphenol content. Passata (thinned w/ water) for lycopene.
Cook your tomatoes
Lycopene bioavailability increases with heat. 15 minutes at 88°C raised lycopene 171% & total antioxidant content 34%.
Eat with chopsticks
Endogenous GLP-1 & PYY need ~20 minutes to register. Slowed input → satiety signal catches up.
Choose hard foods
Soft food gave us an overbite. Chewing resistance → hippocampal blood flow & supports brain development. Jaw disuse → cognitive decline in humans. Raw carrots. Apples. Pomegranate seeds. Macadamias. Sourdough. Hard cheeses. Cacao nibs. Nose-to-tail cuts. Eat soft to become soft (much of the Western diet).
Psyllium husk before a high-carb meal
5–10g mixed in water/shake 15 minutes prior to a carb-dense meal. Psyllium absorbs 80x its weight in water → forms a gel to trap carbs → delays enzyme access → flattens glucose curve. Decreased post-meal glucose spike by 30 mg/dL. Avoid lead-heavy psyllium products.
Vet your source to avoid buying sawdust:
2–3 fermented food servings daily for gut microbiome diversity
Kimchi. Kefir. Sauerkraut. Yogurt. Unpasteurized miso. Ensure they’re refrigerated & say live/raw cultures. Cycle them all for reducing inflammation & boosting microbiome diversity.
Cinnamon for sweetness cravings
Delivers the perception of sweetness with no glycemic load. Metabolic bonus of improving insulin sensitivity over time. Pick the right one.
Stop drinking mineral-depleted water
Gerolsteiner + ConcenTrace = S-tier mineral cocktail. Magnesium. Calcium. Bicarbonate. Sulfate. Sodium. Potassium. Lithium. Boron.
One Brazil nut a day for selenium
Food-first beats supplementation. One nut covers the optimal daily intake. High variability based on soil origin so no more than 3 per day.
Kefir for hydration
Milk out-hydrates water. Kefir (fermented milk) means more live probiotic cultures. Add in a little salt and you’ve got the hydration elixir = water + electrolytes (K + Na + Mg + Ca) + sugar.
Sardines when traveling
Beats fish oil supplementation. Complete protein, omega-3s, calcium from the bones, selenium, B12, and vitamin D. Cost-efficient. Nutrient-dense. Shelf-stable.
Address low potassium-to-sodium ratio for chronic fatigue
Accounts for many cases of modern fatigue. Potassium runs the pump keeping every cell charged and expends 40% of resting energy. Paleo K-to-Na intake = ~13:1. Western diets = ~1:1. Increase K intake via food first approach. Potatoes. Sweet potatoes. Salmon. Acorn squash. Avocados.
Supplement Strategy
NAC for nicotine & cannabis cravings
Restores GABA/glutamate balance. Don’t fall for the “Zyns are fine” psyop.
Full exit strategy here:
Camu camu & acerola extracts instead of ascorbic acid
Whole-food & extract sources pair with the bioflavonoid matrix for enhanced absorption. Food > extracts >> isolated ascorbic acid.
Test different forms of magnesium
Acetyl Taurate for anxiety & stress. Malate for afternoon fatigue. Pidolate for headaches. Glycinate for sleep. Chloride for muscle soreness. Sweet spot daily = 4–6 mg/lb BW (spread across day).
Reset your caffeine sensitivity
Adenosine receptors upregulate. The more you spam → the more desensitized you get → the less you feel it → the more you spam. The cycle won’t repeat if you taper properly = Cut 25% every two days over 7–10 days. Use adjacent compounds: Rhodiola + L-tyrosine + magnesium acetyl-taurate.
Why timing matters much less than you think. And what really matters.
The timing rules of thumb
✔ Anything raising catecholamines → AM. Caffeine, tyrosine, alpha-GPC, rhodiola.
✔ Anything driving cellular energy metabolism → AM. CoQ10, B-vitamins, PQQ, glutamine, creatine, L-carnitine.
✔Anything inhibitory or thermoregulatory → PM. Magnesium glycinate/taurate, glycine, taurine, theanine, apigenin, inositol, GABAergic herbs.
Acute Fixes
Hum to unblock your nose
Humming increases nasal nitric oxide 15-fold versus quiet exhalation. NO is a vasodilator and antimicrobial. Peak depletes with repeated humming → take ~3 minutes of silence to recover, then repeat.
Breath-hold to decongest
“Sit up straight. Exhale a soft breath, then pinch both nostrils shut. Keep your mind off the breath holding; shake your head up and down or side to side; go for a quick walk, or jump and run. Once you feel a very potent sense of air hunger, take a very slow and controlled breath in through the nose. (If the nose is still congested, breathe softly through the mouth with pursed lips.) Continue this calm, controlled breathing for at least 30 seconds. Repeat all these steps 6x.”
― James Nestor, author of Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art
Neti pot for sinus pressure
Saline irrigation to remove allergens & mucus. Distilled or boiled water only.
Nasal strips for training nasal breathing
Mechanical dilation of the nasal valve. Works for congestion. Underrated for training nasal breathing during sleep (paired with mouth tape) and cardio.
Black seed oil (nigella sativa) for seasonal allergies
Thymoquinone in BSO suppresses the inflammatory response behind seasonal allergies. Organic. Cold-pressed. Liquid form. 1.5–2% thymoquinone content. 500mg twice daily.
Ginger for nausea
Gingerols and shogaols act on 5-HT3 receptors in the gut. 0.5–1g dried = sweet spot.
Squeeze LI4 for tension headaches
The webbing between thumb & index finger. Firm sustained pressure for 60 seconds then switch hands. Press until it’s uncomfortable.
Eliminate mouthwash for balanced oral microbiome
Mouthwash reduces nitrate-reducing species & increases blood pressure. Scrape the tongue. Brush with hydroxyapatite. Oil pull with coconut or black seed oil.
Xylitol mints after meals
Cavity-causing streptococcus mutans drop linearly with more frequent use. Cavity reductions up to 80% at 5–10g taken 3x times daily. Treat it as a virtually free dessert.
Compression socks on any flight over three hours
Clot risk reducer. Sitting still at altitude slows venous return as blood pools in the legs. Graduated compression pumps it back. Aisle seat & move hourly.
Stress & Repair
Keep your balls cool for fertility
If you’re aiming to get pregnant, taper the sauna use (or at the very least – use the ice pack). Infertile men who stopped hot tub and sauna exposure had a 5x total motile sperm count increase. Takes 3–4 months to restore.
670nm morning red light for eyesight
3 minutes of morning red light produced a ~17% improvement in color contrast sensitivity in adults over 40. Timing matters – identical protocol at midday did nothing.
GHK-Cu + red light for hair
GHK-Cu reactivates dormant follicles & suppresses low-grade inflammation on the scalp. Red and near-infrared light hit the follicle’s mitochondria to turn up energy production. Apply topically + 15 min daily.
Sun on skin for libido & mood
UVA releases nitric oxide → vasodilation across the skin → blood flow improves. More skin exposed = more effect.
Every reason why the sun is the ideal pharmacy.
Sleep Architecture
Pinealon for restorative sleep & vivid dreams
Single best tool used to date for improving deep sleep. Supports brain redox state, mitochondrial function & neuroprotection. Start @ 1 mg (oral dose).
Chicken lamp for evening light
Warm, low color temperature light after sunset. Minimal melatonin disruption. High ROI, cost-efficient ($10) sleep investment.
Warm shower before bed for faster sleep onset
Warm water pulls blood to the skin → cools body temperature → less time to get into a deep sleep phase. 30 min before bed.
Tart cherry juice + 2 kiwis for sleep efficiency
If you’re craving a late snack, at least feed the tryptophan → serotonin → melatonin pipeline. Cherry blocks the tryptophan-wasting enzyme. Kiwi supplies melatonin precursors. 60 min before bed.
Swap glycine for collagen at night
Solution to “magnesium glycinate / glycine makes me wired”.
Glycine to stop peeing at night
Acts as the inhibitory brake on bladder reflex. Improves sleep latency. Cools body temperature. 3g 60 min before bed.
Epitalon (AEDG) for circadian reset/jet lag
Restores melatonin production/timing. Supports the morning cortisol pulse. Excellent tool for jet lag. Start @ 3 mg (oral dose) in the AM. Avoid N-acetyl Epitalon form.
Left side sleeping for digestion
Stomach & its acid sit left. Left side sleeping keeps the esophageal junction above the acid pool for smoother late night digestion.
Wedge pillow for acid reflux & snoring
Elevate the head of the bed to use gravity against nocturnal reflux.
Mouth taping for sleep quality & jawline definition
Forces nasal breathing. Reduces snoring. Improves restorative sleep. 3M micropore = stays on + cost-efficient.
Stick one foot outside the blanket
Keep one foot out = drop into sleep quicker. Foot veins are close to the surface so heat transfers away more easily.
Weighted blanket for reducing nighttime anxiety
Weighted blankets beat light ones for insomnia, time to fall asleep, & total sleep time. Raises parasympathetic tone. Reduces cortisol response at sleep onset. 10–15% of body weight.
Scandinavian sleep method for couples’ sleeping
Two separate duvets/blankets in one bed. Removes the blanket theft and thermal mismatch.
Loop earplugs for noise reduction
Reusable. Comfortable. Discreet. Durable. Also great for daytime focus around a noisy house & sleeping. Owned mine for 4+ yrs now – still in the same condition I got them in.
Placebo your sleep
You slept well last night. Trust.
Non-Physiological
Become an anti-digital hoarder
Newsletter unread for 6 months → unsubscribe
Service unused for 4 months → cancel
App unopened for 3 months → delete
Tab unopened for a week → close
Each open loop = small ongoing withdrawal chipping away at your finite resource pool
Digital fasts: 24 hours weekly + 48 hours monthly
Most effective form of spiritual autophagy. Few better feelings in the modern landscape than the sensitized dopaminergic system. Live like it’s 2005 a few days out of the month. This is the path to get there.
Cycle a third place
Pick a local, independently owned spot where you’re a regular. Avoid chains. Somewhere your presence is valued and your absence is noticed. A life without one is the modern driver behind most adult loneliness.
Marriage as a long conversation
Pick someone you want to keep talking to for decades.
Don’t just love her. You need to like her too.
“A good relationship requires genuinely liking the person beyond the perfect image you initially projected onto them. If you’re actually compatible, you won’t have to force yourself to like them. When love and like are combined, there’s an unspoken optimism that you will never let the relationship deteriorate. Making each other happy becomes your top priority. Liking is the difference between a battlefield and a home.”
— Med Gold
We’re loading up much more in the next few months → a few in-depth highly specific protocols plus n = 1 experimentation on several compounds/peptides/bioregulators.
Keep crushing the summer out there & stay tuned for those.
The best is yet to come.
Your friend,
Phys
Leave a book you already read in the bathroom, read it again instead of looking at your phone.
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