More Exercise Required to Live Longer!

 

You heard that right!  Recent research is overriding long standing exercise recommendations to optimize lifespan and prevent death.   Many are familiar with existing American Health Association Guidelines stating that you need to do 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of intense exercise per week to get the most benefits from exercise.

A new National Institutes of Health – funded, peer-reviewed published study look the self-reported activity of 100,000 adults over 30 years.

They found that those who exercised two to four times the 150-minute moderate exercise per week recommendation had a mortality reduction of 26% to 31% respectively.

Those who exercised two – four times the 75-minute intense exercise per week recommendation had a mortality reduction of 21% - 31% respectively.

Those who hit the current recommendation of 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week still saw a 20% mortality reduction.

Those who hit the current recommendation of 75 minutes per week of intense exercise per week had a 19% reduction in mortality risk.

The study concluded that the maximum benefit in mortality reduction occurs when doing between 150 – 300 minutes of intense exercise per week or between 300 – 600 minutes of moderate activity OR both!

Critically the study did NOT find any link to adverse cardiovascular health effects for those people who exercise more than four times the current recommendations for moderate and vigorous activity.

What does Moderate and Intense Exercise Mean?

Heart Rate – if you use a heart rate monitor moderate exercise can be defined as exercising between 50% - 70% of your Maximum Heart Rate for Moderate Exercise Intensity.     70% - 85% of your Maximum Heart Rate for Intense Exercise.  To determine your maximum heart rate and heart rate zones review this previous blogpost: http://workoutanytime.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-incredible-benefits-of-walking-and.html

Rate of Perceived Exertion for Moderate Exercise (how hard does it feel?)

1.     Your breathing accelerates but you are NOT out of Breath if not talking continuously.

2.     You start to sweat lightly after 10 minutes

3.     You can talk but NOT sing

Rate of Perceived Exertion for Intense Exercise (how hard does it feel?”)

1.     Your breathing is deep and rapid and hard to keep mouth closed and not breath through mouth.

2.     You develop a sweat after only a few minutes

3.     Hard to speak – cannot say more than a few words without pausing to breath.

 

The Many Benefits of Watermelon!

 

Watermelon does not just taste great – it is great for you!  It is a cousin of cucumbers, pumpkins, and squash.   

One of the reasons watermelon is beneficial is that it contains a high quantity of lycopene which is a powerful plant chemical that gives watermelon its red color like tomatoes (another source of lycopene).  Lycopene is a potent antioxidant, and watermelon contains 1.5 times more lycopene than tomato which is the more commonly known source of lycopene.

Lycopene is a carotenoid, similar in structure to beta-carotene associated with carrots.   However, lycopene is much more potent than beta-carotene and provides many unique benefits.   In one study, men with the highest plasma levels of lycopene were 55 percent less likely to have a stroke than those with the lowest levels.

Lycopene Fights Cancer

Scientists at eh University of Portsmouth showed that lycopene slows the growth of breast and prostate cancer by interfering with signaling pathways that facilitate tumor growth.  Lycopene also slows the growth of renal cell cancer and helps prevent the cancer from occurring in the first place.  Lycopene has also been shown to work to combat the negative effects of HPV infection (Human Papilloma Virus) which is the cause of cervical cancers, uterine cancer, and certain throat cancers.  It helps the body combat this virus. 

Lycopene and Eye Health

Lycopene protects eyes from oxidative stress that causes many eye diseases and is one of the strongest eye nutrients you can consume.  It may even have the capacity to delay or even prevent cataracts.  Through its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, lycopene can help slow or stop processes that lead to macular degeneration.

Lycopene Reduces Neuropathic Pain

Neuropathic pain is pain from nerve damage often accompanied by tissue damage.   It has many causes including diabetes and injuries.  Pain can be severe and difficult to treat.  Lycopene has been shown to safely reduce diabetic neuropathy in a study published in the European Journal of Pain.

Lycopene and Heart Health

Lycopene can help prevent high blood pressure and coronary heart disease.

L-Citrulline

In addition to lycopene watermelon contains l-citrulline – particularly if you eat/juice the rind that has the highest amounts.   L-citrulline is an amino acid that is converted into l-arginine in the kidneys.  Through this process it helps boost levels of Nitric Oxide (NO) which is very important for circulation and through this process can help reduce blood pressure and treat erectile dysfunction.   In fact, citrulline supplementation has been shown to improve erectile function in men.   

Are Multivitamins Really a Waste of Money?

 

Multivitamins that provide essential vitamins and minerals at doses that provide greater than 100% of the RDA are the most commonly used dietary supplements.

Major press outlets have been pushing a highly negative narrative about Multivitamins such as:

 

• “Multivitamins are a waste of money for most people”
• “Multivitamins continue to disappoint”
• “Multivitamins and Supplements—Benign Prevention or Potentially Harmful Distraction?”

A key theme the press pushes is that people who take multiple vitamins use them to attempt to compensate for unhealthy lifestyle practices like smoking, drinking excessive alcohol, taking drugs, etc.   Is this true?

The answer is NO!.  The overwhelming majority people take multivitamins as an addition to a healthy lifestyle. A study looking at the health habits of nutrition supplement users concluded that:

 “Dietary supplements are used by half to two-thirds of American adults, and the evidence suggests that this usage is one component of a larger effort to develop a healthier lifestyle. Dietary supplement users tend on average to be better educated and to have somewhat higher incomes than nonusers, and these factors may contribute to their health-consciousness. Dietary supplement use also tends to be more prevalent among women than among men, and the prevalence of use increases with age in both men and women. Numerous surveys document that users of dietary supplements are significantly more likely than nonusers to have somewhat better dietary patterns, exercise regularly, maintain a healthy weight, and avoid tobacco products. While supplement users tend to have better diets than nonusers, the differences are relatively small, their diets have some substantial nutrient shortfalls, and their supplement use has been shown to improve the adequacy of nutrient intakes. Overall, the evidence suggests that users of dietary supplements are seeking wellness and are consciously adopting a variety of lifestyle habits that they consider to contribute to healthy living.”

The press also frequently publishes articles stating that nutrition supplements either do not work or that they are dangerous.    Is this true?

In almost every case when you look at these studies you find a number of factors which negate their validity and usefulness including:

Many are sponsored by drug companies who design the study to deliberately prove a supplement does not work.   For example, the Cosmos Trial sponsored by Pfizer used Centrum Multivitamin to examine how this multivitamin affected cancer risk.  The problem is that Centrum is uses inferior forms of many nutrient forms while also using far from optimal doses.   All that can be concluded from this “research” is that Centrum did not affect cancer outcomes.

As to Nutrition supplements being dangerous – that is a VERY misleading statement.   Let’s look at the facts – not the hype!   

To put the danger of nutrition supplements into perspective consider that drug overdoses currently kill over 85,000 Americans each year.   Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Medications like aspirin and ibuprofen alone routinely kill over 7,000 people every year.  Opioids alone account for 50,000 deaths and are the leading cause of death for Americans under 50 years of age!

Now what about deaths from nutritional supplements? 

According to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, which has been tracking supplement and drug issues for over three decades, there have been 13 alleged deaths from vitamins in 31 years!  Let that sink in 13 in 31 years is less than 1 death per year compared to over 85,000 deaths from pharmaceuticals every year.  

In addition, according to Dr. Andrew Saul, the editor in chief of the Orthomolecular Medicine News, “my team looked into this and we could not find substantiation, documentation, proof or convincing evidence of one single death.”   In most of these alleged cases people were taking both medications AND nutrition supplements.

This is not to say the nutrition supplements cannot harm people or cause death some can and there are also drug interactions to consider.    To get a handle on how to prevent these issues read this previous blog article on this subject:   http://workoutanytime.blogspot.com/2019/05/how-dangerous-are-nutritional.html

Last but not least when it comes to nutrition supplements being ineffective and dangerous consider this conclusion in an article published in the Integrative Medicine Clinician.

“A major and serious problem arises when unskilled and invalid research is published by authors (including nonphysician journalists) in major journals which mischaracterizes the validity of nutrition interventions (e.g. essentially always concluding that nutritional interventions are inefficacious or potentially hazardous) and then such research is used politically and in the media to disparage, restrict and regulate practitioners and the nutrition supplement industry to the detriment of human health.”

In this context, it’s worthwhile to note that there continues to be a concerted campaign to rein in the supplement industry and limit consumer choices. A chorus of voices within the FDA, Congress, academic medicine, the pharmaceutical industry and their enablers in the press want more restrictions. Is the current negative publicity about multivitamins a coincidence—or is it furthering a narrative?

The Alliance for Natural Health is worth supporting if you care about access to nutrition supplements.   You can sign-up to receive notifications every time a bill comes up in congress attempting to restrict your access.  They make it easy to let your representatives know you do NOT support supplement restrictions.    Here is a link to their latest notification and you will see a green join button in upper right – there are no fees:   https://anh-usa.org/action-center/?vvsrc=%2fcampaigns%2f88223%2frespond

 

Build Core Strength, Balance and Total Fitness with Stand-up Paddleboarding!

 

Stand-up Paddle Boarding (SUP) is a fun activity that almost anyone can learn, and it is one of the best workouts available!   Stand-up Paddle Boarding is low impact and provides a combination of balance, core, strength, and endurance.     Since you are standing you have to use everything from your feet (wow do you use your feet!) all the way up through your entire shoulder girdle.    Because you are standing your arms never have to go above shoulder height which means that there is much less stress on the rotator cuff muscles than kayaking.    You use your shoulders heavily but your shoulders are stressed in the position where they are naturally most stable and strong so much better than kayaking for those with shoulder and neck issues!

Just standing on a Paddle Board forces you to stabilize your entire body and core, and it is one of the best activities available to develop balance.   Best of all if you do fall you land in the water and getting back on the board is very easy!  

SUP Technique Breakdown

Learning to SUP is easy but mastering the stroke and maximizing your speed takes lot of practice.  The first thing to focus on is NOT pulling the water!     Instead you want to plant the blade in the water and pull yourself and the board up to the paddle blade.   Imagine that you are stabbing the paddle firmly into soft sand then pulling yourself and the board up to the paddle.   If you can clearly visualize the difference here it will go a long way to getting your stroke where it needs to be for optimum speed.   Think about grabbing the water NOT pulling the water by you!

Reach

Once you get a little feel for it start looking at how far you are reaching forward to put your paddle in the water.   You want to reach as far as possible each time you stroke, BUT there is a limit based on your particular anatomy, shoulder strength and balance.    If you reach too far you can overstress your low back, shoulder or just be off balance which is counter-productive.

Catch

This is where the blade of the paddle enters the water.    Make sure the entire blade enters the water before you begin to pull.   The catch should be as smooth and clean as possible with no splashing.

Pull

Now you are ready to apply power to the paddle.   Use your entire body for this part of the stroke.   It is NOT about using your arms.   Rather your arms merely connect you to the paddle through your hands and you use the rotation of your torso, hips, and shoulders to drive your paddle!  Try to relax your arms as much as possible to perfect this technique. Do not pull too far back as this will actually slow you down.   Once the paddle passes your hips if you keep pull you are actually pulling the paddle up meaning you are pulling the paddle board down and this only slows you down.

Release

After the pull you need to release the paddle from the water.    Like the catch you want this movement to be quick, smooth, and with zero splashing.   Feathering the blade of the paddle creates a smooth release and set-up for the next catch.   You feather by dropping your top shoulder, “breaking your wrist inward”, or a combination of both.  

Recovery

Once you release the paddle you are ready to set-up for the next catch and pull.   Try to relax during this phase – the key to optimum paddle technique is learning to set a rhythm between tension and relaxation and ultimately getting your breathing into a rhythm with the stroke.  The first time you feel this come together it is amazing – really zen!  So stay relaxed and let go of the tension you produced in the catch and pull and smoothly swing the paddle forward to prepare to drive the blade fully into the water for the next pull!

 How many calories can you burn Paddle Boarding?

Obviously your actual calorie burn will depend on the intensity of effort you are putting into to paddling along with your height, weight, and the wind and water conditions you are paddling in.     However here are some estimates based on people weighing between 165 and 200lbs :

            Casual Paddle Boarding – 300 – 430 calories per hour

Yoga on Paddle Board – 416 – 540 calories per hour

Touring on a Paddle Board – 615 – 708 calories per hour

Surfing on a Paddle Board – 623 – 735 calories per hour

Racing a Paddle Board – 715 – 1,125 calories per hour

So if you have not taken the plunge yet – google “Stand-up Paddle Board Rental” and find a rental location and give it a whirl.   Rentals including paddle, board, and lifejacket are generally $25 - $35 per hour so get out there and give it a go!    

The 3/7 Method of Strength Training: Better Results in Less Time!

Strength Training science is always advancing and one of the newer discoveries is the use of a specific strength training protocol called the 3/7 method.  When researcher Jacques Duchateau heard about the protocol from a Swiss Track and field Coach John-Pierre Egger he decided to test it in his lab.

The 3/7 method uses a weight that is 70% of your one-rep max (typically a weight you can perform 12 repetitions of an exercise before reaching momentary muscular failure).   You lift this weight in five sets of 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 reps with just 15 seconds of rest between each set.

The researcher and his colleagues published their study on the method in Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews which compared the 3/7 method against various other protocols for bench press.   For both strength and muscle growth the protocol outperformed 4 sets of 6 reps with 2.5 minutes of rest between sets and produced similar results to 8 sets of 6 reps, all with the same weight!

The key advantage of the 3/7 method is that it takes just 5 minutes.   The key to this and any other protocol is hitting failure.   In this case if you pick the right weight you will hit failure in each of the last 2 sets.

Give it try to break a plateau in your program!

 

The Incredible Pistol Squat

 

The pistol squat requires mobility and strength from the entire lower body and core, and once you work up to being able to complete them you can get a great lower body workout anywhere with no equipment. 

Most people will not be able to perform the pistol squat properly without working through several progressions that help develop the specific mobility, strength and stability required to get through the exercise for repetitions.

 Pistol Squat Progressions

There are two basic ways to progress to a full pistol squat. Either use a progressively lower bench or step, or use something to hold onto while doing a full pistol to help pull yourself up and progressively use it less and less until it is no longer required.

For the step progression, you can use actually stairs or use a chair to start.    Stand facing away from the chair or staircase and put all your weight on one leg keeping the other leg straight with the hip flexed slightly so the non-standing foot is held off the ground in front of you.  

Flex the hips and reach back with your butt towards the staircase or chair and lower yourself down under control keep your arms straight and in front of you parallel to the floor to counterbalance your hips moving backwards.  

Let the standing knee and ankle flex along with your hip as you reach your butt backwards and go down.    However, you MUST keep the heel of the standing leg down and this requires a lot of flexibility of the soleus tendon (soleus is the single joint calf muscle).    

Try to lightly touch your butt down to a stair or the chair then drive the standing foot down, squeeze the glutes extending your hip, knee and ankle to the starting position.  

Perform sets of 5 – 10 reps each leg.  Overtime find progressively lower steps, benches or individual stairs so that you are progressively squatting lower and lower until you can perform a full squat on one leg all the way down to the ground and back up again keeping your non-standing leg straight and parallel to the floor while the hip is flexed.

The second option to progress to full pistol squats is to hold onto something that you can pull on while doing a full pistol squat thereby assisting the stance leg.    

You can hold onto a suspension trainer, a cable machine handle, door frame, chair or table, or resistance training band or rope anchored above you.    A great way to do this is to anchor a suspension trainer or resistance band above you to a secure point then grasp the two handles and pull on them as required to do a full pistol squat.    Over time progressively use less and less assistance from the upper body, switch to just one hand, then lessen grip and assistance until you can perform full pistol squats.

The excellent videos below show you exactly how to start and progress the pistol squat - and once you master it you can get a great lower body workout in anywhere!

Videos:  https://youtu.be/It3yvU0fomI or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPksQCbeVZw

The Incredible Benefits of Grounding - Walking Barefoot on the Ground!

 

With summer arriving many of us will have the opportunity of walking on a beach in bare feet.     It’s not just the sea air, water, and sunshine that makes this so fun.   There is a powerful connection formed with the earth when your feet are in direct contact with the ground.

Anyone with small children knows they want to try to ditch their shoes every chance they get – but if you think about this a little you will probably realize that you feel better when you can walk around barefoot.   This is particularly true when you can walk directly on the ground safely such as walking on the beach.  Researchers have begun to unravel why being barefoot directly on the ground can in fact be very good for your health!

Your immune system functions well when your body has an adequate supply of electrons, which are easily and naturally obtained by barefoot contact with the Earth.

Research has shown that electrons from the ground have measurable antioxidant effects that can protect your body from inflammation.  For most of our time on this planet we have been in direct contact with the ground without anything that would block the flow of electrons into our body – natural animal hides do NOT interrupt the flow of electrons!

However in modern time’s pavement, wood, rubber, plastics and many other forms of non-conductive material are between our feet and ground blocking the natural flow of electrons.

The surface of our planet has a negative electrical potential. So when we are in direct contact with it electrons flow to your body through a process called “grounding”.   Grounding cause positive physiological effects that promote optimum health.

Specific researched benefits include improvements in blood viscosity, heart rate variability, inflammation, cortisol dynamics, sleep, autonomic nervous system (ANS) balance, and reduced effects of stress.

When you connect directly to the ground without any non-conducting material between you and the electron field of the planet there is an improvement in the balance of two sides of your autonomic nervous system:  the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

How Shoes May be Impacting Your Health

Materials like metals are excellent conductors of electricity (aka electrons!). The human body is also conductive because it contains a large number of charged ions (called electrolytes) dissolved in water.

Other non-conductive materials, such as plastic and rubber, have very few free or mobile electrons. Traditionally shoes were made of leather, which is a good electrical conductor. However almost all modern shoes contain rubber and plastic which block the flow of electrons from the earth to your body.

The Health Benefits of Grounding

Your immune system body has evolved a method of destroying bacteria and viruses by generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) that are delivered by immune cells. These ROS do exactly what they are designed to do, but they can also cause extensive damage to healthy tissues. ROS are usually positively charged molecules that need to be neutralized immediately to prevent damage to the body after destroying bacteria or viruses.   This is one of the key functions of anti-oxidants which are most important in immune cells to protect them from the ROS they generate!

Anti-oxidants essentially provide a supply of negative charges. Food based antioxidants (such as Vitamins C and E) and anti-oxidants your body produces are critical but a regular supply of electrons grounding can supply them as well.

Evolution facilitated the process of grounding by providing conductive systems within your body that deliver electrons from your feet to all parts of your body. This system has been integral to human physiology for thousands of years. Negative electrons are always available, thanks to the Earth, to prevent the inflammatory process from damaging healthy tissues.

All of this was interrupted when we started to wear shoes with rubber and plastic soles, and no longer slept in direct contact with the ground. Several experiments have proven that a person who is grounded is less stressed and more relaxed.

So have some fun, kick your shoes off and get back to nature!

How to get the benefits of Grounding

Grounding is simple in warmer climates – simply spend time barefoot in direct contact with the earth.   Even better do this on a beach walking along the edge of the water because the flow of negatively charged electrons will be highest here because sea water is an ideal conductor of electrons!    Any amount of time will help but the more you can do it the better!  Even better spend some time laying on the beach or ground with your body in direct contact with the ground without any artificial fabrics, rubber or plastic between your skin and the ground.

For those of us who do not live in warm climates staying grounded during colder months is a bit more challenging but doable! There are actually shoes that are specifically designed to facilitate electron flow from the ground into your body like these: https://tinyurl.com/bdhcj53z 

 

 

Ideal Rest Time Between Sets of Resistance Training Exercise

 

There are several different variables to consider when resistance training including:

The exercises you chose to do

The amount of resistance used

The number of repetitions for each set of exercise

The total number of sets of exercise

The rest time between sets of exercise

There is an inverse relationship between the weight lifted and the number of repetitions completed in a set.   When you choose heavier weights you will be able to complete fewer repetitions before fatiguing the target muscles.      A general rule is that higher levels of resistance with less repetitions focus more on building strength, and lower levels of resistance for more repetitions focus more on increasing muscular endurance.

So how does rest time between sets of exercise affect the workout and the results you will obtain from a workout and how should you determine your rest time between sets?    The answer depends on your goals for the workout.        

If your goal is to maximize strength (meaning the maximum amount of resistance you can complete one repetition with) then you should choose longer rest periods of 3 – 4 minutes to allow for complete recovery of the muscles between sets and use high levels of resistance for 3 – 5 repetitions.   

If your goal is muscular hypertrophy meaning increasing muscle size then reducing rest periods to 1 – 2 minutes with less resistance and a higher number of repetitions – 8 – 15 would help to maximize progress.  

If your goal is maximizing calorie burn during the workout and caloric afterburn after the workout, then using minimal rest periods down to no rest period between sets of resistance training is optimal to drive the metabolic overload during and after the workout.

If all this seems too complicated the great news is that a recent study done with experienced weightlifters showed that there was no difference in results when one group used a timed recovery of 2 minutes and another group used a self-selected recovery period based on each individual’s perception of fatigue.     

In the group that chose their own recovery period the average recovery time chosen was less than 2 minutes.    The researchers concluded that the volume of exercise performed (total number of sets and reps) may be the more important factor in driving results versus an exact rest time.

For most of us in the gym who are focused on building a lean physique but not concerned with absolute strength or size the following recommendations are a good guideline:

Do 1 – 3 sets of exercise for each major body part such as chest, shoulders, arms, legs, etc.

Choose a level of resistance where you can complete 8 – 12 repetitions of each set of exercise in good form hitting momentary muscular failure by the end of the set.

Use slow controlled movement without momentum to keep tension in the target muscles throughout the set.

Use compound movements for most exercises – meaning movements that involve movement at two or more joints such as a chest press or push-up versus a pec fly movement.

Use the shortest rest period possible that allows you to complete 8 – 12 repetitions – probably between 30 seconds – 2 minutes!

How to Avoid the Nine Big Beginner Mistakes in the Gym!

 

Click here and watch this short video to find out how to avoid the 9 Big Beginner Mistakes that prevent people from reaching their goals!: https://youtu.be/-NL1_upNzQU_

NAD+ - The Most Important Chemical in your Cells!

 

So what is NAD+ anyway?

NAD operates at the core of the energy system within each of your cells. It has two forms, NAD+ and NADH, which indicate whether or not the NAD is ready to pick up and deliver electrons for use in the mitochondria that produce the energy your cells require. Cells need NAD+ to perform many cellular functions - everything from repairing themselves, to replicating into new cells and to maintain healthy ‘homeostasis’ in the cell.  This applies to all of the cell types in your body, from the liver, the heart, in the brain, your skin and more!

NAD+ is the ‘starting’ point for healthy cellular energy production when it is available to pickup electrons and make them available to the mitochondria. Simply put - higher levels of NAD+ mean more energy is available for all of the required cellular functions for a healthy you.  

Unfortunately, many of the stressors of life can put downward pressure on your NAD+ levels, meaning all of the important mechanisms discussed above don’t have the energy required to do their job.  Inflammation, poor nutrition, stress and even aging itself lead to reduced NAD+ levels over time. By the time you are in your 60s or 70s, you’re likely to have half the NAD+ levels you did when you were 20. 

Thankfully, science is revealing great new insights into why NAD+ levels fall and what we can do to intervene and stay healthy at a cellular level as we age. 

 

The following are a few techniques and strategies for boosting sagging NAD levels.

 1. Exercise

 Exercise is one way to boost your overall NAD+ levels.

While individual sessions of exercise, particularly challenging endurance exercise or exercise to exhaustion (think of doing repeat sets of burpees!) will deplete cellular energy (NAD+ levels), the body’s response will be to make more NAD+ available after it recovers, so as to be ‘ready’ for that type of exercise stimulus to show up again. 

This means higher average NAD+ levels for regular exercisers.  There is not yet enough data to select which types of exercise are best for boosting your NAD+ levels, however there is good data looking at how mitochondria (the energy producers within the cell) density and function change with different types of exercise. This can give us some insights into how specific exercise will impact NAD+ levels. 

In general, exercise that is done over longer periods of time (endurance style, aerobic exercise) will increase mitochondrial efficiency most effectively.  This means there are more, healthier mitochondria on average, and, probably, higher NAD+ levels.

2. Fasting

The connections between fasting and NAD+ levels are not as clear as for exercise.

 

On one hand, we know that fasting activates DNA repair, which consumes NAD+. While fasting, you are also reducing the amount of food intake, which is of course the primary source of cellular energy!  Both of these would mean that NAD+ levels should drop.

 

However, fasting is also reducing inflammation, which is one of the primary reasons NAD+ levels fall with age. One known source of NAD+ depleting inflammation is the inflammatory cytokine CD38 (cytokines are chemical messengers produced by the body). CD38 is known to increase with age and its influence is directly related to the burden of ‘senescent’ cells (so called ‘zombie cells’).    

Senescent cells are cells that have stopped functioning properly and have failed to activate their preset cellular destruct process built into our cells to prevent cancer and senescent cell accumulation.   These types of senescent cells increase inflammation and cancer risk and increase with age. 

 

Fasting is also known to stimulate autophagy (cellular cleaning and recycling) along with programmed cell death described above.    These processes can lower the number of senescent cells in the body. What does that mean? Less CD38 results in increased NAD+ levels.

 

So, again, NAD+ levels and fasting are a bit more complicated, but as with most things related to health and food - ‘less is more’ seems to hold true. The bodily repair that fasting enables is likely to be an effective strategy for maintaining health NAD+ levels. 

 

3. Nutritional Supplements

 

Nutritional Supplements and NAD+ levels are where it starts to get really interesting. In just the past few years, we’ve become aware of two ‘NAD Booster’ molecules, which when taken orally are proven to boost NAD+ levels. Supplementation is so far the only way to sustain sufficient and healthy NAD levels as we age.

 

These ‘NAD precursors’ are the raw ingredient for cellular energy. The thinking goes - when these precursors are consumed in supplement form, they are then more readily available for the cell to use them as energy.

 

Importantly, these precursors both appear to have the ability to enter the cell directly, meaning they can increase NAD+ where it matters most - inside of the cell, where the energy is used for important tasks like DNA repair and cell replication. 

These two precursors are Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) and Nicotinamide Mononucleotide (NMN). To date, we have a bit more science on the positive benefits of NR, but clinical trial data (science in humans) for NMN is advancing quickly, and NMN is more popular.

Which of these forms of NAD boosting are best for a given individual is hard to predict - which is where another valuable technology can assist you in you quest for higher NAD+ levels. That’s NAD+ at home test kits! With just a few drops of blood from a finger prick, you can test your ‘before’ and ‘after’ NAD+ levels with either (or both, separately) NR or NMN, to see which one increases your NAD+ levels the most. This is a key metric as you age and it is recommended to test once every 6 months.

Two other supplements can assist in boosting NAD+ levels by decreasing the activity of the CD38 enzyme mentioned above which increases with age and causes the body to use much more NAD+.   These supplements are Quercetin and Apigenin which are both bioflavonoids.

Quercetin can be found in many foods with the highest levels in red onions and capers while the highest levels of Apigenin are found in chamomile and parsley.   Unfortunately, the levels required to reduce CD38 significantly are very difficult to get even from eating these food sources.

In addition both of them are not easily absorbed.     The good news is that both are available in forms that optimize delivery into your cells by binding them to another molecule for transport.

Our partners at  www.donotage.org/products offer the optimal forms of both quercetin and apigenin along with most absorbable form of NMN - Nicotinamide Mononucleotide.    Any of these supplements alone can boost NAD+ levels but together can be particularly powerful.

Boosting NAD+ levels has profound effects on improving cellular energy and health with benefits including:

Improving Exercise Capacity

Improved Heart Health

Improved Cognitive Function

Improved Energy Levels

Increased Metabolic Rate

Increase Cellular Regeneration

Reduced Inflammation

Reduced Agining