Archives: Wiki Pages

Is a bit old now but interesting, its definition and wiki is here.

Some barriers to Game B are:

• winner-takes-all – where competing entities in an arms race for dominance. The internet has magnified these dynamics where things like shopping concentrates massive wealth to Jeff Bezos or local taxi companies are crushed by a loss making Uber (success for Uber is predicated on investment that drives competitors out of the market).
• multi-polar traps – where there competing entities are in a power status-quo, but one player defects from the rules of the game for personal advantage, e.g
  • if either US or Russia breaks the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, they have a nuclear advantage.
  • Countries not party to the Paris Agreement can freely use carbon-based fuels to their economic advantage.
  • The power shift occurring between USA and China is another obvious example.

This wiki captures the results of research and “doing” things that we liked at time of writing. Everyone should aim to be a renaissance (wo)man

I was taught a meditation technique that centered on the breath. Big Deal right? Pretty much most traditions have a ‘beginner’ technique of “following the breath”, often the sensation on the tip of the nose, or trunk of the body.

As taught to me there were some notable (I won’t say “unique” or “different”) characteristics:

• Biomechanically is a “belly breath” like a child or animal. In western biological lingo: “diaphragmatic breath”.
• experience the stillness in the turn of the breath. What is in the moment at the bottom of the breath? What is in the moment at the top of the breath? You may experience an expansive space that remains even when your next in/out breath
• visualize the movement of the breath in and out of the body (I can go further but for now it’s an imagination or creativity.
• experience any interoceptive sensations, either biomechanical or “energetic”.

But sitting on the cushion is only 1/30 or 1/40 of our day so we were taught to stop and return to this breath and experience whenever possible during the day.

I don’t find this particularly appropriate as the needs of the day change: climbing stairs, swimming laps, conversations, doing push-ups – but you can observe what the “right” breath is at that moment. The ancients didn’t pull a cushion and “meditate” but they probably did sit in stillness for hours waiting for their next meal to arrive at the watering hole.

I recently enjoyed a talk by Simon Thakur that shed light on why aboriginals often describe that the tribe was part of the landscape. No greater, not a dominator, but a part. Simon contends that humans had mirror-neuron-like experiences of the movement of animals and plants in order to silently, internally, interoceptively know that the rustle in the bush was predator, prey or just the wind. That a splash is moving river was the fish they sought. That the shape of an animal print in sand or mud showed the animal’s emotional state at the time.

I digress. The point is that meditation is a formal practice to re-instate something humans have lost. In this presentation, I propose that the Meditation is a western hijack.

I propose some drivers for this:

1. It suits the new atheists like Sam Harris to make think pieces and products and seminars that pull in a secular crowd to something previously excluded because eastern “woo” is less suspicious than western woo or scientistic woo.
2. Mindfullness is big business – at the time of writing both Headspace and Calm are apparently valued at more than $1Billion. Products that profit still
3. Critics assert that western “concensus buddhism” is a psychologised,  disembodied version that suited the analysts and therapists that needed a new trick to wallpaper over the cracks of Freudian treatment protocols. This is well-covered Anne Gleig’s American Dharma  and by many others
4. Baby boomers want to atone for their materialistic conditioning without relinquishing their acquisitions, privilege or position.
5. The relentless growth of New Age, the Secret and self improvement works its way through the entire culture in primarily an “idea” form.

As mentioned at the top, breath is included (in some way) in all these western unbundled practices. But has its central importance been pushed to the edge? Has it been relegated to a mere component of psychological perspective?

I’m still digressing. The actual point is that apart from keeping us alive (remember that?), breath is about the best no-bullshit intelligence that you have. Better than any teacher, than any book, than any blog/wiki post.

If you are breathing shallow, have a pain in your solar plexus, breathing into the chest, have no rest at the turn of the breath, no awareness of the breath – then that tells you are 100% normal. Also 100% insane. (Eckhardt Tolle joke).

I find some interesting learnings about the by-products of “appropriate” breathing.

Nasal Breathing

I had an operation for a deviated septum, I probably need to get another. During aerobic activity I need to mouth-breathe (or when I have a cold) – I suspect this is a real achilles heal for me. I get throat problems, flus attack me there first, mucus production. Shit, I better sort this out.

Listen to people like Paul Chek and its clear we must prioritise nasal breathing, it offers:

• filtering of harmful airborn particles. Why would you want them in your throat? (blowing nose or using Neti-style flushing is good – the latter apparently should be avoided if you are already deeply congested)
• Para-sympathetic activation – if you are a startup founder or in fact most people, its likely you have excess stress, adrenal/cortisol activity. This is an overactive “sympathetic” nervous system. Apparently nasal breathing activates para-sympathetic or relaxation response. See also Vagal nerve.

Vagus Nerve

I mentioned earlier this presentation that covers a little on significance of the  the 10th cranial nerve (vagal) that covers a vast amount of the trunk and organs contained. You can think of the vagus nerve as being a bi-directional super-highway for trunk/brain communication.

Belly (diaphragmatic) breathing massages the vagus nerve – everyone knows that a deep breath (or 3) is central to kicking off relaxation. The vagus stimulation is one mechanic in that process. I’d love to spend all my time studying/practicing breath and the vagal system. I hope to get there one day.

Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

Again  this presentation covers the relationship between vagus nerve and heart rate variability. HRV is more important than you think in regards to healthspan, if you have any doubts, then check out how you can win $500K if you figure it out first. Clue: maybe its breath related.

Oura Ring

A good book with leading edge info on NAD+ is Lifespan, by David Sinclair. Here is my Kindle Review and My highlights and notes from Kindle

I also find it fascinating that celebrated kook and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard had an extreme Niacin detox program in a book (more notes here).

Unrelated I used to take Niacin, it gives an uncomfortable “flush” that takes a while to get used to – especially if you exercise after taking it.  I’ve read elsewhere that Niacin can damage organs, I’m not taking it at present.

Sinclair’s specific recommendations

• Low levels of leucine, isoleucine, and violin BCAAs correlate with increased lifespan
• Exercise turns on the genes that make us young again
• Hunger and calorie restriction plays a big role in vitality and longevity
• Get exposed to cold
• Shift to vegetarian/vegan diet 
• Sauna 7x a week may be great
• NMN molecule boosts NAD – he takes it in supplements + Metformin 
• Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) is converged to NMN, it’s cheaper, but it doesn’t raise NAD levels as well as MNM does
• Rapamycin is very powerful, but still very toxic for you
• Stoke development of brown fat (it activates when you get cold – my notes on swimming)

What David Sinclair does:

• 1g (1000 milligrams) of NMN+ 1g of resveratrol shaken into his homemade yogurt every morning
• 1g of Metformin
• Daily doze of vitamin D, vitamin K2
• 83mg of aspirin 
• Keeps sugar, bread and pasta intake as low as possible, no deserts
• skips one meal a day (largely skips lunch)
• Tests blood for dozens of biomarkers every few months and moderates them with food and exercise if not optimal levels 
• Takes a lot of steps and runs up stairs daily
• Exercises, Sauna, cold plunge pool
• Mostly plant-based diet
• Avoids microwave plastic, excessive UV exposure, X-rays and CT scans
• No smoking
• Stays in the cool side during the day and when he sleeps at night
• Keeps his BMI: 23-25
• Supplements: only from a large manufacturers with good reputation, seek highly pure molecules: >98%; looks for GMP on the label (Good Manufacturing Practices)

What I (and people I that I know) do

** Text at bottom of page

** No we wouldn’t necessarily agree as TRU NIAGEN® is formulated with a crystalline form of nicotinamide riboside chloride.
This crystalline form is shelf stable when stored under the recommended conditions listed on the TRU NIAGEN® bottle and can tolerate fluctuating and elevated temperatures (even up to 40C) for periods of time.
ChromaDex specifically formulates TRU NIAGEN® this way to enhance the overall stability and quality.
If you were to be storing Tru Niagen in warm temperatures for months on end, then we’d always recommend keeping in a cool, dry place (or even the fridge) to ensure stability and efficacy through to the BB date.

When we were younger the jokes were (especially for startup founders) “sleep is for the weak” and “you can sleep when your dead”. This hubris is part of a toxic work ethic and I’m glad that startups are being coached more constructively these day. The majority of society and employees have no real understanding of founders challenges – that for another post.

There is now loads of resources on founder well-being and I think that is a facet of a larger Game B evolution that must take place.

Mid way through my first startup, when things were going through a rough patch I started to worry (its a family habit) and getting up to code at around 5am – it was very productive and clear-headedness and freedom from distraction suited me – many developers do the late night after the kids have gone to bed.

My circadian clock got stuck on this cycle and its essential for me to get the “hours before midnight” that are recommended as beneficial. So, decades later I rue the “sleep is for the weak” mantra. I’m definitely underweight (sleep lost can lead to lower testosterone production and HGH).

We all have to make sleep a priority as the impacts are far-reaching – the best book I know is Why We Sleep  by Matthew Walker, I’ve seen him speak and reckon he’s the real deal. Some things he says in the book are pretty damning about things like sleeping tablets.

Heres an interview with Matthew and Rhonda Patrick.

Making Sleep a Priority but not a worry

An important takeaway from the book above is the cycle of desperation people get into. So surprise, surprise for many people mental and monkey-mind aspects a key. For me, its essential to tell myself that sleep is a high priority just as much as fixing some startup problem – it’s as essential as eating.

Worrying about sleep is rumination like any other, so the best strategy is Meditation. I’ve made any awake time an ideal opportunity to get deep meditation time – you can almost guarantee that it has the reverse effect of putting you to sleep – bingo ?

Sleep Hygiene

My problem is not getting to sleep its what happens after waking up.

There are loads of resources on sleep hygiene but I’ve got a few of my own:

• Blue Blocker glasses after dinner. Some people advise after sunset. I have 2 types – one for watching TV, one for any reading (with a reading magnification).
• L-theanine – chill baby.
• No computer in the bedroom, no phone or tablet in the bedroom. This is part of set-and-setting, intention and Placebo – the bedroom must be a sacred place.
• No clock in the bedroom.
• Read on paper-white/e-Ink Kindle (less blue light)
• Stop working at night – If I work, its likely to be hard to get to sleep and dreams tend to be repetitive task/problem oriented.
• Consciously get in the mindset of winding down beforehand.

TL;DR

I’m not convinced any one method is better than another, personally I suspect that finding something with a community you resonate with and giving to it sincerely will reveal more – I have notes on snacking below.

The (not so) great Unbundling

In the last decade or two (probably since John Kabat Zinn  there has been a movement to unbundle meditation from any spooky religious or metaphysical origins.

Capitalism has successfully created high valuations for Apps like Headspace and Calm which is great but unbundling has exacerbated a meaning crisis by disconnecting from ethical, moral and existential foundations is likely.

Extreme objections of teaching mindfullness to stock brokers to be more efficient and ruthless traders is often couched as the harmful end of the McMindfullness spectrum.

Unbundling or decoupling is particularly attractive to STEM types like engineers, tech founders and pretty much everyone because it allows them to retain their material reductionist position without getting ridiculed while picking up a Bluebottle or Sightglass Coffee with their workmates.

Whilst Buddhism is not the only origin of meditation its eightfold path is a proof that meditation is only one component of a pursuit with Meaning. In Buddhism’s case, this is mostly “the end of suffering” as expressed in Four Noble Truths.

A cynical view (that I hold) is that the psychologization of Buddhism was a deliberate or accidental scam implemented by therapists struggling to make existing methods widely distributed (more shock treatment anyone?). American Dharma by Ann Gleig is an excellent recent book covering this and other topics.

Grubby Gurus

Not so much about meditation, but tightly coupled is the litany of scandals that preceded #metoo in religious circles (western and eastern). This taints perception of the utility of meditation when so-called enlightened masters behave badly – and get caught – and get publicised.

Scientizing Meditation

Lots of studies of monks in FMRI machines and the Dalai Lama’s own encouragement of submitting his team to scientific study drove investigation of cognitive benefits. Positive proofs (as deemed by the current scientism truths) yielded positive value of Vipassana style meditation in the west and guaranteed it was a movement.

It’s possible to claim that Buddhism won the West. It’s possible also that the West is destroying Buddhism.  Others rightfully assert that there are many Buddhisms that merge with the culture in which it embeds. Many of these cultures (interestingly) don’t revere meditation.

The consumer “mindfulness” market has Apps like Headspace and Calm with billion dollar valuations and numerous technologies, I wrote a little about the Muse EEG headset in Supplements and Biohacks.

Meditation Menu

It would be silly to attempt coverage of even the most common meditations in the west, but here are a few I’ve come across.

• If you follow the wonderful David Lynch, you will know that he is a TM (transcendental meditation) devotee.
• If you love Jack Kornfield or Tara Brach of Sharon Salzburg or Joseph Goldstein you will know of other “insight” style practices.
• If you’ve heard Culadassa (John Yates) then Samatha Vipassana is a kind of hybrid from his training in Theravadin andTibetan traditions combined with this western educated neuroscience background.
• If you like Sam Harris you are getting an unbundled atheistic vipassana mixed with a nod to non-dual Djogchen as a kind of “this is for wizards, not muggles” package.
• Loch Kelly presents Mahamudra as another non-dual
• Metta (or loving kindness) meditation is taught across all of these types.
• Then you can start on non-buddhist related meditation!
• Then you can get into binaural or isochronic or Stanislav Grof holotropic breathwork
• Or consider measurement and biofeedback gadgets like the Supplements and Biohacks or Heartmath EMWAVE HRV devices.

An interesting thing is that most meditations other than TM or other chanting are very psychological and head-centered. Breath-based ones are worth considering because of HRV and Vagal tone interactions.

Personal Interest

My go-to meditation is fluidly moving between open-awareness, sensation of the body, Breath, and proprioceptive experiences like hands, energy. By fluidly, I mean that if I’m not grounded or thinking, it’s good to return to sensation of the breath. By far the most important part of meditation that I’ve been taught is to experience “the stop in the reath” (after inhale and exhale) – to experience the stillness as deeply as is available to you – to “be with” the vastness of the stillness is a place of great contrast, teaching and potential.

Then to return to that as often as possible during the day. This is but a foundation and the creative experiences (visual, state, immanent or transcendent) that spread out before you are too much to cover here –

I recall hearing someone asking the Dalai Lama how often he meditated, the answer: “Once, all day”.

There is no shame in discovering you’ve lost that connection and starting again. You’ll be doing that for the rest of your life.

A good foundation book is  Culadasa’s The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25942786-the-mind-illuminated

A negative by-product of excessive choice in our consumer age is that people “snack” on different methods, beliefs or systems and move on – they are “a mile-wide and an inch deep” in their experience. People must seek with humility and find what resonates for them BUT with the knowledge:

1. snacking for decades will lead you nowhere. These works are intended for the present moment, snacking will be pushing away what you are looking for, making “it” always in the future.
2. don’t go “unbundled”. It’s no coincidence that Buddhism ‘s Three Jewels are:

“I take refuge in the Sangha. ‘ In fact, so important are the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, they’re referred to as the Triratna, or the Triple Gem of Buddhism. To proclaim devotion to these three things is to be a Buddhist.”

The point here is that meditation is a hollow pursuit if it is not part of a Sangha – a community of supportive like minded individuals.

I recently heard John Vervaeke either state or quote that Anagoge (a Platonic  spiritual ascent) is best done and most meaningful in the company of truly good friends as a shared pursuit.

Gudjieff work which is done is groups makes this more explicit: “The work of self-study can proceed only in properly organized groups. One man alone cannot see himself. But, when a certain number of people unite together for this purpose they will even involuntarily help one another. “

The brutal truth is that alone you have no value of a perspective other than your own.  Related: a friend recently sent me this from Chuang Tzu:

Zhuangzi and Huizi were crossing the Hao River by the dam.
Zhuangzi said, “See how free the fishes leap and dart: that is their happiness.”
Huizi replied, “Since you are not a fish, how do you know what makes fishes happy?”
Zhuangzi said, “Since you are not I, how can you possibly know that I do not know what makes fishes happy?”
Huizi argued, “If I, not being you, cannot know what you know, it follows that you, not being a fish, cannot know what they know. The argument is complete!”
Zhuangzi said, “Wait a minute! Let us get back to the original question. What you asked me was ‘How do you know what makes fishes happy?’ From the terms of your question, you evidently know I know what makes fishes happy.
“I know the joy of fishes in the river through my own joy, as I go walking along the same river.”

Usefulness beyond the cushion

I remember Hokai Sobol outlining any practice as having 3 main dimensions which would be meaningful in different measures to different people:

1. Therapeutic
2. Communal
3. Mystical

I’ve experienced meditation in each of these ways many times, so there is a pattern that people usually get returns in the areas where they invest. If Mary gets meaning from community, oxytocin and philia then that is “right” for that persona this time of their journey. If Wendy participates in community but has a deep connection in practice, then this is the mystical path. William may be meditating for sanity or potentially as a forerunner to mystical.

Meditation is not a tool for planning or strategy or scheming. There will be plenty of time for that later as part of being in the western world. It’s important to know and use many tools created in the west for the more rational parts of your life – meditation is more whole-brain rather than PFC/Supervisory related.

Meditations like Metta are useful to expand beyond your own sense of self, to be less obsessed, possibly less narcissistic, more grateful for others AND absolutely more compassionate.

Meditation in general trains more space between stimulus and response, eventually leading to less reactive and incident-prone interactions. Less addiction to drama is beneficial.

Popular mindfullness meditation teaches one to drop or observe ruminative thinking – that has great therapeutic benefits and the sooner it is widely distributed in schools from a young age the better our society will be!

It will be great to see more creative meditative practices also “go mainstream” once the concentrative and ‘letting go’ benefits of mindfulness have established a solid foundation.

According to aussie boy made good at Harvard – geneticist David Sinclair exercise is key contributor to quality of life and “healthspan”. Its also a decent or best naturally available nootropic .

Play and natural movement are largely lost to us and we think we need “serious goal-based” exercise – the goals are also often comparative or competitive – but as I get older I value ‘just keep moving’. On a continuum of discipline and play is where enjoyment emerges.

Founders are often driven and goal fixated but I’d argue movement needs to be an antidote to that obsessive pattern. I’m trying to discover presence and joy in whatever it is. Swimming a lap can done insanely (rehearsing conversations, planning activities, solving problems) or it can be done with presence. A lap or even a few strokes that simply feels the breath’s connections with the cycles of movement is just so much more interesting and deeply enjoyable. Technically you also learn more – it’s now a cliche so say “flow state” but its a swim well swum.

Yoga

For me the most impactful exercise  ever was Ashtanga with a tiny Israeli firebrand by the name of “Meir” in the Inner Richmond district of San Francisco – his website is gone and the mix of Yelp reviews illustrate how he polarised students. He was a student of Tim Miller (one of the original US students) and also worked directly with the founder of Ashtanga Pattabhi Jois – he was hard, funny, attention to detail, politically incorrect and incredibly generous and genuine – an endangered species in the fakerie of the tech infested SF.

Meir would call out “breath, bandhas, drishti” which remains a great truth, not to be glossed over. He would shudder at me quoting Jois’ arch-rival Iyengar “Mind is the king of the senses; breath is the king of the mind; and the nerves are king of the breath” but if asana is the “what of yoga”, then this quote is the “how”.

He used to read Rumi during Savasana while I lie there totally shattered. One funny memory is we went to a session together at Stanford with Sharath Jois (the grandson) and afterwards pulling off Sand Hill road (a stoned throw from the Rosewood) to have a joint and grizzling about Sharath cutting a few postures out of the “true” primary series.

I started Yoga in my early-20s, visited dozens of yoga studios (as I travelled for work) and continue to this day but nothing compares with the old school “cruel tutelage (Kill Bill joke) of Meir” – they don’t teach like this anymore and we are all worse off for its absense.

My current practice is only a few times a week and floor stretching at night after dinner. Its a pale shadow of what it should be.

Swimming

One of the most magnificent gifts of living in NSW is the Ocean Pools. Put on your bucket list a dip in Bogey Hole

in Newcastle during a high/stormy tide. Sure you might get washed into the tempest but you might as well go this way after experiencing this convict built gem.

I swim in the ocean year-round a couple of times a week usually – the old-timers are at the pool everyday before 7am – hardcore! I don’t wear a wetsuit but find that a cap stops brain freeze. I believe in cold swimming as beneficial for promotion of  (Cold Shock Proteins – but lets face it, Sydney winter water is not cold (the pool is colder than the ocean by a few degrees)

Compared to the air temperature, the water is looxery.

Hypothermia has visited me a few times primarily because the winter wind-chill afterwards is a bastard. It’s solvable with the genius-titled Cover Me Jules  hooded towels. Not swimming before the sun gets over the headland helps too!

Another great thing about swimming is enhancing breath capacity (or VO2) – if you are meditating and allowing your breath to slow down, then having decent respiratory health is super-helpful.

Esoterically humans are supposed to breath through their nose and out the mouth (don’t ask me why). Freestyle swimming does not allow this – its an unanswered question for me and does irritate my throat.

During COVID-19 the pools were shut and I swam behind the surfers and the break. Ocean swimming is inspiring (fish, rays, the movement of the ocean) but also very uncertain if you don’t trust yourself. I don’t trust myself enough.

Balance

Balance is possibly the best measure of neural connectivity and functional strength, its pretty well-known now that gym equipment works in the frontal/sagittal planes and limits capacity for responding to anti-fragile circumstances.

It’s really easy to tell if you need to do more work if balance is off. In yoga Eagle Pose and Warrior 3 show quickly which side needs work.

Slackline is the more advanced on a bunch of home balance things  easily available. This is a 2m invention we played around with. The current 3m version is more challenging.

Kit McLaughlin, Cherie Seeto, Dave Wardman

For a while I did practice at Sydney Stretch Therapy with Cherie who is wonderful and trained in Kit’s method. They taught me a lot about intelligence of the body to protect itself and how to get deeper stretches via reciprocal inhibition, proprioception and a commitment to mindful movement. I also did a semester or two with Dave Wardman, who was constructive a unique practice and philosophy based on systems from Kit, Ida Rolfe, Feldenkrais, natural movement, awareness, re-enchantment and “ideas” systems one of which I recognized as Gurdjieff. His site is https://physicalalchemy.com.au/

Virtual Reality Exercise

COVID-19 lockdown introduced a lot of home based exercise, here is 2 examples.VR Boxing

VR Cycling

TRX/Bodyweight

My body type and age, according to an Inbody analysis suggests I should do 3 reps of 15. I rarely do more than 8 so still skinny.

• Squats with kettle bells/goblet squat
• Single-leg Romanian deadlift
• Deadlift same weight as bodyweight (yeah I know thats not much)
• Pull-ups/downs, Pushups.

I have a few machines for pulldowns and bench press but a pull-up bar, and yoga’s vinyasa give plenty of opportunities for pushups. Just as good as machines for my needs.

I use a variant of TRX called Rip60, this has capability for transverse/rotational exercise which supports functional pattern-like exercise.

I’m a big fan of hormetic stress, its closely related (or identical) to anti-fragility.  Entrepreneurs either have this or build it along their journey.

Along with Placebo, hormetic stress is the engine room of growth, it’s the grit in the oyster that makes the pearl.

Because this stress adjacent to our everyday experience and consciousness, hormesis is underestimated – in truth hormesis is the environmental edge or envelope we push on with our Embodied or Meaning abilities to grow.

Hormetic boundaries are moveable  even though most mortals shy away from them – a fictitious limit mostly created inside the mind.

A general form of hormetic stress is called Eustress or positive stress or beneficial stress. and leads to enhancement of the organism (i.e human, you etc). All excellence comes from Eustress and western civilisation has become sybaritic and much innovation attempts to avoid discomfort.

Examples of Eustress  are:

• Activities like cold immersion and Sauna – see heat and impact on heat shock proteins, cold and impact on cold shock proteins (hormesis)
• exercise (weights, endurance, yoga) (biological)
• heart rate (HIIT) (biological)
• Vipassana meditation (neural pathways)
• Stoic exercises (“view from above”, “negative visualisation” etc)
• Opponent processing (originally discovered why we can’t neurologically see certain colours, but also explains other biological phenomena such as “chasing the dragon” in addiction and motivation)**.
• Its possible to argue that any form of training or solving problem can qualify:
  • puzzles (neural pathways)
  • comedy (neural pathways)
  • learning a musical instrument

If this is too abstract, you’re not doing it.

Stoics have an ethos/exercise of “voluntary hardship” to build resilience and opponent processing, hormesis and anti-fragility are all in concordance with this view. So be grateful for adversity ?.

** In Episode 30 of John Vervaeke’s “Awakening from the meaning crisis” he argues that the brain uses opponent processing in a multi-scalar way in order to regulate bioeconomy constantly optimising your cognitive interactional fitted-ness to the environment. This is quite reminiscent*** of Iain McGilchrist’s proposition his book “The Master and His Emissary” that left and right hemispheres are active in most situations but assess the situation in profoundly different ways (left is focussing/narrowing/certainty, right is open/possibilities/potential/re-framing).

Related to this: when I attended an unconscious biases in the workplace workshop, the leader showed us that biases arise from the brain optimising for energy preservation. These survival adaptations are strong-wired (possibly also hard-wired). This relates somehow to opponent processing as multiple heuristics would run in parallel.

Here is a quote I think was from the workshop’s site: “A Cognitive Bias is the outcome of mental shortcuts the brain naturally uses in order to simplify and make sense of the world around us. These shortcuts are known as heuristics, and the result of these heuristics is the bias. These heuristics help us make decisions very quickly and easily. Over tens of thousands of years, our brains have evolved to be as efficient as possible. Energy was the most important commodity to the human body for millennia. Food was scarce and so energy conservation equalled survival. Rapidly deciding what to do in the event of stumbling upon a predator or other human was also critical to survival.”

*** although Vervaeke did not appear to know McGilchrist’s work until 2020 when he started reading the book prior to a discussion organized by Rebel Wisdom.

A type of hormetic stress or biological anti-fragility.

Cold Shock Proteins

Health benefits

You can many videos doing post-Wim Hoff immersion in deepfreezers filled with ice/chilled water. I havn’t got their yet but swimming in the ocean and cold showers (especially after Sauna are hopeful attempts to achieve similar results.

Cold treatments are known good for muscle recovery, reducing muscle soreness, athletic performance and metabolism.  They’ve also been documented in longevity research.

Some temparatures as high as 16-18 degrees Celsius have been shown to be beneficial for age related degradation and Alzheimer’s disease

The famous iceman Wim Hof has been analysed and it’s possible that his method of breathing and cold immersion may increase brown fats and therefore convert or reduce the production of white fat (that makes humans ‘fat’).

Extreme cold shock is around too, Joe Rogan is an investor and advocate for  cryo-therapy . I’ve not tried it yet – it becoming more accessible and inexpensive there is only so much you can get into.

Psychological Benefits

I’ve observed multiple benefits from being lowered into a cold swimming pool or taking a cold shower:

1. It takes about 5 seconds or 10 meters for the body to adapt. The resistance is 90% psychological – thats a critical lesson confirming everyday that your mind is lying to you. In Sydney water temperature  is not really cold, see the swimming section.
2. You feel great afterward, its a mood enhancer (as long as you don’t get hypothermia when you get out).
   • According to Rhonda Patrick, cold results in a release of norepinephrine, which is a hormone and neurotransmitter that relates to “vigilance, focus, attention and mood”.
   • “Norepinephrine also acts as a hormone and, when released into the bloodstream, acutely increases vasoconstriction (which is the constriction of blood vessels)”. This means its great for cardiovascular health.
   • It also seems to inhibit inflammation, which is linked cause to some cancer.
   • Dopamine also apparently is released and everyone knows thats a “happy hormone”.  Some studies show that cold therapy may be a valid treatment for depression.
3. Related to point (1), each time you are immersed in cold water, you are getting an experience in resilience, that you have the ability to overcome weak protective monologs in your brain. You are giving yourself the anti-fragility lesson that will help you in other parts of your life where resilience is needed.
4. Camaraderie: people who swim talk to each other. If they pass each other in the street they could not likely ignore – at the pool, we are in this together, so communal interaction is incredibly positive. I don’t know if oxytocin would be released .

Heat Shock Proteins

Are equally important as cold shock proteins and I cover them a bit in Sauna.

Health benefits

The health benefits are related that discussed above and the pattern of hormetic stress can be shown to be relevant at both the cold and hot end of the normal human set points.

Psychological Benefits

There is a different resilience needed to endure sauna, much like the frog that gets boiled in the pot heated up, I’ve found that increased heart rate toward the end of a session is accompanied by fidgeting and agitation – at this time, its good to practice a calming down activity like belly breathing.

Listening to a podcast or watching a video while in the sauna is not helpful for this mindfulness response, so I need to play around with this more.

A friend of mine sent me a t-shirt with a Bette Davis quote on it “Getting old ain’t for sissies.” I’ve seen it elsewhere: “Old age is no place for sissies.”

As opposed to “lifespan”, I’m interested in healthspan – which is the more formal version of “when I die, I want to dig my grave and fall into it”. You think about these things more as you get older as degradation and entropy show up as inflammation and aches.

The best biohacks are:

1. Movement.
2. equal is Sleep
3. nasal breath
4. eating good Foods. How you eat is super-important too, we hope to publish “First Bite” one day.
5. water (not too cold)

Ingested

By far the best supplements are what you put in your mouth as part of your Foods and what you exclude. Here is some other things:

“Healthspan”

As a modification to “lifespan”, it would be great to live the old joke of: “dig your own grave and fall into it”. Spending final years as an appendage of corporatised medical support doesn’t appeal and whilst it may be inevitable, minimising the likelihood would be nice ?‍⚕️.

NAD, Niacin, Resveratrol

Ubiquinol/CoQ10

Even my GP acknowledges the benefit of CoQ10, I prefer Ubiquinol as it is supposed to be 100% more bioavailable. Just make sure you eat it with a fatty meal, I take it at the same time as Resveratrol as they both should be absorbed better with something like a coconut yoghurt at breakfast etc.

Specialist Foods

Fermentation

I like apple cider vinegar first thing in the morning, non-commercial kombucha, sides of sauerkraut/kimchi.

Digestion

An occasional probiotic and digestive enzymes if feeling a little dodgy from getting run-down or bad food and/or travelling. Slippery Elm in powder form helps GERD-like symptoms – I make a dubious latter with coconut milk and a little honey or maple syrup.

Breathing and Chewing

One naturopath advised me that breathing properly before meals release digesting enzymes. Sounds believable based on what I’ve learned about the vagus nerve.

Stress and Anxiety

For (so-called) normal people with (so-called) normal stress, I’ve a growing view that quality breathing, meditation, exercise and framing tools like Stoic practices  are more impactful than supplements. The cost and complexity of adding supplements for stress is a pain, but will help in a tight spot.

Quality varies widely, look for GMP badges as (hopefully) an indicator.

L-theanine

If you want to take the edge off your daily caffeine.

5-HTP and St John’s Wort

Interesting combo for lifting mood (males in my family had depressive tendencies and I work with that daily. A sideffect is that exercise intensity is reduced as they chill me out too much.

Ashwaganda (Withania)

A well-known adaptogen for stress and relaxation.

Technology

We need to reframe our thinking about our “naturalness” vs cyborg-ness – we are already cyborgs. Spectacles are a decent example of cyborg technology, so is a smartphone. Human’s unique adaptation is to problem solve, in recent times this is broadly distributed through body augmentation – the quantified self movement appeared in the mid-2010s.

Skillful use or slavery to technology are both possible, for example, once you start using Spectacles your eyes/brain adjust from that so that you can never return to Spectacle-less living.

Quantified Movement

Google Fit

The not-to-be-trusted tech giants (Apple and Google) fought a huge fight to breach our privacy down to biological details. At this time I use Google to track weight, exercise, meditation. If I can help it, they won’t get my DNA.

Polar M600/Flow/H10 chest strap

The Polar M600 is an old watch that is great, it has a GPS, Heart Rate, connects to H10 Heart Rate strap for more accurate HR and HRV readings.

Polar Flow feeds Strava exercise details of all sorts of movement data,  here is an example of Polar’s heart rate avg/max, pace etc. Strava has much deeper analysis for serious exercisers (not me).

Renpho scales

Chinese brand scales that feed direct to Google Fit. It has an app for Android/IOS with loads of fat %, BMI data. Quality of data is reasonable but didn’t match a more professional measurement by https://inbodyusa.com/ but for normal usage, it or similar body composition scales will do.

Meditation/Brain

My perspective is that any guided Meditation only takes you so deep – great for providing some scaffolding, but not as a crutch. Any App, EEG, bio-feedback or HRV should be used as a step on the journey, a research tool or useful for injecting variety/breaking a habit pattern.

Muse Headset

If you don’t have data mining skills and time, all you will get will be some pretty pictures and a vague sense about the relationship to states.

ESTIM

I have one of these gadgets but am too gutless to experiment intently without supervision. The science indicates

Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

I’ve got all the following gadgets – HRV interests me because of its relationship to breath, vagus nerve and parasympathetic nervous system.

Oura (Ring)

ATM, I only use this form Sleep analysis – the reddit forums have discussion about how inaccurate it is – it works well enough for me.

Excellent analytics presentation on both mobile and web apps.

getlief.com

I want to like this but the patches are very high maintenance. It is way more accurate than Oura but only when it isn’t falling off.

Spire

Belly breathing monitoring – I think they have newer models now.

https://spirehealth.com/pages/stone