16 replies to this topic

[maestro949]

35, eat terribly, rarely sleep more than 6 hours (sometimes only 3-4), don't exercise much and work stupid amounts of hours in a high stress job. My wife works in a school and brings home every damn virus that exists in the known universe from those little snot-dripping rugrats. Result: I was getting sick all the time. Literally all the time. 2-3 colds per month. 1-2 major flu's per year. Occassional strep throat every 1-2 years.

I have always viewed herbalist and those that pop lots of supplements as suckers forking over their hard-earned money to snake-oil salesmen. About three years ago I read a news item about green tea boosting the immune system. My normal cynical response was someone supressed due to the fact that I had a cold for 3 weeks straight and was at the point I'd try just about anything. I Googled away and found testament after testament and even legitimate studies that "proved" that there was actually something to it. After a long effort to find a Green Tea I could stomach I committed to trying it for a few months without making any other changes to diet.

It's going on 3 years in April and I still faithfully drink 5-10 cups per day (though some weekends I fall off the wagon) and I have had only two colds. Both of them were at times when I stopped drinking it for more than a few days due to vacations. Now I bring 25 or so tea bags with me!

So now I'm a believer that even simple changes can make major improvements to general health and really like what I'm hearing about things such as Omega-3s and other supplements in regards to brain function and memory. Obviously I need to get my arse on a treadmill and stop eating fried stuff, trans-fats, burgers, fast food, etc but as a software engineer I know that changing more than one variable at time is key to knowing which one actually resulted in benefits though I could be lying and using that as a cover in order to retain my bad habits.

Recently I've noticed that my mind is slowing down. For long stretches at a time I used to be able to function 6 days / week 14 hour days solving complex logistical and technical problems in software engineering as an architect. Gradually though, over the past couple of years my ability to juggle everything that I used to has waned. Memory is not as sharp, problem solving skills are merely human lately. i.e., not acceptable!

I consider myself a perfect test subject to see if supplement doping alone can make any marked improvements in brain function so I'm getting started on a regiment of few things. I would love some recommendations on supplements that would help with either general health or more specifically... improving mental acuity. Cost isn't much of an issue, within reason.

So far I've picked up and started taking :

1. Centrum Advance Formula A to Zinc Daily Vitamin
2. Country Life Omaga-3 1000mg
3. Nature's Way Ginkgold
4. Advanced Holistics Brain 4 Way

Thoughts?

[brandonreinhart]

I am a supplement skeptic. Your experience with green tea is anecdotal at best. You may not have gotten sick, had you not drank the tea. Or some other change in your lifestyle or life-situation may have resulted in a reduced chance of catching something. You have created a weak association in your mind between consuming green tea and the fact that you didn't get sick during that period. This is not scientific evidence and it isn't strong support. However, it may create a Bayesian basis for you to accept other supplements without proper research.

First and foremost, unless you exercise regularly nothing else matters. A "supplement" cannot save you from a weak cardiovascular system (at least not yet). You can even eat poorly and be better off if you exercise, than if you "eat well" but never exercise. Obviously, regulating your food intake to some degree and understanding what you're eating combined with exercise is the best starting point.

So I don't think adding any supplement to your diet will do anything more than provide a false placebo effect. You may feel better, but it will be a psychological effect not a biochemical one.

Once you're working out and regulating your general diet, then start to research supplements very carefully.

As far as I know, humans don't suddenly start to "think slower" in general. If you mean you aren't as witty as you could be, or you aren't as aware as you could be, maybe you just need to read more. Or get outside to play some more. Develop some hobbies that expand your horizons outside your routine, things to challenge that routine and the patterns your brain is used to working within.

[maestro949]

In general I tend to agree that my situation is simply just another anecdotal testament and it could easily be simply a long-running placebo affect but getting sick when I stop drinking it leads me to think otherwise. Sure I could stop a few more times to see if I get sick each time but I rather enjoy being sick-free.

I haven't made any other significant lifestyle or life-situation changes other than work more and sleep less which I doubt would improve my cold/flu situation.

I didn't suddenly start to think slower, it's been gradual over the past few years. When I said recently, I meant relatively. Perhaps throwing money at supplements is just a symptom of this,

I have way too many hobbies already and jump from one to another at what my wife considers an alarming rate. I read science, tech and fantasy zines regularly so I'm not a mindless drone stuck in a brain-dead pattern of work/sleep if that's the conclusion that you came to.

I truly believe that the excercise and eating better will have the biggest benefit, in fact I was on an excercise&health kick about 8 months ago and was feeling awesome for about 3 months but I couldn't sustain it when projects at work changed for the worse in terms of hours and travel.

[xanadu]

Keep at it, maestro and and dont let negativity get you down. It's always good to see people try things for themselves rather than going by what someone told them. For mental acuity, do some reading on the subject here and elsewhere. What has worked well for me is piracetam which has a long long history of testing and has been shown to have no toxicity. It also works well for most people. Then there are lots of other things to try.

[dnamechanic]

Hi Maestro949,

You are on the right track. There is considerable evidence demonstrating the favorable effects of diet, exercise, & supplements on brain function. Most things that affect health in a positive way may also improve or help maintain brain function. Some supplements and pharmaceuticals appear to more directly affect brain function.

As you probably know there many good sources of information, but if I had to name the top of my list it would be the Life Extension Foundation.

http://www.lef.org/

The founders of the LEF have our ultimate goals (at least for most of us) in mind. The LEF is a nonprofit organization. You probably already know this, but the Life Extension Foundation subscription gets a monthly magazine that is informative and easy to read (with references) and also provides access to quality supplements.

They deserve our support.

Thank you, Maestro949, for your significant contributions to The Longevity Meme Folding@Home team.

[ajnast4r]

get a better multi. centrum is garbage. country life makes a few good ones if you like that brand, which is a good brand btw.

ginkgold is the bomb... one of the only supps i noticed a sharp difference with. 120mg a day should do you good.

sleep more. sleep is key. no amount of supplementation is going to reduce the effects of lack of sleep on your mind.

eat better. no amount of supplementation is going to reduce the effects of poor nutrition on your mind... and no, everything you need is NOT in a multi... theres plenty of unknowns.


ive had pretty amazing results taking alpha-GPC. jarrow makes it pretty cheap.


more sleep, a better diet, and exercise should be your primary goals, first and foremost.

[hallucinogen]

awww, supplement newbies(aka skeptics) - how cute :D

Glad to help you.

[DukeNukem]

Brandon is correct in saying that supplements won't save you from a poor diet and lack of exercise -- a poor diet will kill you more effectively than a good supplement program can save you. Still, good quality fish oil, green tea (reduces the chance of developing many cancers), a good multivitamin (not Centrum!), cinnamon (reduces insulin resistance), pure cocoa (reduces blood pressure), vitamin C (too many benefits to list), resveratrol (extends life, even with a high fat diet -- the key to "the French Paradox"), and many others, can help, if you're willing to take them daily.

I take some 120 supplements a day, and at nearly 45 I've never been more fit and healthy, I never get sick, and my hormone levels and bio-markers are generally that of a 32 year old. I don't even know what people mean when they talk about loss of cognitive ability or mental fogginess, and I hope to never experience this preventable decline. But, I also eat well, and lift weights religiously (leaving work in 1 hour to do head to the gym). The supplements are merely another facet in my overall longevity program -- if I only relied on supplements I'd be much worse off.

People who do not understand how potentially helpful supplements can be, simply do not understand the topic well. Our bodies are merely chemicals in action, and as we age, we produce less and less of key chemicals as part of our programmed limited lifespans (which evolution has determined as the best way to propagate the survival advantages of the species as a whole). Supplementation helps overcome nature's planned demise for us. Supplementation also introduces within our bodies non-natural nutrients, like resveratrol, that are proven to overcome degenerative reactions that constantly damage/age our organs, providing protection above and beyond our built-in defenses.

The human body, amazing as it is, is sub-optimal in many ways, doing just enough to let us survive beyond breeding age. Supplementation helps make up for many of nature's short-comings.

[FunkOdyssey]

That's one of the best (and concise) arguments for supplementation I've read anywhere. I'm writing it down. [thumb]

[wannafulfill]

yeah, not until reading this did I really think how lucky I am for never getting sick

I can't say for sure it's due to supplementation, but the last time I had a cold was something like 2002.

[karitas]

(which evolution has determined as the best way to propagate the survival advantages of the species as a whole). 

What makes you think this? I understood that evolution settles for what works. This does not mean that it's the best way, just that it's the first way that occurred that stoped us from becomming extinct.

Supplementation also introduces within our bodies non-natural nutrients, like resveratrol, that are proven to overcome degenerative reactions that constantly damage/age our organs, providing protection above and beyond our built-in defenses.

what do you mean by non-natural, with regards to resveratrol? It is a natural nutrient as far as I'm aware, just it is not evolutionarily necessary for us to have it.

[DukeNukem]

By non-natural, I mean molecules that are not produced by our body, and are not required by our body to survive. Via supplementation, we can introduce within ourselves highly beneficial molecules, like resveratrol, that are well-researched and proven to have anti-aging (longevity) qualities.

This is one of the key points the anti-supplementation crowd, bless their ignorant little hearts, hasn't quite figured out. And to get all of these non-natural supplements, you cannot eat enough food each day (you'd consume too many calories and get fat -- a highly pro-aging condition), and many do not even appear in the foods we eat.

As for evolution, the best way to propagate the survival of any species is through [1] adaptation to environmental changes, and [2] to explore mutations for in search of better advantages. Both of these are best served by shorter lifespans, because we then create offspring either have better adaptions or more advantageous mutations. If higher level species all lived for 1000's of years, then evolution would probably occur too slowly for most higher level species to have come about. Bacteria, which have among the shortest lifespans, are best able to evolve to counter changes around them, and so for them a short lifespan is an powerful evolutionary survival advantage.

You're generally right that evolution settles for what works, and what works is a short lifespan. And that's why humans are programmed to die after our breeding age (hormones sharply decline at age 40-ish, for example).

[maestro949]

What's wrong with Centrum. Molecules are molecules no? It seems to cover most of the basics that I'm looking for in a MV.

Thank you, Maestro949, for your significant contributions to The Longevity Meme Folding@Home team.

Wish I could do more! If I can get my brain back up to optimal performance I'm hoping I can throw some mental horsepower at the science too. I find the protein folding stuff fascinating.

Update after 1 Week of the supplements listed above with a few additions and some changes as to when I'm taking them...

Breakfast

1. Vitamin C
2. Teaspoon of Nordic Naturals Omega-3
3. GNC Mega Men MV

Lunch

4. Centrum Advance Formula A to Zinc Daily Vitamin
5. Nature's Way Ginkgold
6. Advanced Holistics Brain 4 Way
7. Country Life Omaga-3 1000mg

Dinner

8. Country Life Omaga-3 1000mg (Dinner)
9. Airborne Tablet (my wife is hooked on these and feeds them to me )

The other changes I have made are to diet. Cut out fast food and red meat. Switched cereals from some brands that were loaded with sugar to organic raisin bran.

Results from above: Energy levels are climbing but I mostly attribute this to the dietary changes. The sugar overload in the morning and the calorie spike from fast foods at night were sapping me of energy. Weight has remained the same ~20lbs overweight. Mental sharpness? No noticable effects at this point. I'm measuring this by my performance at work solving tough problems, doing logic puzzles every now and then (I used to be really good at these but struggle with them lately), and paying attention to how well I absorb and retain the molecular biology stuff I've been reading lately. Not very scientific and I doubt that I'll notice small changes but since I've noticed a decline, I hope that I'll be able to notice upticks if they are to occur.

[brainalert]

You could always try my product for more brain power. So far we've have lots of positive feedback. The product is called BrainAlert and you can find it at BrainAlert.com. We like to think that it's better than Focus Factor and a lot of the other stuff out there.

[johnmk]

Was the product designed by you or are you just the chief marketeer?

[DukeNukem]

Brainalert looks okay as an all around product, except for one glaring mistake: You do not list the quantity of over half of the ingredients, and therefore people who require this information will never buy it, such as me.

[focus]

maestro, you could look at "LifeMirage's Antiaging-Nootropic Regimen" in the nootropics forum, lot of good discussion on supplements and nootropics, plus a list of what all LifeMirage himself takes.

dukenukem, have you ever posted your complete supplement regimen? I have seen your "top five" post and was very impressed. If you have posted your regimen could you please point it out, or if not could you do this please? I believe it would be beneficial to all.