What they almost certainly did not check is the number that fifty years of data have linked to cardiovascular disease, stroke, and accelerated brain aging. When elevated, it quietly damages the lining of your arteries. It drives oxidative stress that makes your LDL cholesterol more likely to become the dangerous kind. It has been linked to faster biological aging in the brain. And it builds the conditions for serious cardiovascular events, often for years before anything shows up on a standard panel.

The number is homocysteine. It is a byproduct your body makes during normal protein metabolism. Your body is supposed to clear it continuously using a process called methylation, a set of biochemical reactions that also drive DNA repair, neurotransmitter production, and detoxification. When methylation is running well, your body clears homocysteine quickly and it causes no harm. When it is not, whether because of a genetic variant, a B vitamin deficiency, or both, it builds up and starts doing damage throughout your body.

The reason cardiologists largely ignore it is because of a legitimate controversy in the research: B vitamin supplementation reliably lowers homocysteine, but not all trials show this reduces cardiovascular events. Some doctors took that as proof it does not count. But this isn’t the full picture.

Everyone should know their number on this, especially if you’re over 40. You can test it through axo.health for $25 ($21.25 if you’re a member), no doctor required. And what it is really measuring is whether your methylation system is functioning. That system is also responsible for DNA repair, neurotransmitter production, detoxification, and cellular energy production. When homocysteine builds up, all of it is under strain.

In the paid section you’ll learn:

• Why your lab’s “normal” range is not the target, and what the optimal number actually is

• How homocysteine damages your arteries, oxidizes your LDL, and accelerates brain aging

• Why 40% of people have a gene variant that makes this worse, and what to do about it

• The trial that cut brain shrinkage by 53% just by fixing this one number

• The full protocol: what to take and what to avoid

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DHM comes from the Japanese raisin tree and Chinese vine tea, plants that have been used in traditional Asian medicine for over a thousand years. Researchers have been studying it seriously for about a decade. What they have found goes well beyond liver enzymes and alcohol metabolism.

In the full version of this article you will get:

• What senescent cells are, why they accumulate in your brain specifically

• How DHM selectively clears out the most dangerous type of aging brain cell while leaving healthy ones alone

• The epigenetic angle: how DHM essentially turns back a biological clock

• The protocol I use, including dose, timing, form, and what to stack it with

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The problem is that glutathione levels decline 30 to 50 percent between young adulthood and old age. That decline accelerates with stress, alcohol, poor diet, toxin exposure, and illness. By the time most people notice the effects like fatigue, slower recovery, brain fog, and getting sick more often, the depletion has been building for years.

I have been focused on glutathione for over 25 years. It has been a foundational part of my biohacking stack since the early days. And the biggest mistake I see people make is trying to fix a glutathione problem the wrong way.

In the full version of this article you will get:

• Why oral glutathione supplements almost never work and what the research actually shows

• The precursor strategy that a clinical trial used to reverse seven aging biomarkers simultaneously

• The delivery breakthrough that bypasses the absorption problem entirely

• The specific protocol, doses, and products that work best

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For decades, researchers have been trying to explain why people who eat a Mediterranean diet live longer. The answer they kept landing on was olive oil. Olive oil is mostly fat, and the fat alone does not explain the longevity data. One compound getting serious scientific attention right now is called hydroxytyrosol (pronounced hy-drox-ee-TY-roh-sol). The way most people consume olive oil delivers almost none of it.

A 2025 study in GeroScience, one of the top peer-reviewed journals on aging, identified hydroxytyrosol as a potential geroprotective compound. That means it may target the underlying mechanisms of aging directly, not just the symptoms. Researchers examined how it interacts with several processes that drive biological aging: damaged DNA, failing mitochondria, senescent cells, and the chronic low-grade inflammation that quietly accelerates aging across every system in your body. Senescent cells are sometimes called zombie cells. They stop functioning but refuse to die, and they poison the tissue around them.

Most longevity compounds interact with one or two of these processes. Hydroxytyrosol appears to interact with several.

In the full version of this article you’ll get:

• Exactly how much hydroxytyrosol you need per day to move the needle

• Why olive oil, even good olive oil, almost never delivers a meaningful dose

• The supplement form I use and how I stack it

• How it may help protect your NAD, and why that matters if you’re over 35

• What to look for on a label so you don’t waste your money

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In the full version of this article you’ll learn:

• Why purpose protects your brain at the cellular level

• The ikigai framework and how to map yours in under an hour

• What to do if you genuinely don’t know what your purpose is

• The quarterly review protocol that keeps purpose calibrated as life changes

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Low magnesium often shows up as poor sleep, muscle cramps, anxiety, fatigue that doesn’t improve with rest, headaches, a racing heart, or constipation. If you have been living with any of those and you’re chalking them up to stress or aging, magnesium deficiency is worth ruling out first.

In the full version of this article you’ll learn:

• Why almost everyone is low, and why your doctor’s blood test won’t catch it

• What magnesium actually controls in your body, system by system

• Which form of magnesium to take and why most people are taking the wrong one

• How much to take, when to take it, and how to know if it’s working

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One of the biggest problems about industrial seed oils is their linoleic acid (an omega-6 fat) content. Your ancestors consumed about 2 to 3 percent of calories from omega-6 fats, and almost none of that came from seed oils. On average, you eat roughly four times as much omega-6, mostly from seed oils. When you heat these oils during cooking or food processing, they create damaged, oxidized compounds that trigger chronic inflammation throughout your body.

Industrial seed oil consumption rose sharply alongside modern inflammatory disease. Coincidence? Maybe. But the timeline is hard to ignore.

In the full version of this article you’ll learn:

• Which oils to eliminate and which to use instead

• The 3-phase elimination protocol

• How to handle restaurants and social situations

• Expected results and timeline

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The amino acid is taurine. Your body makes it, but production drops dramatically with age. Some studies show declines of up to 80% between age 25 and 65. You can replace what you’ve lost simply and affordably.

Ready for the protocol? In the full version you’ll get:

• How taurine works in your body

• The exact dose, timing, and form

• Safety guidelines

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Within one week, free testosterone went up while inflammatory markers dropped.

The best part? This works for both men and women. A 1987 study tested postmenopausal women who had been eating a very low-boron diet. Adding just 3 milligrams per day raised their testosterone and estrogen levels (yes, women need testosterone too).

Ready to learn more? In the full version you’ll get:

• How boron works

• The exact dosing, form, and timing

• Safety guidelines and who should not take boron

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Blood flow restriction, or BFR, works by partially restricting the blood leaving a limb while still allowing blood to enter. You place inflatable cuffs on your upper arms or thighs, inflate them to a specific pressure, and lift light weights for high reps. The cuff slows down how fast used blood leaves the muscle, creating a buildup of waste products and temporary low oxygen levels. That environment stimulates muscle growth and strength gains similar to heavier lifting, but with much lighter loads and less joint stress.

Here's how it works. When you slow down venous return (the flow of used blood back to your heart) during exercise, waste products like lactate build up faster than normal. This buildup, combined with cell swelling and recruitment of your strongest muscle fibers, triggers muscle growth. Multiple research reviews published in 2024 confirm that low-load BFR training produces muscle growth comparable to traditional heavy weight training while using much lighter loads.

This matters if you have joint issues, if you’re recovering from injury, if you’re older and can’t safely load your joints with heavy weight, or if you just want an effective training protocol that doesn’t beat up your body.

I’ll show you exactly how to do it safely and effectively.

Ready for the complete protocol? In the full version you’ll get:

• The exact BFR protocol: cuff pressure, rep scheme, frequency

• Which exercises work best with BFR

• Safety guidelines and who should not use BFR

• How to track progress

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Here are the details:

At 3 pm CST I’ll be interviewing Dr. Tommy Wood.

Dr. Tomm…

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Your brain produces a protein, BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor). Think of it as fertilizer for your neurons. When BDNF is high, your hippocampus, the seahorse-shaped structure deep in your brain that handles memory, learning, and mood, generates new brain cells through a process called neurogenesis. Adult hippocampal neurogenesis happens in humans. Carbon dating studies and tissue analysis confirm it, although the rate does decline with age. The point is that this process is real, it responds to inputs, and you are probably doing nothing to support it.

When BDNF falls, your hippocampus shrinks, your memory becomes unreliable, your focus diminishes, and you feel mentally slower than you used to. BDNF does decline with age, but there are things you can do about this.

Here’s what the health establishment rarely communicates: the modern lifestyle actively suppresses BDNF through documented, measurable mechanisms. Refined sugar, poor sleep, sedentary behavior, and chronic stress all pull it in the wrong direction. Your BDNF levels are almost certainly lower than they should be, and you have no idea.

The good news is that BDNF responds quickly and powerfully to the right inputs. Five specific interventions reliably drive it up. Two common habits crush it. Stack the five interventions and eliminate the two bad habits, and you create conditions that strongly support neurogenesis. Research shows cognitive improvements often appear within 8 to 12 weeks in structured interventions.

I have been doing this for years. Here’s exactly how it works and exactly what to do.

Ready for the complete protocol? In the full version you’ll get:

• The exact protocols for increasing BDNF

• The two daily habits that suppress BDNF no matter what else you do right

• How to track improvements at home without a lab

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Every morning, within 30-45 minutes of waking, your body executes one of its most significant hormonal events of the day. Cortisol rises 50-75% above its waking level, and the magnitude varies based on sleep timing, light exposure, how much you’re anticipating the day ahead, and your baseline stress load. Your stress system runs this on purpose, to sharpen alertness, mobilize glucose, and prime you for the cognitive demands of the day. That’s not a malfunction.

This is the cortisol awakening response (CAR), and it gives you a direct window into your HPA axis (the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system that coordinates your stress response). Researchers use the CAR as one marker of HPA axis function and stress resilience. A well-functioning system shows a clear morning rise and a gradual decline through the day. Anything else tells you something is off.

A blunted CAR means cortisol barely moves when you wake up. Without that surge, you start the day already behind. You wake exhausted regardless of how long you slept, your cognition drags, and stress hits harder and takes longer to clear than it should.

An excessive CAR means cortisol spikes too high and stays there. Researchers see this pattern more frequently in anxiety disorders and certain mood disorders. When your system runs that hot chronically, you get metabolic strain, wrecked sleep quality, and eventual HPA axis collapse.

You want the spike. You just want it to land and then come down.

In the full version you’ll get:

• How to test your CAR

• Exact protocols for both blunted and excessive CAR

• Follow-up testing strategy

• When to consider additional HPA axis support

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Here’s what they can’t do: Use some of the most promising tools for recovery, injury healing, and performance.

WADA’s rules make no sense. They allow altitude training camps that increase EPO (erythropoietin, the hormone that increases red blood cells) naturally. They allow hyperbaric oxygen chambers. They allow stem cell therapy. All of these enhance performance.

But peptides that heal tissue faster? Banned. Cognitive enhancers with excellent safety data? Banned. Testosterone therapy for athletes whose hormones crashed from training? Banned.

The banned list has little to do with safety. It’s about control.

Fair competition does matter. But some of what WADA bans has more to do with what's "natural" than what's safe or effective. (And that's why I'm so excited about the Enhanced Games.)

Not everything WADA bans is safe. Anabolic steroids, synthetic EPO, and high-dose growth hormone carry real risks. This article covers five banned substances with solid safety profiles when you use them correctly.

WADA rules don’t apply to you. You don’t compete in the Olympics. You’re working on performance and longevity in real life.

Here are five WADA-banned substances with promising research, established mechanisms, and practical protocols. The evidence varies by substance, but each offers something conventional approaches don’t. Get ready to feel and perform like an athlete.

Ready for the complete protocols? In the full version you’ll get:

• Dosing, timing, and administration for each substance

• What to expect week-by-week

• Sourcing guidance (what to look for, what to avoid)

• Blood work monitoring requirements

• How to stack interventions intelligently

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Iron deficiency gets all the attention, but what if copper is the actual issue?

Low copper prevents your body from using the iron you already have.

Here’s how it works:

Ceruloplasmin, a copper-dependent protein, mobilizes iron from your cells into your bloodstream.

Without adequate copper, ceruloplasmin production drops and iron gets trapped in your tissues.

Studies show that severe copper deficiency impairs iron movement from cells to plasma even when total body iron stores remain adequate. You can develop anemia (low blood iron) despite having plenty of iron stored in your liver and other tissues.

This creates two problems simultaneously.

First, trapped iron in your cells generates oxidative stress (cellular damage similar to rust) that harms your mitochondria, the energy-producing structures in your cells.

Second, low copper impairs the electron transport chain, the process your cells use to produce ATP. Copper acts as a critical component of this energy production system.

When copper drops too low, your cells can’t generate energy efficiently.

The Modern Diet Made This Worse

Modern diets amplify this imbalance.

Fortified breakfast cereals contain up to 50% of your daily iron requirement per serving. Bread, energy bars, and processed foods add more. Cooking acidic foods like tomato sauce in cast iron skillets can add 2-5mg of iron per dish.

Men and non-menstruating women have no natural mechanism to excrete excess iron, which accumulates over decades.

Meanwhile, food lost most of its copper over the years.

Decades of industrial farming stripped minerals from the soil. The vegetables your grandparents ate contained significantly more copper than what you buy today.

On top of that, most multivitamins pack 15-50mg of zinc without balancing it with copper. Zinc and copper compete for absorption in your gut, so that daily multivitamin might be making your copper deficiency worse.

Ready to fix this? The complete protocol below shows you exactly how to test and reverse the imbalance in 90 days.

In the paid section:

• The 3 blood tests to order and how to interpret them

• Exact foods to rebalance copper

• Supplement protocol (type, dose, timing)

• Timeline: what to expect after interventions

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NUTRITION: Still avoiding salt? That might be the reason for your brain fog and low energy. Low sodium ramps up renin, an enzyme linked to heart attack risk. A pinch of mineral-rich salt (like Oryx Desert Salt) can boost circulation, support hydration, and help your cells perform better. Craving salt? Don’t listen to old science... Listen to your body.

→ Watch the full reel on IG

CAFFEINE: Coffee doesn’t just wake you up, it helps you live longer. Studies show that people who drink up to five cups a day have lower all-cause mortality than non-drinkers. One reason? Coffee increases BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor), a compound that acts like Miracle-Gro for your brain. More BDNF means faster learning, stronger memory, and better neuroplasticity.

→ See the full video on YouTube

How I Fixed 18 Years of Bad Sleep (Without Another Pill)

Still chasing 8 hours and waking up wrecked? You may not need another nutrient. In this video, I reveal how fixing the light in my environment transformed my energy, recovery, and circadian rhythm after nearly two decades of struggle. You’ll learn the real science behind morning sunlight, blue light blockers, and the simple changes that reprogrammed my biology for deep, restorative sleep. Your body runs on light. Master it and watch everything upgrade.

→ Watch now on YouTube

This Free Fix Made Me Stop Paying $10K For Stem Cells

18-year-olds wake up fresh because their repair system still works. This episode shows you how stem cell decline quietly drives fatigue, inflammation, and faster aging, and how fasting can reactivate your body’s natural ability to repair itself without expensive stem cell procedures.

→ Watch on YouTube

Why High Protein Turns Off Your Body’s “Youth Switch” | Valter Longo

STOP intermittent fasting if you think it automatically keeps you young. In this episode, you’ll learn why short-term fasting results can mislead long-term aging outcomes, and how duration, frequency, refeeding, and protein intake determine whether fasting supports longevity or quietly accelerates decline.

→ Watch on YouTube

You Were Coming Anyway... Now Earn Credit

This year at Beyond Biohacking, you can earn 10 hours of accredited CME through a dedicated track built for medical professionals and open to anyone serious about human performance.

Get tactical frameworks in genomics, epigenetics, and AI-driven health optimization: science that translates directly into clinical practice and real-world results. Walk away with tools you can use immediately to upgrade your patients, your protocols, and yourself.

→ Secure your spot and earn CME credit at BEYOND

️🦠 Targeted probiotics that rebuild your gut where it actually matters.

🔴 The ultimate red light therapy playbook (with real protocols that work).

⚡️ Toronto-based neurotech that targets depression at the source.

🧬 Bioavailable ingredients for brains that don’t coast.

🧠 Real-time brain training to cut distractions and boost clarity.

🧪 The research-grade peptides with 99%+ purity.

♻️ The first postbiotic shown to trigger your cell’s built-in cleanup for aging.

Let’s go deeper, live longer, and think sharper, on purpose.

- Dave

Brief, hard workouts create the stimulus your body needs to adapt and grow stronger. But without proper recovery, those adaptations never happen. You get stuck, or worse, you regress.

The key is understanding that recovery isn’t passive. Your body needs specific inputs at specific times to repair tissue, clear metabolic waste, and upgrade its systems. Skip these inputs and you’re wasting your training time.

Subscribe to learn:

• The complete recovery stack

• Supplements for recovery

• Meal timing strategies

• Recovery technology protocols

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New deals drop regularly, so keep an eye on this section. You earned it.

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Probably never.

Your temperature reveals a lot about your metabolism. And if you’re consistently low, there’s a problem.

Normal body temperature runs around 98.6°F (37°C). When it drops significantly below this, enzymes slow down.

Enzymes drive virtually every chemical reaction in your body. Many key metabolic enzymes work most efficiently near normal core temperature. When temperature falls outside that optimal range, countless reactions slow down and your body shifts toward conserving energy instead of prioritizing repair.

This pattern shows up far more often than people expect. Mold exposure, thyroid dysfunction, chronic stress, and certain dietary patterns all push body temperature down.

I learned a controversial protocol to address this when I was part of a Palo Alto longevity community decades ago. The method came from a control systems engineer. And it helped me restore my body temperature back to normal.

Subscribe to learn:

• Why low temperature signals metabolic dysfunction

• The thyroid issue most doctors miss

• The controversial temperature manipulation protocol

• Other causes of low body temp

• How to address potential causes + specific protocols for each

• The testing panel to find the root cause

• Maintenance strategies after resetting temperature

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Hey Friend,

January’s almost over and most people have already quit their resolutions.

You’re not most people.

Real change comes from systems you run every day: how you support your brain, recover from stress, and fuel your metabolism. Those systems don’t care about New Year’s promises. They respond to what you give them consistently.

Everything below is something I use and stand behind. The tools that upgrade how you feel and perform, so you have more energy to lead, build, and live like it matters.

Here’s to living longer, feeling better, and performing at your best.

– Dave Asprey

Want even more? Check out my full roundup of vetted products at daveasprey.com/recommendation.

Here’s to living longer, recovering faster, and upgrading your brain.

Stay dangerous,

Dave