SmartCuts: Biohack Your Healthspan: Cutting-Edge Protocols For Greater Energy And Performance

Introduction

So much has been written about health. Why then are people more confused than ever about where to start when they decide to work on their health and wellness? It comes down to being inundated and overwhelmed with too much information that is disjointed and pieced together throughout time.

The aim of this book is to break down and simplify health information that encompasses all areas of your life, and to encourage you to feel your best by making simple lifestyle changes backed by science–essentially the why behind our suggestions. Only you can decide what you’ll take from this information. That’s why we encourage you to be your own health advocate–to customize your approach to the tools we give you.

There is no one-size-fits-all as we look across variables; men and women, age and stage of life, metabolic health and activity level, shift working and sleep, the variables are endless. This makes it impossible for anyone to give you an exact prescription for what to do, what to take, and how to live. Even in the situation where we work one-on-one with an individual, they still need to pay close attention to how they respond to different protocols. This is where you get to be your own health advocate or scientist if you will.

Now let’s take a look briefly at human evolution and see why we’ve arrived where we are now.

The human body today does not function the way it did in the past. The last common ancestor of chimps and humans lived about 6 to 7 million years ago, representing the length of our evolution. Our current body first appeared as early modern humans about 40,000 years ago.

About a quarter of those 40,000 years, roughly 12,000 years, represents the agricultural revolution where our bodies looked like they do now. Additionally, only the last several hundred years have defined the industrial revolution or what we might call the modern lifestyle:

We are, in fact, animals, and for the overwhelming amount of time we have been on this earth we have been hunter-gatherers, working hard for our food, moving to where it was available, getting up with the sun and going to bed when it got dark. We moved and worked hard with our bodies in nature under the sun, with our feet on the ground. We were exposed to extremes of temperature. We could use glucose for fuel or fast and use ketones. We could store fat when food was abundant and use the fat when food was not available. In other words, we were metabolically flexible.

During the tiny fleck of time that represents our modern lifestyle, we have engineered out of our lives virtually all of the things that our bodies evolved and adapted to do.

According to Statistics Canada, the average Canadian adult spends almost 10 waking hours each day being sedentary. (1) Additionally, 84% of Canadians don’t get the recommended minimum of 150 minutes per week of moderate to vigorous physical activity, and this is a ridiculously low minimum. (2) In the United States, the average adult sits 6.5 hours per day and teenagers 12-19 years of age sit 8 hours per day. (3)

Is it any wonder that approximately 65% of adults are overweight or obese and that 10% of the population has Type 2 diabetes? (4) As a result, we see waves of preventable diseases including diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, some allergies, dementia, depression, anxiety, insomnia, sleep apnea, and others.

Those waves have created a disease care system. Our overworked and overwhelmed medical professionals do an excellent job dealing with acute injuries and disease processes but have neither the incentive, interest, time or knowledge to help us look after our bodies and prevent disease processes from taking root in the first place.

If you visited your primary care physician and proclaimed: I feel great, no complaints. I want to decrease my chances of getting atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (heart attack or stroke), diabetes, dementia/Alzheimer’s, and cancer. What do you have for me? If you are not met with a blank stare, you might be told to not smoke, drink less alcohol, stay out of the sun and wear sunscreen, and eat less red meat. Not exactly cutting-edge information, and in fact the latter two suggestions may well contribute more harm than good.

What has been termed by the popular press and culture as biohacking is simply health optimization. Hacking, borrowed from web terminology, implies some level of dishonesty or cheating. That is not what you will find in this book.

Current science informs us how to optimally eat, sleep, rest, work, and spend our leisure time. While cutting-edge science often takes years or decades to filter into everyday medical practice, if at all, the keen and knowledgeable observer can extract relevant and timely information from these studies and apply them. Our goal is to present this cutting-edge information to you within a framework of protocols that you can apply to your everyday life and scale according to your level of commitment.

We must learn to take care of our bodies and lower our risk of preventable diseases ourselves, not only for our health but for developing the maximum potential we have for physical and mental performance. Our hope for you is that you become your best, most resilient self. Why? Developing resilience in both our mental and physical well-being is crucial. Mental resilience equips us to cope with adversity, maintain a positive outlook, and persevere toward our goals. Physiological resilience involves nurturing a strong body that can adapt and recover efficiently. Resilience is vital for personal growth, optimal performance, and navigating life’s challenges.

What dictates not only your health but your ability to perform at your best is the way you sleep and rest, breathe, move and exercise, eat and metabolize food and use and maintain the integrity of your brain and nervous system. We will help you develop ways of optimizing all of these with protocols and tools that are often low or no cost, and introduce you to proven interventions that you may choose to invest in for yourself and your family. Some may be new variations on things you are already aware of. A lot will undoubtedly be things you have never heard of or did not even know were available.

We are all busy, but very few people who honestly assess the amount of time per day spent watching Netflix or mindlessly scrolling social media cannot find at least an hour per day to spend on themselves. In many cases, the tools we present may be incorporated into things you are already doing, taking no additional time or even saving you time. Some tools may require you to add something to your routine, but others will be a deletion. This is why we refer to them as SmartCuts. We want you to work smarter, not harder. The bottom line is you can influence your health in a positive way without spending any additional money or time. When you choose to invest, we will help you do so wisely.

This book is divided into the 5 following sections:

Sleep, Rest & Recovery

Hydration, Fuel & Foundationals

Movement, Exercise & Detoxification

Neurotransmitters, Hormones & Brain Wiring

Epigenetics, Ageing & Healthspan

The first three sections of the book discuss protocols critical to the most important basic care of your body. In plain terms, how to provide it with the rest it needs, how to feed and water it, and how to exercise and move it. If you get those correct and dialed into your routines, you will have improved your healthspan, lifespan and vitality immensely.

Once this foundation has been solidly laid, these concepts are further reinforced in Sections 4 and 5, as numerous protocols that enhance your physiological resilience also contribute to a happier, healthier mind, improved learning abilities, and increased resistance against the effects of time and ageing. These protocols often overlap with or resemble those outlined in the initial three sections, with additional justifications for their implementation. Furthermore, these sections will delve further into optimizing brain function and provide more advanced techniques to elevate your overall health.

Each section will provide you with multiple smart protocols, considerations, tools, upgrades, and resources to choose from to improve and optimize not only your lifespan but your healthspan.

Some of the protocols are basic, fundamental requirements that are frankly, non-negotiable for human health. Sleep is a great example of this. While many people are able to sleep 6, 5 or even 4 hours and still function in their day to day lives, sleep is one of the most crucial aspects vital to our health. You will learn that research has taught us that this amount of sleep hinders learning, negatively affects motor coordination, impacts hormones, and does not allow your brain enough time to pump out toxins—a factor in the development of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Really, the list goes on. Gaining a solid foundation in such fundamental health practices will allow you to add in other protocols to enhance your personal health. Some may become part of your daily routine. Others may be things you do weekly, monthly, quarterly, or even yearly.

There is no substitute for the N=1 experiment. You are the 1. We are all different, and we will change over the course of our own lives in terms of requirements and needs. Good stressors, known as hormetic stressors, like hot, cold, fasting periods, exercise etc., are amazing tools for finessing adaptations in your body. But during times of high stress, these should be used sparingly, or not at all.

There are practices your body needs and craves, but the details and nuances of how they are applied will vary. For instance, time is necessary for your digestive system to do its job and recover to prepare for the next day. This is the fasting period, hence the term breakfast. We will provide ranges and even an average ideal place to start, but what works best for you? Only you will be able to tell.

You are on a discovery journey about yourself. Pay attention to what your body tells you and adopt those tools and practices that, when given a fair attempt, help you feel and function better.

Furthermore, it’s important to note that the protocols we suggest are often low-cost or free lifestyle modifications, and can be readily incorporated into your routine. Our objective is to minimize reliance on external factors whenever possible and promote a sense of adaptability and self-sufficiency. This ensures that you can maintain well-being even in challenging circumstances. Consider the scenario of being dropped on an island without access to your belongings. Can you thrive without them?

It is also important to implement changes to your routine slowly. One protocol per week or two is what most people can manage. Effort and consistency are the keys to building habits. One of Dr. Paul’s favourite quotes, which sits above his cold plunge at home, is very appropriate here:

The comfort zone is where dreams go to die.

Get comfortable with some discomfort—where you start to get uncomfortable is where growth begins. Be consistent and have fun. Becoming stronger, healthier, and more resilient is just a few Smartcuts away, so let’s get started!

How To Use This Book

Part 1—Embark on your Smartcuts journey by visiting our website and downloading the complimentary PDF that comprises all the suggested protocols in the book. Just go to smartcuts.life/summary-protocols or scan the following QR code:

As you read the book you can jot down your thoughts directly into the PDF for each of the protocols. Each protocol is delineated by its name and is accompanied by an approximate cost indicator, ranging from no cost to low (’$’), medium (’$$’), or high (’$$$’) expense. After checking out each protocol, decide whether it’s something you’re already doing, something you want to start doing, or something you’re not ready to tackle just yet.

Here is an example:

Part 2—At the end of your SmartCuts reading journey in the book’s conclusion, we will provide thorough guidance on how to help you incorporate the book’s protocols into your daily life. We recognize that valuable information alone is insufficient without practical implementation. Therefore, our aim is to empower you with the tools and support needed to effectively apply these protocols and make a meaningful impact on your everyday well-being.

To Your Health,

Dr. Paul & Dr. Nathalie

Section 1—Sleep, Rest & Recovery

Sleep and recovery are crucial to human health and performance. Many healthy practices can be sabotaged by failing to give your body the rest and chance to recover that it needs. Here are some fabulous protocols to help you do just that!

How Long Should We Sleep?

While sleep needs can vary between individuals, it doesn’t vary as much as you might think. The consensus in the literature today is that adults require 7-9 hours of sleep per night for optimal function. Notice we said optimal function not getting by. While you can subsist on less, and that has become the common thing to do, adequate sleep is absolutely necessary for immune function, consolidation of memory and learning, addition and preservation of lean muscle mass, and clearing the brain of toxic metabolic by-products via the glymphatic system.

Among the studied consequences of poor sleep:

Weight gain

Muscle loss (higher catabolic rate)

Diminish your willpower

Negatively affect your mood

Decrease immune system function

Lower anabolic hormones (muscles building) such as testosterone and IGF-1.(1)

To quote many of the scientists in the field of health…

Best nootropic (brain performance enhancer): SLEEP

Best stress-relief: SLEEP

Best trauma release: SLEEP

Best immune booster: SLEEP

Best hormone augmentation: SLEEP

Best emotional stabilizer: SLEEP

And the list goes on. We can’t escape our biology. Find a way to spend enough time in bed to give yourself a minimum of 7 hours of sleep.

Stay On Schedule

One of the biggest disruptors of sleep, otherwise known as circadian rhythm, discussed below is inconsistent sleep and wake times, especially on our cherished weekends. A best practice is definitely to keep to a 1-hour window of sleep and wake times. Consistency is key. You are going to have nights when you stay up later than usual and we are not proposing that you never do. After all, social interaction is critical to health as well. As painful as it may be though, it is best to wake up no later than an hour past your usual time, and then use yoga Nidra or NSDR (more on this later) which was coined by Dr. Andrew Huberman, and stands for non-sleep deep rest. Your overall sleep rhythm will thank you for it. (2)

Sleep Position Pointers

There continues to be much debate regarding ideal sleep posture. Here are some suggestions regarding posture depending on your preferred position.

If you are a back sleeper, make sure your pillow is not too high; you want to avoid having your pillow push your neck forward. Additionally, remember to put a pillow under your knees to allow your lumbar spine to maintain its natural curve. Thankfully, for most people, this adds another level of comfort.

If you’re a side sleeper, make sure your pillow is thick enough to fill the space between your shoulder and neck to keep your spine straight. Using a pillow that is too thin, and brings your head too close to your shoulder, can trigger pain and inflammation in the shoulder, potentially causing tendonitis or bursitis. You may also find it comfortable to cuddle a pillow to your chest to put your arm around. Finally, if sleeping on your side, draw your legs up slightly towards your chest and sleep with a pillow (a body pillow can be comfortable for some people) in between your legs/knees.

If you are a stomach sleeper, this can be tricky as sleeping on the stomach can be good for a select few who have breathing issues and also to help keep the cervical spine curvature and flexibility. However, many find that sleeping on their stomach makes their neck and lower back stiff when they get up, so this one is not black and white. If you don’t need to sleep on your stomach, our recommendation would be to focus on the first two sleeping positions mentioned above. If you are going to sleep on your stomach, you may also consider placing a pillow underneath your abdomen/pelvis area to ease back strain and mitigate stiffness.

Sleep Tracker

Tracking your sleep has become increasingly popular in recent years and for good reason. Sleep trackers are devices or applications that monitor and analyze your sleep patterns. These insights include sleep efficiency (the percentage of time spent asleep while in bed), sleep latency (the time it takes to fall asleep), and sleep quality (based on factors like sleep interruptions and time spent in different sleep stages). Some trackers also provide recommendations and suggestions for improving sleep habits based on the gathered data. If you own a smart device, chances are there is a sleep monitoring application installed, or you can choose a wearable device like Oura or Whoop.

Key Biomarkers To Track To Optimize Sleep

Understanding the importance of, and optimizing sleep is crucial for your overall health and well-being. These biomarkers can be used to monitor both the quality and quantity of your sleep, allowing you to identify areas that may require improvement. With this knowledge, you can make the necessary adjustments to your sleep routine in order to achieve optimal recovery and reap the benefits of restorative rest.

Here are a few markers to consider:

Total Sleep—7 to 9 hours

Sleep Efficiency—Reflect the % of time spent asleep compared to time spent awake while in bed. For adults, a sleep efficiency of 85% is a sign of peaceful and uninterrupted sleep.

% of Deep Sleep—Deep sleep is the most restorative and rejuvenating sleep stage. Makes up from 0 to 35% of total sleep. On average adults spend 1 to 1.5 hours in deep sleep but this slightly decreases with age.

% of REM Sleep—REM sleep is associated with dreaming, memory consolidation, and creativity, and makes up anywhere between 5 to 50% of total sleep time. For healthy adults, an optimal amount of REM sleep starts at around 1.5 hours on average, although this duration may slightly decrease as individuals age. Research findings indicate a direct correlation between reduced REM sleep and elevated all-cause mortality rates. (3)

Restfulness—Tracks the wake-ups, excessive movement, and getting up from bed during sleep. Too much tossing and turning can have an effect on overall sleep quality.

Sleep Latency—The amount of time it takes to fall asleep. Ideally should be within 15 to 20 minutes. If less than 5 minutes could be a sign of over tiredness.

Sleep Position And The Glymphatic System

What does the way we sleep have to do with the glymphatic system? First, let’s go over what the lymphatic system is. The lymphatic system consists of vessels and nodes that carry a fluid called lymph from tissues and organs to the bloodstream. Lymph is meant to help the body filter and clean toxins, debris, and pathogens that accumulate in our circulatory system as a result of toxic environments, medications, and an unhealthy diet. Lymph fluid passes through lymph nodes in our organ tissues. The nodes act as filtration stations that move the lymph fluid to the surface of our skin near the neck, abdomen, armpits, and groin.

Think of the lymphatic system as a city waste-removal service; garbage is removed regularly, and if not, the garbage will build up and eventually overwhelm a household. Our lymphatic system can become blocked and congested, causing stagnation in circulation and, therefore, having adverse effects on the body.

Now, what about the glymphatic system? It turns out that the brain has its own lymphatic system called the glymphatic system (a.k.a. brain drain) which is responsible for waste clearance for the central nervous system (CNS). Research is showing that when the glymphatic system is not working optimally it can lead to a higher incidence of diseases of the CNS such as Alzheimer’s disease. Glymphatic system impairment may also play a role in traumatic brain injury, cortical spreading depression (slow, propagating waves of altered brain activity), and stroke. (4) The glymphatic system is most active during sleep. During sleep, the brain’s interstitial space volume expands compared to its size during wakefulness or arousal. Increased interstitial space with sleep results in faster waste removal. (5)

Researchers confirmed that glymphatic transport and clearance were superior in the lateral and supine sleeping positions. The researchers proposed that sleeping on your side has evolved to optimize waste removal during sleep and that posture is considered ideal for glymphatic transport. Sleeping on the left side can help facilitate lymphatic drainage since the left side of the body is dominant in lymph nodes. This position allows the body to efficiently filter and eliminate waste materials. (6) Raising your bed height a few inches, with your head above the feet, can also help promote better lymphatic drainage. This can be easily achieved by using bed risers, adjustable bed frames, or placing sturdy blocks under the bed legs. This position also benefits heart health by reducing strain on the heart, improving blood flow, and enhancing circulation. It can help prevent acid reflux by keeping the stomach positioned below the esophagus, and it supports optimal breathing by allowing the lungs to expand more freely. In certain situations, sleeping with your feet elevated is recommended to promote circulation and reduce fluid retention.

Who would have thought that there was so much to consider when deciding on your best body position? Now, you may have your own limitations when it comes to positions as you may have a sore left shoulder or hip, so you have to take all of these factors into consideration before deciding on your most favourable sleeping position.

The Importance Of Restoring Nose Breathing At Night

As the old saying goes, noses are for breathing, mouths are for eating, drinking, and speaking. Nasal breathing almost all the time, most especially at night, is the optimum. Mouth breathing during sleep dries the airways, making any breathing difficulties worse. It makes it easier for your tongue to fall back against the airway, causing snoring and even sleep apnea. You lose 42% more water by mouth breathing. (7) In contrast, nasal breathing regulates your breath rate, making it easier to relax. Your nose cleans the air you take in, exposing it to your immune system and preparing it for your lungs, so you are not taking raw air into your lungs all night long.(8)

Mouth Taping - $

There’s really only one way to train yourself to do this. Take a small piece of 1" paper or micropore tape, and tape your lips in a lightly closed position, either vertical or horizontal. No need to press your lips together or pucker, just close your lips and tape.

You may wake up without the tape. You may pull it off in your sleep during the night. Most people will adapt to it over a few weeks. It takes about 3 months to train yourself to breathe through your nose at night. After that, you may choose to discard the mouth taping, use it intermittently, or you may like the feeling and decide to use it nightly or periodically—your choice.

If you cannot stand the idea or feeling of having your lips sealed shut, or you want to have your child’s mouth taped (nose breathing is critical for the development of the airways, teeth, and craniofacial structure). (9) Consider MyoTape which gently presses the lips together without sealing them.

Reduce EMF Exposure

Cell phones are low-power devices that work on electromagnetic fields and they emit radiation in the radio frequency region of the electromagnetic spectrum. There continues to be considerable debate about human health risks with regard to cancer and other disorders and diseases. (10)

Why take the chance? You don’t need your phone at your bedside close to your head, and for that matter, you don’t need your home Wi-Fi turned on while you and your family are asleep. Leave the phone out of the bedroom, and put your Wi-Fi on a simple timer to turn it off at night.

Natural Light Exposure

The primary determinant of our sleep/wake cycle is exposure to light. Circadian rhythms follow a 24-hour cycle and can affect us both physically and mentally. If you find you are staying up too late at night, and are looking to shift to an earlier bedtime, make sure you are viewing bright light as soon as you wake in the morning. The low solar angle of the morning sun (less than 30 degrees to the horizon) has been shown to help stimulate the retinal ganglion cells in our eyes called melanopsin cells, which help trigger the production of melatonin, which helps you fall and stay asleep at the end of your day.

Sunlight also triggers your body to produce optimal levels of daytime hormones and neurotransmitters. The melanopsin cells are activated most efficiently by the wavelengths of natural sunlight, even on a cloudy or overcast day. The timing of exposure to light is what informs our bodies that it is time to go to sleep and time to wake up.

Everyone has experienced the different colours we see during sunrise, daytime, and sunset. Our bodies get information from these different wavelengths of light that inform us of what time of day it is. It is important to allow our bodies to access these light cues throughout the day.

Morning Light Exposure - $0

This is one of those situations where the mechanism of action is complex, but the protocol is dead simple—get outside in the sun. Get exposure to 5-30 minutes of sunlight as early in the day as possible, preferably within two hours of sunrise. More on dull days. Less if bright.

5 minutes on clear bright days

10-20 minutes on overcast days

30 minutes on very dull days

No sunglasses. No windows. Prescription glasses or contacts are said to be fine but some