@panda619
ZMA for sleep>
I just looked it up and I do something very similar, it’s a magnesium powder you discover in water and drink. I feel like it works wonders.
@Morpheus I was wrong. This pack is Strawberry Kiwi. That’s my favorite currently.
I'm not disciplined enough to maintain a regimen.
NMN TMG, Quercetin Hyaluronic Acid A combo of Glycine & NAC
I order them all directly from a company in Europe and they are all 3rd party tested to ensure purity and potency. In a previous job I worked in an FDA regulated environment and I know how lax the manufacturing controls are on many supplements sold in U.S. so I only take products that have undergone 3rd party lab testing.
Regardless of what supplements you take, I encourage everyone to look them up on labdoor.com and see what is really in the supplements you are taking. Labdoor accepts no advertising. They are like a Consumer Reports for supplements, vitamins and protein powders.
I am NOT saying this is what anyone else should take, it is just what I take based on my own literature review of published studies. I will soon be turning 58 but I still feel like I am in my 30s (zero medications, excellent blood panels, abundant energy, and no chronic aches or pains). Part of that is probably genetics and part is probably lifestyle (sleep, diet, exercise, stress management, etc.) but I believe part of it is my supplement regime.
@JohnR1972 good to know about labdoor. I sometimes send my engine oil samples to blackstone labs so why not do the same with drugs/supplements. How is your sleep quality btw?
B12 and iodine are the only things I supplement. Everything else I try to get from food.
For anyone interested, cronometer is great for getting a general idea of how you're doing so you can fill in any holes. Like vitamin K for me. That's what I tended to be shortest on but thankfully blueberries and paprika are good sources. I just increase the amount of those and I am good.
Ooh, so many vitamins...LOL!😄
There's a multivitamin, B-12, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Glucosamine, Grapeseed, Evening Primerose, Ashwaganda/St. John's Wort, Biotin and Potassium. Plus others that are doctor prescribed. 😁
@morpheus I ran out of zma. So I just take zinc and magnesium standalones 😀
I have modified my diet a lot in recent years; I found out I have a gluten intolerance, so I eat GF now. I supplement with a B complex, vitamin D, Iron, Magnesium, and a pre+probiotic. I take them mostly for mental health/mood. I notice a huge difference negatively if I don't take any one of those-- many affect my digestion and mood. I cycle through herbs sometimes but not all the time as my body can develop a tolerance for those.
@sunnysideup - I use an Apple Watch and an app called “Auto Sleep” to track my sleep. The app categorizes my sleep as “light”, “restful” or “deep” depending on my heart rate and movement moment by moment throughout the night. I set a goal of at least 7 hours of sleep per night and my rolling 7 day average hovers around 7.25. More importantly, my average hours of deep sleep (when my hear rate drops by 15% or more compared to my awake resting heart rate) hovers around 4 hours per night - meaning I am getting great sleep.
To everyone - just to clarify about labdoor… they do 3rd party testing on supplements, vitamins, protein powders, probiotics, etc. but you don’t need to send them anything. They purchase products off the shelf just like regular consumers (they do not want manufacturers cherry picking their “best batch” of product and sending it in for analysis). You can go onto labdoor.com for free and look up their test data for major brands.
For instance, I do not take CBD but I saw the review of one brand of CBD (except in the screenshot below) where the product label claimed 250 mg per bottle but lab analysis showed it only contained 140 mg per bottle.
One more thing, ultimately YOU are responsible for your own health decisions. Doctors can certainly help in making those decisions but they are YOUR decisions to make. I can assure you, nobody cares more about those decisions than you do.
I am not “anti-doctor” but I understand the role and limitations of doctors. They are people and are subject to the same biases and blind spots as anyone else. Most MDs in the United States spend years learning about drugs they can prescribe and hours learning about nutrition. Big Pharma “invests” a lot of money to influence the curriculum and textbooks used in medical schools.
Doctors are also under tremendous pressure from the Medicare and private insurance companies to keep their productivity high (i.e. see lots of patients per hour). This means many patients only get a couple minutes with their doctor per visit and the doctor is looking for a quick fix (prescription) for the immediate symptoms the patient is presenting with.
If your medical issue is an extremely common one that is well understood by the medical community, you are “lucky” because the prescription will probably work. However, if your condition is more rare / less well understood, and you spend a few hours online reading HIGH QUALITY journal articles, you may be better informed about your condition than your MD. That does not mean your MD is lazy, it just means medicine is a broad field and there are not enough hours in the day for an MD to keep up to date on the hundreds articles published every year in thousands of specialized medical journals.
I stress HIGH QUALITY journal articles because there is a lot of poor quality info floating around online. I am wary of any claims made by anyone trying to sell me anything. However, when I started seriously thinking about spending $3,000 on red light therapy panels, I did my own literature review by directly accessing peer reviewed journal articles in a number of medical journals. Many of those journals were behind paywalls but I am fortunate to have access to them and there are a growing number of open access journals who make similar articles freely available to the public.
So, bottom line, don’t take my word or anyone else’s word for your medical decisions. The tools are more available than ever before for you to do your own research so you can either make your own decisions or at least be prepared to ask better questions of your MD during your next appointment.
Everything @JohnR1972 said, plus a reminder to check with your pharmacist before self medicating with supplements. They are a fabulous resource and know a heckuva lot more about possible medication and supplements interactions and dosing than doctors. And they generally know what conditions you are currently medicating by the scripts on file.
@starrynitecuds - Thank you for that addition. I don’t take any prescriptions (my MD says that is pretty rare for a man my age) so I never thought about the potential for drug interactions. You are 100% right though - if someone is taking 1 or more prescription medications they really should talk to a professional such as a pharmacist about potential interactions with supplements they plan to take.
@sunnysideup posted: "I've heard that getting your B vitamins is challenging on a vegan diet? Sounds like you're doing well though"
Thank you, yes, my vitamin B levels were within range as a vegan, with just the multi-vitamin. I don't even take as much as I should - I do half of the recommended dosage.
Also, this site lists vegan food sources of B12, and I happen to eat lots of nutritional yeast, vegan milk, vegan meat, and vegan cheese:
https://alyssafontaine.com/5-vegan-food-sources-high-in-vitamin-b12/
@starrynitecuds posted: "check with your pharmacist before self medicating with supplements. They are a fabulous resource and know a heckuva lot more about possible medication and supplements interactions and dosing than doctors. And they generally know what conditions you are currently medicating by the scripts on file."
💯 Yes!!! If you ever have a medicine, vitamin, interaction, overdose, or any sort of question in this realm, you can call any pharmacy and ask to speak to the pharmacist. 💊 They will happily listen to whatever your concern is, even all your various current medications and dosages, and give you medical advice.
They are a fantastic resource, especially on weekends or when regular doctors or psychiatrists are unavailable. 🧑🏻⚕️
~ Sunset Snuggles
🦄 Enthusiast 🏞 Travel Fiend 🐘 Animal Lover