I will check him out!
any video you recommend I start with first?
Also do You think it would be easier/better to just go through Life extension lab testing they offer? Or go through this longevity doctor?
Like I said I am just trying to establish health markers for myself as I am not going to start rapamycin or anything just yet(although last time I did blood work i did have a high fasting blood glucose(97-99 range) idk if it would be good to get things to combat that_) I also have a high resting heart rate, but that might be due to having caffeine in the mornings and usually going to the doctor in the mornings
A good starter video is this on:
I’m all about getting the best value for your money … so yes, the Life Extension lab tests are really cheap and a good value. I think about $45 for the CBC and another $35 or so for the CRP hs test.
You might also look at getting some sort of Fitbit like device (tracking resting heart rate, HRV, sleep, etc.) and a blood glucose monitor (just a cheap finger prick one that has bluetooth and an app - to monitor your fasting blood glucose levels. These are important, and your fasting blood glucose levels seem too high for a 24 year old. My range is in the 90 to 95 measures and I’m twice your age.
Something like this for blood glucose monitoring:
and I would go occasionally to a exercise physiology lab at a local university to get tested with VO2Max, Dexa scan for muscle / fat levels, etc.
for example something like this - at UCSF:
These are slowly opening up again after Covid.
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Yeah I actually have a glucose self prick device that I use. Any advice on how to lower it? I havent checked in awhile as I have felt good and eat healthy. I should probably start checking it more often. But if it continues to be high how should I go about combating it? I do not have a history of diabetes or anything and I am very active.
In terms of monitoring sleep ,
I am actually a PhD student who is doing research on sleep and most of those devices arent good for sleep monitoring. I used to use them and I had good sleep but again those devices unfortunately are not very accurate.
I will see if my primary doctor will do the blood tests first and then go through life extension for any tests I didnt get done.
Any thing else you think I should start tracking/doing around my age?
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On blood glucose - I think the typical suggestions are lower carb diet, higher fiber, regular exercise and good sleep. Other than that I’m not sure.
On sleep monitoring devices - yes, there are many that are unreliable and I’m not sure if any are really good. who reviews the reviewers? Not sure if this is worth the digital bits its printed on 
There was a French / San Francisco sleep focused startup called Dreem that had a really good monitor - but I think they are now focused more on the commercial (no longer the consumer) markets. You can pick up their consumer devices more cheaply on used places - [e.g. ebay], but probably overkill for you, but perhaps good for your academic work… (Dreem Sleep Exclusive Edition Monitoring Headband Sleep Aid EEG P | eBay).
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Do you use any excel spreadsheets or data tracking for your exercise schedule? So you could look back on it down the line?
If so, do you have an example I could use?
I usually journal everything, but I was wondering if there was some data base that could be used to track exercises/blood work/sleep/performance values/etc.
No, sorry. I have been looking for a good app to do this but no luck yet.
I use Morpheus, which is Joel’s biosensor. It tells me how recovered I am every day and tracks my daily morning resting hear rate, HRV and recovery. You can export it all to spreadsheets if you want.
If you do sports where you can wear a chest or wrist strap, it’ll also track your exercise–but with BJJ I can’t wear any hard plastic, so I don’t use it to its full function. I just like to know how recovered I am. I don’t change my BJJ, but will add or subtract supplemental strength and cardio sessions based on my recovery score.
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I use Strava for my endurance sessions, Oura ring for my health metrics and also have an Excel document to summarise. The latter goes back to 2013 and has body weight for every day.
Btw, not many have spoken about weight loss on Rapa here but mine has been quite dramatic (and from a ‘lowish’ starting BMI of 23).
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Interesting. Seven weeks in and I’ve had no weight loss at all.
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Then what all do you track and how do you track it. I was watching Dr. Lustgarten’s videos and I know he has talked about some of his exercise performance values when he has changed in blood biomarkers. But I was just curious what you feel is important to track and keep a log of?
I also thought about doing something with what exercises I was doing at the time of the blood work somewhere( I usually put it in my journal, but I might switch to a word document or something), so that way I can go back in time and see what helped with what, But i am not sure if that would be over doing it. I really do not like tracking a bunch of things as there was a good book by Brian Mackenzie called Unplugged
that talked about a lot of issues that comes when you are constantly tracking every health marker.
I’m not tracking my exercise routine right now in any detailed basis. I just do my best to do my regular workouts - weights, cycling, rock climbing, etc. - and leave it at that. I was using a Fitbit like device to track activity more specifically but I’ve had an ongoing problem that the Fitbit, when I take rapamycin, causes a rash on my wrist.
So lately I’ve stopped wearing the Fitbit so as to avoid the rash I would get every time I took rapamycin. For the past month or two I’ve avoided getting the rash - which has been a nice change. I think the sweat, combined with the rapamycin makes your skin more sensitive.
Have you noticed any increase in resting heart rate since starting rapamycin? I’ve noticed about a 5bps increase in RHR and a nearly 10% drop in HRV since starting, but I have other confounding variables. (My wife has very late stage 4 cancer, increasing stress significantly over the past few weeks, which would mess with both RHR and HRV.)
Very sorry to hear about your wife’s condition. I’m sure that is very stressful.
I have not been tracking my RHR or HRV closely, so don’t have anything there to share. Perhaps other people can comment on their experiences.
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no change in my rhr
i dont find my hrv accurate on my apple watch, so harder to tell on that one
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NEW STUDY: Rapamycin protects aging muscle
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The data set is small (5 weeks) but yes, I’ve seen a decrease in HRV. I think it’s likely related to anxiety around whether I should be taking the medication.
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Most people don’t seem to get much weight loss from rapamycin. The studies show very little decrease. But - it seems that rapamycin does make it easier to get a new set point if you do lose weight during the time you are using rapamycin. With Metformin I quickly (2 to 3 months) lost 15 lbs, then on Canafliglozin I lost another 10 lbs in about 2 weeks … both times very easily, without really trying. Rapamycin seems to help me keep that lower weight without rebounding back up to the higher levels - but I’ve perhaps gained back 5 lbs in the past few months as I’ve been exercising less due to a rock climbing injury.
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Do you have a theory about why losing weight during rapamycin usage helps better with lowering the setpoint? In that case, what do you think a higher dose rapamycin after losing weight?
I think this might be the research that got people looking at rapamycin and set point. I’m not sure at all about the issue of “during” vs. “after”… I just happened to lose weight due to taking metformin and canagliflozin while I happen to also be using rapamycin - so I’m a unique case in this respect.
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Anyone notice any acute effects on performance during the first 24 hours post dosing?