5HT #111: brain dumps + sauna accessories + 3 more healthyish things

You’ve probably heard of Lithium, a psychiatric drug most known for treating mania in those with bipolar disorder. And yes, it’s the same element used in batteries, though the medication comes in a very different form. The drug has had its fair share of controversy, though lately it seems to be getting a bit of a PR reset.

It most recently caught my attention because a 2025 Nature paper found people with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s had lower lithium levels in the prefrontal cortex 🧠, a brain region involved in planning and decision-making.

As someone always searching for Alzheimer’s prevention tactics given my family history and APOE4 allele, I reached out to my friend Dr. Jay Luthar from Lutanen Health to get his take on whether lithium is actually supported by science for dementia prevention.

His short answer: not yet, but hopefully soon. 

Jay told me that while the new research is fascinating and biologically important, it does not establish a clinical reality for humans. At least not yet.

The key finding wasn’t simply that people with Alzheimer’s had “low lithium.” It was that lithium seemed to be handled differently in the brain early in the disease process. That suggests trace amounts of lithium may play some role in brain health, but we don’t yet know what that means for prevention in humans.

Now, mouse models 🐭 did show restoring lithium in the brain improved pathology and cognition, which is exciting. But mice are not people, supplement doses do not match the exposures studied, and we still don’t know if microgram or low-milligram lithium intake meaningfully changes Alzheimer’s pathology in humans.

There’s also the safety piece: lithium at milligram doses can affect the kidneys and thyroid, so it requires close monitoring with a physician.

For now, the paper provides a strong scientific signal 📶 that lithium deserves further study as a trace neuroactive element, but carefully designed human trials will be needed before it can be considered a preventive or therapeutic strategy.

Translation: promising enough to watch, not proven enough to act on yet. Big thanks to Jay for helping make sense of this one 🙏.

One of my resolutions was to practice what I preach about heat therapy 🔥 and use the sauna more regularly. Conveniently, my rock climbing gym has a glorious 190–200°F sauna, so I’ve been habit-stacking my sessions.

I’m now climbing 2x a week and leaving time to sweat afterward, which led to the thought every over-optimizer eventually has: Can I optimize this further? 😅

Then I started thinking about how we’re trying for a third kid, and whether I was doing a disservice to a critical organ. And that sent me down a rabbit hole 😵‍💫 and landed me in the world of sauna accessories. Here’s what I found:

There’s also phone heat bags, buckets and ladles (which feel very atmospheric), backrest cushions, sauna mats, bamboo brooms, sauna robes (a whole Reddit thread on the best ones), sauna water bottles, the birch whisk, and probably 47 other things you can only find on Amazon 😂. 

But the real sauna gains don’t come from the gear. They come from the protocol. More on that soon. In the meantime, hit me with your best sweat-tested accessory rec 🥵.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how self-awareness fits into the longevity game. With all the levers you might be pulling, self-awareness helps you notice what’s working, what’s not, and where you might be clinging a little too tightly to an identity (a call back to Sunday’s edition).

One of the best ways I’ve built more self-awareness is through journaling, which we know science says has a ton of benefits. I do it in a bunch of ways (like food journaling and goal-setting), but the most effective version for me is still the good ol’ brain dump.

Basically, a brain dump is free writing with zero rules 🙆. No structure, no expectations, no “good” version. Just whatever’s floating around in your big, beautiful brain, put on paper. I like to visualize it like Dumbledore putting his memories into the Pensieve—for all you Harry Potter nerds out there.

If you want to try it:

If you read last summer’s special report, you know I believe the sun 🌞 is one of the most underutilized health tools we have. But it’s alsooo one of those Goldilocks levers: too much can be dangerous, too little can be limiting, and the healthyish sweet spot is suuuper narrow 🤏.

Last week, Solius Labs (fyi, a Healthyish Content client) launched a new category of medical device designed to make that sweet spot easier to hit: Solius Pro. 

It’s an FDA-cleared personalized UVB light therapy device (say that 5x fast 😆) that uses patent-pending skin analysis to calculate a personalized UVB dose for each user. The device is available OTC and delivers 99% less total UV risk. To put that in perspective: a full year of weekly Solius therapy amounts to less UV exposure risk than 5 minutes of afternoon sun 🤯. 

I’m super impressed by what the team has built and curious to see if it catches on. I still don’t think enough people realize they may not be getting enough sunlight exposure or vitamin D, so there’s probablyyy an uphill battle on education 🤷. (Cue me pointing dramatically at 👉 the sun special report 👈.) Still!

It’s also, er, not cheap at $2,995, so this is definitely more of a luxury intervention than a casual wellness gadget. (I’d put it in at-home sauna territory.) Personally, I see it making the most sense for people living in places where the sun is scarce or simply not showing up to work for months at a time. Ifff they can get the cost down, though, I feel like the opportunity for a device like Solius is pretty game-changing. 

I’ll be watching to see if this takes off and cheering on the team. In the meantime, if you plan to get your UVB the old school way this summer, take this as your reminder to wear your SPF (this brand is my go-to lately) and reapply more than you think you need to... 

Or risk getting sunburned like yours truly. 🫣

It’s not just about journaling. Turns out, doodling with your non-dominant hand when trying to memorize something can help keep your mind from wandering. A 2009 study found participants who doodled ✍️ while trying to memorize information recalled 29% more (!) than those who didn’t.

Plus, this reminds me of another hack I love—using Claude to create custom coloring pages. I've been doing this a ton for my kiddos, and they loveee it. Just upload a photo of your kid, ask Claude to use its likeness, and have fun with the prompt. Then print it out in 8.5 x 11 and, voilà, you’re a hero to your kiddo! 😄

I’m always trying to make 5HT more worthy of your headspace and inbox space. And this week’s internal debate is: are these weekly AI prompts actually helpful and delightful… or are they just fluff and stuff? This alsooo stems from me trying to make weekly editions a bit shorter, so I’m leaving the choice to you.

👋 Who are you again? I’m Derek Flanzraich—founder of two venture-backed startups in Greatist (👍) and Ness (👎). I’ve worked with brands like GoodRx, Parsley, Midi, Ro, NOCD, and Peloton. I now run Healthyish Content, a premium health content & SEO agency (among other things).

Every Thursday (and now Sunday!), I share healthyish things I feel strongly about. (Disclaimer: I’m more your friend with health benefits. None of this is medical advice.) Also some links are affiliate links, but they influence my decisions zero.

Oh, you also feel strongly about some health things? Hit reply—I’d love to hear it.