5HT: 5 Healthyish Things, including performance eyewear and the perfect nap

Here are some do’s and don’ts for your holiday weekend.

You’ve probably heard people talking about NAD+. If not, you’re about to. 

NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, if you want to impress someone) is a coenzyme found in every cell of your body. It powers energy production, DNA repair, and cell survival under stress. Buuut, it declines as you age, so longevity docs point to NAD+ supplementation as a way to essentially recharge your batteries to full.

Harvard’s David Sinclair is one of the docs who put NAD+ on the map. His lab is studying NAD-boosting molecules for their anti-aging effects, and he personally supplements with 1g/day of NMN (nicotinamide mononucleotide), a precursor your body turns into NAD+. (NMN has shown promising results like reducing inflammation, improving insulin function, and supporting brain health when taken orally.) Another way to supplement NAD+ is with NR (nicotinamide riboside), which similarly shows promise.

Other longevity leaders are in on the hype. Andrew Huberman takes both (NR and NMN), reporting faster hair and nail growth and increased energy. Mark Hyman takes NMN. And Bryan Johnson recently switched from NR to NMN in his quest for immortality. 

You can also supplement NAD+ with IV infusions, buuut there's limited data on that approach, and it takes a long time. Plus, all of this ain’t cheap 😅. So… it's good news that you can naturally boost NAD+ through things like intermittent fasting, exercise (HITT and resistance training in particular), heat therapy and cold exposure, eating vitamin B3-rich foods, and getting quality sleep. Basically, things that are already good for you.

I’m sharing my current, full supplement stack below, and you won’t see NMN on it yet, but that’s only because I’m wary of things I’ll need to take forever unless the science is super convincing (or something is super trendy TBH and I want to check it out 😆).

Okay, last week, we talked about the health benefits of drinking coffee and mushroom coffee. This week, let’s add a healthyish-approved hack: The nappucino. 

Even Daniel H. Pink (in his book When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing) calls the nappucino a part of a 5-step formula for the perfect nap. 

Basically, the idea here is that caffeine takes ~25 minutes to engage in your bloodstream, so if you drink your coffee before you lie down and then set a timer for 25 minutes, you’ll wake up justtt as the caffeine is beginning to kick in. Plus, you’ll have the added benefit of a short nap, which research shows can enhance mood, short-term memory, alertness, and response time.

Pro tip: Pre-schedule your nappucino following the long holiday weekend. 😅

I'm lucky to have great vision, but I stare at the computer screen all day. And, like any other muscle, my eyes get tireddd. You’ve probably felt it too 👀, that vague tension creeping behind your eyelids and the mid-afternoon fatigue when focus requires more effort than your coffee’s giving. 🫠

We tend to blame the feeling on stress or poor sleep, but the real reason might be simpler: Our eyes weren’t designed to focus on screens for 8+ hours straight. Enter: Performance eyewear 🤓(aka my latest obsession). I got into it because of my friend Jason Bornhorst’s new company, Subtle Optics. Their eyewear is basically designed for people like me who’ve never worn glasses, but spend 6-10 hours daily in near focus. 

In this great article, Jason explains how clear vision doesn’t always = effortless vision and that looking at a screen all day can lead to “quiet overtraining.” Unlike other companies focusing only on blocking blue light, Subtle Optics is about incremental efficiency—like the optical version of adjusting your bike fit or a foam roller for your vision. 

Obviously, I begged Jason to let me try them 😅. He recently sent me a trial version, and I'm excited to try it when I return from Europe. Tbh, I’m also hoping that, by putting on glasses, people will not recognize me, and I can pull off a Clark Kent/Superman thing. (Or just be a little more like my man crush, Henry Cavill.)

You hear me talk about vitamins and supplements a lottt. Now, you finally get to peek inside my vitamin case. 👀

First things first: I'm probably taking too many 😅, and there’s a handful in this list I’m working on discontinuing. I go through phases of trying a lot, then reducing to just the essentials. Partly because supplements are expensive and partly because the areas I’m prioritizing evolve. Like, right now, what matters to me is: Great sleep, cognition, digestive health, and longevity (a little).

And yes, ideally, we’d get most of our nutrients from food. But, unfortunately, we live in an era where the nutritional value of our food has gone way downhill 📉. So, I do believe supplementation makes sense to help fill in gaps, and these are the ones helping me cover the bases I care about most.

Morning supplement stack:

Afternoon boost (this all goes in my smoothie):

Evening supplement stack:

Sooo, what’s in your stack? And is it longer or shorter than mine? 😅

👋 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, I share 5 health things I feel strongly about so you can live healthyish. (Disclaimer: I’m more your friend with health benefits. None of this is medical advice.) 

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