I’ve spent the past three (going on four!) decades trying my best to live a healthyish lifestyle. Some years my “best” looked like throwing protocols to the wind, and, in others, it meant pushing harder (sometimes too hard 😬—like my 6-pack in 6-weeks challenge).

Along the way, I’ve had to wrestle with things outside my control—like carrying one APOE4 allele (which doubles my Alzheimer’s risk 😕)—and things more in my hands, like fluctuating weight and persistent back problems.

I’ve tinkered, tested, and gone down more research rabbit holes than I can count. In some ways, my health journey has felt like trying to find the best smoothie recipe—always adding, swapping, and playing with different amounts (and kinds!) of protein. 

Through it all, I’ve also been focused on making healthyish living more accessible for everyone by supporting the companies working to do just that. Sharing what I’ve learned along the way feels like a natural extension of that mission—and so does supporting these companies. (And, yes, sometimes there will be affiliate links, but that doesn't affect my judgement in any way.)

So whether you’re deep into your own health optimization or just putting the routines together—here’s my current protocol for healthyish living.

-Derek

*I’ll keep this update and continue to share more protocols in my weekly 5HT. Subscribe if you haven’t already!

Table of Contents

Morning routine

Yes, I’m one of those people who wakes up at 5am. 😅 But I fully get it's not for everyone. It just works for me, personally 🤷. Annnd here’s what that looks like: 

  • 🌅 5:15am: Wake up

  • 👴 5:15-5:30am: Back exercises 

  • 🧘‍♂️ 5:30-5:45am: 10-minute meditation (used to use Headspace, now I do this solo)

  • 💻 5:45-7:00am: “Eat the frog” deep work, paired with my trusty Costco cold brew or PRÉS protein coffee when trying to get my protein up—plus starting with 20 mins of my sun lamp, the Northern Light Boxelite).

  • 👨‍👩‍👧 7:00-8:00am: Family time (making breakfast for the family, plus helping them get ready for school). I currently eat for breakfast a whole carton of egg whites (50ish grams of protein), chopped up veggies, whatever spices I feel like that day, and sauerkraut or kimchi on top. If this sounds gross to you, imagine how my kids feel (they get something else).

  • 🏋️‍♂️ 8:00-9:00am: Workout in my home gym (not fancy), unless I’m rock climbing or working out with a friend!

  • 💊 9:00-9:30am: Get ready (including skincare and morning supplements), put on my big boy microplastics-free merino wool underwear (from Wooly, my fave brand), and start the rest of my day!

Evening routine

I’m currently embarking on a new health quest to DOUBLE my restorative sleep time, making my evening routine super critical. Here’s what I’m doing to improve my sleep:

🙊 6:45pm: Stop eating 

(This is hard with social stuff, so I try to do this when possible.)

🧘 9:15-9:45pm: The Wind Down

😴 9:45pm: Lights Out

  • Turn on my white noise machine (we have a LectroFan in every bedroom) or the aptly named White Noise app on the iPhone when traveling.Get into bed. I’ve been using a buckwheat pillow for my neck (I buy them from Hullo and haven’t looked back) and an Eight Sleep pod for temperature control. (I run hot, and my wife runs cold, shocker.)

  • Put in my retainer (to prevent teeth grinding) and earplugs (I’ve tried a zillion alternatives, but I always end up back at these lame regular ones… though I’ve recently been trying these fancy Ozlo Sleepbuds, which double as earplugs AND white noise and I love them… but they’re super pricey.)

  • Don my Manta PRO eye mask (a new addition I'm reallyyyy happy with—and wrote about here). I’ve tried many of them and it’s definitely the best sleep mask out there.

  • Fall asleep. It usually takes me 15 minutes. Lately, I’ve been trying this technique called Cognitive Shuffling—coming up with three random words that come to mind for every letter in the alphabet. (Thanks to 5HT+ member, Cory Z., for the rec!)

At-home fitness

I workout from home ~3x/week. To motivate myself to move, I basically transformed a third of my garage into my home gym (though, yes, we still park our car there 😅). 

Here’s what I’ve got inside (including a bunch of relatively inexpensive fitness gear that's brought me more joy than I expected):

  • 💪 A cheap bench. 

  • 💪 A few medicine balls.

  • 💪 Adjustable Dumbbells.  

  • 💪 A TriggerPoint foam roller.

  • The simplest barbell holder you’ve ever seen.

  • 💪 Perfect Pushup. Makes push-ups easier to do.

  • 💪 Ab Wheel. Makes ab workouts kind of fun and easier to stick with.

  • 💪 Battle Ropes. Slight pain to anchor, but nothing feels cooler than whipping these ropes.

  • 💪 Bosu Ball. MUSCLE CONFUSION! (JK, this was a big thing a few years ago, but now I use these to challenge my core and proprioception.)

  • 💪 Versaclimber. My favorite low/no-impact cardio machine, super underrated, even Lebron loves it.

  • 💪 Jump rope. Like, any jump rope. Awesome between workout sets to keep heart rate up.

  • 💪 Pooboo Exercise Bike. Bought this on super sale and, hey, fan bike!

Productivity

I  workout and work from home. Here’s everything I use in my home office to keep me feeling sharp 😌:

  • Costco Tresanti Gellar Standing Desk. Basically my ride or die. 🤜🤛 Have had it for years and huge fan.

  • Walking Pad. Helps me crank through work (wrote about it here). Mine’s still sold out, but here’s what seems like a solid alternative.

  • Herman Miller Aeron Chair. I alternate walking and sitting. When I sit, it’s in this: The ergonomic gold standard of office chairs IMO. ⭐

  • Woozoo Fan + Dreo Space Heater. My personal microclimate control system.

  • Google Fiber. Recently installed and already can’t live without. (FWIW, it kicks Spectrum’s ass. Sorry, not sorry. 😬)

  • Northern Light Technologies Boxelite. I flip this on when I first start working to jump-start my circadian rhythm (wrote about it here).

  • ThinkPad X1 Laptop. I'm veryyy proud of my PC usage instead of a Mac. I like how light it is and that I can break and fix it. (Fun fact: I used to hack computers for gaming as a kid 🎮. As you might guess, I was very cool at parties.)

  • iPhone 15 Pro. I concede to Apple on this one.

  • WXHF Adhesive Cord Clips. Seeing the back of my desk look organized vs. 🍝 is a tiny upgrade that makes a biggg difference. These are the exact clips I use after trying a zillion of them that didn’t stick. 

  • AirPod Pro 2 (x2). I use one for my phone and one for my laptop, so I don’t have to switch back and forth. Sounds fancy, but honestly, game-changing. 

  • Yamazaki Racks. I used to use books 📚 to lift my laptop to eye level, but splurged for these nice-looking racks. Affordable posture hack! 

  • Dell Monitor. Clutch for scheduling or having two things up at once.

  • Dodecagon Time Ball. Use these fun desk timers to gamify my productivity. Wrote about them here in January and still use ‘um!

  • Moleskine Journal. Sometimes you just need a pen and paper. (I’ve got a dozen with notes from my entire professional life.) I’m a plain guy, not a ruled guy.

  • Blackwing Pencils, Cover (“Point Guard”), and Sharpener. Borderline religious about these pencils ✏️. Don’t @ me.

  • Oh, and my Bonsai Tree! (Full story on why I can no longer have a real one 🥲 here.)

Supplements

Before I get into this stack, you should know: I'm probably taking too many 😅. 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. 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 most about:

☀️ Morning supplement stack:

🥱 Afternoon boost (this all goes in my smoothie):

🌙 Evening supplement stack:

Oh, I also use this Weekly XL Vitamin Case from Ikagai, which just so happens to be one of the most clicked-products in 5HT history  👀. 

My favorite part of the case is the lid—it slides until you reach your desired day and then clicks into place. It’s incredibly satisfying to open and close (kinda like the feeling you got when closing your Razr phone in the early 2000s). 

Are they pricier than other vitamin cases? Sure. Do you really need a vitamin case? Probably not. But is it one of the products I'm digging the most right now? Absolutely.

Skincare

Obviously, skincare is personal—it depends on your skin type, age, gender, climate, and about a million other things. But maybe a few of mine will help you build (or tweak) your routine. (Also, apparently, only 39% of men have a skincare routine. Do better, men.) 

This is what I use, but if anyone knows what Paul Rudd is using, please report back immediately.

🌞 Morning Skincare

🌚 Evening Skincare

FWIW, of all of these, I’m especially obsessed with CeraVe Skin Renewing Night Cream. It smells really good, and it’s one of my favorite things.

Weight loss

This is an abridged version of the steps I took to lose weight, gain muscle, and take back my well-being: 

  • 1️⃣ Started tracking calories and macros with MyFitnessPal. (Fun fact: Research shows individuals who keep daily food records lose 2x as much weight as those who don’t.) 

  • 2️⃣ Began tracking everything else, including sleep and recovery, using my Oura ring and WHOOP. (Yes, both. A little overkill, but helpful, IMO.) 

  • 3️⃣ Committed HARD to protein, eating 200g+ per day. This was incredibly hard for me to do at first, but I eventually got there. (Here’s what I ate.)

  • 4️⃣ Revamped my workout routine. I started weight training 3x/week, rock climbing 1x/week, playing tennis with my wife 1x/week, and 1-2x short weekly sessions with my (very low impact) VersaClimber. 

  • 5️⃣ Fueled up with other add-ons. I ate fermented food, took Seed Health probiotics daily, took an EVOO shot every morning with my supplements, did back and hip stretches every AM, and foam rolled every PM. 

  • 6️⃣ Attempted to improve my sleep. Tbh, still working on this one. More to come!

For an expanded version of my weight-loss journey, check out this thread on X.

📝 Change log 

  • PaleoFiber (stopped 08/2025)

  • Snake Oil EVOO (started 08/2025)

  • Blueprint Blueberry Nut Mix to smoothie (started 08/2025)

  • Supergut GLP-1 Booster to smoothie (started 08/2025)

  • Veracity Metabolism Ignite (started 08/2025)

  • Nutrex BioAstin Hawaiian Astaxanthin (started 07/2025)

  • Thorne Zinc Picolinate (started 07/2025)

  • Toku (started 07/2025)

  • Pure Encapsulations Magnesium Glycinate (started 07/2025)

  • Momentous Magtein AM vs. PM (moved 07/2025)

  • Momentous Acetyl L-Carnitine HCL (stopped 07/2025)

  • Nootropics Depot Smart PS™ Phosphatidylserine (stopped 07/2025)

  • NOW Vitamin K2 (stopped 07/2025)

  • Nootropics Depot Lion's Mane Mushroom 8:1 (stopped 07/2025)

  • GLP-1/tirzepatide (took last dose on 7/18/2025)

  • Pendulum Akkermansia (stopped 06/2025)

  • Pendulum Glucose Control (stopped 06/2025)

  • Chicory Inulin (stopped 06/2025)

  • Agent Nateur holi (mane) (stopped 06/2025)

  • Mara Labs Broc Elite Plus Stabilized Sulphorate (stopped 06/2025)

  • Broccoli Seed Complex (including PEITC, Iberin, BITC & AITC) (stopped 06/2025)

  • Mara Labs Broc Elite Plus Stabilized Sulphorate (started 04/2025)

  • Fatty15 C15:0 (started 04/2025)

  • Himalayan Tartary Buckwheat Sprout Powder (started 04/2025)

  • Agent Nateur holi (mane) for hair, skin, & nails (started 04/2025)

  • Timeline Mitopure Urolithin A Softgels (started 03/2025)

  • Thorne Theanine (started 03/2025)

  • Thorne Glycine (started 03/2025)

  • Momentous Apigenin (started 03/2025)

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