The 4-Hour Body_ An Uncommon Guide to Ra - Timothy Ferriss [211]
I saw the greatest impact on performance once I crossed the 50 ng/ml barrier and reached 55 ng/ml, after which the effects plateaued. The performance enhancement of vitamin D is well documented, at least as a result of using UV lights:
In 1944, German investigators irradiated 32 medical students, twice a week for 6 wk, finding irradiated students showed a 13% improvement in performance on a bike ergometer, whereas performance of the control students was unchanged. In 1945, Allen and Curaton measured cardiovascular fitness and muscular endurance for 10 wk in 11 irradiated male Illinois college students, comparing them with 10 matched unirradiated controls, both groups undergoing similar physical training. The treatment group achieved a 19.2% standard score gain in cardiovascular fitness compared with a 1.5% improvement in the control students.
Shed some light on yourself or take some drops.
Supplemental vitamin D increases your need for vitamin A, so don’t forget the aforementioned cod liver, which includes both.
SHORT ICE BATHS AND/OR COLD SHOWERS—
10 MINUTES UPON WAKING AND BEFORE BED
Using ice baths and cold showers to affect sex hormones is largely untested in the literature, but there appear to be plausible mechanisms.
The preoptic area of the anterior hypothalamus is responsible for regulating thermogenesis—the generation of heat in response to cold exposure. The very same preoptic area also contains most GnRH-releasing neurons, making it a primary site of GnRH production. Pulses of GnRH, you might recall, then trigger either FSH (low-frequency pulses) or LH release (high-frequency pulses).
Looking at blood test changes after removing and then reincorporating both baths and showers as an isolated variable, I believe intermittent cold exposure has a positive impact on high-frequency pulses of GnRH, resulting in higher levels of LH and testosterone.
Protocol #2: Short-Term and Fun
20–24 HOURS PRIOR TO SEX
The evening before your target sex day, consume at least 800 milligrams of cholesterol within two hours of bedtime.
I’ve duplicated the sex drive–increasing effect in more than a dozen trials, which began with high-dose grass-fed beef at 16–20 ounces per sitting. I initially thought that higher meat consumption was accountable. Based on the literature, it seems that overfeeding or carnitine could be responsible, the latter of which has been shown to be important for sperm production (spermatogenesis) and quality (motility).
The problem with this hypothesis is that four ounces of beef steak contain 56–162 milligrams of carnitine. Grass-fed beef is higher in L-carnitine content and (in general) the redder the meat, the higher the carnitine content. But even if we assume the higher per ounce value of 37.5 milligrams (150 milligrams in 4 ounces) for medium-rare grass-fed beef, we’d need to consume 53 ounces of meat to reach the clinical dosing of two grams per day. Even for an avid meat-eater, this is disgusting. Though I suspect there are nontrivial effects at doses less than two grams per day, I wanted to look for alternative explanations.
The simple solution was found in eggs.
I wanted to isolate cholesterol as a variable because of its potential dose-dependent SHBG-lowering effect, and a single large egg yolk provides more than two-thirds of the USRDA cholesterol limit of 300 milligrams, meaning 200 milligrams per yolk.
The minimum threshold for a very noticeable effect appeared to be 800 milligrams of cholesterol, or four whole eggs.
If you want a tasty bonus, add in reduced-fat Swiss cheese, which has the highest levels of CLA (conjugated linolenic acid) of all cheeses, with natural Muenster in second place.
FOUR HOURS PRIOR TO SEX
4 Brazil nuts
20 raw almonds
2 capsules of the aforementioned cod/butter combination
Brazil Nut Explanation: I began consuming Brazil nuts for selenium, as I tested deficient in this trace mineral after sending blood samples to SpectraCell, the same micronutrient testing lab