AMA #14: 2023 Philanthropy, Evening Routine, Light Therapy, Health Metrics & More

Very heavy weights in the range of 1-3 repetitions generally make people stronger but there isn't much hypertrophy. When you get from 3-5 repetitions, you're still in the mostly strength/some hypertrophy range. When you get out towards 6 repetitions out to even 30 repetitions, provided the sets are going to failure—you can't perform another repetition in good form, well, then you're stimulating hypertrophy.

It's very important that, if possible, that you get a little splash of sunlight in your eyes in the afternoon and evening. Why? Why is that important? ... It adjusts the sensitivity of the neurons in your retina and your brain such that it protects you against brighter artificial lights later in the evening.

Bright lights viewed for 15 seconds or more between the hours of 10 PM and 4 AM can dramatically quash melatonin levels ... Getting some daylight in your eyes before the sun goes down, that can offset that melatonin reduction by about 50%, which is pretty impressive.

Viewing red lights at a distance of about 18 inches or so in the morning for people who are over 40—but not for people younger, by the way—that can offset some of the age-related reductions in mitochondrial function and vision loss.

There's a light panel, 900-lux drawing tablet, that I've set on my desk for a number of years. Recently, I confess I've started experimenting with some of the 10,000-lux light panels that sit on your desk. Those are very, very bright. And I do use that now if I wake up really early and I'm going to do some work. I'll turn that thing on, and it sure wakes you up.

If you go out dancing, you go to a party at night, should you worry about the lights? No. I am not, despite what you might presume or hear or read, I am not the sort of person who wear sunglasses in a party.

If I have a throat tickle or I'm not feeling very well, I'm really careful about working out. Sometimes I'll do it, sometime I won't ... But if I'm feeling under the weather, I'll just skip. I'll just skip that workout.

The other thing that you can do if you wake up in the middle of the night is to not look at the time ... People who look at the time when they wake up in the middle the night generally have a harder time falling back asleep.

With the evening routine, it can be beneficial and very, very cost effective to get some red bulbs and put them in, say, the bedroom where you read before you go to sleep or in a particular room in your house you tend to spend time in the evening.

... When people are given a 'poor sleep score', their cognitive performance and physical performance is diminished, even if they slept really long and really well.

Here's the interesting thing about weight training... you will never get larger than the so-called pump that you achieve in a single workout.