Longevity newsletter, personal blog, and a mindset shift.

I am returning to writing a newsletter as a form of self-expression and sharing with you interesting insights and discoveries about my current subject of work.

It has been more than a year since I created my Substack and posted the first post here. I remember feeling myself compelled to define my online presence by creating a blog/newsletter on whatever topic, so I wrote my first (and the last) post about becoming studying medicine in Europe.

That endeavor didn't stick with me in the long term. Nevertheless, I continued to write for myself extensively doing a lot of self-reflection. When I feel overwhelmed, I spend about an hour journaling, which helps calm my brain and organize my thoughts. Most of my journaling remains private, but I often contemplate sharing some discoveries with someone else. After a year of online silence, I decided to give it a second chance and share some of my thoughts combined with my recent life interests: preventive medicine, longevity and health tech.

To begin with, a lot has changed in my persona since then, espacially attitude towards setting and pursuing goals. I have shifted from a mindset of endless rat race focused solely on outcomes to a mindset that prioritizes the present moment and doing things I love, without fixating too much on the outcome.

One difficult decision was to shift my focus away from solely building a career as a clinician to pursuing other things like building a startup and exploring other side-hustles. For most people with an MD degree, it automatically implies spending the majority of their time in surgical or bedside settings. I will address this topic in later posts. However, it's worth mentioning how amazing it is that other people often try to convince you to do what they did just to reassure themsels that thay made right decisions. Additionally, the fact that becoming a medical specialist can be highly financially rewarding in the long term makes it even more challenging to embark on other endeavors, such as building a startup or focusing more on abstract subjects like the intersection of healthcare and AI.

Nevertheless, since I have decided not to overthink too much, I try to concentrate on building things I enjoy for now and reassess my direction after a certain perdiod of time.

Regardless of what you are pursuing in your life, it's always important to silence the voices of your personal ego and of others in your head and make mindful decisions based on your genuine values.

All that being said, let's briefly mention the main topic of this newsletter.  I came up with a simple longivety protocoll for myself. On the internet, you can find many "biohackers" who share their longevity protocols consisting of precise meal plans, complex daily workouts, numerous supplements, and expensive utilities for optimizing sleep. Such protocols require excessive time and money, making them inaccessible for most people who work, spend time with their families and lack millions of spare dollars for longevity self-experiments.

I plan to share my routines in future posts, diving deeper into each topic such as sleep, workout, nutrition, and more. For now, I'll just mention that my routines are relatively simple and compatible with working more than a full-time job with a regular salary.

For the past few months, I have been tracking my activities and sleep using an Apple Watch, following a basic workout plan, taking some supplements, and maintaining a relatively healthy diet with occasional calorie tracking.

I believe that 20% of actions yield 80% of the results, with the rest being fine-tuning. Therefore, I mainly focus on evidence-based practices that don't require a significant amount of time and don't force you to sacrifice some of your hedonistic activities.

Ironically, the first email in this longevity-focused newsletter has very little to do with longevity, but rather it seems to be like a post in a private journal. As of now, I plan to write about longevity and tech-related topics, including scientific publication reviews and presenting data from my own wearables, along with some conclusions based on this data. However, I don't want to set any limitations, allowing it to organically develop into whatever it might become. I also plan to diversify it with some insights and personal thoughts in the format of a private blog.

Sharing my thoughts without any external pressures is what this whole endeavour is going to be about - with a focus on being present in the now and consciously doing things I enjoy. I have no goals set for publishing a certain number of times per month or getting a specific number of likes. This also means there are no expectations placed upon you, the reader. If you're interested, you are free to join me on this journey.

Disclosure: I would like to clarify that this blog is a personal endeavor where I share my own opinions and experiences. I do not claim to provide medical advice. It is important to note that every individual's health situation is unique, and what works for me may not be suitable for everyone. If you have any specific health concerns or questions, I strongly recommend consulting your healthcare provider or doctor for professional guidance tailored to your needs. The content shared here is my personal opinion and is for informational purposes only, and should not be interpreted as medical advice.