The Baseline protocol.
Základní protokol
OVERDOZE ON SIMPLICITY
Biology can't be hacked. And it doesn't need to be.
The wellness industry sells people complexity: algorithms, endless optimisation and „biohacking“. But your body doesn't need hacking. It is a highly adaptive, self-repairing system. All it needs are the inputs evolution tuned it for: light, movement, real food, people and darkness.
The OVERDOZE Baseline Protocol strips out the informational ballast. It is a human operating system: a framework built on evolution and science that measures only what actually matters. Nothing more.
OVERDOZE on simplicity.
When the evidence changes, the protocol changes.
This document governs who OVERDOZE is, what it does and how it thinks. It is not ancient wisdom carved in stone. When knowledge and evidence change, the protocol changes. Two things never will:
OVERDOZE never does something because it is trending or because there is money in it. That is a hard NO-GO for us.
OVERDOZE is obsessed with what works and what genuinely helps people. We are here so people feel good, live better and live longer.
The end of informational noise.
Stop fighting total cholesterol — it is a vital structural molecule. Stop fearing cortisol — it is the hormone that saves your morning. Track the four things that genuinely decide your healthspan:
ApoB (apolipoprotein B). Cholesterol doesn't travel through the blood alone — it rides in „taxis“ (LDL and VLDL particles). Every one of those taxis carries exactly one ApoB protein, so an ApoB test counts the number of cars on the road, not how many passengers they carry. What decides your risk of a blocked artery is precisely the number of particles able to embed into a plaque. That is why many experts consider ApoB a more accurate predictor of heart disease than a classic lipid panel; values above 90 mg/dl already mean needlessly elevated risk.
Our ancestors moved all day and ate plenty of fibre, not industrial fats and sugars. Hunter-gatherers typically kept LDL/ApoB far below Western values for life, simply because plaques had nothing to build from.
Eat a whole-food, fibre-rich diet, keep trans fats near zero, don't smoke, keep your weight in check. And because the modern environment plus genetics can raise ApoB even on a good lifestyle, measure it once in a while. That is exactly the logic of the OVERDOZE protocol: measure only what is worth measuring.
Visceral fat. Fat stored deep in the abdomen around your organs (liver, intestines), not the kind you can grab with your hand. It is „active“: it produces compounds that affect metabolism, and an excess raises the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. A rough signal is waist circumference (risk threshold ~102 cm for men, ~88 cm for women). HbA1c then works like a black box: sugar sticks to haemoglobin in red blood cells, and because a red cell lives ~3 months, it reveals your average blood sugar over the last quarter, not just a morning snapshot.
Movement used to be unavoidable and calories were hard to over-eat by accident. The Hadza (the last authentic hunter-gatherers, living in Tanzania) get ~135 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity a day — up to 14× more than the average American. Hypertension and metabolic risk factors are practically nonexistent among them.
Zone 2 walking (mitochondria burning both glucose and fat), strength training 2–3× a week (muscle as a glucose tank, exactly as this protocol says) and food in its original matrix, because that is where you naturally stop eating sooner.
hs-CRP (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein). CRP is produced by the liver during inflammation; the „hs“ version of the test detects even very low levels — the silent, smouldering inflammation you cannot feel but which contributes to arterial plaque. Values above 2 mg/l signal higher cardiac risk even with normal cholesterol. Careful: a cold or a hard run raises it too, so measure twice, two weeks apart.
Today's silent inflammation comes mostly from visceral fat, which actively secretes inflammatory signals (IL-6 → CRP in the liver). Little visceral fat means little fuel for smouldering inflammation. A curiosity: the Tsimane (an indigenous group in the Bolivian Amazon) have elevated inflammatory markers from infections and parasites, yet completely clean arteries. Inflammation is one player, not the whole story.
The data is unambiguous. Exercise lowers hs-CRP (a meta-analysis of 43 studies: −0.53 mg/l) and the biggest effect comes from losing fat, not from the exercise itself. And then sleep: sleep deprivation raises inflammatory markers.
Cortisol. The main output of the brain–adrenal stress axis. Short term it is adaptive — it governs how your body wakes up, for instance. Healthy cortisol has a pronounced daily rhythm: a peak shortly after waking, then a gradual decline to a night-time minimum. The problem is a chronically elevated level and a broken rhythm.
Evolution never kept anything „low“ — it kept the shape of the curve. The only light was the sun and fire: an intense morning signal (cortisol peaking 30–45 minutes after waking, +38–75%), then darkness and zero stimulation in the evening. Modern humans flattened the curve from both ends: dim offices in the morning, blue screens at night.
Morning light outdoors (experiments confirm that bright light after waking amplifies the morning cortisol wave) and darkness and calm in the evening so the curve can fall to zero.
You don't have to fight your body to keep the numbers low. You have to stop giving it reasons to raise them.
Four biological levers.
Pull them every day, if you can.
Circadian anchor
Light and movement
Walk outside for 15–30 minutes right after waking. Even a lousy 10 minutes beats staring at your phone. Daylight shuts down melatonin, triggers a healthy morning cortisol wave and sets your nervous system for the whole day. This is the absolute baseline.
Water and minerals
Replace water and electrolytes, because you lost both overnight. Water with electrolytes thins the blood so it flows more easily, and the electrolytes get your nerve synapses firing. A pinch of quality salt in your first glass of water does the job just fine.
Supplements after breakfast
Eat a protein-rich breakfast, then take D3 + K2 and omega-3 (EPA/DHA). These are the supplements that bridge the gaps created by living indoors and by industrial agriculture.
If you want, take 3–5 grams of creatine in the morning too. It is one of the most thoroughly researched supplements there is, with proven effects on performance, muscle-cell hydration and the brain, where it reduces cognitive fatigue.
Magnesium takes part in more than 300 enzymatic reactions in the body, including heart-rhythm regulation. Take magnesium (ideally the calming bisglycinate) 1–2 hours before sleep. During the day, L-threonate is worth the money — it crosses into the brain and supports cognition.
Cognitive architecture
Deep work
Your brain keeps its neuroplasticity only when it solves hard problems. Kill the addictive algorithmic feeds, isolate your attention and do your hardest analytical work during the day. Create, learn, write, think. And read. Deep reading is one of the best activities for your brain. By the way: use AI as a productivity tool, not as a servant doing your primitive tasks for you.
Engine and armour
Give yourself quality fuel
Eat food in its clean evolutionary form: whole proteins, natural fats, complex carbohydrates. Simple carbs are not inherently evil — they are a good servant and a bad master. Around performance they help; during deep work they wreck your focus. Build a metabolic engine that an occasional detour cannot derail.
Armour and strength
Lift heavy 2–3× a week. Muscle is an endocrine organ: a tank for surplus glucose, structural armour for long-term health and prevention of neurodegeneration. It strengthens tendons and connective tissue too. Say what you like — we are coaches as well, and we know that if you have time for one session only, make it the strength one.
Engine and endurance
Once a week, zone 2: walk, bike, easy jog — a pace where you can hold a conversation. You are building mitochondria, the energy factories of your cells. Once a week, intervals: 10–30 seconds all out, 2 minutes easy, five rounds. You raise your VO₂max — one of the strongest correlates of longevity. Bike, run, row, ski, airbike. Pick one. Just do it.
Autonomic downshift
Tribe
Disconnect from performing. Let it all go. Give focused time to your family, your community, the next generation. Social connection is an evolutionarily encoded safety signal that lowers systemic stress more than any supplement or routine.
Decompression
Shift into the parasympathetic state: sauna and cold, deep breathing, or plain silence. And watch out — most people skip this part. They chase hacks, metrics and nonsense while staying wired to their problems and tasks. Their body rests at night, but the brain keeps working. Completely backwards.
Hygiene before the Void
In the 1–2 hours before bed, cut the dopamine. A book or a calm film yes, scrolling no. Keep food, training and stimulants as far from sleep as possible. And no dogma: 60% of evenings done calmly beats a theoretical 100% you never reach.
The Void
Sleep in absolute darkness, silence and cool air. At night the brain clears out metabolic waste. Give it the space to finish the job.
No watches. Four questions.
No rings, no watches, no dashboards. Just you, your head, your body and how they feel.
Frictionless, sustained focus (5), or fragmented, reactive attention (1)?
Lightness, strength and energy (5), or stiffness and lethargy (1)?
Perspective in the middle of chaos (5), or lingering physiological stress (1)?
Genuine downshift before sleep (5), or a „wired“ restlessness (1)?
The goal. Don't fix a single bad day. Watch the rolling 7-day average and look for the inflection point. You are building an antifragile system whose results compound over decades.