#7

I think I would basically do nothing special because it’s likely most things are either genetic or random chance (as long as it’s a pretty normal childhood). ACE’s have genetic confounding (i.e a parent going to prison).

I haven’t scoured the literature on this, but identical twins in separate homes turn out pretty much the same. So this should reduce anxiety about parenting.

#8

The supplements IMO, are a very small piece of the puzzle. The way I see it, we don’t eat as much fish and leafy greens as I’ve probably like to, and we protect them from the sun - so DHA, magnesium, vitamin D are like filling the gaps. And they’re all at very conservative doses.

Thanks @RapAdmin for the very insightful links. I’ll read through them soon. I agree absolutely that trying to prevent any sort of trauma is critical. When I see students (in my case, adults - postgrad students) suffering from problems, a lot of them seem to be from “bad” families, so that list makes perfect intuitive sense to me.

That’s an interesting perspective, and I do think a lot of it is genetic. Like, you can have one kid very shy and another very outgoing. Last I heard, it was about 50% nature, 50% nurture.

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#9

Get kids used to eating healthy foods instead of the fun stuff like fries with ketchup. Did a way to make it fun like fast food, pizza, etc. And make physical activity a normal part of life: get involved in sports for the fun of it (not for the medals). Team sports is best but all physical activity is good. This sets up an easier transition to a healthy lifestyle when they choose to go there.

I’d also limit cell phone and TV usage. Freedom within limits until they develop the capacity to make good decisions on limiting addictions to “entertainment”.

The main thing is I wouldn’t normalize the idea that taking pills is an alternative to a healthy lifestyle.

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#10

I was just watching Scott Galloway and was reminded about your question (not everyone likes or agrees with him, but I love him).

He was talking about not being a bulldozer parent and how letting your kids fail builds resilience. From seeing the various parenting styles of those close to me, I wholeheartedly agree with this.

@约瑟夫_拉维尔 I’ve heard a great way to make healthy food fun is to have the kids grown some of their own food.

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#11

Yup. Let them have their own problems and find ways to overcome them themselves. If you step in too much, you’re stealing their self confidence to build your own.

Another big thing is to have them observe you facing difficulties with calmness and non-reactivity. They learn more through observation than through lectures or stepping in.

Exercise is the best supplement. Help your kids learn to view exercise as an inescapable habit like brushing their teeth.

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#12

We didn’t do anything with my kids. I think I would just turn them in to hypochondriacs if we tried.

We show them with our healthy habits.
Put them in good school so they don’t end up with bad influence peers.

Focus on yourself (selves)
Don’t smoke or drink to excess.
Exercise, eat well, take care of sleep, etc.
If you live a long an healthy live, eventually they will get it, trust me.

Never attempt to indoctrinate your children, it will just backfire when they turn teenage years.
Allow them to make mistakes.
Let them figure it out.

I got 2 boys in good colleges, one doing pre-med and other engineering.

Both shied away from drugs, they tried some pot and alcohol and decided is not for them.
They eat relatively healthy, exercise and are slowly discovering the value of sleep.
Both take care of their teeth, use sunscreen and facial creams, etc.

I have to say, it was pretty effortless - monkey see monkey does.

Also they learn how to cook from us and often cook for themselves.

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#13

I agree. However, at least one of my kids has familiar hypercholesterolemia, so some amount of interaction with the healthcare system (blood tests, taking medication) is required. My approach is to basically treat this like a constant thing; nothing dramatic. Some parents over-medicalize, and others are scared/superstitious/suspicious of medical care.

Very good point. I think there’s a balance. The bulldozer parent never lets their kid experience failure, but the neglectful parent doesn’t make their kid feel like they could accomplish anything.

Growing food is also a really nice idea!

And thanks for the solid advice @Dr.Bart Totally agree with that approach.

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#14

I’ve enjoyed reading people’s perspectives on raising children in light of “longevity.” It has me reflect on my own upbringing in the 50’s/60’s. Environmentally my generation dealt with lead in gasoline, DDT (I remember being in Key West and being bathed in fog from an airdrop on our location), margarine (hard transfats) to name a few. I suppose the current ones would include plastics and misinformation.

#5 - Sports activities also had me reflecting. The team sport activities I did never really advanced into my adult life (tackle football for example). But the sports/activities I currently do to this day are the ones we did as a family. - Downhill skiing, sailing, hiking, camping. (I didn’t do tennis but my sisters did and they currently do that). My understanding of current team sports is that it is highly coached with training that contributes to a huge industry of specialists. Given the expense and time commitments, I think building certain things in their outdoor environment like a basketball hoop, cornhole, etc for spontaneous play might deliver some of the benefits you seek for your children. (I forgot one of those 1960’s activities my generation had - AVOID Lawn Darts! :slight_smile:

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#15

I love the Dweck recommendation. I will also add, how to deal with difficult people and nonviolent communication.

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#16

Seems people should start really early with things to maximize lifespan of their children (though of course this research is early, and preliminary)…

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#17

ADHD is genetic, not environmental, heritability at 80% or higher, so the same for height or schizophrenia.

Some people not wanting to work with numbers and computers does not mean it’s ADHD, they just need stimulants to do that work (“Computers are fundamentally Depressing” - 00:03:50 of 01:02:00).

#18

As someone with ADD, I was bumming out, but I’m glad I read the article because, for me, it’s not as bad as the headline sounded, whew.

I had not heard ADD might be related to sleep issues!!! I had decades of poor sleep until my beloved rapa came into my life, but hopefully I can make up for lost sleep now.

“Barkley’s study found that the biggest predictors of shorter life expectancy in adults with ADHD were factors including lower incomes, fewer years of education, a greater likelihood of smoking, shorter sleep duration, less exercise, poorer nutrition and risky driving. He notes that most of these factors are linked to impulsivity — which can be treated.”

#19

No, I don’t think thats true. The only truly “genetic diseases” are things like Fragile-X, Huntington’s’, Duchene muscular dystrophy, etc. Everything else - from ADHD to Schizophrenia is genes + environment. As they say, genes load the gun, environment pulls the trigger…

See: Genetic Disorders: What Are They, Types, Symptoms & Causes

schiz.risk

See: Schizophrenia.com - Preventing Schizophrenia, Risk Reduction

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#20

But if you don’t have the genes you really can’t get it, in the graph above it’s at 1%, while identical twins it’s at 48%, a 48x difference.

So if you have a high polygenic risk score, then of course avoid certain things to decrease risk as the base rate risk is already high.

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#21

  • Methylation testing (homocysteine and MTHFR would be the basic tests). If MTHFR is under-functioning, then supplement with appropriate dose of B-Vitamins, folate & TMG, which usually come in a combo (also, Phosphatidylcholine & creatine are great supporting agents, but not necessary to have on a daily basis). Methylation is fundamental for a large % of body’s biochemical processes, including energy metabolism and Phase 1&2 detox, neurotransmitter synthesis, etc etc

  • Multivitamin: A low dose, clean multivitamin (such as HIYA or equivalent) or dessicated organ/liver supplement: as a basic nutrition insurance policy. This would include quite a few micronutrients

  • Brain supporting nutrients: Fish / fish oil for brain development. Low dose Lithium 1mg is a great addition as well.

  • As much as possible/feasible, cook at home with traditional cooking methods such as soaking/sprouting/fermenting/pressure-cooking/rinsing/etc, to minimize anti-nutrients such as lectins/oxalates/phytates/etc (if consuming a heavy plant-based diet). Incorporate some dairy, eggs, ruminant meat and sea food (if your culture allows that, and your body is compatible with it)

  • Diet: Needless to say, whole food and minimally processed food, atleast 80% of the time

  • LP(a) testing: Yes, I believe this would be good to do at young age, but a lot of doctors (including functional/integrative medicine doctors downplay the importance/relevance of it)

  • Circadian alignment / consistency (as per their chronotype) as much as possible and sleep hyegine. I dim the light down throughout the house after 7:00pm. I have setup blue light blocking lamps in kids bed rooms. Low dose magnesium at night. I switch off modem before going to bed (to minimize unnecessary radiation). First thing in the morning = sun exposure (even if its cloudy) + barefoot on the grass + hydration + some movement.

  • Exposure to dirt / nature / outdoors (for immune resilience and to cultivate microbiome alpha-diversity)

  • Some form of mindfulness / meditation / humming / singing (to gravitate towards parasympathetic state, esp in the evening)

  • Needless to say, incorporating some sort of regular sports / excercise

  • Nurturing contribution / belongingness / self-esteem. Allowing freedom for kids to experiment and make mistakes (which is something that is still a work-in-progress for me, as a parent of 2)

  • The rest of the protocols would be as per personalized testing (e.g. allergy testing, micro-nutrient defeciency testing, etc on a need basis)

Those are just a few that comes to my mind

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#22

Thanks for the list! To be totally honest, some of them seem a little extreme. I wouldn’t dose my 4 year old with lithium, even though he can be a total asshole sometimes! That might even be unethical to give them prescription medications.

However, I agree with you about sleep, and we really emphasise getting them to bed at a set time, keeping a dark and cool room, having some “winding down time” before bed. Same for sport and exercise, exposure to nature, dirt and outdoors.

Lp(a) testing we have done, simply because mine is disastrous and it’s obviously genetic. There isn’t much we can do right now apart from just being extra vigilant about not letting them eat too many hotdogs and other junk.

The more I think about it, the more I am considering that mental health seems to be the most important. Physical we can almost take for granted, since they grow up in our house seeing my wife and I eating healthily, exercising, we have a home gym, the kids “lift weights” (like kettlebells etc) with me for fun, and we do a lot of play throwing and kicking balls around, running on the field etc. But mental health seems a real challenge in 2025. Keeping them away from social media seems like a no-brainer at the moment, given how miserable it makes people.

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#23

No - he’s talking about micro-dosing with the supplement version (not the mood disorder pharmaceutical). See this thread: A primer on Lithium, Lithium + Rapamycin, etc. potentially more stable and safer pharmacokinetics

and here: Lithium Supplementation

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#24

Speaking again of mental health and in preaching to the choir….

Not that we don’t already know META is damaging to our youth, I’ll share yet another thing I learned upon the release of the book Careless People. If I had kids and if they had SM, I would have ripped their phones out of their hands this week.

They are much more evil than I already knew they were… and the bar was pretty low.

From a confidential document leaked to the Australian press, FB offered advertisers the opportunity to target young girls with beauty and weight loss ads at their most vulnerable moments.

“Facebook could determine when users as young as 14 feel “defeated”, “overwhelmed”, “stressed”, “anxious”, “nervous”, “stupid”, “silly”, “useless” or a “failure”.

Apparently, deleting a selfie would trigger these ads with the thought that you only delete photos when you don’t think you look good.

This was old news but I had no idea they were that purposefully cruel.

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#25

Wow, that is just horrible. I read “the anxious generation” by Johnathon Haidt, and it says that girls seem to be much more negatively affected by social media. I guess this sort of thing helps explain why. (That said, guys are also targeted for muscle building, pickup artist, blah blah stuff)

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#26

Good point. This tracks because Scott Galloway (my personal hero!) talks a lot about what SM has done to young men.