Turning Back The Clock - My NMN Journey Begins

In 2018 I was feeling old. I was often tired, my muscles were sore, and I couldn't exercise.

It was a chore to play soccer in the backyard with my two young boys and I had to hire

a tennis coach, even though I grew up playing the sport. I was desperate for some relief

and couldn't resign myself to the downward turn my life was taking in my 50's, so I decided

not to go down without a fight and took to the internet to find out anything I could about

slowing down or even turning back the effects of aging.

The name that came up first in my searches was Dr. David Sinclair of Harvard. He had conducted thousands of experiments with yeast cells, mice, and was already taking supplements that had shown remarkable potential in his lab. The first one is Resveratrol, which exists naturally in many grapes and berries and naturally in wine, however to consume enough of it to generate the changes he was seeing in his lab tests, you would have to drink

thousands of glasses each day. That sounds like a lot of fun, but clearly not so realistic if you want to go play tennis. So, the best option was to find it in supplement form.

Out of sheer habit, I immediately went to Amazon and ordered the first bottle of Resveratrol capsules I could find that had good reviews. Come to find out later, that Amazon is NOT a safe source for ordering supplements, but more on that later. Luckily, I had received a decent product this time and per David's daily ritual, I opened the capsules and began pouring the chalk-like powder into Greek Yogurt each day. I started with 150mg and worked my way up to 450mg. Dr. Sinclair takes 1g per day, but I wasn't comfortable jumping in the deep end just yet, as I am quite sensitive to anything I ingest due to lots of allergies.

My first week taking Resveratrol, I experienced cold symptoms. It was in October of 2019, so I couldn't be certain it had anything to do with the supplement, because the weather does turn that month here in Germany. But, something about how I began to feel made me believe it could have been the Resveratrol starting to have an impact on my body. Instinctively, I kept taking it, because I also began to feel some positive symptoms. I was slightly less sore and had a bit more pep in my step. It could have been a placebo effect from the result of taking action, but it really didn't matter to me if it worked I would continue to give this a few weeks or months to gauge a more longterm impact on my life.

What began to happen to me was quite surprising. I was soon playing tennis with my kids and not feeling sore when taking walks with my family. I was getting some quality of life back for the first time in years and this was the whole reason for moving back to Europe after 14 years in Los Angeles in 2016. It became clear to me that I would keep taking Resveratrol and to this day, I believe it helped my fight off COVID-19, which I haven't ever tested positive for. FWIW, I began taking plenty of Vitamin C, D and Zinc when word spread of the pandemic in early 2020. But, I had always taken these in winter and never felt all that I was feeling with Resveratrol. Overall, the improvement in my life was probably 30% and though that may not sound so dramatic, it was enough for me to turn the corner and exercise more, losing weight and getting stronger. It opened the door to a better life in my 50's.

Another molecule that Dr. Sinclair had been testing with incredible results in his lab is called NMN (Nicotinamide Mononucleotide). NMN boosts NAD levels in our body, which are essential to cell repair and we begin to lose NAD levels at age 40 and this accelerates at age 50. I had known about NMN when I first researched longevity supplements and Dr. Sinclair, but it's more expensive typically than Resveratrol and a bit more complicated to store. So, I opted to wait, but in the fall of 2020 the prices had come down on Amazon and I decided to take the plunge.

Fortunately, my first NMN product on Amazon gave me extremely positive results. I had what turned out to be a two month supply, which I stretched to nearly 3 months, again taking a bit less than most people do in an abundance of caution. Interestingly, my first week of NMN, I again experienced minor cold symptoms, but nothing serious. What I also felt was an immediate boost in energy, focus, and improved deep sleep. In fact, I began having incredibly vivid dreams like I haven't had in decades. I had forgotten how dreams can feel and this was the first signal of feeling much much younger. Adding NMN to my daily Resveratrol routine completely changed how I was feeling. I would say the improvement to my day to day life in many aspects was now in the range of 70-80%. In more direct terms, I felt like ME again. It was and is simply amazing to experience this and I get emotional just recalling it now.

Into my 2nd month of NMN, I had so much mental focus that new song ideas came to me and I began writing and composing and most importantly completing my own songs for the first time in 20 years. When I first began writing and recording music in my 20's, I could work for several hours straight. I'd get a song idea and just start working until it was completed. But, over the years, my ability to remain focused on a single idea just drifted away, until I just opted to work as an audio engineer on other people's music. But, these supplements gave me much more than physical improvements, I was more creative and productive. In the single month of December 2020, I produced 5 new songs, 3 of which I've already released on digital platforms. This was just mind-blowing for me to accomplish.

In January 2021, I found a lower priced NMN on Amazon and made a switch. Now looking back, I should have realized something was amiss sooner, but I still felt good, but the song ideas again faded and I chalked it up to just hitting a peak with NMN and that I had somehow plateaued. I was still able to play tennis and I just figured the creative boost would return later on.

In the summer of 2021, I was looking through some pictures on my phone and was stunned to see the changes in my selfies from before and after taking the supplements. For fun, I posted a couple pics edited side by side on an NMN related Facebook Group and thanked David Sinclair for inspiring me. The reaction was amazing. 200 people Liked the pics in just a few hours. Many asked me what exactly I was taking, so I shared the Amazon links. Shortly after that, the Admin of the group removed my posts completely. She later explained that Amazon was not a reliable place to buy NMN and she wanted her members to avoid it.

I went back up to Amazon and began looking through the comments more closely and I actually found a very recent review of the product I was taking. This person took his NMN Max bottle to a lab right here where I live in Mainz Germany and they found absolutely no NMN in the product. ZERO. I was stunned. I'd been taking this brand for 7 months and while it wasn't as intense as the previous brand, the costs savings just convinced me somehow to stick with it. This sent me on a mission to find a new source for my NMN and ultimately tell others about my experience and warn them about making sure they are buying and taking actually what it is they set out to in the first place.

I should also add that there is a 3rd supplement I take called TMG, which has shown many benefits, especially when taking NMN.

The two brands I found to be safe and reliable to purchase these are AFEGA and DoNotAge. AFEGA is a research group located in Switzerland. They aren't very big, so their NMN costs more, but they are actively involved with testing many of their customers and I hit it off well with their founder. DoNotAge is a larger online store and I also got to know their CEO and they are a trusted brand worldwide. I now source my supplements from AFEGA and DoNotAge and don't mind sharing these in my videos and posts about supplements. Below are some links to these stores and discount codes if you wish to try them.

Use code "afega-nmn-study" to save 20% OFF NMN & Resveratrol at either AFEGA store. (login first before using code)

(Worldwide) Pure NMN Powder

(Germany/EU) Pure NMN Powder

For DoNotAge use code "THEPULSE" to save 10%

DoNotAge NMN Powder

DoNotAge NMN Capsules

DoNotAge Resveratrol Powder

DoNotAge Resveratrol Capsules

DoNotAge TMG

DoNotAge Subscription Plan (best value)