SURVIVE Open the app
Home/The protocols, and the evidence for each

The protocols, and the evidence for each

By Ronen Shapiro · Last reviewed 2026-09-13 · How this is sourced

SURVIVE only tracks things with published human evidence. This is the whole list, with the dose each study actually used — not a rounded-off version of it. Where the evidence is observational, it is described as an association rather than as proof of cause, because that is what it is.

Heat — sauna

The Laukkanen Finnish cohort followed 2,315 middle-aged men for a median of about 20 years. Sauna use of 4–7 sessions per week was associated with lower cardiovascular and all-cause mortality than one session per week. This is observational: sauna-users may differ from non-users in ways the study could not fully adjust for.

Dose: 4–7 sessions/week · 20+ minutes · 80–100°C (174–212°F)

Cold exposure

Habitual cold exposure is associated with enhanced cold-induced thermogenesis via brown adipose tissue, and produces a sharp acute noradrenaline rise. The metabolic case is the better-established one.

Dose: 2–3 sessions/week · ~11 minutes total · 10–15°C (50–59°F) · not within 4–6 h after lifting

VO₂ max

Cardiorespiratory fitness has one of the largest effect sizes in the mortality literature. Moving from the "low" band to "above average" was associated with roughly 70% lower all-cause mortality in a cohort of 122,007 patients.

Dose: 4×4 intervals — 4 min at 90%+ max HR, 4 min recovery, 4 rounds · 1–2×/week

Zone 2

Training at the intensity where lactate production still matches clearance is associated with higher fat oxidation and mitochondrial efficiency. Elite endurance athletes spend roughly 80% of training volume there.

Dose: 3–5 sessions/week · 45–60 min · conversational pace

Sprint intervals

Three weekly sessions of 3×20-second all-out sprints — about 10 minutes of actual work per session — produced cardiometabolic adaptations comparable to 150 minutes per week of moderate continuous exercise.

Dose: Tabata: 20s all-out / 10s rest × 8 · or 8s sprint / 12s recovery × 20 · 2–3×/week

Strength

Resistance training was associated with 10–17% lower all-cause mortality independent of aerobic activity. Muscle power — force times velocity — appears to track survival even more closely than maximal strength.

Dose: 60+ min/week across 2+ sessions · compound lifts · add an explicit speed emphasis on the concentric

Grip strength

Grip is a mortality biomarker you can measure without a blood draw, and it is also associated with cognitive outcomes — which is why it is tracked separately rather than folded into general strength.

Dose: 3 sessions/week · dead hangs, farmer’s carries, plate pinches

Sleep

The glymphatic system — the brain’s own waste-clearance network — primarily activates during sleep, flushing metabolic waste including amyloid-beta and tau.

Dose: 7–9 hours · cool room 18–20°C (65–68°F) · dark · consistent timing

Protein

Anabolic resistance means older muscle responds less to the same protein dose, so the requirement rises with age rather than falling. Muscle is increasingly understood as a metabolic organ, not just contractile tissue.

Dose: ~1.6–2.2 g/kg/day · 35–50 g per meal across 3–4 meals

Meditation and NSDR

These are two different tools. Eight weeks of MBSR is associated with measurable cortical thickening; NSDR/Yoga Nidra shifts autonomic balance toward parasympathetic tone in a single session.

Dose: Meditation: 20 min daily, 8+ weeks for structural change · NSDR: 10–20 min, any time