You get frequent headaches, feel run down after a grueling work week, and notice your energy levels have been lower than normal. What’s going on? There could be any number of factors influencing your overall health. Sometimes, feeling better depends on lifestyle, eating the right foods, and getting the vitamins and minerals needed for your mind and body to work at peak efficiency. Traditional healthcare is one option, with another being NAD+ therapy.
What is NAD+?
NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) is one of the most plentiful and vital molecules found in nature, present in everything from single-cell organisms like microbes to complex and highly evolved multicellular ones like humans. NAD+ helps turn food into energy and provides critical assistance in upholding DNA integrity and ensuring cells work as expected to protect the human body from aging and disease. It’s a key component in hundreds of biological processes, but NAD+ isn’t available in endless quantities, and levels can drop – especially with aging.
Where Does It Come From?
NAD+ is produced naturally in our bodies, but levels depend on the biological systems that need it the most at any given time. You may need supplemental NAD+ therapy if levels drop because of overall health, DNA damage, alcohol misuse, overeating, or elevated blood sugar and insulin levels. But NAD+ levels can be increased in other ways, such as exercise, a more healthy and varied diet that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables, and via heat shock.
NAD+ Therapy and How Often You Should Get It
How often should you get NAD+ therapy? That depends, and you won’t find the answer in tarot cards or astrological predictions. For most people, healthcare professionals generally recommend their patients schedule a physical anywhere from annually to every three years, and every year if you’re over 50. Today, private and public health care provide options for an annual health check. The same basic guidelines apply to other kinds of treatment, including NAD+ therapy. You undergo these treatments as needed and recommended.
How often should I get NAD+ therapy?
How often you should get NAD+ therapy is often a personal choice based on many factors, including overall health and your lifestyle. This kind of supplemental nutrient therapy may be helpful for someone who wants to improve overall wellness, slow down the aging process, improve physical activity, recover more quickly from headaches, and relieve chronic pain symptoms.
This question is best answered by consulting with your primary healthcare provider and others with expertise in supplemental NAD+ therapy. In most cases, the first step is a complete medical examination to assess overall health and learn what health conditions may benefit from the therapy. You can see your doctor for this or go to a licensed clinic specializing in IV nutrient therapy for a third-party consultation.
Besides supplemental levels of NAD+, NAD+ therapy often includes other minerals and nutrients like vitamin B12, B complex, vitamin C, and magnesium. Vitamin B12 helps “keep nerve and blood cells healthy, make DNA and prevent anemia.” The B complex group of vitamins includes all B vitamins, which are water-soluble and may help your body work better overall. Vitamin C protects against infections and promotes faster wound healing, and magnesium is critical for building strong bones, regulating blood sugar, and other processes.
NAD+ therapy & the role of Dr. John Myers
If you get NAD+ therapy, you can thank the pioneering efforts of Dr. John Myers. As a physician working in Baltimore, Maryland in the late 1950s, Dr. Myers was keen to perfect new forms of treatment for a wide range of common health problems – everything from cold and flu symptoms to headaches to chronic pain and everything in between. He began evaluating a concoction of vitamins and minerals dispensed intravenously – known as the Myers’ Cocktail – and started administering it in Baltimore in the 1970s.
How does NAD+ therapy work?
NAD+ therapy is dispensed intravenously. A needle – attached to a rubber tube and an accompanying plastic pouch called a drip bag – is inserted into a vein in your arm or hand. Liquid vitamins and nutrients (including supplemental nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) are sent directly into your bloodstream. This process has the advantage of bypassing the body’s natural digestive process, with the NAD+ getting absorbed faster than if you were eating food.
NAD+ therapy offers benefits and has few risks but should only be undertaken after consulting with a healthcare professional.
