6 Lifestyle Habits That Affect Your NAD+ Levels

Life can be stressful. We’ve all had those tough days where little rewards are necessary. But every time you drink a glass of wine or eat a greasy cheeseburger, your wallet isn’t the only thing forking the bill. Unfortunately, your cells endure a lot of trouble as well.

These kinds of lifestyle habits can deplete your NAD+, an essential coenzyme your body needs to generate ample energy in your cells.

NAD+ is a precious molecule, part of a symphony of functions in charge of generating 90% of your body’s energy. And maintaining NAD+ levels can help your cells bounce back from life’s indulgences.

1. Drinking Alcohol

Processing alcohol in your body is an energy-expensive project, requiring NAD+, especially in your critical liver cells.

As alcohol enters the body, your body works hard to metabolize and detox. On a cellular level, this requires your mitochondria (microscopic engines in each of your cells) to kick into overdrive.

However, putting your mitochondria into this state can come with consequences. Like an old coal power plant, this greater need for energy means producing more harmful byproducts. For coal, it’s CO2. But for your body, it’s free radicals. And free radicals can damage your DNA.

2. Poor Diet

The adage, “you are what you eat,” rings truer than you think. A healthy, balanced diet can affect how you address damage on a cellular level. Colorful fruits, vegetables, and other foods containing high levels of vitamin E, vitamin C, and other antioxidants can help combat those pesky free radicals. This can also help your NAD+ levels.

But what you eat isn’t the only thing to worry about. You also need to be careful how you eat.

Overeating is like adding more coals to the furnace, consuming more fuel that creates more harmful byproducts. And every time you burn more energy, you’re burning through your NAD+ supply.

3. Excess Sun Exposure

Harmful UV rays from the sun can change your DNA, causing distortions in its fragile double-helix form. Luckily, your body comes prepared when such disasters strike, deploying DNA repair enzymes to take care of the damage.

But the only problem is that these repair enzymes are gas-guzzling machines, depleting your NAD+ every time they are sent out on the job.

4. Overtraining Your Muscles

After you’re done with your workout, you may feel like the hard work is over. Exercise alone requires a lot of energy, utilizing NAD+ to help fuel your muscles’ ability to contract and expand. But your cells are also tasked with repairing the cellular damage caused by your hard-earned workout.

Every time your body needs to send out your repair enzymes, it costs you NAD+. And if you’re an athlete, you’re putting your cells through this stress more frequently than most.

5. Sedentary Habits

Your mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell, and they are adaptable machines. Unfortunately, if they notice you’re not moving around much, they’ll start to reduce their numbers.

It costs too much cellular energy to have dormant, unused power factories just sitting around, so your mitochondria get rid of the bloat. Fewer mitochondria mean less NAD+.

6. Sleep Disruption

Sleep is the most restorative activity you can do for your body. Your cells go through a crucial repair phase every time your head hits the pillow. Repair enzymes work all night to clean up the damage from the day.

But on those nights you have trouble counting sheep, this all-important repair mechanism is disrupted. And these repair enzymes have to work overtime to make up the difference.

Unfortunately, when your repair enzymes work during your waking hours, it’s like trying to do road construction during rush hour. The work is done inefficiently, consuming more NAD+ with little payoff.

NAD-Boosting Supplements Can Give a Helping Hand

Taking an NAD+ boosting supplement is like sending in the calvary for your cells. They provide much-welcomed assistance in combating the cellular stress caused by alcohol consumption, poor diet, excess sun exposure, over-training, sedentary living, and sleep disruption.

By taking Tru Niagen® daily, you can help protect your cells against these "lifestyle stressors." Let your supercharged cells worry about the small things so that you can focus on the big things in life.