Performance & Longevity · Dr. G. Katsevman, MD

Things I do
to stay healthy
and live longer.

I’m a neurosurgeon. I’ve watched thousands of patients navigate health crises that changed their lives — some permanently. Those experiences changed how I think about my own. This is what I actually do. And what I’m still working on.

My habits OutRecover → HRV & tracking →
Strength training 5–7×/week
Sleep target 7–8 hrs
HRV tracking Apple Watch
Creatine Most days
Spinal traction Daily
Sauna Regular
Protein-first nutrition Foundation
Intermittent fasting Periodically
Vitamin D Supplemented
Recovery stacking OutRecover
Cold plunge Working on it
Strength training 5–7×/week
Sleep target 7–8 hrs
HRV tracking Apple Watch
Creatine Most days
Spinal traction Daily
Sauna Regular
Protein-first nutrition Foundation
Intermittent fasting Periodically
Vitamin D Supplemented
Recovery stacking OutRecover
Cold plunge Working on it
// personal philosophy

I’m not a longevity expert.
I’m a neurosurgeon who pays attention.

As a neurosurgeon, I’ve had the privilege — and sometimes the heartbreak — of taking care of thousands of patients. One thing this job has taught me is that life is incredibly fragile. I’ve seen people pass away decades too soon. I’ve seen others stay active and independent well into their 80s and 90s.

Those experiences changed how I think about my own health. Not in an anxious way — but in a deliberate one. I started paying attention to the things that actually seemed to matter for the patients who aged well: they moved consistently, they slept seriously, they stayed strong, and they treated recovery as something worth investing in.

I’m not perfect at any of this. I binge eat when clinic gets overwhelming. I go hours in the OR without drinking water and realize at 6pm I’ve had almost nothing. The cold plunge is sitting there and I keep telling myself I’ll get in it. These are real things I’m actively working on — not footnotes.

What I’ve found is that the fundamentals are almost embarrassingly simple. Move every day. Sleep like it matters. Eat mostly real food. Track what you can. Recover deliberately. Small habits, repeated over years, produce outcomes that look like luck from the outside.

“The biggest lesson this job teaches you is that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. Longevity isn’t just about adding years to your life. It’s about adding life to your years.”

// what i actually do

Six pillars.
One consistent rule: show up.

The goal is not perfection. It is consistency. These are the five areas I invest in most deliberately — with honest notes on where I am on each.

01
Move every day
Strength training is the foundation. Some days I run. Some days incline treadmill. Some days I walk to and from the gym. I answer emails on the treadmill. It doesn’t need to be heroic — it needs to happen.
Consistency > intensity
02
Protect your sleep
I aim for 7–8 hours. Sleep affects my recovery, energy, mood, focus, and surgical performance in ways I can measure in my HRV data. I don’t always hit the target. I always aim for it.
7–8 hours target
03
Eat simply
Protein first — eggs, chicken, lean meat. Limit processed food. I track calories because it’s surprisingly easy to underestimate. I experiment with intermittent fasting. My longest fast was three days. My biggest weakness is binge eating when life gets busy.
Protein · real food · honest tracking
04
Track recovery
HRV, resting heart rate, sleep, and activity via Apple Watch. Data over guessing. My vitamin D was almost low despite living in Florida — assumptions don’t always match reality. I use the sauna regularly. Cold plunge: I believe in it. Still building courage.
HRV · Apple Watch · sauna
05
Supplement the gaps
After evaluating 15+ products across five categories — pre-workouts, multivitamins, greens, probiotics, and all-in-one longevity supplements — the stack is simpler than the research. Creatine, a clean pre-workout, greens, multivitamin, probiotic. They fill the gaps that life doesn’t always let you fill with food. Full supplement comparison here.
Simple · consistent · gap-filling
06
Daily spinal traction
Dead hang from a pull-up bar. Ten seconds. Several sets. Every single day — gym day or not, OR day or not. As a spine surgeon I know exactly what this does mechanically. It takes two minutes. There is no excuse not to do it.
Daily · non-negotiable · two minutes
// honest accounting

What I do.
What I’m still working on.

Both lists matter. The working-on list is not a failure — it’s what makes the rest credible.

// doing consistently
Daily strength trainingThe non-negotiable. Some form of resistance training every day, even if it is abbreviated. This is the single habit the longevity literature is clearest on.
Walking during workTreadmill while answering emails, returning messages, checking charts. Steps happen without carving out time. The goal is movement, not a specific count.
Protein-first eatingEggs, chicken, lean meat as the anchor. Limiting processed food most of the time. Not all of the time — most of the time.
HRV and sleep trackingApple Watch. Every night. The trend line matters more than any single number. I have changed behavior based on what the data showed.
SaunaRegular use, often while catching up on reading or emails. The evidence on sauna and cardiovascular health is among the strongest in the wellness space.
Core supplementsCreatine most days (built into pre-workout on training days, standalone on rest days). Clean pre-workout, greens powder, multivitamin, probiotic. I have evaluated 15+ products across these categories — the full comparison is on the supplement comparison page. Currently evaluating IM8 and TMRW as all-in-one alternatives.
Sleep as a priorityI treat 7–8 hours as a clinical target, not a luxury. I am not always successful. I always try.
Daily spinal tractionDead hang from a pull-up bar. Ten seconds. Several sets. The one thing I do every day without exception — OR day, travel day, no-gym day. As a spine surgeon who understands disc hydration and paraspinal mechanics, this is non-negotiable. It takes two minutes.
// actively working on
HydrationMy most consistent failure. I will go through a full OR day and realize at 6pm I have had almost nothing to drink. I know this. I am working on it. A surgeon who tells you they have everything figured out is not being honest.
Binge eating when overwhelmedBusy clinic days, long OR days, stressful weeks — the pattern is predictable. The solution is not a diet. It is stress management and meal pre-planning. Still a work in progress.
Cold plungeI believe in it. The evidence on cold exposure and nervous system recovery is real. The cold plunge is there. I have gotten in it. I have not made it a routine. This is on my list for this year.
Calorie consistencyI track. I do not always track accurately or consistently. The tracking I have done has been revealing — it is easier to underestimate intake than most people realize. Better and more consistent tracking is a current goal.
Intermittent fasting as a regular protocolI have done it, including a three-day fast. It has not become a consistent routine. Still experimenting with what fits my schedule without disrupting surgical performance.
// recovery infrastructure

Recovery Modalities in Naples —
why I co-founded OutRecover.

I co-founded OutRecover and am an investor in the business. I wanted two things that did not previously exist in one place in Naples: a facility where I could send my post-surgical spine and nerve patients to continue recovering with science-backed modalities — and a place I could use myself.

As a spine surgeon, I see the recovery gap firsthand. Patients leave the hospital or surgery center after a procedure, complete their prescribed physical therapy, and then largely recover on their own. The tools that could accelerate that recovery — PEMF, hyperbaric oxygen, photobiomodulation, infrared sauna, blood flow restriction training — exist, have meaningful clinical evidence behind them, and are not routinely accessible to most patients. OutRecover was built to close that gap.

I am a co-owner and I use it personally. I send patients there. That is the full picture. The evidence behind the modalities is real and I have linked to it — but I am also financially involved in the business and you deserve to know that.

Disclosure: I am a co-founder and investor in OutRecover. I use the facility personally and refer patients there. All links to OutRecover are to a business in which I have a financial interest.
Visit OutRecover.com
OutRecover · Naples, FL
Recovery Stacking™
Science-backed recovery modalities, strategically combined for synergistic effect. 19 modalities. 18 Recovery Stacks. 100+ clinical studies. Evidence-based protocols for post-surgical spine and nerve recovery, orthopedic recovery, and performance optimization.
PEMF Therapy — disc, nerve, and cellular healing
Hyperbaric Oxygen (HBOT) — post-surgical recovery
Class IV Laser — radiculopathy, neuropathy, deep tissue
Infrared Sauna — inflammation, stiffness, relaxation
Red Light Therapy — photobiomodulation, nerve recovery
Blood Flow Restriction — post-op strength rebuilding
Shockwave Therapy — chronic pain, tendinopathy
Cold Plunge / Cryotherapy — inflammation, nervous system
Compression Therapy — swelling, circulation, DVT prevention
Molecular Hydrogen — antioxidant, neuroprotection
H-Wave Electrotherapy — chronic pain, nerve stimulation
OxeFit & AI Bike — spine-safe adaptive strength
PNOĒ & InBody — metabolic and body composition testing
Explore all modalities at OutRecover.com →
// data over guessing

HRV, Sleep & Bloodwork —
what I track and what it has taught me.

I like data. Not because numbers are the point — but because they reveal things that feeling alone cannot. The most useful thing I have learned from tracking is that my assumptions about my own recovery and sleep quality were often wrong. Full tracking breakdown including bloodwork panels →

HRV
Heart rate variability tracked nightly via Apple Watch. The number I watch most closely — it reflects nervous system recovery, stress load, and readiness better than almost anything else.
// trending matters more than absolute value
RHR
Resting heart rate. A simple, reliable marker of cardiovascular fitness and recovery status. If mine trends up over a week, something is wrong — usually sleep or stress.
// directional change is the signal
Sleep
Total sleep, deep sleep, and REM tracked automatically. The data showed me I was consistently getting less deep sleep than I thought. That changed how I approach the hour before bed.
// target 7–8 hrs · quality matters
Vit D
Bloodwork. My vitamin D was almost low despite living in Florida. That was the specific data point that convinced me assumptions are not enough. Get the labs. Know the numbers.
// florida ≠ sufficient sun exposure

The Apple Watch is not a medical device. HRV measured on a consumer wearable is not the same as clinical HRV measurement. But for tracking personal trends over time — for noticing that your numbers drop when you sleep poorly, recover when you train consistently, and spike when stress is high — it is genuinely useful. The goal is not precision. The goal is signal.

// explore this section

Go deeper on
any topic.

01
OutRecover
The recovery facility I co-founded. What each modality does, what the evidence says, and why I built it for my patients and myself.
Read more → 02
Supplements
What I actually take. Creatine, pre-workout, greens, vitamin D. The reasoning behind each one and what I expect from it.
Read more → 03
HRV & Tracking
How I use Apple Watch data to monitor recovery, sleep quality, and readiness. What the numbers have taught me that I did not expect.
Read more → 04
Habits & Protocols
Exercise, sleep, nutrition, sauna, fasting. The full protocol — including what I am still working on and why the imperfections matter.
Read more →
// you are here for a reason

If your spine is limiting
how you live — that’s fixable.

Performance and longevity start with a body that works. If back pain, neck pain, or nerve symptoms are getting in the way of the habits that keep you healthy, that is worth addressing. Upload your imaging. Let’s look at it together.

Request a Consultation
The content on this page reflects personal health habits and opinions of Dr. Katsevman and does not constitute medical advice. Supplement and wellness recommendations are personal and not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Consult your physician before beginning any new supplement or wellness protocol. Dr. Katsevman is a co-founder and part owner of OutRecover; this relationship is disclosed wherever OutRecover is mentioned. Some links on this section of the site may be affiliate links; this will be disclosed where applicable.
Full disclosures →