🧠 The Hidden Ingredient to Mental Clarity (You’re Drinking It Wrong)

For the past year, my barber Henry has come to my apartment every month to cut my hair.

Every time, without fail, he brings a gallon of alkaline water.

He won’t touch my tap water.

He’ll pour himself a glass, quote a verse from Proverbs, and say something like:

At first, I laughed it off.
But then I started listening.

Henry’s been teaching me what the best researchers are now saying:

• You can optimize your business.

• You can optimize your workouts.

• But if your brain is floating in trash water… none of it matters.

Most people think hydration is about drinking “enough” water.

But what if the kind of water you drink—its pH, its minerals, and what filter it passed through—was the missing piece to your clarity, energy, and longevity?

That’s exactly what Andrew Huberman broke down in his 3-hour podcast.

And I took notes for you.

⚠️ YOU’RE HYDRATED… AND STILL DEPLETED

You follow the rules:

• 8 glasses a day.

• Carry your jug around like it’s an emotional support animal.

But here’s the kicker:
Most tap water—even in Los Angeles—is contaminated with low-dose poisons.

I looked up the official water report for 90066 (Los Angeles).

Here’s what I found, using EWG's tap water database:

🚱 LA Tap Water – A Toxic Cocktail:

• Arsenic → 572x higher than health guidelines

• Haloacetic acids (HAA5) → 362x higher

• Total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) → 181x higher

• Uranium, Chromium, Bromate, Nitrate → all way above safe limits

These are linked to:

• Hormonal disruption

• Thyroid damage

• Mood issues

• Brain fog

• Cancer

And don’t get it twisted—"legal limits" ≠ healthy limits.

The standards haven’t been updated in decades.

😬 FILTERED… BUT STILL FOOLED

You might be thinking: “But I filter my water!”

Let me guess:
Brita? Boiled? Maybe even distilled?

Here’s what Huberman revealed:

• Brita doesn’t remove fluoride, DBPs, or pharmaceutical runoff

• Boiling doesn’t eliminate heavy metals or hormone disruptors

• Distilled water removes everything—including vital minerals

• Reverse Osmosis (RO) is decent… but also strips your water of magnesium and calcium
  (two minerals your brain and heart literally run on)

In other words, you’re filtering… and still depleted.

✅ DRINK LIKE A BIOLOGICAL OPTIMIZER

This is your new hydration stack—Huberman-approved, simplified for everyday performance:

1. Know Your Zip Code

Look up your local water report using EWG’s database.

Watch for:

• Fluoride (aim for < 0.5 mg/L)

• DBPs (Haloacetic acids, TTHMs)

• Magnesium (aim for 8.3–19.4 mg/L)

2. Filter with Intention

💧 Low-budget: Clearly Filtered pitcher – removes fluoride, DBPs, and hormone residues
💧 Mid-budget: Berkey countertop filter – more volume, less plastic
💧 High-budget: Whole-house filtration – shower, cook, and drink clean

3. Hack Your Absorption

Use molecular hydrogen tablets – they add magnesium and hydrogen to your water.

Boosts pH → improves cellular hydration → reduces inflammation.

Huberman:

4. Follow the Hydration Formula

• Drink 8oz per hour during your first 10 waking hours

• Sip slowly to avoid overnight bathroom trips

• During workouts, use the Galpin Equation:
  0.5–1 oz per pound of bodyweight per hour of sweating

⚡ WHY THIS MATTERS

This isn’t about being a health nut.

This is about being a high-performance human.

Water is the carrier of every electrical signal in your brain.
If it’s off, you’re off.

Want better focus?
Faster recovery?
Clearer thinking?

Fix your water.
It’s the easiest win you’re ignoring.

If you’re a busy professional—running a business, managing a team, or just done feeling sluggish and foggy—
That’s why I built The Executive Edge Program.

It’s my 90-day system to get you dialed in:

• Smarter training

• Efficient nutrition

• Mindset + energy optimization

• High-performance routines (like this one)

• And unlimited support so you actually follow through

🔗 Apply Here To Join The Executive Edge
(Only 10 clients accepted each month)

🔁 RECAP

• “Filtered” doesn’t mean safe

• pH and minerals > just quantity

• Most tap water = low-key toxic

• Hydrogen tablets = underrated

• Hard water (high in Mg/Ca) = helpful

• RO = good, but needs mineral support

🧪 YOUR EXPERIMENT FOR THIS WEEK:

1. Order hydrogen tablets (try the brand HydroTab or Quicksilver)

2. Sip 8oz per hour for the first 10 hours of your day

3. Stop 2 hours before bed

4. Take notes on your mental clarity and energy

Energy isn’t always about caffeine.
Sometimes, it’s just about absorption.

If this helped you think differently, forward it to a friend still drinking straight from the sink.

See you next week,
Mike
Live Unscripted. Face the Fire.