This is not a citrulline story
It’s biochemical magic—but only when the system is quiet enough to hear it.
When clients ask me if they can reverse their biological age—if they can feel younger, live younger, heal younger—the answer is always a big, fat:
YES. YOU CAN.
But only if you’re willing to get back to basics.
You have to be willing to not look like the sexy little human who follows all the optimal health gurus and looks like they have a perfect life. You have to be willing to get real.
Are you IN?
If so—then it’s just a matter of time (and not always that much time) until you start feeling like you're in your 20s again.
I feel better today than I ever felt in my 20s.
Yes, there was a stretch of time when I got lost in a toxic environment. But even then—considering the emotional and physiological cost—I held on better than most.
Now?
My body keeps surprising me.
The cardiovascular transformation I’ve gone through in the past nine months is undeniable.
I dropped my Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV) from 7.3 m/s to 7.1 m/s.
That’s not a small shift.
And I did that by trusting my intuition—and walking away from a place that was making me sick.
Also by rebuilding with:
Mineral repletion
Movement
Presence
Nervous system recalibration
Aka: foundations.
Let that sink in.
Let’s have a moment of respectful silence for this crucial understanding.
Just by changing one piece of my life architecture—my work environment—I created measurable physiological changes in my arteries.
Because your nervous system always knows.
The people around you. The pressure you normalize. Whether your environment sees you, respects you, honors your work—
Your nervous system knows when you’re in the right place. And when you’re not.
You can meditate, journal, fast, supplement... and still stay stuck if the environment is sending the wrong signal.
No amount of “doing the work” will override a field that’s working against your coherence.
This shows up in the chemistry of your body:
Oxygen delivery
Nutrient absorption
Gut motility
Detox capacity
Sleep architecture
Inflammatory burden
Everything downstream from a clamped-up nervous system suffers.
And here's the part no one talks about:
You can’t health protocol and law-of-attraction your way out of someone else's toxic field. You have to get the hell out of there to get your body back in coherence again.
The electromagnetic imprint of people who don’t have your best interests at heart?
It bleeds into your system.
It distorts your brain waves.
It blocks your coherence.
It chips away at your internal safety.
You can be doing everything right—
but if you're living in misalignment, your system won't heal.
Because it can’t.
I’ve seen it with clients:
Change the architecture of their life, and the chemistry follows.
Get out of perpetual recovery mode, and everything begins to shift.
But now I’m living it.
In my blood. In my arteries. In my data.
Cardiovascular age is not only reversible—
it's reversible with the simplest inputs.
All it takes is the unshakable choice—the radical act of choosing how you want to live your life—
and who actually deserves to be in it, followed of course by the crucial biochemical actions to support you in this choice.**
I’m now operating with a PWV in early-30s vascular territory.
But I’m not here to plateau at 7.1. I want to see what’s possible.
My target? 6.5 m/s.
That’s late-20s elasticity.
A full reversal of two decades of arterial stiffening.
And I want to feel it.
Just by listening, subtracting what doesn’t belong, and supporting the system that already knows how to heal.
Biochemical Magic
I’ll continue all the foundational work I’ve been doing.
But now, I’m adding something new:
Daily L-citrulline supplementation.
One of my favorite amino acids from one of my favorite fruits—watermelon—but in a form I can actually quantify and track.
I’ll be using the Doctor’s Best L-citrulline powder—high quality, well-reviewed, with solid clinical outcomes.
Why? Because I want to lower my PWV even more.
And the key molecule that determines that—especially as we age—is nitric oxide.
Doctors will often say, 'Just exercise to boost nitric oxide.' And yes—movement increases blood flow, which mechanically stimulates nitric oxide production. But here's the part most miss:
If you don’t have enough arginine or citrulline in your system, that signal can’t produce anything meaningful.
It’s like turning on the faucet when the water tank is empty. The mechanical stimulation is real—but the biochemical substrate isn’t there.
Most people do not get enough of these amino acids through diet alone to reach the levels required for measurable reversal in vascular age. Especially not if they’re stressed, inflamed, aging, or already depleted.
That’s why this experiment matters.
Why Nitric Oxide Matters
Nitric oxide is what allows arteries to relax and respond.
It improves endothelial function, increases oxygen delivery, lowers blood pressure, and slows the speed of each pulse wave.
The result? Lower PWV and a younger cardiovascular age.
It’s central to everything—because it’s what lets your vessels open up and actually respond.
Without enough nitric oxide, you get stiffness, tension, and downstream damage.
But nitric oxide doesn’t just appear—it has to be made.
As we age, our ability to produce nitric oxide declines, especially under chronic stress.
And while our bodies can make it using an amino acid called arginine, most oral arginine gets broken down in the gut and liver before it can be used.
So instead of relying on oral arginine—which mostly gets lost in the gut—we use:
Citrulline—the biochemical magician.
It bypasses that gut/liver breakdown, gets absorbed, reaches the kidneys, and is converted into arginine—right where nitric oxide production can begin.
→ Citrulline → Arginine → Nitric Oxide → Arterial Relaxation → Lower blood pressure → Lower PWV
It’s shown benefits in:
Cardiovascular health — relaxes smooth muscle, increases arterial flexibility, and lowers pulse wave velocity
Respiratory efficiency — enhanced oxygen delivery and vascular tone
Metabolic performance — better circulation and nutrient transport
Endothelial function — improved responsiveness and reduced stiffness
Vascular age — slower pulse wave travel, resulting in measurable reversal of arterial aging
Read: Citrulline and Nitric Oxide – Latest Research
Clinical Results
Studies show 6g/day of citrulline can reduce PWV by 0.1–0.3 m/s over 4–8 weeks.
That could take me from 7.1 to 6.8—and based on the trajectory I’m seeing, I’m aiming straight for 6.5.
My Baseline Citrulline Experiment
Week 1: 1g/day AM — ease in, track signs
Week 2: 1g/day AM — continue
Week 3: 2g/day AM — monitor
Week 4: 2g/day AM — assess: go to 3g?
Weeks 5–13: 3g/day — full run, track health architecture
Week 14+: TBD — optimize
I never rush experiments—in the lab or in my body.
For anything to be truly evaluated, it has to become a stable part of daily biochemical life FIRST.
Megadosing for a few days doesn’t tell you anything meaningful.
You’re not testing the compound—you’re shocking the system.
And that’s not how real adaptation happens.
Tracking Metrics:
PWV (Oura, weekly)
HR + HRV
Blood pressure
Energy, mood, sleep
Recovery & stress tolerance
Workout performance + perceived exertion
Oxygen saturation
Zone 2 capacity
This Is Where the Biochemical Magic Actually Lands
This isn’t about a magic powder.
If your system is still in crisis, citrulline won’t save you.
Adding citrulline to a system in crisis is like spraying lavender on a landfill—it does nothing.
I’ve seen it firsthand:
Clients take well-reviewed nitric oxide boosters like Neo40 (which includes citrulline)
They expect major blood pressure shifts
Nothing happens
Not because the compound doesn’t work— but because the system isn’t ready. The foundation isn’t there. The signal has no place to land.
Because it’s not just about the supplement.
It’s about whether the system is primed to respond—whether the inputs actually land, or bounce off a body still stuck in defense mode.
It’s about whether the system is even ready to receive support.
This is fine-tuning a system that’s already being restored—
not rescuing a body in survival mode.
This is about seeing what becomes possible when your system finally has the bandwidth to respond—when it’s no longer trapped in perpetual recovery mode.
When every lever you add finally lands—not because it’s perfect, but because the system is finally able to meet it.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
This is my personal health journey and not intended as medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider before making changes to your health regimen or starting new supplements
This piece originally appeared on Substack.
It is available for reprint or syndication.
To request rights or republish, contact helena@bianchivibranthealth.com.