The intake identifies your recommended starting track. Each track is built around a distinct symptom pattern — and the same curriculum does not fit all of them.
You may recognize pieces of yourself in more than one track. The intake identifies your recommended starting track.
This track covers the relationship between gut health and systemic energy. When intestinal permeability is disrupted, inflammatory compounds can enter circulation and produce downstream effects on cognition and energy — effects that standard inflammatory markers often don't capture because they're calibrated for disease, not subclinical patterns. The Track 01 curriculum covers what the research says about this pathway and the dietary and lifestyle factors most studied in relation to it.
This track covers thyroid function and metabolic rate — and specifically why standard reference ranges may miss subclinical patterns that still produce significant symptoms. TSH reference ranges (0.5–4.5 mIU/L) are calibrated to identify disease, not optimal function. The Track 02 curriculum covers what the research says about functional ranges, T3 conversion efficiency, and the nutrients most studied in thyroid support.
This track covers cortisol timing and HPA axis regulation. The pattern here is not about how much cortisol is produced — it's about when. A healthy cortisol curve peaks sharply in the morning and declines through the day. Under sustained stress, that curve can flatten, invert, or shift — producing the wired-at-night, crashed-by-afternoon experience that sleep does not seem to address. The Track 03 curriculum covers what the research says about HPA dysregulation, circadian anchors, and the lifestyle factors most studied in cortisol rhythm support.
This track is the recommended starting point when symptom patterns are mixed, unclear, or spread across more than one system. It's also the right starting track for people who aren't experiencing a specific dominant pattern but want to operate at a higher baseline. The Track 04 curriculum covers all four system areas — nutrition, sleep architecture, movement, and stress regulation — with the research behind each.
The Track 01 curriculum covers gut health as a system that affects energy, cognition, and inflammatory burden — and what the research says about the dietary and lifestyle factors most associated with it.
Standard inflammatory markers (CRP, ESR) are calibrated to detect disease — not the low-grade, subclinical inflammation that research increasingly associates with fatigue and cognitive symptoms. A CRP of 1.8 mg/L reads as "normal" on a standard panel but falls in the elevated range on functional reference standards.
The Track 01 curriculum covers what the research says about these functional reference ranges, how gut permeability contributes to systemic inflammation, and what dietary and lifestyle factors have the most studied associations with improvement.
The Track 02 curriculum covers thyroid function, metabolic rate, and the gap between standard lab reference ranges and the functional ranges associated with optimal energy and cognition in the research literature.
Standard TSH reference ranges (0.5–4.5 mIU/L) are designed to identify hypothyroidism as a diagnosed condition. Functional wellness research has explored whether symptom burden correlates more closely with a narrower range — around 1.0–2.0 mIU/L — and whether T3 conversion efficiency matters independently of TSH.
The Track 02 curriculum covers what the research says about these distinctions, the nutrient and lifestyle factors most studied in thyroid function, and how to have an informed conversation with your healthcare provider about additional testing.
The Track 03 curriculum covers cortisol timing and HPA axis regulation — specifically what the research says about how the cortisol curve becomes disrupted under sustained stress, and what lifestyle factors are most studied in supporting its correction.
A healthy cortisol curve peaks sharply within 30–45 minutes of waking (the Cortisol Awakening Response), then declines steadily through the day, reaching its lowest point around midnight. Under chronic stress, this curve flattens, inverts, or shifts — meaning cortisol is elevated at night when the body needs to wind down, and low in the morning when it needs to function.
The Track 03 curriculum covers what research says about HPA axis dysregulation, the lifestyle factors most studied in cortisol rhythm support, and why adaptogenic compounds have attracted significant research interest in this starting pattern.
The Track 04 curriculum covers all four system areas — gut health, thyroid function, cortisol rhythm, and foundational lifestyle factors — making it the recommended starting track when symptom patterns are mixed, unclear, or performance-focused without a specific dominant signal.
When no single system is clearly dominant, the most effective educational approach covers the four areas with the highest research-backed associations with energy and cognitive performance: nutrition quality, sleep architecture, movement patterns, and stress regulation.
The research is clear that foundational factors compound — addressing one in isolation rarely produces reliable improvement in people with diffuse or mixed starting patterns. The Track 04 curriculum is built around the evidence for all four areas together.
HPL tracks are educational starting points — not medical categories or diagnoses. Reading through the four tracks may produce a moment of recognition, but the intake questionnaire is the tool designed to identify your recommended starting track based on your full symptom pattern and history.
The intake identifies a starting track. It does not diagnose a condition, and it is not reviewed by Dr. Hanes as individual clinical care. Your starting track can be updated if your pattern shifts over time.
HPL Coach and the HPL curriculum do not provide medical advice. Nothing on this page or in the program constitutes diagnosis, treatment, or a substitute for professional medical care. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for medical decisions.
The intake identifies your recommended starting track. Fifteen minutes of questions about your symptom pattern, timing, and history — and a curriculum sequenced for what it finds.
Educational, not medical · Starting pattern, not a diagnosis · Individual results vary