Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been practicing good health and eating habits in hopes of staying on top of his game well into the future. Credit: Rick Wood

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Green Bay — Aaron Rodgers possesses NFL records, a Super Bowl ring and an MVP trophy. He's on fire this season, leading the Green Bay Packers to an NFL-best 33 points a game.

But he's always looking to evolve, as a person and as a quarterback, and by tweaking a few health and wellness habits in the last year, he said he feels so good he has convinced himself he can play well into his late 30s and even his 40s.

Hot yoga. Vitamins. Limits on caffeine. Sleep. Proper hydration and detoxifying juice cleanses. Living by the 80-20 rule — and cutting back on pizza. It all has helped Rodgers look ahead to his 31st birthday Dec. 2 feeling like he's in the best shape of his life with some of his best games ahead of him.

"If you're taking care of your body and getting the proper nutrition, and sleeping well, you're going to be fit to play," said offensive coordinator Tom Clements. "And you're going to maintain that fitness for years."

For Rodgers, getting to this good place with his wellness started with getting enough sleep.

"Sleeping in general has always been a little difficult for me," said Rodgers. A good night for him used to be about 61/2 hours. "I just have a hard time turning my mind off, I think."

He started using ZMA, a vitamin supplement that includes zinc, magnesium and aspartate that can act as a muscle relaxer. "The ZMA puts you in the deeper sleep — quicker," said Rodgers. The supplement also is used by athletes as a recovery aid.

Rodgers also took advantage of the new schedule from coach Mike McCarthy, who used to have the team report to work at 6:45 a.m. It is now 7:15 a.m. By also going to bed a half hour earlier, Rodgers now gets 71/2 to 8 hours of sleep a night.

"For a pro athlete that has a tremendous amount of physical stress on the body, sleeping less than six hours is asking for trouble," said Nicole Fasules, a nutritionist and trainer with her own consulting company, Way of Life, and also the nutritionist for the Milwaukee Brewers.

"Performance will eventually suffer and the adrenal system really takes a nosedive. Then immunity can be affected and before you know it, you could find yourself with injuries to boot....All the healing happens at rest and it takes time to get into that deep sleep that is so therapeutic to the body."

Getting better sleep, Rodgers was able to make other changes, beginning with cutting off his one or two daily afternoon runs to the coffee shop. Now, other than the occasional green tea drink or a coffee as a treat, Rodgers said he's cut way back on the common stimulants, like "coffee, caffeine and tobacco."

"I found myself having energy throughout the day," Rodgers said, rather than going through the roller-coaster effects of caffeine.

Yoga has helped him sleep better, too — and provided other benefits.

While his instructors had to show this multisport athlete how to hold graceful poses, Rodgers kept coming back for more yoga in the off-season than ever before. Included were 60-minute classes in 90-degree temperatures and 40% humidity. Hot yoga, as this is called, helped him detoxify, but if you saw him take off and run against Philadelphia on Sunday, you saw how it also has helped him keep his moves.

"I'm really there for my flexibility," said Rodgers. "That's helped. But I think through yoga you learn some good mental disciplines, being encouraged to try and clear your mind. I think those are good mental activities, to turn your brain off, focusing on those moments."

Proper nutrition and healthy supplements are another essential part of the wellness formula for Rodgers.

He was drinking a protein shake after practice while doing this interview to help him with recovery. He takes multivitamins to help his immune system fight off the common Wisconsin winter cold. He's considering warm beverages on the sideline during cold games to keep his voice strong.

Otherwise, Rodgers lives by the 80-20 rule when it comes to eating.

Explained Fasules, the nutritionist, "That's when your eating is spot-on 80% of the time with 20% wiggle room, whatever that might be. That 20% could be an alcoholic drink here and a dessert there. A night out. A fast-food meal. Typically, the 20% is for the occasion and not the norm."

For Rodgers, the biggest change here was how he ate 36 hours before a game.

"With our old schedule, on Friday nights, I would go out and have a nice big meal. Steaks and sauces and starches," said Rodgers. "That was kind of my cheat day of the week. But now it is about smaller portions and eating more often. Then you can have your one or two days out — but if you go out a couple nights a week, one of those meals should probably be on the healthier side, with some sort of protein with limited sauce, obviously some greens...and not a huge dessert."

Rodgers paused and grinned.

"Which is tough," he said.

For snacks during the day, Rodgers takes advantage of the many options in the cafeteria at Lambeau, where everything can be made to order and by request.

Rodgers said he started improving his eating habits during the lockout in 2011 when players were left on their own to train. He worked with a personal trainer in northern California — or Skyped workouts when he was away — and the trainer talked about nutrition just as much as exercise.

"He really got me on some great eating plans and more than that, the why," said Rodgers. "If I eat this, will I feel better? Why does this help me get leaner? What does this do for me? At what time should I be eating certain things?"

Turning 30 last year also meant not taking his metabolism for granted. While he once did Pizza Hut commercials, he now rarely indulges in that favorite food. He doesn't need cheese, sausage and pepperoni slowing him down.

"My next hurdle to tackle is going to be sweets and to really get serious about cutting those almost completely out of my diet because I do have a strong sweet tooth," said Rodgers. "That's kind of the one lingering thing that keeps me from getting my body as tip-top as I want it, I think."

Food is just half the battle with good nutrition. Hydration is the other. When the Packers hired their own nutritionist, Adam Korzun, one of the first focuses was on drinking enough water.

Most experts believe many of us spend our days in various stages and degrees of dehydration. For an athlete, this can lead to delayed recovery, substandard performance and loss of mental focus. "Hydration is overlooked on all levels of athleticism," said Fasules.

The Packers measure players' fluid input and output once a week to determine how much water or other liquids they need to consume to get and stay hydrated.

"This year more than any other year I think all of us have been focusing more on our hydration," said Rodgers. "Miami was a great sign for us that nobody had a pregame IV. We really didn't have any major issues with cramping in that heat."

Fasules said a good rule of thumb is to drink half your body weight in ounces. At 225 pounds, Rodgers should be drinking about 112 ounces, or 14 glasses, of preferably non-caffeinated drinks a day, throughout the day. "And then an additional 16 ounces for every hour of activity," said Fasules.

In the off-season, Rodgers said, he will tinker on his own with other modern health and wellness practices. That's when he tried his first juice-only cleanse, where for three days all he had were eight, 8-ounce glasses of juice.

"The first day was green, the second day was red, third day was green," said Rodgers.

Why did he do it?

"Well, I think I did that because the previous weekend I had been in Las Vegas or Austin, or something, for a bachelor party," said Rodgers, laughing. "I had to get some of that out of my system....But I also wanted to try it, because I wanted to see how I felt through it. The cleanse was pretty miserable, to be honest with you, but I definitely felt better after all three days."

He also took interest in the book, Earthing, which has gotten a lot of attention in the health and fitness world. The concept is defined as "connecting to the Earth's natural, negative surface charge by being barefoot outside or in bare skin contact with conducive systems indoors while you sleep, relax or work."

The practice has the goal of improving self-healing, and the belief is that there is better blood flow, less pain and inflammation and more energy without pills or products.

"That book was fascinating," said Rodgers. "I always try to get a little 'earthing' in, which is kind of tough around here right now. If it's too cold, I actually have a pad that I can lay on from time to time."

All of this has changed Rodgers' attitude about his future.

In the summer of 2010, when he was just 26 years old, Rodgers was convinced he would not play pro football into his late 30s and early 40s. In fact, he vowed he would not.

Now, heading into the homestretch of his seventh season as the Packers' starting quarterback, he believes he's healthy enough to withstand a longer career.

"Three, four years ago, I didn't think mentally I could handle it, because it is a drain, mentally, going through everything, the preparation, everything," Rodgers said.

"But when you're getting more sleep, and you're taking care of your body — and your body feels better? And you're not in need of something to get you up — caffeine or some spike all the time — your mood is better. And this whole thing is more enjoyable. So I think that has really changed in me. Since I started taking a lot better care of my body, this whole thing has become a lot more fun.

"And you're like, 'I think I can keep doing this for another eight, nine, 10 years.'"