Many people have probably heard the word “biohacking,” but not everyone understands what it means. Meanwhile, this trend is gaining popularity, biohacking schools and books are appearing, and hundreds of thousands of people all over the planet are joining the community of biohackers, spending money on its research and medical examinations. Some want to live a long life. Others are looking to it for the secret of eternal youth. Professional writers who provide essay writer service know more than anyone else about the need for a healthy lifestyle. They process a lot of information, so health should be an important factor in keeping your brain sane. What is biohacking, why do we need it, how does it help to have a quality rest, and is its popularity justified?
What is biohacking?
In simple words, biohacking is a systematic approach to understanding one’s health and improving it. The main objectives of the movement are to improve the quality of life by restoring the body’s resources and maintaining its maximum efficiency. The program of biohacking includes the optimization of vital processes: normalization of sleep, diet, giving up bad habits, increasing physical activity, slowing down aging, and, ideally, keeping young for as long as possible. Everything is used: a person’s own habits and their formation, medical techniques and technology, spiritual practices, and work with the consciousness and subconscious.
Dave Asprey, the author of The Brain Biochemist, defined biohacking as “the art and science of managing one’s biology and effectiveness by changing one’s internal and external environment. This means that before treating diseases and dealing with their unpleasant consequences, it is a good idea to find out what is really going on with the body.
Tony Robbins, a well-known coach, and part-time biohacker, compares biohacking to trying to hack into the body’s system and re-flash it with more productive programs.
Biohacking can be attributed to a healthy lifestyle and is based on the same concept: maintaining and improving a person’s health and quality of life through nutrition, exercise, good morale, and avoiding bad habits. Only it’s a little broader and personalized for each person, rather than within the framework of general rules.
History of Biohacking
The first mention of biohacking was recorded in 1988 in the January 1988 issue of The Washington Post, where an unusual piece titled “God’s Game in the Basement” appeared. It referred to engineers who were conducting genetic experiments outside the university walls as biohackers. At that time, they were engaged in biotechnology and working with cells.
Biohacking, as it is understood today, appeared in 2004, when scientists managed to decipher the human genome. In January of that year, a publication appeared in nature. It said that genes could be edited. That is, parts of them could be changed, and new programs could be put into the cells. Thus, according to scientists, it is possible to cure genetic diseases and change the qualitative characteristics of a person.
The first attempts to introduce biohacking into everyday life came later. In 2014, Rob Reinhart, a programmer from Silicon Valley, invented a drink called Soylent, which replaces food and completely closes the body’s need for energy and nutrients. He attributed the invention to the fact that when he was young, he felt strange eating dead animals and plants growing out of the ground.
Rob wanted to create a cheap, healthy, and nutritious product that would solve the problem of human nutrition and improve the quality of life by invigorating the body. Investors liked this original idea, and in 2015, production of the drink had already gone into the black, according to a source.
After Reinhart’s idea was presented to the public and commercialized, biohacking became more thorough – startups appeared, in which investors willingly invested. The Andreessen Horowitz Foundation invested two million dollars in the Silicon Valley startup Hymn. The company was developing nootropics – brain-activating drugs. People became involved in the development of superfoods that improve the functioning and efficiency of the body.
Check-up
The body check-up is the first step of a beginning biohacker. It will help determine the direction to go and properly shape the next steps.
Now clinics have comprehensive body check-up services where you can find out about the condition of your body simply and quickly. A budget option is to go to a polyclinic and be examined there, but it is a long way.
Eat right
Biohacking, unlike WHI, does not have a one-size-fits-all eating pattern; it is a more personalized program. For example, for one person, beef will be healthy and vital, while for another, it is strongly contraindicated, for example, according to the results of the examination due to an intolerance of meat components.
Giving up sweets is generally suitable for everyone. Scientists have proven that consuming too much sugar leads to intestinal disorders [U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1991]. Other unpleasant consequences are excessive insulin release, deterioration of skin and blood vessels, and destruction of collagen, which is responsible for skin and joint tone. Excessive consumption of trans fats (margarine) leads to problems with the cardiovascular system. It is not even necessary to talk about the harm of smoking and drinking alcohol.
In the concept of biohacking, the tendency is to refuse harmful products: sugar, margarine, preservatives, fast carbohydrates, and food additives. Nutrition is as natural as possible. In this, it is similar to an HLD, but with a caveat – a list of acceptable products is important to specify for each person individually.
The refusal of harmful products facilitates the work of the gastrointestinal tract and eliminates the feeling of heaviness, which means that the body does not spend a lot of energy on the processing of food. Accordingly, a person feels better, does not need time to recover, he is not drawn to sleep after eating.
Proper nutrition is part of proper rest. You’ve probably noticed that after a heavy meal, the “binge” effect lasts longer and is not enjoyable.
Sleep
The problem with sleep is on a par with low physical activity, which leads to many disorders in the body. Proper sleep for the adept of biohacking, as well as for everyone else, is one of the components of a proper lifestyle and maintaining maximum human productivity in general.
There are three ways:
- Reduce the amount of blue light before bed that is emitted by smartphones and computer screens. It inhibits the production of the hormone melatonin. Install apps on your gadgets that regulate the light on monitors and screens, and set them to turn on at 18-19 hours, when your brain already needs to gradually relax. You can easily find these programs on the Internet. One of them is F.lux.
- Turn on relaxing music. Bfm develops special functional music, which helps to relax. It is tested and patented. A simpler solution is to search for music in search engines for “relaxing music,” “calming music,” and “music for sleeping.”
- Reduce the amount of caffeine you consume throughout the day. The Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee (ISIC) has published a report showing that giving up coffee six hours before bedtime helps you sleep better.
Being in nature
A good biohacking principle is to be outdoors and in nature more often, listen to the sounds of nature and feel at one with the environment. This is especially true for city dwellers, where the background noise of cars, people, and machinery is heard almost always.
Live consciously and think positively.
According to biohackers, it is not enough to maintain health only with medical examinations and taking medications. The state of the body is influenced by the mood and general emotional background. All biohacking schools practice meditation, introduce mindfulness in life, and practice gratitude.
One can learn mindfulness in biohacking schools or in books, one of the most popular and authoritative among them, by Dave Asprey, where a person is prepared for the transition into new modes in the complex. Another way is to learn meditations and practices on one’s own.
How to master biohacking?
If you are determined to join the ranks of biohackers, decide what you need it for. To get healthy or to become superhuman? It is important to hear yourself and realistically assess what is happening: is the method suitable, is it necessary, is there an expected effect from the introduction of new habits?
The easiest way to get acquainted with the essence of biohacking is to read a book, such as “Biohacking the Brain” by Dave Asprey. There are many reviews about it on profile sites. It can be downloaded online or bought in a bookstore. However, self-study is a long process. You can also follow the basic principles on your own: examine yourself, move more, eat right, get enough sleep, be outdoors, and try to live consciously.