What Is Biohacking and Is It Stupid?

Biohacking is, in a way, the twin of the whimsical world of lifehacking. (“Bio” means “life” after all.) “Lifehacking” is not an organized movement or even a word, let alone the name of the website you are currently reading; biohacking has a cult status and people will consider themselves followers of this practice. Lifehacking is just a part of life. biohacking has its gurus and buzzwords.

But what is biohacking, if you look at it? The answer will depend on who you ask. There are grinders who implant devices under the skin; and then there are the techies who will skip breakfast or take a cold shower and call it a biohack .

What is a biohack anyway?

In the broadest sense, biohacking is any practice that changes the structure or function of the body. I once attended an anarchist biohacking conference where strength training and contraception were repeatedly cited as examples of effective and well-received biohacks. (Many more unusual things were discussed, but they provided a common ground on which everyone could agree.)

Looking at it this way, almost anything can be a biohack. But it also means that many trendy biohacks are just new, untested, potential solutions to problems that already have solutions.

By browsing biohacking forums or reading the blogs of well-known biohackers, you will find that the problems they are trying to solve are familiar. Biohackers want more sleep; reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes; it is better to concentrate on work or while doing your hobby; lose weight; and prevent or manage mental health problems such as depression. Biohackers: they are just like us!

In the same sense that “alternative medicine” that works just becomes “medicine,” biohacks that actually work become just what we do. So how do trendy biohacks differ from more boring, established alternative practices?

Can biohacking increase your lifespan?

“Longevity” is one of the buzzwords in biohacking right now, and yet it all seems very out of place to me. Much of the chatter is based on mouse studies and blood-based biomarkers, and related hacks include things like fasting and exposure to cold.

I did visit one of the “blue zones” famous for its population of 100 year olds (Nicoya, Costa Rica, where centenarians are not common but less rare than in other parts of the world). The most important thing I’ve learned from this experience is that if you want to live long, it’s really beneficial to live in a place with near universal health care , which is of great help to the elderly and rural population.

You can’t biohack be born in 1920s Costa Rica. But people who idolize the blue zones end up suggesting that maybe it ‘s the food, or the water, or the kind of exercise people do while working on the farm. (Fun fact: both lard and fruit juice make up a large part of the traditional diet; good luck if any biohacker is familiar with both.) In truth, it may be a combination of genetics and culture, and perhaps even several decades of statistical luck of the draw.

In short, it is impossible to scrutinize the human lifespan within a time frame smaller than the human lifespan. Longevity biohacks tend to be based on wishful thinking and the fear of becoming disabled or getting old enough to get (sigh) wrinkles. And it mostly boils down to confirmation bias: What makes you healthier should help you live longer, right? So whatever you’ve already decided is a “healthy” habit (or biohack), that’s what you’ll tell your biohacker buddies is the path to longevity.

Can you really biohack your diet?

The keto (low carb) diet and intermittent fasting are the two dietary strategies most commonly used for weight loss, though sometimes the stated goal is to give you “more energy” or promote health and lifespan.

Both of these strategies can help a person lose weight or become healthier, of course, but not because it’s a cheat code. It has been hypothesized for a while that putting your body into ketosis by eating very little sugar or starch will change how you feel hungry and therefore how much fat you store. It was an interesting hypothesis, but studies repeatedly found no such effect. (Take this recent study , for example.)

Intermittent fasting is in a similar place. This is definitely one of the many effective strategies that can be used while dieting. If you want to lose a few pounds, it’s better to skip breakfast and have a big lunch than to eat breakfast and lunch. But is this practice worth it? If you like it, of course. But there is no conclusive evidence that a person who fasts frequently will be healthier in the long run than a person who eats a healthy diet at regular meal times.

Again, we’re back to the reality that there is no “best” diet , but a broad set of principles (get some protein, eat vegetables, create a calorie deficit if you’re trying to lose weight) that you stick to. You don’t need special life hacks to live.

Can biohacking increase your concentration?

Biohackers love to talk about their mental state. Does this or that supplement help focus? How can you best set yourself up to pay attention and learn faster and understand them more deeply?

In a sense, experimenting with subjective mental gain is easy. Do this and see if you feel more focused. But, on the other hand, subjective mental results are most susceptible to the placebo effect. You may be able to focus better because you feel like you’ve created the optimal conditions for you to focus better, and that in itself allows you to focus better. One study on microdosing showed results consistent with the idea that this may in fact be exactly what is happening.

Various medications, supplements, and methods (like taking a cold shower before studying) can help us focus. But I think it’s important to consider who has already asked this question without calling it biohacking? In this case: students. How to study more effectively?

Well, caffeine can definitely help. (Studies show that a stimulant seems to help you focus, despite keeping you awake during a study session.) It can also be helpful to create an environment where you won’t be disturbed or disturbed. I can even look around me now as I write this and see a number of things that I could rename biohacks: I have a caffeinated drink, noise canceling headphones and an exercise bike (because my work day is going better). when I exercise in the morning, even if only for a few minutes). There is also a notepad to keep handy, as I find pen and paper brainstorming and to-do lists to be more effective than their digital counterparts.

Biohacks “Focus” smoothly flow into study tips. Keep that in mind or you’ll end up like an aspiring pianist who’s turned up on biohackers’ Reddit looking for focus hacks while dismissing the idea that they should maybe be asking Reddit pianos for best practices.

Can biohacking improve your sleep?

Sleep is important and we should all get enough of it. Sleep biohacks are among the most talked about (probably second only to those related to diet) because sleep affects so many areas of our lives. If you don’t get enough sleep, you’ll be tired, which makes sleep a biohack for concentration.

But there really aren’t any shortcuts to sleep other than… sleep. Many years ago, there was the idea that you could take six naps a day and stay up all night; none of the people who praised it were able to stick with it , a strong indication that it wasn’t really a sustainable alternative.

The rest of the sleep hacks tend to fall into two categories: you’re either rediscovering the usual sleep hygiene stuff (make your sleeping area a cool, dark, quiet place and get there on time every night), or you’re fixated on stages sleep and bodily functions that are detected by smartwatches or gadgets like the Oura ring.

Even though I shy away from most fashionable biohacks, I still wear the Oura ring. I use it for two purposes: noticing how many hours I’ve been in bed, and making sure my resting heart rate drops to a normal baseline when I take a break from exercise. What I don’t do is pay no attention to how much he thinks I’m getting in REM or deep sleep, or browse biohacking websites looking for ways to improve my heart rate variability. Even the best consumer gadgets simply can’t tell one sleep phase from another (my ring rarely shows me more than an hour of REM sleep in any given night) and fixate on whether you have a “good” HRV reading. not a worthwhile hobby. Do you feel well rested? Have you experienced a lot of mental or physical stress lately? You can answer these questions yourself. The sleep tracker just gives you a more accurate way to say “I’m tired.”

The real problem with biohacking

I feel the same way about biohacking as I do health and fitness gamification . You should look at your real problems or goals and choose real solutions instead of being distracted by metrics or settings that don’t matter in the end. For any goal of broad appeal, others have been looking for solutions much longer than anyone who calls it “biohacking”. Want to prevent cancer, for example? The American Cancer Society has a lot of advice for you .

Biohackers who show up on forums asking how to “increase muscle protein synthesis” (or even a grinder who tried to genetically engineer his own arm muscles ) would be better off if he was constantly lifting some heavy bullshit . Humans have built huge muscles just through strength training and high protein intake. Those who do have great genetics and also take steroids have built even bigger ones.

Steroids are a biohack by any definition, but their dangers and side effects are well known. Part of the thrill of doing biohacking is that you are constantly digging up new ideas whose potential effectiveness is as great as your imagination and whose flaws are not yet known. The reality is far more disappointing.