Biohacks allow you to live better thanks to the help of science. Who doesn’t want to feel more energized, focused, and healthier? By making adjustments to your routine and lifestyle, you can live to your full potential by hacking your body’s natural biology.
A lot of products and treatments claiming to be biohacks are largely untested, relying mostly on “it worked for me!” claims and anecdotal evidence. This doesn’t mean you can’t hack your body, but it does mean that you might have to sift through a slew of false advertising in order to not waste your time or money. We’ve done some of the heavy lifting for you and compiled a list of the absolute ten best biohacks for you to try.
What Are The 10 Best Biohacks:
- Explore Nutrigenomics
- Optimize Your Sleep Cycle
- Limit Exposure to Blue Light Later in the Day
- Get in Touch with Nature
- Take Control of Your Nervous System
- Avoid Foods Rich in Histamines
- Engage in Intermittent Fasting
- Start a Gratitude Journal
- Invest in Supplements That Resonate with Your Body
- Biohack Your Music
The world is an uncontrollable and chaotic place at times, so it can feel reassuring to have a sense of control over your own body by utilizing biohacks. Biohacks can not only help bring about a better self by adjusting your biology to a more ideal, productive state, but it can psychologically help bring you peace.
Biohacking most often consists of making small, incremental adjustments to your habits in order to improve your overall well-being and health, even if only in small but notable ways. Most biohacking is best achieved by being properly informed and understanding what works best for your body.
1. Explore Nutrigenomics
One easily accessible biohack available is nutrigenomics. Nutrigenomics is simply changing the foods you eat in order to consume ideal quantities of macronutrients, micronutrients, and naturally occurring bioreactive chemicals such as flavonoids, carotenoids, and phytosterols based on the activities you perform and your body’s genetics. These elements can regulate gene expression in unique, diverse ways in individuals.
Nutrigenomics, plainly speaking, is determining how the foods we ingest interact with our genes. Since we are all unique and have our own variations within our genetic code, it makes sense then that there is no one-size-fits-all diet solution. Certain diets resonate better with particular genetics and knowing your genetic blueprint can help you determine what your body needs to function at its peak.
For example, some diets proclaim healthy fats such as those found in avocados and olive oil to be beneficial to diets, but some people’s genetics make them more predisposed to gain fat from these high-fat sources. Genes also impact how well you can absorb nutrients, so even if you attempt to eat a diet high in particular vitamins you may still require a supplement in order to reach appropriate nutrient levels.
Many companies will offer at-home tests to help you map out your genetics and identify nutritional goals to help keep your body in its best balance. Some companies offering these services include Habit, GX Sciences, and GenoPalate. By identifying certain biomarkers in your genome, these companies can help you determine your health risks and tell you exactly what sort of foods you should be eating.
Rather than simply following fad diets or consistently being frustrated with lackluster results, you can hack your own body’s weight loss mechanisms by analyzing your DNA and taking note of what strategies will work best for you in the long run and help you avoid other adverse health consequences for which you may have a predisposition. For more ideas in the dieting space check out our article on Biohacking Diet.
2. Optimize Your Sleep Cycle
We all know the value of a quality night of sleep. Sleep allows our bodies a chance to rest and recuperate from the day-to-day wear and tear we subject it to. Unfortunately, we often find in modern culture that there is an emphasis on staying active, over-stimulated, and overworked in order to keep up. Now, more than ever, we need to find the ideal sleep cycle to maximize productivity and improve health.
Your brain does not function well without adequate amounts of rest. We have more difficulty concentrating, remembering, or learning new things. In order to get a better night of sleep, there are several biohacks you can employ. One of the easiest is to pay more attention to what you eat and when you eat.
Even if you are far from your bedtime, some foods can have a significant impact on your chance of restful sleep. For example, caffeine can affect sleep up to ten hours after drinking it. So, while a cup of coffee in the afternoon might feel harmless, you may be sabotaging your chances of a restful night.
Additionally, you should avoid consuming large quantities of food before bed. Aim for a dinner time that is several hours before your bedtime, as your body will not be able to adequately rest if it is having to actively digest food that was just consumed. In addition, rich, spicy, or acidic foods can all cause indigestion and heartburn, which can cause disrupted sleep as well as more significant health concerns.
Another way to achieve better sleep is to engage in exercise during the day. Exercise helps you feel less sleepy during the day by releasing endorphins, but it also can let you fall asleep faster and engage in more deep, restorative sleep cycles. For the best biohack, determine what time of day works best for exercising with your body. Most commonly, working out early in the day is better than working out just before bedtime.
3. Limit Exposure to Blue Light Later in the Day
Most screens nowadays, whether it be a television, a cell phone, a computer, or a tablet, emit some level of blue light. This blue light is a wavelength of light that is higher on the visible spectrum and thus has a lot more energy and potential for damage. One of the main effects of blue light absorption, however, is the alteration of sleep cycles.
We have already touched on how receiving an adequate amount of sleep can be critical to allowing your body to function at its peak performance level. So, it makes sense to utilize any available biohack to further improve the quality of our sleep.
The short wavelengths associated with blue light delay the release of melatonin, and according to the Sleep Foundation this can cause us to take longer to fall asleep and have less REM sleep. This often means you wake up feeling groggy, even if you have had a full eight hours of rest.
In order to allow melatonin levels to begin secreting at a time point that will allow you to reach peak melatonin levels in the middle of the night and maintain a deep, restful sleep, it is important to limit blue light exposure, especially before bed. Set a curfew for using digital devices an hour or two before you intend to go to sleep.
Many digital devices now have specific sleep settings installed. When active, these settings shift the display to emit less blue light, often resulting in a dimmer, warmer color display. This is due to the settings shifting the light spectrum emitted towards the red, lower energy wavelength of the spectrum. Sleep settings are a good option for anyone who simply cannot resist looking at digital devices before bedtime.
4. Get in Touch with Nature
Another great biohack is simply to spend more time outside and return to our roots before modern domestication. Our bodies benefit from periods of absorbing natural sunlight, both from the vitamin D it provides (which helps your body absorb other nutrients such as calcium and phosphorus) but also the role it serves in helping maintain our natural body cycles and rhythms.
There have been numerous scientific studies that support spending time outdoors for better health outcomes. One study showed that those who spent more time in green space had a significantly reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stress, and high blood pressure. Not only does spending time in nature improve your current health, but it has been shown to positively influence your long-term well-being.
A great way to utilize this biohack is to perform exercise outdoors. Exercise helps reduce stress and anxiety, and these effects are further promoted by the additional serotonin release caused by sunlight. Even if it is a low-key activity like a walk or working in the garden, this is an easy biohack to take advantage of to feel healthier and more content.
Additional studies have also shown that being outdoors can help with concentration, especially in those that suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD.) If you have trouble focusing, a simple walk in the park may be the biohack you need in order to be more productive and attentive.
In addition, many can benefit from embracing a more natural lifestyle. This means drinking more water and eating less processed foods, as well as exercising regularly and less reliance on technology. Utilize resources available in nature to promote better health and longevity.
5. Take Control of Your Nervous System
The negative effects of stress may be all too painfully obvious for some people. Anxiety can make it difficult to concentrate and cause us to make poor decisions. By biohacking your body’s nervous system, you can take control of your stress and anxiety and form methods for harnessing the negative energy.
One easy step to take control is to meditate. Meditation allows you to be more mindful, slowing down to observe the world in ways that can help bring you a sense of balance and calm. In a 2013 study, participants who had a generalized anxiety disorder and took part in a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program demonstrated a significantly reduced level of anxiety and an increase in positive self-image.
To practice mindfulness meditation, start by sitting quietly and paying attention to your breath. Do not attempt to alter your breathing. Concentrate on it and try to keep your focus from drifting. If a negative thought enters your mind, acknowledge it but return your attention to your breathing. Remain quiet and practice nonjudgmental observation. For a more in-depth description of how to engage in mindfulness meditation.
Practicing slow, controlled, and steady breathing can also help control your heart rate and relax. By recognizing your body’s warning signs of stress, you can use meditation biohacks to alleviate the anxiety before it reaches unmanageable levels.
Taking time to practice mindfulness, even when not in periods of stress, can help you feel calmer overall and enjoy a better quality of life. This biohack can take as little as ten minutes a day to perform but can have a significant influence on your well-being.
6. Avoid Foods Rich in Histamines
Histamines are components of your immune system that can play a vital role in protecting your body. These chemicals are released by your body in response to an allergen, causing your body to sneeze and itch. It is part of your body’s defense system. While its intentions are good, it can overreact and lead us to suffer from all-too-familiar allergy symptoms. That’s the main reason antihistamines are a popular pharmaceutical.
Anyone who has suffered from seasonal allergies knows that certain pollens can produce allergens that trigger our body’s immune response. But what many people may not know is that foods can also trigger our body to release histamine. Sometimes this is a large scale, dangerous reaction, such as anaphylactic shock after eating shellfish. But many times, it is a much smaller, less easily identifiable reaction.
Some foods are naturally high in histamines and eating them can result in a negative reaction from your body. Some people can actually develop a histamine intolerance if histamine levels in the body are too high. Symptoms of this can include headaches, sinus congestion, fatigue, nausea, hives, swelling, cramps, and anxiety, to name a few.
Foods that are naturally loaded with histamines include fermented beverages, such as alcohol, as well as fermented foods like yogurt, sauerkraut, and kimchi. Smoked meats, shellfish, aged cheeses, avocados, spinach, and dried fruits also contain high levels.
Certain foods, while not naturally high in histamine, can trigger histamine release in the body. These include bananas, tomatoes, chocolate, nuts, and food dyes and additives.
7. Engage in Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting can be controversial, even in the biohack community. The key to successful intermittent fasting is recognizing if fasting is safe for your body and determining the appropriate time length of your fast to achieve the best results. Before starting any significant fasting schedule, you should consult with your primary care physician to confirm it is safe to do so,
It makes sense that intermittent fasting can aid with weight loss. Ingesting fewer calories means your body will turn to fat supplies in order to provide the energy your body needs to stay functional. However, if fasting is too extreme or lasts for far too long, it can result in our body moving into a starvation mode in which it will start to also break down protein and produce stress on your heart as well as sabotage your metabolism. Keep track of your metabolism by measuring it if needed.
For intermittent fasting to work, it needs to be exactly that: intermittent. Studies have shown that structured schedules of intermittent fasting can help control diabetes as well as obesity levels. An additional study by the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrated that confining eating to a six-hour period and fasting for 18 hours can improve stress levels, promote longer life expectancy, and reduce the incidence of certain diseases.
This biohack can be daunting, but often can be implemented effectively by slowly weaning into the practice. Rather than immediately jumping into a strict level of intermittent fasting, start with an every-other-day fasting schedule, or a smaller time window of fasting. Gradually work up to a longer, safe fasting period that brings about positive health benefits but is still able to be maintained with your lifestyle.
Most intermittent fasting schedules encourage earlier mealtimes and limited snacking. By beginning to fast in the evening, this can also help regulate sleep cycles. However, intermittent fasting is not advised for anyone with severe diabetes, women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, or those with a history of eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia.
8. Start a Gratitude Journal
Whether you know it or not, our well-being is significantly influenced by our view on life. How we treat others and assess our own personal attributes can dictate whether we feel satisfied and fulfilled and whether we can identify a sense of self- purpose. One way to effectively biohack our mindset to improve our well-being is to focus on our gratitude.
Gratitude is what makes us feel genuinely thankful and fulfilled. It can be difficult, especially in this modern age, to find things in our lives to be grateful for when we are constantly being bombarded with images of those on social media living “better” lives or advertisements for newer products we wish to own. Often, it will require a focused effort and practice in order to establish a routine of feeling naturally grateful.
One of the easiest methods of biohacking into a positive mental approach to life is to start a gratitude journal. Each day try to write down three to five good things that happened to you. Some days it may be easy to come up with five straight away, while other days it may be a struggle to name even three.
The point is to reflect and acknowledge the good in your life and realize its value. Thinking about good things naturally helps you refocus on the positives in your life rather than dwell on negatives.
If someone in your life stands out as a major player in improving the quality of their life, consider writing them a quick thank you note to let them know you appreciate them. Not only does this likely help improve their mood, but it also lets you recognize how even the smallest actions can have a significant influence on your well-being.
9. Invest in Supplements That Resonate with Your Body
Through our diets, we need to find ways of supplying our bodies with the nutrients it needs to function at its peak. Unfortunately, the depletion of nutrients in the soil due to over farming has made it harder to acquire adequate amounts of some nutrients through our diets alone. This is where biohacking supplements can step-in to biohack available superfoods and deliver nutrients easily and effectively to your body. These can come in regular or raw form or even as a Superfood Powder.
Multivitamins have long been on the market to fill this gap, but these broad, generalized products often vary widely in quality and consistency. In these times, it is better to find tailored supplement solutions ideal for your body.
Antioxidant blends can help reduce the damage caused to cells by free radicals and help prevent disease. Nootropics specifically aim to improve our cognitive abilities, meaning increased levels of focus, better memory retention, and an improved capacity for learning.
Another component of our biology that can be biohacked is our mitochondria. Mitochondria are like the power plants of the cells in our body, responsible for powering all of our body’s processes. Active, healthy mitochondria levels mean a stronger body and a better functioning brain. Mitochondria are susceptible to damage, so it is in our favor to take advantage of any available biohacks to prevent their decay.
A micronutrient called pyrroloquinoline quinone, PQQ, has been shown to work as a powerful antioxidant in your body. As such, when taken as a supplement it can help strengthen mitochondria and allow them to produce energy more efficiently and withstand stressors better.
10. Biohack Your Music
Many biohacks today focus on stimulating your brain in ways that can help you learn faster and stay healthier. One of the ways that this can be achieved is by controlling the auditory input of your system. We live in an unprecedented age where music can be easily streamed and curated, so we should take advantage of this available biohack and use music to stimulate our bodies in positive ways.
Studies have shown that the tempo of a piece of music can affect your blood pressure, heart rate, and skin conductance. You can take advantage of this finding to improve everything from study routines to workouts. Simply selecting a playlist of songs with a beat per minute around 180 has been shown to improve running form and reduce the risk of injury.
Other studies have indicated that music can help in the workspace, as well. Those who listened to particular types of music had increased rates of efficiency. Listening to enjoyable music can help release chemicals in our brain that increase creativity and improve motivation.
Popular music streaming services like Spotify are now even offering curated playlists to help you find tracks that sync best with your body’s intended activity. Utilize this easy biohack to increase performance, improve creativity, and feel more content.
How Can I Hack My Body
Biohacking our bodies has been increasing in popularity. The idea is often fueled by our innate desire to be more efficient and function better, all while practicing a sense of self-preservation and desire for increased longevity. When it comes to hacking your body, there are options for everyone. The key, however, is taking advantage of those hacks that are best suited for your individual body.
Part of the basis of biohacking is the acknowledgment that there is no one-size-fits-all treatment for everyone. There is a vast amount of information available today about biohacking and many products may claim to be a biohack or a treatment might be touted as the newest biohack trend, but it is always important to do your research before diving in headfirst.
We each have unique gene sets, varying environments, and external factors that contribute to establishing individual needs. While some biohacks are relatively broad, such as improving neural stimulation to increase productivity, others are specific for particular populations, such as intermittent fasting to address the risk of diabetes.
Many biohacks are relatively harmless, even if they don’t have the intended effects. Listening to a certain music playlist won’t directly cause an adverse health outcome just like keeping a gratitude journal isn’t going to cost you anything more than perhaps some personal time. More invasive biohacks, however, such as intermittent fasting or cryotherapy, can be potentially dangerous if not approached with proper understanding.
With the right mindset and knowledge base, anyone can successfully utilize biohacks to improve their quality of life.
Is Biohacking Good for Your Health?
Biohacking can have a positive effect on your health. Conversely, some treatments or products toted as biohacks may be not only unfounded but potentially dangerous to certain users.
Most experts agree that working to stimulate your brain through natural methods such as mindfulness techniques and auditory therapy can have a certainly beneficial influence on the human body. Intermittent fasting can help reset metabolism levels and allow certain participants to achieve weight loss goals.
Analyzing your specific genetic makeup to determine what foods and nutrients your body needs can help you feel healthier and happier.
However, it is always important to keep in mind that biohacks can work differently for various participants based on personal genetic makeup, environments, and other external factors. Before attempting any significant biohacks, it is important to do your research about the topic to determine whether it is a safe option for you.
When in doubt, consult with your primary care physician before attempting any biohacks to ensure that you will not be putting your health at risk
Why Is Biohacking Important?
Biohacking is critical in this day and age because it allows those of us wishing to live to our full potential to take advantage of all the resources available to us in order to tailor aspects of our life to achieve our aims. Scientific breakthroughs occur every day, and as such we are living longer more productive lives. Why not use every hack available to improve our time and feel better in our day to day lives?
It is in our advantage to use any resource available to find targeted ways to improve our health and wellbeing. If the risk of disease can be significantly reduced by simple modifications in our diets and routines, then it is understandable how important biohacking can be in our lives.
In conclusion, biohacking should not be viewed as a passing fad or a completely unfounded slew of advice on how to live your life. Biohacking looks at firm scientific data to extrapolate how these measures can be applied to laypeople in order to achieve healthier, more meaningful lives. If you are wanting to take advantage of the benefits of modern science and improve your quality of life, you should consider taking a biohacking course online and learning more about how to get started and what biohacking is right for you.
