Human beings generally try their best to change their life. It doesn’t matter if it’s to improve their health or to “hack” their life. This state of hacking is called biohacking. To understand what is biohacking, we need to look at the general idea of biohacking. Biohacking itself is the process of using science, biology, and self-experiments and experience to take control of and upgrade your body, mind, and life.
What Is Biohacking?
To look at biohacking in depth we must take a closer look at the general idea of it. Biohacking is the term we use to associate one who is altering their habits in order to have a much better and improved life and health. However, biohacking is much more than just eating healthy and exercising more. Biohacking rejects the idea that the body’s best and only approach to getting healthier and avoiding disease is to eat less and exercise more. What you put into your body is just as important as how much.
Biohacking is to ensure we create more positive effects for the body while reducing the negative effects. Through biohacking, we are expecting better performance of daily tasks and the extension of our life. For many who wish to undergo biohacking, living longer has been a primary goal. Testing your body with new substances and supplements can be quite intimidating,especially if your body is unfamiliar with taking in foreign substances on a daily basis. Research and mentorship from well-known biohackers have given opportunities and guidance to those who wish to improve their health.
How Do We Biohack Our Body?
As stated, biohacking is more than cutting calories and running more. What we put into our body is what counts the most. Every gram of a drug, every layer of fat on a marbled steak, and every gallon of alcohol alters our body in numerous ways. Our dependency and consumption levels determine how these substances affect our body.
Human beings have only recently started biohacking their health. Human access to new advances in both science and health have allowed for a much easier and better understanding on how to improve their own lives and health. Following a diet such as the paleo or keto diet has recently been popular. One of the most popular biohacks is the “bulletproof coffee” from the bulletproof diet, which was popularized and created by Dave Asprey. This style of drinking coffee is not quite popular in the mass, but is particularly prevalent amongst the community of biohackers.
One common way for biohackers to hack their health is by using math and calculations. That is why fitness trainers and body builders all calculate the number of protein shakes they take and meals they eat. Biohackers are calculating every number that exists in their bodies to reach the maximum potential their body can reach. Each number is calculated and not restricted nor limited; these categories range from body fat percentage, BMI, skeletal muscle all the way to resting metabolism and visceral fat. The usage of calorie-counting apps have assisted many of these biohackers, and smart scales are now being used to track movement and weight loss.
Consuming a certain type of protein in certain conditions and ingesting a certain amount of supplements are also ways to biohack the human body. By watching what you consume and ensuring whatever you’re consuming that is free from harmful chemicals allow you to safely and most definitely extend your health. Supplements such as the cognitive enhancement drug, Modafinil, have been heavily praised for their ability to promote productivity. Meat that is free of steroids and produced cage-less and allowed free roam in the fields are highly recommended. By adjusting your diet and by experimenting with your own body with numerous variables to tweak the biology of your body are all ways to biohack your life. Anytime you change something about your lifestyle or diet and monitor the changes is biohacking.
Biohacking In Our Society
The craze to improve our body and health has driven companies to innovate and come up with new ways to break the market. Both Soylent and Nootrobox have created products which provide well balanced meals, while keeping you full, and cognitive function enhancement drugs respectively. Nootropics, or smart drugs, are produced and sold as supplements that people can now purchase without the need of prescription. Nootropics such as modafinil and armodafinil are two popular drugs used by biohackers. Biohackers wish to seek the need to reproduced productivity and creativity.. Using meal replacements is effective for maximizing time and satiation while reaping all of the necessary nutrients.
Universities and institutions are now also monitoring the subject of biohacking.The advancement of biotechnology and research has allowed people of higher education to take a closer look on how we can improve the way we biohack ourselves. However, the lack of availability of tools and labs outside of these controlled areas make it that much harder to maximize access and to experiment ourselves. As stated from the University of Copenhagen: “biotechnology research is usually done in universities and industrial laboratories without public access…. The biohacking movement argues that the tools of biotechnology should be available and affordable, through places such as hacker labs where anyone can come and experiment.”
References
- https://www.shape.com/health-eating/diet-tips/what-is-biohacking-nutrition-science
- https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/kbxg4x/biohackers-are-turning-meals-into-math-across-the-world
- https://www.disruptordaily.com/top-ten-biohacking-companies-watch-2017/
- https://qz.com/717100/the-new-cool-thing-for-tech-bros-is-workplace-biohacking-with-36-hour-fasts/
- https://techcrunch.com/2015/11/19/the-evolution-of-the-biohacking-ecosystem/
- https://healthsciences.ku.dk/news/news2013/biohacking/
- https://gregblome.com/2014/05/02/my-sleep-cycle-experiment-and-what-to-limit-before-bed/
