With tons of data on health and fitness easily accessible today, many are taking their health into their own hands. People are coming up with their own fitness routines, tracking their nutrition and macros, and using strategies to improve their fitness, health, and overall well-being. One way you can do this is through biohacking. Let’s see what this method is, the benefits, and how you can take part to take your health to the next level.
What is Biohacking?
At its core, biohacking is a way to optimize health and performance by understanding your biology and changing your body, nutrition, and lifestyle accordingly. It's all about taking control of your body's systems to reach your potential.
There are a bunch of different ways to go about biohacking. Let’s check them out.
Wearable Technology
The goal with health and fitness is always to improve yourself and continue growing, right? This is much easier when you can track your progress. That's where wearable technology comes in.
Devices like smartwatches and their compatible smartphone apps allow you to track things like sleep, nutrition, hydration, and physical activity—all crucial for feeling and performing your best. Some of the most popular wearable tech devices today are the Apple Watch and FitBit.
These devices will give you metrics for the day, telling you how many steps you took, the distance you travelled, or how well you slept the night before. This constant data allows you to see which areas you are thriving in, and which you need to focus on. Devices like these also make it easy to create goals for yourself. For example, many have a goal of walking 10,000 steps a day.
They can also help hold you accountable by sending you notifications, reminding you that it's time to move or drink water. Wearable tech is a great place to start with biohacking as it will give you a bunch of information about your current habits, allowing you to see what goals you should set in the first place.
Intermittent Fasting
Another method people are using to improve their health is intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting involves restricting the time window you have to eat and going long periods without eating or drinking anything with calories—you can drink water. The purpose of intermittent fasting is to give your digestive system a rest from its constant work, allowing your body to function better.
Intermittent fasting is associated with many health benefits including boosting memory, improving blood pressure and resting heart rate, and enhancing physical performance.
These benefits come from metabolic switching—the body switching its energy source from glucose (sugar) stored in the liver to ketones, stored in fat. Metabolic switching allows for increased fat burning because when the body runs out of fuel from the food you ate, it switches over to burning fat.
With intermittent fasting, there are a range of options to choose from. One common method is to have an eight-hour eating window each day and then fast for the remaining sixteen hours—this includes your sleep hours. This is known as daily intermittent fasting.
You can also try weekly fasting. One method for weekly fasting is eating normally for five days a week and then on the remaining two days, eating only one 500-600 calorie meal.
Additionally, the timing of the intermittent fast can make a difference in your health. One study shows that if you plan your eating window earlier in the day, like from 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM, you'll show lower insulin levels, blood pressure, and decreased appetite.
It is important to remember that while intermittent fasting can benefit your health, it can be dangerous if done in an extreme way. With this biohacking strategy, start off slow and see how you feel, then build up from there.
Cold Exposure and Heat Therapy
Controlled exposure to both cold and hot temperatures are common methods that have been used for thousands of years to enhance health and well-being.
Today, people practice cold exposure by using whole-body cryotherapy or ice baths. Cryotherapy is a treatment commonly used by athletes to recover from sports-related injuries. Both cryotherapy and ice baths can have anti-inflammatory, pain-relieving effects.
In addition to cold therapy, heat therapy through saunas is a great way to give your health an extra boost. Saunas are shown to reduce chronic pain and improve overall quality of life.
Both cold and heat therapy are great ways to help your body feel good and help you recover faster so you can perform your best.
To get more info on cold therapy, check out our article on ice baths:
Nootropics
Nootropics are another way people are getting their bodies and minds into optimal shape. These substances, also known as "smart drugs", are supplements designed to stimulate the brain and enhance performance.
Nootropics increase cognitive functions such as memory, creativity, motivation, and attention. The supplements have even been used to treat memory disorders like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. They traditionally come in powder form and are mixed with water.
If you're looking to work some nootropics into your routine for that extra brain boost, try our Whey Forward Iced Coffee. Each serving has 75g of Dynamine® to boost your mood and focus.
Nutrigenomics:
A final strategy for biohacking is nutrigenomics. This is basically what it sounds like—nutrition and genes. Nutrigenomics involves tailoring your diet based on your genes. Genes can influence a lot—they even play a role in which foods you like to eat. People process nutrients differently, and a person’s DNA can determine which foods you process well, and which are problematic.
Those passionate about optimizing their nutrition can get testing done to learn which foods are the best for their specific bodies. This is a unique new way to make more informed dietary choices and create a nutrition plan catered to your specific make-up.
How Biohacking Helps You Perform
Overall, there are many ways biohacking can help you make the most of your health and fitness routine, and perform better.
- By keeping track of your progress with wearable technology, you can easily see where you're excelling and what areas you need to work on
- Intermittent fasting can help performance and help you burn fat more easily
- Using supplements like Nootropics, you can boost your energy and focus, helping you make the most out of your routine and concentrate so you can build muscle
- Cold and heat therapy will improve your overall well-being while helping you recover faster after a workout, so you can get back to the grind
- Nutrigenomics can help you personalize your diet to your unique genes, so you can get the most out of your nutrition
Take Home Message
Biohacking is a rising trend in the health and wellness sphere and is helping people take control of their health and fitness. You can use these strategies to enhance your physical performance, mental clarity, and overall well-being.
Remember that everyone is unique and what works for you may not work for someone else. Consulting with healthcare professionals, personal trainers, and nutritionists is always a good idea before implementing a bunch of changes into your routine. If you want to perform better using science-backed strategies, and optimize your routine to be at your best, give biohacking a try. You got this.
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A Rutgers University Honors graduate, Jamie grew up on the Jersey shore and double majored in Comparative Literature and Anthropology in college. Jamie is an experienced writer in the health and wellness, biotech, and eCommerce fields. She loves writing with a purpose and has even written for the Department of Justice.
Jamie became drawn to exercise during her time in university and began to notice the physical and mental benefits of moving your body daily. Today, Jamie enjoys Pilates, light weight training, and going on long walks in nature daily.
Jamie is also passionate about eating right and prioritizing gut health and immunity. She is always trying the next innovation in health and wellness. When she’s not writing articles, Jamie enjoys reading, playing guitar, and finding dogs to play with.
