Biohacking your health isn’t hard when you follow this biohacking guide to achieve optimum health. Find out how to get baseline health measures and how to biohack them.
Want to achieve optimum gut health without spending your annual salary on medical tests? Then you need to try biohacking. This form of self-experimentation involves at-home testing, and data-informed dietary and lifestyle decisions to enhance your daily digestive performance.
What is biohacking
The biohacking definition according to Merriam Webster is essentially the use of biological experimentation that strengthens the capabilities or qualities of a living organism. In this case, that’s you. While some go all out (and it’s not recommended), you can easily find cutting-edge technology for your health nowadays.
It starts with affordable and reliable at-home DNA health testing for genetic predispositions to nutrient deficiencies and intolerances. But it also includes cost-effective microbiome testing to get the health status of trillions of microbes that live inside your gut.
What is a biohacker?
Biohacking your body is as hard or as simple as you make it. It starts with basic changes to your lifestyle by integrating routine and common-sense nutrition, while figuring out your circadian rhythm because your body is a reliable clock and functions better on a schedule.
However, some people have reached worldwide renown for self-administering fecal transplants to change their gut microbiota, while the richest among humans may even pay for young donor blood transfusions in a bid to extend longevity and health – this is definitely not part of these expert tips.
Your health biohacked with tech
To effectively bio-hack your way to health, you need to build your knowledge in the area of metabolism, organ systems, nutrition and more. However, there are easy ways to boost your biological performance if you’re ready to put down the junk food and get a good night’s sleep.
Nowadays, too many people forgo the basic biological needs of their body, resulting in excess body weight, lethargy, mental health issues and chronic diseases. Rather than undergoing expensive tests and demanding pills from a doctor, many changes can be made at home.
If you’re ready for the challenge, get ready for moderation –- not excess. First, you need to identify areas that can be improved. At-home testing can help you determine a baseline with affordable solutions like the AtlasBioMed DNA and Microbiome Tests that can track your progress every three months and compare your results.
Every biohacker has a plan
True biohackers will tell you that bio-hacking requires a tech-savvy approach and a modern smartphone paired with a reliable smartwatch to monitor sitting, exercise and heart rate. That’s because combating sedentary behavior starts with identifying your activity patterns.
Then you need to collect this data, identify your weak spots and flesh out a plan with achievable goals and milestones that will structure the implementation of upgrades to your lifestyle, diet and routine – and therefore your body.
Just remember (and this is important), overenthusiasm is your foe. Sudden, drastic changes to your routine will prove unsustainable and you’ll be back at square one. That’s the opposite of your aim. So, go easy on yourself. After all, you are a human, and thus, your willpower and energy are finite: you need to build up them over time.
Biohacking diet with a microbiome test
Your gut is home to trillions of bacterial cells that perform so many functions for gut health and overall metabolism that we had to create a table to list even just a few. Many scientific papers are being published every month on the myriad of ways bacteria impact your health.
- Managing bodyweight
- Brain health & cognitive function
- Strengthening “leaky gut”
- Disease protection
- Recovering from antibiotics
- Nutrient synthesis
- Sleep quality
- Stress and anxiety resilience
Whether you’re looking to solve minor digestive ailments, improve your metabolic health and body weight, prevent chronic disease or even extend the strength and efficiency of your brain, the gut microbiome is involved. Gut bacteria could even be influencing your food choices.
Now you can get affordable at-home microbiome tests here that provide personalised food recommendations to boost your microbiome functions and track changes in your microbiome status. There’s even a subscription model to receive a test every 3 months so you can actively monitor your progress.
Sleep and diet biohacked: intermittent fasting
Sleep is a woefully undervalued activity nowadays. So it’s worth thinking of your body like a finely-tuned biological robot. The metabolic processes that keep you alive are regulated by a 24-hour clock called the circadian rhythm that you can easily upset. Sleeping in, getting up late and Friday night parties all mess with this delicate balance.
Disruptions of the circadian rhythm affect your organs, your organ systems and the essential functionalities of your body. Your gut has a timer set to deliver digestive juices to break down food and absorb nutrients, but also to repair itself – because food particles are abrasive to its lining.
When you eat outside of these hours, you can incur heartburn, indigestion, bloating and abdominal pain. As a general rule, avoid eating and consuming calories about three hours before bed, and fast for at least 12 hours between your final meal of the day and breakfast. Every biohacker knows to do this – it’s called intermittent fasting.
Biohackers use DNA health tests
Your body is an engine: if you want to turbocharge your performance, you don’t only need to know what’s under the hood, you need to know what it’s made of. DNA isn’t just some vague blueprint that contains information about your body – it comprises functional genes that encode essential proteins. These proteins perform all the functions in your body.
Your genetic make-up determines whether you are a carrier of any hereditary disease that you can pass on to your children, but also your risk of developing multifactorial diseases, and even specific sports injuries. Interestingly, DNA testing can also identify if you are predisposed to nutrient deficiencies, food intolerances and even where your ancestors came from.
You can do an at-home DNA test to get the facts on your health, genetic predispositions and disease risks with actionable advice to lower any potentially negative health outcomes. Some providers, like this one here, can even combine DNA and microbiome testing for integrated results for health and the gut.
Biohackers guide to food sensitivity tests
If there’s one test you need to beware of – it’s IgG food sensitivity tests. Widely promoted online as the answer to all your gut health problems, medical experts warn of their unreliability and lack of scientific basis. In fact, the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology, warn that IgG blood tests for food sensitivities, allergies and intolerances are simply a “myth”.
Therefore, even though it’s an attractive idea for many who suffer from digestive disturbances, it’s currently not possible to reliably screen for 90–100 individual reactions to specific foods. For these reasons, steer clear of any such services until they’re backed up by hard science.
Essential bio hacks for office workers
Most are office and/or desk-bound these days, and that has implications for your health. Between commuting and working, you can easily spend 9 hours of your day sitting down and this is contrary to our evolution as humans.
The body is still designed to travel long distances on foot every day, consuming sparsely of low-calorie high-fiber food. However, we’ve technologically evolved to sit more and do much less. As a result, we eat more, exercise less and this creates imbalances for the metabolism. Turning the tide on sedentary behaviour is simple in theory, but requires the will of a person to achieve:
– When your smartwatch tells you to stand, get up and move about.
– Cook at home and bring your own lunch to manage your diet.
– Get a standing desk with a small treadmill if you work at home.
– Take a 20-min walk at lunch to get fresh air and stretch your muscles.
– If you commute, get off a stop early and walk the rest of the way.
Follow the news on reddit biohacking
For those unfamiliar with Reddit, you need to get on it. It’s a massive platform of user-posted links to online resources that are upvoted or downvoted based on their quality. With lots of subreddits dedicated to biohacking, you can track the latest and best-rated news on this topic. Here are some subreddits worth following:
- r/biohackers
- r/nutrition
- r/intermittent fasting
- r/nootropics (cognitive-enhancing drugs and supplements)
- r/longevity
What is biohacking: the final word
Biohackers are not superhuman by nature, they are simply ambitious and motivated. What sets them apart is their appetite for learning and knowledge, the ability to create a strong improvement plan, and the understanding that, like Rome, biohacking health isn’t done in a day.
The key to bulletproof biohacking is identifying your habits and areas for improvement with tech, apps and reliable tests, but also knowing that you will have good days and bad days. Being able to accept that you can’t do it all at once is essential because hacks fail when they are treated like fad diets. Click this link and see how your ability to utilize protein, fat, and carbs compares to other people.
