When it comes to biohacking, you should be open to different lifestyles, strange food groups, and challenging workout routines. Put simply, if you don’t try something new, you won’t know if it works.
Different gurus and fitness experts try to peddle different combinations of foods and exercises to see what works. There really is no one-size-fits-all rule here, but there are a few basic strategies that work for all body types and lifestyles.
These 5 biohacking strategies are not being ranked in any particular order because they all have their special place in the road to self-optimization.
1. GET ENOUGH SLEEP
This strategy is kind of obvious but continues to remain one of the most overlooked ones. Sleep deprivation is one of the main reasons why the body just shuts down and becomes prone to infectious diseases. It really does a number on your immune system. Sleeping for a certain minimum number of hours in the day (usually 8 hours) is the sure-fire way of extending your life and preventing just about every kind of disease out there.
If you’re having trouble with getting enough sleep, then try to identify the reasons for sleep deprivation. It could be something as simple as your phone on the bed, chugging too much caffeine in the day, or lots of prescription medicine. When you maintain a regular sleep schedule, your body primes itself for whatever you throw at it the next day – especially intense workout routines.
2. EAT GOOD FOOD
While the jury is still out on what exactly constitutes good food, your goal should be to eat healthily and cut down on calories. While humans can survive on just about anything edible, people who eat more plant-based food and avoid processed foods are able to live longer, healthier lives. This is biohacking 101 for the uninitiated.
As a general rule, try to abstain from sugar and include more superfoods into your diets such as black raspberry, berries, yoghurt, and tomatoes.
3. MONITOR YOUR BLOOD GLUCOSE LEVELS
Many expert biohackers will tell you that blood sugar is the most important metric of health – and they wouldn’t be entirely wrong. 30% of Americans are diabetic and 28.5% have type 2 diabetes. Most home glucose monitors you find on Amazon are accurate enough and on the cheap side of the spectrum.
It is a good idea to take multiple tests each morning and then exporting the data to an Excel (or Google) spreadsheet. This information will help you establish a 30-day baseline of your daily glucose levels. Your readings are likely to fluctuate based on the time of day and what you ate before the readings.
Once you have established your day-day baseline, you’ll be able to control your blood sugar levels more efficiently. More importantly, blood sugar responds quickly to your lifestyle choices such as exercise, sleep, food, and stress levels. When you make the conscious decision to change your lifestyle towards a healthier one, you’ll notice lower average blood sugar levels with lesser fluctuations – very cool.
It’s a great way to stay motivated by your current exercise regime and makes you feel happy. So go ahead and get yourself a home glucose monitor, they hardly cost $20 these days.
4. INTERMITTENT FASTING – THE BEST BIOHACKING STRATEGY?
The bottom line is simple: intermittent fasting is good for your brain and improves various metabolic metrics that improve the body’s overall health. Benefits include low blood sugar levels, insulin resistance, lower inflammation, and lower oxidative stress.
Best part? Your body starts healing itself and adjusts its hormone levels to make the stored body fat more accessible and facilitates its use for energy.
Short term fasting also increases the body’s metabolic rate by up to 14%, helping you burn a lot more calories than you usually would.
People on an intermittent fasting diet can easily lose at least 7% of their waist circumference, which is an indication of a lot of belly fat, the harmful bit in the abdominal cavity that can cause a bunch of diseases.
Furthermore, intermittent fasting has impressive benefits for insulin resistance and blood sugar levels. Studies have shown that fasting can reduce blood sugar by as much as 6%. This indicates that intermittent fasting is helpful for anyone who is at risk of developing Type II Diabetes.
5. USE FUNCTIONAL MUSIC
Music has a profound impact on the human brain. All those 100 billion neurons are firing away in a million different ways and need the order to make sense of all the chaos. It can be tough to stay concentrated when you need to get something done.
This is where music comes in.
Certain tools, like EEG devices, let you measure your brain’s activity to determine how you are currently feeling at the moment – relaxed, stressed, sleepy, or alert.
Consistent sound waves have been shown to be the most reliable way to change your brain waves. It is the ultimate form of biohacking that lets you synchronize your brain waves and induce a relaxed, meditative state.
There are many free apps out there that let you choose the right music for the right feeling. Just make sure to pick up a pair of good headphones for your listening pleasure. You don’t have to go for a specific brand, as long as the sound quality is excellent.
Biohackers use various tools to tweak the things that they put into their body and mind to improve the quality of their life. The above-mentioned strategies are just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a whole lot to explore once you’ve scratched the surface.
