- Biohacking is a sporting trend in the United States. It is about trying to modify your body to look and feel younger.
- Intermittent fasting, eating less meat and HIIT are some of the tools used.
- These work to improve blood lipid levels, lower blood pressure, and improve sleep.
The dream of eternal youth is as old as humanity, but it seems that some researchers are one step closer to discovering how to slow down the aging process.
Even people ages 70 to 77 can reduce their mortality with high-intensity interval training (HIIT), a study in norwegian has found.
In the study, researchers from the University of Trondheim compared the exercise activities of 1,567 people, average age 72, over a five-year period.
Those who completed the HIIT (“high-intensity interval training”) program outperformed the other two groups, who did moderate exercise or normal sports at a significantly lower heart rate.
Biohackers want to go far beyond HIIT
Biohackers, following a trend that originated in the US, use “hacks” to try to “turn back” your biological clocks.
One of the most prominent biohackers is Silicon Valley entrepreneur David Asprey. He weighed about 309 pounds when he was 26 years old because his diet centered around pizza, French fries and Coca-Cola. His arteries were as old as his grandfather’s.
“I decided to radically change my life because if I hadn’t, I would have died very soon,” Asprey recalled.
It was then that he began to try everything possible to rejuvenate his body and his brain cells.
Asprey’s morning cup of coffee contains ghee or clarified butter.
Getty Images / Евгения Матвеец
“The first thing I do is skip breakfast and just drink my Bulletproof coffee, which is an organic coffee that has a little bit of ghee mixed in, as well as a little bit of MCT oil,” he explained.
Clarified butter, which is all ghee, suppresses hunger pangs, as does caffeine. MCT oil is based on coconut oil and contains saturated fats called caprylic and capric acids.
“They help the body create important fasting substances called ketone bodies. They remove excess cellular waste during the morning fasting period,” Asprey said.
Max Gotzler is a well-known German biohacker. His book, “Der tägliche Biohacker” (The Daily Biohacker), published in October, promises to teach you “how to be more efficient, healthier, more resilient, more balanced and more productive every day in small steps.”
If only it were that simple.
“Intermittent fasting improves blood fat levels”
Renowned aging researcher David Sinclair of Harvard Medical School, who has been studying longevity genes for decades, confirmed that skipping breakfast or dinner (intermittent fasting) can rejuvenate us. This is because temporary starvation changes our metabolism: instead of sugar, we burn fat and eliminate useless cellular waste. In this cleaning phase we get rid of inflammatory cells, for example, which can do a lot of damage to our body.
“Studies show that intermittent fasting improves blood fat levels and can lower blood pressure,” said Natascha Hess, a cardiologist and general practitioner from Berlin.
“Especially when combined with exercise,” he added.
Fasting rejuvenates blood vessels in 95% of all cases.
“However, those with a genetic disorder of lipid metabolism rely on medications in addition to lifestyle changes,” Hess said.
So biohacking doesn’t always work.
“Those who do not sleep enough suffer more pain”
Biohackers also focus on improving sleep. To do this, they use watches and fitness bands with apps, or wearable devices, that record sleep stages. A popular example is the Oura Ring.
Using small sensors inside, the ring measures sleep stages in a similar way to fitness bracelets. With the help of an app on your smartphone, you can check how many stages of deep and REM sleep you’ve been through. REM sleep is the time during which we emotionally process the experiences of the day and store them in our memory.
“If you have too few phases of deep sleep or REM sleep, you can only insufficiently renew your cells. You will age faster,” said Christopher Topar, an orthopedist, sports doctor and pain specialist from Berlin, who has been testing the Oura ring for some months.
“60% of my pain patients say they sleep poorly. Those who don’t get enough sleep have more pain,” he said.
Biohackers use wearable devices to improve your sleep.
Getty Images/WaiMeng Chan / Contributor
Knowing which apps, smart sports watches or wearable devices your patients can use to improve their sleep is part of their holistic approach.
In recent years, scientists have discovered just how sick a lack of sleep makes us. It’s not just daily exhaustion that we struggle with; Poor sleep increases the risk of
heart disease
obesity and
diabetes
. headaches and
depression
they also occur when we sleep very little or very badly.
Not everyone is going to improve their sleep by wearing a fitness bracelet, watch, or ring to track their sleep stages.
“However, these devices help us figure out why we sleep poorly, wake up repeatedly at night, or wake up too early in the morning,” Topar said.
Some people may have eaten too late, others may be sleeping poorly due to too much alcohol or television.
Reading on a smartphone or tablet is also known to suppress the release of the hormone melatonin, which the body normally releases at night and is supposed to make us tired, due to the blue light these devices emit. This would also explain why so many children who play with a computer or tablet until late at night have trouble falling asleep.
Nutrition plays a key role
Another important part of the biohacker lifestyle is nutrition. They advise eating less red and processed meats.
David Sinclair believes your plate should look colorful with yellow, red or green vegetables rich in phytochemicals called polyphenols.
“These substances inhibit the growth of inflammatory and cancer cells,” said the Harvard professor.
Biohackers are also known to use some controversial methods.
David Asprey, for example, transplanted his own body’s stem cells into other parts of his body, including his sexual organs.
You can read about his biohacks in the book “Super Human: The Bulletproof Plan to Age Backward and Maybe Even Live Forever”.
This is just as inadvisable as overdoing diet, exercise, and sleep control.
“Our health should be at the center of our lives, but controlling it should not rule us,” said cardiologist Hess. But he recommends some self-measurement using apps for many of his patients.
“You’re often amazed at how many calories are in a ‘small snack’ and that it takes half an hour of exercise to burn them off again.”
Relaxation is another important factor in maintaining a healthy lifestyle and is often overlooked. If we have had a particularly stressful day, it is important to tell our body that it can relax at night. Doing this should stop the release of the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol, allowing the body and mind to rest properly.
