Affordable Biohacking: Optimize Your Health Without Breaking the Bank

Biohacking seems to be the buzzword of the day for the health and wellness fanatics and it appears to cover a wide spectrum of extremes.  From Brian Johnson, former founder of Braintree which acquired Venmo and sold to PayPal (he's loaded 🤑), who is on a mission to "not die", to Madonna's quest for eternal youth (also loaded), to the need not biohackers like Hailey Bieber and Kendall Jenner, it is rampant and only the beginning with estimates that the biohacking market value will grow to upwards of $159B by 2033 at an annual growth rate of 20+%.

What is Biohacking?

Biohacking is taking what your mama gave you and monitoring, leveraging, optimizing, and even embellishing.  It can involve anything from simple lifestyle swaps, cold showers, and supplementation to infrared home installations, moderately expensive non-invasive therapies, and outlandishly expensive invasive alterations.  It's our modern-day nomenclature for the "fountain of youth."  For reasonably healthy humans, longer lifespans seem to be a realistic expectation, hence the desire to hack the aging process to look, feel, and be more biologically youthful.

Who is Doing It?

Well, there's Bryan Johnson, who has a company called Blueprint and is the test subject for the company on a quest to “not die” – yes, he's flipped the middle on mortality.  As the most measured man alive, he has a team of scientists, medical practitioners, and all the experts you can imagine, which have facilitated him to have the biological makeup of an 18-year-old, which costs him about $2M/year in interventions.  Some of his regiments are highly controversial and probably out of reach for most humans financially, and some make perfect sense, like getting high-quality sleep, eating plenty of good protein, and Omega 3's.

Madonna has been at the forefront of health, wellness, and spirituality for decades.  Her biohacks continue, and while trying not to sound judgmental, I will go on a limb and say that they have likely involved some of the more extreme invasive measures.  I'm not sure she is on a quest to "not die," but appears not to want to look dead on her deathbed. 

Recently a viral video of Hailey Bieber and Kendall Jenner getting their NAD+ intravenous infusions and discussing the fact that they don't want to age hit the airwaves.  I'll call them the need-not-biohackers.  In other words, enjoy your youth, ladies!  You have plenty of time (and money) for that IMO (but I'm probably jealous 🤷‍♀️).

Lastly, but not least, there are the household rockstars, the center of the universe, the crux in the wheel of life for future leaders, star athletes, and a generation that will change our world for the better - should be considered royalty, but also known as middle-aged, hard-working, full-on-loving, give-more-than-they-take ladies and gentle-parents.  And we comprise most of the population who are possibly looking to and might benefit from a good biohack.  So what biohacks should we employ, if we didn't sell our company to PayPal, produce many platinum albums, or birth into fame and fortune?

Biohacks for "Normal" People

Take my 2 cents for what it's worth (2 cents) and I'll also frame this by saying I've never botoxed or augmented which means I'm biased toward the less invasive side of the biohacking scale.  Mostly, I'm dabbling around with all the lifestyle tweaks I can get my hands on.  You've read about my sugar detox - (I give myself a C+ with that initiative right now) and attempt to consume A LOT more protein (B-).  I'm lifting heavy weights regularly and making sure I get my 8,000 steps in a day or some form of prolonged cardio (B+).  I'm eager to add rucking to my hikes/walks/uphill skis.  I prioritize good quality sleep above every other lifestyle hack (A).  I've always been a sleeper, and if I want to function at my peak, it is a non-negotiable.  I sleep in a cool, dark room (with a snorer - so there's that), ditch my phone about an hour before bed, read a book, and lately I've been taping my mouth shut.  Since reading Breath, by James Nestor, it has become a nightly-must and I swear it contributes to better sleep.  

When it comes to spending cold hard cash on biohacks I feel pretty confident in the research and the practical benefits of hot and cold therapy.  Right now I employ a 30-second freezing cold finale every time I shower, but I'd love to install a proper cold plunge.  I like that infrared spas are becoming more prevalent and less expensive, but quite frankly it’s hard for me to fit it in, so I have this sauna on my list with no VOCs, glues, adhesives, and low EMF, I think it's one of the best.  A slightly less expensive alternative would be a infrared mat with the added benefit of PEMF therapy which has been touted to have some benefits.  For supplements, the research and expert endorsement of creatine is hard to deny.  NAD+ is the darling of the day for anti-aging support and Omega 3's are an absolute must-have which I intake via high-quality olive oil, wild-caught fish, and sometimes supplements.  These low-cost lifestyle adjustments seem to have had some effect.  When I had my full body scan recently, I was NOT thrilled with my body fat, but pretty happy with my biological age (not 18), but 31.  And for 47, I think I'll take that.  I even have my four-year-old telling people his mom is 31 #winning! 

I am not a trained professional and this is not meant to be medical advice nor am I endorsing any celebrities' antics.  Rather, I'm giving you the hacks I'm trying and liking because as far as I can tell what's working for others seems to be pretty good anecdotal evidence and reason enough to try a few low-cost healthful hacks.   We all want to look and feel our best as we continue to enjoy life, and with that as the quest, I'm all in on biohacking as an ongoing and pretty fun experiment!

Are you biohacking? What is your motivation to biohack? What hacks do you love?  Any you hate?

Here's to life less toxic and more youthful!

Live free,

Dana

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