What is biohacking and why should you do it?

Biohacking what is that? Biohacking itself stands for optimizing your lifestyle. All facets that can help you get the most out of yourself. Optimizing your body, mind and therefore your life. This is done through biological and/or technological means. The meaning of biohacking is therefore 'hacking' your body by applying bio science and technology.

“Biohacking is optimizing the human body and mind through science, technology and self-experimentation.” | Ben Greenfield - former professional triathlete, author, speaker

We will help you on your way with a number of biohacking examples and information.

Why biohacking?

When you start biohacking, you look at what your body needs to perform and function optimally. Even more concretely, this means a healthy body in the form of, for example, a good weight, healthy muscles and joints, optimal skin, stronger resistance and health, a strong mindset and a good mental state. This ensures that you look better, feel good about yourself, have top energy and can achieve optimal performance. A good reason why you should biohack.

How does biohacking work?

To achieve this optimal state, you go back to a number of basic elements. You will try to optimize these basic elements, which are listed below, in the form of biohack methods.
Basically you have a number of elements that are important. You can then think of:

• Power supply
• Movement
• Night's sleep
• Mental training

A biohacker wants to optimize the above points. This is done by testing, measuring and analyzing. Ultimately, it is determined per individual what suits her or him best for the most optimal result.

Which biohacking diet can help?

A basic and very important element for health is nutrition. Nutrition can have a major influence on your overall condition, both physically and mentally. Biohacking and nutrition come together by experimenting to see which biohacking diet suits you best.

Examples of this are:

- The Keto diet (mainly lots of vegetables and foods with lots of healthy fats. You eat few carbohydrates during this diet).

- Vegan diet.

- Low-carb diet.

- Paleo diet/primal diet (mainly fish, meat, vegetables, fruit, eggs, nuts and seeds. Healthy fats instead of carbohydrates).

- A dietary pattern such as intermittent fasting (this concerns when you eat and how long you don't eat. For example, fasting for 16 consecutive hours and you can eat during the remaining 8 hours).

Supplements

In addition to food, there are supplements to supplement your diet. It is difficult to get everything from your diet. As a result, there are advocates of nutritional supplements. This way you could get all the necessary substances that you could not get (sufficiently) from your diet. The basis, of course, is to try to get as much as possible from your diet.

Movement and biohacking

Exercise and therefore also sport is also an important element for your optimal health. Many studies have shown that sport not only keeps you physically fit, but also positively stimulates your mental state. In any case, exercise is the basis and it is therefore recommended to exercise sufficiently every day. It helps, among other things, to train your breathing, which can be a basic element in itself. In addition, it helps you sleep better.

Movement can easily be measured with all the apps, etc. that are available. Goals can be set and easily tracked. Routine and habit for exercise are important to optimize this. Sport always ensures that you get exercise, which is why it is important to exercise several times a week.

Biohacks for sleep

Everyone knows what sleep can do to your energy and mood. It is therefore not surprising that sleep also needs to be optimized when you are involved in biohacking. The goal is to sleep as well as possible. How many hours is this? This may differ per person. The quality of the hours is the first thing that matters and then you can determine how many hours you need to recover optimally.

How are you going to optimize this? There are different methods that work positively for different people. Sleep can be improved by nutrition, meditation, breathing exercises, heat and cold training, among other things.

Mindset training

Biohacking concerns your mental state and mindset. The above elements influence this. However, there are many factors that can hinder the development of your mindset and mental state. There are various ways to approach this to create more focus, motivation, peace and higher consciousness.

''Biohacking is the art and science of changing the environment around you and within you so that you have complete control over your own biology.'' | Dave Asprey - Founder of Bulletproof

There are various methods to train your mindset, such as maintaining routines, breathing training, meditation, but cold and heat training are also good examples of this. Cold training (think of a cold shower or an ice bath) also has many benefits for the body and also ensures that you can sleep better. Heat therapy is also used, such as the infrared sauna. With all kinds of benefits for the body and mind. In addition, light therapy is also considered a method. An infrared sauna is also used for this. With the aim of healing and improving the body.

When we talk about light, daylight cannot be missed. Sufficient daylight is necessary to ensure that you feel energetic and fresh. As well as fresh air. So getting outside enough is important.

Biohackers; measure and know

As a biohacker you want to measure, monitor and analyze what works for you to get the most out of yourself. In addition to pen and paper, there are various technological gadgets that can support this. Think of different nutritional apps, sports apps, trackers on your phone or watch, etc. But also having blood tested or various scans are among the options.

Some biohacking examples and tips:

- Dietary forms

- Breathing training

- Dietary supplements

- Light therapy

- Ice baths/cold showers

- Heat therapy, such as infrared sauna

- Meditation and/or yoga

- Routines

- Blue/red light glasses and/or special lamps

- Magnet therapy

In short, you have the various ''biohacks'' and biohacking trends that can help you improve your physical and mental state. You do this by testing, measuring and then analyzing. This way you can find out what and which biohack methods suit you best. This way you can get the most out of yourself.