The term "biohacking" may seem confusing and difficult to apply, but we assure you that this is not the case. Biohacking is a system of ways to "hack" our biology so that our body becomes more vital, healthier, and we feel younger. Biohacks can affect different aspects of healthy living and relate to different parts of the body.
When choosing biohacking experiments, it is necessary to approach them according to each person's individual needs, since each of us has different habits and is in a different state of health. There are numerous ways to hack (improve) our vital indicators, and the time and resources we would devote to them vary.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in a Pressure Chamber
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a therapeutic method that involves breathing pure oxygen in a specialized pressurized environment – a hyperbaric chamber. Inside it, a person breathes 100% pure oxygen, which is 10 times more than the oxygen reaching the blood vessels in a normal environment. Some of the conditions this method affects include infections, non-healing wounds and decompression sickness, as well as healing of blood vessels. The environment is controlled, and the duration of the therapy is determined by specialists.
IV Drip Therapy with Vitamins, Minerals and Antioxidants
This therapy consists of infusions into the bloodstream of cocktails of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, specially selected according to our needs. It is performed by a specialist, as delivering the substances directly into the blood helps them work more effectively. For example, the most effective way to supply iron to people with a deficiency (anemia) is through an intravenous infusion, since this way it enters the blood directly. If intake is only oral, the effect can be "washed out" by food and fluids.
Of course, these therapies are carried out over a certain period and require more time and resources to be devoted to them. There are also many different biohacks that we can try ourselves at home, monitoring changes in our vital indicators on our own to find out what works best for us.
1. Caring for Our Circadian Rhythm
Our internal clock – our circadian rhythm, is the "mechanism" that allows us to distinguish day from night and enables the body to recover fully. By properly caring for our circadian rhythm, a person gets a healthy amount of rest and carries out their usual activities with ease and without feeling exhausted and constantly tired. But how do we properly maintain the balance of our circadian rhythm?
Various factors affect the functioning of our internal rhythms, and regulating them properly can lead us to a healthier daily life. In episode 6 of our podcast RealTalks sports consultant Kiril Raykov talked more about the beneficial effects of quality sleep and how we can contribute to it. He shared that the combination of high stress levels, lack of sleep and inactivity harms the mitochondria at a cellular level (the cells' energy source). They begin to lose their qualities, leading to premature skin aging. To avoid constantly adding to this harmful effect, it's important to nourish them daily – a study by The European Journal of Nutrition found that falling asleep at a different time each night disrupts many groups of cells. Even just a 90-minute difference in bedtime within a single week can damage the types of bacteria found in the gut.
In order for our body to "understand" when it's time to wake up and when to fall asleep, it needs to receive a signal from natural sunlight. Experts advise supporting these processes whenever possible – spending 15-20 minutes in the sun during the morning hours sends a signal to our body that it's time for action, and conversely – when the sun goes down, it will know it's time to rest.
If you want to learn more about conditioning workouts and biohacking from sports consultant Kiril Raykov, visit our RealTalks podcast.
2. Breathing Techniques
"Take a breath in a moment of stress." We've all heard similar sayings, but how often do we actually think about what they mean? Breathing is a broad set of practices that can significantly reduce tension and help restore the disrupted balance of the nervous system.
In addition to techniques that improve lung capacity, there are also breathing techniques that help with concentration, better sleep quality, heart function and much more. The good thing about these techniques is that they don't take much time and can be done comfortably at home. One of them (pursed-lip breathing) involves exhaling air through the mouth with pursed lips – this way the exhalation time will be longer than the inhalation time, which helps widen our airways. This improves the quality of airflow, as well as the function of the heart muscle.
3. Fasting
There's no way to go through biohacking systems without touching on nutrition. Intermittent fasting doesn't only help with reduced calorie intake and weight loss – it comes with numerous other benefits. There's no need to stress your body with very long fasting periods – you can start with just a few hours and gradually increase the time.
When food intake is regulated through fasting, this can help control blood sugar levels, reduce inflammation, improve muscle condition and much more. With this biohack, it's important to approach it thoughtfully and carefully, so that the restrictions don't become extreme and produce the opposite effect.
4. Antioxidants Against Oxidative Stress
The presence of oxidative stress in our body represents an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants, which leads to premature cell damage. This type of stress can be caused by pollutants both in the air and in our food, and it is capable of triggering serious health conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and heart disease.
Getting antioxidants through food helps "tame" oxidative stress – even the name itself suggests it. Foods, rich in antioxidants manage to interrupt the spread of free radicals, thereby improving the immune response of cells. Such foods include blueberries, dark chocolate, spinach, green tea, sweet potatoes…the list is long.
5. Contrast Showers
The effect of contrast showers can be described as multi-layered, since it works on many levels and supports various processes in our body. They stimulate blood circulation, strengthen the immune system, increase energy flow and support muscle recovery. This is due to a process called thermogenesis, which allows the body to "switch on" a warming mode when it experiences cold.
Thermogenesis reduces inflammatory processes in the body, thanks to the shock change from warm to cold and the immediate reaction of the cells. A study found that regularly exposing our body to cold water (such as with a contrast shower) speeds up metabolism and increases plasma concentrations of neurotransmitters. This in turn positively affects the immune system and successfully reduces oxidative stress levels.
Biohacking is directed at each person's individual needs, in order to give them more vitality, improve their immunity and protect them for longer against certain signs of aging. It doesn't take a lot of resources to put biohacks into practice - what matters is turning "toward ourselves" and understanding how we can effectively help our own body.
