The actual word "biohacking" may be a bit overblown, fad, niche...whatever you want to call it - but the reality is many of the principles of biohacking changed my life to the better. In fact, life itself got easier. Simply because I learned how to maintain a high performance diet, mental clarity and an increase in energy that surpasses many people I know.
So that said, here are my top 5 tips so that you can KICK ASS IN YOUR LIFE!
1. Intermittent Fasting
Sounds strange I know, but fasting for 16h a day and reducing your "feeding" window to 8h has a variety of health benefits and increases energy. To put it simply, your body needs a lot of energy to process food. If you give your body a little break, it can start work other things like, cell regeneration, fighting diseases or dedicate some of the excess energy to your brain for a performance increase. Read more about the benefits here.
The folks from Fitnessinfographics.com created a great visual that shows you all of the different types of intermittent fasting.
2. Hack Flow
Flow is that optimal state of consciousness when we feel and perform at our best. Time slows down, you forget yourself, and you perform at a higher level than ever before.
In other words, you know those times when you are kicking ass and nothing can stop you? That’s flow.
So now, how often do you experience that state? Once a week, once a month or never? Well it turns out there is a recipe on how to get into flow and how to stay there.
Steven Kotler, author of Rise of Superman, made hacking flow his life mission. His research identified 17 triggers to enter flow, which he outlined in this presentation that you can check out here.
3. Mediation via Biofeedback
I personally struggled with making mediation a priority and a daily habit. One of the biggest challenges was to find the “right state of mind”, in many cases I was just sitting on my couch and daydreaming or repeat the “Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo” mantra thinking I’m in a meditative state (still have to laugh a bit thinking back).
Something that truly changed my “mediation skills” was a small device called “Inner Balance” by HearthMath. This device analyzes and displays the Heart Rate Variability (HRV), which indicates how emotional states are affecting our nervous system.
This device teaches you via a method called the Buddhist heart opening meditation, at what point you are in a meditating state by providing you real time feedback.
By knowing what a meditative state “feels” like you are actually learning quicker, which in turn strengthens your meditation muscle.
HearthMath has been doing research on the hearth and HRV for over 25 years. You can pick up one of these devices on their website, Amazon or eBay.
4. Learn How to Breathe
Wim Hof, known as “The Iceman”, is well known for his superhuman ability to withstand extreme cold. One of his secrets is his breathing method that he developed to withstand extreme situations such as:
- In 2007, he climbed past the “death zone” altitude on Mount Everest wearing nothing but shorts.
- In 2009, Hof completed a full marathon in −20 °C (−4 °F) dressed only in shorts. He finished in 5 hours and 25 minutes.
- He currently holds 21 Guinness World Records, including the longest ice bath at 1 hour, 53 minutes, 12 seconds.
He once injected himself with toxins (under doctor supervision) to demonstrate his ability to control his autonomic immune response. He consciously raised his cortisol levels and lowered his blood concentrations of cytokines using only his meditation and breathing techniques.
I personally are fairly new to his breathing technique but I can certainly feel a boost in energy after doing a breathing session. I personally have not yet observed any long term benefits, but will updated this post for any recent findings / learnings.
If you are interested, perhaps a great start is to check out the fascinating Vice Documentary about Wim’s method.
5. Embrace the Cold and Do Cold Showers
This is another of Wim Hof’s teaching that you will see in the documentary. But something that I have started since the beginning of the year was cold showers. If you ask Wim, he would prefer to sit in an ice lake instead of doing cold showers. But I for a newbie like me, cold showers might be a great start. I must say, they they are pretty painful but you literally feel the boost in energy every day. Something I highly recommend not only for an increase your energy and various health reasons but it is also a great way to break down your ego by forcing yourself into the cold.
