From sleeping just four hours at a time, to not eating for days on end, to having tech embedded in their bodies, those Silicon Valley executives sure know how to get the most out of themselves. And they’ll go to some pretty serious lengths to make it happen too. In saying that, they were one of the first groups to embrace intermittent fasting and high-fat, low-carb diets, so we have a hunch that their pioneering ways pay off, at least some of the time.
We thought we’d take a look at some of the latest biohacking techniques to cross the desks of silicon valley executives and see if there were any new discoveries worth trying.
What is biohacking?
Well, you’ve heard of hacking computers, phones, emails and even elections, but hacking your body? Yep, it is possible, according to a lot of experts. And although it kinda sounds like something from 2001 A Space Odyssey or A Brave New World, many people see it as simply another route to self-improvement. Biohacking techniques can range from taking supplements, to dietary changes, to fitness programs, food and lifestyle changes and even pharmacological interventions. They can incorporate everything from wearable tech to super-futuristic lab experiments and blood tests. It can be as simple as monitoring your sleep and heart rate or as complicated as using implanted technology and genetic engineering. But in its simplest form, biohacking is essentially a way to try and make your mind and body function better. It’s seen by many biohackers as the ultimate quest for the most efficient and optimum functioning body and mind.
The biggest biohacking techniques
1. Salt Juice
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey claims his morning routine of drinking salt juice, moving and getting some sun helps to keep his body and mind in tip top condition. The drink is a mixture of water, lemon, and Himalayan salt and it’s believed that the unique combination of these can help to replenish salt lost after a workout and help to maintain the body’s physiological functions like digestion, especially when your food intake is severely restricted, like Dorsey’s (he is an advocate of intermittent fasting for long periods.)
2. Blood Glucose Monitors
Blood glucose monitors are traditionally used by those with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes, to monitor blood sugar levels, but recently, several Silicon Valley CEOs have claimed they use them to monitor their own blood sugar levels, despite not being diabetic. Several biohackers have explained that it’s a good way to confirm what they already suspect about how different foods make them feel and the overall impact of their diet. “Actually quantifying a lot of the conventional wisdom around diet is super valuable for me to be like, ‘OK, this is not just some snotty doctor trying to tell me something,’” revealed CEO of HVMN, Geoff Woo to Business Insider last month. And granted, although they’re not recommended for normal, healthy people, they will confirm how your insulin, blood sugar and body respond to different foods.
3. Dopamine Fasting
This one is actually super interesting, because as the device generation, we’re constantly surrounded by things that cause our dopamine levels to surge. Social media, apps, video games and television being the most notable. The term dopamine fasting was pioneered by San Francisco-based psychologist Cameron Sepah as a type of meditation. Dopamine is the neuro-chemical responsible for feelings of reward and motivation. It’s the chemical that creates social media addiction, that encourages you to persist and go back for more. The idea is basically that if you remove dopamine creating stimulus from your day for a period of time, you won’t become as numb to the feelings of motivation and reward. Granted, Silicon Valley has taken it to an extreme, with 24-40 hour dopamine fasts, during which people abstain from TV, computers, social media, sex and even face to face conversations. Sepah believes that it doesn’t need to be this extreme though: “it’s what healthy people do: turning your computer off at night, taking time off on weekends, taking vacations.”
4. Red light therapy
Have you ever felt kinda blah after spending too long inside? Your brain and your body need light to function properly. In particular, red light wave forms of between between 600 and 900 nanometers is believed to improve central nervous system processing and metabolic processes. Tony Robbins is a big fan of Red Light Therapy, and there’s actually a bit of research to back this one up. Red light therapy has become a fairly popular form of biohacking to treat a number of conditions, ranging from pain reduction, to improving skin tone, to reducing anti-aging and improved muscle recovery. Because it’s not that invasive, it’s one of the easiest forms of biohacking to try.
5. Polyphasic sleep
This is a fancy way of saying that someone sleeps in short bursts, instead of sleeping for a full night. Reportedly practiced by geniuses like Tesla, Edison and da Vinci, polyphasic sleepers sleep in shorter blocks of around 30 minutes to two hours at a time and can thrive like this. The goal is to become super-efficient at reaching the deep REM stage of sleep, where the brain processes information. It’s believed that polyphasic sleepers can live on a lot less than the recommended 7-8 hours of sleep. However, the research on whether this is beneficial or dangerous is quite mixed, with some studies suggesting that polyphasic sleep is, in fact, not actually sleep biohack, but a result of some individuals requiring different amounts of sleep… or alternatively, that it may simply be a different way of viewing and describing naps.
6. Bulletproof coffee
Pioneered by Dave Asprey, aka The Bulletproof Executive, bulletproof coffee is organically grown coffee mixed with grass fed butter and MCT oil. It’s believed to boost your energy, keep you productive for longer periods and prevent the caffeine crash. Asprey claims it kickstarts ketosis, allows your body to burn fat instead of glycogen and, because of its ingredients, it functions as an optimum fuel source for the brain. And while there is some research on the benefits of medium chain triglycerides, bulletproof coffee is high in calories and low in nutrition. In fact, our Super Staffer Rosie was so fascinated to see if it worked, that she gave it a try this week. You can read her research into how and why it works, and her experiences with it, over here.
7. The Oura Ring
The Oura Ring is the darling of Silicon Valley right now, and it’s one of the first wearable tech devices to take the mainstream by storm too. Combining an NTC body temperature sensor, infrared LEDs to measure blood pressure directly from the arteries in your finger, a 3D accelerometer and gyroscope to track body movement, it is one tiny ring that can do a whole heck of a lot of stuff. Incorporating sleep guidance, trends and tracking, activity monitoring and recovery information, heart rate monitoring, body temperature, respiration, step tracker and calories, all in something that’s the size of a wedding ring… and you can kinda see why it’s become a big thang outside of Silicon Valley too. The basic models retail for between $299-399 US (that’s about $450-600 Australian), but you can get it with diamonds for just shy of US$1000. Hmmmm… maybe next year?
Feel like reading more about biohacking? You can check out the story of the Silicon Valley exec who spent $250,000 on it right here.
So – do any of these trends sound like something you’d be willing to try? Have you given any of them a shot? How did you feel? Let us know in the members’ Facebook group.