It’s difficult nowadays to go anywhere without hearing about some sort of biohack that is intended to inspire the body into a higher state of resiliency. Saunas, cold plunge, natural peptides, supplements, hyperbaric oxygen, light, sound therapy–there are countless things that people are turning to in order to move the needle on their health.
What if I were to tell you that how and when you do these hacks are absolutely critical? What if I told you that they could even make your health worse if you don’t do them correctly?
Today, I’m going to break down the ever-changing cost-benefit analysis of biohacks and how to get the most out of these different tools.
Cost-Benefit Analysis of Biohacking
If we are going to dive into biohacks, you have to know why exactly you are hacking. Hacks are truly just a stimulus, an input into a vast network of physiological inputs. For biohackers, they typically look at health as a simple math question (Good inputs + Consistency = Good outputs), while the opposite is essentially true as well (Bad inputs + Consistency = Bad outputs).
Herein lies the issue: While inputs can be good or bad, it all depends on if the nervous system and cells are prepared to respond and adapt to the stressor.
Cold Plunging
Let me give an example. Ice baths are a fantastic option for a lot of people. Research shows that this can increase testosterone, improve visceral fat, decrease A1C, and level up a host of metabolic factors. Ice baths are also a huge hormetic stimulus that recruits a lot of the fight, flight, freeze (no pun intended) sympathetic nervous system.
If your nervous system is already chronically in that fight, flight, freeze pattern, is it truly a hack to push yourself into further sympathetic dominance? It would make sense to bring your body back into homeostasis, then test its resilience with natural stressors.
Hyperbaric Oxygen
Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) is another hormetic stressor that could be a good option in certain situations, but not all. HBO2 pressurizes oxygen to create a supersaturated state internally. Think bubbly carbonated water, but instead of carbon dioxide in a soda can, it’s (to a lesser degree) pressurized oxygen inside your bloodstream and lymphatic fluid. Bathing your cells with oxygen can be a good thing—unless your mitochondria (the energy generators of the cells) are not functioning appropriately.
Imagine you have a busted engine in your car. One thing that you should absolutely not do with a busted engine is force fuel through the line and try to get it to work harder. This is the same idea with hyperbaric oxygen. Forcing throughput into the engines of the cells can cause more strain than help. You must first fix the “engine” prior to running large amounts of fuel through the line.
Is My Body Prepared for Biohacking?
While these hacks can be really helpful in the right setting, there needs to be an asterisk with every individual:
Is my body prepared to handle this stress?
Does my nervous system have the resilience to adapt?
Think of these hacks as a workout for the body. If your body is not prepared for the workout, you will compromise tissue. No one cold-runs a marathon. They start small and work their way up. These biohack “workouts” are absolutely necessary for health. In fact, most of these are simulating natural conditions that our biology is required to endure to be healthy.
But modern life has become fragile in that it needs to be a build-up prior to ensure that your physiology doesn’t collapse under the pressure.
An excellent way to see if your body is prepared for these hacks is to do a heart rate variability study. Here at The Premier Life, we utilize these scans that you may remember from your last check in appointment. This will show the resiliency of your nervous system to handle outward tests. If you or a loved one are contemplating adding one of these regimens to your daily routine, be sure to go over your scans with one of the doctors. This will give some context of what will heal vs. what will steal from your potential.
Blessings,
Dr. Nate
