Feel better, be healthier and, above all, function faster and better in stressful everyday life. There are a few things we can turn to improve ourselves. Biohackers, for example, systematically intervene in their own biology and turn health hacks into good habits. It’s about making the best version of yourself, and to do that you need to know what’s good for you, how you can function better, and which methods your body responds to in the first place.
American biohacker and “lifestyle guru” Dave Asprey describes biohacking as follows: “It’s the art and science of changing the environment around and within you so that you gain full control over your biology.” So it’s always going on yourself. And about the environment around you. Only when we understand the connection will we be able to consciously influence and balance both to enjoy a longer and healthier life.
Everything on new
The key is to change the body’s program. Like a hacker who wants to change a computer program, self-proclaimed biohackers try to optimize the body’s own program through stimuli – for example by fasting during intensive sport. It is said to be extreme overexploitation that puts our genes into a different state of functioning. Not only well-being and health can be improved, but also our sleep. Sleep laboratories act as a self-optimization tool, followed by new habits for better nights. And then there is self-optimization with light. The Graz start-up “Luminousred”, for example, is using this idea to specifically intervene in optimizing our longevity. Certain wavelengths of light are said to have a positive effect on cells and thus promote our health in the long term. “Photobiomodulation is a specific spectrum of light in the 600 to 900 nanometer range. On the one hand, we have red light here, which penetrates the skin a millimeter deep and supports skin and hair growth. The other side of the spectrum is the near-infrared light, which is absorbed deep into the tissue, right down to the cells, and can support muscle recovery, hormonal balance, increased physical and mental resilience and sleep,” explain the founders, Barbara Sekulovska and Thomas Lechner. The exciting thing about the mechanism of action: It is cold light that does not produce heat and can therefore feed the cell with energy for much longer without causing potentially negative side effects such as burning of the skin.
organic control
The fact is, our lifespans are expanding, we are living longer and the population is getting older. But living longer often means spending the last twelve years of life in a degenerative state. “We are bedridden and no longer actively involved in our own lives. So in order to create a positive effect for our population, we want to start by extending the health span,” says Barbara Sekulovska. At the end of the day, natural bodyhacking is about taking back control of your biology, and everyone will probably have to figure out for themselves which methods are better for “biohacking” themselves.
homo deus?
However, realistic modifications of the body are also possible using individualized medicine. “With gene probes via harmless viruses, it is now technically possible to introduce missing or modified genes individually into the body. The production of such viruses, which serve as vehicles for the genes to be introduced, would also be possible in a biohacking laboratory,” says Daniel Derndorfer from the “Open BioLab Graz”, the open community laboratory for molecular biology and biohacking. Experimenting and working with modified genetic material to upgrade the human body is no longer science fiction. While international biotech conferences are pondering how the latest features, such as chips under the skin, can be used to send contact information via Bluetooth to replace business cards, other transhumanists, such as the rock star of this scene, Josiah Zayner, are thinking about the further development of the human species beyond their current physical and mental limitations. “Homo deus” is probably only a few decades away.