Simply Fitness

You may have heard the term “biohacking” mentioned more in the news and media lately.  It seems like it’s the new catch-word of the year.  But, what does it mean?  What are people talking about?  Well, here’s a brief definition.

Biohacking in mainstream society is defined as “hacking” your body’s cellular systems.  Wait.  What?  Yes.  Hacking, like in computer hacking, where the hacker messes about with the coding of a computer or system of computers, to make it do something different.  In Biohacking, you are causing your body’s systems, at the cell level, to behave differently using nutrients, environment, action, or your mind.

The first biohacker I read about was Tim Ferriss.  Only it would be years before I heard the term biohacker.  Tim Ferriss’s book, “The Four Hour Body”, published in 2010, was all about biohacking.  I thought he made sense.  Here was this intelligent guy who tested all of these theories about losing weight, gaining muscle, running faster and longer distances, having better sex, and many other very specific biohacks.  I told many people about his book and instead of biohacker, I described him as his own guinea pig.

One topic Tim tested, very extensively, was blood sugar level.  As someone who has insulin resistance, I took special interest in those parts of his book.  I took what he studied and changed a few key things in my life and within 3 months, I lost 15 pounds of stubborn fat I had been trying to get rid of, lowered my cholesterol to normal and stopped taking a cholesterol-lowering drug (high cholesterol is common with insulin resistance), got much stronger, and had much more energy every day.  I did not change my workouts.

I enjoy reading about scientific studies.  The studies Tim performed made sense.  Everything he presented was logical.  And, something I’ve been saying since I was in college is that I love working with the body.  It is very logical.  It has systems which do certain and expected things.  Every once in a while, one system does not do as it should and you must treat this – for me, insulin resistance.  But, overall, the body is made up of logical systems.

I have improved my body’s systems with Tim’s help.  But, he’s not the only prominent biohacker you can learn from.  There are others.  Dave Asprey, (Bulletproof Coffee), Dr. Dominic D’Agostino, Dr. Jack Kruse, Dr. Peter Attia, Abel James, Dr. Rhonda Patrick, and many more, are studying fascinating thing to improve our biological systems.  I am still learning of other biohackers and what they study.

One thing I have found is that they all have one common goal – to make the body function better.  Whether it is reversing diseases, losing weight, lowering risk of cancer, getting better sleep, having more energy, handling stress better, or looking younger, all of the biohackers I mentioned are working toward improving our lives.  I have also read about a few who take things a bit too far and some who may not have your best interests in mind.  So, use your common sense when you read about biohacks.

If you want to get started learning how biohacking can help you, I recommend reading Tim Ferriss’s book, “The Four Hour Body”.  Also, I have found Dave Asprey’s podcast, “Bulletproof Radio”, to be very informative.  Google the other names I’ve mentioned above and see for yourself.  There is still so much to learn about the human body and what we can do to make it better.  I’m sure I’ll be mentioning biohacks in future posts that I find to be worthwhile.

Thanks for reading.  As with all the exercise information on this site, please get a check-up with your doctor before you begin an exercise program.  And, please sign up to follow SimplyFitness.blog.  This will help me to continue to provide fitness information to everyone.  Thanks!  Karen