Recently, people have come across the word Biohacking via certain Netflix series like Unnatural Selection and Biohackers. These series have fascinated people to this fantastic upcoming way of living. A trend that might make you feel like a superhuman amidst the others.
“First, forget inspiration.
Habit is more Dependable.
Habit will sustain you
whether you are
inspired or not.”
Octavia Butler
Biohacking is a term that defines better living through technology and science. It is a way by which one can upgrade oneself and make resistance to various health problems. It is actually one of the most emerging technology or rather a biotech trend in today’s date.
“We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence then is not an act,
but a habit.”
Will Durant
So what is Biohacking actually? How it came into Practice?
It is relatively a very new trend which will soon bring revolution in people’s lives. Techniques involved in Biohacking is all about optimizing human performance, making life healthier, happier, and stronger. Dave Asprey, the founder of Bulletproof Nutrition Inc., author, a Silicon Valley Investor, is also considered the Father of Biohacking. According to this man, Biohacking is an art and science by which you can change the environment around you and inside you and have full control over your own biology. This man has done several experiments upon his own body. He has injected stem cells into his joints, takes several supplements daily, bathes in infrared light, and even much more. All that this guy is doing is to live until the age of 180.
It sounds really cool when one can actually control his entire body system using science and advanced technologies. According to various data, Biohackers have improved health, well-being, and nutrition. They also have high-energy levels, optimized physical activity, and quality of sleep. Moreover, one can continue maintaining his youthful looks and be healthier for a long time.
In brief, Biohacking is actually a broad and intermediate-term which includes a huge range of activities, starting from performing experiments on yeast or other organisms to tracking your own sleep and diet. Some of the practices even include pumping a younger person’s blood into your own veins with a hope that it might fight to age.
There are two types of biohackers in society today. Some are PhDs while some are complete amateurs. Some Biohackers have even formed a branch of Transhumanism, a movement that says that human beings can and have the freedom to use technology to augment and evolve the species.
There are actually various ways of hacking your own biology. Some of the hacks are quite tricky to understand. That what makes it different from our daily intake of traditional medicines.
Certain things which are associated with Biohacking are as follows:
Boosting life expectancy
This includes following simple habits like an improved diet that is usually by avoiding non-veg. Then exercising regularly, avoid smoking, drinking as well as having improved quality and amount of sleep.
Endurance
Biohackers are very much focused on the word Endurance. Everything thing they perform they do to upgrade their lifestyle.
Cryotherapy
This is a therapy that includes ice treatment. This involves treatments with an ice pack and also take cold showers for three days in a row for 10 seconds letting the shower directly hit the forehead. According to the biohackers, it helps their body temperature to come down at tissue and cellular level. This would, in turn, increase metabolism. People who carry out this regularly feel energized and refreshed.
Osteogenic Machines
According to the biohackers, they can strengthen their bones within a few minutes using high-tech machines called osteogenic machines. These machines are based on osteogenic loading. Such a thing helps them to strengthen their body and also helps to gain athletic performance.
Nootropics (smart drugs)
These are cognitive enhancers that are natural or synthetic substances. They help in enhancing mental skills and boost memory.
Dopamine fasting or discontinuous fasting
The trend for this kind of fasting has begun in Silicon Valley. Now it is practiced in the rest of the world. This type of fasting is mainly used for losing weight and for boosting brain and clarity. This activity really helps the individual to enhance their brainpower. Moreover, it also helps them to concentrate on their work.
What is making people practice Biohacking over themselves?
It is actually a desire to live longer, stronger, and healthier. These desires come in a range of flavors. Some people have the desire to become smart and live strong as long as possible. While some desire to live an extremely healthy life, a totally disease-free life.
Commencing such practices even comes from frustration. A biohacker named Zayner has even injected himself with CRISPR DNA to cure himself of certain health problems. This man got irritated by the federal official as they always claimed sluggishness in allowing all sorts of medical treatments. It takes about 10 years in the US for a new drug to develop and get approved. This long wait really makes the life of people suffering from serious health issues worse and painful. This biohacker has even claimed that he wants to homogenize science and empower people to experiment on themselves.
Do all these activities involve in Biohacking legal?
There are a lot of Biohacking pursuits that exist in the legal grey zone, disapproved by the FDA, but they are not fully an illegal practice. Though certain agencies now seeming to take actions against certain ill practices involved in this technique. But there is no straight forward way to stop these biohackers from continuing such practices.
One of the major issues involved in this technique is that if we make ourselves smarter, stronger, and potentially immortal, we may eventually create a society where everyone would feel pressured to alter their biology, even if they are not interested in it. It would become difficult for everyone to live as “merely” humans in a world of superhumans.
What conclusion can we draw to this technique?
It is now evident that Biohacking is just more than an RFID chip to open your front door. It is providing aid to disabled people as well as it is helping society to create progress in the health industry. Biohacking is quite interesting and inspiring. It exemplifies flaws in both the policies surrounding the tech-world and security concerns in the code itself. It is evident that soon a new era will be explored with Biohacking in the coming future.
Written By Saurabh Dey.