Biohacking

Key takeaways

• ✓The best-evidenced 'biohacks' are unglamorous: sleep, resistance training, aerobic fitness, and protein intake.
• ✓Self-experimentation is more useful when you isolate one variable and track it objectively.
• ✓Novelty and price are not evidence — check for actual human trials before adopting an expensive protocol.
• ✓Combining multiple interventions at once makes it hard to know what's actually working.
• ✓Extreme protocols (prolonged fasting, extreme cold or heat) carry real risks and warrant medical input if you have an underlying condition.

Where to start with biohacking

1. 1Get the fundamentals right first — sleep, exercise, and nutrition outperform nearly every biohacking intervention in the evidence base.
2. 2Pick one variable at a time to test (e.g. cold exposure, a supplement) so you can actually tell if it's working.
3. 3Use objective tracking (wearables, blood work) rather than subjective feel alone to evaluate whether an intervention is doing anything.
4. 4Be skeptical of expensive interventions with thin evidence — cost and marketing intensity are not proxies for effectiveness.
5. 5Talk to a doctor before combining supplements, fasting protocols, or extreme temperature exposure with any existing health condition or medication.