Biohacking: mida lubab uus trendikas teadus? Uuri välja koos eksperdiga

Today biohacking has become a type of alternative medicine, which is either not proven to work or proven not to work. But then why has this trend become so popular and can “fanatical” health care be called biohacking?

Let’s find out together with psychologist and neuroscientist Ekaterina Zadoeva.

How did biohacking come about?

The term “biohacking” was known back in 1988. Back then, biohackers were genetic engineers who practiced science outside of laboratories and conducted their own experiments. Biohacking started gaining popularity in 2002, when the human genome was decoded for the first time. After this scientific achievement, many scientists wanted to learn how to fix genes and worked on the idea for the next 10 years.

The first results were published in 2010 in a piece about Rob Carlson, a physics graduate student who became interested in biology and converted a garage into a science lab for DNA research. He studied the effects of physical machines on blood cells and, with a group of assistants, created machines for PCR tests and designed bacteria to produce fluorescent protein.

In Russia, biohacking was first learned about thanks to businessman Sergei Faga. In 2017, he shared the biohacking methods he uses himself. Fage wrote an article where he said that he measures sleep stages, monitors nutrition, does sports and meditation, visits a psychologist, takes a general blood test and according to the results takes the necessary supplements and nootropics. He spent $ 200 thousand on this. All for the idea of eternal youth.

Biohacking and evidence-based medicine

According to the expert, biohacking is very confidently based on evidence-based medicine and just as confidently goes beyond it. For example, the process of autophagy and its usefulness were scientifically explained by a Japanese scientist only in 2016, and the therapeutic fasting and low-carbohydrate diet, in which this process is included, have been practiced for so long that even in the works of Avicenna (medieval Persian scientist, philosopher and physician. – Editor’s note) there are recommendations for such manipulations with the diet and its absence .

The benefits of sauna and bath, for example, are also not covered by evidence-based medicine, although they are quite a working tool for eliminating toxins. Although baths and saunas seem to be a simple matter, in biohacking it is important to make precise individual calculations and follow a sequence of actions taking into account the peculiarities of a person.

Jekaterina: Biohacking can be referred to personalized medicine, with the possibility of consciously reprogramming your physical parameters and psycho-emotional state for a set goal. Or find your true purpose by unlocking the physical, genetic, psychological and intellectual potentials of your body.

What do biohacking and ZOJ have in common?

Some biohacking methods overlap with the principles of HEA (e.g. diet and exercise). The only difference is that ZOJ offers general guidelines for everyone, while biohacking is a customized approach for the individual.

Biohackers don’t just go to the gym every day and eliminate sweets from their diet, they use biomarkers to track how this lifestyle affects the body. If you have been attending workouts and watching your diet for some time, but you are not happy with the changes in your body, you can turn to biohacking.

What to expect from this trend?

Biohacking can be just as harmful as any pill taken without reason.

Jekaterina: My clients and I even double-check the results of tests through indirect indicators, not to mention the fact that for everyone there is an individual norm of even the most basic vitamins, which is partly due to genetic features.

The increased variability of the world requires from a person high flexibility and adaptability, creativity and basic adjustment to continuous improvement and in-depth study of processes and cause-and-effect chains in one’s own body.

Katariina: We have entered an interesting period when scientific breakthroughs in medicine will give us such exciting tools to improve ourselves, prolong life and its quality, and understand ourselves and our reactions more clearly through neurobiology that I recommend that you buckle up and get ready for biohacking to become the norm in the near future.

The popularization of biohacking increased acutely with the onset of 2020, when the trend for health and physical and emotional resourcing set us on a pandemic. Biohacking has become mainstream. Before that, it was partly practiced only by professional athletes and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, with one difference: for the sake of the goal and victory, they almost always condescended to the enormous damage of the excessive stresses to which the body is subjected.

Now biohacking allows even professional athletes to compensate in time for the specific rhythm of life and even improve the performance, so significant for every professional. And most importantly, to preserve the health and longevity of a sports career.