Biohacking, a buzz word of late, is the practice of utilizing often long-forgotten and even criticized practices of giving your body everything it needs to act at its best.
In today’s world, there are so many things that act as a detriment to our physical and mental health, that we have to begin to take active countermeasures to protect our wellbeing.
Performing these practices will not only make your body physically stronger than before, but it will improve your mental clarity, health, and mood.
Of course, I am still new to these practices as well and am far from a “perfect human with no ailments or problems,” though from trial and error over the last year, I have discovered some activities that have made my body and mind much stronger than before.
Here are 9 things I am practicing in this new year:
1. Grounding
The practice of grounding has been around for a long time. It involves the practice of simply standing outside barefoot, reconnecting your body to the Earth.
Forgive my misuse of electrical/electric
It is a proven concept that our bodies carry an electric charge, like the Earth (it’s called the “ground” for a reason). Thus, physical, unhindered contact between the two can realign our body’s electrical energy.
While it may sound like voodoo science, there have been studies proving grounding’s positive effects on a human’s physical and mental health/clarity.
If nothing else, you get to feel like a child again, barefoot outside.
This practice is a great way to start the day, which is an important decision we make every day, discussed later in the article.
2. Sunning
A self-explanatory title, sunning is the practice of simply being in the sun. The sun has been the source of all energy on Earth since it’s inception, and direct contact with sunlight has been proven time and time again to provide so many benefits to a human (Vitamin D production, mood booster, improved collagen production...).
The best thing about having sunning/grounding on the same list is that they can easily be done at the same time.
Sunning also incorporates another practice that we have strayed from, the act of simply being outside. Taking walks is a great way to “reset” yourself after staring at a screen of being fed up with an overload of work and stress.
Try getting outside in the sun more!
3. Listening to Frequencies
Possibly the most “hippie voodoo non-sense” on this list, though one of the most important and beneficial. Listening to particular frequencies can work wonders on your nervous system, as well as sub-consciously altering your brainwaves/mental state.
Waves are all around us, sound, communication, electrical, light (sort-of), energy, etc. There is a 100% proven effect of EMF waves on humans, which has been proven to hold negative impacts, some even going as far to say it damages human cells (Not to get into the 5G scare in recent media). If it is known that these high-frequency waves can alter us in a negative way, how is it out of the question that these lower-frequency audible waves cannot affect us in a positive way?
This article provides some of the positive influences that listening to these select frequencies can have on a person. It also discusses the use of modern sound therapy, and its conclusions and results on patients.
Fortunately, there are countless videos and songs that carry these frequencies on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, etc. If nothing else, it is soothing background music while you work.
4. Eating Red Meat
While somewhat controversial, eating red meat, as our ancestors before us did, has been proven to be beneficial to humans. Quality meat, from grass-fed livestock is so nutrient-dense and healthy for humans that it is hard to go back to avoiding red meat after you make the switch, as so many internet doctors state.
While I won’t list any sources here due to a fear of being told that the source is illegitimate by naysayers, A quick Google search will provide some benefits.
Of course, like anything, this has to be done in moderation, along with eating other foods that provide a well-rounded base of nutrients and essential vitamins.
5. Less Screen time/Avoiding Blue Light
It seems that everyone decided to try to limit their screen time in 2024. The reason for this is quite obvious, everyone is fed up with how much time they waste staring at their phones.
Think about human interaction, attention spans, and eye strain with and without iPhones present; the difference is astounding.
This is something that is a hard fix, but setting screentime limits can help, as well as purging your phone of anything unessential.
Another way that you can reduce the eye strain from your phone is to change it to have a warm filter, as well as buying ever-popular “blue light glasses.” These glasses have a built-in filter to limit the amount of blue light that comes from screens, which can help your eyes/vision in the long run.
6. Left-hand Usage
This refers to using your non-dominant hand whenever possible.
Using your off-hand to perform mundane tasks is an annoying and difficult thing to do at first, though when done over long periods of time, can reap great benefits.
All-star University of Michigan and National Champion Quarterback JJ McCarthy claims to brush his teeth with his left hand every morning. Why? Because our brains have a trait called neuroplasticity, which means that they can be changed, stretched, trained, and altered.
Our brains and our neuropathic highways are not constant and set in stone. Repetitive actions can change how our brains work, altering how we feel and act.
This practice, along with similar kinds, has been called “brain fitness.” Overtime, it trains your brain to change its default state, and will not associate one side of something as being better than the other, rather as both capable.
This article speaks more to the proven benefits of this, while also discounting some of the more aggressive theories of it’s positive influence.
If nothing else, you can be a switch hitter in case the Detroit Tigers ever call your number.
7. Avoid Microplastics/Seed Oils
The terms “seed oils” and “microplastics” have been in the news as of late, and not for good reason. The increasing presence of these two things does nothing but wreak havoc on our natural hormone and endocrine systems.
Seed oils, before I discuss further, include:
- Canola oil (aka rapeseed oil)
- Corn oil
- Cottonseed
- Grapeseed oil
- Soybean oil
- Sunflower oil
- Safflower oil
- Rice bran oil
- Peanut oil
The oils are used in cooking, manufacturing, health/beauty products, and may as well be grouped into a category with Teflon or other chemical substances that destroy nature.
These substances are used to preserve, flavor, bind, and do other actions to products that are mass-produced and used by nearly every demographic.
They are overprocessed and contribute to inflammation, part of the reason that using cheap products/eating fast food can make you feel so horrible.
They can also disrupt natural processes your body performs to survive, such as the endocrine system/hormonal systems.
There are plenty of resources proving these facts, though the best way to know if this is BS or not is to detox from seed oils, avoiding them at your next meal, or in your next shower.
Microplastics are the more well-known relative of seed oils, and their increasing presence in everything is alarming and should be taken into consideration. There are too many instances of these being harmful to list here, though some could be avoided by doing some of these things:
- Using a bidet rather than toilet paper
- Avoiding processed foods
- Buying (real) organic health/beauty items
- Filtering water with UV light
8. Cold Shower/Dopamine Reset
Ah, the latest trend in health: cold exposure. Forget for a moment the mass amount of annoying people who cannot stop talking about their daily morning cold tub plunge, and ask yourself why did so many people begin this practice?
It clearly has positive effects on a person’s body and mental state. It acts as a dopamine reset by forcing your brain into near “shock” and forcing you to adjust to the rapid change in environment.
While many companies offer tubs for $1000 made for this, the easiest way to begin this is by taking ice cold showers.
If you are a doubter of it’s benefits, try it. You will improve your mental fortitude and find a way to build dopamine production in a healthy way, rather than the instant dopamine boosters we are surrounded by (vapes, phones, fast food).
9. Posture Fix
This is not new — fixing your posture will have tremendous positive effects on you, in both the short and long term.
That means that you, the reader, should sit up straight right, align your monitors eye-level, remove your hunch, pull your phone away from your face, and roll your shoulders back.
Not only will this help your back, neck and spine in the long run, it will make you appear more confident and approachable in the present, something we all want.
Honorable Mentions
- Sauna usage to sweat — sweating is good
- Keeping phones away from body
- Avoiding wearable technology
- Red light therapy for better skin
- Mouth taping at night for proper 02-C02 production
- Nose taping for better breathing — great for those with deviated septum
Conclusion
If you’ve read this far, you are clearly interested in self-improvement, congrats to you! Try to implement these in over time, they don’t all have to be at once. Perhaps throw on some frequencies when you are working or reading, or take a cold shower when you’re hungover.
Remember, none of these will hurt you, they might make you uncomfortable at first, as breaking away from current routines/habits is always a challenge, but nothing good is ever easy.
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