What would you give up in the name of health? For these biohackers, the list is long

How far each of us would go to feel as good as we possibly can, and be the healthiest versions of ourselves, likely depends on a range of factors, from our experiences and family history to our personality, environment and socioeconomic status.

The pursuit involves lifestyle changes that may seem extreme to some and aspirational to others, but for those who follow that path, it can feel transcendent.

For Nick Thomas there was a time things like fasting, cutting out bread, alcohol and caffeine, seemed impossible – undesirable even.

Nick Thomas.Credit: Joe Armao

“If I can change, then anyone can,” says Thomas, who runs a marketing consultancy. “I’d love everyone to feel better like I do and have the energy I have because it didn’t use to be this way.”

Three years ago, his hair started falling out. Rapidly. He had no family history of male-pattern baldness, so when a dermatologist suggested it was a natural part of ageing and the only answer was medication, Thomas thought “bullshit”.

The Melbourne-based Brit went to see a functional medicine doctor, who suggested his body was under too much stress and that excess cortisol was stymying hair growth. Once he addressed his stress, inessential functions like hair growth would be restored, the doctor told him, advising that he start taking supplements and replace his six weekly sessions of F45 with yoga, breath work and meditation.

“Within two months my hair had all grown back,” recalls Thomas. “I was like, ‘woah’.”

Biohacking is the concept that we can enhance our biology to improve our healthspan, wellbeing, and performance. His partner was already on the “biohacking train”, so Thomas went deep on it too. He had known he should change, if he wanted to feel less tired, depleted and aged than he did, but now he had the motivation that he must.

Following a raft of tests, he began a bespoke supplementation regimen including NMN – “the longevity molecule”, l-carnitine, resveratrol, probiotics and “perfect” amino acids.

Next was an overhaul of his diet. He eliminated some of his favourite foods, including bread, his beloved cups of tea and eventually alcohol, reduced his dairy intake, began fasting between 7pm and midday, and changed up the household cleaning and skincare products he used.

Biohacking is the concept that we can enhance our biology to improve our health span, wellbeing and performance.Credit: Marija Ercegovac

Thomas bought an Oura ring to track his sleep and a CAROL bike, which uses AI technology to deliver personalised, high-intensity workouts.

“‘Success breeds momentum’,” he says, quoting Tony Robbins. “I’d do something, I’d feel better, I’d do more. What I did three years ago to two years ago to now just keeps building.”

That means infrared saunas (followed by a cold shower), which some research suggests may reduce stress, increase blood flow and improve heart rate variability; red light machines, which some experts believe stimulates collagen and improves the appearance of the skin; electromagnetic fields (EMF) blockers, which lack solid evidence and may even be risky; specialised lighting to remove blue light at night, which experts advise can support our circadian rhythm; grounding mats, which, some claim, simulate ‘earthing’ and can can improve your mood, sleep, and relieve pain or inflammation but lack evidence; water filters, which can be pricey and can vary widely in effectiveness, but can reduce contaminants provided you flush them out and change them regularly; and air filters, which may improve air quality.

It’s an expensive pursuit – the Thomas’ monthly household organic grocery bill alone is $3000, not including supplements – and he stresses that he appreciates the privilege in affording it.

There were so many changes, it was hard to tease out what was working or not.

Sauna and a CAROL bike are part of Thomas’ routine, pictured here with his children.Credit: Joe Amao

Does the grounding mat on their bed make a difference? He’s not sure. Likewise with nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), the “anti-ageing” supplement taken by Harvard biologist and longevity researcher David Sinclair, which shows promises in animal models, but does not have long-term evidence in humans, and may cause liver toxicity in high doses.

“Do I feel better for it? I don’t know,” Thomas says. “But, when someone like David Sinclair takes it, I’m in on that.”

Biofeedback from his gadgets about the quality of his sleep and biological age tests that suggest his immune health and level of inflammation is equivalent to a 35-year-old are confirmation that he is on the right track: “I used to think I felt alright, but you don’t know how good you feel until you feel better.”

He says he looks better, has more energy, is a better partner and a calmer and more consistent parent now too.

Aside from missing the odd glass of red wine, which he hasn’t sworn off for life, it doesn’t feel like it’s a restriction, he insists: “My life has become about optimising stuff rather than compromising.”

Exercise physiologist Veronika Larisova believes the line between better wellbeing and going too far depends on the intention behind the behaviour, and whether it causes anxiety.

For instance, the 43-year-old doesn’t drink alcohol generally, but once in a while she’ll have a glass of red wine at dinner with friends. If she felt guilty about it, then she would be worried.

The intention of biohacking, she says, is to feel fit, healthy and able to enjoy the rest of her life, no matter how long that is: “I don’t really care if I die when I’m 50 or 100.”

Veronika Larisova

It may not have been a long or healthy life, had she continued along the trajectory of her 20s: partying and drinking, taking drugs and rarely sleeping.

By 30, living in the Gold Coast and still going out a lot, she was no longer having fun. A burgeoning boredom with the way she was living led her down the biohacking rabbit hole.

Stopping drinking was easy enough in itself, but it was hard being around friends who weren’t interested in changing their habits or lives, and who gave her flak for trying to change hers.

A move to Bondi where she found work as a personal trainer and met new friends, with whom she went trail running and picnicked instead of partied, helped. She began experimenting with what she could do to feel better, improve her osteopenia (low bone mineral density), reverse the potential damage caused by years of excess and to prevent constant injuries.

Like Thomas, she has an Oura ring (she uses it to stop herself from over-training), EMF blockers, blue light glasses, a water filter and eats a diet of organic food (her weekly grocery bill is about $200, not including supplements).

She has increased the amount of fat, fermented foods and overall diversity of foods she consumes to maintain lean muscle, gut health and hormones as she ages, and fasts for five days every six months to promote autophagy – the body’s cellular recycling system (prolonged fasting can have an adverse effect), improve mitochondrial function, give her digestive system and brain a break.

She takes collagen daily, along with a thyroid support supplement and NMN, and meditates. And along with cardio and mobility training, she lifts heavy weights to offset age-related muscle loss, visits saunas and ice baths at least twice a week, and uses “all-natural” skincare and household products.

A day in the life of a biohacker

Though she trains every day, Larisova alternates between heavy weights at the gym, HIIT and body weight in an outdoors group session, trail runs, long slow runs, hill sprints, stair sprints, tempo runs, swimming, and yoga. Her workout depends on work and what she is training for. Her first meal also depends on work and training and is either yoghurt or kefir with berries and a collagen bar crumbled in at about 9.30am or a big veggie bowl with eggs or meat and avocado at about 11am.

“My most consistent training is on the weekends,” says Larisova, who wakes between 4.30am and 5am each morning and starts the day with a cold shower followed by a tea or coffee. 

For Thomas, most days start around 6am and, if he is not in charge of looking after their children (he and his partner alternate mornings), he drinks a litre of water, has his supplements and does a 45-minute at-home session including strength training and eight minutes of HIIT on his Carol bike. He takes the dog for a walk, does an infrared sauna followed by a cold shower and has a decaf coffee with ghee. His first meal of the day, around midday or 1pm, is a smoothie with avocado, blueberries, pre- and post-biotics, and collagen followed by a wholefoods meal, like soup and a chicken salad.

“My 40s is my favourite decade so far,” says Larisova, the co-owner of Chief Nutrition. “I feel physically better than ever ... I always feel energetic, probably because I sleep more and don’t drink. I would love to maintain this as much as possible via training and biohacking. The only two things that suck about ageing are grey hair and wrinkles.”

But then, there is Botox and hair dye for that, she points out.

Biohacking, she believes, can augment the basics, but if we’re not looking after those, it is an expensive exercise in minutiae.

“I think everyone should start with simple things and then [go deeper] if they want to enhance it,” Larisova says.

“You have to put it in perspective and realise those biohacking tools make a marginal difference.”

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