Biohacking has become a buzzword in recent years. From American billionaire Bryan Johnson trying a plasma exchange with his son and father as part of his ‘Don’t Die’ mission, to wellness treatments like oxygen chambers, cryotherapy It is infrared saunas promising to hack our health. For some, staying well has become more than just eating your five a day.
But what is biohacking? Is it as extreme as it seems? Tim Gray – known as the UK’s leading biohacker and founder of the annual group Health Optimization Summit – speaks to Yahoo UK.
Gray, who is 44 but says he has a “biological age” of 21, shares everything from his daily routine and what the best free biohacks are to how he funds his lifestyle and what he thinks the future of biohacking holds. reservation.
What is biohacking?
According to Gray, “it’s using conventional and unconventional ways to optimize your health and performance, then some marginal things [which might include tech] and some ancient things [like being in nature]and that’s where the two meet.”
While we would all love to extend our lives, is Gray’s ultimate goal as extreme as Johnson’s? Does he want to live forever?
He says: “My ego doesn’t need to live to be 180 and we would be invaded by people. We need extreme people to help push the boundaries, but I don’t think it’s that realistic.
“I just want to help as many people as possible and live healthily and vibrantly for as long as possible,” he adds. “
“Everyone should be able to live healthy and happy lives without relying on too many medications.
“I want to live optimally… and then fall off a cliff at some point [he laughs].”
So it’s more about health extension, than life break for him.
Getting into biohacking
Gray, with experience in e-commerce and digital marketing, began falling ill around 2014 with kidney infections and UTIs.
“If you have a UTI, doctors will traditionally give you antibiotics to kill the harmful bacteria. But why do you get them? I thought: why don’t they ask these things?
“I realized these antibiotics destroyed my gut, I wasn’t digesting food, I was getting all kinds of extra infections and needing more medication. The situation got out of control until one day the doctor just shrugged and said, ‘I can’t find anything wrong’. And I was like, there clearly It is.”
So Gray started doing his own research.
“So I started researching all the different symptoms and mapping them out on sticky notes on the wall. I figured out what caused what, and I figured out most of it. My gut bacteria were actually deficient in some of the most important ones, which were causing me had lower immunity and didn’t also deal with harmful bacteria, which resulted in urinary tract infections,” says Gray, about his interpretation.
“I fixed it by optimizing my bowel, even though the urologist said that was impossible.
“So I continued because I realized I had been operating at 60% for the last 10 years and I wanted to operate as close to 100% as possible. Since then, it’s become a lifestyle thing.”
Gray started sharing her health efforts on Instagram — from her blue pee after taking methylene blue to wearing her blue light-blocking glasses with tape over her mouth — to make people laugh. But he then started talking about the science behind it, and it all grew naturally from there.
Gray’s daily biohacking routine
“My preparation for the day starts before I go to bed,” he explains.
“I start by wearing blue light blocking glasses three hours before bed every night. This significantly helps my deeper REM sleep because blue light stops us from secreting melatonin, our sleep hormone.
“I don’t eat much after sundown because we have certain genes that downregulate when the sun goes down, which means we don’t process carbs and sugar at the same rate.”
When he wakes up, he says he keeps things simple with these rules:
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No Instagram or social media for at least 30 minutes
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Open curtains for natural light and activate your circadian rhythm
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Hydrate yourself with reverse osmosis, demineralized water and not tap water (he uses glass bottled water throughout the day, but “don’t go crazy” if you have to use a plastic bottle)
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Take a bath with fully filtered tap water
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Always eat a breakfast, usually high in protein (and post-workout carbs) – he advocates the health benefits of eating meat, although others may disagree
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Wait an hour and a half before breakfast to let cortisol rise naturally and avoid the afternoon slump
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Read at least 30 minutes, meditate and journal two or three pages a day – “It’s almost like talk therapy every day”
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One exercise per day, which could be tennis, gym or self-defense class (weekend rest) – “If you don’t choose a time to relax, your body will choose it for you”
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Keep track of everything with an ultra-human ring, while using an aura ring to compare
Gray normally drinks alcohol about five or six times a year, but currently follows a zero-drink policy. “I think a lot of biohackers say, ‘I’ll never eat processed foods. I’ll never eat a croissant, I’ll never drink,’ and I’m like, ‘You’re boring. What’s the point here?’” he says.
“I love the saying, ‘A guy goes to the doctor and says, ‘Doctor, doctor, I want to live forever.’ And the conversation says, ‘Okay. You drink?’ ‘No.’ ‘You smoke?’ ‘No.’ ‘Do you have unprotected sex?’ ‘No’. ‘Have you ever eaten any junk food?’ ‘No. ‘Do you go skydiving?’ ‘No.’ ‘Then why do you want to live forever?'”
What matters is what you do most of the time. “Being really stressed about all these things is actually a bigger killer than the things themselves.”
Deciding which company to keep
“Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future. It’s a phrase I love. If you hang around five smokers, you’ll be the sixth. If you hang around six miserable motherfuckers, you’ll be the seventh,” says Gray.
“But I don’t judge anyone who doesn’t live like me. But when they see how well it works for me and how happier and more energetic I am, they usually start asking me questions and implementing these things, like with my girlfriend of four months.
“My mom and stepdad are healthier than ever because they don’t eat shit, they don’t walk 10,000 steps, they sleep well, they turn off their wifi. I think health is contagious.”
So while the biohacker says his “circle is pretty tight,” he allows some people who aren’t so healthy “without them feeling guilty or waiting let them change.”
He also understands that “not everyone has the same gun to their head saying ‘if you don’t do this, you’re going to get sick’”.
How does it ensure your content is trustworthy?
Gray regularly posts health videos about things like ‘why you shouldn’t spray perfume on your skin‘.
“I have a qualified scientific researcher, writer, screenwriter, fact checker, all of that in-house to make sure that it’s not just my opinions. And if it is, I’m very open to saying that this is my opinion, because there’s still no science to support that,” he says.
“Sometimes people tell me that I am a fearmonger. But it’s like, no, your nervous system is just destroyed and you’re not calm, and things like this stress you out.
“I think it’s usually those who jump in and hate quickly who need to heed the advice the most. I try to say things with love and compassion whenever I can.”
The future of biohacking
Gray thinks the future of biohacking involves doing proper testing to know what you’re deficient in and just complementing this, while the pharmaceutical world will connect more with the world of natural health.
“I also think it won’t be known as biohacking for much longer, but rather as health optimization,” he adds.
Consult a healthcare professional or doctor before making any changes or decisions about your health and well-being.
Watch: Evgeny Lebedev meets biohacking expert and fitness coach Ben Greenfield
