Why Biohacking is the Next Big Thing
Move over Artificial Intelligence. Hello, Biohacker.
Why Biohacking is the Next Big Thing
Artificial Intelligence seems so yesterday.
Just kidding – nowadays, it seems as though everyone is talking about AI.
Let’s face it, AI has reached the masses. Much like cryptocurrency did during COVID, AI has taken the world by storm. The graphic below shows the number of times AI has been mentioned in public company earnings calls since 2021. And, as you can see, the pace at which the word AI is used exploded in 2023.
Now, while I am long AI and the various positive use cases it provides – I previously wrote about how AI may shape the future of work, advertising, and consumer behavior – I am increasingly hearing more and more people talk about the latest and greatest buzzword: biohacking. Sounds cool, doesn’t it? Though public companies will probably not mention the word ‘biohacking’ in earnings calls as much as they do ‘AI,’ I am interested to see where this latest trend goes.
In this post, I will cover the basics of biohacking, the pros and the cons it offers, and where I believe biohacking is headed. With that, let’s jump in.
What is Biohacking?
Originating in 2010, biohacking began when Dave Asprey put butter into coffee, calling it Bulletproof coffee. Since then, the term ‘biohacking’ has evolved. People who swear by it are seen “dousing themselves with infrared light, lying for eight minutes on a mat that ‘has electromagnetic currents,’ and taking supplement pills such as glutathione and vitamin C, and liquid herbs such as ashwagandha.” Whoa. My general rule of thumb: if you don’t know what more than half of the ingredients on a label of a food product, you might want to pass (or educate yourself better).
In this case, I chose to get educated. Before diving too deep down the biohacking rabbit hole, let’s take a step back and understand what the word means. Biohacking is known as any of the following: human enhancement, self-improvement, human augmentation, biological manipulation – all in service of improving physical and cognitive functions. Put simply, it means striving towards optimization.
These days, we are so consumed with optimization. We are constantly bombarded by how we should optimize our time, money, habits – the list goes on. If you follow popular biohacking experts, you might have heard of folks like Tim Ferriss, Ben Greenfield, and of course, Andrew Huberman, talking about how to optimize your life.
But there’s only 24 hours in a day. Common sense, practicality, and cost get in the way of jumping into a hyperbaric chamber, performing transcranial direct-current stimulation, or hanging upside down to ‘hack your brain’ in our free time. Despite the barriers to performing many of the ideas that come from biohacking, when we boil the concept down to its core, we find that the constant need to do more with less can cause more harm, than good. If we are constantly fearful of what we could otherwise be doing with our time, then how can we live in the present?
Advantages of Biohacking
One central premise of biohacking is the idea that individuals can, and should, find ways, or hacks, to regulate and normalize their cortisol levels. What is cortisol, you might ask: a hormone involved in stress response, metabolism, inflammation regulation, blood pressure control, and immune function. Cortisol levels are important because they vary naturally throughout the day, so gaining better control of them will, according to followers, avoid health issues linked to chronic stress and maintain overall well-being.
Methods to biohack one’s cortisol include:
Getting sunlight within 30 minutes of waking up to help regulate circadian rhythms and improve energy and sleep;
Avoiding blue light at night to avoid problems with deep sleep;
Eating carbs to blunt elevated cortisol levels;
Plunging into cold water to improve mood, energy, and focus;
Sweating in the sauna for cardiovascular benefits;
Delaying caffeine intake a few hours after waking to avoid energy slumping;
Performing physiological sighs, a breathing pattern to reduce stress; and
Practicing non-sleep deep rest to restore energy and attention.
The above scratches the surface of the many different lifestyle and dietary changes one might pursue to achieve physiological benefits over time. In addition to habits, biohacking extends further to wearable technology (having a smartwatch send reminders to take more steps, move, and drink water can be considered a hack), implant technology (microchips, gene editing, and, get this, bionic eyes, could become mainstream one day), and genetic engineering (CRISPR is the most well-known).
The theme remains the same all throughout – individuals should do x, y, and z, to achieve happiness. This sounds like a recipe for disaster, and one I’d like to avoid if at all possible.
So, What’s the Catch?
Much of what biohacking covers is, in my opinion, fairly obvious: get good sleep, eat well, and exercise. Makes sense. No harm in following those principles. However, the second- and third-order biohacking methods – of eating certain supplements, plunging into chambers, and implanting ourselves with new technologies – that get spun up can be more dangerous, costly, and lacking sufficient data to prove the benefits.
Let’s start with a simple biohack example: drinking coffee after 90 to 120 minutes of waking up because cortisol levels are not optimized for caffeine intake upon waking up. One problem with this biohack is that the research substantiating this claim has been uncontrolled, meaning that the subjects drink coffee freely. A second flaw in this example is that there is a cost of waiting to drink said coffee to those of us that want to drink it within an hour of waking up. I view prioritizing unsubstantiated nuances in timing of performing certain actions may result in missing the point entirely.
Another example of a more complex biohack is taking drugs to fight obesity. Ozempic, the drug approved to treat Type 2 diabetes, and Wegovy, the drug approved for weight loss, are two of the largest names in the weight loss industry today that are making headlines. The craze surrounding weight loss drugs, which is now projected by Morgan Stanley to be valued at $54 billion by 2030, has caused healthcare companies, entrepreneurs, and pharmaceutical companies to take notice.
Even if the studies around all the biohacks out there prove for them to be true, I believe that what ends up happening is that we become so focused on optimizing every little thing, and perhaps miss the boat entirely. What’s more, with each hack, comes a cost. Do we really need that $5,000 cold plunge? How about that $50,000 cryotherapy chamber? What impact will taking this pill have on my health?
The biohacking craze appears, for now, to be a strong marketing tactic for the next wave of healthy living. The pros likely outweigh the cons because as more studies, research, and funding flow go towards understanding the space more, winners will emerge.
The Future of Biohacking
Biohacking offers exciting upside and technologies that may lead to disruptive business ideas. As the practice of biohacking continues to explode and gain more attention, businesses will need to adapt, and entrepreneurs have already begun to flock to it. And, where the attention goes, the money will follow.
Just as AI and ChatGPT became a buzzword, I believe biohacking will be a part of the next wave of ideas that venture capitalists will focus on. Some companies already have a head start: Thync (wearable technology to improve brain function via electricity), Soylent (from their page: “we hacked food so you don’t have to think about it. Soylent has created the most nutritionally complete, most convenient, and most sustainable, food on the planet.”, and Pavlok (electronic wristband to create and maintain habits).
What will be truly exciting is seeing a future where AI and biohacking fuse together. Since much of the current studies that support biohacks are unsubstantiated, uncontrolled, or unknown, AI can help generate better, faster, and more accurate results from parsing through an immense amount of data collected over time.
Conclusion
In the ever-evolving landscape of tech innovation, AI has held the spotlight, but a new contender is emerging on the scene – Biohacking. While the realm of AI continues to shape industries and redefine possibilities, the buzz around biohacking is gaining momentum. As AI proliferates into various sectors, so too might biohacking find its way into the fabric of our lives.
While biohacking offers enticing advantages, such as cortisol regulation and physiological optimization, it raises cautionary flags regarding unverified methods, costly interventions, and an obsessive pursuit of perfection. The convergence of AI and biohacking holds potential to propel this field into new realms of innovation, offering a promising avenue for entrepreneurs to explore.
Going forward, it will be crucial to balance the allure of biohacking's potential with responsible practices and choices, ultimately shaping a future that maximizes our well-being and human potential.