In the age of AI, it only makes sense to apply the best technological and biological tools available for one’s personal well-being. Biohacking is a term that denotes ‘hacking’ your own body to create the best version of yourself. Combine it with data from your genes, blood work and the state of your muscles and bones, and the result is improved health, longevity and peak performance.
“Biohacking has everyone’s attention because it promises quick results,” says Zubin Atré, Delhi-based founder of the Atré Studio and yoga coach. “It encapsulates what needs to be done daily, but with more flexibility.” One can start with nutritional biohacking, which involves ketogenic (low-carb) diets and intermittent fasting, both of which kickstart weight loss and regulate sugar levels.
The use of ‘smart drugs’ to boost performance is part of biohacking, and caffeine is one of them. “I take an espresso shot, before a seven-minute nap,” says Atré, “By the time the caffeine kicks in, your initial REM phase of sleep is done, and you wake up well rested.”
Caffeine is also known as a productivity booster. “If you don’t use it already, start with an eight-ounce serving of black coffee, green tea, or caffeinated foods like dark chocolate,” says
Dr Geetanjali Mittal Gupta, aesthetic physician, and founder of ISAAC Luxe, a Delhi clinic that offers science-based solutions for health and beauty. There’s even coffee with a biohacker twist, known as bulletproof coffee. It contains compounds like medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) oil, known as an energy booster,” she adds.
Gupta also recommends an elimination diet, where one gets rid of certain food like dairy or processed sugar two weeks, and then slowly re-introduce it to see how it affects your body. Supplementation also plays an important role here—“You can take marine collagen, omega-3 and probiotics,” says Atré.
Biohacking’s popularity can be gauged from the fact that some like US-based tech millionaire Bryan Johnson spend $2 million a year to reverse ageing. Johnson follows a regulated lifestyle with doctors, trainers, and a strict vegan diet. So far, the 45-year-old has managed to shave five years off his biological age, medically. Then there’s 53-year-old Miami-based Gary Brecka, a self-proclaimed ‘human biologist’, who once used medical records and personal data to predict when a person would die (when he worked in insurance).
For biohackers like Brecka, the best anti-ageing (or epigenetic) hacks boil down to the basics—oxygen, sunlight, and Vitamin D3. And adherents are flocking for ‘hacks’—Dubai held its first World Biohack Summit in May. As per a report by Straits Research, the global biohacking market size, valued at $16.96 billion in 2022, is projected to reach $80.57 billion by 2031.
To quantify health, there are non-invasive tools like the Oligoscan used at The Wellness Co., a Gurugram-based integrative health clinic. It deploys weight-loss therapies like Cryo EMS (cryotherapy to ‘freeze’ fat cells along with electro-stimulation to target muscles).
A handheld device, the Oligoscan takes a ‘snapshot’ of one’s tissues from the hand, and measures trace elements, heavy metals, and vitamins, giving an indication of any toxicity or metabolic overload in the body. To mitigate stress, fatigue, and boost health after recovery from an illness, experts at The Wellness Co. use IV Therapy, where vitamins and nutrients are injected straight into the veins for 100 per cent absorption (oral supplements absorb only 8 per cent). “We had an 80-year-old patient come in so weak after a bout of Covid that he needed a wheelchair,” says a spokesperson of the wellness centre. “After a few sessions of therapy, he felt well enough to walk.”
At the swish by-invite-only Discover Collection Club, which opened its doors in Lutyens’ Delhi last November at Ashoka Hotel, the highest-level of members such as actors Sara Ali Khan, Salman Khan and Tiger Shroff pay up to Rs 1.02 crore. It involves cryotherapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (where you breathe pure oxygen in a special ‘capsule’ to speed up healing), aqua aerobics, a state-of-the-art gym, and red-light therapy (where you take in around 15 minutes of lights rays to fix Vitamin D deficiency).
“Normally, one doesn’t have the time to schedule lifestyle changes,” says Meraj Khan, founder of Gravity Global Group, who has partnered with Vishal Sankhe and Bernard Bohnenberger, CEO of Discover Collection, to bring the first club of its kind in Delhi. “That’s why we provide consultants to take charge. The ‘hacks’ have to be constant, rather than going in for a 14-day detox at a resort.” Wellness clinics and health clubs aside, great biohacks begin at home—breathing exercises like pranayama, a regular sleep cycle, ice baths, fasting, and micro-meditation.
All this can lead to great, if not perfect, health.
