Hacking is a familiar term for everyone nowadays. But the knowledge is confined, as hacking is considered in the limit of money, data, or digital privacy. But the major form of hacking is happening in the field of health, especially since the last decade. The activities grouped in the name of personal improvement somehow become the practice of manipulating one’s biology through science, technology, and self-experimentation.
Biohacking developed as a form of do-it-yourself approach in which people attempt to change aspects of their lifestyle to improve their health, performance, and well-being. This includes a wide range of strategies like dietary interventions, wearable biosensors, implantable technologies, genetic modification, and nootropic supplementation. The practices that started to enhance the physical and cognitive performance, longevity, and overall well-being converted into a method of manipulating one’s biology when the health-based companies realized its potential to collect immense money out of it.
The last decade witnessed a huge inclination towards health consciousness due to the increase in lifestyle diseases, unexpected health crises like Covid or Nipah, and huge amounts of health-related content on social media platforms. The number of people who wanted to extend their lifespan, slow down aging, and improve their body’s performance increased innumerably. The methods used for such lifestyle modifications came under biohacking initially in a positive way, later in a dangerously tactical way to acquire wealth by health-based companies.
Biohacking Strategies
Diets
Biohacking surged in popularity when people started to focus on diet, as it seemed to be a healthy solution for lifestyle diseases. It included personalized diets, ketogenic diets, calorie-based diets, and carnivore diets, along with various forms of fasting like intermittent fasting and time-restricted eating. Such experimental approaches not only enhanced metabolic health but also influenced cellular modification. The healthy diets will promote longevity and activate the cell to clean itself and generate energy.
In the process of ‘autophagy’, the body naturally goes into a cellular recycling process by breaks down and removes old, damaged or unnecessary components in a cell. This cell regenerating process can be triggered by cellular stress like starvation. So the accurate personalized diets can result in wonderful body transistion.
But an unhealthy or excess diet can result in insufficient calorie intake and a weakened immune system due to malnutrition. Following a diet without proper professional guidance (from a doctor or registered dietitian) can lead to significant negative mental and physical health outcomes. Disordered eating, slowed metabolism, increased stress or anxiety, fatigue, and gallstone formation are some of the increasing risks. An excessive focus on diets can lead to an obsession with weight loss that may also cause physical harm.
Wearable tech
Biohacking uses wearable smart devices to collect, track, and optimize real-time data of your body’s performance to make lifestyle adjustments. The devices, like smartwatches, fitness trackers, and smart rings, monitor body temperature, heart rate, sleep cycles, activity levels, blood oxygen levels, calories burned, and exercise performance. The user-friendly way and real-time feedback attract people towards these devices, and billions use them around the world.
But these specialized devices raise concerns when the accessibility of our personal health data is compromised.
The possibility of data misuse through its transmission to third-party apps or cloud services for targeted advertising, identity theft, insurance discrimination, or other forms of exploitation gives severe privacy concerns.
Security risks increase as they are easily prone to hacking due to poor encryption and insecure Bluetooth. The implantable medical devices like pacemakers and insulin pumps have biological risks along with privacy concerns. They can carry a risk of infection, rejection, and other adverse bodily reactions.
The psychological side of these risks is that the accessibility to data of even minor fluctuations can make people fixated on them and may lead them to follow unhealthy practices to control the body.
Nootropics, Nutrigenomics, and Supplements
The health concerns of the current population are not only limited to hitting the gym or having dietary changes. The intake of various supplements has become a habitual change in the lifestyle nowadays. These vary from nutritional add-ons to mood and sleep regulators that may actually cause severe side effects if the usage is not properly monitored.
Nootropics are a group of medicinal substances that boost brain function and protect and repair neurons. They are known as “smart drugs” because they improve human thinking, learning, and memory. Nootropics are used in biohacking in the forms of dietary supplements, synthetic compounds, and prescription drugs to induce sleep, regulate anxiety, and enhance energy. But these medicines are being distributed without any medical cross-checking, and such self-experimentation may lead to dangerous side effects.
Many unregulated supplements contain undisclosed ingredients, and overusage may cause dependency and addiction along with health issues like headaches, insomnia, high blood pressure, and irregular heart rate. People with mental health issues and pre-existing heart, liver, or kidney disease will face higher risks and withdrawal symptoms.
Nutrigenomics is a field of study that analyzes the effects of nutrients on the genes of a person. It understands how your genes respond to food and how different diets impact gene expression. By integrating genomic science with nutrition, nutrigenomics uses advanced tools to personalize nutrition for better health and disease prevention. But it has risks, as it is a method of taking control of their own biology through science and technology.
Many nutrigenomic biohacking experiments include genetic testing, blood work, and microbiome analysis. The collection of such biological data is raising significant privacy and ethical concerns, as genetic information is really intimate, and the misuse can lead to severe consequences. Inaccurate results, lack of scientific guidance, and the expensive nature of the process may also increase the complications.
Long-term safety and lifestyle modifications
The beginning of biohacking and its intention to modify lifestyle for the better were an incredible step in the field of science and technology. But the experiments on the body without regulatory approval or sufficient scientific explanation can result in dangerous outcomes. The long-term safety of body and mind should not be compromised by interfering with normal bodily functions. The biohacking practices became wild when health-based companies used the process in a dangerously tactical way. Various data-based companies associate with health-based companies, and the unethical way of production of supplements increased. The obsession towards biological correction shouldn’t be promoted, and the health practices like biohacking must work under supervision and medical research.
