Biohacking Your Biological Age

What is biohacking and how can it impact your biological age? Also, what is biological age?

All great questions. If you caught our last blog post, you know that ‘biohacking’ isn’t a supervillain’s evil master plan but the practice of adopting methods drawn from a variety of scientific fields to improve overall health, or achieve specific health outcomes such as pain management, enhancing physical or mental performance, or increasing longevity.

And that’s where biological age comes in.

You (hopefully!) already know that you can improve your overall health and quality of life with a better diet, exercise, sleep, and stress management.
But did you know they can also give you the power to slow down the aging process?
Did you even know you have the power to slow down your aging process? 

Biohacking supercharges those healthy habits with nutrient-dense diets and supplements, advanced medical diagnostics to monitor and address potential health issues early, and regenerative therapies to not just optimize health, but to also extend life. 

Biological vs Chronological Age

Chronological age is, well… we all know what chronological age is. It’s the number of candles on your cake every year (minus one, if you put one on for good luck).
Biological age, on the other hand, is a reflection of your health and aging process. 

As a society, we rely on chronological age to define parameters such as when you can drink; when you can drive; when you can vote; when you can get the senior’s discount at the drugstore.

What chronological age doesn’t account for are the variations in health, vitality, and functional abilities between different individuals of the same age. Two people with the same chronological age can have vastly different measures of physical and mental health.
In fact, your chronological age may not accurately represent your body's biological age at all–for better or worse. 

Biological age offers a more comprehensive understanding of an individual's aging process by assessing the condition of their body's systems. For example, a person with a chronological age of 60 may have a biological age of 50 if their body's systems are functioning optimally, or 70 if they are experiencing accelerated aging as a result of poor health habits or genetic predispositions.

Biohacking pioneer Dave Asprey turned 50 last year in chronological age, but according to biological age, he’s 2 decades younger at age 30.
He’s achieved this through deliberate, informed health and lifestyle choices in conjunction with proven biohacking techniques and cutting edge technology as part of his personal biohacking journey.

Online quizzes and calculators can help you estimate your biological age, but an accurate assessment requires a study of your epigenetic data—how your lifestyle and environment influence your genes—using DNA collected from your saliva, blood, or other tissue. 

‘Epigenetic clock’ tests are based on a process called DNA methylation, which changes very precisely with age. The proportion and pattern of these chemical tags (called methyl groups) in your genome are indicators of your biological age.

The Role of Biohacking in Longevity

Medical and technological advancements have allowed us to live longer lives, but we all know those extra years don’t always translate into happier, more productive, healthier lives. 

While diet and exercise are still the cornerstone of living a longer, healthier life (we’ll go into diet later), new therapies and devices – ‘biohacks’ – such as hyperbaric oxygen chambers, salt chambers, compression boots… are being increasingly adopted by functional medicine providers, medical spas, and private individuals to slow down the aging process and promote longevity. 

How are athletes like Lebron James, Lionel Messi, and Cristiano Ronaldo able to keep their bodies in such prime condition compared to others of their chronological age?
Okay, yes, sure…part of it is having all the money in the world…but there are a lot of rich people out there who can’t say the same. 

Their real secret is their holistic approach to every aspect of their lifestyle from diet to physical activity, to prioritizing their mental health and leveraging biohacking therapies and treatments to supercharge their physical and mental performance.

How Diet Impacts Longevity 

Fact: What you eat affects how long, and how well, you live.

Also fact: Adopting a healthy diet is one of the simplest, most accessible steps you can take to improve the quality of your life and slow down aging.

Restricting calories and intermittent fasting are two ways to improve metabolic health by activating cellular pathways associated with longevity and lower oxidative stress, essential factors for a longer lifespan.

What to Eat

In a nutshell, you want to keep an eye on calories, but not be fixated on them, and focus on foods that are rich in nutrients, with a greater proportion of plant-based carbohydrates and limited dairy, fish, meat, and processed/refined foods.

That said, there is no one-size-fits-all diet and you will want to do some research or speak to a nutritionist to make sure you’re making well-informed decisions for your body’s needs and particular health goals (such as improved physical performance or weight loss). 

Intermittent Fasting 

Strategically mimicking fasting, known as intermittent fasting, is a powerful biohacking strategy for enhancing longevity and boosting mental clarity, energy levels, and overall health.  

Avoiding Processed Foods

It’s ironic that processed foods are seen as time-saving, talk about your short-term economies!

Processed foods are usually high in unhealthy fats, added sugars, and sodium (all of which pose health risks) and much of their nutritional content has been eroded (or even eradicated) during processing, which can result in simultaneous weight gain and malnutrition, which in turn directly impact biological age and longevity. 

So…not really saving in the end, are they?

Cutting out processed foods from your diet is a fundamental rule of biohacking and essential for anyone committed to optimizing their health and extending longevity. 

Other Biohacks for Longevity 

There are way more biohacking strategies to promote longer life that we can list in this blog post. 

You can learn more about (and even test) longevity-promoting practices, technologies, and advanced health resources from biohacking experts and functional medicine providers, in person, year-round at the WE Showplace…but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Sleep Optimization

Don’t deprive yourself! Sleep is more than just a period of rest. It’s a critical process that impacts nearly every aspect of your physical and mental well-being. 

Adequate sleep supports metabolic health, reduces inflammation, and promotes cellular repair, all of which are crucial for extending the health span. 

Cold Therapy

What ancient cultural practice does Scandinavia, China, and Japan have in common? No, we’re not talking about eating raw fish (good guess though!)
The answer is cold therapy. 

All three cultures incorporate cold plunges into their health routines. Did they know something we didn’t, over here on this side of the world? Definitely.
The good news is, we caught up. At least, the biohacking community did.

Cold therapy (also known as cryotherapy) has become a pivotal practice in biohacking for its myriad of health benefits and potential to enhance longevity.
An effective anti-inflammatory treatment, cold exposure constricts blood vessels and reduces blood flow to inflamed areas, helps destroy damaged tissue, and accelerates recovery in painful chronic inflammatory conditions such as arthritis. 

Cryotherapy further promotes longevity by activating your innate repair system, boosting energy, generating collagen production, and releasing endorphins.

Breathwork

There’s breathing, and there’s breathing.
Breathwork is the practice of consciously controlling your breathing patterns to reduce stress and induce a state of relaxation. 

Focusing on deep, slow breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system, counteracting the fight-or-flight response associated with stress, and has a  profound impact on physical, mental, and emotional well-being which, in turn, promote longevity and quality of life.

Generational Health: Taking It One Step Further

Don’t just stop at longevity–your health and lifestyle decisions have a direct impact on your children, and their children, and their children’s children. And not in the way you may think.

Generational health refers to the influence of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors passed down from generation to generation. By understanding these influences and applying them to proactive health measures, including stress-reduction techniques like mindfulness, meditation, and yoga, and maintaining a clean, toxin-free living environment, families can work together to enhance their collective well-being. 

Where to begin? Great question. The answer: It depends. 

Helping wellness seekers achieve generational health is a huge part of our mandate. Want a more in-depth discussion? Keep reading for details on how to reach out.

Who Are WE?

Wellness Eternal was created by co-founders Lindsay O'Neill and Yeli Aguirre with a mission to educate wellness seekers on the power of biohacking and guide them to optimum and generational health. 

WE established our one-of-a-kind ‘always on’ Showplace in beautiful Valhalla, New York according to our core values of community, experiential education, and connection. Visitors to the Showplace have the opportunity to speak with biohacking experts and functional medicine providers in person and learn about (and test!) cutting-edge biohacking innovations, bioenergetics, and other advanced health technologies. 

Want to know more about biohacking, optimizing your health, and increasing your lifespan? Follow Wellness Eternal on Instagram for daily inspiration and updates.

Ready for a life-changing experience? Visit our website to book your appointment, or feel free to visit us at the Showplace anytime.

WE can’t wait to help you thrive!