In this article:
- What is “biohacking”?
- What hormones impact energy levels?
- Biohacking blood sugar for better energy
- Nootropics for energy
- Biohacking hydration to increase energy
- How to avoid fatigue and energy crashes
Biohacking might sound like just another inaccessible health fad, but you could actually be a biohacker yourself without even realizing it!
Takeaways:
- Biohacking is what happens when you use your knowledge of biology and science to “hack” your health.
- Some biohackers get pretty intense, but biohacking could be as simple as optimizing your sleep routine based on your knowledge of melatonin production.
- Things like journaling and lab testing can shed a lot of light on how you can improve your strategy.
Looking to boost your energy levels?
Take our quiz to build a bespoke testing plan that will help you improve energy and beat brain fog.
What is “biohacking”?
While the name sounds like something you’d see a celebrity promoting on Instagram, the concept of biohacking is actually accessible to anybody. First, you learn about how you could use science to improve your health, mind, or life in general, and then you decide how you can make those improvements through strategic changes in lifestyle. Does that still sound complicated? Here’s an example of what real-life biohacking could look like:
- Dave is a 38-year-old guy who used to cycle regularly, but now he never seems to have the energy. His sleep schedule is decent, but he drinks a lot of coffee in the mornings and his diet is heavy in carbs and sugar, resulting in frequent afternoon energy crashes. After doing some research, he reduces his coffee intake to half the recommended maximum and starts eating more balanced meals. He soon stops crashing every afternoon, and eventually, he discovers that he has plenty of energy for cycling his old route several times per week.
That isn’t so complicated, is it? The trick is to match your knowledge of biology in general with what you know about your own body. People can get pretty advanced in their biohacking efforts, but you really only have to go as far as you want to.
What hormones impact energy levels?
What hormones don’t impact energy levels?
- Melatonin, or the sleep hormone, is on this list not because it gives you energy, but because it brings about sleep - which is necessary for good energy levels. If your body doesn’t produce the right amount of melatonin at the right time, it’ll disrupt your sleep, and therefore your energy.
- Cortisol, or the stress hormone, is actually closely linked to melatonin - think of them as the yin and yang of your body’s sleep-wake cycle. Melatonin helps you sleep, and cortisol helps you wake up…or that’s how it’s supposed to work, anyway. High cortisol is a very common problem these days, and if it gets too high, it interferes with melatonin production. And just like that, you have terrible sleep and even worse energy.
- Estrogen, one of the primary sex hormones in women, is a very hard worker. Aside from helping maintain sexual health in both men and women, estrogen also helps the body utilize serotonin, which is crucial for sound sleep. Low estrogen leads to inefficient serotonin usage, which leads to poor sleep, which leads to low energy levels.
- Testosterone, the primary sex hormone for men, isn’t just about erection quality or growing a big ol’ beard; it also influences sleep patterns for men and women alike. Testosterone levels increase at night, especially during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. If you don’t have enough testosterone, you won’t get as much REM sleep, and…wait for it…your energy levels will suffer.
- Thyroid hormones, specifically T3 and T4, affect your energy primarily by influencing metabolism. This isn’t about the ability to eat ice cream every day for a month without gaining all kinds of weight, but your body’s ability to efficiently produce energy from your diet and lifestyle habits. Fewer thyroid hormones mean less energy production on a cellular level - and subsequently on every level.
Biohacking blood sugar for better energy
Your body is pretty good at digesting whatever you throw at it, but if your eating patterns stray too far from what it’s biologically suited for, it’ll start sending out warning signals - often in the form of fatigue or energy slumps.
One great example of this is how your body controls blood sugar levels. Under normal circumstances, you’d eat something, your levels of glucose (sugar) in the blood would gradually increase, and your pancreas would release insulin to help transport the glucose from your blood to your cells. Now let’s consider what happens when you eat a meal that’s high in carbohydrates or sugar. It results in a sharp increase in blood sugar levels, and your pancreas reacts by flooding your system with insulin. This whisks all that glucose out of the bloodstream, but there’s just one problem - it worked too well, now your blood sugar level is way too low, and you’re crashing at three in the afternoon. You’ve essentially created a false state of “cellular semistarvation”, and your system just can’t handle it.
Fortunately, the solution is pretty simple - just chill out on the carbs and sugar. You could get technical with the macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, fat, etc.), but you could get similar results with basic steps like swapping some of the carbs with lean meats, eating complex carbs instead of their refined counterparts, and reducing sugar intake overall.
Nootropics for energy
Here’s another one of those words that’s way more ordinary than it sounds. While “nootropic” might seem exotic, “coffee” or “ADHD medication” probably sounds a lot less so. And guess what? Both of those things are nootropics. Other examples include:
- L-theanine, an amino acid that increases alpha waves in the brain
- Creatine, which (when bound with phosphate) gives a quick energy boost to brain cells
- Nicotine, which is linked to improved attention span and better motor function (but can be damaging in the long-term)
- Ginkgo biloba, which has been shown by some studies (but not all) to decrease stress and improve mental processing
- Panax ginseng, which has demonstrated some promising effects with regards to mental acuity and overall brain function, according to a few studies (more are needed to be conclusive)
Maybe it’ll make more sense when you consider nootropics’ nickname, “smart drugs”. Not all of them are drugs, but you get the picture - you take a pill and become smarter. While some of them do legitimately affect brain function for the better, a lot of supposed nootropics probably work thanks to the placebo effect more than anything else.
Biohacking hydration to increase energy
Did you know that your brain is 73% water? No wonder you get all foggy when you’re dehydrated - your brain is literally shrinking! Then there’s the fact that over half of an adult’s body weight is from water - 60% for men, 55% for women. When you get dehydrated, symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, and even dizziness can set in pretty quickly.
Most of this has to do with decreased blood volume. Since your body has less blood in it, it’s harder for your heart to pump it to your brain, arms, legs, or basically anywhere in your body that isn’t your chest. And guess what happens then? Blood is the vehicle by which oxygen and various nutrients are delivered to every cell in your body, so when you don’t have enough blood volume due to dehydration, your entire body gets less oxygen and a slower supply of nutrients.
The good news is, dehydration has the simplest solution ever. First, go drink some water if you need to. Second, start tracking your water consumption if that’s what it takes - simply measure out your recommended daily intake in the morning, and make sure you drink all of it gradually, finishing it by the end of the day. You can even start enjoying water-rich foods, like watermelon (duh), grapefruit, oranges, coconut water, and cucumber, to name a few.
How to avoid fatigue and energy crashes
If you’ve been having a hard time maintaining steady energy levels, approaching the problem through biohacking could actually be a pretty efficient strategy. For instance, you could start keeping a journal in which you record what you eat and drink, as well as your energy levels throughout the day. If your diet is causing fatigue, the journal will help you make that connection - which in turn will give you a better understanding of how to optimize your energy.
Another tactic would be to use lab testing to identify key biomarkers that might be off-kilter. Whether you discover a hormone imbalance, a nutrient deficiency, or an overactive insulin response, this type of data can point you in the right direction in order to balance out your energy. Plus, future testing will allow you to monitor your progress as you get closer and closer to the results you’re after.
When Plato wrote “know thyself” he probably didn’t have biohackers in mind, but the concept still applies! Once you’ve started to figure out not only what your body needs, but also how to hack it to reach its fullest potential, you’ll have earned the title of “biohacker” - as well as the benefits that come along with it!
Related articles:
Looking to boost your energy levels?
Take our quiz to build a bespoke testing plan that will help you improve energy and beat brain fog.
