THE RACE TO BECOME SUPERHUMAN
Biohacking is picking up in India, with followers trying everything from cryotherapy to IV therapy. As more centres open up, taknidng the trend to the masses, should we practise some caution?
ag Chima calls himself a leader, not a follower; this comes with its own gruelling routine. The rst thing the 45-year-old entrepreneur does each day, even before brushing his teeth, is take a two-minute ice-cold shower that helps “set the trajectory for my mood, my energy, my vibe”. This is followed by praying and meditation, after which he hits the gym. His nutritional intake is equally conscientious: he follows a strict keto diet, and fasts for 23 hours twice a week — a phenomenon called OMAD (one meal a day), which serves as “an internal cleanse and helps regenerate new cells in the body”.
In addition, Chima, who alternates between London and Delhi, unfailingly does red-light therapy every night, courtesy a portable device he carries with him; cryotherapy three times a week; hyperbaric oxygen therapy at least twice a week; and IV therapy twice a month. He takes a cumulative 13 supplements on a daily basis, ranging from KSM-66
ashwagandha (to reduce stress) to methylene blue (to boost immunity). And he grounds himself whenever possible, i.e., walks barefoot on the ground, grass or the beach, depending on where in the world he is. Like J.R.R. Tolkien, Chima too believes in ‘one ring to rule them all’ — in his case, an Oura ring that is always on his index nger, which apprises him of heart rate variability, oxygen and stress levels, and most importantly, his sleep quality. Welcome to the world of biohacking.
Silicon Valley origins
For the uninitiated, biohacking involves the use of science, biology, and DIY experiments — everything from measuring sleep patterns to injecting a younger person’s blood into your veins — to ‘hack’ or upgrade your body. The term was coined by Dave Asprey, an entrepreneur and author, back in 2011, who kicked things o with the introduction of bulletproof coee: a combination of coee, MCT oil, and grass-fed butter, a biohack to help start your day with a caeinated but energy-rich drink. For
Asprey, biohacking meant “changing the environment outside of you and inside of you so you have full control of your biology”.
Over the years, it was picked up by Silicon Valley executives and tech-bros, who were only too ready to push their body to new limits. As one Vanity Fair article put it, “You’ve got the Dorseys [Twitter co-founder] of the world bragging about how little they eat each day, the Zuckerbergs boasting of killing their own food [he only ate meat of animals he killed himself], and an army of nerds now wearing every tracking device imaginable”. Taken to its extreme, this can become a pursuit to stop ageing altogether.
The most well-known face of this community is Los Angeles-based multi-millionaire Bryan Johnson, whose obsession with not dying has become the stu of lore. If Chima’s routine seems extreme, Johnson’s is almost unbelievable, and involves, among other things, a team of 30 scientists who measure him every day, 111 nutritional supplements, a penile device that measures night-time erections, and blood transfusions from his 17-year-old son — adding up to a cumulative expenditure of $2 million annually. The tech entrepreneur claims to have reversed his age by 5.1 years and is now sharing his secrets through his wellness company Blueprint. On April 4, he launched Blueprint Stack, which includes a drink mix, protein, eight pills, snake oil, and more for $343 a month.
An IV as a lifestyle choice
In the last few years, particularly post the pandemic, biohacking has found purchase with consumers across the world.
There is a lot of
research being done now on how to support the body’s bioregulatory systems and do away with issues such as neurodegenerative disorders. This is where the interest in biohacking comes in. The problem arises when this becomes a business. Doctors are wary because the idea is oversold, and the promises being made are not in keeping with what is happening at a clinical level
MANJARI CHANDRA
Functional nutritionist