There are no shortcuts to fitness – you need to respect the body’s natural clock; bio-hack fads will not work and are unhealthy

Nowadays, you can lose 10kg in four weeks while eating what you want and taking some special pills, get the beach body of your dreams by standing on a vibrating plate several times for a few minutes, become a fast runner by running hard just 6x30 seconds twice a week, supercharge your brain power by taking supplements from the Amazon, and so on. What a great world we’re living in. Welcome to the wonderland of bio-hacking.

Bio-hackers aim at being healthier than the norm, having more energy, living longer, they want to “be the best version of themselves”. They tend to explore non-conventional methods either by leveraging on the latest discoveries from science and/or by rediscovering treatments that were half-forgotten or neglected for centuries.

For example, to improve his sleep quality, a bio-hacker might use a mix of breathing and meditation techniques known for millennia with taking herbal remedy Ashwaganda and wear orange glasses two hours before sleeping, using a sleep monitor electronic device for the analysis of his night the morning after.

Trying to improve one’s body and mind is not a new trend, but with the internet and its unlimited circulation of information, it has become a mass phenomenon. Besides, with the rise of chronic diseases, a lot of people are looking for new solutions. In fact, we’re all bio-hackers, to some extent. After all, taking a cup of coffee in the morning to be more alert also qualifies as a body hack.

Like everything, there is some good and some ugly in body hacking. The trend has created booming new markets. Expensive supplements, infra-red saunas, BioHack studios selling “Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields as the ideal way to perform Cellular Exercise”, the list goes on and on. If you have the willingness to try and the money to spend, go ahead. However, to me, some of these methods can in fact be dangerous, and, at a minimum, deceiving.