Biohacking Social #25 – Biohackers Chiang Mai

During the Biohackers Chiang Mai Biohacking Social, we touched on a LOT of different biohacking topics during our meetup, from dealing with pain to biohacking for productivity, and MANY topics in between.

Wait a sec! What is biohacking and a biohacking social?

Good question. It’s something I covered in an article after our first biohacking social meetup – so you can click to learn more.

Biohacking Topics

You’ll learn more about biohacking for productivity soon enough. But first, here are some of the things we discussed:

[+] How can you biohack your productivity?

[+] Why use red light at night – and what should you buy?

[+] What should you know about baking soda?

[+] What is EZ water?

[+] How can you biohack your pain?

[+] What are EMF warriors?

How can you biohack your productivity?

A new member to our group mentioned that his interest in biohacking lies in boosting his productivity.

He also mentioned his focus on and experience with keto, sleep, meditation, and exercise.

How do these things boost your productivity? I’ll try to quickly sum it up…

Sleep is important. You already know this. And there are TOO MANY things you can do to improve / biohack your sleep. The simple recommendation that came up during our meetup is to make sure you get 8 hours of sleep every night. Beyond that, you can take all kinds of supplements, follow beneficial habits, and change your environment.

My most surprising sleep hack was to raise up the head of my bed so that I sleep on an incline. As soon as I did this, I slept better through the night – without having to wake up to use the bathroom.

Exercise is also important. There are many benefits to exercise. The recommendation made during our meetup was to do high intensity training (HIT).

However, it was mentioned that the sessions last 30-40 minutes which indicates to me that it might not be intense and that it’s taking longer than necessary – especially if productivity is your focus.

If I’m crunched for time, I’ll do a simple 2-minute tabata workout. That’s 20 seconds all-out intensity, 10 seconds rest, and repeat. I feel like my lungs are going to explode and my heart is going to beat right out of my chest when I go full speed.

Otherwise, I think the evidence is becoming clear that simply moving your body regularly is at least just as important. That’s why while working I set a timer on my binaural beats app (brain.fm) for 30 minutes. When the music stops, I move.

Meditation in our modern world. With all the stress of our modern world, we have to intentionally calm our minds – and meditation is an effective way of doing just that.

My new interest is in the practice of “noting” in which I note all of my thoughts – what I’m hearing, seeing, feeling, sensing, etc. I did this in a group where we went around speaking our dominant thought in the moment – for a FULL HOUR! I was surprised to find that I actually enjoyed it.

Keto is an oddball. Especially in this context…but, in theory, when you’re in ketosis you have a preferred energy source, ketones, fueling your brain so that you should be more productive.

My personal practice for this is intermittent fasting. In the morning, I focus on getting shit done and, if I have any form of food, it’s usually a Bulletproof Coffee.

Why use red light at night – and what should you buy?

I brought in a couple of “toys” for “show and tell”. One was an LED light for camping that had 4 settings – red and 3 white light intensities.

Getting back to the point about the many things you can do to hack your sleep, light is one of the most important.

Studies show that blue light interferes with our sleep by blocking production of melatonin – our sleep hormone.

Thus having a red light will allow you to do stuff at night – both without disrupted sleep, and without walking into a wall!

What should you know about baking soda?

Baking soda comes up in conversation every once in a while. I learned about the benefits of baking soda from Ben Greenfield when he mentioned that it helps for athletic performance.

It was mentioned that baking soda is also good for water by turning into something called EZ water…

What is EZ water?

Good question. Let me google it, haha…

EZ water is a special type of water that forms in your cells. It’s like a charged battery — it stores energy and can deliver that energy to cells that need it. EZ water makes your mitochondria stronger so you can produce more energy. [ref]

How can you biohack your pain?

Ooh, this is a tough one. I think it was hip pain that was mentioned and the remedy was working standing up.

You’ve heard that “sitting is the new smoking”. But if you’re standing in the same place you’re not doing your body any favors either.

Thus it’s good to move around… taking breaks, walking around and switching between standing and sitting.

Otherwise there are TOO MANY pain remedies. The better question to ask is: What’s causing the pain? Then fix that!

What are EMF warriors?

I’ve heard about them but really don’t know…. so here’s the link:

https://www.emfwarriors.com/

What about you?

What are your thoughts and experiences with productivity, red light, baking soda, EZ water and pain?

What are your biohacking tips, tricks and questions?

Leave a comment and share below.

And join our biohackers meetup in Chiang Mai!