Better, Stronger, Faster

Biohacking, A New Breed Of Self-Improvement, Aims To Supercharge Human Performance

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We've all heard of computer hackers, wreaking havoc on networks, as well as life hacks, tips meant to make our daily lives easier.

But have you ever heard of hacking the human body?

That's the focus of biohackers, a new wave of largely amateur and often risk-taking hobbyists seeking to achieve the next big biological leap in the evolution of the human species. They typically hold little interest in healing disease but are intensely interested in creating smarter, faster and stronger people by making tweaks to the human body - ranging from simple exercise, meditation, yoga and diet programs to risky self-experimentation, implants, high-priced gadgetry, gene-altering, and unproven nutritional supplements and therapies.

Their research is done not in university or corporate labs but often in garages, basements and improvised shared workshops by mostly non-degreed, unqualified, do-it-yourself "scientists" more likely to be found in jeans and T-shirts than white lab coats. Their methods are unregulated and tend to favor a freewheeling trial-and- error approach.

The Biohackers Collective - a nonprofit with 26 chapters globally - defines biohacking as "the art and science of taking control of your own biology and manipulating the environment outside and inside yourself so you can program it to perform at any level you want and supercharge results," according to its website. The ultimate goal? Superhuman performance.

Collective founder James Caldwell calls biohacking "the wave of the future," which "will radically transform self-care and hopefully evolve the current health care model. We are encouraging people to take control of their own biology and use guinea pig self-experimentation strategy, rather than waiting for clinical trials that could take years when something has already proven efficacious."

For example, in 2015, biohacker Gabriel Licina, working with the now-defunct Science for the Masses research group, risked his vision by having the molecule chlorin e6 dribbled into his eyes in an attempt to gain better night vision. It worked - for about four hours. Licina, who now runs Scihouse, a makerspace and biohacking lab in Jacksonville, did not go blind but has no plans to replicate the experiment.

In Weston, Biohackers Health and Fitness recently opened for business. It seems like a typical gym, with run-of-the-mill exercise equipment, but it also includes things you'd never find in a normal gym: cryotherapy; hyperbaric oxygen chambers; infrared beds; a Vasper workout system; and ARX training, which uses computer-controlled resistance and vibrating plates. You'll also find a quantron resonance system (QRS) producing an electro- magnetic field, which stimulates body functions, and a Nanovi system, which claims to repair damage from free radicals.

Co-owner Kristin Comella notes that biohacking doesn't have to be high-tech. It can be as simple as getting extra sunlight every day or changing your sleep cycle.

"This is the future of fitness and health," she says.

For example, if you feel like there aren't enough hours in the day, you could try the Uberman sleep schedule, breaking your sleeping pattern into six 20-minute naps throughout the day for a total of two hours of total sleep, which practitioners claim is sufficient.

"Imagine what you could do with an extra four to six hours in a day," Caldwell says.

On the extreme end of the spectrum are grinders, biohackers who implant devices in their bodies to improve how they interact with the world around them.

Amal Graafstra runs Dangerous Things, a Seattle company that provides "custom gadgetry for the discerning biohacker," according to its website, such as implants like RFID and NFC transponders, which enable you to unlock your front door and start your car and computer with the touch of a finger. The implants are injected via needle by body piercers.

"We believe biohacking is the next phase of human evolution," says Graafstra, who has five implants.

He can load a business card onto an implant, which can then be conveniently scanned by a cell phone. Biomagnets can be installed, which allow the wearer to sense magnetic fields and pick up metallic objects, like paper clips, with their fingers. Such implants can also be placed in the ears to function as headphones, transmitting music from a smart phone or music player. Once current security issues are resolved, an implant could be used to pay for goods and services, much like a credit card, Graafstra says.

In business since 2013, he has implanted about 5,000 devices into customers and estimates he has sold 50,000 to 60,000 implants. He believes there are likely 100,000 implant wearers today.

"I am a cyborg," he says. "The reality is that, in modern-day society, we are already cyborgs."

Caldwell notes that the term "biohacking" was originated by Dave Asprey, author of "The Bulletproof Diet" and creator of Bulletproof Coffee, which he markets along with other nutritional products.

Asprey, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, claims that he lost 100 pounds without dieting, raised his IQ by 20 points, lowered his biological age and improved his sleep all through biohacking. He hosts the popular Bulletproof Radio blog.

As might be expected, biohacking has caught on like wildfire in Silicon Valley, where computer wizards see little difference between the engineering solutions they apply to computers and engineering changes in the human body.

Companies are encouraging fasting. Workers are popping "smart drugs," or "nutriceuticals," to improve their IQs and even receiving blood transfusions from healthy young people in an effort to stave off aging.

PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel has said he takes human growth hormone pills and is considering transfusions from young donors in a bid to live to 120 years old. The technique, recently spoofed on an episode of TV's "Silicon Valley," is called parabiosis.

Caldwell notes: "The main thing that separates the biohacker from the rest of the self- improvement world is the systems- thinking approach that we take to our wellness. That's where the term 'hacking' comes in."

Biohacking can also bless its followers with financial success. Entrepreneur and biohacker Tim Ferriss has achieved fame and fortune through his best-selling books, "The 4-Hour Workweek," "The 4-Hour Body" and "The 4-Hour Chef," as well as his blog, The Tim Ferriss Show, which features popular biohackers.

Delray Beach resident Anthony DiClementi is another author and entrepreneur who sees the financial potential of biohacking. The author of "The Biohackers Guide to Upgraded Energy and Focus," he offers a host of biohacking products on his website, Biohacking Secrets, such as the Power Plate my7 Pro, which provides whole-body vibration technology to boost workout results; the Vital Reaction 7% Inhaler, for whiffing hydrogen to benefit various systems of the body; and the Dreamspa light therapy system, for improved sleep.

"With biohacking, it's very easy to invest a good amount of money pretty quick," DiClementi says.

He says that the majority of his products and techniques sound unfamiliar to most people because they are "10 to 30 years ahead of the mainstream." His interest in the field began in 2011 when he was very ill and "a shadow of a human being," he says. He reversed his physical condition through biohacking.

"My definition of biohacking is your quality of life, how your body looks, how you perform and how you age," he says. "It really comes down to how your body makes energy, and these are tools that can be used to improve that and address the things that interfere most with our energy production."

He claims that thousands of people worldwide are using biohacking to combat Alzheimer's disease, cancer and heart disease; lose weight; elevate mental clarity and focus; and even reverse biological age. The recent popularity of biohacking, he says, is spurred by people's dissatisfaction with Western medicine, which is focused on repairing the body rather than addressing what causes damage in the first place.

"Biohacking is a vehicle that allows you to take back control of your own health," DiClementi says.

The trend, however, has come under fire for its dangerous nature. Biohacker Aaron Traywick injected himself with an experimental genetic-therapy treatment for the herpes virus. He was found dead in April, at age 28, in a sensory deprivation flotation tank, drowned while under the influence of ketamine.

Another biohacker, Josiah Zayner, has self-injected what he claimed was DNA to enhance muscle development and also underwent a fecal transplant to cure stomach problems - without benefit of FDA approval or clinical trials. His Oakland, California, company, The Odin, provides CRISPR kits, theoretically allowing anyone to do their own genetic modification.

Risky? You bet. In 2015, in Sunrise, one biohacking attempt to inject stem cells into the eyes of three elderly women to cure macular degeneration resulted in one of them becoming completely blind and left the other two with severely impaired vision. Lawsuits were subsequently filed. Comella, of Biohackers Health and Fitness, was the chief scientific officer of Bioheart, the company in question, at the time.

"Regenerative medicine and, more specifically, using your own stem cells to heal is definitely a biohack and also the future of medicine," she argues.

She adds: "The incidence of adverse events is extremely low. Keep in mind that no medical procedure or pharmaceutical drug comes without risks."

Minimizing such risks, practicing responsible research and offering citizens access to biotechnology are the goals of molecular biologist Dr. Ellen Jorgensen, who founded Genspace NYC in 2009, the world's first community biotechnology laboratory for science hobbyists. It has since spawned a dozen community biolabs in various cities, like BosLab in Boston and Baltimore Underground Science Space.

She's leery of biohacking, noting that the trend has spawned a nest of companies promising self- improvement miracles that most are completely unable to deliver.

"None of these people who have done the experiments have succeeded in anything," she says. "It's all smoke and mirrors."

The promise of someday melding man and machine in a "glorious rapture for geeks" is unlikely, she notes. Many biohackers believe "we're all going to live forever because we're going to meld our consciousness with some stupid computer," she says. "Most serious biologists take that whole thing with a grain of salt."

She advises consumers to use caution. If something seems too good to be true - such as a gene-altering kit promising to change your biology and your life - trust your gut.

"When it is something that has the promise of medical miracles, everyone wants to believe it." O