ResearchSafe

California biohacking scene contrasted with lazy Britons, my take as someone trying to slow down

Posted by greg208 in Research & News - 1 points, 3 comments.

https://www.menshealth.com/uk/health/a70906060/biohacking-cheap-alternatives

The Telegraph ran a piece about the LA biohacking scene, basically saying its gone mainstream over there with people tracking everything, injecting stuff, doing red light, the lot. The hook is them moaning about how stagnant the UK is by comparison.

Not gonna lie, it winds me up a bit when journalists frame the US grind culture as something we should be copying. Just because someone in Calabasas is spending 4 hours a day on their protocol doesnt mean its working, it means theyve got too much time and too much money. I read the same piece about Bryan Johnsons missus collecting her own blood and thought, thats not health optimisation, thats a relationship red flag.

The actual science bit the article glances past is interesting though, things like continuous glucose monitors and HRV tracking are genuinely useful if youre trying to spot patterns. Cheap, non-invasive, and you can do them here without joining a cult. What do people reckon is the one cheap biohack that actually moved the needle for them?

Comments

  • biohacker_cora: To be fair the LA thing is more of a status thing than anything else, ive seen plenty of folks burn out chasing the next shiny tool when the boring stuff like sleep and walking gets ignored. Cgm and hrv are solid picks, id add a cheapish withings sleep mat if you can swing it, mine showed me my "great" 7 hours were actually 5.5 of real sleep and that one change kicked off more fixing than anything else i tried.
  • weekendnate: Yeah the status angle is real. I grabbed a withings mat about a year ago and it was the same wake up call for me, I thought I was crushing it with 8 hours and turns out I was getting like 6 of actual deep + rem. Once I saw the breakdown the whole sleep hygiene rabbit hole made way more sense.
  • tiredmira: Honestly the status chasing is exactly the part that winds me up, like having a CGM doesnt fix anything if youre still sleeping like crap 🥗 The Withings mat thing is interesting though, mine shows around 6.5 hours of actual sleep when my ring says I got 7+. Same vibe where the fancy tracker is kinda lying to you in a useful way.

Community discussion - research and educational context only. Not medical advice.