With technology that advances by the day, extending your lifespan is easier than ever before. New high-tech equipment and treatments offer biohackers plenty to explore, from wearable technology to sauna treatments. Backed by scientific research, check out some of the newest technologies that can help you gain insights into your health and biohack your lifespan.
Wearable Technology to Improve Longevity in Real Time
Wearable technology refers to electronic devices worn on the body, which gain provide data to help you improve your longevity in real-time. For example, fitness trackers worn on the wrist are one of the most popular types of wearable technology, assisting individuals to track movements such as steps or track their heart rate.
Fitness Trackers
Fitness trackers worn on the wrist are a simple, yet effective way to keep an eye on important factors that affect your heart (and therefore your longevity). For example, many fitness trackers can measure your heart rate variability (HRV), which expresses how much physical and psychological stress your body is under. This metric also helps track how your muscles and nervous system can recover after a workout.
Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM)
In addition to fitness trackers, several other types of wearable technology can help you biohack your longevity too. Research suggests that maintaining healthy blood sugar levels is essential for enhancing longevity, while high blood sugar levels are associated with a higher risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.
Wearing a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) can give you real-time insight into your blood sugar levels, helping you to learn and manage which foods to consume to stay within normal levels. While CGMs were once considered only for diabetics, many are using this type of wearable technology as a preventative effort to track blood glucose levels in real time.
Sleep Trackers
Another type of wearable technology is sleep trackers, which can help us to measure the quality of our sleep. Sleep is vital to longevity, as sleep is the time when our bodies can repair and recover. By using wearable technology to track sleep patterns, people can gain helpful insight into which stages of sleep may require support and learn new ways to help improve overall sleep health.
Sauna Exposure
Have you seen a sauna at your local gym or fitness club? Biohackers have dug into the science to find promising results when it comes to sauna exposure and improved health. Regularly using a sauna can offer some great health benefits, which include reduced risk of chronic disease, enhanced immune function, and more. These overall benefits can directly impact longevity.
There are a variety of mechanisms that come into play when a person uses a sauna. The heat of a sauna can cause blood vessels to dilate and heart rate to elevate, supporting improved circulation. In addition to improving circulation, sauna exposure also activates heat shock proteins in the body which can help to repair damaged proteins. By activating these heat shock proteins, biohackers may be able to support a longer lifespan and increase the body’s natural antioxidant defenses that fight oxidative stress.
Cold Exposure
The heat from a sauna is a great biohacking trick to try, but the opposite may hold true too. Cold exposure practices can help enhance our body’s resilience. While studies have currently only shown a correlation in mice, fruit flies, and yeast, evidence suggests the same effects could be true when humans expose themselves to cold temperatures. Cold shocking the body could help improve inflammation, reduce brown fat, and even help fight certain medical conditions.
Exploring Technology for Longevity
With many tools at our disposal, choosing which metrics to track and improve comes down to your personal health and longevity goals. As technology continues to advance, there will likely be new metrics that can be tracked, opening a whole world of biohacking techniques.
