Personal Science Week - 240606 Biohacking Conference
Impressions from the 2024 Biohacking Conference, plus more links
More than 3000 people attended last week’s 10th Anniversary Biohacking Conference.
This is a brief glimpse of some of the ideas and products I saw that might be of interest to personal scientists.
Quantified Self, self-tracking, life-logging, DIY biology, n-of-1 experimenting … these are all terms that fit in the general category of personal science. But one term in particular, “biohacking”, captures the essence of the way some people use personal science for the specific goal of improving their health or wellness. Popularized by Dave Asprey, the entrepreneur who founded Bulletproof Coffee brand in 2013, biohackers tend to be early adopters of many products and services that you won’t find elsewhere, either because they haven’t yet been rigorously proven scientifically — or because they never will.
Speakers
At a 3-day event featuring 100 speakers, there were far too many talks to summarize. With topics on everything from meditation, nutrition, stem cell therapy, “reversing menopause”, and of course longevity, I can only pull out a few random thoughts.
We’ve been following Bryan Johnson since he first announced his “Don’t Die” Project Blueprint. As regular readers know, I became skeptical of his approach when I learned he rejected offers of help from serious longevity scientists. But I’m open-minded too, so I looked forward to his chat with Dave Asprey. A few takeaways:
Despite the impression you get from his original presentations, he now recommends that most people focus on “power laws”. Rather than find some obscure new molecule or behavior that may or may not increase your lifespan by some fraction of a percent, focus on the Big Ones: overall nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress. The vast majority of your physical well-being and longevity are controlled by the most obvious factors so start there.
“Sometimes doing the good makes the bad worse”. Many people justify “occasional” cheating because they did some expensive supplement. Don’t do that. You don’t “earn” the right to eat a bag of potato chips at night just because you did something “good” in the morning. Control yourself.
In clear evidence of my ignorance, I hadn’t heard the name “Joe Dispenza” before this conference, so I was unprepared for the size of the audience. Back in my day, we would have referred to him as a “faith healer”, but without the religious or supernatural overtones. His story, how he overcame a serious injury through a personal mind shift, is now retold in numerous books, $5,000 retreats, and many appearances at events like this one. He began with video clips of various joyful people, some walking for the first time in years, others now cured of “incurable” cancers. He claims “thousands” of Parkinsons patients have been cured, but I’m unable to find even one clear case report, so call me skeptical. “Dr” Dispenza holds a PhD from the online school “Quantum University”. After hearing the rest of his talk — inspirational admonitions to think positive thoughts — I’m open-minded, but maybe not that open-minded.
Brad Jacobs is a Stanford-trained medical doctor who now leads “consciousness” programs, including various medicinal investigations of psychedelics. He notes that the FDA will soon authorize1 MDNA (“ecstasy”) as a legal (and apparently very effective) treatment for post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD), something he’s promoted for years. The entire field of psychedelics should be of interest to personal science, and something I watch closely.
Many other speakers I won’t bother to summarize. The conference organizers say they’ll send links to the talks and transcripts, so I’ll update this post when I get them.
Biohacking Conference Exhibitors
The real fun was the Tech Hall, that featured exhibits by about one hundred companies that sell products to biohackers. Each company pays upwards of $15,000 for their tiny 10x10 booths, and even then are only allowed into the show after a careful screening process that tends to ensure fairly high quality. As we keep repeating, there is often a fine line between whacko crazies and unappreciated genius. It’s one of the occupational hazards of personal science. We’re open-minded and willing to consider new, even bizarre-sounding ideas, but we’ll also treat the claims skeptically. Meanwhile, note that I’m not sponsored by anybody, so treat the following as just some observations by one personal scientist to another.
Many of the tech floor booths featured heavy equipment to show off the latest exercise ideas, cold (and red light) saunas, specialized meditation equipment, and much more.
I was unable to try the portable hyperbaric chambers from Oxyhealth, so I can’t tell you if a 90-minute treatment with pressurized oxygen can cure what ails you, but lots of people swear by it. The price tag is out of reach for personal use, so you may need to wait for your local wellness clinic to invest in one.
But one word that I heard a lot was “red light therapy”. Several new companies sell products that emit wavelengths from 487NM to 660NM, including Dave Asprey’s recommended TrueLight. Supposedly there’s a magic light frequency that resonates better with your body’s cells, leaving you more rested at night or more refreshed during the day. You can buy a lamp for your bedroom or living room for about $100.
One of my favorite products, surprisingly, is oxygenated water from Inhale. It sounds bizarre: perform better by drinking water that has 7x the normal concentration of oxygen. But I tried it several times and it really seems to work, perhaps because by directly delivering oxygen to the bloodstream in the stomach.
There were many other products exhibited, including several that offered free samples that I’ll be trying at home and can write about later.
More biohacking links worth your time
Sign up for a Free subscription to Biohackers Magazine. It’s a monthly print magazine that they’ll mail you once per month for the next year.
Increasing your IQ by 14 points in a week is trivial says George3d6, through about $400 worth of equipment and various supplements that increase brain blood flow. He shows his raw data.
David Chapman writes an excellent summary that shows how, for under $100, you can simulate summertime brightness in your office even in the dead of winter. The benefits that sunshine has on mood and productivity are well-documented, and now that low-cost high-lumen LED lamps are available, there's no excuse to remain in the dark.
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Update: a few days after Brad’s talk, an FDA panel declined to recommend approval of MDMA, concerned about the quality of the clinical trial data. The FDA meets on Aug 11 for a final decision.
If you find well-oxygenated water more agreeable, just shake the bottle before drinking 😀