In a quest for longevity and optimal health, many people are turning to the latest trend—biohacking. This growing movement of do-it-yourself biology helps you improve your performance, health and well-being, especially now that more and more people lead sedentary lifestyles. But how do you optimize your performance through biohacking? Siim Land shares with us how we can use biohacking strategies and products to help combat the many health consequences of a sedentary lifestyle.
At 27, Land is a renowned biohacker and high-performance coach. He has been in the industry for nearly a decade and has had the opportunity to share his ideas at the world’s top biohacking and health optimization conferences, including the Biohacker Summit, Health Optimization Summit and Paleo f(X) conferences. He also ensures he walks the walk and remains in excellent physical health and fitness. Everything he pens or speaks about at conferences is backed by scientific studies, references and articles.
Land is also a biohacking content creator, investor and author who has been interested in health since childhood. His grandfather died young because of health complications, prompting Land not to take his health for granted. He realized that no one else will take care of your health other than you and that the most effective way to stay healthy is to remain informed and actively learn about it. After high school and his year in the military, Land went on to study anthropology in his home country of Estonia and then in the UK. During his time at university, he began his blog about optimizing performance and health, leading him to write his first few books.
He is the brains behind the top-selling books Metabolic Autophagy, Stronger by Stress, The Immunity Fix, The Mineral Fix, WIN and The Obesity Fix, all of which focus on biohacking and health optimization. He is also a co-author with the British Medical Journal’s Open Heart associate editor, Dr. James DiNicolantonio. Another of his co-authors is WIN’s Trystin Kennedy, who has also worked as a nutritionist for athletes like Conor McGregor.
Land has invested heavily in his social media content, removing all geographical borders to connect people around the world and lead a new generation of health technologies. By creating content on YouTube, Instagram and his podcast, Land is able to share his biohacking knowledge and broadcast his own journey in fitness and health to help people understand their bodies and physiology. He has a large and continually growing social media presence of nearly 150,000 followers. According to Land, his content is “edutainment,” a mixture of educational and entertaining content that his followers can learn from while they enjoy watching or reading it. His large social media following is attributed to his ability to transform complex scientific concepts into an easy-to-comprehend format.
Land looks at his content and business ventures as being more holistic, taking into account all systems of the body and looking at it as a whole and not as isolated parts. His business offers informational products like e-books, physical books, video courses and consultations. Apart from being an entrepreneur and running his own business, Land is also an investor in several health and biohacking companies, including Self Decode, which does DNA analysis; Biohacking Center, which specializes in events and products; NotYourAverage, a superfood coffee brand; and a VR workout company. One of the companies that Land co-founded is CRUMPTM, a company that produces a plant-based meat alternative that’s made from hemp protein.
Land believes that biohacking and personalized medicine are the future. “In the future, healthcare will move from treating disease after the fact to preventing it from taking place. Self-quantification gadgets and apps will become more common, and we will have access to many rejuvenation technologies and longevity drugs that transform how long and well humans will live,” says Land.
Land’s advice to his followers is that you can achieve everything you want—but not all at once. “Meaning, you can be an investor, writer, speaker, influencer, entrepreneur, etc., but you have to focus on one thing at a time. Otherwise, you will be overwhelmed and lack focus,” says Land. In the future, Land sees himself further expanding his influence, helping to start other biohacking companies that focus on the addition of food products, supplements and technology, all while continuing to author more books and speak on bigger stages.
How to optimize your performance through biohacking
According to Land, you can use different biohacking strategies to optimize your performance and lead a healthier life. It depends on what level you want to achieve and your understanding of biohacking.
“Biohacking can be as simple as going outside in the morning to get some sunlight or adapting to healthier sleep hygiene. This will help you ‘hack’ into your body and brain and take control of your own biology, leading to increased productivity. Biohacking can also involve using advanced technology and other supplements to optimize your health,” explains Land.
Therefore, it is important that you first understand the basics of biohacking. Once you are dialed in and know what you want to achieve, you can explore the different strategies.
5 ways to biohack your healthspan and improve longevity
A good night’s sleep
Getting a good night’s sleep can tremendously benefit your mental and physical health. Not only does this help you increase productivity, but it gives the body and brain time to “restore.” Land explains that when you are sleeping, your body detoxifies and rebuilds from the damage done to it during the day, and you wake up feeling fresh and energized. He recommends going to bed early to give the body time to repair and restore itself.
Exercise and movement
Heavy reliance on technology, not drinking enough water, and lack of proper exercise and nutrition are all bad habits that affect our mental and physical health. With more people adopting a sedentary lifestyle, Land stresses the importance of regular exercise and movement as a biohacker. A solid exercise routine is beneficial for a healthy body, optimizing other bodily functions and lowering your risk of developing lifestyle diseases.
Playing brain games
As you get older, certain cognitive abilities decline. Land explains that this makes you more susceptible to neurodegenerative diseases and affects overall health.
Besides regular physical exercise, Land notes that you can biohack your health and improve longevity by engaging in brain games. These games help improve your thinking and even push you to step out of your comfort zone. Playing brain games also helps lower the risk of neurodegenerative diseases like dementia and improve your cognitive processing speed as you age.
Detoxification
Longevity biohacking practices are meant to upgrade your life and eliminate the chances of body imbalances, diseases and other mental health conditions, which makes detoxification a perfect body hack. Land explains that regular detoxification of your environment and body will help optimize your performance by giving the digestive system and other body parts a chance to rest, reorganize their pH and repair themselves. Detoxification also helps the body to remove toxic by-products and environmental toxins.
Additionally, Land explains that it is important to detoxify your environment in order to take care of your mental health. Surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals will help you increase your energy, manage stress and lower your risk of mental illness.
Eating less processed foods.
Technology has created more opportunities for entrepreneurs and people in the corporate space. While this is great, technological advancements have also led to more processed foods, which are a risk to our health and can lead to a higher chance of getting lifestyle diseases.
Land co-founded CRUMP, a plant-based meat alternative made of hemp protein that helps people optimize their performance, to help supply people with more organic foods and lead the world to a greener future.
CRUMP tackles the three biggest problems of the modern food industry: the “modern diet” that wrecks our health, the environment and food wastage. According to Land, his goal is to bring less processed foods into the global food industry as he gives the world protein-rich foods that do not have a long list of added ingredients. CRUMP also stays fresh for longer than meat, which Land believes will help solve the problem of food wastage.
Final words
“Biohacking can be as simple as spending ten minutes outside to get the morning sunlight or changing your eating habits. It can also involve wearable technology, implant technology and genetic engineering with processes,” explains Land.
While there are different strategies, they all benefit our bodies and help us improve our performance. Land started biohacking at 19 when he began studying at Tallinn University in Estonia before going on to study at Durham University in the UK. Now, at 27, Land has optimized his performance through biohacking, and he is helping people understand how to do the same.
Land uses his social media platforms to reach the younger generation as he helps older people “hack” into their bodies, continuing to work toward his goal of helping more people learn about biohacking and its benefits.
