The new year has arrived and for many busy executives, it’s a time for creating health-oriented goals and making new year’s resolutions. Is that you? No matter if you’re trying to boost your energy, sleep better, or destress in 2022, I encourage you to use some of my favorite biohacking tips and tricks to reach your goals.
Often described as do-it-yourself (DIY) biology, biohacking is the process of making small, incremental diet or lifestyle changes to “hack” your body’s biology and create measurable improvements in your overall health and well-being.
Through my work at JOYVIAL, I know that most executives are low on time and high on stress. That’s why biohacking can be such a powerful tool, especially for you. It helps you accomplish more through minimal, yet impactful lifestyle and diet changes.
Read on to learn my favorite tips for biohacking your body into better health.
Biohack Your Sleep
Do you leap from your bed every morning feeling fully refreshed, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and ready to start a productive day? The likelihood is probably not. In our busy, stressful world, where digital screens want our attention day and night, worry and anxiety are at the forefront of our minds, and noise and light invade our bedrooms, it can be difficult to have good sleep hygiene. This is bad news because poor sleep can slow down executive functions, your cognitive ability, and productivity.
Make your bedroom a sanctuary: Your bedroom should be a sacred space that exudes a feeling of peace and calm. It’s a safe place where you can release the day’s anxieties and finally get some well-deserved rest.
For better sleep:
Try infusing your bedroom with a high-quality and natural essential oil like lavender to signal to your body that it’s time to relax, unwind, and let go of stress.
Adding an air purifier is another great way to improve the quality of your sleep. It improves the oxygen quality in your bedroom by filtering out pollutants in the air that make it difficult to fall asleep and stay well-rested.
The darker your room the better. Even the smallest glow – like that from a digital alarm clock – can disturb your shut-eye. If you can’t conceal all the light sources in your room, consider using a comfy eye mask.
Make your bedroom an EMF-free zone: Electric and Magnetic Field (EMF) exposure harms and disrupts our sleep. This is why cutting back EMF exposure in the bedroom is so important.
Exposure to electromagnetic radiation interferes with our body’s melatonin production and circadian rhythm, which is why I recommend unplugging your Wi-Fi and keeping your phone on airplane mode at night. If you’re curious, consider buying an EMF meter to test the radiation levels in your environment. You’ll be surprised.
Biohack Your Energy
Intermittent fasting is one of the oldest hacks used by humans, and the goal of fasting is to limit the window of time that you eat. For beginners, I recommend not eating for a 12-to-16 hour timeframe. This means ideally, your last meal would be at 7 pm and you wouldn’t eat again until at least 7 am the next day.
Intermittent fasting works wonders on your energy levels by giving your gut a break from digesting food which takes up a lot of energy. It also helps to process toxins out of the system without being overburdened with incoming food every few hours. When fasting, the body goes into ketosis, a process where fat is utilized to create energy, rather than using glucose, which is the case when we are eating.
Supplementing with Vitamin D is another great way to improve your energy levels. This unique vitamin actually acts more like a hormone within your body and nearly every tissue in your system utilizes Vitamin D for vital bodily processes.
Not only does Vitamin D help increase energy levels but it also fights disease and reduces depression. However, with more and more busy executives finding themselves indoors, limited access to the sun is causing a large majority of the population to be deficient in Vitamin D. If this sounds like you, here are a few tips to improve your levels:
Get Tested - While it’s highly unlikely to exceed Vitamin D levels without supplementation, it’s a good practice to check your level before you start taking supplements. There are tons of “blood spot testing kits” out on the market that you can use in the comfort of your home. Usually, you’ll have the results back within 3-weeks or less.
Supplement - In general, taking 3,000 IU of Vitamin D3 daily is considered safe — but sometimes higher levels might be needed. If your test results show that you are deficient, make sure to pick a high-quality product for optimal health.
Biohack Your Stress
Breathwork is a powerful, free, and efficient way to hack your stress levels. Deep breathing only takes seconds, but it’s still so easy for executives to forget to inhale (and more importantly slow down the exhale) when they’re overburdened.
If this sounds like you, I recommend trying the box breathing technique for fast stress relief where you inhale for a count of 5, hold your breath for a count of 5, exhale for a count of 5 and hold your breath again for that same count. Do that 4-5 times.
Lastly, using adaptogens can be another powerful tool to help you cope with all the modern-day stressors of life. Adaptogens are unique plants or herbs that support your adrenal system. They help balance your hormones, so you can manage your stress response on a day-to-day basis.
They are magically able to adapt to your bodies’ specific needs and have the ability to regulate your system up or down depending on the demand at the moment. If you’re interested in trying adaptogens, these are my favorites for stress-relief: Ashwagandha, Holy Basil, and Cordyceps. Give them a go! You won’t regret it.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my top tips for biohacking your body into better health. If you’re ready to create a healthier and less stressed version of yourself in the new year, consider working with one of our professional executive health coaches. Click the 'Contact' button in the top right corner or simply send us an email to info@joyvial.com to schedule your free discovery session.
Remember, at JOYVIAL, we are committed to helping you live your healthiest, most JOYful life. For all the latest health and wellness tips and to get inspired, following along with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.
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