Last week we started our conversation about biohacking by talking about sleep. Today, we’re going the complete opposite direction and addressing ways we can biohack our movement. As a reminder biohacking is about making small adjustments, that support your goals and those small adjustments over time change the chemistry in the body.
I’m sure you understand the importance of moving our bodies daily. The general rule of thumb is to try to fit about 150 minutes of physical activity into your week. You can do 5 days of 30 minutes or 7 days of 20 minutes, but regardless of hitting these suggestions made by the professionals, aim to move your body in some capacity every single day.
BENEFITS OF MOVEMENT:
Increase Energy
Improves Mood
Clearer Thinking
Supports Mental Health
Sweating is good for you! Yep, although most of us aren’t fans of sweating, this function is an important way for our bodies to detox. Sweating can also help your body flush out heavy metals. I tend to sweat really easily, too easily to be honest, and that’s not fun when you’re not in the mode of doing it on purpose. Tee-hee!
That being my said, one of my favorite ways to [intentionally] sweat is using an infrared sauna. A regular sauna will do too, but check out my blog on
Cold, Heat & Light Therapy to understand why an infrared sauna is king at flushing toxins. If you don’t have access to a sauna and aren’t ready to make that commitment, go for a brisk walk, lift some weights, do some housework – anything that will get your blood pumping and the sweat rolling. After your sweat-sesh, make sure you take a warm shower and finish it off with 10-15 seconds of cold water for added benefits.
Let’s talk about the catch twenty-two that is energy. In order to want to exercise and move our bodies we need energy, but working out can help increase energy. So, how can you biohack your energy? The best thing you can do to increase your energy is to decrease the inflammation in your body. Healthy inflammation is when our immune system goes to work to fight off infections, illnesses, or injuries. However, our world [especially the West] is filled with personal care and household products along with dietary choices that triggers unhealthy inflammation in our system causing our immune system to go into overdrive.
BIOHACKING ENERGY:
Eat Whole Foods
Take Bioavailable Supplements
Get Quality Sleep
Focus on Mental Health
I have two of the ultimate biohacks to share with you. Both are science backed and take less than 30 minutes – one three days a week and the other only once. Because of that, I recommend doing them in addition to your 30 minutes of daily movement or at very least incorporate a walk into your daily routine.
OsteoStrong® helps strengthen your skeletal system, which in turn improves balance and coordination, as well as increases muscle strength. This unique biohack takes about 15 minutes of your time once per week. There’s a series of four machines that each focus on a different set of skeletal muscles: postural, core, upper and lower. I won’t get into the science of how it works here, but I highly encourage you to check out their
website to learn more and see if there’s a location near you. They allow you to go in and try it out free of charge and they also have other biohacking modalities available that you can use as a “member.”
The last one is the workout that I do. The studio I go to is called Team Vertical, but it’s only located in Highlands Ranch, CO, so what I want to talk about is the piece of equipment that I use called G-NAT™, which can be ordered and installed in your home if there’s not a studio by you.
There are twelve key movements, which are decompressive to the joints, while at the same time create tension within the muscles surrounding and supporting the joints. This unique equipment paired with the twelve movements that engages several hundred muscles at the same time. This means that you can get a full-body workout in 24 minutes, that’s equivalent to a couple hours in the gym. And at three days a week, this is a glorious way to biohack your body and time. Again, I’m not the expert in talking about it, so I’ll refer you to their
website where you can learn more.
Happy Moving!
xoDanette