Biohacking: which methods survive the research and which do not

Biohacking is systematically adjusting your lifestyle, nutrition or environment to make your body function measurably better. Of the popular methods, a few hold up in controlled research, and the rest lean on animal studies, small groups or nothing.

There is a pattern in which is which.

The methods with the strongest evidence are essentially free, and the methods with the weakest evidence are the most expensive. Below is what has been shown per method and which value you can follow alongside it.

What is biohacking really?

The term covers two very different things. One half is simply lifestyle medicine with a sportier name: sleep, train, eat, measure.

The other half is the equipment and the infusions.

The difference is not in how advanced something sounds, but in whether anyone tested it in humans with a control group. That is the standard we apply below.

Which biohacks have the strongest evidence?

Building fitness sits at the top by a distance. A 2024 overview of meta-analyses pooled almost 21 million observations and described cardiorespiratory fitness as a strong and consistent predictor of morbidity and mortality.

No supplement comes close to that volume of data.

After that come strength training, adequate protein and sleep. They are the dullest answers available and they keep holding up, even as new things arrive. The Dutch Health Council recommends adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity per week plus twice-weekly muscle and bone strengthening work.

Sauna is the nicest surprise in this category. A Finnish cohort study described an association between more frequent sauna use and lower mortality, though that remains observational and concerns a population that does this lifelong.

Which biohacks are questionable?

The ice bath is the most interesting case, because it does not do nothing so much as do something many users do not want. Research on cold water immediately after strength training found it dampened anabolic signalling and reduced muscle adaptation over time.

For strength and muscle growth that is the opposite of your goal.

A systematic review with meta-analysis reached the same conclusion for strength outcomes, while endurance outcomes fared less badly. The practical lesson is not that cold water is bad, but that timing matters: on a rest day or well away from your strength session the trade-off changes.

Continuous glucose monitors sit in the same category. In people without diabetes it remains unclear whether the spikes you see mean anything clinically, while they certainly drive behaviour.

Which biohacks rest on too little?

Anything arriving via a drip belongs here. Research on NAD is almost entirely about capsules rather than infusions, and even there the effect so far stays biochemical rather than clinical, which we work out in NAD IV therapy.

The same applies to most anti-ageing supplements.

Why is measuring the only thing separating biohacking from guessing?

Without a baseline you never learn which of your ten changes did anything. That is the real problem with stacking: people simultaneously start sleeping better, eating more protein, showering cold and taking three supplements.

If things then improve, you still know nothing.

A concrete example. Someone trains strength four times a week, sits in an ice bath for ten minutes after every session, and watches their squat move from 100 to 102.5 kilos over twelve weeks. The same person shifts the ice bath to their rest day and is at 115 kilos a block later.

We do not think that is coincidence, given what the research shows about timing.

Change one thing at a time, give it at least eight to twelve weeks, and measure before and after. Pick a value that summarises a period rather than a moment, such as HbA1c or hs-CRP.

Which values are worth following?

A small panel you repeat twice a year says more than a large panel you run once. Comparison against yourself is the whole point.

Useful ones are your metabolic values, your inflammatory value, your iron stores and your vitamin D.

For the insulin side the explanation sits in fasting insulin and HOMA-IR, and for inflammation in chronic low-grade inflammation. How to estimate your biological age honestly is in calculating life expectancy.

Where do you start?

Take the most expensive hack you currently run and park it for three months, then invest that time in your fitness. For almost everyone that is the trade with the best expected return.

The protocol for it sits in zone 2 training.

If you want to hold your supplement cupboard to the same standard, berberine and collagen do that per compound. Our insulin resistance test with HOMA-IR gives you the baseline with an assessment by a BIG-registered doctor, and the broader approach sits in healthy ageing as an athlete.

References

1. Lang JJ, Prince SA, Merucci K, et al. Cardiorespiratory fitness is a strong and consistent predictor of morbidity and mortality among adults: an overview of meta-analyses representing over 20.9 million observations from 199 unique cohort studies. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2024. PMID 38599681.
2. Laukkanen T, Khan H, Zaccardi F, Laukkanen JA. Association between sauna bathing and fatal cardiovascular and all-cause mortality events. JAMA Internal Medicine. 2015. PMID 25705824.
3. Roberts LA, Raastad T, Markworth JF, et al. Post-exercise cold water immersion attenuates acute anabolic signalling and long-term adaptations in muscle to strength training. The Journal of Physiology. 2015. PMID 26174323.
4. Malta ES, Dutra YM, Broatch JR, et al. The effects of regular cold-water immersion use on training-induced changes in strength and endurance performance: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Sports Medicine. 2021. PMID 33146851.
5. Martens CR, Denman BA, Mazzo MR, et al. Chronic nicotinamide riboside supplementation is well-tolerated and elevates NAD+ in healthy middle-aged and older adults. Nature Communications. 2018. PMID 29599478.
6. Dutch Health Council (Gezondheidsraad). Physical activity guidelines. Accessed 2026.

Disclaimer

Every blood test result includes a professional assessment by a BIG-registered doctor. This article provides general information and is not a substitute for medical advice. Discuss your results with your doctor before making treatment decisions.