Biohacker tips
Don’t feel like having sex and always in a bad mood? A midlife crisis of the cells could be behind it – this is how you get out
If there is a lack of energy, the libido often weakens as well.
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Are you constantly on the fence about it? If you’ve run out of energy, your cells could be to blame for the mess. A biohacker knows what gets you going again.
There are those days when nothing works anymore. Where you are “weak as a bottle”, as football coach Giovanni Trapattoni once put it in his famous angry speech. No sleep in the world can do anything against this tiredness, which tends to set in midlife, but can also affect younger people who are permanently stressed. The energy level is then mainly bobbing around in the minus range, the mood as well and the libido is in early retirement. It’s not fun at all.
Anyone who asks what it is that makes life so difficult for us is opening Pandora’s box. There are many reasons. One of them can be found in our cells. To put it simply, they can find themselves in a kind of mid-life crisis, have become lethargic and work incorrectly. It’s our own fault. Biohacker Molly Maloof knows how to get our cells, and therefore ourselves, going again.
Maloof researches the so-called power plants of cells, the mitochondria. They take care of the energy supply of the organism. To do this, they produce adenosine triphosphate. This is an “intermediate store for energy and a universal energy source that can be used in all tissues,” can be read on the Max Planck Society website. If something goes wrong in this process, it can affect our health. Heart disease, dementia, hair loss, deafness – the list of possible health consequences of mitochondrial dysfunction is long. Energy lows are part of it.
The cells suffer from our lifestyle
“We are in a collective energy crisis and the fatigue that plagues so many of us is basically the result of mitochondrial dysfunction,” Maloof told The Telegraph. A situation that, in their opinion, we have fueled ourselves. It is simply a matter of “a consequence of our lifestyle”. Accordingly, several behaviors that are detrimental to health intertwine. They are not a surprise: Too much sitting at a desk, too little exercise in general, continuous alcohol consumption and diet that needs improvement. According to Maloof, this mix “destroys the motor of the cells”.
She has made it her mission to find ways to counteract these biological effects. She uses biohacking for this. What sounds extremely invasive at first is basically nothing more than a more conscious handling of the body. Is the blood pressure in the normal range? how good is the sleep How high is the cholesterol level? Such factors and more are monitored, for example with an upgraded smartwatch, changes are analyzed and the appropriate adjustment screws are made if a biomarker is out of balance. Importantly, every body works differently. What works for women may not necessarily work for men. The hormones are also involved.
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Four tips from Maloof against the energy low
- understand stress
Stress doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Used correctly, it even acts like a positive push on the mitochondria and encourages them to increase energy production, we are more resilient. Too much stress, on the other hand, has the opposite effect: the mitochondria are overwhelmed. “When demand exceeds capacity, the body breaks down,” says the researcher. Once that point is reached, intermittent fasting and high-intensity interval training can help. Maloof recommends a maximum of 90 minutes of training per week. Sufficient rest days should be taken into account. At least 12 hours a day should be fasted and only eaten within a fixed period of time. - weight training
Anyone who sits a lot should take this into account when choosing a sport. The biohacker recommends bone-strengthening exercises, especially for women over 50. These include those involving hopping and jumping, but also weight training. Maloof recommends heavy weights and low reps. - thermogenesis
Thermogenesis is about the production of heat through metabolic activity. This refers to small activities that consume energy. Maloof cites ironing during commercial breaks as an example, or more walking instead of driving. In any case, Maloof recommends walking at least 7,500 steps a day, more than 11,000 would be even better. - love
Yes, it’s that simple. Oxytocin is one of the “most important factors that we know of for human health, happiness and longevity,” says Maloof. It protects not only heart health but also mitochondria. “So we need loving social relationships to thrive,” says the biohacker.
Source: TheTelegraph, Max Plack Society