Why biohacking sends the wrong messages about the pursuit of health and longevity
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- čas přidán 19. 04. 2024
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There are few concepts in the longevity space that inspire my disdain more than the b-word: biohacking - the notion that individuals can enhance health, performance, and lifespan by adopting an array of experimental, esoteric, and often expensive interventions, from over-the-counter supplements and “DNA diets” to young blood transfusions and implanted computer chips or magnets.
The very term “biohacking” feels to me like an affront to those of us who strive to help others achieve meaningful improvements in health and quality of life. It seems to imply the existence of shortcuts to health and longevity, such that those who are in-the-know and have sufficient disposable income might circumvent the need for consistent adherence to tried-and-true approaches like exercise, nutrition, and good sleep.
And yet, much to my chagrin, the popularity of this concept persists. Though I despise the thought of biohacking being associated with my work, I’m asked about it often, so I’d like to take a moment to make my thoughts on this subject as clear as possible. In this short video, I share the reasoning behind my belief that biohacking sends the wrong messages about the pursuit of a longer, healthier life, distracting from the interventions and lifestyle approaches that really matter for achieving that ultimate goal.
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About:
The Peter Attia Drive is a deep-dive podcast focusing on maximizing longevity, and all that goes into that from physical to cognitive to emotional health. With over 90 million episodes downloaded, it features topics including exercise, nutritional biochemistry, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, mental health, and much more.
Peter Attia is the founder of Early Medical, a medical practice that applies the principles of Medicine 3.0 to patients with the goal of lengthening their lifespan and simultaneously improving their healthspan.
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“A low tolerance for buffoonery” - pure gold! I’m with you on that brother. You be you, and let them hack.
A quote " I'd rather have a millionaires mind set, discipline and determination then have a million dollars". People forget the mind body connection, the fortitude to carry on when things get tough, the don't quit attitude. You dont get that from a pill or a treatment, you get that from doing the work. My dad lived to 96 and the doctors said he was just too stubborn to give in.
As far as I have noticed, the kind of people who are wanting to spend big money for these kinds of new therapies are already doing all of the "free" things.
They are already doing the exercise and getting the extra sleep and optimising diet and they are chasing this as something extra, not as a substitute for exercise.
I appreciate your candidness. Thank you (and your wife!) for your honesty as you take us on your exploration of topics that get under your skin. I feel like you're protecting us from the b..s..t that's out there and have our best interests at heart.
Love ranting Peter 😁
Fully agree
Dr. Attia: I love how you mention the feedback from your wife and how she gives you her honest appreciation of your reactions. It takes a great team to give that advise and to accept it as well. That's a wonderful manifestation of love: honest, supportive, pragmatic. I also identify with you w the zero tolerance w buffoonery LOL. I do my best to work on my reactions to it. Work in progress... breathe....
Honestly, you are the only doctor that I can believe. Too many people just hyped those unproven techs or techs with anecdotal evidence at best
Great comment and we're ok with the angry Peter. I watched Mark Hyman's daily routine yesterday and while I respect the guy I had the same feeling at the end of the podcast. True along the way he pointed out the basics and what was strictly TBD interventions (i.e. hyperbaric O2), but there was still the feeling that one needs to spend a couple grand a month in order to reverse the clock when just focusing on eating healthy, exercising, sleep hygiene, getting outdoors, and socializing will yield the maximum bang for your buck. And it is all free.
Sure throw in vitamin D, Mg, omega 3, and some extra leucine rich protein if you have some extra money and you'll optimize things, but in no way do you have to be spending thousand of dollars to extend your life. In fact if you speak to most centenarians they never spent a day in the gym but just ate well, stayed active, and social.
I love your distinction between just wasting money and wasting mental focus.
This video is why I think Peter Attia is all that plus tax and a bag chips! Just a great guy! Love his insights.
Thank you Peter for that little rant!I agree with you 100%!Eat well,exercise,get plenty of sun while you ground have good circle of friends and don’t take yourself too seriously doesn’t cost a penny.Add on few crucial and affordable supplement and you will be just fine
Thank you Peter Attia for saying this out loud and helping to change the narrative on what matters 👏🙏
Glad you expanded on this after the Chris Williamson podcast.
Right? It felt like he knew he was gonna say something mean so he just stayed silent about it 😂.
For these who own a slightly bigger space, a set of four dumbbells and a pull up bar can account for 80% of gym.
Do some exercises every day and you’re sorted.
I paid around $150 many years ago and never visited gym since then.
One can run everywhere so just decent flat shoes that can fit all five toes are good.
Fully agree. Did a very similar video to this on my channel a couple of months ago
This is exactly why I love your content ❤ you keep it real and trustworthy 🎉don’t stop!!
Thank you, again, Peter, for validating what I preach to my patients every day and have been for years. Those 1amp switches don’t even matter if the 100 amp switches aren’t on!!!
I would really appreciate you having a conversation with Bryan Johnson and his doctor about this topic. I recently saw the Dr Mike interview with Bryan and it was great hearing the different arguments in a respectful discussion. Please make this happen!
Kudos to your wife for being honest and direct! And kudos to you for having the humility to tell your audience what she said. 😊
Right is right wrong is wrong. A zero nonsense policy is most certainly warranted when it comes to the spread of misinformation effecting people’s health. Thank you for all you do.
This was so good. It’s the ongoing conversation we want to have with everyone…. all the time. How’s your nutrition, sleep habits, movement activities, your interpersonal relationships, your time outside….. you hit all of it in just a few minutes. I’m gonna quit the metformin, seamen retention, and wearing blue blockers all day and get a gym membership…….thanks for calling out bullshit when you see it.
I truly appreciate your perspective here and thank you for clarifying your stance!
Thank you! I'm a new subscriber and am learning so much!
Your confidence and determination are truly inspiring! In fact, I admire your attitude so much! 🙌🏼💪🏼 In my book, your attitude gives you credibility 😉
Great content.
Why is there such a mental hurdle to get folks exercising regularly?
That's why they are called unicorns
People are inherently lazy.
@@thomasorchard if laziness, then what is the genesis for this?
Large immediate effort for potential longterm benefits. The brain does not like that.
You already know that's the answer, why are you really asking?
@mollytheda9273 Conserving energy is a survival mechanism. It's natural for us to want to stay at rest unless an immediate threat is present.
Thank you doctor. I have friends who can afford to buy the most supplements, the latest air doctors and water filters and EMF filters etc. I have kids and grand kids and my own “health” is weighed against helping my family with theirs. I’m nearly 60 and feel 25 so I am healthy, but I can’t do all the stuff my friends do. I’m really happy for them, don’t get me wrong, I don’t get envious of others I rejoice in their gadgets and personal work on their health. But I’m grateful for affirmation that basics still help if that’s what you can do. Keep keeping on we appreciate you
Thank you for making this video, Dr. Attia!!!
You have given Amy of us a resource to share.
“Distraction from what actually works,” perfect!!! 2:10
You are an amazing teacher. The information I receive from you is greatly appreciated and u share with my kids. Thank you.
this conversation goes to the heart of the current health/longevity discourse. honestly doing the basics daily & consistently year after year decade after decade is very hard because it requires immense dedication and mindfulnes whereas people simply want quicker "hacks". people start new years resolution by blasting 5 days intense works and perfect diets then few weeks later crash because it's unsustainable. do sustainable diet, work out and sleep routines. don't do stupid intense workout, diets, and 5am wake up routines. basic it until you completely master the basic then of course add whatever intensity you need slowly over years so you always have the basics you can fall back to if life starts to get complicated.
Was considering Peter Asprey's Gaia biohacking course but I think I'll eat a cookie instead. Did just do Dr. Mark Hyman's Function blood test beta program. That is well worth the small investment. So well run already. I'm 13.5 years younger than my chrono age of 69.. so I'm going to eat two cookies. :)
It's why we love you bro. Keep doing you, that's why we're all here.
Really appreciated this and all your content Dr A. 👍🏼
Bryan Johnson is always clear in his messaging that many of the things he’s doing are essentially trials that he does not recommend for the masses. Also, he has been very clear that 95% of the results he’s achieve can be accomplished with just good sleep and exercise
And a "blueprint like" diet
I think you should dive into some of Bryan's messaging to understand that he's not selling the n of one results as the golden ticket. He preaches endlessly good sleep, nutrition, and mindful engagement with those "guilty pleasures." I get the sense that his self experiments in biohacking are in earnest to find things that move the needle such that if they do show substantial efficacy, determine how they can be scaled. It would be a worthwhile conversation between the two of you.
Definitely would be an interesting conversation between Bryan and Peter
Such a “Dad” response, but so spot on…
Fantastic timing. You (and Tim Spector’s similar view) probably just saved me going down an expensive rabbit hole. 😂
I think what Bryan Johnson is doing is an interesting experiment but it was great to reminded that that’s what it is, an experiment.
He may well be measuring direct impacts on biomarkers, but the cost of his supplements alone outweigh the unproven benefits for most people.
I'm glad you shut that discussion down with Chris
Peter, I love your podcasts and share your interest in motorsports. I do twice a week training in a well-equipped gym and play volleyball 2 hrs. a week. I do think you are a little conservative on several supplements & FDA drugs that I have researched with many hours of medical papers & meta-analysis. Keep going with your helpful info & athlete interviews.
I pay a lot of attention to what Peter Attia says and genuinely appreciate his contribution to the health of all of us. He's one of the good guys, and anyone who follows his advice will be healthier.
On this specific subject, though, let's be realistic. The reason people ask him about biohacking is that they think he is a biohacker. He is known to take a longish list of supplements; he has in the past done regular 5-7 day fasts; I forget whether he currently aims to have a ketogenic diet, but I think he has in the past; he prescribes himself prescription drugs like rapamycin. He does/has done many of these things to optimise his physical and mental health. That's what many people mean by biohacking.
It doesn’t help that Peter brings people like Huberman onto his platform either.
Completely agree with Peter. While biohacking (and supplements to some degree) can be helpful for individuals across a number of areas with regard to overall health, it can be seen as an easy way out alternative to more laborious methods that are proven to work such as exercise, good sleep and healthy eating.
Bryan Johnson is crazy, glad Peter is calling out the neurosis
I think Johnson is crazy and that he'll probably die of some very rare cancer before the age of 70, but I still think the stuff he does is pretty interesting. Most notably because he is doing a shitload of testing.
Check out Dr Lustgarten's videos, he also does a ton of tests, but he's attempting to improve his markers with almost no supplements, only food (and exercise, sleep).
@@LVArturs I've been following Conquer aging for about 2 years. I have some reservation to the way how Michael approaches methodology & interprets correlations. But in general I think what he does is huge not only for him personally but the whole longevity space. He also sets a good example by avoiding supplements. Don't get me wrong, personally I am supplementing quite extensively, but I also think it is good to send a message to broader audience that supplementing isn't necessary for improving health markers. At the end, I don't think bigger healthspan & lifespan expension will be possible without supplements/drugs/hormone therapies/epigenetic reprogramming or even gene editing. But I don't think we are there yet. Meaning the supplements I take are meant to improve my immediate health & performance.
I think it’s fair to say Peter and Brian Johnson are both right. Peter is unquestionably the medical expert on longevity being a trained doctor from a top institution like Stanford. Firstly, nothing but the utmost respect to you. I heavily rely on your wisdom. But sometimes we need someone with a paradigm that’s different than the typical paradigm of longevity to make progress. Is follastatin gene therapy a waste of money? Maybe. But will gene and cell therapies be truly transformative *over time* for Healthspan and lifespan? Very likely imo. And I took statistics btw. Much love to you Peter and it’s fair to disagree sometimes and have a differing opinion. It’s good to have discourse and conversation, no matter how polarizing the topic. May the field of Longevity thrive! ❤
Lol
Clear, rational and logical Dr. Attia! There is inertia that locks people into mindset and lifestyle. Does it have to take a medical incident to motivate them?
Thank you for being a voice of reason and common sense in a crazy world.
Take my upvote. Straight to the point as usual.
Peter is one of the few youtube doctors worth listening to. I especially appreciate how he doesn't push a bunch of BS supplements and paid sponsorships. Also, he goes right to the point in his videos, without some long-winded intro and music blasting. Thank you Peter!! 👍
THANK YOU!!!
Excellent points. I agree.
Spot on points. Many thanks, Dr Attia!
I'm glad he's saying this stuff and putting it on a video. Sounds like he's a skeptic and listens to The Skeptics Guide to the Universe. We need more of this to create critical thinkers and people who focus on the statistics and science support, and who can actually reasonably evaluate the evidence.
LOL at "somewhere between zero and epsilon". Love it.
Great comment !! The last chapter of your book is fantastic.
You’re not a jerk, you’re exceptionally bright! Your wife no doubt loves you very much, and realizes when you are stressed…..she doesn’t want you to go through negative trouble maybe!?🤔
My husband and I have been saved by your intelligence, and exceptional biomedical knowledge and wisdom!
Thank you for all you do, and remember, as we say in preschool teaching: Shake it off, just shake it off!
I understand, AND I am confused by how this differs from pharmacological interventions for ApoB, etc. I am exercising like crazy, and doing the other more conventional behaviors. But I'm also on a statin, (cannot afford the more expensive PCSK9 therapy). So how is that different from bio-hacking?
okay however, If Ive been able to accomplish all those small adjustments, exercise, sleep nutrition. I work in Military Fitness. Is there a way to maximize or biohack my recover, performance so on... I understand this represents a small portion of the population. Still would be valuable information
A low tolerance for nonsense is how to do it. Keep up the great work!
Oh Peter, should I eat 5-10 beef venison jerky sticks a day? Preferably from Mauinui, for a total of 700-1500$ a month?
Say it louder for the people in the back! Love this sentiment.
I get that, from the educational perspective to the masses. At the same time, I think it might be useful that there's some people out there with expendable resources that are willing to use themselves as guinea pigs for some hypotheses like those gene therapies that haven't been studied enough in humans.
Thank you!
Thank you Doc
Thank you very much for clarifying your stance on this controversial issue.
Amen to that!
Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride creator of the GAPS nutritional protocol and one of the pioneers linking gut health to brain and other physiological health conditions says that it is your own body that does the healing; it’s not the doctor, the pill, the diet but your own body which has been evolving over billions of years and which has everything programmed within it to heal given the right practices, both nutritional and lifestyle!
What episode is this from?
Well said
To be fair, Bryan is doing these things on top of a solid foundation of diet, sleep and exercise. For me seeing the guy try everything to reach those marginal gains, doesn't bother me in the least and while it's only one guy, in the end it might be enough for us to look back and say that it didn't matter one iota, and that's fine because one can't think of anything that the guy didn't do.
The thing is we need people like Bryan to try all this stuff. There is a chance he will try something that is a game changer. I also agree with Peter that most people need to focus on the common stuff like sleep, correct food, and exercise.
Thank you for this. I appreciate the reminder that my relatively lower income single 54-year-old self can do a lot to influence my own health.
Excellent, thank you.
Peter, your no nonsense attitude is one of the things I like about you. No need to change. It’s ok to explain it to folks but keep being yourself. You can hear similar irritation in your reaction to some conversations about nutrition!
Health is Wealth.
Good on u Peter!
Peter I'm so incredibly glad you made this video. It's great to see some common sense addressing the space.
The Bryan Johnson thing is ridiculous, he's failed to understand the most basic degree of risk assessment. He wants to live to 200? And he's taking 120 pills a day? Even if he got no more frail over the next 50 years, the likihood that he'll literally choke to death on a pill is literally a hundred times higher than the general population, and that's not even considering what happens if one of those supplements was contaminated (as recently happened in Japan, killing at least 5 people). He's dramatically increasing his risks in all sorts of ways that he has no ability to even measure... Getting blood transfusions from young people? Are you kidding me? Do you know how many f-king proteins there are in blood you just exposed your immune system to? What happens when you sensitize yourself to enough blood groups that you have an immune reaction if you need a unit in an emergency? Every single one of these areas is another exposure, more risk surface area to cover.
The whole thing is ridiculous. Get the basics right, and get funding for research into meaningful biomarkers for the kinds of things we need to trac as we age, and then we simply do our best to address these things as they relate to peoples goals.
Love this and agree, Tku!
This guy was the first one I ever heard who FINALLY said the science does not show any way to really prolong actual life. Which is true but no one says it
Nicely done.
Well said!
The real bio hacking is: sleep week, trained well, eat well and think well. For the rest of your life since age 20.
As a nutrition grad from Cal Poly SLO,… I left the field early because hype trumped science, discipline and consistency.
Agreed - just move! movement is the elixir
No I think you're doing the right thing. People have a tendency to miss the forest for the trees in addition to preferring get rich quick schemes, or like in this case, buy a pill and live longer without any hard work. We need more people pointing that out, not less.
This is exactly the reason why Peter Attia is absolute fax. He doesn’t care about BS. He doesn’t care about snake oil stuff. He doesn’t care about click bait stuff. He’s legit and the reason why I respect him.
NuSi
Personally, I don't think you come off as a jerk when it comes to biohacking at all. To the point that I didn't know that you were this strongly against biohacking. I also have a slight different definition of biohacking. To me eating the right foods according to the latest science, exercise (also according to the latest science,) sleep, etc. are a form of biohacking. But when it comes to things that are not only unproven, but just blatantly not true.....sure! One should strongly speak out against it. If you have these strong objections, then it shows you have high standards. And when it comes to health; strong standards should be the way. Expressing some things emotionally is only natural. We are humans not robots. To me, it seems you are very open minded compared to most M.D.s and yet have a reasonably high standard of scrutiny. This is what I enjoy. And of course....your wife should be your harshest critic...
Sometimes you’re a jerk………sometimes we are all jerks 😅 Thanks for your explanation though……….”wasting mind share” 🤔 I’ll keep that in mind!
if you think it is stupid, I value knowing that you think it is stupid. you are not the only one.
He says he was interviewed for a documentary on biohacking, where can I find this documentary?
I think he's talking about his interview with Chris Williamson, but that's a podcast.
I guess I think of biohacking as stuff like light environment, cold plunges, grounding… things that normal people can do, not spending thousands on supplements and living inside pale as a ghost, like BJ 🤷♀️
Eating fresh, uncooked foods of all colors, then cooked lean meats, avoiding dairy, processed foods, bread and pasta is a great place to start.
Get sunshine, fresh air, swim laps, go for walks, lift machine weights, do yoga, and live on a schedule that includes the same bedtime everyday.
This is how you completely change your life!!!
Can you expand on why one should avoid dairy?
No one could convince me to take a small doze of statins. But his interviews with well known lipidologists convince me to reduce my apo b. My apo b level
is low without experiencing any side effects.
totally agree with you
You are passionate not sounding like a jerk.
The way I think about it is that we don't seem to understand nutrition well, based on the never ending changes in guidelines, the conflicting studies and messaging, etc. if we do not fully understand something we have been doing to survive for thousands of years, what credence can I give to a discovery when we have just scratched the surface of it and depending on what you are talking about, putting your health at stake.
My grand plan is to eat whatever I want in moderation with a majority of the things being good food choices, walk about 3 miles every day and hit the gym 3-4 times per week to lift heavy things.
All of the research I have seen appears to overlap in the above loose plan. By the time any miracle pill or "the one true protocol" is revealed I am sure I will have been long dead.
I feel the same way
Peter ! Yes, lifestyle … diet, exercise, mind ….. but how about some omega 3s, taurine, glycine,Urolithin , NMN, etc etc etc etc etc ?? Be honest, you indulge, right ??
Granted, there are charlatans selling longevity with no actual results. And he's right to refer us to existing, inexpensive lifestyles that create good health. I would have liked to hear the Doctor's opinion on procedures like stem cell rejuvenation and the future of life extension with remedies like CRISPR gene editing. Life extension is a certain future.
Biohacking is longevity as a hobby.
That's why it's flooded with ad money and overcomplications.
Only expensive part of longevity should be the good quality meat.
Listen, truth hurts peoples feelings and so just put it out there straight and let them feel what they feel.
Kind of added to the confusion though as you talk about supplements all the time on your podcasts… vit d, omega 3, creatine… so these are supplements with zero to epsilon chance??
I have to disagree as a 60 yr old female user of Sinclair stack. Your sense of well being mood and most importantly MUSCLE recovery makes bio hacking supplements worth your consideration if you are doing strenious excersize. I have not read anything from any users where they think its going to extend their lives but it def
Influences your ability to work out day in and day out which makes most people feel great.
Bryan Johnson does not disagree with the message of seeking the inexpensive interventions at all though..
He is playing with fire, I have always said that he is insane but people treat him as a hero, and now he has taken an even more reckless step in approaching gene therapy on himself. I have no problem with him spending his money on things that have dubious efficacy and might even potentially harm him, at least he is monitoring well everything he does. But he is just another influencer in an already saturated market of paranoia and misinformation. What I only hope is that his craziness is not contagious.
@@GabrielCazorlaPersson1You’re assuming people don’t have free will. Let them make their own decisions.
@@GabrielCazorlaPersson1 I think it will be very interesting to see what comes of his self experimentation
He’s a ridiculous narcissist
@@martinlutherkingjr.5582 I am not assuming anything, what kind of counter argument is that? I said I don't mind what he does with his money, what I do worry is that he instills his crazy ideas on gullible people thinking they will arrive to perfection
While a lot of biohacking does tend to just being unproven nonsense, I don't think that's necessarily all it is. In my mind, biohacking is similar to transhumanism, in that it just means using science and technology to enhance or improve the human experience. It could be argued that using creatine is biohacking; it's not a substance that any doctor is going to prescribe to you or that anyone needs to supplement in order to survive. But it's a substance you can take that's proven to improve performance. Bodybuilders taking anabolic steroids could also be considered a form of biohacking. It may not be advisable due to side-effects, and it certainly isn't healthy, but nobody can argue that it doesn't work.
well said