Most biohacking advice is designed for people who already sleep eight hours, eat clean, and exercise daily. For everyone else, it’s noise. Josko and Brandon from Kraken Fitness in Burnaby tested the popular biohacks on themselves — red light therapy, grounding mats, cold plunges, intermittent fasting, sleep tracking, magnesium, food intolerance testing — and ranked them honestly. Three worked. Three didn’t. Here’s what actually moves the needle for everyday people.
Watch: Biohacking Basics for Everyday People
In this episode of the Kraken Power Podcast, Josko and Brandon rank the biohacks they’ve personally tested — what actually improved their health and what was a waste of money. Honest results, no sponsorship deals.
What Worked: Magnesium Bisglycinate Before Bed
Magnesium bisglycinate taken 30-60 minutes before bed was the single biggest biohacking win for Josko. It improved his sleep quality dramatically, eliminated teeth clenching he’d dealt with his entire life, and helped him fall asleep in about 10 minutes consistently.
The science backs it up. Magnesium is a cofactor in over 5,000 bodily processes. Bisglycinate is the most bioavailable form for sleep — it’s absorbed efficiently and has calming properties that other forms (like magnesium oxide) don’t offer. Josko takes it nightly. Brandon uses it situationally — when he’s sore, run down, or needs a particularly good night of rest.
One important nuance: Brandon noticed that taking too much made him groggy in the morning. His muscles took longer to wake up. This is the nature of biohacking — what works perfectly for one person needs adjustment for another. Brandon’s a naturally deep sleeper (two hours of deep sleep regularly), so the extra relaxation wasn’t always necessary.
For clients at Kraken Fitness in North Burnaby, magnesium is one of the first supplements the coaches discuss — because sleep is the foundation everything else is built on. If you’re going to start with one biohack, this is the one Kraken’s coaches recommend. It’s cheap, widely available, and the downside risk is close to zero.
What Worked: Tracking and Optimizing Sleep
Tracking sleep with an Oura Ring was a life-changing biohack for both Josko and Brandon. Before tracking, Brandon assumed six hours of sleep was enough — he felt functional, got through his day, thought he was fine. The Oura Ring showed him the truth: he wasn’t actually asleep for all six hours, and his sleep quality was poor.
That data led Brandon to quit drinking alcohol entirely. He could see on his stats exactly how much a single drink wrecked his sleep scores. The evidence was undeniable. From there, he made a series of lifestyle changes: no eating close to bed, reduced blue light exposure at night, no exercise before sleep, proper wind-down routines.
The results were dramatic — better energy, better mood, better relationships, more efficient work. Brandon now sleeps about seven hours and regularly hits an 85 sleep score. Josko needs eight-plus hours for the same score, which illustrates an important point: sleep needs are individual. Saying “everyone needs eight hours” is wrong. Some people need more, some need less. The tracker helps you figure out your number.
Josko and Brandon jokingly call the Kraken Power Podcast “the Vancouver sleep podcast” because sleep comes up in every single episode. There’s a reason for that — Kraken’s trainers in Burnaby see sleep as the #1 lever for fitness results, fat loss, energy, and recovery. Fix sleep first, then worry about everything else.
The Oura Ring isn’t the only option — any wearable that tracks sleep stages works. The point is replacing guessing with data. Most people are in denial about their sleep quality until they see the numbers.
What Worked: Food Intolerance Panel Testing
Food intolerance panel testing through a naturopath was the third biohack that delivered real results. Brandon had a blood panel done that tested for specific food intolerances — and the results were surprising.
Despite eating eggs and dairy for years, Brandon tested highly intolerant to both. He eliminated all trigger foods completely for one month and saw significant changes: less bloating (his body shape visibly changed around the midsection), better mental clarity, and complete resolution of chronic digestive issues he’d been dealing with for years.
The elimination process was harder than expected. Eggs and dairy are in everything — brioche buns, bread, sauces, processed foods. Reading ingredients became a daily task. But the results were worth the effort.
Josko’s results were less dramatic — his only significant intolerance was kiwi, which causes mild tingling in his mouth but no digestive upset. This difference highlights the individual nature of food intolerances and why testing matters.
Brandon’s naturopath, Drew, explained it using a bucket analogy: every stressor in your life — work stress, poor sleep, food intolerances, overtraining — goes into your stress bucket. When it overflows, your body reacts. Removing food intolerances creates room in the bucket so you can handle other stressors without your body breaking down.
Important context: food intolerance panels are a snapshot in time. Results can change as your overall inflammation decreases. Some clients at Kraken Fitness in Burnaby test intolerant to many foods because their body is already so inflamed that it can’t handle anything. As they get healthier — better sleep, less alcohol, more walking — some of those intolerances resolve naturally.
What Didn’t Work: Red Light Therapy, Grounding Mats, and Cold Plunges
Three popular biohacks that Josko and Brandon tested delivered little to no measurable benefit. Here’s the honest breakdown:
Red light therapy: Josko owns a device and used it regularly, hoping it would improve his circadian rhythm and sleep. Being completely honest with himself, he didn’t notice meaningful results. He acknowledges there could be factors — timing, distance from eyes, consistency — but the actual felt benefit was minimal. Brandon’s take: “It feels really nice. That’s about it.” Neither noticed skin improvements, injury healing, or sleep changes worth reporting.
Grounding mats: The theory is sound — humans evolved to be grounded to the earth, and modern life keeps us insulated from it 100% of the time. Josko bought a grounding mat and used it while working. The honest result: no noticeable benefit. He believes grounding is probably good for long-term health, but if you’re expecting to feel different from standing on a mat, it’s unlikely. Both agree that just spending more time outside barefoot is the better play.
Cold immersion (ice baths, cold showers): Brandon did the ice baths, the daily cold showers, the whole protocol. It didn’t help — and may have made things worse. He was already training hard, doing jiu-jitsu, working long hours. His cortisol was already high. Adding the shock of cold water created more stress, not less. He actually got sick more often when doing regular cold immersion.
The key insight: cold plunges attract people who are already active and disciplined — the exact population that’s already running on high cortisol and doesn’t need more stress. The 30 seconds of “I feel amazing” after an ice bath is an endorphin response — your body celebrating that you didn’t die. That’s not the same as a health benefit.
Brandon switched to an infrared sauna (heat) and finds it far more sustainable. He follows with a brief cool shower to bring body temperature down — not a shock, just a cooldown.
Why Intermittent Fasting Backfired
Intermittent fasting didn’t work for Brandon — and it made him sick. During university, he restricted his eating window to six hours while maintaining an athlete’s training schedule (jiu-jitsu, gym, studying). He couldn’t physically eat 3,000 calories in six hours around his packed schedule.
The result: he was chronically undereating. His training performance dropped. His studying suffered. And the “mental clarity” he felt during fasting? That was cortisol — his body going into fight-or-flight mode because it hadn’t eaten in 16 hours. “Be alert, search for food” is not the same as being focused.
The stress of school, training, and intermittent fasting combined to give Brandon shingles at 25 years old. His body was in such a stressed state that it broke down.
Josko is more nuanced. He occasionally does a 36-hour dry fast — not for weight loss, but for gratitude. Skipping a full day of food makes the first sip of water and first meal afterward feel incredible. He compares it to zoo lions that eat six days and fast one. But he doesn’t recommend it to active people or as a weight loss strategy.
The bottom line at Kraken Fitness: if you’re using fasting to control calories, there are better ways. Hand portions, protein focus, and cutting food before bed (all covered in Episode 2) are more sustainable and don’t risk the cortisol overload that fasting creates for busy, stressed people in Burnaby.
The Real Biohack: Experiment on Yourself
The overarching lesson from Josko and Brandon’s biohacking experiments: what works for one person may not work for another. Josko needs magnesium every night; Brandon uses it occasionally. Brandon’s sleep improved dramatically from tracking; Josko already slept well and needed eight-plus hours regardless. Cold plunges were harmful for Brandon but might help someone with low stress and low cortisol.
The word “biohack” is the problem. People want hacks — shortcuts that skip the basics. But the biggest needle movers Josko and Brandon found are all fundamentals: sleep, food quality, walking. The trendy stuff (red light, grounding, cold plunges) either didn’t work or had marginal benefit compared to simply sleeping eight hours and going for a walk.
Kraken’s coaches in Burnaby apply this same principle to client coaching. Instead of optimizing HRV with expensive devices, they start with: are you sleeping seven hours? Are you eating protein? Are you walking? If those basics aren’t covered, no biohack is going to save you.
Experiment with things. Write down how they make you feel. Track data if you can. But don’t skip the boring fundamentals chasing the latest trendy device or protocol. The basics are the biohack.
FAQ
What is the best biohack for beginners?
Start with magnesium bisglycinate before bed and a sleep tracker. These two interventions gave the biggest results for Kraken’s coaches in Burnaby. They’re inexpensive, low-risk, and target sleep — which is the foundation everything else is built on. Fix sleep first, then experiment with other biohacks.
Does red light therapy actually work?
Josko and Brandon both own red light therapy devices and found minimal measurable benefit. It feels pleasant but neither noticed significant improvements in sleep, skin, or injury recovery. If you’re on the fence about buying one, it’s unlikely to be a life-changing purchase.
Is cold plunging good for you?
It depends on your current stress level. Brandon found that cold immersion added stress to an already high-cortisol lifestyle and made him get sick more often. For people who are already active and stressed, heat therapy (sauna) may be a better option. Cold plunges attract people who need them least.
Should I try intermittent fasting for fat loss?
Kraken’s coaches don’t recommend intermittent fasting as a primary fat loss tool. For active people, it often leads to undereating and elevated cortisol. Better alternatives: stop eating 3-4 hours before bed, use hand portions, and focus on protein. These create a calorie deficit without the stress response.
How do I know which biohacks will work for me?
Experiment on yourself and track results. What works for one person may not work for another — Kraken’s coaches emphasize individual experimentation over following influencer protocols. Start with the fundamentals (sleep, protein, walking), then add one biohack at a time and measure how it affects your energy, sleep, and performance.
Ready to Start?
If you’ve been spending money on biohacks but haven’t nailed the basics — sleep, nutrition, and movement — Kraken’s coaches in Burnaby start with what actually works. Free trial week, no commitment. Just show up and see if it fits.
Listen and Watch
Catch the full conversation on the Kraken Power Podcast — available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major podcast platforms.
YouTube: https://youtu.be/uiu5SeKc9ac
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4PZvgGH20SBOtGQTtaZN1p?si=nywRHNRmS0OtHh95ditCmg
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/basics-of-biohacking-ep-3/id1769000945?i=1000669929118
About the Author
Josko Kraken is the founder of Kraken Fitness in North Burnaby near Brentwood, and Brandon is co-owner. Together they host the Kraken Power Podcast. With a combined two decades of coaching experience, they’ve built Kraken into a coached transformation gym serving non-gym people across the Greater Vancouver area. Their coaching philosophy centers on behavior change, sleep optimization, and building systems that work even on your worst week.
[Josko]
All right, welcome back to the Kraken Power podcast. We’re your hosts Josko and Brandon. In this episode we’re talking about biohacking for everyday people because in a world of red light therapy and grounding mats What do you do?
So in this episode we’re gonna be talking about biohacking and we’re gonna we split it up in an interesting way basically, we’re gonna talk about the top three things that have given us the most benefit when it comes to biohacking and then also the Top three things that had very little impact or literally didn’t do anything at all. So this is gonna help everyday people with biohacking It’s just like a stepping stone because the thing is like these are our top three But there’s many more that have been quite impactful But we had to choose three so we can keep this episode nice and concise and to give people an action plan on what to Do now and I was taking a look at the list and you and I have some similarities But if you know Josko and I like we have tried a lot of things Yeah, a lot a lot of things because we’re like always like, you know high-energy guys We’re trying to get as much stuff done during the day so we’re always looking for that next little thing to just push us over the edge if anybody wants to buy a bed yet like Yeah, mine is collecting dust so We’re gonna be I guess let’s start off with the top three things that worked And then do you want to just like do like I do one you do one I do when you do one Is that how you want to do it?
Sure, but like if there’s any crossover and stuff, then yeah, did you memorize yours? Yeah, okay Okay So the first one for sure hands down that made such a huge difference for me was taking magnesium by glycinate before bed Like 30 to 60 minutes before bed And the reason why is because my sleep improved so much from that because I used to clench my teeth basically my whole life and I don’t know why like my stress levels are very low because I Got them tested and even when I like don’t take magnesium for like two or three days I start clenching my teeth like if I run out or something like that, so I don’t know what it is I mean, I’m sure there’s something biologically wrong with me, right because I’ve done I’ve tested I’ve done blood tests and I don’t come back as magnesium deficient, but the magnesium seems to help me the most with that so if I am not not clenching my teeth and I have like less tension in my head and neck and If I sleep better then I guess that helps it as well and then I get lower stress And so yeah, the magnesium by glycine was huge for me Oh and also for falling asleep quickly not that I ever had big problems with it But now I fall asleep like nice and fast usually between like 10 around 10 minutes The crazy thing is magnesium is is like a cofactor in so many bodily. Yeah, I think it’s like 5,000 or more It’s crazy.
It’s crazy and also depending on what kind of binder you take with it So, I mean you and I have always discussed like by glycinate is by far like the most bioavailable way to get it in Especially if you’re gonna go and help use it to improve your sleep. Yeah for sure. I think I take one with that’s a Blend of like three different magnesium’s but it has by glycinate in it And I think it’s like the good a good stepping stone for most people is just starting with them by glycinate seeing how you feel from that and then potentially doing some blends of magnesium in the future, but Yeah, that was a huge thing for me.
I know it was for you because you still take magnesium I wonder for you because like, you know how you used to clinch like it is does have muscle relaxing properties I wonder if like that is part of why you were clenching before. Oh, yeah, maybe I have like a lot of I just hold A lot of tension. Yeah, I don’t know Maybe it’s just the way that I move or something like that Maybe it’s just the way that my head is like who knows what exactly it is Also one of the electrolytes that is lost and sweat to do you sweat a lot a lot?
But I do have an infrared sauna at home that I’ve been using every single day, right? That was that’s regard like that’s new that’s like that’s like my new next biohacking Sweat, I just let’s not talk about the sauna today. We talked about the sauna.
Yeah Yeah, cuz that’s new. That’s what I’m trying right now is the sauna, but I mean, I don’t sweat that much No, I see. Well when I’m in the sauna, like I sweat immediately totally so I don’t have a sweating issue Yeah for me, I’ll take magnesium When I need it realistically, I don’t really take it habitually.
You don’t take it every day. No I’ll use it more when like I’m feeling like super sore and really run down from my workouts or if like I need to Have a really good sleep But I don’t use it habitually. I found it when I did use it like regularly I would feel kind of like almost like too drowsy and it would take my muscles a little bit of time to like wake up in the morning But maybe that’s because I was taking too much to were you I mean, do you remember how many milligrams you were taking?
I think I was trying to get like 500 milligrams throughout the entire day including my food, too. Okay. Yeah.
Oh, okay Yeah, so just like one capsule. Yeah Yeah, it wasn’t like a crazy amount but I did notice that the days I took too much I would feel a little bit more drowsy, but I I’ve never really been like a Person who has a hard time sleeping like I am a pretty deep sleeper already And I would be like I would get like on my ordering like sometimes like two hours of deep sleep. It was crazy Yeah, so you’d get it regardless of two hours of deep deep sleep with magnesium or two hours deep with with magnesium But like without it’s usually like hour 20 hour 30.
Hmm, right? Yeah, so for me getting two hours of deep sleep is like impossible Like that was so hard. Yeah, so it’s like I get like at most like an hour and 45 and that’s like top exactly So people for you you’re gonna notice a bigger Yeah, it’s there right?
Yeah, I guess you’re right It depends on whether you’re like how you’re holding stress in your body and stuff and like I don’t know It’s like who knows exactly what’s going on in your body. And this is the thing with biohacking Experimentation like for example, okay. Well, I guess we’ll get into it.
But yeah, there’s things that work for some people and things that don’t work for others but You you also have mentioned like you’re one of your top three is tracking and optimizing your sleep Which kind of like falls into this category as well Magnesium the reason why I take it is to improve my slowly So yeah, and I obviously did that as well Like I I was the I got the aura ring before you optimize my sleep and I was like, yo, Brandon You should optimize your sleep and then you did it like the next day Yeah, like I mean I said this in the previous podcast where people always say like hey, how do you like our ring? I always say it literally changed my life Yeah, because before I would I would always be this guy who is like, oh six hours of sleep. I’m good to go Like I’m functional I can do things anything below six hours.
I’m not ready to get good to go, right? Yeah, but when I got my aura ring, I realized that yes I may be in bed for six hours But I’m not really asleep for six hours and then not only that my quality is not that good And one of the biggest things that tracking my sleep actually made me do was actually quit drinking alcohol Yeah, like because it would just totally wreck my sleep and it was just not really worth it at all So it that has been huge life shifts change I mean, obviously everyone goes to especially if you’re like in tune biohacker you go through this Phase where you’re really trying to over optimize your sleep and it kind of almost like that stress that causes you to have slightly Worse sleep so you have to learn how to kind of tether it back a little bit But overall like it has had such a giant impact on my life of like how much energy I have throughout the day How much more efficient with my actions I am how much more energy how much better my mood is?
How much better with my relationships with my friends my family have been just from improving my sleep and tracking it Yeah And I think it’s a it’s a for sure useful tool in general just to optimize things that are outside of your sleep as well Like it still attracts your steps and it still attracts your heart rate throughout the entire day So there’s there’s many more things that come along with the or ring that are outside of the sleep But then that also indirectly affect your sleep, you know Yeah, totally, but I think it was the biggest shift for me was just being able to see the data Oh, yeah, right because before I was almost like in denial that I was like six hours. Yeah, great.
Awesome And then I was like, oh no, that’s not good Yeah, and then now it’s like I’m still getting around like seven seven and a half hours but it’s really good quality like I’m getting like Hour and a half of like deep sleep hour and a half of like REM sleep and I’m asleep the entire night So when you sleep for seven hours, like you get what are your sleep scores? Yeah, like 85 that’s insane. Yeah, so for me to get to 85 I need to sleep at least eight hours at least right?
Yeah, right Yeah because I I Think quality now for me is much better and much improved because of like the lifestyle changes that I’ve made like I don’t eat close To bed, but I’m trying to like reduce my blue light exposure before bedtime, right? I try not to exercise close to bedtime Yeah, trying to wind myself up. So I do all that.
Yeah, I still don’t get as good of a sleep as you Yeah more sleep, but so basically That just shows you how different everybody is and like to say that everybody needs to get eight hours of sleep is so wrong Like for me, I definitely need more than eight hours of sleep, right? And I think for my wife like she needs to push that like ten Yeah And so and and it also know that’s the thing like she’ll get like two hours plus of deep and REM sleep But like she still needs it, you know, you always have to You always have to experiment. Yeah That’s why it’s almost like even though we’re sharing or like our own scores and our hours It’s it’s like you should realistically.
Yeah, it’s subjective But you should almost really be tracking against yourself and trying to improve yourself, right? and that’s what the ring was or these any of these wearables were actually designed to do is That’s why they don’t really have any like friend features on it Or you can like high-five each other for getting a great night’s sleep or like comparing like look at my scores versus yours, right? Yeah, yeah Like they you can tell they’ve toned that portion down just so it’s like it’s a single person’s journey.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah No, it truly is supposed to be like that but Another so I just realized that all three of my fit like top three have something to do with sleep This is the Vancouver sleep podcast.
Remember? Yeah, this is what it always is But so basically the next one is I quit coffee So that’s have been a huge thing for me as well where I realized that I don’t need the coffee where before I used to drink one coffee in the morning like you as yourself right now like you only have the one and And then I like I would go like months with just drinking just one But then eventually I’d have like a second one That’s like later in the morning and then eventually like I’ll maybe even push it even a little bit later than that and then next And you know like it’s affecting my sleep So I realized that like I just need to completely 100% cut off caffeine and I’ve done it in the past But then this time I was kind of like angry about it, you know So that that was the difference So before I quit and I was like, I feel good like I don’t need caffeine like screw caffeine, right? But then now I’m like I hate caffeine. Yeah, I screw you ruin my life.
Yeah, I can’t believe you’re drinking that Gotta be a little bit smug about it. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Well good good good for you I like I still have like one coffee in the morning But to improve my sleep one of the biggest things was I have caffeine cut off Right and was making sure that I have like literally no extra like Stimulants that are gonna keep me up past 12 o’clock
[Brandon]
right
[Josko]
And that you know has shown in my ordering scores and just my quality of sleep and energy throughout the day realistically Because I do notice this like on Saturdays is the day where sometimes like our trainers come in or the but do you want another coffee and it’s like 10 o’clock and I’m Like yeah, sure. I’ll have another one That’s the only day that I you know Every other month may I might have two cups of coffee and I know by like 12 1 2 o’clock in the afternoon There’s a crash. There’s a huge crash Yeah, for sure exactly And that’s that’s the one thing that I noticed that I don’t have anymore ever since I quit coffee is I don’t have the crash And it’s not like I had like a super intense crash like I was like done for the day But like 2 3 4 o’clock would roll up and I would be tired But then now I think it’s like 2 or 3 o’clock right now, and I don’t feel tired.
So it just kind of like Evened that out and also the one thing when I quit coffee was like I thought that I was gonna be tired Like that like no coffee like that thing that keeps me up is gonna like it’s not there anymore So I’m just gonna be tired all the time. I’m not I was tired while I was drinking coffee I’m tired now. There’s no difference Yeah, you know like I still wake up and I’m like like every human and every animal wakes up They don’t just like spring into action You know you you slowly wake up over like the course of like maybe 30 minutes for some people maybe even hours for others And then eventually you’re just up and you’re you’re good to go for the whole day but versus the coffee you just like skip all of that right, you know, it just gives you that little like zing in the morning and But the thing is like after a while your body just gets used to it, right you just you know, you get hooked on it in the morning because you You like it’s you want to avoid all those feelings and then realistically You’re just pushing it on to later in the day at the beginning when you first start drinking coffee Like you you feel something, you know, like you actually feel like a hit But then after like six months a year Multiple years is just a part of your morning routine that like it doesn’t do anything And then when you don’t drink it, that’s when you have a problem because you have like all this withdrawal, you know Like that’s like, oh, I’m so tired. He’s like I woke up a little bit late and I couldn’t make my coffee You know, it’s like but you didn’t really need the coffee to begin with.
Yeah, we should just normalize It’s okay to be tired throughout the day. Yeah, like here and there like pockets of tiredness Like if you’re going hard, you’re gonna be tired. Yeah, you’re gonna be tired and On the note of the aura ring It does show you like when you’re engaged in stress Versus when you’re relaxed and restored and you do need to balance that throughout your day and you shouldn’t use coffee to do that Yeah, I don’t know my aura rings always like you’re engaged throughout the entire day.
Yeah, and then that’s why I sleep hard Yeah, well on that note like so because I have that caffeine cut off one of the kind of like biohacking things that I Have leaned into if I do need to get some work done And I want some periods of really intense focus during the afternoon is I would use alpha GPC, which is a nootropic Which would not make me so wired it would just kind of allow me to bring more like focus and more energy to the task at hand and This one is goes in and out of your body very quickly. So it’s not like caffeine who has a six-hour half-life So it’s not really affecting my sleep in the afternoon And on top of that, there’s some really good research coming out of this now like creatine Creatine like habitual creatine has helped me like increase my energy my in my levels of focus So sometimes I’ll take like two and a half grams in the morning and then two and a half grams in the afternoon if I really Need that little bit of a pick-me-up yeah, and I do like creatine as well because I Doctors have been actually prescribing creatine for ever now for cognitive benefits like I think there are studies even way back like 20 years ago that showed that creatine helps with memory and also with preventing Alzheimer’s I see you can see some like Creative people using creatine now for like again Whatever way you get in you there’s easier ways Like people who are like writers who are like artists and there’s even some people using it for like depression.
Oh, yeah. Yeah Interesting. Yeah, so there I mean, yeah, I shouldn’t maybe is like start dabbling into the creatine because I stopped taking it Well, it’s like it’s like so easy to get right.
It’s cheap. It’s available to you and it’s one of the most Scientifically proven and studied supplements out there. The only thing is so on the Like this whole podcast we’ve basically been saying like how like every so different right?
So yeah in that theme I am very creatine sensitive So that’s why I like end up stopping it all the time So like if I start taking creatine like five grams, like I’m gonna gain five pounds, right? Hey, you just like I just retain water retain more water. So I have to be really careful with the amount So maybe if I was taking one gram or two grams, yeah, that may be able to be okay But I think I need to keep the dose lower But that’s the thing you have to experiment with these things and you have to like write down How it makes you feel so you can look back at your dad and be like, okay These are the changes and this is how I remember how I feel and everything else like that But so my third thing was sleep So we’re just gonna skip over that because we’ve been talking about it for basically this entire podcast But your third one was food intolerance panel testing and that’s what I did as well. I didn’t have any Intolerances basically, I think it was like Kiwi and I do notice that when I eat Kiwi because I had one like two weeks ago That I my mouth gets like a TV, but I finished I like a three of them But I didn’t notice any like digestive upset or anything.
Yeah, so I don’t even think I’m like that allergic to Kiwi Maybe just a little tiny bit So but for you you you noticed like quite a few quite a quite a big difference And so when we’re talking about like food intolerance panel testing like Yashka and I both went to our naturopath. Shout out to drew Who did an actual like blood panel so they took our blood sample and then they did test in the lab to see which foods you have intolerances to and Because I’m an Asian descent, of course I was like very intolerant to dairy and I’ve kind of always known this because like growing up I mean I used to always drink lots of milk growing up But it got to a certain point when I was like 15 or 16 and I was on the soccer field I was like, oh there’s something wrong And so I would avoid drinking milk for a while but then later on in adulthood I was like, okay well, I want to take some kind of protein supplement and I’m gonna start taking away and I would always kind of switch brands to find ones that would kind of agree with my stomach a Little bit more and I was like, okay like the isolates the ones are more isolated I can take those and kind of handle those and it wasn’t until I actually did the food panel testing where I was like oh, no, even the isolates I’m very intolerant to and And eggs as well that one was a very big surprising one to me because I was like Oh like eggs must be one of the most bioavailable things to like everyone like everyone is like literally what white life stems from and like you ever See you like any animal in the wilderness. They would love to eat an egg of any kind Yeah, I was like I should be able to eat eggs, right?
So after I had this food panel testing done like I actually avoided Completely all of the foods that were I was very intolerant to for a full month Like completely like I was looking at ingredients because you’ll be surprised like how much like eggs are in everything Like you like get a slice of bread. It’s a brioche bun eggs milk everything in there, right? so you have to be really careful of like what you’re ingesting because it’s probably is gonna have these things in it and so I Completely avoided these foods for about a month and I noticed like way less Bloating like even my body shape changed like I I didn’t I have as much bloating around my midsection.
My mental clarity was better I didn’t have the digestive issues that I used to have like I would TMI I would get lots of like running diarrhea all the time, right all these issues completely completely healed and You know over time. I have been like slowly Reintroducing some of these things but in limited capacities Yeah, totally because that’s the other thing too. Like whenever you take some sort of blood test That’s a snapshot of how you are at that moment in time So it’s not gonna be super accurate and including this test as well so for example like you might get some people who are like Come back on an allergy test and they’re like allergic to everything and it’s like what the heck is going on?
Like I can’t I literally can’t eat anything But it’s because your body’s so inflamed that you can’t like you literally can’t handle anything And then over maybe over some time of you just like, you know not drinking alcohol and improving your sleep and not drinking so much coffee and like all these other things and Maybe like you’re like super allergic to chocolate and you’ve been eating chocolate every single day You stop eating the chocolate and you’re no longer allergic to the other things So and sometimes it’s a mix of things as well that people don’t realize like it’s a chocolate with a croissant You know that like really messes you up, but you can have them separately So it’s just because it shows you on your blood test that you’re you were allergic or like or your allergy test You’re alert doesn’t mean that you’re gonna be allergic to it forever But start getting healthy and start improving all of your inflammation and then over time it will get better or maybe not for everyone maybe some people are just screwed forever, but It should get better. It should get better as you’re as you get healthier totally and then I like process more foods Yeah, drew like he explained it to me in like the simplest terms is the best He’s like, oh just think about like all of like your life stressors is like a bucket, right? And like maybe like work stress life stress like all the food intolerances There’s these things that just like go into your bucket, right and over time that bucket gets filled And that’s how much tolerance that you have to all of these stressors And so if you’re consistently filling your bucket It’s gonna get to a point where it spills over the top and your body’s just gonna be like freaking out But if you can slowly take a few of those things out So when you do have one of those stressors that go into the bucket, you’re like, hey, I got room I got room for this this I got way more tolerance. Yeah, I have this like She’s like, yeah, she had this cheesecake that this bun with like an egg in it Yeah, and I think that because I’ve had this food panel testing I was able to remove these things and then slowly, you know reintroduce them back in again to certain capacities Yeah, but without that I would have not have known right? And so I think if I were to kind of summarize two of my like biohacking these it’s just these tools to make myself more aware of like What is going on with my body?
Mm-hmm totally But now we’re gonna just quickly dive into the three things that didn’t work From us and that or or that had like very little impact and we’re just gonna buzz through these really quickly We’re not gonna get into too much depth into them. But for me One thing that like didn’t do that much I feel like maybe I just didn’t do it as much as I should was the red light therapy device like I just feel like in the like whenever I was like using it like I Like I want to say that like oh, yeah, I hope so much but like I honestly if I’m being completely honest with myself I don’t think there’s that much benefit to it. And then maybe um, I Had to time it better with like different light sources and stuff Like maybe I need to do it just before bed or like I don’t even know exactly maybe because you know like a lot of the time when I would use it I would be like I Like my goal with it right was to help me improve my sleep my circadian rhythm So I needed the red light directly into my eyes.
Like I’m assuming maybe I wasn’t like close enough to my eyes maybe like There could be so many factors like I’m not gonna say that it’s not gonna work for everyone but for me, I just personally didn’t feel like I got that much results from it and I’m not afraid to try it again or like continue using it because it’s like I have it I’m not gonna sell it like I feel like it Like I do need to figure out the method to add it into my life to help But like I just didn’t get that much benefit from it So like if you’re on the fence about buying or I don’t want to say it’s not gonna work for you But if you’re on the fence about buying it just don’t think it’s gonna be like a huge life change It’s not gonna like solve all your issues I have to Like therapy devices you have one, right?
I have one. Yeah, did you find that it helps? Um I’ll just say this it feels really nice.
That’s about it.
[Brandon]
That’s about it.
[Josko]
You still use it every day I still know I’ll use it if I’m like doing computer work or if I’m like in the morning I’ll like turn it on when I’m doing computer work So it’s a nice wake up to the day rather than just being blasted by my monitor just full of blue light right away It’s just like a nice light to wake up to yeah, it’s it’s very calming I I wouldn’t say I have any crazy like healing of my injuries at all.
My skin Isn’t drastically improved enough for me to be like, yeah, like I’m ready to be in a commercial You know, but you know, there’s I’m not on the topic of skin There’s many other things like jiu-jitsu is working against me. So I would never say that like yeah, my skin is completely better You know totally so that was one thing for me. The next thing was a grounding mat.
So obviously humans are meant to be on like grounded to the ground and when you when you do stand on the ground the Electricity out of your body like leaves the ground you you go to zero and right now me and you are probably have like Electricity in our body that’s just like floating around there around all this podcast equipment and oh, yeah Classic flip-flops, but as soon as your bare feet touch the ground that goes to zero and so humans in the past Used to run around barefoot and like all animals spend a hundred percent of their time completely grounded We don’t so I got this grounding mat The thing is though and I’m sure it’s like really good for me.
Like I’m sure Maybe ten years later. I might look back be like, oh good thing I was using that but if you think that you’re gonna get some sort of benefit from grounding pad right now Probably not. Yeah, it’s like so unlikely and So but I do 100% believe that we should be spending way more time Grounded because in nature we’d be grounded 100% of the time now, we’re grounded 0% of the time I mean, we just spend more time outside realistically Yeah, just barefoot though.
Yeah.
[Brandon]
Yeah. Yeah.
[Josko]
Yeah. I mean I didn’t notice Okay, so when I used to play a lot more in volleyball and we used to play like grass volleyball day I feel great. Yeah, just like but you’re in the Sun in the Sun You’re like feet are in the grass all day and you’re moving but nothing too strenuous.
It feels great. Yeah. Yeah But um, you know, I guess like throughout the summer.
I mean the winter months here in Vancouver It’s like you’re not gonna go and just I don’t know maybe bread does In the rain just running through the forest But also the grounding mat like another way that you can use it for Hours potentially in a day because I would only use it like whenever I’m near a grounding mat and I’d be like standing on it Right, but we’re sitting down and putting my feet on it, but I’ve heard a lot of people they put the grounding mat on their bed Yeah, that way they’re just like connected to it like for a full eight hours now to definitely make a difference I mean, I don’t know if you’d feel a difference, but it would definitely if you’re trying to reduce the amount of Like nation.
I don’t even know if it would like I don’t know if you’d get immediate results Right, but like I think the big needle movers are probably just like improving your sleep Maybe if it would improve my sleep exactly. I’m gonna cut I’m gonna you know what? I’m gonna try it for like a week in my bed, and then I’ll come back.
Okay, okay but The other thing that didn’t work for me was the bed jet was so the bed jet Basically, what it does is like it cools your bed Well, it’s it’s like a conditioning for a bed Yeah, it’s a fan unit that goes underneath their comforter and then it just basically it’s supposed to regulate the temperature Above you right and in between you and your blanket. Yeah, I Have one too. Yeah, so you have one so the thing is like I really liked it at the start because I think I got it during like the summer if like Close to the summer, but the thing is though I realized that I’m Like the timing of it has to be so precise exactly So like basically you can either heat it or cool it and like when I go into my bed I need to be like cool.
Yeah cold So then I would run it cold right and then in the middle of the night, then I’ll be like, oh Cold, what do I do and like even yeah, you’re like you’re screwed You don’t even know what to do because you bundle up you try to bundle up more. It’s like making it worse Yeah, and then and then in the morning, you’re like you’re like, okay. Well when I wake up in the morning I want to be like nice and warm But then like the timing was a little bit off and then you end up being like extremely hot like an hour before you have To wake up and then it like ruins your sleep.
So You get rid of that bed. Jeff for some people I totally agree that it would like be really beneficial Especially if you’re like a hot sleeper throughout the entire night and you’re not like you can’t have like air conditioning inside your room or something Like that it would 100% help you for me. I’m not a hot sleeper.
So like it just didn’t really do I mean, okay I’m a hot sleeper But I found that because the air current was going like over top of my body wasn’t realistically where I was like the hottest It was like me on my mattress, which is where I had a lot of the heat, right? So that’s I’m very curious about the eight sleep mattress. Yeah.
Yeah Yeah, cuz that would be like some kind of like mattress cooler that could also heat and cool down Maybe that would be different but $4,000. Yeah, exactly. They have an anti-snore technology now So like when you are snoring like it’ll prop you up to prevent you from snoring.
Oh interesting. Yeah automatic. Do you snore?
Oh, yeah, you snore. Oh, yeah. Oh interesting.
Yeah. Yeah, it’s cuz I can’t get good sleep Yeah, I can’t breathe out my nose. Oh interesting.
Okay, cuz like typically snoring. I mean, I’m not a sleep doctor Yeah, like that is a sleep apnea. Essentially is sleep apnea.
I think I’m just sleeping hard I’m just I’m just trying to get so much Aaron because I’m just like going, you know But you broke your nose before right?
[Brandon]
Oh, yeah
[Josko]
No, no, I’m just sleeping hard But you also mentioned cold immersion as well, yeah, so yeah, I find that I mean, okay There’s always like the debate heat cold heat cold for me for me specifically Cold immersion didn’t really help me that all and I’ve done like the ice bath I’ve done the cold shower every morning kind of thing and I think that it was like My life is kind of already full of like a shock full of cortisol already Like I don’t need that extra jolt before I go to bed that jolt when I wake up in the morning Right, and I found that like when I did ice baths like I yeah I’ll do the hot cold cycle But I would kind of get sick after because I’m already kind of like run down from the workouts that I’m doing I’m already kind of run down from work Jiu-jitsu life everything like that And so me for me to get this crazy like my body to go into like, oh my god Are you in the Titanic right now? And then just like shock and then you feel good after right like don’t get me wrong like 30 seconds after I’m like, yeah That feels great.
But you know, is it did you feel great because of like the endorphins that are coming like what? What made you feel good? I think that’s what it was Yeah, then so just like those hormones are telling you like hey you got out.
Yeah. Congratulations You didn’t die on the Titanic like you survived.
[Brandon]
Let’s get the hell out of here.
[Josko]
So good Yeah, no, like it’s not just because you feel good after doesn’t mean the thing that you were doing is good Yeah, so like longevity wise. I don’t think it was sustainable for me As a matter of fact, it would I would get colds and I would get sick more often when I did it Yeah, totally. So like I said, I have a sauna now So I find that that’s way more comfortable for me and I just get out as soon as I starts feeling like uncomfortable So like I sweat and it feels good and then I leave once like I’m like, okay Like I’m starting to like tap my toes.
I’m like it’s time to get out But then I followed up with like a cold shower, which just cools down my body and it doesn’t feel bad, right? No, and I only run the cold shower for as long as I need it doesn’t feel like oh like come on Let’s go into this cool shower. Like one two three, you know, it doesn’t feel like that it’s just like Like I need to cool down a little bit like you just like get your shoulders wet and your head wet a little bit I think there’s a difference between like hot and cold because like when you do Even like like heat immersion, right?
You’re gonna go into a sauna it’s not like your body temperature jumps from like 36.6 or 37 degrees to like 40 and like within a span of a second. Yeah, like two seconds, right? It’s like it’s slowly warming up.
Your body’s acclimating. You’re like, okay. I’m now I’m gonna start to get a sweat on Okay, my breathing rates kind of going a little bit more There’s like time for you to kind of like warm up where like when I did cold immersion It would be like, all right, ready?
One, two, three jump in this ice bath and you’re like, oh my god. I’m gonna die Yeah, it’s yeah, so I I don’t know how much of a benefit there is to especially like ice baths and Yeah, I think it’s a great mental exercise But if you’re ready like like pretty good with you because a lot of the thing is it like a lot of people with like the cold immersion stuff Are people who are already Active and who are already like fairly disciplined like somebody who’s not disciplined is not gonna be doing a cold cold shower you know or like a or a Ice bath ice bath. Yeah, so It attracts people who are ready like high cortisol who are already like super disciplined So then your benefits out of that like I just don’t see how much you’re gonna get and then on top of that more Beneficial for you to sort of like thinking about how should you reduce your cortisol?
Yeah, you reduce your stress Yeah, and I think that like I had to be much more strategic and specific of the time that I actually did cold immersion to Because if I did cold immersion like within I don’t know a few hours of me going to bed like I’m not going. Yeah Yeah, I’m not your body was just like you escaped death. Yeah, it was like I can do like a sauna like closer bed I’m like, oh, I’m ready to fall asleep.
Mmm, right? It’s like it helps my sleep if not like disturb it. Yeah, totally And then you also of course mentioned intermittent fasting which it didn’t work for you, yeah, so I know it’s super popular but for me intermittent fasting did not work at all and like just to be kind of clear like I was using it for like the cognitive benefits right and You know sell your health autophagy and such right?
And there’s like no autophagy that happens in Intermittent fasting. Yeah, so I was doing this back when I was in University and when I was in University again times of high stress I’m my schedule super busy. I’m doing jujitsu.
I’m doing work, right? I literally like it as an athlete I did not have enough time in the day to get my calories in like if I restricted my eating window to six hours There’s no way I’m eating 3,000 calories in six hours. Yeah, and like in between my schedule and everything else like that So what actually happened to me was I was eating less calories and as an athlete I needed those calories to fuel my like studying I needed to fuel my workouts I needed to fuel my training and I just was like as like my performance was just being depleted and then on top of that like again, the reason why I was getting this like mental clarity at first is because Cortisol rush.
Yeah, right and it was because like your body’s in like a fight-or-flight mode It’s like we better search for food. We better search food We haven’t had food in 16 hours like be alert on the alert, right and that’s a rise in cortisol And then I ended up actually getting shingles Because of the stress of like school training Intermittent fasting like my body was in such a stressed state that I got shingles as a 25 year old man Yeah, people don’t realize just how much you have to manage your stress and cortisol. Yeah, it’s so important, right?
But so in speaking of fasting though, like I do Dabble with fasts every once in a while. I don’t even think I like told you this but like even on Monday I did 36 hours Wow, no food. No water Wow But basically the way that I look at it is like just it’s not like for any benefit other than like autophagy and just mental fortitude Yeah, like I just do it because I’m like, I’m just not gonna eat tomorrow and I just don’t eat for the entire day Right, but and then like including like I don’t eat like I don’t like let’s say I have my last meal of five I don’t eat five the next day.
Like I’ll eat the next day in the morning because I’m like that’s a day You know, it’s not like cheating like Oh 24-hour fast like no like you skip a day, right? And I it actually makes me feel so much more grateful the next day Mmm, like especially my the food the next day feel tastes so good I bet and like that like I did dry fast like just on Monday. I did a dry fast and I just like like that first like sip of water is like amazing and so I just like that because it makes me feel more grateful and I think that gratefulness is Something that a lot of people are missing were you able to eat like eat a lot in your first meals after or no?
I just ate I just went back to eating normally normally Yeah, like so I didn’t have like I think I had one extra egg in the morning, right? It wasn’t like I earned this wasn’t like a rock cheat day. No Just like that’s the thing like where typically people are like going back to their crappy diet Like I just went back to just eating yeah, it’s not like for the purpose of weight loss or anything is just to it but oh the reason why I like was like I started dabbling this because I went to the zoo and like the Lions never Never get to eat for three days.
No, so the Lions they the I know this is obviously a completely different digestive tract and stuff But I just like it interested me right and into dabbling into it So the Lions they feed them for six days and they don’t eat for one and I was like they cuz they eat once per Day, yeah, and then so they’d eat eat eat for six days one meal a day and then on the seventh day They don’t eat and I was like, okay, I’m gonna do that I don’t know.
No, I like looked into a little more and I was like, you know what? Maybe Dana White isn’t like so crazy. Yeah, I just did like just 36 days or so you’re 36 hours but Yeah, so that’s what it takes to be the king of the jungle Yeah, I don’t recommend that to everyone.
It’s obviously not for everyone Like I don’t know if it would be a recommend if I should recommend it to a guy like you because you’re so active Yeah, but I don’t think that there’s anything that can like That can yeah I mean, I think a lot of people the reason why it’s Trendy is because it’s just a good way for a lot of people to control their calories Yeah, totally So for me like if you’re trying to use fasting as a weight for you to lose weight Like there’s so many better ways to do it, correct?
Correct, correct but just like inherently if people like don’t want to learn how to do portion control or they don’t want to inherently like Or they don’t want to like weigh their food and ever figure out how many calories are eating They just like buy it’s a byproduct of like only being able to eat during certain amount or certain hours of the day It’s like you’re gonna eat less calories. Yeah, but for me as an athlete I needed those calories and me having less was actually detrimental to my performance in my health. Yeah, totally yeah, yeah, it all depends on like you and Yeah, that’s the point of this entire podcast Like it’s all just depending on you and you have to experiment with a lot of stuff and this is what we experimented with and This is the things that gave us the most bang for the buck and things that like didn’t do anything That’s but that’s why it’s funny that we call bio hacks.
Yeah, because it’s like people just want the hacks They don’t want the like. Hey, just sleep eight hours. It’s like no, this is a hack.
Yeah Sleep for five. Yeah But yeah, that’s basically the end of this podcast Thanks for tuning in guys, and we’ll see you in the next one. Yep