Biohacking isn’t just about what you eat and drink or how you train, it’s about your lifestyle and this includes where you live, so this is how you can biohack your home:
- Improve air quality
- Minimize toxins
- Minimize EMFs
- Increase positive energy in the home
- Create the perfect bedroom for sleep
- Make your kitchen perfect for biohacking food and drink
- Create a place to biohack your body physically and mentally
Biohacking, because it’s a science-based, pro-active approach to radically improving the way your brain and body works, means where you live and how you live there is important. And there are many ways to quickly, easily and cost effectively, do it, in fact many of the the best things to do are free.
The benefits of biohacking your home include:
- Transforming your sleep
- Improving your memory and brain function
- Increasing energy levels
- Making you happier
- Reducing stress
- Reducing or eliminating allergies
- Helping you manage your weight
Table of Contents
Improving air quality
We’re all aware that air quality, especially in built up areas, isn’t ideal, but even in the most poluted city you can biohack it in your home.
And it’s not all man-made polutants in the air you have to watch out for, there are natural things like radon gas too, so managing air quality in your home shoud be a priority.
There are many ways you can improve air quality but the first thing is to purify the air as this will not only remove toxic air particles, it will also reduce airborn allergens, which are things that cause the body’s immune system to respond excessively to soemthing most people don’t have an allergy to.
Depending on the air purifier you chooose, as you can filter and sterilise the air together or independantly, and you’ll be able to remove up to 99.99% of pollutants, dust mites, mould spores, pet hair, dead skin, smoke particles, odours, bacteria, viruses and much more.
Filtration works by using a pre-filter to take out larger particles.
HEPA or electrostatic filter that removes finer particles.
An active carbon filter to remove odours and a number of chemicals.
The carbon filter can also be enhanced if you want to remove more chemicals, gases and even Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) like the gases and fumes that come from buring wood, coal, petrol or natural gas.
It’s not just burning things that causes VOCs they’re also in all sorts of everyday things like capets, paint, cigarettes, glue, cleaning products, air fresheners, printers and copy machines, pesticides and many more things we come in to contact with every day.
For sterlization, UV light in a proces called photocatalytic oxidation to destroy VOCs, bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms.
And then you can use an ioniser to refresh the air too, which turns the air in your home in to something that resembles freash mountain air as it changes the electrical charge in the air.
A good giuide to air purification is that you should be able to change the air in a room at least 3 times per hour, as this will take account of air that comes in and out of a room because of natural circulation and doors and windows causing air changes too.
When it comes to filtration, also consider how you clean the home, many good vacume clearners also have things like HEPA filters, so this can really help, especially if you suffer from allergies or have conditions like asthma.
And if you don’t want to use a machine to purify the air then plants can help do this too, in
You’ll find that some rubber plants, ferns, palms and lilies are great at purifying the air. And although most plants give off CO2 at night, there are some that actually give off Oxygen during the night as well as during the day, such as the areca palm, or aloe vera plant, so this may help you improve the air quality in your home.
There are other natural biohacks for the air in your home too. As well as purification you can also charge the air in other ways such as adding certain aromas with incense or natural essential oils as these can change how you feel, whether you want to relax or be more alert.
Then there’s air temperature, we often have our homes too warm and unless there’s a baby in the house, it’s a good idea to keep the house at about 18 – 20℃ (64 – 68℉) but the bedroom should be cooler at 15 – 18℃ (60 – 64℉) because as you sleep your body temperature naturally lowers as this improves sleep quality.
Along side air temperature you should also look at air humidity, a good guoide is to have a humidity level of about 50%, but in the bedroom 40% can be beneficiail, although some people like it even lower than this.
One of the main reasons to keep humidity lower than many people have it, is that this helps prevent viruses, moulds and toxins surviving and multiplying. And another posiitve side effect is tat a less humid home is less expensive to heat or cool too.
Minimize toxins
We’ve already talked a little about reducing toxins in the home through air purification, but it’s a good idea to not introduce them in the first place.
Some people suffer from what’s called Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) or Idiopathic Environmental Intolerances (IEI). Even if you don’t have serious reactions, toxins affect you to a certain degree, so it’s a good idea to biohack the home and your body to help you deal with these.
It doesn’t matter whether or not you have allergies or are sensitive to specific chemicals. There are toxins in household cleaning products, furniture and mattress foam, soft furnishings, paint and varnish, carpets, building materials, products used in food production and preservation, and much more, and they are having a negative effect on you.
A new home, newly decorated home or even new flooring may look great, but VOCs take a least 6 months to naturally fall, or as they say offgas, and in some cases this can it can take up to 20 years.
Always look for zero or low-VOC products, natural products like wood, as opposed to man-made building products like
With household cleaning and laundry products it’s easy to find better versions of these from a toxic point of view in grocery stores.
You can also easily and cheaply make your own cleaning products with natural substances like lemon juice, white vinegar, baking soda and water – in fact many of the natural solutions are better than the chemicals too and they don’t damage the planet either.
And it’s not just the fabric of a home that’s a toxin problem. The chemicals you put on your body are harmful too – the deodorant, toothpaste, shampoo, perfume and aftershave.
If you want to know about potential problems cause by putting chemicals on your body, just Google the claims made regarding deodorant causing breast cancer.
Chemicals and toxic substances are not natural, and some damage your skin, can be absorbed through the skin and some can be breathed in too, so think about picking less harmful products. As a guide I always think about what I call “The Lick Test”.
The Lick test is this: “Would I spray, pour or rub that on something and give it a lick?”
If the answer’s no then maybe I shouldn’t be using it to clean work surfaces or clothes, to decorate my home, or the clean my body.
And the water you use is something to look at, you can biohack it in all sorts of ways, not just to drink and cook with, but in other ways too, and we have a whole article on this on the site that you can check out.
Minimize EMFs
Most homes now have WiFi and people have mobile phones, tablets, smart TVs, smart gas and electric meters and other wireless devices, but it’s not just these that emit Electro Magnetic Frequencies.
Electrical pollution is also caused by any and all electrical devices, from power lines to the wiring in your home, from UV lights to microwave ovens, so the world is literally covered in electromagnetic radiation (EMR) it’s a reality of how we live today.
So even if you eliminate electro smog, as it is also called, from your own home, which isn’t always easy or convienient, your neighbour’s probably radiatiung them, and so is your work environment too.
There are natural EMFs from the sun and the earth, in fact everything has a frequency, so avoidance is a more logical approach.
In reality, the only thing EMFs can’t penetrate is lead, and we don’t want to live our lives inside a faraday cage to protect ourselves.
There are significant numbers of opinions and debates about how harmful EMFs arebut there’s strong, recognized scientific evidence that they have negative effects on the body and mind.
Reported negative health efefcts from widely respected bodies, such as the World Health Organization, include:
- Damage and mutattion to cells, including causing cancer
- Decline in the body’s immune system
- Negative effects on sleep
- Depression
- Damage to the brain, causing memeory loss, headaches and reduced memeory function
- Alters brain development in children
- Change in blood pressure and heart rate
- Reduced fertility
There are many ways to reduce EMFs in the home such as:
- Hardwire IT such as computers and smart TVs as opposed to having WiFi – if you keep your WiFi just switch it off when you’re not using it, especially it night
- Switch off and put in to airplane model phones and tablet devices when not in use and especially at night when you sleep
- Don’t use smart home devices as they require WiFi
- Get rid of the microwave oven
- Stop using cordless DECT phones in the home – go back to wires and you can also use low EMF emmitting wired phones too
- Correctly earth all electric devices
You can also help protect and shield the body from EMFs with:
EMF Harmonisers
These can be used on specific devices or in the home or car and help neutralize potentially harmful EMFs.
These are easy to use and vary in size so they can be placed near or stick on to devices like laptops, TVs used to help a whole room or even a car.
Electromagnetic Stress Reduction Devices
Companies like Geomack have developed products that help reduce EMF stress and also geopathic stress too by using crystals and because these devices come in various sizes you can protect a room or even a whole house with them.
Basiclaly they say the devices turn harmful radiation in to what’s called Schumann resonance frequency, which is the frequency that’s essential as opposed to detrimental to human life.
Shielding Material
There are fabrics and materials designed to provide almost 100% protection from EMFs because they contain silver-plated coper wire and these reflect EMFs away from the body.
People use this material over windows and even line clothes with it. You’ll also see people making a net to hang over a bed with this material, as it acts as a faraday cage, but it’s looks like a mosquito net.
And if you don’t want to use material there are paints and window film that shield you from EMFs too.
Grounding and earthing mats, sheets, patches and shoes
Although the easiest and best way to ground yourself is to go outside and place your hands or bare feet on the grass, it’s not always possible so grounding with mats, sheets, patches and even footwear is a great way to biohack your home.
Grounding solutions can be used in bed, beneath your furniture, under electronic devices and you can even have shoes that do this too.
Device Specific Protection
There are ways to manage and shield devices, especially mobie phones and tablets, with products like signal blocking pouches and cases that you can find on Amazon and that cost very little.
For times when the devices are on, you can put protection on the device too, for example, Brink cases that protect and redirect radiation when you use your phone.
And another thing to use is a radiation free set of headphones, also called air tube headsets, and these are also easy to get from places like Amazon and relatively inexpensive.
Personal EMF Protection
There are a pendants, bracelets, wristbands, and even keyrings that help protect you from EMFs and these can be worn so they work at home and in other environments too.
Companies like Q-Link have various products and their website has various testimonials from
And if you’re worried about the effcect EMFs have on animals, you can get animal versions of these devices too.
If you just fancy getting away from your phones and the internet for a short time, you can have a digital detox, which not only helps reduce EMFs, it has other phycological benefits too.
And if you want to share your digital detox with others, there are organised groups like Brick who have events where phones are temporarily banned, so you can have real, in-person social engagement not just digital communication.
Increase positive energy in the home
You’ve probably heard about Feng Shui, the chinese system of arranging spaces in reation to the flow of energy, and this is, in a way, a biohack for the home, but there’s much more you can do.
We’ve already covered energy when it comes to air quality and electronics but there are other biohacks.
Natural light is best, so have a bright natural light home if possible.
But it’s not always sunny or even day time, so you should also remove harsh or hard light where possible.
It’s common for people to have adverse reactions to artificial lights. Some people get headaches and even a migrane from some types of light, as light has a frequency and this frequency can be a problem.
The colour and colour temperature of light can also influence mood, energy and the ability to concentrate too, so look at options for this.
And when it comes to colour temperature, what’s called Blue Light, which comes off screens in particular, can have a major effect on the body and sleep.
It’s a good idea to use blue light filters and blue light blocking glasses that you can get from Amazon or a company like Swannies or TrueDark. Blue light blocking and filtering is a biohack more and more people, especially gamers and those who are in front of a screen, are now using and benefiting from.
And we menitoned it earlier but it’s worth mentioning again, the Himilayan Salt lamp becuase this not only creates a soft light it also releases ions in to the air.
Light is vital to the way we funtion, from when and how we wake up to when we feel tired and fall asleep.
Some people suffer from what’s called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), and use light therapy – it works if you suffer from SAD but it’s also used to combat depression, jet lag, sleep disorders and dementia.
SAD therapy lights work by simulating sunlight and can even link with an alarm clock to brighten up a room gradually as you wake up.
As well as using light, sound is also a way to biohack energy in the home.
There are sounds that help you remain calm and induce a more relaxed state, examples include running water, whale music and other similar natural sounds that people use when meditating.
Music has a major impact in energy, whether you want to fire yourself up, calm yourself down, change your mood almost instantly, bring back memories, or focus the mind – we all know what music we like, don’t like and what sets us up for success in different situations.
But sound is more than music, you have noise cancelling devices now, from headphones from compnaies like Bose and many other conpanies to celver electronic systems that can be used throught the home to keep it quiet.
However if you don’t want to artificially keep noise at bay you can soundproof your home, this way you decde what sound it should have, not other people. It’s cost effective to use soundproofing materials, sound absorbing materials, doors and windows that are well sealed to reduce background noise.
Unwanted noise is in the home too, so look at quieter heating and cooling systems, electrical devices that emmit less noise and the many other low cost solutions to making your home quiet.
Did you also know that there’s one biohack that uses sound that can change your mood, energy level, reduce stress, increase focus, motivate you, make you sleep, or even make you more confident?
Binaural beats therapy is a biohack that’s becoming more and more popular and it works by using soundwaves that are different between the left and right ears, and because they’re different the brain activates specific systems according to the different sound waves and these almost program you.
Create the perfect bedroom for sleep
We’ve talked about many things that efefct sleep already, but there are many more sleep specific biohacks.
Obviously you want the bedroom at the right temperature, to have good quality air, the right toxin free bedding and furniture.
The bed should be grounded, you don’t want blue light keeping you awake, so switch off the TV and screens, don’t have your phone or tablet on or charging in the bedroom either, in fact keep it out of the bedroom as the EMFs these devices create are not helping you sleep.
But what else can you do in the bedroom to get the perfect night’s sleep?
If you want to use sound to help sleep then do so, whether that’s relaxing music or binaural beats.
Make sure the bedroom is dark, so blackout curtains or blinds are a must.
You should have
You want to be as comfiortable as possible, so the right matress, pillow and bed linen for you is critical.
And don’t forget to have the right type of plants in the bedroom too – ones that product oxygen as opposed to CO2 at night.
And if you want to get technical when it comes to sleep and sleep quality, you can use a smart watch with sleep tracking like a Fitbit, wearable sleep tracking devcices or even a sleep tracking matress, pillow or other variation of these devices. But balance these sleep technologies with the body’s negative response toi EMFs and blue light.
Make your kitchen perfect for biohacking food and drink
Biohackers use food and drink as a way to achieve amazing results in less time and with less effort, so having a kitchen that’s designed for the biohacker is really useful.
It doesn’t matter if you follow a particular biohacking diet like Paleo or Keto, are vegan or take supplements. And you needn’t enjoy food or cooking to biohack the kitchen either, in fcat it can make life and cooking less hassle.
Simple things a biohacking kitchen should have include a powerful blender, a juicer, and if you like green vegitable juices or wheatgrass, a maceratiung juicer is well worth investing in.
Use cookware that doesn’t leach chemicals. Harmful things can transfer from the pan, chopping board and containers to your food, for example:
- Aluminium
- Teflon (PTFE) and Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) which are used to make non-stick pans – so loose these and use the right oils and kinds of butter for better tasting safer food
- Copper
- Cadmium
- Nickel
- Lead – yes it’s in some ceramic, enamel and glass cookware
- Flame retardant plastics
- Polystyrene
Stick with natural cookware and materials like glass, cast iron pans, stainless steel and ceramics if they don’t contain the nasty things.
Use natural things like wood chopping boards and bamboo containers.
And don’t clean things with abrasive cleaners and sponges or use toxic cleaning products on them either, as the residuce will transfer to your food too – remember “The Lick Test”?
Remember you shouldn’t be cooking with a microwave, instead shallow fry with oils like coconut oil, ghee and butter, depending on your biohacking approach to nutrition.
You can also use a pressure cooker or cook with warm water and the sous-vide method to maximise flavour and nutrition.
Also think about how you store food, whether that’s using glass containers, storing things in cool dark places,and using the rerigerator and frezer when necessary.
And don’t forget about the water you use, and, as mentioend, there’s a whole article on biohacking water.
Create a place to biohack your body physically and mentally
We don’t all have space to incorporate a gym or meditation space in to our home, but you should still create an area for biohacking your body and mind.
Have a defined space at home for physical and mental biohackng, whether that’s quiet meditation or vigerous exercise.
A specific space will help you because when you go to that area it will feel right to do what it’s designed for – your body and mind wants you to create triggers and habbits, so help it do this with specific areas for sepcific things.
You can also change what you have in and around the area too based on what it’s used for – think light, sound and air.
Things that any biohacker’s house will benefit from include a cushion for meditation and an acupressure or spike mat.
From a flexibility and recovery point of view, a foam roller and a masage ball are well worth having. A vibrating foam roller or massage ball is also a further biohack on the same theme, you can do at home.
If you want to exercise at home then quick, easy and compact ways to do this, with minimal equipment include:
- A suspension or TRX trainer
- A yoga mat
- Kettle Bells
- Free weights – variable weight ones are especially compact and useful
- Resistance bands
- Core Sliders
- A slam ball (maybe not ideal if you like in a flat with neighbours below you though)
- Weighted sandbags or a weight vest
If space allows, a pull up bar is great, as is a mini trampoline.
If you have more space, in a spare bedroom or garage, you may want to consider more equipment like a treadmill, a vibration plate or a weight bench.
And if you want to really biohack your body at home, an infrared sauna is a great investment as is an ice bath.
Biohacking your home
You spend the majority of your time at home, whether sleeping, realxing, or just generally living your day-to-day life.
So make your home a place that promotes better physical and mental health by applying some biohacking tricks.
Once you’ve seen what can be achieved relatively easiliy and inexpensively, you’re unlikely to want to return to an average home that’s depleatig your energy levels, preventing you from sleeping well, making you ill and general reducing, as opposed to improving, your quality of life.
