Self-Quantification
Dual N-Back Pro
Applied Neuroscience Strategist, K-Selected Biohacker, Tantric husband, Promethean peaceful parent, Adventuring philosopher, Raconteur, and Author. He spent +14 years researching the intersection of human performance enhancement and advanced personal growth in his obsessive quest - spanning three continents - to find real-life "NZT-48."
This is the next-level evolution of the Dual N-Back game, demonstrated to have transfer effects to short-term memory and essential cognitive tasks outside of brain training.
I've done brain training for three years now, and this app is significantly more challenging than anything I've tried before. In HighIQPro, my best performance was 7-back, and I regularly trained in the 5-back range and sometimes even higher. Yet right now, I'm doing the emotional n-back training mode, and I'm finding that I can barely make it to 5-back.
A Self Quantification Experiment To Do Daily
Applied Neuroscience Strategist, K-Selected Biohacker, Tantric husband, Promethean peaceful parent, Adventuring philosopher, Raconteur, and Author. He spent +14 years researching the intersection of human performance enhancement and advanced personal growth in his obsessive quest - spanning three continents - to find real-life "NZT-48."
Self Quantification is quite the rabbit hole to go down.
In principle, it’s a pretty good idea. We have all these options for self-improvement or Biohacking — it seems like every week there's some new supplement, technology, app, device, meditation technique, or productivity hack to try. Yet we know that a lot of these options won’t really work for us…
The Pulse Cure
Applied Neuroscience Strategist, K-Selected Biohacker, Tantric husband, Promethean peaceful parent, Adventuring philosopher, Raconteur, and Author. He spent +14 years researching the intersection of human performance enhancement and advanced personal growth in his obsessive quest - spanning three continents - to find real-life "NZT-48."
Book Review: An HRV-Hackers Guide to Living Fully for Every Beat
HRV is a topic I've been interested in for a while as a Biohacker. I've completed over 300 HRV training sessions with HeartMath's devices; which has made me a better meditator and generally, a cooler cat. HRV is a particularly pragmatic metric for the Biohacker thanks to the abundance of science done on the topic and the advent of consumer-grade devices you can use to track yours.
The Pulse Cure, by Dr. Torkil Færø, is the most recent (and, in my opinion, approachable and actionable) book on the topic. The book is the result of a study group of 198 Norwegian volunteers that Dr. Torkil (as he refers to himself on his popular Instagram account) led in using HRV wearables. It is punctuated by a number of anecdotes from Dr. Torkil's Garmin watch study group. For example: Melina, 41, adds
Don’t get stressed out thinking that you have to follow all of the scores and data every single day. Go at your own pace! Eventually you won’t need to track all the data. You will learn when it is the right time to check your status. (p. 94)
Tusen takk (Norwegian for “a thousand thank-yous”), Melina!
Boundless
Applied Neuroscience Strategist, K-Selected Biohacker, Tantric husband, Promethean peaceful parent, Adventuring philosopher, Raconteur, and Author. He spent +14 years researching the intersection of human performance enhancement and advanced personal growth in his obsessive quest - spanning three continents - to find real-life "NZT-48."
Book Review: The BIGGEST Biohacking Book
I write this with a sense of accomplishment having just finished Ben Greenfield's +1000-page magnum opus, Boundless. I'm something of a superfan of Ben's - I read and listen to nearly everything he puts out - and I do recommend this book enthusiastically but I'll begin my review with some criticisms...
Sequencing.com
In exchange for $400 and a painless cheek swab sample our partner, Sequencing.com generates an ocean of timelessly actionable genetic data about you. Their whole genome sequencing builds a comprehensive risk profile for the common and rare diseases that may end your life prematurely or dramatically diminish its quality. This data allows us to make biohacking profoundly personal.
The Caballo Protocol
Applied Neuroscience Strategist, K-Selected Biohacker, Tantric husband, Promethean peaceful parent, Adventuring philosopher, Raconteur, and Author. He spent +14 years researching the intersection of human performance enhancement and advanced personal growth in his obsessive quest - spanning three continents - to find real-life "NZT-48."
A 5-factor DIY self-quantification experiment for determining the impact of smart drugs.
Start by downloading three types of Biohacking apps and conducting a simple daily self-quantification experiment...
Sleep Cycle
Applied Neuroscience Strategist, K-Selected Biohacker, Tantric husband, Promethean peaceful parent, Adventuring philosopher, Raconteur, and Author. He spent +14 years researching the intersection of human performance enhancement and advanced personal growth in his obsessive quest - spanning three continents - to find real-life "NZT-48."
Lifehacker Review: A sleep quantification tool and precision alarm clock
An app that turns your phone into a surprisingly effective sleep optimization device.
I'm a little late to the sleep-hacking party. For some reason, I was a little reluctant to start quantifying my sleep. However, I kept hearing about the sleep cycle app from people like Dave Asprey and Pat Flynn. I finally paid the $2 and downloaded it. I'm glad I tried it! It does improve your sleep. I'm a person that's always kind of had issues with waking up on time. I would just hit the snooze button chronically, this has caused me to fail some classes and lose some jobs.
100 Days of Dual N-Back Training
Applied Neuroscience Strategist, K-Selected Biohacker, Tantric husband, Promethean peaceful parent, Adventuring philosopher, Raconteur, and Author. He spent +14 years researching the intersection of human performance enhancement and advanced personal growth in his obsessive quest - spanning three continents - to find real-life "NZT-48."
You don't have to spend much time researching Biohacking before you start hearing about the myriad benefits of Dual N-Back training...
- Sharpening the working memory; the "scratchpad" of the mind that we use to solve problems.
- Increasing IQ.
- Lifehacking language learning, by promoting neuroplasticity and grey matter density.
- Improving fluid intelligence, to solve novel problems intelligently.
- Increasing self-control.
- Compartmentalization of emotions.
- Higher scores on Raven's Matrices Test.
This article is primarily concerned with the "transfer effects" or personal development benefits of Dual N-Back training; I'm of the school of philosophy that if something doesn't ultimately lead to getting me paid or getting me laid, it's not worth my time. I'm all about "know thyself" as long as it leads to more of this...
What to do when biohacking isn't working
Applied Neuroscience Strategist, K-Selected Biohacker, Tantric husband, Promethean peaceful parent, Adventuring philosopher, Raconteur, and Author. He spent +14 years researching the intersection of human performance enhancement and advanced personal growth in his obsessive quest - spanning three continents - to find real-life "NZT-48."
Almost weekly, rather distressed people contact me privately who are sick of being sick and tired and they are frustrated because they have tried some Nootropics and biohacking stuff but to little avail.
They complain of...
- Terrible sleep
- Crippling fatigue
- Bouts of depression
- Weight gain
- Erectile dysfunction
- Severe social anxiety
- Or a goldfish attention span
To these people, I recommend a three-pronged approach...
1. Disciplined habituation of lifestyle biohacks
2. Mitochondrial Nootropics
3. Testing and self-quantification
Applied Neuroscience Strategist, K-Selected Biohacker, Tantric husband, Promethean peaceful parent, Adventuring philosopher, Raconteur, and Author. He spent +14 years researching the intersection of human performance enhancement and advanced personal growth in his obsessive quest - spanning three continents - to find real-life "NZT-48."
Book Review: Why fish don't get cancer...
The most recent title from Mark Sloan delves into the science of water's healing properties, something I didn't know much about previously.
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