Biohacking: when is too much self-care too much?

swallow therapy
Biohacking: when is too much self-care too much?

For a good year I could fool myself into practicing self-care at an extremely advanced level. It was hardly noticeable that I swallowed more pills than my 90-year-old mother. Because MY excipients – all “bioavailable” compositions of precious herbs, vitamins and minerals in stylishly designed bags, bottles and screw-top jars – were only preventive, so that I wouldn’t need any real medication later. Because of all the prevention, there would be nothing to fix for me. Ha!

Good thing I was working from home, because biohacking is a full-time job: My daily allowance of suppository-sized pills consisted of magnesium for muscle relaxation, vitamin B complex for the nerves, selenium and chromium for the thyroid, zinc and turmeric for the immune system. On an empty stomach, I also exte collagen powder, stirred into a squeezed lemon (vitamin C!). Then a sip of algae oil because of the omega-3 fatty acids, followed by a drop of vitamin D3 + K1. Instead of milk, a shot of MCT oil was added to the black “Bulletproof” coffee for energy production without breaking the intermittent fasting phase. A spray of melatonin on the tongue in the evening to help you fall asleep faster. All the stuff was expensive, but it was worth it! After all, in the summer sun, my body was able to make vitamin D itself. Other bioboosting practices were also free – such as power breathing on the balcony, the before and after effect of which I checked with an oximeter on my finger. I took a warm shower, but was freezing cold afterwards.

Yes, yes – when I read this incomplete list, I have to swallow a little myself. At least I wasn’t the only lunatic: According to the Federal Statistical Office, around 180,200 tons of food supplements were produced in Germany in 2020, 11 percent more than last year. Since Corona, people have been trying to prepare themselves for the collision between the body and the virus. Also against helplessness: You have little influence on the big world – but you do on the composition of the intestinal flora. Yet whenever I looked in the mirror, a deficiency looked back. Am I slowly turning into a wellness zombie? Suddenly I gagged at the sight of my medicine chest. It couldn’t be healthy to ask my body the question of trust every day.

I kept the ice showers in the mornings afterwards, otherwise I’m cold turkey. My boyfriend only caught me when I was planning my vacation: I actually want to go to the sea every summer, he wants to go to the mountains. Now he sent me an article that air above 1000 meters acts like a fountain of youth: The body produces more EPO, which Lance Armstrong used to dope. The solar radiation up there has a high infrared component, which is said to have an anti-inflammatory and detoxifying effect. What can I say, I put my heart and soul into it.

Karina Luebke writes and showers in Hamburg. At the moment she likes to drink kefir, even if it is healthy.

barbara