Sleep Hacking: Ending Insomnia with an “Electrosleep” Machine

February 7, 2011 by Dave Asprey

Thanks to Ben Rubin, former CTO of Zeo, for pointing me to the Fisher Wallace Stimulator – a cerebral-electric stimulator, aka “electrosleep” machine similar to the Neurotrek CES unit I recently used to get a full night’s sleep in 2.5 hours. (I have no relationship with any of these companies).

The attached video from Fisher Wallace shows how far CES technology has come. The FDA would like you to get a prescription for this device (even though your doctor has probably never heard of it) simply because the drug companies selling sleep drugs don’t like simple, non-refillable, superior, 50 year old competition that is easy to manufacture. Fisher Wallace even goes so far as to help customers learn how to hack their doctors visit so they can get a prescription.

Video via fisherwallace.com:

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On the other hand, there are other devices you can order, costing from $500 to $1000, without asking for a permission slip from anyone in a white lab coat. Apologies to my doctor subscribers: I’m married one of you who looks *very* sexy in a white coat. Some of you are my most trusted friends, but it’s not okay to use regulations to force people to pay you $150 for permission to buy something they already want. You’re supposed to be making money by telling us what will make us better, not being a gatekeeper to it.

The Fisher Wallace looks like a good device with lots of research including this PDF from Harvard Neuroscientist Felipe Fregni. Most of all, I am looking forward to hearing Ben’s results from using his. As the former CTO of the world’s leading sleep hacking company, he’s got to have something interesting to say! I am pleased that my Neurotrek lets me choose my own protocols by combining frequency, carrier wave, duty cycle, and power. It’s simpler than it sounds, and the default settings are fine, but it lets you tweak it for your own brain.

Check out part 3 of my sleep hacking series for more information on how to end insomnia and get more quality sleep in less time – everything you can do from hacking your environment, to using supplements, to using only one drug in extreme cases (not Ambien), and of course biohacking that lets you monitor how you’re doing. I’ll cover the hardest part too – silencing the racing thoughts that interfere with sleep onset, using breathing, meditation, and biohacking techniques.

Nothing like this upcoming summary has ever been written in my 15 years of experience. It’s the CliffNotes to years of research and testing. Fixing insomnia is just the beginning of what’s possible!

Hack Your Flight: Save Your Ears While Flying With a Cold

January 21, 2011 by Dave Asprey

Air travel sucks. It’s bad for you on just about every level. Flying messes with your circadian rhythms as you shift time zones, increases stress hormones, is uncomfortable, and raises your risk of blood clots. It’s also dehydrating and your risk of getting sick from flying is actually pretty high. Because air gets filtered from the front of the plane to the back, your risk is even higher in economy class. Flying with a cold can even cost you your hearing. Here’s what to do:

[readmore title=”Avoid pressure and ear pain: Here’s what to pack in your carry-on bag”]

Business travel is something lots of us have to contend with (at least some of the time). It used to be a major concern for me – a single flight would often result in a sinus infection that lingered for a couple weeks, and I’d experience terrible sinus pain from the pressure changes. Even worse, I came close to rupturing my eardrums more than once. Two of my friends suffered partial hearing loss when their ear drums burst from pressure changes of flying with sinus congestion. I fixed my sinus problems – without surgery – by hacking my health, so I don’t get sick when I fly very much anymore, but I always carry 3 things in my travel bag just in case. After a smoke-filled week with dry desert and hotel air at a conference in Las Vegas, I almost always use these.

Here is what you can use to prevent the pain and possible hearing loss from flying with a cold

Almost every drug store carries a special kind of earplug called “Earplanes”. They are pressure-relieving earplugs made of silicon baffles with a small ceramic plug in the middle. The plug moves very slowly with a pressure change, giving your sinuses and eardrums time to adjust. Put them in before the airplane doors close and the pressurization begins. You can take the plugs out when at max altitude, but put them in again (important) before the plane starts descending. You will still feel some sinus pain/pressure, but it won’t be nearly as bad, and the ceramic plug will keep your eardrums from bursting. Earplanes are tiny and come in a little plastic box. Mine sit in the bottom of my travel backpack. If you find yourself on the road, this is the best $5 you’ll ever spend.

Mucinex

Mucinex is a brand of guaifenisin expectorant. It liquefies your mucus so that it won’t block your ears. It has no effect on your mental alertness like normal cold medications. I take a Mucinex a half hour before flying unless my sinuses are perfectly clear. If I’m flying with a cold, I take two with a big glass of water. It reduces pain and risk substantially.

Afrin

Afrin nasal spray will dramatically shrink sinus tissues in 2 minutes. If I’m congested, I use it before takeoff and landing. If my ears are *really* clogged, I tilt my head back and squirt it from an upside down bottle making for a much higher dose that works faster but can by drying.

Xlear

You might consider using a safe, non-addictive nasal spray called Xlear to prevent sinus problems in the first place. It uses a sugar alcohol called xylitol to keep bacteria from sticking to your sinuses.

Earthing

Yep, you read that correctly. Walking around outside barefoot can really have a huge impact if you travel as much and as far as I do. This is one of my favorite ways to hack my flights since it doesn’t require me to take any over the counter drugs that I normally wouldn’t take, and one of my favorite places to do it (if I’m not at home) is at a park while I do yoga, or you can buy and earthing mat too.

Learn More About Hacking Your Flights

How I Killed Jet Lag and Got More REM Sleep Too – This is probably one of the most unlikely sources you would think of for flight hacking but you would be surprised at how effective it actually is. When I first heard about this I literally laughed, but as I was traveling to England on back to back business trips I was willing to do anything, I went to the park across the street from my hotel and did yoga for 20 minutes, while doing this hack and I was shocked at how much better I felt afterwards.

Video: Oxygen & Airplanes at Quantified Self – The video in this post talks about hacking frequent flights, what to do and what not to do. I go into advanced biohacking like pulse oximeters, and blood oxygen saturation and if you’re frequently flying then you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Read More: How to Get Rid of A Cold

Happy flights! 🙂

Urban Escape and Evasion: Breaking Duct Tape Restraints

January 18, 2011 by Dave Asprey

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via youtube.com

Some people go to Disneyland for fun. Others (like me) get chased around Los Angeles by bounty hunters just to see how to escape. Part of the class, from onPoint Tactical, includes teaching you what to do if you’re held against your will. Several executives like me were in the class, along with some military and law enforcement personnel.

In this clip, I’m experimenting with techniques to quickly break tape around my wrists.

See my longer post about how this class applies to being an entrepreneur; the short version is that learning to stay cool and apply new skills while under an enormous amount of stress is core to functioning in any competitive environment. Plus, this was an enormous amount of fun despite giving myself the equivalent of the Heimlich Maneuver while a former Playmate of the Year filming for an episode of G4TV watched. (You can watch the G4TV video here.)

I’ll never look at Santa Monica the same way again!

Your Brain on Improv: Hacking Creativity

January 12, 2011 by Dave Asprey

Charles Limb is a physician, researcher, and one hell of a biohacker. Charles is also a musician, so he used medical-research grade tools to study creativity in the form of musical improvisation.

I highly recommend watching the 16 minute video by Limb, just for the chance to see a distinguished middle-aged suit-wearing physician do a rap about neurology on stage.

Charles used an fMRI – a brain scanner that lets you see detailed pictures of what’s happening in your brain based on how much oxygen different parts use – to see what happens in the brains of creative artists, during solo improvisation and during group improvisation.

Attitude, Awareness, Authenticity: The 3 A’s of Awesome

January 10, 2011 by Dave Asprey

Attitude, Awareness, Authenticity: The 3 A’s of Awesome

Neil Pasricha has an amazing story. A self-described “average guy,” he realized that he was overwhelmed by life’s circumstances, so he started consciously thinking about any positive thing he could find – no matter how small. Then he blogged about it at 1000awesomethings.com, won a Webby Award, and became an international best selling author for his work, The Book of Awesome. Nice work, Neil! Neil is a biohacker too, even if he doesn’t know it. Here’s why:

Funny (but accurate) Colbert Video: Nutrition & Performance

January 6, 2011 by Dave Asprey

via hunter-gatherer.com

This is perhaps the most accurate short video I’ve seen showing why adopting a healthy diet can make you win at work. We usually think of diets as being about weight loss or looking good, but that’s now how it works. When you fuel your body, you fuel your brain and nervous system.

That’s why John Durant “Paleo Man” is able to do all sorts of things in this video. He is physically stronger – but maybe he works out better than his competition. Then again, with the right food, you don’t need to work out to be strong and cut – although, it helps. (I went 18 months without a workout and kept my 6 pack and muscle mass, for instance.)

Although it’s funny in the video, pain tolerance matters! (sitting on tacks? Colbert, what’s next?) When you can withstand cold weather, or pushing through the pain, you can be less distracted no matter what you’re doing. Then, when you are sitting in a chilly board room, or having dinner with your family when your 3-year-old smacks you with something heavy when you’re not looking, you will have more resiliency if your body is fueled properly.

Mental performance is another domain. Your brain starts to starve on a vegan diet due to lack of essential fatty acids and vitamin B12. Over time, it makes you slower and harms your memory.

I hope you enjoy the video, and I also hope that it inspires you to be a better entrepreneur by adopting a diet that feeds your body and mind! It worked for me…

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