Brain power is not static. So many things impact it — both positively and negatively.

I used to have brain fog.

Mental focus was up some days, and down others. There were days where life was just effortless. I was productive. Sociable. Good mood.

Other days I struggled to make myself a coffee in the morning.

Going on the Paleo diet changed everything.

Before the Paleo diet, I assumed it was just one of those things, just something I had to live with. That’s if I even thought about it.

Realising I could improve my mental focus was one of the key factors that got me into biohacking in the first place.

At the summit, we had many different speakers talking about steps to upgrading our brains.

To upgrade our brains, first do no harm

Removing alcohol from our diets is the number one hack we can all do today to reduce the impact on our mental focus.

Jesse Lawler, from the podcast ‘Smart Drugs Smarts’ was on stage talking about how to improve cognitive function.

The damage alcohol can do to our brains be measured — through reaction times, pattern recognition tests and scans on the brain.

“Stop drinking alcohol. It’s a cheap and easy hack… I know everybody likes alcohol, but dude… it is not worth the trouble!” — Jesse Lawler

Bad diets also damage our brains.

For me, my processed food diet was triggering my brain fog.

Processed foods were causing inflammation in my body and brain. When I’m on a clean diet, everything just works better. Sinus issues. My hearing. My digestion. My sleep. And, of course, my brain.

We can upgrade our brains with behaviour change

Our brains shrink with age.

Meditation slows or stops the brain shrinking. The latest research shows people who have had long-term practices show reduction in brain loss.

Speaker Ryan Munsey, from the podcast ‘Optimal Performance’ talked about using meditation to upgrade our brains.

Productivity can be boosted massively by getting into a flow state.

Maximilian Gotzler from the company Flowgrade talked about flow states, and how we can change our behaviour’s and environments to get into flow more often and more quickly.

Flow can be triggered — Maximilian talked about the 19 triggers that get people into flow states, we can all use.

Maximilian’s company Flowgrade has a blend of bulletproof coffee that helps people achieve flow states.

Learning to nap during the day is another behaviour that has outsized returns.

We can upgrade our brains with technology

Brain scanning technology is helping people change their brains.

Neurofeedback is a technology where brain waves are monitored, and feedback is given to the user to help them alter or ‘shape’ their brainwaves.

Neurofeedback has been used for many years now with ADD patients.

Ryan Munsey has worked with neurofeedback devices and talked about how using these devices can massively accelerate the kind of gains seen in meditation.

While there are a few home neurofeedback devices on the market — the Muse band for example, and they can help with meditation, they’re limited. They’re generic products. They can’t give personalised feedback for the biggest impact. The professional products run by experts is what is needed to get the most benefit.

Binaural beats is a sound technology that helps people get into ‘flow’ states. Binaural beats are sounds played with different frequencies in each ear, triggering responses in the brain.

Binaural beats are very accessible; there are apps and Spotify playlists.

Saunas also have many benefits, releasing focus improving endorphins (norepinephrine)

We can upgrade our brains with smart drugs and supplements

The limitless pill might be mostly fiction, but there are plenty of supplements and drugs that have measurable impacts on our brains.

Jesse Lawler, from the podcast Smart Drugs Smart, talked about his experiments with different brain enhancing supplements.

A key point Jesse raised — there are many different types of intelligence. Creativity, memory, reaction times. And there are drugs that can impact each.

Note — some drugs may have side effects or can be addictive. Modafinil, the smart drug students, are taking to pass exams, can be addictive and can have side effects.

However — many supplements are natural and completely safe.

Natural supplement recommendations:

Lemon Balm — boosts mood.

— boosts mood. Ginseng — for memory and willpower. Jesse has a great podcast on this.

— for memory and willpower. Jesse has a great podcast on this. Caffeine + green tea extract — alertness.

— alertness. Nicotine — Half a nicotine patch works great for sharpness.

— Half a nicotine patch works great for sharpness. Lions Mane Mushrooms — made into a mushroom coffee. Tim Ferris is a big fan.

— made into a mushroom coffee. Tim Ferris is a big fan. CILTEP — has extracts of herbs and plants, including artichoke.

Ryan Munsey’s company Natural Stacks produces the natural supplement CILTEP. Using the neurofeedback device, Ryan was able to see immediate positive changes in his brain using CILTIP.

Nootropics are synthetic compounds have been around for 50 years. They’re well studied. They have no addictive properties or side effects.

Many companies produce supplements that include nootropics and natural enhancers. Links below for companies selling above that exhibited at the Biohackers conference.

In the future, we can upgrade by downloading our minds?

Today it’s neurofeedback and supplements. Tomorrow we’ll be downloading our minds to computers.

The DARPA challenge has challenged scientists to link human brains to computers.

There’s already huge moves here. Prof. Russell Hanson, founder of the company ‘Brain Backups’ talked at the conference on his work on imaging the brain in real time.

Top 5 takeaways

The top cheap and natural takeaways we can all use now are:

Alcohol: reducing use for the quickest and cheapest brain hack. Diet: less inflammatory processed foods. Meditation: for attention and flow states. Napping: has outsized returns for focus and stamina. Natural supplements: ginseng, caffeine and green tea extracts.

Blog Post Series

Over the next few posts, I’ll dig into more of what I learned in Helsinki.

Links