Can Biohacking and AI help us stay fit & healthy?
by Hakim Mamoni
Some goals are harder to reach than others. For many of us, staying fit & healthy can be one of the biggest struggles.
A few months ago, I started exploring how wearables and artificial intelligence may help us achieve personal goals. I began with a focus on health & fitness goals, because without good health… everything else becomes much, much harder.
A little about me
My journey with fitness began at a very young age. I started Judo at the age of seven and from the age of eleven, I began competing.
I was fit and healthy but I also really, really enjoyed food (and still do!).
Back then, one kilo too many meant having to fight against bigger and sometimes older kids. Not a bad thing — considering what Judo is all about — but not so good either when every Dojo victory meant getting closer to attaining the black belt.
So from early on, I knew I had to learn and understand how food and exercise impacted my own weight.
Now in my mid-forties, I haven’t set foot in a Dojo for a while but a slower metabolism means that I still need to keep a watchful eye on my weight. For the last twenty years, I have been switching between periods of regular exercise to periods, when for months, I would focus only on my work (not a good idea). My weight has fluctuated accordingly, albeit never too wildly.
Technology also became an integral part of my life in my formative years, having learned coding in school. Throughout the years, I have combined math, science, economy and coding with more esoteric subjects like bitcoin, blockchain and biohacking.
Biohacking?
While it may sound a bit scary, biohacking is about doing what many of us already do. From bodybuilding to Zen meditation, from boosting our brain with Omega-3 oils to stimulating our metabolism with cayenne pepper, it is about the desire to be the best version of ourselves. As well as practicing the above, Biohackers further use the tools of the ‘Quantified Self’ to capture and track their progress.
A few years back, in the late nineties, my wife unexpectedly developed allergic reactions to dairy, nuts, citrus fruits and shellfish. In our common quest to being healthy, we became even more vigilant with our diet. We also started actively learning about natural remedies and began using probiotics, plants, herbs, and minerals to boost our health. So when I stumbled upon biohacking, it made a lot of sense. All I had to do was start measuring and tracking my health related data.
With all the wearable and fitness tech available these days, tracking our health has become easier than ever before. Making sense of the data is where it gets a bit harder.
Artificial Intelligence
Meanwhile, professionally, at the end of April 2017, I was very fortunate to join the Anthemis Fellowship: an awesome 6 month innovation program based in London.
During that time, I have been busy exploring the subject of personal data -or more precisely- I have been looking at innovative ways to help people get more benefits from their own data. Ironically, my research has brought me back to a subject I studied many years ago: Statistical Analysis. But today, it’s better known to some as Data Science and to others as Machine Learning or even Artificial Intelligence. And while it may sound complex, or even scary for some, the idea is quite simple: What can we learn from large (or sometimes small) amounts of rich data and how can we turn this knowledge into actionable wisdom?
The more I’ve progressed in my research, the more I’ve become convinced that, very soon, we will be able to extract highly valuable wisdom from our personal data. Soon, new exciting services will emerge and some will have the potential to transform our lives for the better.
Less talk, more action
A couple of months into the Fellowship, I finally decided that I had to do something about my superfluous weight. My back was starting to ache. So I modified my diet and started exercising again.
This time, I enlisted the help of three new friends: a FitBit Blaze, a Moov Now and a pair of Jabra Sport headsets. These enabled me to track my heart rate, my activity, my calories, my sets and my reps. Shortly after, I also started biohacking using Shilajit, Bladderwrack and Tongkat Ali to boost my metabolism. I was curious to see if using all the above would help me get back in shape even faster…
Well, so far, so good. After less than 3 months, I am back to exercising 3 to 5 days per week. I have dropped most of the unwelcome kilos and I feel much better for it. The diet adjustment, the supplements, the exercise and the wearables, all helped. And now I also have the data.
What next?
Over the years, I have become aware from speaking with family and friends, that many people find it difficult to lose and maintain a healthy weight. I suspect that the data I have been capturing so far could help others but I also realise that it’s not enough. I need more. I need your help!
I am the founder of Optimizing Health (formerly Ask Gaia), an early stage UK startup working on building an AI to help people stay fit and healthy.
We’re looking for people to answer a few survey questions to help with our research:
How do you manage your own weight?
Which diet works for you?
Do you exercise?
Do you use wearables?
How about supplements?
How do you feel about sharing your data to help others?
We would love to hear from you all. Whether you’ve managed to get your weight under control, or not, if you can spare 5 minutes, please take the survey below.
All data will be anonymised and I will be sharing the aggregated results in a future blog post. Oh, I nearly forgot, you could win £150 for 5 minutes of your time :)
And if you or someone you know is a passionate Quantified Selfer, an avid Biohacker, a brilliant Data Scientist, or an excellent Data Engineer, get in touch!
