In my previous article on why resilience matters both in your personal and professional life, I asked the question:
However, how do you know you are really resilient?
If we’re broaden this the question and focusing more on your overall performance levels and state of well-being, the question then could be
How can you get the most out of your body?
When managing digital products you know that a data-driven approach with clear KPIs works very well. Why wouldn’t you use the same approach for your body?
However, we are all different and our genetic DNA blueprint is unique.
You may have tried some new diet, different sports exercises, or maybe some popular supplement, but possibly with limited success.
A decade ago I asked myself the same question. How can you create a lifestyle with good habits, which is flexible, easy to follow, and optimally supports your genes? Of course, this lifestyle also needs to be practical and sustainable.
Most importantly, how do you know you are actually making progress? Especially when you seem to fall back
After digging deep into the sciences of epigenetics, neurosciences, functional medicine, biochemistry, and micronutrients for more than 10.000 hours, combined with a lot of experimentation (“mind- and biohacking”), I finally figured out how to combine the learnings in a synergistic framework.
I refer to this approach nowadays as functional epigenetics.
It is designed to optimize the “software of your genes” through personalized nutrients and appropriate lifestyle interventions based on functional biomarkers and organized by important health competencies. Those health competencies act as a “North Star” to keep you on track and make things easier to manage.
Let’s look at this step by step. Here is the general procedure in the simplified flow:
Step 1: Knowing your DNA
You need knowledge about your most important genes (DNA test). How do these work and how does this affect the corresponding internal systems? SNPs (single-nucleotide polymorphism, variations) of individual genes, or if they are “dirty”, have an impact on various metabolic processes.
However, it is always important to look at the overall picture and not focus on individual genes.
Step 2: Functional biomarkers
You know your blueprint. But now you need to know what is actually going on in your body and how your metabolism works. To do this, you look at functional biomarkers (e.g. laboratory values) that are assigned to these metabolic processes. Without measuring you are left in the dark. An epigenetic anamnesis is also very helpful here and provides additional data.
Step 3: Personalized Nutrients
Now you can build a plan and consider how you can optimally support your genes through targeted interventions and a personalized nutrient protocol. For people with chronic illnesses, it's usually a matter of repairing various systems before you can even think about optimizing them.
As a rule of thumb, you need 10-20 complex nutrients and budget-wise you should set aside 5-20 euros per day.
I will delve deeper into this in another article.
Step 4: Don't lose track of the important health skills
The important health skills now give you a framework for this so that you don't lose track. This is about proceeding systematically and setting clear priorities. You can't tackle everything at once. This is getting too much. Focusing on 2-3 essential areas helps to concentrate energy but still work on different topics in parallel.
Step 5: Do, Measure, Learn
In business and especially in the technology sector, an agile way of working has proven to be very helpful in practice. Therefore, an agile approach to optimizing your health is also recommended here. You do something, then you measure what impact it had and then you try to learn from it. Adjustments are made regularly based on new findings.
The reward: Determine your biological age
Once you have done this for 6 months or longer and have validated through follow-up biomarker checks that your systems and your metabolism are improving, then you can determine your biological age with a simple laboratory test at home. There are various providers for this (e.g. EpiAge) and they are usually very precise.
It is very motivating to see when you have managed to rejuvenate your biological age.
Over the last year I have actually been able to reduce my biological age by almost 10 years, and so can you!
There's definitely more to come!
Even if you manage to become perhaps “only” 2-3 years younger, that is a result that you can be proud of. Conversely, if your biological age is older than your chronological age, that means you still have a lot of work to do!
You can then continue with the same motto and test again the following year. This way you know that what you do produces results.
Conclusion - Using Functional Epigenetics as part of your Longevity Strategy
You are in control of your biological age. The five steps show how systematic progress can be made in functional epigenetics.
But there are no shortcuts here - all of these steps are important and require patience, a strong will and perseverance!
Anyone who thinks they can make progress by taking a few nutritional supplements here and there and then believing that everything will be fine can quickly be mistaken.
There is an American saying,
“There is no free lunch”
which is all too true here. What you invest in time and resources is what you usually get out of it (if you do it right).
Longevity is a lifestyle.
Functional epigenetics is a powerful and effective method that is scientifically based and through the synergies of functional medicine, biochemistry and nutrients you can optimally support your genes.
Health happens as a “side effect” so to speak.
Take Action
I have recently also started offering an epigenetics starter package, where you can get started specifically with functional epigenetics. It is called
Designed for techies looking to upgrade their overall performance levels, this coaching program draws upon years of experience and uses a diverse blend of functional epigenetics, biohacking, and the latest findings of personalized (micro) nutrients.
I would also be happy to offer further options. You are welcome to schedule an exploratory 15-minute discovery call here to find out what could be specifically relevant in your case.