THE EVERYDAY HABITS THAT ARE AGEING YOU FASTER, ACCORDING TO A BIOHACKER
He has become synonymous with wellness trends such as red-light therapy and IV drips, but Gary Brecka’s biggest gains come from the basics: eating whole foods, moving every day and prioritising quality sleep.
The former mortality expert turned celebrity biohacker, who advises high-profile figures including UFC boss Dana White and Robert F. Kennedy Jr, believes many of us are unknowingly speeding up the ageing process through seemingly harmless daily habits.
Brecka says the UK is embracing wellness at “the most parabolic rate”, with Britons becoming “citizen scientists” who are taking a more active role in their health and developing an appetite for supplementation and self-optimisation. But despite that growing interest, he believes many people are still getting the fundamentals wrong.
From the way we sleep to the routines we overlook, these are the everyday habits Brecka says could be ageing us faster than we think.
1. Working against your body clock
When it comes to sleep, Brecka does not mess around. “It is the most bullied thing in our schedule – the most convenient thing to move or neglect based on our work and social priorities,” he says. “Yet, when we look at the big meta-analyses and how people in Blue Zones live, sleep is one of the most important factors of a long and healthy life alongside mobility, exercise and diet.” That is why he schedules all of his meetings and appointments around his eight hours of shut-eye.
He says good sleep starts long before bedtime. “Your body has a clock and morning light, movement, hydration, temperature, stress and evening light exposure all tell that clock what to do,” he says. “When those signals are off, sleep quality suffers.” Poor sleep affects almost every system in the body. “It can impact glucose control, inflammation, hormones, immune function, memory, mood and recovery,” Brecka says. Essentially, “you do not age well if you do not recover well”.
His advice is to spend 10 to 15 minutes outside within an hour of waking (even on cloudy days), stay hydrated throughout the day and implement a consistent wind-down routine around 30 to 60 minutes before sleeping, to signal to your brain that it is time to transition into a restful, restorative state. To do this: “dim the lights, reduce screen exposure, cool the body down and use breathwork,” Brecka says. “Sleep is not a luxury, it is where repair happens.”
2. Taking supplements blindly
Brecka is a strong proponent of supplements but believes many people approach them in the wrong way.
“Most people supplement for the sake of supplementing, they don’t supplement for deficiency,” he says. “They might have seen them online, or heard they worked for someone else without actually knowing if they need them, can absorb them or have genetic variants that affect how they process them.”
In the UK, around three-quarters of us take supplements, and roughly half do so daily.
Taking multiple unnecessary supplements can also carry risks, including gastrointestinal problems and, in some cases, liver or kidney damage. “A 20-year-old woman and a 53-year-old man might both be taking the exact same supplements while their bodies obviously have very different needs,” Brecka says.
Rather than investing in an expensive supplement regime, he recommends focusing first on a wholefood diet rich in staple foods such as fruit, whole-fat Greek yogurt, eggs, fish, chicken and grass-fed meat.
Before reaching for another supplement, Brecka’s advice is simple: “test, don’t guess”. Investigating your body’s methylation with a one-time genetic test (usually via saliva collection) is important, Brecka believes. Methylation is “one of the body’s most important regulatory processes”. It occurs billions of times per day and drives nearly every major system in your body – supporting the liver’s role in processing and clearing waste products; creating and regulating neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine; helping to regulate homocysteine, a marker linked to normal cardiovascular function; and regulating gene expression which helps cells function properly.
This, alongside blood test results, can help tailor supplements to an individual’s biology rather than guesswork. The idea forms part of the growing field of precision wellness, which seeks to personalise health advice using genetics, blood tests and lifestyle data.
3. Getting too comfortable
Modern life means you can order food, shop and socialise – all while sitting down. One study by University College London found that almost three-quarters of people in their mid-40s sit for more than eight hours a day, with around a quarter of that time spent sitting continuously for at least an hour. Prolonged sitting has been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and premature death, even among some otherwise active people.
“The body was designed to adapt, but adaptation requires stimulus,” Brecka says. “The danger is that the body becomes less resilient – mitochondria becomes less efficient, circulation suffers, the nervous system becomes more reactive and metabolic flexibility declines.”
He recommends introducing “small, controlled stressors” such as “resistance training, cold exposure, heat exposure, breathwork, walking outside and getting slightly uncomfortable on purpose.” Essentially, “you do not need to push the body, you need to remind it what it was built for”.
4. Missing hidden deficiencies
Brecka believes many people are living with nutrient deficiencies without realising it, dismissing common symptoms as stress or fatigue. Studies suggest that many adults (especially women) fall short on key minerals such as iron, magnesium and iodine.
“People expect these deficiencies to look dramatic, but most of the time they show up quietly – low energy, brain fog, poor recovery, low mood, muscle cramps, weak nails, poor sleep quality or simply feeling like you’re operating below your potential,” he summarises.
“The danger is that people start normalising it and will say they’re tired, getting older or stressed when the body may simply be missing the raw materials it needs to function. Your body cannot produce energy, hormones, neurotransmitters or healthy blood cells out of thin air – biology requires inputs.”
Left untreated, nutritional deficiencies can eventually lead to more serious health problems. Prolonged iron deficiency can cause anaemia, while long-term iodine deficiency can impair cognitive function. The good news, Brecka says, is that deficiencies are identifiable and correctable through diet and, where appropriate, testing.
5. Treating symptoms instead of the cause
When we are tired, have headaches or suffer an upset stomach, it’s tempting to treat the symptom with paracetamol or a hot water bottle and move on. But persistent symptoms – or several appearing together – may be signalling an underlying problem.
“A symptom is not the enemy, it is the body trying to tell you something,” Brecka says. “The mistake is silencing the signal without asking why it is there. If your smoke alarm is going off, you do not fix the problem by taking the batteries out. You find the fire – the same applies to the body.”
The danger is that the “underlying issue keeps building,” he explains. “You may feel better temporarily, but the body is still compensating. Over time, that compensation can become dysfunction – chronic inflammation, metabolic issues, hormonal imbalance, poor immune resilience or a nervous system stuck in fight-or-flight.”
Instead, he believes people should take ownership of their health and get curious. “Could it be an oxygen issue, blood sugar problems, inflammation, or poor recovery? The body is not random – it is always responding to something.” Investigating inflammatory markers and glucose response, using wearable technology and exploring genetic testing can all provide clues. “When you identify the cause, the solution becomes much more precise,” Brecka concludes.
6. Obsessing over ‘living longer’
Although longevity is his focus, Brecka believes many people have become too fixated on living for as long as possible. “The real question is how well are you living?” he says. “Can you move well? Think clearly? Recover? Stay independent? Maintain energy and strength?”
Rather than chasing a few extra years, Brecka believes we should “be training for the life we want later”. This means “building muscle, protecting mobility, maintaining healthy energy production, challenging your cardiovascular system, and staying connected to purpose and community”. Research popularised by the Blue Zones studies suggests that strong social connections and a sense of purpose are associated with healthier ageing.
Essentially, “longevity is not just adding years to your life, it is adding life to your years,” Brecka concludes.
Whether or not you buy into every aspect of biohacking, Brecka’s message is ultimately a simple one: longevity isn’t built on expensive gadgets or miracle supplements, but on consistently getting the fundamentals right.
Gary Brecka’s The Ultimate Human Wellness has launched its genetic methylation testing platform and personalised supplement line in the UK, available exclusively at Healf and Selfridges London
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