The Dishh

What Is Biohacking?

You’ve heard of ‘Life Hacks’ that ultimately make your life easier. But, have you heard about Bio Hacks? Biohacking is an emerging term in the health and wellness space. It is based upon the idea that what you put into your body has a huge impact on the way that you feel on the outside. It goes back to basics, understanding the building blocks of human biology, and the ways in which we can look and feel our best. Movement, nutrition, gratitude and even music are some examples of biohacks that individuals have found to alter their health for the better. It’s about shifting the right things in the body and the mind to boost energy, to enhance memory, to become free of disease, and to live the most healthful lives possible.

Addressing the Root Cause of Disease

Biohacking encourages us to look within and understand how different inputs yield significant outputs. This is different from modern healthcare, which tends to respond to the disease instead of the source of imbalance. According to board-certified physician of internal medicine, Dr. John Limansky, modern medications work to suppress symptoms and fail to address the root cause of modern western diseases. Essentially, traditional medicine caters to Sick Care, rather than Health Care today. This is exactly what he hopes to change with his medicinal platform. “By taking simple steps such as modifying diet, exercising, incorporating stress reduction, improving sleep and focusing on meditation among other techniques, many of the diseases afflicting our society may be reversed,” Limansky contributes.

Enhancing Interaction in Medicine

Another problem with traditional medicine is a lack of interaction. Older physicians will reminisce on the days where they were on a first name basis with their patients. They miss having adequate time to delve into the real issues behind the disease and find a personalized solution. As a practicing physician, Dr. Limansky is also limited in the number of patients he can interact with on an individual basis. It is for this reason why he and his team created online platform, biohackMD.

The patient-facing platform educates the public on the benefits of biohacking as well as the ketogenic diet. It is a place where readers can find research-backed information that is also processed by a physician. All content is free and available on multiple platforms. Essentially, biohackMD serves as a conversation between you and your physician. It provides a sense of personal power as well. “By introducing the concept of biohacking to the public, my goal is to show how everyone can regain their health, wellness and increase longevity while being able to stop taking medications,” Dr. Limansky adds.

Coupling the Ketogenic Diet with Biohacking

While biohacking is a new and emerging concept, the ketogenic diet has been recognized with a great deal of popularity in the last couple of years. It is also one of the oldest diets in terms of research. Back in the early 1920s, the keto diet emerged as a medicinal treatment for children with epilepsy. Today, the diet continues to be studied as a potential remedy for type two diabetes as the disease continues to skyrocket among young populations.

Recognized as ‘The Keto Doctor’ and one of the foremost authorities on the Ketogenic lifestyle, Dr. Limansky sees Keto as a sustainable tool that boasts a variety of benefits. “The ketogenic diet has gained in popularity for the simple reason that it works. It is a pathway to eating real non-processed foods in the right ratio. By incorporating a ketogenic diet, we are able to gain control over our insulin levels, improve hormone levels, lose fat while gaining control over our hunger signals. A ketogenic diet enables us to relearn what it means to be hungry instead of simply craving foods,” he adds.

Supplementing Health

By coupling the Ketogenic Diet with Biohacking, Dr. Limansky helps to point individuals towards optimum health and longevity. Consulting performance athletes and everyday champions, he demonstrates how health is a personal practice and gives individuals the tools to take back control of their health. Supplementing nutrition and modern medicine, biohackMD provides a variety of keto supplements to help achieve and maintain ketosis. The company currently offers Keto Matrix, Green Matrix, Whey Matrix & Multi Collagen Matrix to support individuals on their health journey.

Getting back to healthy basics has never been easier.  Having a deeper understanding of the physical body, and the factors that contribute to health, enables us to rediscover ourselves in a new light.  

Move over FitBit, there’s another fitness tool that’s taking over the weight room. While perhaps less sophisticated in nature, the humble foam roller is literally on a roll, with more and more research supporting its wide range of benefits. This includes everything from increased flexibility and pain prevention to enhanced performance.

Increased Flexibility

According to the Journal of Sports Rehabilitation, the practice of foam rolling, coupled with static stretching may increase range of motion in the hip more so than stretching alone. Essentially, it helps to increase flexibility in ways we can’t necessarily achieve on our own.

Ever pushed through a great workout only to be punished later on with stiff, cranky muscles? We work out to enhance our lives, but when our workouts leave us in an aching heap the next day, it can become pretty counterintuitive. This is where the foam roller comes in. The tool is a method of self-myofascial release (SMR), an alternative therapy that treats immobility and pain in the muscles.

Pain Prevention

Myofascial release techniques are intended to bring gentle and sustained pressure to the body. Working to smooth out those hard ‘knots’ in the fascia, or connective tissue, the technique encourages a sense of release in the body. And according to a study published in Current Sports Medicine Reports this may be just the release you need. In the study, it was concluded that self-myofascial release has a positive impact on delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOM) and can help to decrease soreness following DOM. This can lead to enhanced performance in the long run as it allows the active individual to exercise longer and more actively.

In another study, individuals were to perform 10 sets of 10 repetitions of barbell back squats over the course of four weeks. In order to identify the effectiveness of foam rollers on quadricep muscle soreness, some subjects completed 20 minutes of foam rolling. The control group did not perform any type of post-exercise treatment at all. When the results came around, the difference was quite astounding. In fact, those who did perform foam rolling were significantly less sore than those who did not, according to the Journal of Athletic Training study.

Enhanced Performance

Don’t let soreness keep you from playing in the game! By incorporating foam-rolling exercises, you may prevent the limiting pain that keeps you from doing what you love. You might also become a better athlete for it. In a study featured in Sports Medicine, it was discovered that those who use a foam roller actually experience an increase in maximal voluntary contraction. For lead researcher, Dr. Lewis Macgregor, there is a strong case to be made for the foam roller as a pre-workout activity to both enhance performance and lower the risk of injury. “I surmise that foam rolling prior to exercise helps to light up the pathway between the brain and the muscle, providing a better understanding of what is required,” Macgregor says. He continues, “Our research—for the first time—suggests that foam rolling offers a viable alternative warm-up technique that does not result in diminished muscle strength, which is often associated with static stretching. It shows that foam rolling may be a useful technique in helping to reduce stress and strain on muscles during exercise and, therefore, could reduce injuries.”

Whether you’re an elite athlete or an active individual, the use of a foam roller can benefit your performance on and off the court. It’s inexpensive, it’s easy to use, and it’s even easier to find ways to work towards your health and fitness goals. Luckily, recovery and training company, BLACKROLL, sold through Active Life Solutions, is making it even easier to reap the benefits.  Active Life Solutions focuses on healthy living, healthy lifestyles and products, which not only rehabilitate, but also prevent injury.  With a full family of products in-house, Active Life offers everyone from the beginner to the elite athlete the products and tools they need to succeed.

Regeneration and Functional Training

BLACKROLL’s foam rolling products are intended to help in two main ways, regeneration and functional training. Used for regeneration, the foam rollers can be used to heal from the aches and pains of daily life and an active lifestyle. While helpful for healing and restoration, the Myofascial release tool may also be used to challenge the intensity of your workouts and to build strength, overall.

Whatever you’d like to achieve, BLACKROLL helps you get there, providing the right exercises to engage and relax various muscle groups. BLACKROLL even provides a convenient phone app, The Blackroll® App to guide training and self-massage techniques.

So, the next time you’re at the gym, you’ll understand just why this tool has become so popular. And with a tool like BLACKROLL at your fingertips, you’ll be ready to roll!

Wearable technology is everywhere: from walking our dogs and checking our Apple Watches to a myriad of other products.  What was once something rare has now become commonplace. Wearable tech is growing, and so are the uses, providing users with access to data they never had before, in ways they never imagined. Where it is having the largest impact: the fitness industry. Here, users are able to not only track their health, but also understand how to prevent injury, recuperate properly from it, and learn so much more about how their bodies work.  It helps us push further, as well as step back when we are at the brink of needing either.

For those that don’t know, wearable technology is a massive growth industry which is exploding at the moment. There are both consumer and professional wearables markets, making the veritable buffet of uses for this technology unlimited.   It seems like so long ago that the first Bluetooth headset was sold, but for those that remember, it was less than twenty years ago. The Bluetooth headset was really the trigger that launched an entire new category of connectivity, including everything from the FitBit to the Apple Watch and beyond.

Early wearables were constrained by the amount they could do.  Today, those limits have been exceeded tens of times over. Companies like dorsaVi have changed not only the way we look at wearables and health, but also the manner in which we use them.  DorsaVi’s real-time data analysis, tracking and profiling enable users to change the way they exercise, move, and even work. For a market that is continuing to explode, this opens doors never seen before.  To put it is context, Statista recently reported that the number of connected wearables is expected to reach 830 million in 2020. For those implementing them in their everyday practices that is truly an incredible measure of growth.

While some have expressed concern over the validity of the information, it is important to remember that it is the partnership between the technology and the human that is doing the work.  The data is measured, reported and based on real-life interaction with the wearable and the data interpretation is by experts in the industry. Companies like dorsaVi are partnering very closely with industry professionals to create, not only client benchmarks, but also programs and protocols which make a significant difference.  The wearables enable, in one word: customization. By partnering with physical therapists, chiropractors, pain physicians, strength and conditioning trainers, as well as coaches in the NFL, NHL, MLS, and NBS, dorsaVi’s motion sensors are making a significant difference both on – and off – the field.

Information that was once only available to the elite is now readily accessible for the average consumer.  DorsaVi is an FDA-cleared wearable based on biomechanical technology. By leveraging biomechanical instruments with smart sensors, the company is able to bring professional-level information to the average person.  With a smart dashboard and user-friendly reports, this wearable device company is providing an easy-to-understand view on our own physical assets.

The company has a strong history rooted in the practice of medicine.  As a practicing physiotherapist, co-founder Andrew Ronchi determined that he needed more personalized insights for his clients. He felt limited by what was available on the market for his practice and in doing so, realized early on, that the wearable market was the place to head. By having the foresight to do so, today, dorsaVi’s smart device is readily available in three main verticals: elite sports, clinical practice(s), and workplace safety.

DorsaVi’s solutions are used by a range of health and performance professionals, while the organization is a market leader in day-to-day training and rehabilitation products. The dorsaVi Professional Suite captures objective movement data that cannot be seen elsewhere.   This data then enables professionals to create customized programs based on their client’s specific needs. With this information, the clinician can mitigate the risk of injury, while guiding rehabilitation when needed. The data also helps make the difficult “return to play” decisions easier, while helping athletes increase their performance the healthy way.  

On the other hand, in the workplace, the insight helps increase safety significantly.  With the custom insight on workers, companies are able to match their physical needs with those of the company and reduce the risk of on the job injuries significantly. This real-time, real-life data also helps companies with their training protocols and manual handling processes, thus benefiting everyone from the company to the employee to the greater market itself.

“In the health space, where dorsaVi operates, improvements in technology continue to make what was once impossible possible,” says Megan Connell, Chief Marketing Officer of dorsaVi.  For this company and those that use their products, the true differential is that dorsaVi has made it possible to see clearly, what was once a significant blind spot, in a cost-effective and user-friendly manner, with medical-grade accuracy.