What Is Biohacking? Definitions, Range and Evidence Standards

What biohacking means

There is no single official definition. One scientific description calls biohacking a do-it-yourself form of citizen science that merges body modification with technology, with motivations that include personal data collection and open-source medicine. [1] Another paper describes it more simply as people making changes to their bodies to improve their well-being. [2] In everyday talk the word is stretched even further, to cover almost any gadget, habit or supplement sold as a way to feel or perform better.

Because the word covers so much, it helps to sort practices by how much risk they carry rather than by whether they are called biohacking.

The range, from gentle to risky

Evidence standards on this site

We use the same plain labels everywhere: approved medicine (a regulator has approved it for a stated use), established, promising but limited, mixed, insufficient evidence, preclinical (cells or animals only), no good evidence of benefit, evidence of harm and marketing claim. A change in a lab number or a gadget reading is not the same as feeling or living better, and results from animals or cells are not treated as proof for people. Where we looked and found nothing usable we write "Proper evidence not found."

A good habit is to look for scientific journal articles that support a claim and to check who is making it. [3] Our step-by-step guide is how to evaluate a biohack.

Safety and evidence

Safety is not guaranteed by being natural, popular or high-tech. The NIH center for complementary health notes that "natural" does not always mean "safe" and that supplements may interact with medicines. [4]

Some do-it-yourself practices go beyond what is sensible. Implanting devices outside medical settings can lead to complications such as infection and tendon damage, and the safety of such implants has not been extensively studied. [2] In the United States, the FDA states that selling gene therapy products or kits for self-administration is against the law and that it is concerned about the safety risks. [5] Laws differ by country and change over time, and this is not legal advice.

Stop signs. Stop and seek care if a practice causes chest pain, fainting, trouble breathing, severe headache, confusion or any symptom that worries you. In a US emergency call 911.

Where to go next

Each page in this area covers one practice with the same questions: what it claims, what evidence exists, who should check first, and how to judge the claims. Start with sleep and recovery or the biohacking overview.