Biohacking News by Zestology

This podcast includes the frankly shocking results of my alcohol/ sleep experiment. Coming up in this podcast, you'll hear about my experiments with: The Oura ring Sleep and alcohol - my tests. Drinking less / aka Dryish January The Oura Ring As you may know, I've been road-testing the Oura Ring (and have been talking about it on the podcast). It's a tracking device that you wear on your finger. It measures your sleep, heart rate, heart rate variability, body temperature, and exercise. Sleep and alcohol And, rather shockingly I've found when I even have a small amount of wine, my heart rate variability scores are way down, my resting heart rate increases and my deep sleep drops off the chart . What's interesting about this is we all kind of know that we get hangovers when we drink and we are not at our best the next day. But this is cold, hard data that proves that my body don't work as well even after a small amount of alcohol. The graphic on my blog is on my resting heart rate when asleep (the two arrows were after the two nights out, and only 2/3 glasses of wine. Oof). Drinking less So for more on this, I'm definitely cutting down on the drinking in January - Dryish January as I'm calling it. I've talked to former professional footballer Andy Ramage on today's Zestology podcast. He is a successful trader these days, as well as running the popular site One Year No Beer and being an author at the same time. It's a brilliant interview, and if you're thinking of cutting down on the booze in January, or anytime this year, then I hope you enjoy. And if you want to read his article - How to do dry January without hating your life - it's here.

Feeling sluggish after the New Year's festivities? This will perk you up - incredible info on diet and how it affects your focus: This year, I wanted to focus on creating a podcast for you right at the start of 2018 that focuses on optimum nutrition for body and brain. Because let's be honest, a few too many mince pies have probably been consumed over the last month. (Side note: Americans don't have mince pies, which is a shame.) And today's guest knows how that can have an impact in surprising areas. Steven Masley is one of the world's top experts in this area. He's a bestselling author and TV Doctor in the States, and he knows his stuff. His new book, The Better Brain Solution, is out tomorrow and I heartily recommend a cheeky pre-order as he is one of the top people in the field. It focuses on the link between body, brain and what we eat.

Should you call a Christmas podcast 'Best Bits'? My decision - yes. So take a listen and see if you agree that these are Zestology 'Best Bits', or maybe you'll just think they're Zestology Average Bits! Coming up. Best bits 2017 Some extra bits recorded for this podcast 2018 sneak preview, guests lined up A few thank yous I've really enjoyed this year - doing my podcast Zestology as well as my telly work with Sky. So I've compiled a review of the year. Call it Best Bits if you like. Three of my favourite Zest moments were chatting with Dave Asprey on injecting stem cells into your unmentionables!, Meghan Currie on switching off, and getting away from screens. And interviewing the author of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, John Gray on his trip to London. They're in here, as are many more personal highlights.

This week, a slightly different format on Zestology, it's my first ever 'Zestology Stories' podcast. And it includes Julia Immonen, a friend of mine and colleague at Sky Sports. How to deal with fear (from someone who knows) Getting outside your comfort zone An incredible breakthrough in treating migraines More great stories Having known Julia for many years, I was astonished when one day she casually announced, "I'm going to row the Atlantic". Astonished because she'd never before mentioned rowing, and you'll hear in this interview how in fact, she'd never even rowed on open water before. Genuinely crazy. We recorded the interview in our lunch break at Sky, and she told me about some terrifying moments in the middle of the Atlantic. Talk about dealing with fear. It is alongside a couple of other good stories on Zestology podcast this week featuring other short interviews that I've recorded recently.

I have given this a lot of thought recently... Is it a good idea to occasionally switch off? Obviously I work as a sports journo for Sky Sports News, and I love that. I love sport, love reading about sport, love watching sport and so on. I'm also bit of a news junkie as well, often taking part in shows on Sky News and being a pretty avid watcher when not at work. But as well as being a news junkie, I recognise the value of occasionally switching off. Getting home and stepping away from the TV and my phone. Some stories leave me feeling pretty alarmed at the moment, the state of the world I care about and it worries me. So is it ever a good idea to switch off a little? Look, I don't want news which is solely stories of cats that were lost and found. I want to be well informed and make a difference, so I'm looking for the right balance. I recorded a podcast where we explored these themes of leadership and whether we can make a difference by switching off. Tayo Rockson was on Zestology (his stuff on mentorship, leadership, and following your gut is especially good.) And I was on his podcast too, where you'll hear my thoughts on switching off the news some more.

I've been trying to get world tapping expert Nick Ortner on my podcast for ages. It's taken a while to persuade him! When I recorded a show with Ashley Meyer of the Energy Therapy Centre, it was one of the most popular. It's no lie to say that when I took 3 months off work because of illness, tapping was the thing that got me back on track. Now Nick has come on to give us the full tapping low down. Let's do tapping again. Importantly, in this particular podcast, we have a full tapping demo. It's great! (NB - do not drive while listening to the demo itself or operate heavy machinery.) Enjoy - and hope you feel good after!

The last of my LA podcasts is out today. Ah, LA. It seems quite a long time ago now, that Californian heat and the sunny places, people and personalities. They include Dr. Dan Pompa. He coaches many from around the world with what are considered unexplainable illnesses back to health. And he does this, by helping you to detox. In today's podcast we cover loads of stuff, but the bits about tap water are particularly illuminating. Let me know what you think about that. And for more on whether tap water is good for you or not (clue: it's not), here's Dr. Pompa's article on tap water. We also covered... Vaccines Glyphosate - ugh Kids on autism spectrum Detoxing lead / mercury

A couple of weeks ago I was in LA for the Bulletproof Biohacking Conference. You've probably seen various selfies on social media. I went over there to write a piece for Balance magazine and record for Zestology on going Back To The Future, with the world's most famous biohacker Dave Asprey. How does this guy do it? Dave sat across from me, and he looked healthier and younger – way younger – than the last time I saw him ten months ago. He's more toned, his guns are bigger than mine – I'm especially unhappy about that - the lines on his face are smoother, and hang on, he appears to have youthful dimples in his cheeks. Like a 20-something. Where did the dimples come from? He definitely didn't have them at the start of the year. Ordinarily the first thing that would spring to mind is botox. But this is the man with a stated aim of living to the age of 180. And in his words, he's not into sticking rat poison into his face. There is no beating around the bush. I need to know. We're starting with the dimples. First question – how do you look annoyingly younger than last time, while I seem to be ageing not-go-gracefully? Want to know more? Listen to the podcast for the answer as well as the latest health tech, supplements, gadgets and a general geek out.

I love a walking meditation. Even if you are just fully present while walking it makes such a difference. Today's podcast is with a returning Strictly winner who's now all about meditation. And we walked and talked in this podcast. Camilla Dallerup won Strictly Come Dancing after six series with Tom Chambers in 2008. She's now an author and meditation teacher living in LA, and when she was in London recently she came on Zestology. We agreed to do a return version in LA while we walked... so here it is, recorded walking along the seafront in Santa Monica, and popping onto the pier at the same time.

I'm back from LA now. What a trip. The Bulletproof Conference was a chance to reconnect with friends and meet some new ones too. Many of the recommendations at the conference are pretty much the complete opposite of what we are taught growing up about wellness. It can seem overwhelming. Butter is okay, nicotine's okay too (but certainly not smoking), and so on. But many other hacks seem to be a mixture of the futuristic and the primal. As well as eating plenty of veggies, most of those gathered in LA are big fans of meditation and getting some natural sunlight in the morning. Hardly anything particularly revolutionary about that. Light is a drug - eh? Light is a big theme at the conference. Some speakers talk about how light affects your brain like a drug. Experts and exhibitors alike look at adapting your environment so that the lights help you to perform at your best, especially if you live somewhere cold, damp and grey, (sound familiar?). As well as our dearth of natural sunlight in a northern hemisphere winter, some of our offices and devices apparently emit five times more blue light than daylight, which really messes with our sleep and circadian rhythms. Today I'm with Scott Nelson, a man who knows all about light, and in fact has invented a device that is rather cool. And man, it's bright! Check out the podcast for more, and Scott's website here.