The Dark Side of Biohacking Culture
Your Efforts at Self-Improvement Might Be Backfiring on Your Mental Health
In an increasingly uncertain world, it’s no surprise that more men are turning to one of the aspects of their lives they can control: their wellness habits. From cold plunges to wearables and supplements, biohacking offers a framework to feel like the best version of yourself – or at the very least, to feel like you’re staying one step ahead when everything else feels unpredictable.
If you’re unfamiliar with the term, biohacking refers to the process of optimizing different aspects of your physical, mental and emotional performance. It can look like eating in a certain order to keep your blood sugar balanced, taking supplements to support brain function or tracking sleep data for better recovery. Want hormone testing or at-home blood panels to take your habits to the next level? A growing number of companies offer such services.
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But the same choices meant to enhance your health can sometimes become unhealthy. What starts as a genuine effort towards self-improvement can spiral into a rigid, stressful and isolating lifestyle. Here’s how biohacking culture can take a dark turn – and how to recognize when it’s time to pull back.
Why More Men Are Turning to Biohacking
From a young age, men are often taught to value hard work and achievement. That mentality can naturally extend to health: stay disciplined, grind hard and results will follow. “For many high-performing men – especially athletes, entrepreneurs, and executives – there’s a deep drive to optimize every variable. Biohacking feels like a scientific path to peak performance,” according to Dr. Mark Kovacs, PhD, FACSM, longevity, healthspan and human performance expert at Kovacs Institute.
For some, biohacking is more than a wellness routine: it’s a deeper sense of identity that aligns with perceptions of masculinity. Part of biohacking’s popularity is how prevalent it is on social media. It signals self-mastery, discipline and performance, attributes that are often unconsciously tied to traditional ideas of being manly.
There are also generational and societal factors at play. “Millennials and Gen X were raised with the idea that if you do X, you get Y; that working hard guarantees success. But now, with many millennials priced out of the housing market and facing other challenges, life can feel increasingly unpredictable and out of control.”
“So what do people do? They ask, ‘What can I control?’ If I just do everything perfectly, like stay healthy, be productive, and excel at work, maybe I can avoid bad things,” says Dr. Erin Parks, chief clinical officer and clinical psychologist at Equip.
As Parks puts it, we’re seeing firsthand that “illness, heartbreak, and hardship don’t always happen to the people we expect.” Social media amplifies those stories. It also exposes us to a constant deluge of news and information and the temptation to doom-scroll. “We’re constantly reminded just how random life can be,” says Parks, who adds that "it's very much an American impulse to resist randomness and believe we can control our fate.”
When Biohacking Culture Becomes Unhealthy
But if biohacking is a coping mechanism in the face of unpredictability, is that so bad? There are worse ways to cope than embracing healthy habits or diving into personalized health data. The problem isn’t in the tools themselves or the desire to prioritize wellness. It’s what happens when they affect your mental health negatively. “The moment a routine shifts from purposeful to perfectionist, it becomes less about health and more about control,” according to Kovacs.
“I’ve worked with clients, often men, who track sleep, glucose, heart rate variability, ketone levels, supplements, epigenetics and macro intake, to the point of decision fatigue and psychological burnout,” adds Kovacs. “Paradoxically, they end up sleeping worse, training harder than necessary, and losing touch with how they actually feel.”
There’s a fine line between dedication and obsession. How do you tell the difference between the two? It’s not always about what you’re doing but what you’re sacrificing in the process of pursuing optimal health. “When I hear stories about people spending four hours at the gym instead of attending their nephew’s birthday party, or skipping all food at their anniversary dinner because it’s a fasting or restricted day, that’s a clear sign that biohacking is controlling their life instead of serving it,” says Parks.
Biohacking has positive sides. It encourages a proactive approach to health rather than waiting for problems to arise. It gives people tools to take charge of their well-being. It can feel genuinely empowering. But it also can veer into disordered territory when strict routines start to take priority over holistic well-being.
Signs You’ve Taken Biohacking Too Far
There are a few signs that your wellness rituals are doing more harm than good. The first one is whether you’re starting to feel stressed out about following them. “Optimization becomes a problem when the tools meant to enhance health actually increase stress – when sleep tracking causes anxiety, or supplements and red light devices become rituals that feel compulsory rather than empowering,” says Kovacs.
If you’re an athlete or someone who takes fitness seriously, you also have a higher risk of developing disordered eating tendencies, according to Parks: “Are you spending four hours in the gym because it truly benefits your sport? Or are you doing it because if you don’t, you’ll feel like a failure or shameful? Are you approaching biohacking because it brings you joy and you enjoy the challenge, or are you using it to avoid feelings of guilt and inadequacy?”
Do you often feel like you’re never doing enough? That’s a red flag too. Parks explains that for many people, this mindset doesn’t just show up around health – it’s the same feeling they carry into work, relationships and family life. And it’s unhealthy because there’s no finish line.
Ultimately, it all boils down to one thing. If biohacking is shrinking your life instead of expanding it – and that can take different forms – it’s time to redefine your relationship with it.
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