When Going Back to Basics Is Better

Simpler is smarter. Less is more. Learn to biohack your health with no-stress strategies that make longevity science actually doable.

- Jessica Migala

78% That's the increase in mortality risk when you have generally unhealthy habits. On the flip side, adopting these four healthy habits means that you have what researchers call the "optimal lifestyle combination." Here they are: Don't smoke, get regular physical activity, snag adequate sleep, follow a healthy diet.

Is it just me or has the pursuit of “wellness” become wildly complicated? I don't take a daily fistful of supplements, jump into a cold plunge, or sit in an infrared sauna while deep-breathing to transcendental music. Nothing against any of these practices; it's just that I only made it in up to my ankles when I cold-plunged the first and only time.

Luckily, feeling like a happier, more energetic disease-fighting machine doesn't have to be confusing, complex, or expensive—and you can start now, with the tools you have on hand. “We forget about the simple strategies, but we can get more benefit from them than we realize,” says Alicia Robbins, MD, an ob-gyn certified in lifestyle medicine. The payoff for these back-to-basics biohacks is big: “Carving out time for small habits literally will add years to your life,” Dr. Robbins adds. (To be more specific, if you have healthy, evidence-backed lifestyle habits in place, you can tack on an extra 20 years, according to research in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.)

I asked experts what they recommend to their own patients (and to the rest of us), then tried them on for size myself, learning firsthand that hacking your health doesn’t have to be hard. Here are six things to implement, starting today.

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