Biotech start-ups are selling brain performance supplements called nootropics and gadgets such as “neurofeedback headbands” for hundreds of dollars. Their promise? To strengthen our cognitive function and brain chemistry against the sensory overload of modern life. One of the big players is Mendi, a Nasa-funded Swedish biotech firm whose brain-training headset promises to improve focus, mood and sleep, and reduce stress.
This targeted approach to cognitive enhancement is called “neurohacking”, the latest micro-trend in the biohacking space. It has a range of high-profile fans. Longevity champion Bryan Johnson is just as fascinated with his mind as his body. He recently hosted the BBC’s Lara Lewington and encouraged her to try his light therapy helmet. “This therapy can improve concentration, peacefulness, sleep and the white matter of hyper-intensity,” he tells her in a video, before the classic caveat: “There’s no evidence for this, so we’re experimenting.”
Biohacking has always found itself in a funny sort of intersection: a Venn diagram whose nether regions overlap with conspiracy, entrepreneurship and Hollywood (Johnson was photographed last week attending Paris Hilton’s birthday party). Even the word “hacking” is indelibly tied to big tech and corporate culture.
Neurohacking is changing our definition of intelligence towards something more holistic. It takes the view that the mind and body are one: that a strong brain in an elderly person is pointless if their body is frail. You can do as many crosswords as you want, just as you can spend all day strength training, but one without the other is futile. Through this lens, the brain is treated like a muscle — which it isn’t. But like an actual muscle — biceps, abdominals, hamstrings — it can be honed and consolidated.
Rehab for the brain
As in other realms of fitness, there’s money to be made. Crosswords — even cryptics — are not enough to keep the brain in good nick. At least, that’s the message biotech firms are sending.
They’re sending another message, too. Namely, that our brains are not equipped to deal with the hyper-intense reality of modern, tech-addled lives. Neurohackers believe the information era has damaged our brain chemistry more than ever before. “We absorb more information in a week than our ancestors did in their entire lives,” a Mendi video claims.
These new technologies are telling us to slow down; to take a break from our spreadsheets, calendars and news feeds. They demand that we focus our attention on different data points instead: those in our head. From there, they promise to rebuild our cognitive abilities and bolster our resistance to the deluge of information which we can’t escape. This is a process known as neural rewiring, or in layman’s terms, brain rehab.
The Mendi headband is a futuristic device that measures blood flow in response to neural activity. It offers to do this via a simple exercise. An app connected to the headset has a game in which the user must push a ball up a hill for three minutes through pure focus and determination — Matilda style. Ideally, the ball will simply rise and rise, though if your focus lapses, it begins to plummet. The goal is to stimulate oxygen towards the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for cognitive functions like planning, decision making and problem solving. This is a process known as “neurofeedback brain training”. Some might balk at the idea of yet more technology being the solution to our tech-induced overstimulation, and at £259, the headset is not cheap. But considering that the average attention span has shrunk by the year to sub-goldfish levels, Mendi’s offering could prove invaluable.
A not so novel idea
That said, harnessing neuroplasticity doesn’t need to break the bank. Technology is often said to have irreparably altered our brains, but it is reading — especially reading fiction — that can rewire them. Untangling plots and analysing characters and themes stimulates the prefrontal cortex and improves memory, attention and critical thinking skills. Our brains are more resilient than biotech companies would have us believe, and they do not necessarily need a group of Silicon Valley consultants to help them “streamline”. Humans have been doing that themselves for over 150,000 years, when they invented the first rudiments of language and began switching from intuitive thinking to more abstract conceptualisations. This new style of thinking streamlined our neural pathways, leading to smaller-sized brains capable of more complex reasoning.
Bio- and neurohacking are rooted in evolutionary science, so it’s somewhat ironic that they underestimate just how adaptive we are. Yes, the Mendi headband could help strengthen our brains. But don’t forget the simplest neurohack: a good old fashioned novel.
