Knowledge

Better health, better bodies, better mental health, better sex, better relationships and just all-around optimisation of body, mind and spirit. We all want it, but it often feels unachievable. We have time constraints, we don’t have the energy to read conflicting literature and studies that leave us more confused than before and it’s becoming apparent that we are all so individual and gloriously different, that its near impossible to know if the advice you’re given will work for YOU!

Parenting in the modern world is hard. Especially during times of work-from-home, how do we eliminate all screen time and all sugar from our children’s diets? I’d venture that it is nigh impossible. In my view, your best strategy is to eliminate the bad stuff as much as possible and make a concerted effort to introduce the good stuff as much as possible, as often as possible!

I think we’ve all struggled with social anxiety in some shape or form in the past, whether you’re Mr Confident, Miss Whitty or the person who wishes that the earth would swallow them whole at least twice a day. The good news? Nootropics can actually have a profound impact on your ability to combat social anxiety and give you confidence in both work and social settings.

Fuel your body for optimal performance. The mental health and physical benefits from loving your food AND your body (by seeing food as fuel) are endless!

The truth is that humans are by far too individual (genetics, environment, geographic location and tastes) to ever be able to say that one particular diet will be effective for everyone.

The majority of cognitive dysfunction in kids can be linked to poor nutrition. As an example, when iron is deficient, dopamine function is affected which results in impaired concentration. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are linked to worse cognitive abilities and poor concentration.

Sex has some incredibly tangible, powerful health benefits for men and women. Anything from looking and feeling younger, to cardioprotective effects, to mental health benefits. Love, on its own, has very powerful physical and psychological health benefits.

Working with your hormones is crucial for good mental health. It costs you nothing other than some planning, plus, it’s all made really easy with cycle syncing apps and a myriad of other online resources and evidence-based literature.

Biohacking for Women! This has become very popular of late in the health and wellness space. Being a woman shouldn’t be difficult, but it is important that we’re given the tools to hack our health to be absolutely optimised!

These mini-but-mighty-mitos keep your heart pumping, you brain firing, your hormones regulating, your lungs inhaling and exhaling, fire up your immune system and allow your digestive system to operate.

We all know the advice. Take Vitamin C, increase fruit and vegetable intake, maybe include some zinc, don’t go out in the cold, drink your antibiotics, and whatever you do, don’t exercise! Yet we still seem to get the sniffles and the flu every year. Some of this advice works, to some degree. Some of these actually serve to only weaken the immune system further!

Grounding is a great way to optimize and improve your health! We offer a range of Grounding products. We have put together a list of questions you may have regarding our grounding products. Q: What are the benefits of grounding mats? A: Being grounded by the earth’s natural energy current helps restores a natural balance. By bringing back balance to your body research shows that it may have a positive impact on pain, improved immune function, improved sleep quality, stabilization of the body’s natural biological rhythms, reduction in chronic inflammation and protection against EMF’s – which our modern society is filled with. Q: How does a grounding mat work? A: The earth’s surface has a negative electric charge. When this comes in contact with your body, an equalization happens where the body takes on extra electrons and build up a static electric charge. When you come into contact with earth surface, whether it be grass, ground or ocean & lake water, this process takes place. A grounding mat allows you to bring the grounding process indoor, into the comfort of your own home or office space. A grounding mat has been designed with a special adapter that plugs into the grounding/earthing port of a plug(outlet), which sends this negative electric charge through to the mat which your body can then absorb. Grounding products have been designed to keep your body connected to the earth’s energy by replicating the natural process. Q: How long do I have to be grounded a day? A: Every person is different and some may benefit more from grounding for longer periods. Because grounding is a natural process you can never be “too grounded”. Think of being grounded as a shield that protects and enhances your life quality. It has been reported that 30min of grounding is enough time to show a positive impact on your health. Q: How long does it take to see the benefit of being grounded? A: Some people have reported feeling the effects immediately while others have taken days, weeks or months to feel a change. It’s a natural process which you have been engaging in, probably since you were a child. Some people have reported improvements in chronic inflammation within days of using grounding products. Others noticed that when they don’t sleep with their grounding mat they are restless and sleep very light – which leads us to believe that it improves your quality of sleep. As our body restore and heals when we sleep, people have reported noticing the health benefits faster when they sleep grounded. Q: Is it better to rather just walk bare foot outside? A: It’s entirely up to your personal preference. Many people have busy lifestyles that do not allow them to spend enough time in nature. Grounding mats have been designed to help the modern human connect more with the earths energy. You will get the exact same benefit walking bare foot outdoors as you would sitting with a grounding mat at your desk. Q: Will it only work if my feet are on the mat? A: Groundings mats can be placed on the floor, on your desk or even on your bed. The most important thing is that your body(skin) has to be in contact with the mat to experience the benefits. This includes any part of your body be it feet, arms, hands etc that will conduct the earth’s energy. Our feet however, are the most conductive part of our body, and some people have reported that they experience more benefits by putting their bare feet on the grounding mat. Q: Do grounding products work with electricity. A: No. They pick up the earths current from the earth port of a grounded outlet. Q: Can a grounding mat electrocute me? A: As they don’t work with electricity, they can’t electrocute you. They are completely safe for humans and pets to use. Grounding products only work with the grounding port which conducts the earth’s energy. Q: Can I use my grounding mat when there is loadshedding? A: Yes, as it doesn't work with electricity. Q: Do I leave the adapter plugged in when using the grounding mat? A: You have to leave it plugged in for the earth’s current to flow through into the mat, which your body then absorbs. There is no need to plug the grounding product out. Q: Can I wear shoes while using my grounding mat? A: Shoes, more specifically rubber soles, create a barrier of insulation, which will block the current. Grounding products work best when they are in direct contact with your skin. However, grounding mats do work if you wear socks or light clothing. Direct skin contact is always best. Q: Is it safe for my pets to sit on my grounding mat? A: As the grounding mat is conducting the earth’s natural energy, it is safe for everyone to use. It’s the same as walking bare foot outside on the grass. It will not cause harm to your pets or baby. Q: Can I plug my grounding mat into an extension? A: Yes, as the earth’s current will continue flowing into the grounding mat. Q: Can I use my grounding mat in any country? A: Yes. We recommend confirming the earth port of the electric outlet in the country you are traveling to, to ensure you plug it in correctly. Q: Why is the adapter so loose? A: As each electrical port in manufactured independently, you may find that the adapter sits a little loose in different electrical outlets. This doesn’t mean that it doesn’t work, as the current will still be flowing into the grounding mat. We suggest securing the adapter down with for example sticky tape, if you are worried it will come out without your knowledge. Q: Are the grounding mats tested? A: All our grounding products have been tested by our professionals. Each product is shipped with a quality assurance sticker - which is our stamp of approval. Q: Can grounding mats be washed? A: It’s advised to regularly wipe the mat down with a disinfecting agent. Water or moisture will not damage the mat. It’s best to hand-wash the grounding mats and not wash them in a washing machine. Q: Where do you plug the adapter of the grounding products in? A: The grounding adapter has to be inserted into the earthing port - which should be the top wire on the plug, the green wire. Q: How do you test a grounding mat? A: A grounding mat can be tested by using a multi-meter. The below link explain the process in detail:  How to test and use earthing/grounding Mats Earthing Multi Meter Test

Supplementing need not be an expensive exercise if you follow a targeted approach and are aware of what your individual needs are. You might even save on health costs in the long run. To enjoy optimal health, and to boost your brain and your physiology, supplementation in a smart and educated manner will make all the difference!

Introducing nootropics, specifically selected for your own personal goals, can be a game changer for your brain functioning and brain health. Choose smartly, be patient and let nature’s gifts work for your own Optimised Self!

In honour of Brain Awareness month, it always helps to understand the brain a bit better, be aware of what can go wrong and also know how best to care for your brain with lifestyle changes and nootropic supplements.

It's not uncommon to experience a dip in motivation at times, particularly during winter. However, the cool weather isn't the only cause of this. Did you know a lack of motivation can be sparked by many factors, such as stress, sleep & nutrition, as they often influence one another.

The last couple of months has certainly put a spotlight on a pandemic (not the one you think) that is rampant in our modern society - Depression. Mood disorders. Plain ‘ol feeling sad.

We want to optimise our neurotransmitters so that they can communicate efficiently and process information in the way that you intend them to. But sadly, we often end up with inflammation in our brains that suffer decline or just feel kind of…broken. Even the best machines sometimes require some maintenance to function at their optimal best.

Ah, CHOLESTEROL. That ugly word that gets blamed for so many things. It’s one of those topics in the health world where overwhelming evidence shows that we may have gotten it wrong in the 1950’s, but public perception and the modern standard of care for the problem seems slow to catch up. Cholesterol has over the years been blamed for cardiovascular disease, heart damage and plaque build-up in arteries (atherosclerosis). Truth be told, there’s very little evidence that cholesterol, in and of itself, is something that would increase these risk factors. Yes, you may say, but then how did we get it so wrong, the scientists have studies and why are we still being told to avoid “cholesterol-causing foods”? Well, to put it simply: Cholesterol was the last at the scene of the crime, and it got blamed for what Inflammation did. Believe it or not, cholesterol is actually a protective mechanism. Without cholesterol, we couldn’t live. The list of reasons why cholesterol is important is long, but try think about how critical each of these are to the proper functioning of our bodies: Critical structural element in brain and nervous system tissues (it transports nutrients into cells and is an essential part of membranes). Allows for synthesis of many hormones, like progesterone, oestrogen, testosterone, cortisol and Vitamin D (which is actually a hormone). Insulates neurons. Participates in the immune response. Metabolises fat-soluble vitamins. Produces bile. LDL, the so-called bad guy, is crucial for its benefits to cognition, longevity and hormones. How Did Cholesterol Get such a Bad Rap? When heart disease became more prominent in the early 1900’s, research into the root cause took off and continued for decades. Following a number of rabbit studies where rabbits received cholesterol through diet, their blood cholesterol levels increased, leading to atherosclerosis. Human tests in the 1950’s then showed a relationship between “early death” by heart disease and fat deposits plus lesions being found along artery walls. Boom. Problem solved. In addition, previous research had tied hereditary high blood cholesterol (familial hypercholesterolemia) to heart disease, so it was a very neat solution to name cholesterol as the dastardly culprit. Here is what we know now:  Consuming processed foods, vegetable oils (including those Heart Foundation approved margarines), sugar and overconsuming carbohydrates leads to inflammation. All of these foods cause your blood sugar to spike, and these constant spikes directly result in inflammation. Over time, inflammation weakens the walls of our arteries (that shuttle blood and other nutrients to where they are needed). In an effort to “patch” the weakened arteries and prevent lesions in the artery walls, which would obviously be disastrous, our clever bodies send cholesterol as a sort of filler or band-aid to try to strengthen the arteries. However, as this process continues over time, the build-up becomes too much, arteries become blocked and NOW you have heart disease. Cholesterol was being blamed for the damage caused by inflammation, when in reality it was trying its best to bandage the damage done by other factors. But when someone succumbed to heart disease, all we saw was the cholesterol. Finally, I think it’s important to remember that there is a difference between dietary cholesterol (which the rabbits were being fed) and blood cholesterol and that they’re not directly related. Given how important cholesterol is, our bodies (via the liver) carefully regulates the cholesterol in our bodies, and, on its own, produces 1,000-1,400mg daily (i.e. not derived from food). Cholesterol from food is only a small portion of the cholesterol in our bodies so a statement like eggs and butter will cause heart disease is truly inaccurate. The liver has a clever feedback system which monitors how much cholesterol to make relative to how much it has received from your diet. The more cholesterol-rich foods you eat, the less your liver produces. If you cut out these foods, your liver is just going to make it anyway. So What Exactly is Cholesterol? As with the miracle that is our bodies, it’s always a bit more complex than that. I bet that in the context of cholesterol you’ve heard of Low-Density Lipoproteins (LDL), High-Density Lipoproteins (HDL) and Triglycerides. LDL is bad and HDL is good. We have to stop calling LDL bad and wanting our HDL to be as high as possible! Very simplistically, LDL and HDL aren’t technically speaking cholesterol. Because cholesterol is not water soluble, it can’t move through the body in the bloodstream (fatty acids and blood are like oil and water). The body therefore cleverly packages three fatty acids (cholesterol) together in a combo pack called a triglyceride. These triglycerides have to be carried around by lipoproteins (think of these as little cholesterol taxis), and this “taxi” is then what is called LDL and HDL. LDL’s function is to transport cholesterol from the liver to the tissues (where it can build up if there is inflammation AND the LDL particle size is small (more on this in a minute). This is why it got the rep as the “bad kid” on the block. HDL got known as the “good kid” because its function is to collect the “bad” cholesterol that wasn’t used after it deposited fatty acids and antioxidants back to the liver for disposal (and therefore seen as protective). So is LDL completely innocent? Well, no. There is a further nuance. What is important with LDL is in fact the particle size. Based on your diet, your LDL particles can be big and fluffy like tennis balls (carrying more fat-soluble nutrients), or small and hard like golf balls. If you picture your arterial walls as a tennis net, the fluffy tennis balls can’t get through – it does what it needs to do (is highly cardio-protective) and is shuttled away. The small, hard golf balls sail through the tennis net and start plaque build-up in your arterial walls (and are prone to oxidation), which leads to heart disease. So while LDL may not be the direct cause of cardiovascular disease, it is still a necessary ingredient. Paradigm shift It's therefore important to understand that we need to look at cholesterol and its role in contributing to heart disease in a different way: It is the particle size that’s more important than the mere presence of LDL in your bloodstream. Here is what I believe what we should be focusing on: LDL particle size (there are tests for this, like the LipidPro test) Triglyceride to HDL ratio (the atherogenic index): this is an enormously valuable indicator of potential heart disease which is often ignored and so simple to calculate! You might hear that a ratio of up to 4 is acceptable, but really you want your Triglyceride to HDL ratio to be less than 1 hs-CRP (tests for inflammation): given what we’ve come to understand about inflammation, this is a wildly important blood test to get to ensure that your inflammation is under control (along with blood glucose and insulin testing) HDL that is too high could be an indication of chronic inflammation (HDL is anti-inflammatory), so don’t look at your HDL number in isolation What Role Does Genetics Play? One of the main criticisms against a keto diet is that it raises cholesterol. And this is true. But guess what: saturated fat (butter, animal fat) intake has been shown to increase the big fluffy LDL particles and decrease the small, hard LDL particles. In addition, research has shown that certain types of saturated fats can increase HDL (which improves the Triglyceride to HDL ratio). Important caveat: There are a number of people who will not do well on a ketogenic diet or on large amounts of saturated fat. If you have certain APOE genes, your body would do better with monounsaturated fats like olive oil and avocado oil. If it’s at all possible, it’s such a wonderful intervention to get genetic testing done. But in the absence of this, always be cautious to overdo the saturated fats and structure your diet around Mediterranean-type fats like olive oil. Certain other genetic factors also play a role in how cholesterol is shuttled through your body and how long it stays there, so it’s always good to be aware that we are all unique and a one-size-fits-all diet approach is not appropriate. Statins: Friend or Foe? I was recently chatting to a mate of mine. He is fit, healthy, cycles regularly but not too much, lifts weights and eats a diet with moderate carbohydrate restriction. At his annual check-up, his doctor looked at his total cholesterol (TC) and LDL scores and said that they are “mildly elevated”. This caused my buddy some distress as he wants his health to be perfect. He asked the doc what could be done, and the doctor prescribed the current standard of care: statins. For a healthy guy in his 20’s. Statins are actually a heart medication that have lowering of LDL as a side effect. This means that statins address the symptoms, but not the problem. They work. They lower cholesterol. But there is some serious collateral damage, including muscle problems, cognitive issues, pain, numbness in extremities and elevations in blood glucose, which in turn drive inflammation. Yup. However, it appears that at the heart of the problematic side-effects of statins is their impact on your mitochondria (the power houses of your cells). You may have heard of Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), which allows your mitochondria to produce energy and fight free radicals (which basically causes ageing). CoQ10 travels along the same pathways as cholesterol, so when statins stop cholesterol, they stop CoQ10 from getting to your mitochondria and you are left defenceless against free radicals, which in turn causes more inflammation, which is at the heart of heart disease. The very problem it’s meant to solve, is actually exacerbated (not caused) by statins. Shop Here: NeuroActive Coenzyme Q10 The medical community who are aware of these problems are increasingly concerned with studies coming out funded by the creators of statins advocating for statin usage, even when cholesterol levels are considered normal. As my functional medicine doctor recently told me, it takes the accepted standard of care around 20 years to catch up to new information. I’m certainly not advocating that you stop taking statins cold turkey if you’re already on them, but perhaps you should work with a doctor to decide if CoQ10 supplementation could be suitable for you. What I am, however, advocating for is that we ask ourselves why we would blindly take potentially dangerous, expensive statins when this could possibly be addressed far more effectively through lowering inflammation by cutting out these highly-inflammatory foods, taking Omega-3 rich oils and implementing some dietary adjustments that could leave your cholesterol taxis swimming around happily where they would not need to be the last culprit spotted at the scene of the crime? The Wellness Stack The Wellness Stack has combined best-selling products to support optimal well-being for a healthy and balanced state.You can now help your body fight inflammation naturally - SHOP HERE TODAY. Organic Super Greens - Combines 14 Superfoods, veggies and adaptogens to help your body naturally fight inflammation. Bioshield - with Chaga Mushroom is an advanced Immune Support & Vitality formulation designed to support optimal and healthy immune function, support wellness and detoxify the body.  Gut Complex - the next-generation Probiotic, Gut Health & Digestive support product with a synergistic combination of advanced & patented ingredients in order to promote and support optimal gut health.  Closing thoughts A study that has been running since 1948 (Framingham Heart Study) showed that over 40% (and even up to 75%) of heart attacks occur in people with “normal” cholesterol levels, and some people who did have “high” cholesterol never suffered heart disease. It also showed that having cholesterol that is too low (<180) can triple your chances of having a stroke and is highly correlated to poor cognitive function in old age. A host of studies show that cholesterol can have a highly cardioprotective effect, increase intelligence and increase your endocrine function. The moral of the story: looking at your total cholesterol is simply just not a good indication of heart health. Don’t worry too much about LDL but take into account particle size and genetic differences. Humans are complete organisms and your health will depend on a host of inter-related factors, like sleep, diet, exercise, smoking, being overweight etc. All of these factor into a healthy, happy heart and this is what we should be concentrating on. Trust your gut, eat what your body tells you feels good and question the health choices that you make. Your heart and health will thank you for it! Looking for inflammation support supplements? Shop our range of premium products on OPTMZ below: PRIMESELF 4-in-1 Shroom Elixir Powder VitaActive C60 MCT Oil NeuroActive Green Tea Extract NeuroActive Curcumin+ NeuroActive Chaga Mushroom Disclaimer Please note that this is not medical advice and you should always consult a doctor when making a decision on changing, starting or ceasing any medication. This article is intended for information purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice. About Social Media Thea is the founder of Neolaia – Biohacking SA and passionate about all things biohacking, functional medicine, holistic and ancestral wellness. She enjoys the occasional triathlon, is fanatic about yoga and the gym and loves n=1 biohacking experiments more than anything else! Learning about the latest in scientific research for health and wellness and applying this knowledge is what makes her happiest! Instagram: biohack_sa

Lion’s Mane Mushroom has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for centuries. It's only recently that it has enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity across the globe, but the results from studies make it easy to understand why this humble little shroom is earning the title of Super Shroom.