How to Biohack Your Brain and Boost Your Business
This female tech entrepreneur, biohacker and author sat down with Jessica Abo to explain how women can biohack their health.
By Jessica Abo •
Alisa Vitti believes it's time women start using their biological rhythm to their advantage. She says, "The myth that we're hormonal, or that our hormones are a liability, is part of an old, misogynistic narrative that isn't actually based on the scientific facts."
She says most women are in tune with their monthly menstrual cycle, but they might not know there is a second monthly clock called the infradian rhythm, which she explains is just as important as the daily circadian rhythm for maintaining our health. "Ignoring our infradian clock actually makes us sick, overwhelmed, and tired," she adds. "Most research in health and fitness is actually done on MEN and is not appropriate for women. For example, if you do HIIT interval training at the wrong time, you actually trigger fat storage. Most diets that work well for men don't work over the long-term for women because our metabolism changes twice per month!"
Vitti has dedicated her life's work to understanding how the female body operates, educating women about their hormones and disrupting menstrual healthcare. A pioneer of female biohacking and founder of the period-positive platform @floliving, Vitti has released her latest book, In the FLO. She says, "This book shows us how mainstream health plans, self-care routines, fitness regimens, and time management schedules, and even the power morning concept, are all founded on a system that only optimizes male biology, and leaves out the specialized and cyclical needs of women."
To empower women when it comes to their menstrual health, Vitti also created a special app called MyFLO, which enables each person to track her cycle, and what phase of the cycle she is in. "It turns out our brains change up to 25 percent over the month and understanding how your predictable changing hormone ratios stimulate your creativity, verbal skills, extroversion, productivity, and analytical skills is a huge advantage when running your own business. Imagine organizing your projects so you tackle them when they are the easiest for you. You'll be working with timing things to your biological rhythm."
