Virtual Biohacking Conference 2021 Recap: Mitochondria, Decision-Making, and Winning 40 Years of Zen
On May 8, 2021, Dave Asprey hosted the second Virtual Biohacking Conference — the final virtual edition before the in-person conference returned to Orlando that September. The event packed an enormous amount of content into a single day, and this recap covers the key takeaways that are still worth applying today.
10 Simple and Free Biohacks
Before getting into advanced techniques, the conference grounded everything in fundamentals that require no equipment and no budget:
Intermittent fasting / time-restricted eating — Don't eat for a period every day. Start with a 12-hour window. Ideally, don't eat after the sun goes down and stop at least three hours before bed.
Calorie restriction — Most people can afford to eat a little less. The last few bites often don't add enjoyment anyway.
Metabolic flexibility — Train your body to switch between glucose and ketones for fuel. Low-carb and ketogenic diets encourage this switch; MCT oil can accelerate it.
More polyphenols — Plant compounds that increase brain function. Coffee, dark chocolate, berries, and certain nuts are high in polyphenols.
Better light hygiene — Minimum 30 minutes of morning sunlight daily to synchronize circadian rhythm. Minimize blue light from LED screens after sunset.
Exercise — Even 20–30 minutes of movement you can tolerate counts. The perfect workout you won't do beats the optimal workout that stays on paper.
Cold exposure — Start with 30 seconds of cold water at the end of your shower. Physiological and psychological resilience follow repeated cold exposure.
Breathwork — Science-backed breathing techniques directly affect the autonomic nervous system and emotional state. Breath is the only autonomic function you can control voluntarily.
Gratitude practice — You cannot be fearful and genuinely grateful at the same time. Whatever form this takes, daily intentional gratitude is one of the most powerful mood and resilience regulators available.
Non-negotiable sleep — Most bad sleep is the result of bad habits. If you can only work on one item from this list, sleep is the one. As Matthew Walker's research shows, a single night of four to five hours sleep causes natural killer cell activity to drop by 70%.
Advanced: Mitochondrial Health
Beyond the basics, the conference went deep on mitochondrial optimization — one of the most important and still-underappreciated levers in longevity and performance:
Mitophagy induction — The process that cleans up and repairs defective mitochondria. Urolithin A, produced naturally when eating pomegranates and certain berries, triggers mitophagy. It's now available as a direct supplement through Timeline Nutrition (Mitopure).
NAD+ support — NAD+ declines significantly with age and is critical for mitochondrial energy metabolism. Calorie restriction and fasting raise it naturally; supplements like NMN and NR can help maintain levels.
Spermidine — A compound that mimics fasting effects and acts as a mitochondria booster. It's now available as a direct supplement through Longevity Labs.
Light therapy — Red and near-infrared light recharges cells and supports mitochondrial function. Blue-light-blocking glasses reduce mitochondrial interference from junk light.
EZ water (exclusion zone water) — The structured fourth phase of water that's critical for mitochondrial function. Formed more readily when fat is present and when water is blended or shaken. One accessible way to create EZ water: blend your coffee with fat, Bulletproof-style.
Dr. David Perlmutter: Brain Balance and Better Decisions
Dr. David Perlmutter, board-certified neurologist and five-time New York Times bestselling author, presented on the neuroscience of decision-making. The key tension in the brain is between two structures:
The prefrontal cortex — responsible for planning, suppressing socially unacceptable impulses, understanding right and wrong, future orientation, empathy, and compassion.
The amygdala — the brain's threat-detection system, associated with impulsivity, narcissism, shortsightedness, and in-group/out-group thinking.
Normally, the prefrontal cortex has top-down control over the amygdala. When this balance breaks down — what Dr. Perlmutter calls disconnection syndrome — the result is impulsiveness, emotional dysregulation, and diminished empathy.
What causes this breakdown? Poor sleep, chronic stress, physical inactivity, chronic inflammation, and excessive or intentionless screen use. Americans currently spend about 42% of their waking hours — six hours daily — on screens.
His framework for healthier tech engagement, the TIME test: Time (how much am I allocating?), Intention (is this intentional?), Mindfulness (am I aware of what I'm doing?), Enrichment (is this improving my life?). Applying this test before picking up a device can interrupt the default pattern.
All the good habits — diet, sleep, exercise, nature exposure, meditation — work to preserve the prefrontal-amygdala balance that underlies every good decision you make.
"Where we place our attention is where we place our energy." — Dr. Joe Dispenza
Winning 40 Years of Zen
The conference ended with a random drawing for Dave's most intensive offering: 40 Years of Zen, a five-day neurofeedback program that combines ancient wisdom with advanced neuroscience to rewire the brain, reprogram neural pathways, and build resilience. The program is designed to compress decades of meditation practice into a single week.
When Dave read my name as one of the ticket winners, I was genuinely shocked. It would turn out to be one of the most significant experiences of my life — and something I've written about in depth separately.
The Virtual Biohacking Conference 2021 was the last of its kind — the in-person conference returned in Orlando later that year, and the energy of being back in a room together was something no screen could replicate. But this virtual format delivered real value, and the mitochondria and decision-making content in particular remains as applicable now as it was then.
For upcoming health optimization and biohacking conferences, explore the Health Conference Directory.