Cover story: Āmanï Wellness’ Yap Yann Fang and Dr Jeffrey Chew and the biohacking revolution

“I think sometimes when you see ‘biohack’, you will also see people that are very narcissistic, right? ‘It's all about me, I want to optimise superhuman immortality’. I don’t believe it should be that way. I believe that we are here to help you to live better. I always say the best biohack is no biohack at all. It means you're able to sleep very naturally, you wake up with great energy.

I got this inspiration when I went to Finland. The leaders there are very holistic and also very successful in their work. They're very spiritual, physically healthy, and it made me reflect: Why are the leaders here in Asia not like this? Here we see a lot of leaders who are burnt out, physically not really healthy and sometimes you can see that they don't do great in their relationships either. So how can we empower leaders here to live better? We can see that many leaders actually burn out not because of weakness, but through lack of support. They give to their company, their society, their family. And the question is, who is taking care of the leaders? 

I always believe the quality of our relationships determines the quality of our life. There’s a study from Harvard, the longest-running study in the world, where they conclude that the best, greatest predictor of longevity is actually human connection. If you have strong relationships, actually that is the most powerful driver of health, fulfilment, and long life.

And of course, a lot of leaders are hyper-connected digitally, but sometimes very disconnected emotionally. We want to remind them: What is the purpose? We always hear, ‘Oh, I work so hard for my family,’ but are you there for your family, emotionally? We want to remind our members that yes, you want to work, but you also cannot sacrifice. You need to know your priorities. Number one is definitely physical health because without physical health, actually you almost don't have anything. And if you're physically healthy, then it's easier for you to be mentally healthy. Imagine a person who is always in pain, always agitated, cannot sleep well, cannot regulate their emotions well, how are they going to build great relationships? It's very hard.

I realised there's no single product that can help leaders to live better; I needed to build an ecosystem. At Āmanï, it's not like a clinic. When we built the space and business, we were very, very conscious about it, that we want to build a space that is safe for leaders.

As soon as you come in, the intention is to calm your nervous system. So the moment you go in, you feel the calming effect. We had a sacred geometry architect look into the energy, the space, even the colour, the design: all are designed intentionally to make these leaders feel safe. Every member who comes in, they will have a functional medicine doctor, a dietitian, a physiotherapist, and also a relationship manager. The intention of the relationship manager is to understand everything about your challenges and your goals, so that they can support you throughout the journey. 

And of course, I think finally, it's the community. When we recruit members, we are also very intentional, with the type of community we want to build. There might be people who don't believe what we believe, and it's okay. Our community doesn't need to be big, but it has to be aligned.”

“Biohacking typically involves using a new discovery, like science, to replace what we have been doing, or on top of what we have been doing, to achieve something that could not have been achieved. For example, a device that helps you to sleep better. Your routine is exactly the same, but now you have this device, and you sleep better. So it's a biohack. In the morning, you deliberately expose yourself to sunlight. You can walk on the shaded pavement, or you can walk under the sun. You're still walking to your destination. It's a type of biohack. You add on something, and that enhances performance.

It’s okay to fall sick. Biohackers fall sick too, doctors fall sick, but not all the time. People who are taking sleeping pills to sleep, or have totally given up on a good night's sleep—this is clearly abnormal. 

Of course, there’s no point to live long but not well. We’re all bound to live longer, simply by existing in this era. But something is growing, what we call the healthspan-lifespan gap. Right now, it’s already an average of nine years. That means we’re expected to live in illness for nine years before the end. So that is what healthy longevity medicine is about. While pursuing longevity, we want to close the gap.

Scientifically, in all proper longevity medicine practice, we are supposed to measure biological age. Biological age is not just a number—it is very concrete evidence that drastically reduces the risk of all age-related illnesses. In this world, we are expected to get some form of heart disease, some form of sugar problem, some form of obesity, cancer, dementia. Nobody gets surprised anymore. Having a lower biological age must mean that we are further away from developing these diseases.

Most leaders are high-performing individuals. They don’t sleep well, which is a given. It's obvious because of how they drive themselves. The body is constantly trying to adapt to our demand. When we’re demanding it to go into an overdrive mode, it will slowly jeopardise the ability to recover and relax. So then ageing sets in. The ability to sleep actually drops. Now, this is worrying because this is now being proposed as a direct cause of dementia. 

Start from understanding, really understanding the state of mindfulness and deep breathing. Surprisingly, many people, including leaders, don’t breathe the right way. When you finish your work, like you’re about to wind down or attend a social event, the breath rate has to drop. If the breath rate can’t drop, it just means that your engine cannot be shut down. It has to be trained. It’s not something that we can just acquire. So start today. Maybe six months later, you would have mastered this skill. Maybe one year later. But in our long lifespan, it’s well worth it. Easily anyone would have 40 more years, 50 more years to live. Investing one year to learn how to breathe is a no-brainer. 

True biohacking is when the technology of cellular genetic engineering matures. At that time, we will literally be able to biohack ourselves. Whatever biohacking practice that we’re doing today will become the standard in the future because nowadays people are getting more aware. We all want to live better. We all want to look for a more balanced lifestyle, well-being, and we all love techy gadgets, right? What we do today will become the standard. The term biohacking might cease to exist.”

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