Biohacking for Women: 9 Secrets to Optimal Wellness

Biohacking is becoming increasingly mainstream, with people around the globe taking control of their health.

Yet you may have noticed that there’s little information about biohacking for women. Most research and protocols have been designed for men.

Due to cyclical hormonal fluctuations and other complications, women were excluded from clinical studies for decades.

Because women aren’t just ‘smaller men,’ they must biohack differently.

In this guide, I’ll explore some of the best biohacks for women that work with biology, instead of against it.

Biohacking for Women

Health research has historically focused on men, and biological differences cause women to respond differently to treatments and interventions.

Consider these revealing facts:

• Women experience about 2X the adverse effects of drugs compared to men [R]
• 76 of 86 popular drugs have sex-based effect differences, according to some research [R]
• Female animals are routinely excluded from preclinical research [R]
• A 2022 Harvard study found women remain underrepresented in disease research [R]
• Research on women of color is virtually non-existent [R]

No wonder many ‘universal’ biohacks fall flat or even cause harm when women try them.

To compound the issue, when women report adverse effects, they are often gaslit.

Female biohackers need a tailored, physiology-first approach for real, lasting results.

Why women should biohack differently

Let’s look at a few key differences between male and female biology. And why biohacking for women necessitates a different approach.

Hormonal orchestration

Men follow a 24-hour hormone rhythm. Women’s infradian rhythm shifts over ~28 days, impacting mood, metabolism, and recovery.

Infradian rhythm makes you more sensitive to certain interventions.

Stress response & mitochondrial health

Female physiology prioritizes reproductive health.

The female body is more sensitive to stress due to social-psychological factors, hormonal effects, and brain differences.

This doesn’t make women ‘weaker,’ but reflects different biological makeups.

While all modern humans benefit from deliberate nervous system regulation practices, on average, they have a greater impact on women.

Conversely, extreme interventions disproportionately dysregulate female stress hormones, energy, sleep, thyroid function, and overall health over the long-term.

Metabolism & energy

Compared to men, women burn more fat at rest and shift carbohydrate needs throughout their menstrual cycle [R]. So, as hormones fluctuate, so should nutrition.

Meanwhile, men generally have higher basal metabolic rates (BMR) due to greater muscle mass. Men have more even substrate (carbs vs fat) usage throughout the month.

A keto diet or long strict intermittent fast might work wonders for him (although that’s also up for debate) but could crash your hormones if not timed correctly.

How to ‘Biohack Like a Woman’

Hormones are a major factor and differentiator for tailoring biohacking protocols.

The following are some key hormones at play during a woman’s cycle.

These hormones shift across four phases, influencing energy, mood, and more.

The following biohacking strategies for women will have these cycle phases in mind. You might notice overlaps with some strategies as these can affect more than one area.

Balance hormones

Hormones are tiny chemical messengers that regulate the entire body. Including, functions like metabolism, mood, reproduction, and other bodily functions.

Hormonal imbalances in women cause fatigue, weight gain, mood swings, and other health issues.

These imbalances also impact blood sugar, cortisol, and mental health. Female-specific biohacking protocols help restore hormonal balance and enhance well-being.

Exercise regularly at the appropriate phase in your cycle:

• Menstrual: Gentle movement like yin yoga & stretches to reduce cortisol & support melatonin
• Follicular to Ovulation: Cardio to regulate estrogen, strength training to boost testosterone & growth hormone, or HIIT to support insulin regulation
• Luteal: Low impact exercise like walking & yoga

While you can exercise at any time, aligning your routine with your cycle helps avoid burnout and injuries.

Eat nutrient-dense foods:

• Choose organic
• Cruciferous veggies, fiber, & milk thistle metabolize excess estrogen
• Healthy fats like avocados & olive oil help balance hormones

High-quality food fuels your body and reduces toxic load. Your liver metabolizes hormones but if it’s overloaded by toxins, it can’t keep them in balance.

Avoid foods that contain endocrine disruptors and upset hormonal balance:

• Soybeans & soy products
• Conventional meat & dairy products (choose grass-fed, pasture-raised, free-range or, at the very least, organic)
• Processed foods
• Foods packaged in plastics or canned
• Fruits & vegetables sprayed with pesticides

Individual response to soy, phytoestrogens, and food chemicals varies wildly. To be safe, reduce them until you’re able to closely monitor your personal response.

If you have food intolerances (or allergies), be wary of the foods that the animal ate. They will impact you similarly.

By taking proactive steps to biohack hormones, women facilitate overall health.

Sync lifestyle with cycles

Syncing your daily work, activities, and routines to your cycle phase has become a hot topic.

Women report that it helps reduce fatigue and stress, supports emotional balance, and boosts productivity.

Here are activities & routines to match each phase in your cycle:

• Menstrual: Rest, reflect, journal, & self-care
• Follicular: Ideation, new projects, dating, & socializing
• Ovulation: Max energy (go for big presentations & collaboration)
• Luteal: Time to slow down, complete tasks, & prioritize sleep

Post-menopausal? Try syncing with lunar cycles or creating your own rhythm.

Aligning your lifestyle with your cycle promotes energy, enhanced mood, higher productivity and makes life flow more easily.

Manage stress effectively

High stress disrupts women’s hormones, negatively affecting energy, sleep, mood, and overall health.

Try some of these stress management techniques to see which work best for you. Most of them are simple and free!

Some of these include breathwork, forest bathing, grounding, optimizing sleep, vibroacoustic therapy, mindfulness, having social connections, and keeping a strong support network.

Personalize nutrition to your cycle

General guidelines such as consuming nutrient-rich foods & healthy fats, avoiding seed oils, processed food & sugary drinks apply to women, too.

Female nutritional needs vary over their cycle, unlike men who can stay constant with an eating plan

Estrogen imbalance is a common issue, and natural supplements like diindolylmethane (DIM) can help support hormonal balance.

Some women report reduced estrogen dominance and improved PMS symptoms.

Below are tables summarizing women’s nutritional needs and corresponding food & supplement recommendations for each phase of the menstrual cycle [R, R].

Menstrual Phase (Days 1-5)

Follicular Phase (Days 1-13)

Ovulation (Day 14)

Luteal (Day 15-28)

Cyclical changes in women’s nutritional needs call for specific foods & supplements that support your health and comfort throughout the menstrual cycle.

Harness biochemical individuality

Women’s health is dynamic. It shifts with each menstrual cycle and life stage, from adolescence to pregnancy to menopause.

So, hormonal fluctuations vary not only between women but also within each woman over time. Dramatically.

Biochemical individuality also plays a key role.

That’s why it’s crucial to tune in, listen, and understand your body’s signals.

Mindfulness, journaling, and testing all help you do exactly that.

All these enable you to personalize biohacks for different cycle phases and life stages:

• Track more than your period: Note sleep, digestion, energy, skin, & mood
• Functional hormone testing: Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones (DUTCH), thyroid panels, or saliva tests generate tailored insight
• Genetic testing: Discover unique detox, stress, & nutrient tendencies; you can even do it yourself with home health testing kits
• Food sensitivity tests: Tailor your diet to support hormone & gut health
• Wearables: Passively track your sleep, recovery, & movement data
• N=1 experiments: What works for you matters more than what worked for other top biohacking influencers

The more you understand your body’s unique patterns, the more effective and sustainable your health optimization becomes.

Minimize extreme health interventions

Many popular biohacks, like brutal workouts, cold plunges, sauna marathons, dry fasting, and extended fasting, are often modeled on research done in men.

But for women, pushing too hard often backfires.

A less extreme approach helps women optimize health while protecting hormonal harmony and long-term well-being.

Strategies to try:

• Gentle intermittent fasting: 12–14 hours, avoided during the luteal phase
• Balanced exercise: Shorter workout sessions; strength training + yoga or walking = magic combo
• Sensible cold therapy: Short cold showers over ice baths if you’re already stressed
• Minimal stimulation: Consider a lower dosage of coffee or powerful nootropics (or swap them out altogether)
• Recovery as a priority: It’s not lazy, it’s hormonal preservation

Of course, this list could stretch on to include things like the now trendy “sugar diet” and “fairy princess diet.”

There’s no shame in listening to your body and scaling back practices accordingly. This ensures safer, easier, and overall better health outcomes.

Reduce toxic burden

Human life requires some body fat. Many chemicals, however, are ‘fat-soluble’ and accumulate in the body’s fatty tissues. Once there, they persist for a long time.

Some of the many classes of toxins include:

1. Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)
2. Dioxins
3. Organochlorine Pesticides
4. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)
5. Heavy Metals (some forms)
6. Brominated Flame Retardants
7. Perfluorinated Compounds (PFCs)

Since women generally have more body fat, they store higher levels of these toxins. Making safe detoxification is especially important to prevent harmful toxin release during fat loss.

Reduce these by:

• Cut the toxins: Clean skincare, natural cleaners, air purifier, upgraded water, and organic food where possible
• Ditch plastics: Glass containers & stainless steel bottles over endocrine-disrupting plastics
• Support detox: Cruciferous veggies, cilantro, fiber, water, and sauna sessions
• Smart caffeine swaps: Opt for herbal teas like dandelion, nettle, or matcha or a coffee alternative like Pique Nandaka
• Support liver/metabolic pathways: Garlic, onions, lemon water, and supplements like milk thistle & dandelion root support liver health

Read my cellular detox guide for a more detailed look into the science, benefits, and safe methods of detoxification.

Since many toxins are fat soluble and women generally carry more body fat, mitigate the toxic impact of your environment and food with strategies that support your body’s natural detox pathways.

Track biometrics with smart wearables

Wearables like Ultrahuman Air and Evie empower you to track your menstrual cycles, hormonal fluctuations, and relevant biometrics.

This data-driven approach helps you personalize your routine, leading to better health outcomes.

Use wearables efficienty:

• Track blood sugar with a continuous glucose monitor (CGM): Learn your food & stress responses through glucose fluctuations to make dietary adjustments
• Monitor sleep & recovery: Wearables can help correlate fatigue with hormonal phases
• Track heart rate variability (HRV): HRV trends provide a personalized, objective insight into your stress & recovery balance
• Track your cycle: Beyond conception, cycle tracking helps women biohack smarter & more effective by surfacing correlations that may otherwise go unnoticed
• Let data guide, not dictate: Balance metrics with intuition since quantification lacks the vital nuances of context

Next generation wearables offer personalized insights and identify patterns & triggers so that women can build their optimal personal routines.

Hack your clothing

Tight clothing may look great and feel supportive, but wear them too long and it hinders lymphatic drainage.

Your lymphatic system plays a key role in detoxification and immune function. Restricted flow can contribute to fluid build up and toxin accumulation.

My interview with medical anthropologist Sydney Ross Singer revealed how tight clothing, especially bras, impair the lymphatic system.

Strategies:

• Limit time in compression clothing (including bras): Use it intentionally for workouts or recovery, not for all-day wear
• Loosen bra straps and choose well-fitting bras: Constant tightness can impair circulation & lymphatic flow
• Avoid synthetic fabrics when possible: Many tight garments also contain microplastics & PFAS, which add to your body’s toxic load
• Choose natural fabrics like organic cotton, linen, & wool whenever possible

These simple clothing adjustments will help support lymphatic flow, improve comfort, and promote better overall well-being.

Biohacking for Women Questions & Answers

From hormonal fluctuations that affect everything from sleep to cognitive function, to nutritional needs that shift throughout different life stages, female biology requires a tailored approach to biohacking.

Here are some of the most common questions answered.

Biohacking for Women Should Be Different

Biohacking for women isn’t as straightforward as tuning in to a famous (male) influencer, and adopting their routine. Or extrapolating a protocol from the latest randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial.

The same blueprint can cause disastrous outcomes, when applied without context. Why?

Men and women have very real and important biological differences.

Factors like hormone levels, infradian rhythm, nervous system regulation, body composition, metabolism, and other factors should all influence biohacking routines.

I’m thrilled to see medical research including more women. But we still have a long way to go to thoroughly understand sex-specific differences.

What about you? How do you approach this? Comment below and let me know.

If you have a friend beating herself up for trying a biohack and it not working for her… please share this with her. You might save her unnecessary pain.

Thanks!