I have a complicated relationship with the word biohacking.

On one hand, I genuinely love what it implies — that you can hack your own biology, that your cells aren't fixed, that the story of how you age is still being written and you hold the pen. That idea? Thrilling. That is the idea that changed my life.

On the other hand, every time I see biohacking in a headline, I brace myself. Because what follows is usually a man — often under 60, frequently in excellent lighting — telling me about his $50,000 annual supplement stack, his hyperbaric oxygen chamber, his 47-point morning protocol, and the $700 tracking device he uses to monitor his 11 hours of sleep.

And I watch women in their 50s, 60s, and beyond scroll past and think: that's not for me.

They're right that it's not designed for them. They're wrong that the power isn't.

The Space Was Built Without Us

Let's be honest about the landscape. The biohacking world has been, overwhelmingly, a male-dominated space. The names that built the movement are mostly men, mostly younger than 60, and most of the clinical research underpinning their protocols was conducted on men. Women's hormonal complexity was, for a long time, considered too inconvenient for the data.

The early movement attracted people trying to "get an edge" — on performance, on cognitive function, on the next guy. It was competitive. It was expensive. And it was calibrated for a very particular kind of body and lifestyle, presented through a tech-driven, high-intensity lens that left most women feeling like observers at someone else's game.

Here's what struck me: a 55-year-old single mum from Phoenix — no medical team, no extreme treatments — ranked number two on a worldwide biological age leaderboard, with a pace of ageing measurably slower than almost anyone else on the planet. Her approach? Consistent movement, whole food, meditation, and a normal person's budget. She actually outranked someone spending millions a year on their protocol.

And she's not alone — three of the top five on that same leaderboard are women.

She calls herself "health-conscious," not a biohacker. "I don't like that term," she says.

Neither do I. So I created a different name for it entirely.

What Are the Vitality Codes?

Over time, I found myself needing different language for what actually works. I began calling them the Vitality Codes. Not because I found it in a research paper or borrowed it from a protocol — but because it describes exactly what these levers do. They are signals that tell your biology: it’s safe to thrive here. And when you apply them consistently, the effect is coded into your cells.

The codes themselves are many of them beautifully ordinary — the things that signal your cells to repair, regenerate, and renew.

Sleep. Sunlight. Movement. Whole food. Connection. Breath. The stories you tell yourself about who you are and what's possible.

These aren’t consolation prizes for women who can’t access the “real” biohacking. They are the real biohacks — the cellular repair and renewal systems that shape ageing respond far more powerfully to these everyday signals than to any supplement stack.

I've explored these codes in depth in my book, The STOP Method for Timeless Aging: For the Woman Who Fears Her Best Years Are Behind Her, where I also introduce a practical, science-informed framework I developed after years of immersion in the research, and after my own experience of what happens when you stop listening to your body and what becomes possible when you start again.

I know this not just from the research. I know it because I'm a doctor. I spent decades in high-pressure paediatric medicine giving children the best possible start in life. And then I found myself facing what so many women over 50 experience in silence — exhaustion, a quiet loss of self, and the unsettling feeling that the best years might be behind me.

They weren't. I know that now with absolute certainty. I'm in my late 60s, writing this with more energy, more curiosity, and more joy than I had at 45. Some mornings I dance in my living room just because I can.

That is what the Vitality Codes look like, lived.

The Stress Paradox That Nobody Talks About

Here's the piece that frustrates me most about how longevity advice is typically delivered: the very way it's presented can undermine the goal.

Pick up most longevity content and you'll find yourself caught between competing certainties. More plant protein, says one expert. No — prioritise grass-fed meat, says another. Intermittent fasting is essential. Intermittent fasting is harmful for women. Cold plunges. No cold plunges. Eat before exercise. Fast before exercise.

The confusion is real. And confusion — especially when it's wrapped in urgency and the feeling that you're doing it wrong — creates stress.

And here is what the biology tells us clearly: when your body is in stress, in fight-or-flight mode, cellular repair and rejuvenation shut down. Full stop. Your nervous system, magnificently designed for survival, redirects all resources away from long-term maintenance and toward immediate threat response.

So if the pursuit of longevity is making you anxious, overwhelmed, or guilty — you have already defeated the purpose. The chronic stress of optimising is ageing you faster than the thing you're trying to fix.

This is not a small irony. This is the central paradox of the biohacking world, and it's one I address directly in my work — because it particularly affects women, who are already navigating enormous loads of mental, emotional, and physical complexity, especially through perimenopause and beyond.

Nervous system science is not a footnote in the longevity conversation. It belongs at the centre of it.

The Codes That Cost Nothing

What moves the needle most reliably isn't what's most expensive or most extreme. It's what's most consistent.

How you sleep programs your cellular repair cycle every single night. The glymphatic system — your brain's overnight cleaning crew — can only do its work in deep sleep. This is not optional maintenance. This is the foundation everything else is built on.

How you move signals your mitochondria to multiply and your muscles to stay metabolically active. Not punishing exercise. Not training that leaves you depleted. Joyful, regular movement — walks, dancing, swimming, whatever makes you want to keep going.

How you eat is not about following a perfect protocol. It's about giving your cells the raw materials they need: colour, variety, real food, adequate protein (yes, women need more than we're typically told, especially after 50), and a relationship with eating that is nourishing, not neurotic.

How you think is, I believe, the most underrated of all the codes. Your internal narrative — the beliefs you carry about ageing, about your body, about what's possible for you — has measurable biological effects. Chronic negative self-talk keeps the stress response activated. Hope, curiosity, and self-compassion are genuinely anti-ageing.

This is ground the STOP Method stands on: the science of neuroplasticity and self-compassion, translated into something a real woman can use in a real life.

How you connect with other people is so well evidenced for longevity that isolation is now considered a health risk comparable to smoking. Community, love, belonging — these are not soft extras. They are cellular medicine.

Why I'm Done Calling It Biohacking

I'll keep reading the research. I'll keep fine-tuning, exploring, and sharing what the science says — including the genuinely exciting advances in longevity medicine that deserve attention.

But I'm done with the word biohacking as a frame for this conversation with women.

Because a hack implies something technical, something outside yourself, something that requires expertise and equipment and probably a credit card. And the women I wrote this book for — women who fear their best years might be behind them — don't need another barrier to entry.

They need to know the door is already open.

The Vitality Codes are already inside you. Your biology is already listening. Every choice you make is a message to your cells — and the most powerful messages are the ones you send consistently, calmly, and with the quiet confidence of a woman who has decided she is absolutely not done yet.

I know this. I've lived it. And I wrote The STOP Method for Timeless Aging so you don't have to figure it out alone.

If this resonated with you, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. And if you're ready to explore the Vitality Codes further, The STOP Method for Timeless Aging is a good place to start.