The newly emerging science of success is unraveling how success is more and more determined by your physiology rather than other factors like willpower, discipline or strategy. Here are 5 ways in which your unique physiological traits can determine your success, and how you can biohack your physiology to take your success to the next level that you until now thought was impossible.

1) Your Chronotype - Lark or Night Owl?

Your chronotype is all about when your body prefers to sleep, and when it prefers to wake up. Or in other words, whether you are an early riser or a late night worker - the so-called lark or night owl. By extension, your chronotype determines when your energy levels peak and wane, and if these are not according to your work demands, you will be at a disadvantage. Studies have shown that morning chronotype persons are generally more successful in life than the late night chronotype people, even though there can be serious exceptions. Morning chronotype people also tend to enjoy better health than the late night persons. While your chronotype is determined to a large extent by your genetic makeup, behavioral change is possible especially if your life or work situation demands such a change.

2) Your Dopamine Detox

When was the last time you were much appreciated in your real life? Most people can’t remember when or what it was! Now include your virtual or social media activities too into such an assessment, and most people can readily come up with multiple instances where your tweet or snap or filter or reel or post or opinion was much appreciated by many! The reason is simple - such appreciation gives you a dopamine kick that makes you come back again and again to such time wasting activities. What you need is a dopamine detox, where you consciously avoid such apps and forums to limit your kick from this body’s reward-linked hormone, and replace it with more truly rewarding pursuits like career achievements or fitness milestones, which also release dopamine but which helps you to perpetuate such successful pursuits.

3) You Are What And How You Chew

Studies are emerging almost every week about the all important role the gut microbiome plays in not only health but success. Not surprising, as a healthy composition of beneficial microbes in your gut is preventive for various lifestyle diseases - both physical and psychological too like anxiety & depression - and it also plays a critical role in your cognition, memory & mental energy via the Gut Brain Axis. While there are highly effective probiotic & prebiotic supplements, especially in Ayurveda, you also need to correct your diet and eating habits. Recent studies have shown that the best dietary guideline for a healthy gut microbiome is to include 30 different plant foods in your weekly diet, including whole grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts / seeds & herbs / spices. Also helpful to the gut microbiome health is how much you chew your foods, the more the better!

4) Don't Accelerate to Old Age

You must have seen the super agers, people who look and function much younger despite their advancing age. Super agers have a much lower biological age relative to their chronological age; which translates to longer lifespan & healthspan. Tools to find out your biological age, like the GrimAge Test, work by checking for the DNA methylation levels; with higher methylation levels determining your advancing biological age. While the super aging phenomenon is determined to a significant extent by one’s genes, there are also various lifestyle factors that you can biohack on a daily basis to keep your biological age much below your chronological age. These include quitting smoking, reversing obesity, exercising regularly, building lean muscle mass, and eating a variety of vegetables & fruits, as all of them work by limiting the DNA methylation levels.

5) Sleep No Less, Sleep No More

While the link between sleep loss and mental fatigue is experienced by all, more formal studies are now discovering that both less than enough sleep and more than enough sleep are detrimental to brain health. One such recent study led by researchers at Yale School of Medicine, using data from 40,000 people at the UK Biobank, found that both sleeping less than 7 hours and more than 9 hours were correlated to cellular level deterioration in brain health and triggering physical diseases as well as psychological conditions like depression and anxiety. What was more disturbing was how less than optimal sleep was contributing to the development of fatal or debilitating diseases like stroke and dementia. The good news here is that much of the damage from chronic sleep loss is reversible if people start an optimal sleeping habit at least by their middle age.