I Went to Dave Asprey’s Biohacking Conference. It Completely Changed How I Think About Wellness.

As a dietitian, I've seen the rise of biohacking and self-experimentation trends in social media. But it wasn't until I walked into the Fairmont Hotel in Austin on day one of Dave Asprey's 2025 Biohacking Conference that I realized this movement had become a big deal.

Four-thousand people had paid upwards of $2,500 to attend the three-day event, making it an electric experience. Attendees swarmed booths featuring sound baths and light therapy beds, while selfie-sticked influencers gravitated towards a recovery chamber that cost a cool $159,500. The seminars included mindfulness, longevity, and "unlocking biology with precision laser therapy." Keynotes featured Joe Dispenza, a chiropractor who YouTubes about mind-reprogramming, and Vani Hari, a blogger-turned-MAHA-champion known as "The Food Babe."

Although this was the 10th anniversary of Asprey's conference, he's credited with starting the biohacking movement back in 2004. And somehow, it felt like his message of living forever and loving it was just starting to build force velocity.

I was skeptical and had questions for Asprey, whose people had allotted me some time with him early morning on the second day of the conference. Namely, if we now live in a world where every wellness influencer calls themselves a biohacker, has the movement moved beyond its maker?

A $159,500 Chamber to Check Out

Walking the multiple floors of the Tech Hall, the convention's showroom floor was like stepping into a sci-fi prop closet: cryo tanks, vibration beds, red light lasers, and a contraption that gives live liver scans while telling you your biological age. Did I see a real-life Iron Man MK7 suit? No. Would I have been surprised if I did?

The $150,000 rig was called the Ammortal Chamber, and it leverages guided breathwork, pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEF), red light, sound, and vibration to "reset" your nervous system. After 30 minutes inside, I felt calm, present, oddly clear, and ready to rock. Maybe this was an MK7 Suit?

A Market Worth $113.9 Billion by 2033

For every tech-centered booth, there was at least another trying to sell me on the benefits of a cutting-edge supplement. Timeline Nutrition advertised a line of softgels priced at $112.50 for a month's supply, and creams that contained Urolithin A, a mitochondria-supporting molecule that may have the power to boost cell energy, increase strength, and improve endurance.

Stemregen marketed supplements starting at $134 per bottle for stem cell support. Many of the attendees I talked to seemed genuinely intrigued by all this stuff—and invigorated by their promise. Nick Zaldastani, a Silicon Valley investor turned self-described "mentor capitalist," told me he got into biohacking after watching both his parents suffer through years of immobility and pain.

A Movement Driven by Possibility

"That's not the life I want," he said. "When I met Dave [Asprey] in 2016, I saw what this space could be. Now, the buying power of this community is massive. Companies I would've called mom-and-pops five years ago are now backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Wall Street because they know this is critical to our future."

When I asked people what they were chasing, I didn't hear words like "optimization" or "mitochondrial efficiency." Instead, I heard: Clarity. Healing. Focus. Control. They weren’t just here for the next big wearable. They were here because traditional healthcare had failed them, or because they were tired of feeling foggy, wired, and wrecked.

The Dark Side of Biohacking

But as I navigated the convention, I encountered some level of misinformation. People praised controversial figures like anti-vaccination activist Del Bigtree, raw-milk advocate Callie Means, and pseudoscience-slinging Vani Hari, as well as hyped the documentary Toxication, produced by MAHA Films.

"Seed oils were created for machinery back in the '50s," one event attendant told me. "We can’t digest them. You try going seed oil-free for a month, you’ll feel it." (Dude, I’m a dietitian, and you’re wrong.)

A New Era of Biohacking

Asprey still talks like someone who came up in tech. Rapid-fire, energized, self-aware enough to know his ideas trigger some folks; proud enough to lean in.

"The things that make old people young," he told me, "make young people powerful." He knows the biohacking movement has commercialized, and he’s unapologetic about it. "You have to commercialize. That’s how you scale. There was no such thing as mold-free coffee or functional collagen until I built it. Now, functional coffee is a billion-dollar market. That’s what entrepreneurs do: We build what didn’t exist."

A New Instruction Manual

"We’re writing the instruction manual ourselves," he added. "That's the point. No one's going to give us permission. Not a doctor, not a regulator, not even our parents. You want to change your state? You get to. That’s sovereignty."

A Call to Action

As the convention wore on, so too did my willpower for nonsense. One rep at a hyperbaric chamber booth told me without flinching that it had been "shown to cure autism." Others pitched infrared saunas with near-magical detoxification benefits for $2,500-plus.

The vibe grew less healthy and more hustling, although that was probably my science-centric brain growing weary. While I was somewhat uplifted by the companies doing real work—brands that conducted human trials, earned their NSF certification, and translated science into something that matters—I kept wondering: Who is this movement really for?

Changing your state often comes down to means. Pricey supplements. Devices that cost as much as a house. Just to get in the door of the convention, you needed a $2,500 ticket.

A Path Worth Following

Asprey might argue that Heavily Meditated costs only $17 and offers an entry point into human performance that doesn’t require big money. But what comes after the entry point is often the upsell.

Part data-obsessed futurist, part self-help sage still writing about mitochondria like they’re gospel, Asprey has been a polarizing force within the wellness world for more than a decade.

The Future of Biohacking

For some, he’s the north star of a revolution. For others, he’s a savvy marketer riding the edge of what's credible.

But what’s undeniable is this: As a leader, he’s lit a path. It’s up to the rest of us to decide if we want to follow.