“Europe’s leading biohacker” Tim Gray kicks off his day with journaling, constantly tracks his diagnostics, and thinks supplements are overrated.
I wake naturally at 7.30am — no alarm. Seven hours and 41 minutes of sleep is my average. I’ve tracked it for seven years. It only shifts if I’ve had surgery, a big workout, or a virus — it shows how closely sleep mirrors recovery. You don’t build muscle in the gym, you build it while you rest, so recovery is just as important as lifting.
My morning starts by opening the blackout blinds — literal fresh sunlight that maintains my circadian rhythm. Then I drink hydrogen-infused, reverse osmosis water with added minerals — it supports detoxification and cognitive clarity.
I journal, breathe, read, and stretch — following Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning (Silence, Affirmations, Visualisation, Exercise, Reading, Scribing). I do this religiously, before food or coffee. I journal on a Kindle Scribe, and at the end of the month, I upload my entries to ChatGPT to psychoanalyse patterns or blind spots. It’s been incredibly revealing.
Breakfast is collagen coffee, 250 grams of blueberries and sometimes sea bass or bream if I’ve trained hard the day before. I add amino acids, colostrum for gut health and keep it all anti-inflammatory — no gluten, no seed oils, no processed food. Just meat, fish, sweet potatoes, white rice, eggs and raw dairy.
I train three times a week. It’s 55-minute sessions of weight training — upper or lower body — and swim, sauna, and steam when I can. The key: you don’t build muscle in the gym; you build it while you rest. So recovery is just as important as lifting.
I work from home or wherever I am in the world. I’ve built my life around the ability to travel six to nine months of the year. I work from rooftops, members’ clubs and health-focused hotels. My assistant books places with blackout blinds, quiet rooms, high floors and a view for mental clarity. I pack collagen, my supplements, and scope out organic restaurants nearby.
I wear both the Ōura Ring and Ultrahuman Ring to compare sleep and activity data — always aiming for a sleep score of 92 or higher.
I get blood tests every 10 to 14 days to track how I’m doing at a granular level.
Lunch is intuitive, usually around 1.30pm, but depends on when I plan to eat dinner. I never eat after 6.30pm — the body should repair, not digest, during sleep.
My wind-down starts early: no phones an hour before bed, blue-blocking glasses (Swanwick, a brand I now own), and zero blue light exposure from screens or house lights. I turn off wifi, use dim lights, read or journal and prioritise nervous system calm. It’s about mimicking nature: our ancestors weren’t watching murder shows on Netflix before bed.
I sleep with EMF-shielded windows, air filtration, grounded sheets and take magnesium, L-theanine and sometimes melatonin if I’ve been travelling. My sleep is sacred — it drives everything.
Supplements don’t matter without proper hydration. Our nervous system is electrical. If we’re not properly mineralised, nothing works — not energy, not cognition. Nevertheless, I do take Qualia Mind (a natural nootropic), methylene blue and Piracetam to boost the neurotransmittter acetylcholine.
I love to read. Recently, I’ve enjoyed Deep Nutrition by Dr Cate Shanahan and Future Proof by Davinia Taylor. I’m selective with podcasts. Chris Williamson is my go-to, and I respect Dr Rangan Chatterjee’s work.
The further we get from nature, the sicker we become. Biohacking is about using science and technology to mimic what our ancestors did — and undo the damage of the modern world.
Tim Gray is founder of the Health Optimisation Summit (UK healthoptimisation.com)
