The Cost Of Chasing “Optimal”

In the fitness and health world today, we’re drowning in the obsession with “optimal.”

Biohack your sleep.
Track your HRV.
Measure your micronutrients to extend your life by 0.6 years.
Wear blue light glasses.
Sip butter coffee.
Block EMFs.
Go keto. Go carnivore. Go “whole food vegan-ish.”
Red light therapy. Cold plunges. NAD infusions. Methylene blue. Barefoot shoes. Butthole sunning…

It’s a never-ending list of tools, tricks, and tweaks designed to optimize every inch of our biology.

Sure many of these things have value. I’ve done most of them. Some still have a place in my life.
But I think we’ve lost the plot.

In the pursuit of perfect health, we’ve forgotten what makes life worth living.

Connection. Fulfillment. Purpose.

The things that don’t show up on lab tests. The things you can’t plug into a wearable. The things that don’t get a “score.”

In the biohacking world, if you can’t measure it, it’s not real.
If the graph doesn’t go up, it doesn’t matter.

I bought into it too. I optimized my sleep. Tracked my macros. Took the right stacks. Ran the bloodwork. Measured every variable.
But in the process, I was majoring in the minors.

Yes, some of my health markers improved.
But the real damage was what I lost.

I lost my social circle. (Most “optimal” people don’t stay out past 7:43 p.m. because it might ruin their sleep score.)
I lost the joy of spontaneous connection.
I lost my sense of adventure.

I used to travel the world. I used to seek out wild, dangerous, beautiful places.
Now? I sit alone in a dark office, behind a screen, sipping filtered water from a glass bottle to avoid microplastics… wearing blue light blockers at noon.

And for what?

We’re missing the most foundational element of true health: Human connection.

Connection to your friends. To your family. To something bigger than yourself.
To laughter, to love, to meaning. To purpose.

Not everything in life should be optimized.
Not everything needs to be measured.

Sometimes, the healthiest thing you can do is say yes to the late-night kitchen conversation.
Drink the plastic bottled water while hiking up to a beautiful scenic view.
Skip the 15 step morning protocol and chase a little chaos instead.

Because life isn’t optimal.
It’s messy. Unpredictable. Raw.
And when you let go of the need to control it all, you might just start living again.

And the wild part?
You’ll probably be healthier for it.

—Adam Niall