In 2021, Don’t Deprive Yourself

In the Before Times, I wrote a column called Optimize Me, about the most bizarre things people did to their bodies in the name of health. Occasionally, these “wellness hacks” were scientifically backed, but more often they were misguided and even concerning at times. Some of them were efficiency tricks to get more time out of the day — using electric shocks to fast-track a workout or accelerated listening settings to consume more content. Others involved injecting substances into people’s bloodstreams and, ahem, backdoors.