What the Biohacking World Isn’t Telling You

This practice was born from Ben's reprioritization after his marital crisis. He realized that without a structured morning ritual, work would eclipse family. The ACTS prayer includes Ben publicly confessing his own shortcomings (e.g., being short with an employee) to model humility for his sons. They also consult a family prayer book for supplication, naming people they've promised to pray for. The family chat covers logistics like who needs the car, what's for dinner. The hug ends the session. Even when Ben travels, his wife and sons continue the huddle, and he and his wife do a couples devotion at 7 AM. This protocol is so ingrained that if he's still in the office at 6:55 AM, he knows he has only minutes to wrap up, enforcing a hard work-family boundary.

In the morning huddle, family members are assigned dinner prep tasks. By 7 PM, everyone brings their contribution. They start by singing a song together, then pray. Ben then walks his sons through a chapter from a book he's already read and found incredibly valuable. This is effectively a mini book club, designed to condense and transfer the best ideas from his reading directly to his sons. After the discussion, they play board games, card games, or other activities. This ensures that evenings are not just passive screen time but active, relational, and educational. The routine is part of the family playbook, intended to be continued by his sons when they have their own families.

Ben started with hydrogen tablets and bottles but found inhalation and bathing far more effective, equivalent to consuming hundreds of bottles of hydrogen water. He has rigged a hydrogen inhaler next to his Shift Wave chair, so he breathes 4% H₂ while experiencing whole-body vibration and HRV biofeedback. Simultaneously, he's constructing a custom bathtub that continuously infuses hydrogen, aiming for full immersion. He sees this as a superior recovery tool for soreness and inflammation, and it's part of his broader 'oxygen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen' experimentation. He mentions that the science is robust, citing the foundation's thousands of studies.

Ben has two concentrators in his gym: the Livo2 simulates altitude changes with a switch, allowing him to 'flush my body back and forth from hypoxia to hyperoxia' while on an exercise bike, creating a hormetic stress. The 10X Hypermax delivers 93% oxygen for pre-workout; he combines it with red light to release nitric oxide from mitochondria, enhancing vasodilation without a need for pre-workout supplements. After workouts or in afternoon, he naps in a soft shell hyperbaric chamber, which he says is incredible for recovery and sleep. This multi-modal oxygen approach is part of his identity as a 'immersion journalist' testing what could help those without natural access.

This practice is a nightly routine, often integrated after the book discussion. Ben finds it 'so incredible' because you can recite verses to yourself when falling asleep, when tempted, or when feeling lonely. He notes that even when he travels, they keep it up via text. He cites having come across research last month suggesting a direct correlation between scripture memorization and reduced Alzheimer's risk, but acknowledges he can't cite it. He also mentions that his sons participate in a discipleship group with accountability for weekly verses, enhancing the habit. The practice is another facet of his systematic approach to family and spiritual life.

Ben states he has no trouble getting energy, but significant trouble relaxing. These haptic tools are his go-to for winding down. The Apollo he wears on wrist or ankle, selecting sleep or recovery mode. The Sensate sits on the chest and pairs with audio tracks via an app, delivering a pleasant purring sensation. He travels with both. The Shift Wave is the premium version: a gravity chair lined with powerful vibrating discs, wearing a fingertip HRV sensor, over-ear headphones, and a hydrogen mask. It's a multi-modal relaxation chamber. He notes the concept of animals shaking off stress and applies it to human physiology.

Ben explains that simply breathing oxygen doesn't fully replicate a pre-workout because you need to free nitric oxide from mitochondria. Red light achieves this. He thus has a red light panel mounted directly over his exercise bike, so he can breathe high-concentration oxygen under red light during warm-up, creating a synergistic, supplement-free pre-workout effect. This is one of his 'biohacking stacks' that weaves technology into his daily gym routine.

Because Ben's home life is heavily structured around morning and evening family time, any work intrusion disrupts that. His solution is to go 'full throttle' on the road, declining casual meetups, so that when he lands, he can slow down work and be fully present. He contrasts this with many working professionals who postpone family time thinking they'll have it later, missing their children's formative years. This strategy is part of a broader boundary-setting approach: he rarely schedules calls that conflict with 7 AM or 7 PM family commitments.

After experimenting with hydrogen tablets and bottles, Ben concluded that inhaling 4% hydrogen or bathing in hydrogen-rich water provides a far more potent dose, akin to consuming hundreds of bottles of hydrogen water. He is literally building a custom bathtub in his garage that infuses hydrogen into the water for transdermal absorption. Next to his Shift Wave chair (a whole-body vibration device with HRV biofeedback), he rigged a hydrogen inhaler with a mask so he breathes hydrogen during vibration sessions. He cites the Molecular Hydrogen Foundation's database of thousands of peer-reviewed studies as evidence for hydrogen's anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. This represents an escalation from his prior oxygen and carbon dioxide play, showing his commitment to at-home gas therapy.

About ten years ago, Ben was deep in Ironman racing, business, and travel, and his marriage was strained to the point of wondering if it would survive. He got on his knees, intensified his spiritual practice, and reprioritized: God first, then spouse, then kids, then business. From that shift, he began studying families who sustained generational success. He discovered they used trusts, constitutions, and crests. The most influential source was Rich Christensen of Legato Family Foundation, with whom Ben's family spent three days in Utah. They mapped out core values, a mission statement, a family logo (crest) embodying each member's spirit animal and elements of their faith and hobbies, and a full constitution detailing everything from holiday traditions to the family bank contacts to funeral plans. The crest is on everything from throw pillows to flags, and sons will receive their own copies upon marriage to continue building. This transforms the home into a legacy engine, making sons proud of the Greenfield name and wanting to stay and build.

Ben criticizes modern breathwork for being shamanistic and self-focused, with mantras like 'I'm good, I'm great.' He believes this ignores human sinfulness and dependence on God. He approached the Breath Source company (a breathwork app) and created a series of sessions, including 'Strength of the Lord,' where during long exhales and inhales, his voice recites scripture. He also practices the Jesus Prayer ('Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner') with breathing, entering a trance-like state. He also highlights BrainTap, a light-sound neurotherapy device, which has a session that delivers the entire Romans 8 chapter, calling it 'super powerful.' He sees these as ways to fill the mind with good things rather than empty it, and uses them personally for relaxation and spiritual discipline.

Ben notes the rise of 'spiritual but not religious' and argues it's a dangerous path because it creates spiritual loners susceptible to rabbit holes like ayahuasca or psilocybin as a path to God. He questions whether you'd want to convince a billion people to use psilocybin to find God. More critically, he points out that deaths of despair, suicide, and diseases related to loneliness don't necessarily decrease with solo spirituality; the largest impact comes from 'organized religiosity' — physically going to church, having a body of believers, singing and praying together, having accountability. He recommends not just talking to God and reading the Bible, but finding a local church where you can serve and be served, because that communal aspect is what moves the needle on health outcomes. He sees this as essential advice for anyone exploring faith.

When exploring a new sport like obstacle course racing, instead of signing up for multiple Spartan races and failing publicly, Ben built an entire obstacle course on his property to train privately. He applies the same approach to golf, planning to take many private lessons before building a golf range. He acknowledges it's rooted in pride and ego, but it's how he's wired. His wife learns quickly in public, but he needs solo grinding. This pattern matches his work style: as an author, he researches for years, gathers materials, and writes intensively in early morning isolation before showing anyone.