• Kayla Barnes-Lentz spends all day optimizing her health to try to live to 150.
• She also runs her own business, so has to fit her biohacking around her busy workday.
• She has a 2.5 hour-long morning routine, takes regular biohacking breaks, and goes to bed by 8:30 pm.

From the second Kayla Barnes-Lentz wakes up, her day is built around enhancing her health.

Barnes-Lentz, 33, told Business Insider that her extensive biohacking routine has helped her to reverse her biological age by 11 years. Biological age is a measure of how healthy a person's cells and organs are, but scientists don't agree on the definition.

As a co-owner of a longevity clinic in Cleveland and the host of a podcast about health optimization, she counts this routine as part of her work.

"During work, I have my office optimized for optimal productivity, and I incorporate health optimization practices throughout the day," she said.

Barnes-Lentz's habits aren't all scientifically proven. But she and other biohackers, such as the millionaire entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, take a chance on experimental treatments to live as long as possible. Barnes-Lentz wants to reach 150, while Johnson's mantra is "don't die."

She's inspired by naturopathic medicine, which is based on folk healing methods rather than evidence-based medicine. Barnes-Lentz and the medical team at her clinic use scientific literature to "guide" what she describes as her "health protocols." She said she has also hired female PhD candidates to "dive into the literature" around women's health and longevity to inform her female-focused protocols, which she sells.

For the average person, experts say that getting the basics right can make a big difference to longevity. For example, a study published last year found that a healthy diet can increase lifespan by up to 10 years, and Nathan K. LeBrasseur, a physiologist at Mayo Clinic, previously told BI that spending just 3% of your day exercising can contribute to healthy aging.

Barnes-Lentz shared how she fits biohacking around running her business.

Before work, she spends 2.5 hours biohacking

Barnes-Lentz's morning routine is 2.5 hours long. She starts with what she describes as an "oral protocol," which includes tongue scraping, water flossing, and oil pulling. Tongue scraping and flossing are commonly recognized as effective ways to reduce bacteria and plaque in the mouth. But there's not enough evidence that oil pulling, an Ayurvedic practice that involves swishing oil around the mouth, is good enough for oral health to be recommended by the American Dental Association.

She also does her first round of pulsed electromagnetic field therapy, a noninvasive treatment in which bursts of electric currents are sent through soft tissue across the body.

"I think of our body as a battery, and PEMF can increase your charge," she said.

Evidence suggests that PEMF could be useful in treating osteoarthritis and bone fractures, but more evidence is needed to confirm this, according to the authors of a 2023 review of research published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.

Barnes-Lentz also works out, gets some sun exposure to regulate her circadian rhythm, spends time in a sauna, showers, and measures her biometrics (body composition, grip strength, lung health, and blood pressure) before breakfast.

She does red light therapy while working

Barnes-Lentz works from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. most days, running her longevity business, podcast, and social media accounts, including her Instagram account, which has 383,000 followers. She tries to do 10,000 steps a day and move her body as much as possible.

To do so, she takes calls while walking and takes breaks every 90 minutes to walk or do what she considers a biohack, such as standing on a whole body vibration plate.

Even when she does desk-based work, she said she's biohacking. This involves sitting on a "biohacking desk chair," which encourages good posture, and wearing a red light therapy cap to help her hair grow faster and thicker. Red light therapy has been found to help with hair regrowth and increasing thickness and length in some large randomized trials, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.

In her office, she has an air filtration system and uses natural light instead of LEDs to avoid interrupting her circadian rhythm. In a 2023 research report published in the journal Frontiers in Photonics, experts agreed that blue light from LEDs can disrupt sleep when people are repetitively exposed to it for prolonged periods at night.

Barnes-Lentz also inhales humid air using a NanoVi machine —which is advertised as a means to repair proteins in the body damaged by oxidative stress — to improve her cognition and brain health. Research suggests that oxidative stress, which is caused by factors including sunlight, alcohol, and certain medications, plays a role in aging and the development of neurodegenerative diseases.

A small 2022 study suggested that it could help improve cellular health and cognition in older people. Published in the International Journal of Molecular Science, it involved four people with cognitive impairment who used a NanoVi over 12 weeks. However, more research is needed.

A cold plunge at lunchtime

"My mid-day routine consists of a whole body vibration plate and cold plunge, which gives me a natural increase in energy, followed by a hyperbaric chamber session," Barnes-Lentz said.

She does five hourlong sessions in a hyperbaric chamber each week, using the time to catch up on messages on her phone. Hyperbaric oxygen chambers contain a pure, pressurize form of the gas to increase its absorption in the body. They are used to treat conditions including burns, wounds, skin and bone infections, and hearing and vision loss. Small studies have found that they might have anti-aging benefits too, although the FDA hasn't approved them for this use.

After work, she goes for a walk and optimizes her sleep schedule

Barnes-Lentz and her husband eat dinner at around 5 p.m., more than three hours before they go to bed at 8:30 p.m., to help them sleep.

She knows that a varied diet is good for the gut microbiome, so has different organic, seasonal vegetables and fruits delivered each week. The structure of her meals is always the same: vegetables, high-quality proteins, healthy fats, and carbohydrates that don't spike her blood sugar too much a few times a week, she said.

After dinner, the couple walks for 50 minutes in the hills around their LA home to aid digestion, catch up on their days, and get in more zone two cardio.

"Then, we begin our wind-down routine, which may involve more PEMF or relaxing together. At sunset, we ensure that the house is only red light to promote the release of melatonin," she said.

Some studies have found that using artificial red light at night can improve sleep quality, but a 2023 study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry found no evidence that red light increases melatonin secretion and, in some cases, can increase alertness.

"I've worked really hard to build the life that I have. I'm incredibly blessed and very fortunate that I get to move my body and get to do all these things. And I'm excited to see what that's going to lead to in the future," Barnes-Lentz said.

• "Home Alone" came out over 30 years ago, but it's still a fan favorite around the holidays. 
• Like many John Hughes movies, it was filmed in the Chicagoland area.
• The McCallisters left behind plants, a gingerbread house, dirty towels, and open garage doors.

"Home Alone" is a delightfully chaotic Christmas movie.

The 1990 classic is more outlandish and violent than some other cheerful holiday films, but it's still amused viewers for over 30 years. 

Here are some sneaky "Home Alone" Easter eggs even superfans may have missed.

Kevin's sister insults him in French, even though the word is the same in English.

Before they head to France without him, Kevin's siblings and cousins are constantly teasing and mocking him.

While he's going around trying to figure out what to pack in his suitcase, one of his sisters tells him that he's "what the French call les incompétents."

Linnie was probably just brushing up on her basic French before their trip to Paris, but since "les incompétents" just translates to "the incompetent ones" it's not as impressive as she makes it seem — even if it does confuse Kevin. 

"Home Alone" is set near Chicago, like many other John Hughes movies.

Like writer John Hughes' "The Breakfast Club," "Sixteen Candles," and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Home Alone" is set in the Chicagoland area. 

It's clear from the mention of a Chicago airport and the Chicago Bulls decor in Buzz's room.

Mr. McCallister throws out a passport and plane ticket when he cleans up the spilled milk.

The night before Kevin's family leaves for their trip, everyone is busy finishing up packing, eating dinner, and finalizing their plans — which results in a lot of chaos. 

After Kevin spills a bunch of milk, Mr. McCallister jumps to clean up the mess and wipe down the passports and plane tickets that are piled on the table. 

As he throws away a bundle of napkins, he accidentally picks up and tosses one of the passports. A shot of the garbage can also shows that he threw away an American Airlines booklet that most likely contained a plane ticket. 

If we assume it was Kevin's passport and ticket, this clever detail helps to explain why no one realized he didn't get on the plane.

The headcount Kevin's sister takes seems accurate because she counted a neighbor in place of Kevin.

Before loading up into the vans to go to the airport, Kevin's oldest cousin takes a quick head count of her siblings and cousins.

In the rush of trying to get to the airport on time, she accidentally counts a neighbor boy — who is curiously climbing through the van — which brings her total to the correct number even though Kevin is still sleeping in the attic. 

Kevin's dad actually did forget to shut the garage.

After the McCallisters board their plane, Kevin's mom is struck with the feeling that she forgot something.

After a moment of thought, Mr. McCallister tries to calm her nerves by saying he forgot to shut the garage door — which turns out to be true. 

Despite having a number of plants in the house, Kevin's parents didn't arrange for anyone to water them.

There are plants throughout Kevin's house, including in the dining room and kitchen.

However, no one ever comes by the house to water them, which seems like something the family should've planned for before they left for the trip.

If they had hired a neighbor to look after their plants, they might have been able to help Kevin when he got left home alone. 

When Kevin reads the Playboy magazine, the pages appear to be taped together.

While looking through his family's belongings, Kevin finds a Playboy magazine in Buzz's room.

He opens it to a page in the middle before throwing it on the floor behind him. Judging by the way it lands, though, it seems like the rest of the pages were stuck together.

A 2017 Bustle article said the prop was a real edition of Playboy from 1989, so the crew may have taped everything else so that Macaulay Culkin (who played Kevin) wouldn't see any inappropriate content while they filmed the scene.

Kevin's parents left a gingerbread house out on the counter.

In certain kitchen shots, there's a decorated gingerbread house visible on the counter.

Like the plants, this seems like an odd thing to leave unattended while going on a long trip.

Kate, Kevin's mom, also made a point of asking people to finish the milk the night before, so it wasn't like she was oblivious to the perishable food in her house. 

The movie Kevin watches, and replays several times, isn't real.

Throughout "Home Alone," Kevin watches a black-and-white film called "Angels With Filthy Souls" and later uses it as part of his defense plan against the Wet Bandits. 

Although it looks pretty realistic and its lines have since become famous, the movie isn't real. The scenes were made specifically for "Home Alone."

The popcorn Kevin spills can be seen under the bed when he hides there later.

After realizing he's home alone, Kevin runs around the house doing whatever he wants, including jumping up and down on his parents' bed while eating popcorn.

Later, when he hides under their bed when a police officer knocks on the door, there's popcorn on the floor from his earlier antics.

The mannequins Kevin uses to throw off the Wet Bandits were in the basement when he first went down there.

When Kevin first goes down into his basement, he walks past a couple of mannequins as well as other storage items. 

These later prove useful when he rigs them up near the windows to trick the Wet Bandits into thinking there are adults in the house.

The Wet Bandits' nickname works on several levels.

Marv and Harry, the robbers who try to break into Kevin's house throughout the movie, go by the nickname the Wet Bandits.

Marv explains at one point that the name fits their signature move of flooding the houses that they steal from, but the nickname can also be a reference to the fact that they drive around in a plumbing van.

There's an absurd number of towels in Kevin's bathroom.

When Kevin showers and styles his hair in the bathroom, there are at least 20 visible light- and dark-green towels all around the room.

Seeing as there were just a bunch of people in the house, it makes sense that there are multiple used towels hanging to dry. But there are also a number of clean towels stacked on the shelves.

The McCallister's house is fairly large, so this probably isn't the only bathroom, making the sheer number of towels even more absurd.  

The statue in front of the house is knocked over several times.

The airport-shuttle driver, police officer, and pizza deliverer all knock over the statue next to the McCallister's driveway.

The pizza boy even drives into it a second time when he brings Kevin a pizza. 

One of the robbers audibly curses in a scene.

"Home Alone" has a PG-rating, but one of the robbers can be heard cursing during a scene. 

When Marv loses his shoe in the dog door, he says "shit" in a low voice. It's even confirmed in the movie's subtitles.

The pizzeria's name is probably a spin on a popular chain.

The pizzeria featured multiple times in the film is called Little Nero's.

It isn't a real restaurant, but it seems to be a spin on the popular pizza chain, Little Caesars. 

Like Julius Caesar, Nero was a Roman political head, and both the fictional and real pizza chains feature Roman mascots. 

There's also a legend that Nero fiddled while Rome burned, making the pizzeria's tagline — "No Fiddlin' Around" — a clever joke.

Though he puts together an impressive battle plan, Kevin can't spell "ornaments."

The plans and traps that Kevin arranges to outsmart the robbers throughout the movie are pretty brilliant.

But despite how clever he is, Kevin stills misspells "ornaments" on his battle plan — which is a helpful reminder that the character is, in fact, only 8.

The ornaments Kevin places under the window don't match the rest of the decorations on the tree.

One of the many traps Kevin sets for the robbers includes placing ornaments under a window so that Marv will step on them when he tries to break in.

The decorations on the tree seem to be shaped like candy canes, presents, and 2-D stars. However, the ornaments that Marv steps on are more colorful and shaped much differently. 

The ornaments on the floor were reportedly made of candy to help prevent any serious injuries, and actor Daniel Stern (who played Marv) wore rubber feet just in case. 

Mr. Marley's hand heals as he mends his relationship with his son.

Old Man Marley scares Kevin at the beginning of the film, especially when he walks up behind him at the drugstore and places a bloody, bandaged hand on the counter. 

Throughout the movie, though, Kevin interacts with him and learns that the rumors about him aren't true. He also finds out that Mr. Marley is estranged from his son and granddaughter — a plotline that director Chris Columbus added to the film. 

When Kevin and Mr. Marley talk in the church, the heavy, white bandage on his hand has been replaced with a smaller, tan one. At the end of the film, when he patches up his relationship with his son, his hand is completely healed. 

This story was originally published on December, 14, 2020, and most recently updated on December 6, 2024. 

Read More:

• 20 things you probably didn't know about 'Home Alone'
• 15 of the best and 15 of the worst holiday movies of all time
• 19 details and references you probably missed in 'Elf'
• 19 of Netflix's original holiday movies, ranked from worst to best