A middle-aged software engineer in the nine-figure range says he spends around $2 million each year bio-hacking his body to make it young again.
Bryan Johnson, 45, who made his fortune in his 30s when he sold his payment processing company Braintree Payment Solutions to eBay for $800 million in cash, is touting a daily routine that he says has given him the heart of a 37-year-old has the skin of a 28 year old and the lung capacity and fitness of an 18 year old.
Johnson has a team of 30 physicians and regenerative health experts overseeing his regime, he told Bloomberg News.
His goal is for all of his major organs — including the brain, liver, kidneys, teeth, skin, hair, penis and rectum — to function as they did in his late teens, Johnson said.
The initiative, known as the Project Blueprint, requires Johnson to stick to a strictly vegan diet of 1,977 calories per day, a one-hour daily exercise regimen, high-intensity exercise three times a week, and go to bed at the same time every night.
“What I’m doing may sound extreme, but I’m trying to prove that self-harm and decay aren’t inevitable,” Johnson told the outlet.
Bryan Johnson, 45, spends $2 million a year to get his body working the way it did when it was 18. Bloomberg via Getty Images
Johnson made his fortune more than a decade ago after selling Braintree, a payment processing company, to eBay for $800 million in cash. Bryan Johnson/Blueprint
Johnson is one of several tech moguls who have invested millions into increasing human longevity. Dustin Giallanza
Johnson said he was borderline suicidal and overweight while working late. Josh DeAngelis
Johnson wakes up at 5 a.m. every morning, takes two dozen supplements, exercises for an hour, drinks green juice packed with creatine and collagen peptides, and brushes and flosses while rinsing with tea tree oil and antioxidant gel.
Before bed, Johnson wears glasses that block blue light for two hours. He also constantly monitors his vital signs and undergoes monthly medical procedures to maintain his results, including ultrasounds, MRIs, colonoscopies and blood tests.
Johnson is the CEO of Kernel, which makes a $50,000 helmet that tracks brain signals. Bryan Johnson/Blueprint
Johnson routinely monitors his blood glucose levels as well as other biomarkers. Bryan Johnson/Blueprint
While he sleeps, Johnson is hooked up to a machine that counts the number of nightly erections. He also measures his weight, body mass index, body fat, blood sugar level and heart rate fluctuations every day.
“I treat athletes and Hollywood celebrities, and nobody pushes the envelope quite like Bryan,” Jeff Toll, an internist who is part of Johnson’s team, told Bloomberg News.
Johnson said his interest in the pursuit of eternal youth was sparked by a severe decline in his mental and physical health before he sold Braintree to eBay.
Johnson told Bloomberg News he was overweight, depressed and near-suicidal – a result of stress and long work hours.
Oliver Zolman, a 29-year-old doctor who leads the medical team Johnson hired, said his goal was to prove that a human could reduce the medical age of each of their organs by 25%.
Johnson employs a team of 30 physicians and regenerative health professionals. Bryan Johnson/Blueprint
Johnson wants to reset his body so his organs work like he was 18 years old. Bryan Johnson/Blueprint
Johnson’s routine also includes strictly following a vegan diet. Bryan Johnson/Blueprint
There is no person in the world who is chronologically 45 years old but is 35 in every organ,” Zolman told Bloomberg News.
“Eventually, if we can clinically and statistically prove that Bryan made this change, then the effect size will be so large that it must be causative for the intervention and beyond what is genetically possible.”
Johnson founded Kernel, a startup that makes $50,000 apiece helmets that measure brain signals and the effects of meditation and pharmaceutical interventions on chronic pain.
In recent years, Silicon Valley billionaires, including Peter Thiel and Jeff Bezos, have poured vast amounts of money into startups trying to develop technology that would enable people to live well into the hundreds.