ETERNAL YOUTH
Can you turn back time? Multimillionaire Bryan Johnson thinks you can – and believes his gruelling daily routine will reverse the ageing process and lengthen his lifespan to a number never reached before
Adecade ago Bryan Johnson was depressed and overweight. Burnt out from work and bruised by the end of his 13-year marriage, life was spinning out of control.
But now control is the essence of his existence. He rises at 5am, consumes 2,250 calories daily – 70lb of puréed vegetables per month – takes 111 supplements and exercises for at least one hour, adding high-intensity workouts three times a week. He has taken more than 33,000 images of his bowels and trained his pelvic floor so sleep isn’t interrupted by toilet breaks.
Throughout the day he is poked and prodded by a team of more than 30 doctors who monitor the health of his organs before he retires at 8.30pm.
Bryan, 46, is aiming to reverse the ageing process and become 18 again biologically, stretching his lifespan into hitherto uncharted territories. Does he believe that by following such a strict regimen he can live to 120? ‘Why 120?’ he asks. ‘Why not 180? Why not 400? Why not 1,000? As a society, we’re on the cusp of creating super-intelligence. Why would we think it reasonable to put a cap on age?’
He is speaking over Zoom from his home in California. A tech entrepreneur worth an estimated £315 million, his gorgeous, glass-fronted home in Venice Beach has been modified to include a full medical suite, where everything from his blood, brain, heart and liver is monitored. ‘I’ve become the mostmeasured person in human history,’ he says.
‘What I’m trying to do is share a protocol [for optimal healthy living] based not on charisma or opinion but solely on data.’
On appearance alone, his quest appears to be working. There’s almost a manufactured quality to him – enhanced by perfect posture and slightly robotic speech patterns. He has dubbed his endeavour Project Blueprint and having undertaken this regime over the past two years, he claims he now has the heart of a 37-year-old, the bones of a 30-year-old, the skin of a 28-year-old and the fitness of an 18-year-old.
He says his left ear remains the oldest part of his body, at 64. ‘I grew up in a small town [in Utah] where we shot guns as kids,’ he explains, ‘my left ear was exposed to the noise.’ One old ear notwithstanding, his face barely betrays a line or blemish thanks to the daily application of four skin creams, as well as numerous other therapies including microbotox injections and whole-body light therapy, which improves his circulation and collagen production. His hair is lush (he wears a cap on his head that pumps red light into his scalp to stimulate hair growth) and claims he maintains its
