45 years old Bryan Johnson spends $2 million a year to be 18 again
His drive to reduce his biological age is much like a full-time job.
45-year-old Bryan Johnson has achieved what others have only been dreaming of accomplishing so far. A reversal of age by as many as five years, Bloomberg reported. He has a heart of a 37-year-old and the lung capacity and fitness of an 18-year-old. But this wasn’t always so and did not happen overnight through some surgery either.
Over a decade ago, Johnson, then a software engineer, started a payment processing company that became quite successful. Working to keep the company ahead meant long hours and additional stress that made him overweight and depressed. In 2013, he sold his company to eBay for $800 million and began looking into improving his health.
His obsession with cracking the workings of his biology led to the formation of a company called Kernel that uses helmets to measure brain activity. But Johnson believes people do not have access to the most important information that could help them lead healthy lives. So, he teamed up with Oliver Zolman, a medical graduate from King’s College London, to figure out a way to become younger again.
Project Blueprint
Together with a team of 30 more doctors, Zolman is currently running a series of experiments on Johnson to modify his diet and physical activity in line with his vital signs that are checked ever so frequently.
Johnson’s day begins at 5 am with a dose of supplements and medicines such as lycopene, zinc, and metformin, as well as a microdose of lithium for his brain. Apart from a strict intake of 1,977 calories every day in the form of vegan food, Johnson exercises for an hour with three high-intensity sessions scheduled during the week.
He also has a strict sleep schedule which he follows after wearing glasses that block blue light for two hours prior to this bedtime. His oral hygiene routine consists of brushing, flossing with water and rinsing with tea-tree oil, and applying an antioxidant gel, Bloomberg said in its report.
For purposes of health monitoring, Johnson measures his weight, Body mass index, and body fat on a daily basis, along with blood glucose, heart-rate variations, and oxygen levels. Blood and urine tests are quite a regular feature of his monthly routine, and so are MRI scans, ultrasounds, and colonoscopies that are conducted every month.
Improvements in health so far
Through the myriad measurements, Zolman and his team have concluded that Johnson’s heart is that of a 37-year-old, while his skin is that of a 28-year-old. his lung and fitness levels match that of an 18-year-old, and his gum inflammation that of a 17-year-old. A special device also measures nighttime erections, and the numbers are comparable to that of a teenager.
Johnson isn’t satisfied with what he has achieved so far, and even though he spends $2 million a year on his routine, which is as good as a job, he plans to take this further till he achieves an overall age of an 18-year-old across body organs.
One might be impressed with Johnson’s plans, but without the support of the extensive team of doctors and tests, the former software engineer would have been very close to death. At one time, his body fat dropped to less than three percent, which threatened the functioning of his heart.
Apart from that, Johnson also undergoes a treatment where he receives a series of fat injections in his face to generate a scaffolding of young person’s fat cells. These, apart from providing a younger look, also provide a mechanism to produce lesser toxic substances and better heat control when applied across the body.
However, that’s not where Johnson is drawing the line. In the near future, he also plans to undergo gene therapies where he will put his body through much more to grow younger.
Johnson is much like a guinea pig that is funding the lab to run the experiments on itself. All in the name of science or just fascination for younger self, that we will let you decide.
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