Bryan Johnson: How to beat the ageing process, Silicon Valley style

This article was first published on January 28, 2023 and has since been updated.

Silicon Valley multimillionaire Bryan Johnson has committed to an unusual lifestyle which he claims has helped him slow down the ageing process.

Not content with merely looking younger, he is also trying to rejuvenate all 78 of his organs.

To achieve this, Mr Johnson and a team of 30 doctors and health professionals have designed an all-encompassing health programme, nicknamed Operation Blueprint.

This year, he will likely spend $2 million as part of his quest to have the brain, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, teeth and skin of an 18-year-old.

Diet

Mr Johnson follows a strict vegan diet and eats three meals a day.

On his website, he shares some of his favorite recipes, accompanied by the calorie count of each portion – asparagus, almond and beetroot salad, orange and fennel salad and a stuffed sweet potato, all 500 calories each.

Every ingredient in Mr Johnson’s diet “has been methodically crafted based on gold standard scientific evidence for optimal nutrition. They continue to be modified at the introduction of new evidence.”

One of his dietary staples is a dark green vegetable paste with a similar consistency to hummus, which he calls “Super Veggie”.

The paste is a mixture of organic vegetables including broccoli – heads and stalks – cauliflower, ginger, lime, mushrooms and hemp seeds.

On his website, Mr Johnson adds that he has “recently been sprinkling one Tbsp of 100 per cent dark chocolate into the dish”.

Mr Johnson drinks around 1.5 litres of water per day and used to drink wine in small quantities, but it stained his teeth.

He also drinks around three tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil a day, which he says gives him an important source of healthy fats.

In all, he consumes 1,977 calories every day.

“We try to make every single calorie perfectly suited for my body”, Mr Johnson said, in a video explaining his diet.

Exercise and medical procedures

Frequent, daily exercise is a big part of Mr Johnson’s so-called Operation Blueprint.

In all, his regime includes 25 different exercises including weight lifting and HIIT (high-intensity interval training).

He also endures dozens of medical procedures each month including blood tests, MRIs, ultrasounds and colonoscopies.

His medical team, led by Dr Oliver Zolman, a 29-year-old regenerative medicine expert, measures his progress and tracks how his body is improving by conducting a variety of examinations.

An exhaustive skincare routine also forms an integral part of Mr Johnson’s programme.

He uses several active creams and serums, mineral sunscreen and Cerave body cream.

Every week he undergoes a full body intense pulsed light (IPL) treatment, which according to Mr Johnson reverses collagen loss in the dermis. To rejuvenate the skin, removing marks and wrinkles, he undergoes total body laser treatments as well as those involving micro-pulse lasers and whole-body LEDs.

He also gets fat injected into his face in an attempt to build what he calls “fat scaffolding” that would then produce “young-person fat cells”, and make him appear younger.

In the morning, Mr Johnson meditates and undergoes light therapy, a type of treatment that is sometimes recommended to treat seasonal affective disorder. This involves sitting by a special high-intensity lamp that simulates the sunlight missed during the winter months.

Supplements

Mr Johnson and his experts have identified a series of supplements that the multi-millionaire has incorporated into his de-ageing regime.

His pre-workout drink, which he calls “the Green Giant”, contains several supplements including spermidine, chlorella powder, creatine and cinnamon.

The drink looks a little different each day as certain weekdays call for different ingredients. On Saturdays he adds liquid iodine to the mix, according to a Youtube video he recorded back in 2021.

Two hours before bed, he puts on goggles that block out blue light to improve his sleep. He also takes melatonin before going to bed.

He sleeps alone in a blacked-out room, on a temperature-controlled mattress with an hour of relaxation before going to bed at 8.30pm.

Blood infusions

Mr Johnson has also revealed he uses blood infusions from his 17-year-old son as part of his attempt to stay young.

He said his son Talmage, 17, and his 70-year-old father, Richard, have taken part in what he claims is the "world's first multi-generational plasma exchange".

Bryan, 45, had his son's plasma infused back into his veins.

The tech executive also said he regularly receives plasma from a young, anonymous donor.

The trend is popular among wellness gurus for its apparent anti-ageing benefits, which are purported to include staving off cognitive decline.