A 45-year-old software developer has opened up about his quest to regain his youth through a rigorous plan that involves a strict diet, medical procedures, and treatments, and which costs him around $2m a year.
Bryan Johnson made his wealth when he sold his company, Braintree Payment Solutions, to Ebay’s PayPal in 2013 for $800m in cash. Since then, the 45-year-old has turned his attention inward and is now focused on reversing the ageing process.
To reach his goals, which include achieving the “brain, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, tendons, teeth, skin, hair, bladder, penis and rectum of an 18 year old,” according to Bloomberg’s feature: “How to be 18 Years Old Again for Only $2 Million a Year,” Johnson employs a team of more than 30 doctors and health experts who monitor his “every bodily function”.
The treatment plan, which is overseen by Oliver Zolman, a 29-year-old regenerative medicine physician, and required an investment of “several million dollars,” also meant building a medical suite in Johnson’s Venice, California home, according to the publication.
As for what “Project Blueprint” entails, Johnson revealed that he wakes up each morning at 5am and takes two dozen supplements and medicines, including zinc to supplement his diet and a microdose of lithium for “brain health”. He also follows a strict vegan diet of 1,977 calories a day, works out for an hour each day, and goes to sleep at the same time each night. He also wears blue-light glasses for two hours before bed.
Each month, the millionaire tech entrepreneur also “endures dozens of medical procedures, some quite extreme and painful, then measures their results with additional blood tests, MRIs, ultrasounds and colonoscopies,” Bloomberg notes.
“He’s taken 33,537 images of his bowels, discovered that his eyelashes are shorter than average and probed the thickness of his carotid artery,” the outlet reported. “He blasts his pelvic floor with electromagnetic pulses to improve muscle tone in hard-to-reach places and has a device that counts the number of his nighttime erections.”
Johnson also undergoes weekly acid peels and laser therapy, and has fat injected into his face to build a “fat scaffolding”. He claims that the procedure is different from regular fillers because, as he “regenerates,” the new fat will “create fat on its own”.
“The body delivers a certain configuration at age 18,” Johnson told Bloomberg. “This really is an impassioned approach to achieve age 18 everywhere.”
Now, more than a year into the experimental treatment plan, Johnson’s doctors say the process has been paying off. Jeff Toll, an internist on his team, told Bloomberg that “all of the markers we are tracking have been improving remarkably”.
The group says this means that Johnson has “reduced his overall biological age by at least five years,” and that he now has “the heart of a 37 year old, the skin of a 28 year old and the lung capacity and fitness of an 18 year old”.
Others, such as Zolman, who received his medical degree from King’s College in London, are more realistic about Johnson’s results. The 29 year old claims the team has not achieved “any remarkable results,” but rather “small, reasonable results,” which he said are to be expected.
As for Johnson’s thought process, he’s trying to “prove that self-harm and decay are not inevitable”.
He also acknowledged that others may not understand or believe in his approach, but “this is expected and fine.”
On social media, Johnson’s quest to reverse his age, and the extreme lengths he goes to to do so, have sparked a debate. Many are questioning the end goal.
“Obsessed with rich people realising money isn’t the point and then just floundering around with ideas like ‘maybe I could just... live forever,’” one person tweeted.
Another said: “I’m at a loss for words with this story. All the money he spent on tests, procedures etc could have gone toward enjoying the pleasures of life while living healthy and ageing naturally.”
“This level of self-love is not healthy,” someone else alleged, while another questioned the “point” of Johnson’s efforts. “What’s the point? In my opinion, this seems like a pretty unfulfilling life - no matter how long it lasts,” they wrote.
Others found the exorbitant amount Johnson spends on his self-care regimen to be out of touch, considering how many people cannot afford basic life necessities.
“We have a society where some people terrified of being their age can just spend $2m a year on nonsense chasing the fountain of youth, while a whole lot more people can’t afford housing and decent food,” one person wrote.
Although the majority of readers were critical of Johnson’s goal, there were some who applauded the millionaire for his dedication.
“There’s a flock of people criticising and mocking @bryan_johnson for going to great lengths to reverse ageing. I don’t know him, but I respect anyone on a mission, willing to walk their own path, and share their journey so openly,” one person wrote, adding: “I hope he succeeds.”
Someone else summed up Johnson’s impassioned efforts to become young again as “pretty cool”.
As for his response to the criticism, Johnson joked on Twitter that the replies to the feature were “surprisingly tame” before claiming he was “looking forward” to hearing the “zingers, take-downs and insults” from his “haters”.
Johnson also shared a few of his favourite responses thus far, which included one individual’s claim that he “sounds like a total weirdo,” and another from someone who asked: “Should we tell him he does not look 18?”
The Independent has contacted Johnson for comment.
