Its mostly taking a huge stack of supplements, diet and exercise.
There’s peer reviewed evidence for most of the stuff he is taking but barely anyone has done _all_ of the things together in concert like he is doing.
There’s things we can learn from his work (optimising for the kinds of training to ward off common aging issues), like weightlifting to help fight off losing bone density. Targeting things like fall resistance and grip strength (things we lose fast as we age)
Avoiding the sun to avoid aging and skin cancer.
There’s lots of good things we could be doing (the western diet is really poor in fibre and healthy fats) to stay healthier for longer.
Afaict the whole “nation of immortals” thing is just marketing from this author not anything that they (Johnson) said they wanted to do.
> weightlifting to help fight off losing bone density. Targeting things like fall resistance and grip strength (things we lose fast as we age)
Rock climbing. You're constantly lifting your own weight + gear. You fall a lot (especially bouldering) and need to learn to do it efficiently to avoid injuries. I don't think I need to say anything about grip strength here. :P
I don't know how "avoiding the sun" qualifies as "healthy." To me, the idea that one should avoid being outside is indicative that whatever you're doing, it's not culturally healthy.
He’s mostly taking a shit load of vitamin D and E to offset this and wearing sunscreen religiously. He doesn’t literally not go outside but he is ghostly pale.
Vitamin supplements are not adequate to replace direct sunlight exposure. It has other beneficial effects including stimulating nitric oxide production. Everything in moderation.
what? UV radiation is clearly bad in anything more than enough-to-get-enough-vitamin-D doses.
depending on where you are in the world, sunblock might be enough to keep you on the good side, elsewhere (e.g. Australia) there are elaborate cultural rituals to reduce radiation exposure to safe levels (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slip-Slop-Slap).
Because to me, pumping yourself full of various supplements and hiding inside is just about the opposite of what I'd call a mentally healthy person, and is more indicative of how disconnected from reality parts of contemporary Western culture have become.
The link between wearing long sleeves, sunscreen, and a hat when outdoors for any length of time in high UV environments (e.g. anywhere near the hole in the ozone layer when it's not midwinter) and "how disconnected from reality parts of contemporary Western culture have become" is tenuous at best.
So you think this guy is "contemporary western culture"? He's catering to a bunch of dimwits, not contemporary culture anywhere. This is just AI cultism.
"Avoiding the sun" does not mean "avoid going outside"
Long sleeves, hat, sunglasses go a long way to prevent burns and skin cancer. Sunscreen, too, but something tells me this guy doesn't do sunscreen.
To note, this advice is probably moot for people with high enough melanin living in low to mid sun exposure areas. Sunscreen becomes useful only when receiving sun doses that exceed skin's natural absorption capacity.
It's almost impossible to run a good UV exposure association study because going outside correlates with health. Everything clever you can do to get around that (UV-B areas are what the article chooses) runs into issues with introducing even more uncontrolled variables.
I'm getting a bit jaded with vitamin D and UV studies and it's possible that one will come along and prove me wrong, but thus far they've generated a lot of hype but failed when experimentally tested.
there's some evidence that sun exposure reduces risk of hypertension via nitrogen signalling pathways, but if you already keep track of your blood pressure levels and they are healthy, unprotected sun exposure for longer than short periods is unequivocally a bad thing - at the very least, if your objective is to not look like a tanned leather sheet in your 40s onwards
Rick Rubin is looking good for his age. I postulate that he has very low stress levels and added that he surfs, he's got something good going for combatting age.
Considering the many health benefits of sun exposure, yes I absolutely want to gamble (within reasonable limits). It's disingenuous to compare that to chain smoking.
The concern with the Sun is that UV rays are damaging the elastin and collagen proteins in our skin - so the real goal is to avoid the direct UV radiation as much as realistically possible, not to never see the sunlight. :)
In fact, sunlight exposure is very important for other crucial mechanisms in our body like melatonin regulation and D vitamin production.
You still can have all the benefits and fun by simply being more active in morning and sunset, avoiding midday exposure (which is already part of the culture in many sunny regions), and wearing the sunscreen and proper clothing to protect your skin. Of course, how much UV exposure do you need for you body to function normally and not let sun ruin your skin depends primarily on where you live, is it summer or winter, etc. It all comes down to limiting how much UV radiation you'll get. If you're dark skinned it also helps - the melanin in your skin acts as an additional layer of protection against UV rays.
If you buy supplements on the NSF Certified for Sport list then you can be reasonably confident that you're legitimately getting what you are paying for.
He caught covid recently and it was tough on him. He self-reported in Feb on twitter "A mild case of Covid in Nov 2022 caused a loss of 15% of my lung capacity that I’ve not yet gotten back."
He looks like a dude in his late 40s or early 50s with a good skin care routine.
Clearly there are things one can do to improve one’s heath. Most of that is not rocket science. Eat well, get enough sleep, and have some level of exercise. There are things to be learned from everything he’s doing, but obviously these aren’t practical things at scale. But the fact that he’s treating himself as a science experiment and sharing data/results is honorable. When he turns around and tries to sell folks things based on his “routine” (like really expensive olive oil) that’s when things look more sketch.
Unfortunately, he seems to have gone far beyond the scientific mindset and is quite focused on pushing his pseudo-religious movement "Don't Die", replete with holy (olive) oil.
It would be one thing if he was already 100 something and pushing these ideas post facto, but at this point, everything he's doing could turn out to have long-term negative effects. We simply don't know yet, because that's not how science works.
I just get single sourced extra virgin olive oil from Costco. Price is up a lot since last year. Bryan also sells dark chocolate or something. You don't have to buy from him. I don't think I'd enjoy 100% dark chocolate. 80-90% ones are fine.
Depends. What, if any, are the negative effects on my son?
(And, I suppose, what are the negative effects on me? There's this guy in Terry Pratchett's Diskworld series that spends his life looking for the fountain of youth. This confuses Rincewind - why look for the fountain of youth while you're young? But the guy persists, and eventually finds it, and learns the hard way the really important thing nobody ever tells you: boil it first. The point is - or at least the point I took from it is - don't be so busy chasing living forever that you miss living.)
I've read about him before. He follows a pretty extreme "health" regime. He's pretty obsessed about living longer - but he isn't actually taking any time to live.
While his regime obviously brings some benefits, it doesn't stop aging. Looking at him, it's pretty obvious that it doesn't. He is healthy for his age.
Yeah, having lived almost 60 years, living is kind of weird for me. By no means am I wanting to usher in oblivion, but the idea of just living and living and keeping on living seems not just tedious to me but also rather void of purpose.
I have to confess though, raising my daughters to adulthood seems to have altered quite a bit of my psyche and sense of self such that, now that the nest is empty, I wonder from time to time what it is I am even still doing here.
Having also retired what used to be hobbies to me have become my full time occupation ... and it feels almost hedonistic to just keep on like this.
Some days on the lift, I feel this way too. "Why am I still doing this? Sit on the chair, slide down the mountain, queue up at the bottom, repeat."
Then I go blazing down the hill, or spend time challenging myself with speed in the trees or catching up on all the freestyle stuff I never learned as a kid, and I forget all about the repetitive tedium of life.
He reminds me a little of my ultralight hiker friend who uses a syringe to fill up his toothpaste tube and is currently experimenting with putting his feet inside ziplock bags instead of bringing camp shoes.
This isn't a criticism of either of them. Some people are into micro-optimising their life and find it brings them joy. Maybe he's one of them.
There is no way to become immortal because, at the end of each chromosome lays a set of DNA consequences called "teleomres". One of the missions of these telomeres is to fix the chromosome (DNA, to be specific) itself from the damages that result from cell divisions (in average, 1 million cells die in our body every second and the need to be replaced).
Put it simply, telomeres are the mechanics of the chromosomes.
The problem is this: by time, cell divisions also damage the telomeres themselves, and nothing can fix them: hence the fatal thing (cancer) is a matter of time to occur.
Some highlights: > 100 pills daily, team of 30 doctors, fat injected in his face, five to six "therapies" a day, millions spent.
At this point he's claiming 5 years biological age reduction, he's in a full marketing campaign and he has started selling a line of supplements. I guess we'll see in 30-40 years if his claims have any merit but for now I'm gonna hold on buying anything.
It is quite funny how rich & powerful people can become so pathetically pretentious.
This pattern of "I am immensely smart, clairvoyant and blessed just because I'm slightly richer or more powerful than you" is something you can find everywhere: middle managers, tribal chiefs in Papua and Africa, warlords in the Middle East, gangsters in Latin America, "stable genius" politicians in North America, soccer players and pop stars in Europe, etc.
It seems there is some self-reinforcing mechanism at play here: to become powerful first you need to convince others that you are powerful and convincingly pretend to be powerful.
For all he's trying it may just boil down to his genetics. I've known heavy smokers who outlived their wife and children. You often see on the news Centenarians say they drank whisky each day, or eat bacon, or pray, or whatever.
From my experience other than the obvious to be active, eat healthy (I don't see vegan as healthy, but vegetarian yes), consistent sleep being social is a big boost to people's lives. By being social I mean meet other people than your own family immediate family.
I read about this guy a while back. The most disconcerting thing about it to me was the amount of blood samples, etc that he sent away regularly to test himself. I can imagine the net effect of depleting your body of blood regularly for years can’t be good. Also if I remember correctly his son is also participating?
93 comments
[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 164 ms ] thread> Johnson has gotten experimental blood-plasma transfusions from his teenage son
Living the dark humor some parents share. Or just being a vampire. You choose.
Gavin Belson?
if you simply donate blood, the blood that your body regenerates is arguably the 'newest' blood you can get
He does not look like he’s still in his 40’s to me.
Its mostly taking a huge stack of supplements, diet and exercise.
There’s peer reviewed evidence for most of the stuff he is taking but barely anyone has done _all_ of the things together in concert like he is doing.
There’s things we can learn from his work (optimising for the kinds of training to ward off common aging issues), like weightlifting to help fight off losing bone density. Targeting things like fall resistance and grip strength (things we lose fast as we age)
Avoiding the sun to avoid aging and skin cancer.
There’s lots of good things we could be doing (the western diet is really poor in fibre and healthy fats) to stay healthier for longer.
Afaict the whole “nation of immortals” thing is just marketing from this author not anything that they (Johnson) said they wanted to do.
Rock climbing. You're constantly lifting your own weight + gear. You fall a lot (especially bouldering) and need to learn to do it efficiently to avoid injuries. I don't think I need to say anything about grip strength here. :P
I try to go bouldering a few times a month.
I enjoy the longer time on the route, the mental job of keeping my wits when my arms are about to give up and I can't figure out the next clip...
Plus it's a lot easier on the joints!
I still boulder a few times a month though, I especially enjoy the social aspects which tend to be more present than on sport sessions.
depending on where you are in the world, sunblock might be enough to keep you on the good side, elsewhere (e.g. Australia) there are elaborate cultural rituals to reduce radiation exposure to safe levels (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slip-Slop-Slap).
source: married to a dermatologist.
I'm getting a bit jaded with vitamin D and UV studies and it's possible that one will come along and prove me wrong, but thus far they've generated a lot of hype but failed when experimentally tested.
https://youtu.be/GpgqXCkRO-w?si=b_pJPs1tIMLD5Shx
In fact, sunlight exposure is very important for other crucial mechanisms in our body like melatonin regulation and D vitamin production.
You still can have all the benefits and fun by simply being more active in morning and sunset, avoiding midday exposure (which is already part of the culture in many sunny regions), and wearing the sunscreen and proper clothing to protect your skin. Of course, how much UV exposure do you need for you body to function normally and not let sun ruin your skin depends primarily on where you live, is it summer or winter, etc. It all comes down to limiting how much UV radiation you'll get. If you're dark skinned it also helps - the melanin in your skin acts as an additional layer of protection against UV rays.
https://www.nsfsport.com/
See, for example, his book he wrote: https://protocol.bryanjohnson.com/DONT-DIE-by-Zero
Or a NYT piece from earlier in the year which was heavy on that slogan: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/12/business/bryan-johnson-lo...
It's actually likely to still get infected and have a mild case even with the vaccine and latest booster.
Clearly there are things one can do to improve one’s heath. Most of that is not rocket science. Eat well, get enough sleep, and have some level of exercise. There are things to be learned from everything he’s doing, but obviously these aren’t practical things at scale. But the fact that he’s treating himself as a science experiment and sharing data/results is honorable. When he turns around and tries to sell folks things based on his “routine” (like really expensive olive oil) that’s when things look more sketch.
It would be one thing if he was already 100 something and pushing these ideas post facto, but at this point, everything he's doing could turn out to have long-term negative effects. We simply don't know yet, because that's not how science works.
(And, I suppose, what are the negative effects on me? There's this guy in Terry Pratchett's Diskworld series that spends his life looking for the fountain of youth. This confuses Rincewind - why look for the fountain of youth while you're young? But the guy persists, and eventually finds it, and learns the hard way the really important thing nobody ever tells you: boil it first. The point is - or at least the point I took from it is - don't be so busy chasing living forever that you miss living.)
While his regime obviously brings some benefits, it doesn't stop aging. Looking at him, it's pretty obvious that it doesn't. He is healthy for his age.
I have to confess though, raising my daughters to adulthood seems to have altered quite a bit of my psyche and sense of self such that, now that the nest is empty, I wonder from time to time what it is I am even still doing here.
Having also retired what used to be hobbies to me have become my full time occupation ... and it feels almost hedonistic to just keep on like this.
Then I go blazing down the hill, or spend time challenging myself with speed in the trees or catching up on all the freestyle stuff I never learned as a kid, and I forget all about the repetitive tedium of life.
Until I sit back down on the lift.
This isn't a criticism of either of them. Some people are into micro-optimising their life and find it brings them joy. Maybe he's one of them.
Put it simply, telomeres are the mechanics of the chromosomes.
The problem is this: by time, cell divisions also damage the telomeres themselves, and nothing can fix them: hence the fatal thing (cancer) is a matter of time to occur.
Some highlights: > 100 pills daily, team of 30 doctors, fat injected in his face, five to six "therapies" a day, millions spent.
At this point he's claiming 5 years biological age reduction, he's in a full marketing campaign and he has started selling a line of supplements. I guess we'll see in 30-40 years if his claims have any merit but for now I'm gonna hold on buying anything.
But this could work out as a net profit for him, depending on how many people buy his line of supplements...
This pattern of "I am immensely smart, clairvoyant and blessed just because I'm slightly richer or more powerful than you" is something you can find everywhere: middle managers, tribal chiefs in Papua and Africa, warlords in the Middle East, gangsters in Latin America, "stable genius" politicians in North America, soccer players and pop stars in Europe, etc.
It seems there is some self-reinforcing mechanism at play here: to become powerful first you need to convince others that you are powerful and convincingly pretend to be powerful.
From my experience other than the obvious to be active, eat healthy (I don't see vegan as healthy, but vegetarian yes), consistent sleep being social is a big boost to people's lives. By being social I mean meet other people than your own family immediate family.