Bryan Johnson: The Five Science-Backed Habits For Longer Living

Hot and cold exposure therapies (sauna, ice baths, cold plunges) did not meet the threshold for inclusion in blueprint protocols because the evidence for increasing lifespan or healthspan was not strong enough, though Johnson acknowledges they may have benefits for recovery and other objectives.

“it's it's not that they don't potentially have benefits for right applications the hot and cold therapy didn't make our cut because it doesn't increase lifespan Health span rather the evidence was not strong enough for my team to recommend it to be cut into the protocol so if you go back to how we think about this we've looked at all the scientific evidence through the the specific lens of increasing lifespan healthspan and then we've ranked them according to power laws”

Grind culture valorizes self-sacrifice and treats death as the ultimate enabler of meaning: dying for country, sacrificing one's life for achievement, creating works that outlive you—all rely on death as inevitable. Questioning this assumption (that death is inevitable) means questioning the entire moral structure of contemporary culture.

“death is the enabler of all things immortality you know if you love country die for your country if you want to if you want to pay the ultimate price of being a hero sacrifice your life you know if you um want to achieve immortality in your professional Endeavor have your Works live beyond your death everything we we think about existence is around death and I was calling question to death that maybe we have reached this time and place in human history where death is no longer inevitable and that if that is true everything about our reality changes”

The core challenge facing humanity is the same as the goal-alignment problem in AI development: how to specify what we want, from whom, under what circumstances, and how to maintain alignment when there are conflicting objectives at all scales (within cells, within individuals, within societies, and with superintelligent AI).

“I tried to embody the problem of AI I tried to become the species as a problem and so I did that with a thought experiment where I said okay I'm a collection of 35 trillion sales and that's a lot of intelligent agents all doing their own thing with different objectives the body doesn't have a singular objective the body has all kinds of conflicting objectives at all moments and I wanted to see could I achieve goal alignment within me Brian Johnson”

Johnson has measured his brain using Kernel (his brain interface company) to assess willpower based on sleep quality, and found that when he has poor sleep (less REM and deep sleep), he has substantially less willpower; conversely, good sleep produces substantially more willpower.

“I looked at my brain based upon sleep patterns and I saw we saw in my brain I had less willpower when I had a poor night's sleep when I had less REM and less deep and so yes when you have bad sleep you have substantially less willpower”

Humans are in an unprecedented moment where artificial intelligence is improving at a speed that exceeds human cognitive capacity to comprehend or predict; therefore, on a 10-year time span, humans are unqualified to predict what will happen because the timeframe exceeds human intellectual capacity to imagine.

“it's the first time in human history where we the superior form of intelligence are up against a wall of not knowing what to predict what comes next because it it's going to supersede us so fast and so this is the thing this is why I come down to the only thing I know to be true in the year 2024 is don't die that's it I don't know anything else other than I want to be around for what could be the most spectacular existence in this part of the Galaxy”

Does wealth-induced isolation ever make Johnson feel lonely? Johnson acknowledges it's a challenge, noting that human problems are universal at all wealth levels except at extremes (inability to afford nutrition/medical care or extreme deprivation).

“does that ever make you feel lonely it's a challenge you know like anything like I mean like in in life it's like all of our problems are equal it's not like if you're rich you have fewer problems it's not like if you're poor you've got I mean like so so there there's like there are some clear differences like if if you're poor and you've got a very serious medical condition you don't have the resources to address that”

Johnson's diet is vegan, though he does not advocate for veganism as superior and remains agnostic about the diet wars; his son eats omnivorous diet and achieves similar health results, suggesting diet is a personal choice; however, Johnson notes that emerging evidence increasingly suggests plant-based diets are more conducive to longevity.

“diet is a special kind of provocative like people break out into Waring tribes instantaneously and the intensity around this topic is a lot and so I've really just stayed out of it I I'm I'm impartial I don't want to get into the war and so I just say you do you I do think that there's every day there's more evidence coming out suggesting plant-based diets are um more conducive for longevity so I think the evidence in time will speak for itself”

After becoming wealthy, approximately 50% of Johnson's close relationships involved people engaging in unambiguous bad behavior, sometimes illegal, because money destabilizes people's sense of reality and moral constraints, making them willing to violate previously-held principles in pursuit of financial gain.

“of the people close to me over the past you know 12 Years a very large number like almost like 50% have ended up doing something to me that is uh that is unambiguous bad behavior in some cases illegal behavior and um this is not to say they're bad and I'm good it's meant to say that when you're around these circumstances it's often times very hard to keep your bearings and sometimes you lose your reality and you become so lost in it you can no longer tell what's going going on”

Biological age is more predictive of health and longevity than chronological age; the key metrics are the biological age of individual organs (heart, lungs, liver) rather than years lived, making biological age markers the more powerful predictor.

“the more important number is what is the biological age of my heart and of my lungs and of my liver and that's really the the more powerful predictor than a chronological number”

The cost of poor sleep includes elimination of sexual function and nighttime erections; most people associate poor sleep with grumpiness but miss the whole-body consequences including sexual dysfunction.

“people often times associate the cost of not getting good sleep with feeling a little bit grumpy the next day you know or a little bit more irritable but they don't really understand the whole body consequences where basically your sexual function goes to zero and uh it's not that you can't still have intercourse you you can but I I pointed out it's a pretty devastating cost on on uh not getting good sleep”

Johnson's father's biological age reversed from 71 years old to 46 years old (25-year reduction) after receiving six monthly plasma transfusions from Johnson, and this improvement remained stable for at least six months post-treatment, while Johnson himself saw no benefit from receiving his son's plasma, likely because his own biomarkers were already comparable to an 18-year-old.

“when I gave my father plasma my father's speed of Aging slowed by the equivalent of 25 years so from a 71y old to a 46y old and those results remained uh this uh the stable for six months which is the last measurement we did so in that case the plasma therapy was promising and it didn't work in me lot probably because my biomarkers are already pretty competitive with an 18-year-old whereas my father benefited significantly because his biomarkers as a 71y old are pretty different than my biomarkers”

'Don't die' is a deceptively simple two-word framework that is simultaneously a heuristic, a computational model, a mathematical framework, a biological system, and a closed-loop algorithm, and it serves as a universal objective function for both personal health and AI alignment because it is the most-played game in human existence—every two seconds humans and all organisms execute behaviors to not die.

“don't die is deceptively simple and endlessly expansive it is a heris it is a computational model it is a mathematical framework it is a biological system it is a closed loop algorithm all those things in two words”

Human consciousness may currently exist at an uncomfortable level where we are consciously suffering in ways we might look back on in the future as extraordinarily difficult, similar to how we view the hardships of previous centuries; this suggests our mental suffering is not pathological but existential.

“I think it's possible that um you know we'll look back at ourselves right now and we'll say ah oh man like can you believe how hard it was to be human like can you do you remember how bad it was like the anxiety and the depression and the jealousy and The Angst and the fomo and the like you know all the things we felt like God that was just so hard like can you imagine going back to doing that in the same way we imagine you know previous areas not having the technology we do today”

Blueprint's core thesis is that an algorithm can take better care of Johnson than he can himself, which he argues means: (1) removing real-time decision-making from consciousness, (2) having the body's 70+ organs 'speak' through scientific evidence, and (3) allowing the algorithm to determine what time to sleep, what to eat, and behavioral nudges without deviation or improvisation.

“with blueprint I wanted to demonstrate that an algorithm takes better care of me than I can myself and to do that I became the most measured person in human history I wanted to show that if you ask the body's 70 plus organs to speak and you consult scientific evidence and then you let the algorithm run so it tells me what time to go to bed it tells me what to eat it gives me all these nudges on what to do and if I just simply say I can't deviate my mind can't impromptu saying you know what we're going to add a brownie to the lunch session here uh so removing that and I basically am arguing this is the core of it I'm arguing that as a species this is the most important question facing the human race hands down”

Evening Brian—the version of Johnson that occupied his consciousness from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.—was responsible for self-destructive eating patterns because this was when he was tired, emotionally depleted, and seeking relief from the day's stress; Johnson resolved this by 'firing' evening Brian and reassigning decision-making authority to versions of himself that had better long-term interests.

“evening Brian was the version of me that occupied my Consciousness from 5 PM to 10 p.m. he was tired from the day he was you know fighting multiple fires he was trying to um like deal with the emotional upset of like all the things that had happened during the day like you know very common human experience and then in those in that window of time when he's beat down that's when he goes I don't think evening Bryan's a bad guy I just think he was just trying to find relief of the burden that he felt in that role and I fired him”

If someone inherits or suddenly receives $500 million, Johnson recommends: (1) do not change your life for 6-12 months to distinguish between your genuine preferences and what wealth would cause you to want; (2) recognize that most people will expect financial obligation from you simply because you have wealth; (3) clearly identify what you want money to achieve, because if you don't determine objectives, money will run you and you'll lose yourself.

“I would suggest you not change anything in your life for 6 to 12 months keep on with your same habits and have the money so you can distinguish between your your preferred LIF Style and what money would otherwise alter your perception of what you want because once you start acquiring things you start losing your perspective on where your Baseline is so and the shock of going from zero to 500 million is so is so sudden that it scrambles your reality”

Reading economist Gary Becker's essays in Newsweek—which approached complex social topics like poverty through quantitative mathematical language rather than qualitative narrative—was a pivotal moment in Johnson's life, teaching him that reality could be understood through mathematical and numerical frameworks rather than storytelling.

“it was one of the most significant moments in my life when I read this book by Gary Becker a Nobel Prize Laureate from the University of Chicago and in this he was writing essays excuse me for Newsweek and he would take a given topic like poverty for example and he wouldn't describe it in qualitative terms in story terms he would talk about it in numerical terms and it was I think one of the most joyous moments of my life to understand that reality could be understood in mathematical terms”

The question of whether to hand over control of one's life to an algorithm that would care for you better than you can care for yourself generates a predictable emotional progression in people: initial visceral rejection, then reflection on cultural values and current norms, then creative exploration of how reality might change, then philosophical consideration of the change mechanism, which often leads to acceptance and understanding.

“I posed the question if you could have access to an algorithm that can take better care of you then you can yourself would you say yes now immediately people are like but what about so it branches into a thousand you know questions and I just say just like assume what you want let's just keep it high level and Abstract yes or no and then people go through this process where the majority of people are vomiting distaste like this is the worst idea I hate it for all these reasons a teeny number of people are like please save me from myself and the others are like yeah but I want to make the following exceptions which really is no so like there's a lot of resistance”

Johnson argues that the most important question facing humanity as algorithms improve is: as algorithms increasingly become better at various tasks including self-care, what do humans do? This is the defining question and contemplation of our existence.

“so removing that and I basically am arguing this is the core of it I'm arguing that as a species this is the most important question facing the human race hands down as algorithms improve and they increasingly become better at at a variety of tasks including taking care of ourselves on planet Earth what do we do it's I think it's the defining question and contemplation of our existence”

People respond to Johnson's lifestyle and philosophy with significant hate and criticism, but he has a positive relationship with this hate because: (1) he compares it favorably to depression, which was a much more effective 'troll' of him; (2) he frames the hate as following a predictable three-phase pattern (innovation → backlash → survival → new horizons) that he has already progressed through.

“what you're doing is so outside of what we consider normal that you get so much hate and vital how do you handle that I love it I I have such a positive relationship with the hate uh it energized me I am endlessly amused by it I think it's just fun to engage with and you know I Depression was a much better troll than anyone online you know like my my depression could eat me up pretty efficiently it knew the zingers and the dunks everyone else uh you know like it's just play for me”

Johnson maintained perfectly consistent sleep (8 months of perfect sleep tracked via wearable) by going to bed at exactly 9:30 p.m. (recently changed from 8:30 p.m.) without a window of flexibility, waking naturally between 4:30-5:30 a.m., and no human in history had achieved such extended perfect sleep until he did.

“I go to bed currently at 9:30 p.m. I just changed my bedtime from 8:30 but it's 8 it's 9:30 on the dot so it's it's not uh I don't have a two-hour window of time and I I recently logged eight months of perfect sleep using my wearable which no human in history had ever done”

Johnson's presentation of his lifestyle to others carries the risk of creating a 'boomerang effect' where people feel discouraged about their ability to achieve similar results and give up on improvement, rather than feeling inspired; he is deeply empathetic about this risk and tries to position himself as 'an angel on their shoulder' offering support rather than judgment.

“I realize that I present complexity in people's lives that you know if someone sees an article about me or a video or something and if they're not in the same place as me uh it can have a net negative reaction where the person's like damn it I'm never going to be able to do what he does so that makes me feel bad about myself and so why even try and I'm deeply empathetic about that and I I I'm very I yeah I'm empathetic I wish that wasn't the outcome”

A heart surgeon with 30 years of experience observed that patients used to change their behavior more readily after heart surgery when the surgery required breaking ribs and leaving a large scar, but now that the incision is minimal (half a centimeter) with minimal pain, patients change far less often because there is no longer a vivid, painful physical reminder of their vulnerability.

“a friend of mine had a it brings to mind this story a friend of mine had a heart surgery a while back and I went to visit him in the hospital and I was talking to the surgeon and you know the surgeon sort of had said all the typ things about changing your diet and changing your lifestyle and when I was talking to the surgeon he goes you know odds are about 10% that he's going to do this and I said well that's interesting and he's like he he's like I've been a surgeon for 30 years and he's like people used to change all the time because I used to have to break ribs I used to have to like there was a physical pain a big scar a visual reminder and he's like now the incision is like you know half a centimeter and you know you're in and out of the hospital and there isn't a lot of pain and so he he's like people people change a lot less than they used to”

If current optimal health practices are maintained and people don't die, they will gain enormous advantage from future technologies that will think about problems in ways humans cannot currently comprehend.

“there's a part of me that's really believes if we take care of ourselves really well right now and we don't die we're going to get a lot of Advantage from technology that thinks about things in a way that we couldn't even comprehend”

Johnson has narrow genetically-determined internal jugular veins (the blood vessels draining blood from the brain on both sides of the neck), causing restricted blood flow out of the brain when he has poor posture, which kinks the veins and impairs cerebral venous return; he discovered this through MRI and ultrasound and has built maintaining good posture into his daily habits through months of physical therapy focused on strengthening specific muscles.

“I discovered I've got narrow genetically narrow internal jugular veins these two pipes on the side of the neck and so I've have restricted blood flow out of my brain when I have bad posture so it Kinks my veins and so I we did a whole bunch of measurement with MRI and ultrasound and I work did a bunch of physical therapy to strengthen certain muscles that maintain proper posture”

The final arc of Johnson's emotional swing model invokes Zero's principle thinking (first principles reasoning) and returns full circle to the original thought experiment, by which point the majority of dinner attendees report understanding the situation and acceptance, having cycled through these emotional-philosophical beats.

“and then the next step is about the philosophy of this change which is Zero's principal thinking and then full circle back to the thought experiment but you can see through those beats with about 12 people uh it takes each person the ability to cycle through that these ideas and emotions and hear how other people respond but at the very end uh the majority of people who attend my dinners are like I gotta say I get it I understand the situation when you say it”

Johnson was raised in a small rural religious community where the primary framework for understanding reality was narrative and religious teaching rather than quantitative or scientific methods; he did not meet an engineer until his early 20s, which delayed his development of scientific and quantitative thinking.

“I was raised in this small rural community that was really the existence was religion and so I was taught to understand reality through story not through mathematical methods not through scientific methods in fact I didn't meet an engineer until I was in my early 20s and so I just hadn't yet developed the cognitive abilities to think like a scientist or engineer”

The core challenge of changing self-destructive behavior is understanding that behavior serves a function (relief, pleasure, escape), and the core of Johnson's life mission is answering the question: 'How do we stop patterns of self-destructive behavior?'

“those patterns of self-destructive Behaviour get in the way of so many of us I guess the question is how do we stop the patterns of self-destructive Behaviour this is the essence of my entire life's Mission this single question”

Given the unpredictability of the future beyond human comprehension, the only thing Johnson knows to be true in 2024 is 'don't die' because he wants to be around for what could be the most spectacular existence in this part of the Galaxy.

“so this is the thing this is why I come down to the only thing I know to be true in the year 2024 is don't die that's it I don't know anything else other than I want to be around for what could be the most spectacular existence in this part of the Galaxy”

The essential answer to 'what is success for you?' is 'the courage to believe that I don't know,' reflecting epistemological humility about the future and willingness to change beliefs as evidence accumulates.

“I would say it's the courage to believe that I don't know”

Johnson's Blueprint is built on the premise of investigating whether longevity escape velocity is achievable—the question of whether for every year of chronological time that passes, he can remain the same biological age.

“the premise on this is I I was posing the question in the early 2 century is it the case that we have achieved longevity escape velocity which means that for every one year of chronological time that passes can I stay the same age biologically and if not where are we at and so that's the backdrop on what my daily routine is”

Eating the last meal of the day at 11:00 a.m. optimizes sleep quality because it allows complete digestion before bedtime; if Johnson eats at 5-6 p.m., his resting heart rate increases from 46 to 56 bpm, resulting in approximately 50% reduction in REM and deep sleep with 35-minute increase in wake time.

“I eat my last meal of the day at 11:00 a.m. for the objectives of good sleep because I mean there's supposedly good benefits on fasting I think the evidence is still maybe developing so I mostly do it for sleep because when I eat my last meal of the day I have all my digestion finished so when I go to bed my resting heart rate is around 46 beats per minute and if it's a 46 I'm going to have a perfect night sleep if I eat at 5:00 pm or 6 PM then my resting heart rate is going to be 56 and when I do that I'm going to uh knock off about 50% of my rim and 50% of my deep and I'll increase my wake Time by about 35 minutes”

Johnson has achieved a state where he makes zero regrettable decisions and no longer behaves in ways he regrets, whereas previously he was 'walking regret'—this is remarkable because most people do not believe this level of decision consistency is possible.

“I've tried to build a life where I make zero decisions of doing things I don't really want to do and I've almost got it like it's it's actually I'm surprised I've gotten this close to achieving it I just don't behave in ways that I regret anymore and that's phenomenal because I was just like walking regret before”

Johnson wishes he had spent more time around wealthy people early in his wealth accumulation to learn 'how the game works,' as money's complexities and relational dynamics are poorly understood and could be mitigated with mentoring.

“I really wish that I would have spent more time having made m money and say can I talk to somebody who who's had wealth and can tell me how to how this game works”

The biography of zero (the number and concept) is Johnson's favorite because the number zero was not always known or understood; it took humanity thousands of years to discover and fully comprehend the potential of zero, and its discovery enabled Cartesian geometry, calculus, the vanishing point in art, and modern computation.

“the biography of Zero by Charles sea the the number zero it was not it was not common sense to me that the number zero has not always been around but it took Humanity a long time thousands of years to discover the number of zero and even when you do Discover it uh to really understand the potential you know so from cartisian geometry from uclid elements to cartisian geometry or the function that zero plays in the vanishing point in art or how zero enables the modern world in computation it took a long time so I'd say zero is probably my favorite one because it's an entity it's an idea it's a concept it's a number that has revolutionized almost every part of society”

His religious background taught him to derive pleasure from being in service to others and obeying God's commandments rather than from consumption, intoxication, or secular pursuits, leaving him 'devoid of pleasure' during his depression and contributing to binge eating as a compensatory stimulation mechanism.

“in the religion I was in it's like you you don't do caffeine you don't smoke you don't drink you don't go to clubs you don't you know like you don't look at porn you're basically just devoid of those kinds of pleasures and you're you're supposed to derive pleasure from uh being in service of others and obeying God's Commandments and like those are your rewards that generate now of course those things do generate rewards and you we all understand that when we do help up someone else we do feel that uh but you know when you're grinding 247 on a startup startups are just pure pain like you don't feel Joy for years and when you're raising babies you have these glimpses of Joy but most of it's just really hard work”

Johnson previously drank three ounces of red wine for breakfast daily, which he gave up because the 80 calories couldn't be accommodated in his diet; the wine was delicious and increased the joy of food, but no amount of pleasure is worth trading high-quality sleep.

“I drink three ounces of red wine for breakfast daily yeah yeah what was the thinking behind that you gave it up I think I remember if if I remember correctly it's because you couldn't afford the 80 calories in your diet correct yeah but you you liked red wine it was delicious it was such a wonderful experience yeah it increased the joy of food a lot do you ever have wine now or is just like a rule that you don't have it because once you go down that path it's like a slippery slope I don't now because even small amounts negatively affect my sleep even if I drink them drink it around noon I still sometimes see effects in sleep and nothing is worth trading high quality sleep to me”

Johnson's biomarkers across cardiovascular capacity, bone mineral density, strength, muscle, and body fat composition are in the top 99.5 percentile of 18-year-old males, with cardiovascular capacity in top 1.5%, bone mineral density in top 0.2%, and bench press strength in top 10% of 18-year-olds.

“my cardiovascular capacity is in the top 1.5% of 18y olds my bone Minal density is the top 0.2% of 30y olds which is agen for that test and you know my my uh my strength tests same thing like top 1.5 and 10% of 18y olds so the biomarkers across my entire body whether it's my cardiovascular ability my strength uh my muscle my muscle and body fat are in the top 99.5 percentile”

Johnson works out for approximately one hour every single day without rest days using a protocol of 20+ repetitions per exercise that flexes and stretches every muscle group rather than heavy weights that are hard on joints.

“I work out for about an hour in a specific protocol I'll come in I will make breakfast which is a few pounds of vegetables I'll shower and do a skin care routine and get ready for work”

Johnson takes 60 pills daily as part of his morning protocol, uses UV light therapy to set his circadian rhythm, applies topical hair loss treatment based on his genetic profile, wears a red light cap for hair growth, uses a specific shampoo to optimize scalp environment, and performs monthly laser exosome treatments combined with previous PRP therapy to slow and prevent hair loss.

“I'll take 60 pills I'll do light therapy on my hair I'll um like once a me once a week I'll do my blood my blood pressure”

Carbohydrates (breads, pastas, rice) negatively impact Johnson's sleep quality and increase his resting heart rate; other foods that disrupt his sleep include all types of flour (including almond flour) and sugar; these negative effects are specific to his body and may not generalize to others.

“so breads pastas even rice uh is hard for my body to digest is that your body or most body uh my body and maybe it's because I don't eat rice very often so you know that the one time occurrence but yeah when I eat anything of that variety my resting heart rate will be 55 plus you know probably in the 56 57 range”

Johnson was poor his entire childhood; his mother made his clothes, he worked in third grade for leftover food to pay his $25 monthly cafeteria fee, and he didn't make money until age 34 when he sold Braintree; he has now had money for 12 years.

“I I was poor my entire life I my mom made my clothes for school I um I work in third grade I worked the school tables at lunch to pay for leftover food so my mom wouldn't have to pay my $25 a month of cafeteria money like I knew we were poor and I was in on my family's uh circumstances and I didn't make money until I was 34 years old until I sold brain tree”

A friend who was in Special Forces for a long time reported that troops are regularly asked about their poop and whether they had morning erections as health indicators.

“one of my friends who was in the Special Forces for a long time uh used to be deployed often and he said one of the things that they looked for in the troops and they asked them about regularly was their uh their poop and whether they had a morning erection I love that that's fantastic I mean that's the first time I've heard of anyone else measuring uh erections”

Blueprint is like 100 pieces of Lego, each piece being an evidence-based intervention; Johnson regularly swaps pieces as evidence updates or new therapies become available (e.g., recently added oral minoxidil but stopped due to side effects).

“if you think of blueprint as like a 100 pieces of Lego and each one of those pieces of Lego is an intervention based on scientific evidence what's the last piece of Lego you took out and put in a new piece of Lego because you're like oh this is better than that piece of Lego I recently started taking oral minoxidil so there's there's the liquid minoxidil for hair growth you know for or for rather hair loss prevention and uh I took an oral version which initially that drug was a improved for uh high blood pressure but was then repurposed for hair growth because it it made hair grow all over the body but I started experiencing some side effects I stopped that”