'Don't Die' Bryan Johnson Shares His Most Impactful Anti-Aging Habit

Courtesy of Netflix Bryan Johnson Shares His Search for Eternal Life in Netflix Documentary — Courtesy of Netflix

Bryan Johnson Shares His Search for Eternal Life in Netflix Documentary ‘Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever’

Tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson’s quest for eternal life – through technology and science – is documented in the Netflix documentary. Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever
Johnson, 47, tells PEOPLE what started his search for eternal life — and says he learned ‘you don’t need to go through expensive therapies to get good biomarkers’
He also takes aim at critics, saying that in his mind the idea of the good life that so many people subscribe to is actually based on activities that “primarily cause death.”

Technology entrepreneur Bryan Johnson spends millions to gain eternal life, but as he tells PEOPLE: “What else should I spend money on but life?

In the new Netflix documentary Don’t die: the man who wants to live foreverJohnson, 47, shares an intimate look at his rigorous daily routine of exercises, supplements and experimental treatments — all part of what he called Project Blueprint. It is there that he documents his efforts to live forever through science. So far, Johnson claims to have reversed his age by more than 5 years and achieved “perfect biomarkers.”

Johnson spoke with PEOPLE about how her journey began, her message to haters and her favorite anti-aging habit.

Courtesy of Netflix Bryan Johnson documents his search for eternal life through technology in Netflix documentary — Courtesy of Netflix

Bryan Johnson documents his search for eternal life through technology in the Netflix documentary “Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever.”

Was there a catalyst in your search for eternal life, or did it happen gradually?

“It started when I was 21. I was a missionary living in extreme poverty in Ecuador. I really felt compelled to want to do something that would improve the world. I didn’t know what. So the goal was to earn a lot of money before the age of 30, and then, with that money, find something interesting to do.

When Johnson sold his company, Braintree Venmo, at age 34, he says it “coincided with having to rebuild myself after a decade of depression, abandoning my religion (Mormonism), getting divorced , of just trying to rebuild myself from scratch – and then that bigger question, what should I do?

Johnson says he has invested $100 million in “synthetic biology, genomics, nanotechnology” and built a brain interface, which he calls “the best way in the world to easily and robustly measure the brain… then I launched Blueprint to measure myself. And it all sort of came together into one simple thesis: Don’t die.

Not everyone can spend thousands, or even hundreds, on these treatments. Is there anything the average person can do to improve their health?

“Sleep is a professional activity,” he says. “Take sleep as seriously as your work. You arrive on time, you respect it, you are very rigorous, you are disciplined, you are proud of it. Johnson also suggests eating your last meal at least two hours before bed, saying, “If I eat late or eat too much, it will decimate my sleep.” »

Like sleep experts, he advises turning off screens and establishing a “wind-down routine,” which he describes as “a 30- to 60-minute window to unwind after work, not be on your screen, not working, reconcile what makes you happy, what makes you sad, what worries you. You need some sort of calming mechanism.

“Sleep is the most powerful drug there is for anyone,” he says. “The good news behind this whole project is that you don’t need to go through expensive therapies to get good biomarkers… the majority of these benefits are achieved through really basic things like sleep control, exercise every day, eat a nutritious diet and avoid bad habits. and contaminants. »

Courtesy of Netflix Bryan Johnson, his son Talmage and his father Richard — Courtesy of Netflix

Bryan Johnson, his son Talmage and his father Richard

One of your three children, Talmage, is doing the Blueprint Project with you. How has being a father impacted your search for eternal life?

“Wanting the best for your children is a very strong biological instinct. I’m grateful that one of my three children does that,” Johnson said, saying that for his other two children, “I really want them to be healthy and happy, they would be more likely to be seen at a fast food restaurant than me. And that really hurts, it really breaks my heart. When I was little, my mom, my parents didn’t know that. not we know now, and so the fact that we know and that. we I always do this, it breaks my heart I feel bad for my children, when society makes them do things that are really bad for them.

When was the last time you ate something processed?

“I ate a flavored tortilla chip a month or two ago,” Johnson says, explaining that a friend persuaded him to have it. “He said, ‘Try one. Let me convert you to the dark side.’ ” Johnson ate a chip and said, ‘It just tasted like gasoline, just pure chemicals, and I said, ‘You have no idea how bad that tastes because you are so normalized.’ “

Courtesy of Netflix Bryan Johnson shares his search for eternal life in — Courtesy of Netflix

Bryan Johnson shares his search for eternal life in “Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Life Forever.”

How do you respond to critics who say you spend your time “not dying” instead of living?

“They understand joy through the process of performing activities that primarily cause death,” he explains. They think, “I’m going to drink with friends and stay up late.” I can eat a lot of food. You’re missing sleep, bad sleep, and you wake up this morning feeling miserable. But people view it as fun and living life,” Johnson told PEOPLE, explaining that it’s part of the “culture of death” we live in.

“These things legitimately and scientifically accelerate aging and disease progression. But that’s what people imagine: living a happy life.

He continues: “When they see someone like me, who doesn’t do activities, they say: ‘I don’t understand what he does.’ He’s not living his life. It really surprises them with their own cultural view that they cannot understand reality other than through these eating practices. During this time, I have never felt better in my entire life – mentally, spiritually, physically. I match the people in my life who are the happiest. These are generally the people who are healthier. When they sleep well, eat well, and exercise, they generally have higher levels of happiness than anyone else. »

Don’t die: the man who wants to live forever is now streaming on Netflix.

Read the original article on People