Who is biohacker Bryan Johnson and what is he doing to “extend his life”?

Over the past year, “biohacking” has emerged as the latest longevity trend, though not without controversy.

It's the idea that you can prevent natural aging if you work hard enough and spend enough money on it.

One person has spread the term more than any other, becoming famous for taking biohacking to the extreme. Bryan Johnson, 46, is publicly and conspicuously attempting to almost completely halt the aging process of his own body.

He is not just trying to freeze time, but to reverse it, with the goal of restoring his body to the so-called biological age of 18.

In short, you want your body to have all the characteristics of a much younger person, both in terms of physical capabilities and life expectancy.

Johnson's numerous techniques have been compiled into something he calls his “Blueprint Protocol,” and the entire system is enormously expensive: it costs roughly $2 million each year.

Johnson can easily afford to pay that amount of money because he is a former tech executive.

He has now also started using the slogan “Don’t Die” as his motto and brand, and has organised themed evenings around the idea of ​​“cheating death” with some big name celebrities.

You only have to look at his Instagram page to see him chatting with the Kardashians, for example, highlighting how his profile has skyrocketed since his experiments began to attract attention. He also uses Instagram to show off many of the procedures he claims can help “reverse ageing”.

For example, a recent post goes into detail about a new stem cell therapy he is undergoing in an attempt to keep his joints and muscles in tip-top health, which involves painful injections of those stem cells into his body.

While this is a very dramatic example of the techniques and procedures he uses, many of his tips and lifestyle choices are simply common sense taken to the extreme. For example, Johnson is adamant that sleep is a very important part of our overall health, something few doctors would disagree with.

That's why he has a rigorous sleep routine that includes eye masks and meditation sessions to achieve what he claims is the best sleep in the world (using health sensors to track his rest, of course).

Trackers are, in fact, key to all of his goals: Johnson constantly monitors a host of health metrics, some of them simple like his bench press averages, and others completely bizarre, like his website's boast about his “nightly erections — 179 minutes — better than the average 18-year-old.”

The list of “routine measurements” Johnson undergoes according to his website includes things like weight, body fat, muscle mass, body water, BMI, blood glucose, and regular MRIs and ultrasounds to check for any problems.

He also often undergoes more significant procedures, and readily admits that some of them are purely cosmetic, such as acid peels and facial fillers, to maintain his smooth, youthful appearance. After all, part of being young is being perceived as such, Johnson himself admits.

The jury is still out on whether Johnson's approach is actually successful: Social media appears divided on whether he really does look much younger than his 46 years or whether hyper-fixation on age has left him looking a certain way so that a specific number is irrelevant.