If you are reading this article you are likely familiar with the longevity lifestyle and practices of Bryan Johnson. If not, Johnson is best known for his dedication to being a 'walking longevity experiment', living a life focused on health and life extension.
Amongst his many health practices, including time restricted feeding and constant tests to measure his results, what gets many people's attention is his ingestion of supplements on a daily basis, over 100 pills per day. And, at times, injecting the blood plasma of younger people.
Before we proceed any further, please talk to your doctor or medical practitioner most familiar with your medical history before implementing any changes in diet, exercise or lifestyle, especially if you are under treatment. Where we reference studies, these are shared at bottom of page.
A Longevity Lifestyle
Longevity vampirism aside, what I find most inspiring is Johnson's dedication to foundational health principles (the pillars of health) that, for now, provide the best return on investment of time and effort for successful aging. His regimen includes the following:
Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight; with sufficient muscle and low fat mass.
Regular exercise; strength and cardio; an hour per day.
A plant-forward diet. This does not mean no animal products although Johnson chooses not to eat them. The core elements of his diet? Black lentils, brassica vegetables, mushrooms, olive oil, nuts and seeds.
Quality sleep. See our tips to optimise sleep, here
Avoiding risky behaviours, say, alcohol, smoking etc
And he seems to have a fair amount of fun while doing it all!
These are achievable for most, providing that they have the desire to make change, some focus, a plan and time management skills. Finding the space to create healthy habits that become lifestyle.
Johnson shares his remarkable and extensive supplementation protocol online, 111 pills per day (!) from garlic extract capsules to longevity chemical x, y or z. His protocol testing is managed by a team of medical professionals. While the average person does not have that support, budget or inclination, the biohacking and longevity community are often keen to use supplements and test (screen) where they can. In Singapore a number of medical clinics have recently opened to cater to this community, including Ata Medical, the Bartley Clinic and Mito Health.
Certainly the combined effects of Johnson's lifestyle and his protocol appear to be working well - his 46 year old body tests as having a heart 10 years younger and the lung capacity of an 18 year old. How much of this is specifically attributable to pills, how much to his dedication to the foundations of health - diet, sleep, exercise and risk avoidance?
A 2022 study modelled dietary changes and found that: "Changing from a typical diet to the optimized diet at age 60 years would increase life expectancy by 8.0 years for women and 8.8 years for men, and 80-year-olds would gain 3.4 years" Typical diet meaning the current standard diet that most people enjoy versus an optimised diet with "substantially higher intake than a typical diet of whole grains, legumes, fish, fruits, vegetables, and included a handful of nuts, while reducing red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages, and refined grains."
Numerous studies show that being physically fit, with good cardiovascular health from exercise, can add up to 5 years of life - even for those who start in their middle age. If you have existing chronic illness, exercise adds years to your life compared to those that do not exercise. Working to improve one's VO2max measurement (through HIIT training especially) has been shown to have a significant positive effect on longevity. And, perhaps most importantly, exercise adds to your healthspan - your quality of life.
On the subject of diet and exercise, longevity practitioner and podcaster Dr Peter Attia is outspoken on the benefits of exercise and somewhat less stringent on eating practices. He does however make a couple of statements on what he eats for longevity; differing perhaps from Johnson's protocol or the recommendations, say, from Dr Valter Longo or others. No.1, Attia firmly states "Eat more protein". No.2? You may have missed it. Can you guess? (the answer is here)
Unfortunately, for now, the power of supplements do not outweigh healthy habits.
Don't Die Singapore
Johnson has a global network of Don't Die longevity interest groups. In Singapore, the co-founder of the group is Dr Faith Nadine Choo, of the Bartley Clinic. She set up the group (alongside health entrepreneur Jing Zhi Chua, founder of ALLWIN) to unite local longevity/biohacking enthusiasts and to promote the open sharing of health tips & evidence-based myth debunking.
Dr Choo is an advocate for Lifestyle Medicine and recommends that the best path towards longevity "is a healthy lifestyle with regular health checks/bloodwork/fitness testing to make sure you’re still on the right track in terms of managing your long-term health." The result "Once you optimise your healthspan by maximising disease-free years and keeping mentally healthy, you’ll likely enjoy greater longevity!"
When asked how the community should best address their health she adds "It isn’t about overanalysing individual biomarkers (without making lifestyle changes), but rather, it is about leading a healthy, balanced lifestyle based on the 6 pillars of lifestyle medicine, and using biomarkers as a complementary tool to understand what further lifestyle modifications are needed." We couldn't agree more, get the basics right for maximum health!
So what does a longevity minded, lifestyle medicine doctor do personally, to keep healthy? "As a 27-year-old woman, I’m already concerned about osteoporosis and frailty many decades down the road, especially after menopause. I’m focusing on resistance training, cardio and fun workouts that optimise balance like dance/yoga! I’m also obsessed with reapplying sunscreen every 2 hours and staying hydrated with at least 2L of water a day - these habits keep my skin glowing!"
Health and Longevity for All
We may not have the time and money that Johnson has to experiment with health, but there are lessons that we can learn and even inspiration to be found. For me, a keen runner and someone who generally is eating healthily, my focus has recently been on strength training and mobility, plus developing mindfulness.
What areas of your health do you want focus on?
If not to the same extent as Johnson, we all have the capability to make our lifestyle... medicine and to implement daily health practices that deliver profound effects. But for most this will only happen when we are ready to prioritise our own self-care and take the steps towards achieving it.
And at The Whole Health Practice we are always open to a discussion on how to get the most out of your health and lifestyle.
Stay Immortal
Alastair
If you are in Singapore, join the Don't Die group on WhatsApp, click this link.
Meet Dr Choo, LinkedIn and IG, @drfaithnadinechoo
For Bryan Johnson's Blueprint Protocol, access his website here.
Want to learn more about healthspan and longevity? Read here.
Achieve Your Health and Longevity Goals
Your health (physical - mental - social) is complex and affected by multiple factors within and outside of your control. Through our personalised consultations and programs, we focus on holistic approaches to optimise your health, enhance performance and boost vitality; unique to your life and circumstances. Longevity and lifestyle medicine is an area that has always been of interest to us and our clients.
Contact us to arrange an introductory call, to discuss how we can support your journey to health. We are based in Singapore and work with clients globally.
Take the first step. Book a Whole Health Consult to assess, identify and prioritise key factors (known and unknown) that affect your health. And receive personalised recommendations on how to address them.
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Related Studies
Maria L Cagigas, Stephen M Twigg, Luigi Fontana, Ten tips for promoting cardiometabolic health and slowing cardiovascular aging, European Heart Journal, Volume 45, Issue 13, 1 April 2024, Pages 1094–1097, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehad853
Coates AM, Joyner MJ, Little JP, Jones AM, Gibala MJ. A Perspective on High-Intensity Interval Training for Performance and Health. Sports Med. 2023 Dec;53(Suppl 1):85-96. doi: 10.1007/s40279-023-01938-6. Epub 2023 Oct 7. PMID: 37804419; PMCID: PMC10721680.
Fadnes LT, Økland JM, Haaland ØA, Johansson KA. Estimating impact of food choices on life expectancy: A modeling study. PLoS Med. 2022 Feb 8;19(2):e1003889. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003889. Erratum in: PLoS Med. 2022 Mar 25;19(3):e1003962. PMID: 35134067; PMCID: PMC8824353.
Chudasama YV, Khunti KK, Zaccardi F, Rowlands AV, Yates T, Gillies CL, Davies MJ, Dhalwani NN. Physical activity, multimorbidity, and life expectancy: a UK Biobank longitudinal study. BMC Med. 2019 Jun 12;17(1):108. doi: 10.1186/s12916-019-1339-0. PMID: 31186007; PMCID: PMC6560907.
Clausen JSR, Marott JL, Holtermann A, Gyntelberg F, Jensen MT. Midlife Cardiorespiratory Fitness and the Long-Term Risk of Mortality: 46 Years of Follow-Up. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2018 Aug 28;72(9):987-995. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2018.06.045. PMID: 30139444.