The tech mogul who spends $2 million a year on a strict regimen he insists bio-hacks his body into regaining its youth is a far cry from his former, chronically depressed self who used to wolf down trays of brownies in an effort to feel better.
Bryan Johnson told an audience at RAADfest 2023 — the Revolution Against Aging and Death conference — earlier this month that at the height of his stress, “the only thing that would bring me relief was thinking about those brownies in the refrigerator, or leftover cookies,” according to Insider.
“Every night at 7 p.m., the stresses of the day would just be on my shoulder, and it felt really heavy,” the 45-year-old millionaire said. “It was like this idea that if I could somehow get my hands on this food, I would have this momentary relief of this pain of my existence.”
Johnson nicknamed this nighttime-snacking version of himself “Evening Bryan,” which he said routinely made an appearance at 7 p.m. nightly.
“I would know full well like, ‘Oh God, he’s here again. We’re going to down a whole pan of brownies,'” Johnson said at the conference, per Insider. “One night, I just kind of jokingly said: ‘Evening Bryan, you make my life miserable. You’re fired.'”
During this time, Johnson was in his 30s and said he was battling “chronic depression,” fathering “three little babies” and working on building the mobile payment startup Braintree, which was purchased by eBay in an $800 million cash deal in 2013.
Johnson also recounted this time in a blog post titled “Sleep and Impulse Control” in 2021, where he described one night when the clock struck 7 p.m.
“A freshly baked sugar cookie stares back at me. The doughy middle revealing itself in seductive allure. The sugar formed in what looks like a smile, taunting me,” he penned, noting that because of his over 95% “likelihood of failure” in caving to temptation, “there were 50lbs more of me in the world.”
Also in 2021, Johnson has drastically reversed his poor habits, ditching his 7 p.m. dessert binge for a vegan dinner at 11 a.m.
Johnson’s ultra-strict diet totals 2,250 calories per day, which he combines with a one-hour-long exercise regimen, 111 supplements daily, and going to bed at the same time each night in order to achieve an 18-year-old physique.
Before bedtime, Johnson wears glasses that block blue light for two hours. He also constantly monitors his vital signs and undergoes monthly medical procedures to maintain his results, including ultrasounds, MRIs, colonoscopies, and blood tests.
And while sleeping, Johnson is hooked up to a machine that counts the number of nighttime erections. He also takes daily measurements of his weight, body mass index, body fat, blood glucose levels, and heart rate variations.
It’s all part of his anti-aging Project Blueprint, which he claims has given him an “atypical relationship with time” and costs upwards of $2 million per year.
In May, Johnson took the project to another level when he enlisted his 17-year-old son, Talmage, to be his personal “blood boy” by providing transfusions in an hours-long process whereby plasma is fed directly into the dad’s veins.
During the plasma swap, Johnson, his son, and his 70-year-old dad, Richard, had one liter of blood drained. Talmage’s plasma was fed into Johnson’s veins and Jonson’s plasma was fed into Richard’s veins.
In the weeks since the the treatment, Johnson said that there were “no benefits detected” from the blood swap, and therefore he won’t be doing it again.
