“Have you told her about the erection tracking?” echoed the voice of Bryan Johnson’s right-hand woman (and, it turns out, now girlfriend), from the bathroom adjacent to his spare-bedroom-turned-in-house-clinic.
It was 2023, I was making a documentary film about breakthroughs in longevity, and amid a program filled with biotech labs, experiments on me and the latest aging science, I thought Bryan’s antics would bring the show to life. So there I was in his LA home, the first person to film his regimen — erection tracking and all.
As an author and technology journalist of two decades, I was fascinated by the entrepreneur’s pursuit of eternal youth. The mission was nothing new to Silicon Valley, but the religious zeal with which he chased it was.
This wasn’t for everyone, of course. Bryan’s 19-hour fasts, the restricted diet, the 50-something supplements a day, the endless tests, the going to bed at 8:30 p.m. and then sleeping alone — they were off-puttingly extreme.
But, to my surprise, on leaving his house I wanted to be (just a little bit) like him.
I mean, aside from his claim that he had the night-time erections of an 18-year-old (not my thing, clearly), here was a man whose eyes sparkled, who had posture a statue would envy, and who told me that after a dark period of his life, he was happy.
I have personally tested wonderful and wacky health tech, had every organ in my body assessed and been told by the father of biological age tracking when I was going to die (not that he would tell me a number, only that it wasn’t looking great). But, I wondered, what could I learn from him — and from the longevity movement in general — that would keep me healthier for longer?
After years of covering incredible breakthroughs in health tech and digging into thousands of pages of scientific journals and reports, I now believe that the longevity business has gotten into a muddle, with doctors now concerned that the movement is overpromising — and underdelivering.
One of those is Dr. Jordan Shlain, a prominent physician and healthcare innovator. With concierge practices in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, LA, Miami and New York, he’s used to patients asking for more than evidence can provide.
But he told me that the “overhyped practice of longevity isn’t helping anyone live longer or better,” and the only people doing better from these things — think some peptides, stem cell therapy, ozone therapy — are the people selling them.
“There’s no evidence for it,” he said. “It’s gambling.” And it’s all a distraction from what we can do.
Arguably, too, the word “longevity” covers too much.
In addition to the real science — including health tech that’s providing early cancer diagnoses and preventing serious disease — longevity encompasses the wackier fringes: the injecting of peptides and self-prescribing of prescription drugs in a bid to extend health span or even lifespan, and the as-yet fully unproven benefits of Bryan Johnson-style 24-hour monitoring and constant supplement ingesting.
As Shlain declared to me, when there’s a major breakthrough in longevity, “it won’t be secret. We’ll all know about it.”
That’s not to say the concept of longevity is flawed — merely, in many cases, the approach is. AI is supercharging the power of scientific breakthroughs, and driving us to a place where cancer won’t be a death sentence for so many.
“We have to ask ourselves whether we really want to live longer, or do we want to live in better health for longer?”
Lara Lewington
Treatments will become personalized with fewer side effects, lifestyle changes can be more specifically prescribed, gene editing might eradicate genetic heart disease.
But right now, there’s a lot of noise. We need to decipher science from snake oil.
And I can tell you — after years of research and interviewing the top doctors, scientists and innovators around the world — what actually works.
It’s not supplements, ice baths, peptides, obsessively weighing your protein intake or IV NR drips.
It’s alarmingly simpler than you realize, costs nothing and could actually extend our lives.
Sleep. Sleep is the answer, if you can get it. Maybe set your alarm to go to bed at the right time to get eight hours sleep.
They also say this: Eat well. Avoid ultra-processed food.
Exercise plenty; mix it up with cardio, strength and stretching.
Oh, and try to avoid stress — more easily said than done. Embrace human connections; have good ones, if you can.
The latest research on exercise is also getting much more detailed — and proven. As Dr. Eric Verdin, CEO and president of the Buck Institute on Aging, told me, “Exercisers live on average seven years longer than those who don’t exercise,” and even more research is now going into quantifying exactly who needs what.
We can monitor our failings and progress with wearables like never before, and see the impact any changes we make have on our bodies.
As for sleep, Berkeley professor of neuroscience and psychology Matthew Walker told me there’s “no single tissue or organ system in your body, and no operation of your mind that isn’t wonderfully enhanced when you get sleep, or demonstrably hampered when you don’t get enough.”
And it’s not just that — sleep patterns change decades before the symptoms of dementia emerge, for example, so they could become an early marker for us to seek out more treatable medical diagnoses. Fitbits, Apple Watches, Whoops, Oura rings and all the other devices we can choose from to monitor our bodies are becoming increasingly powerful.
Meanwhile, scientists are constantly unearthing more about our genetics, microbiome and the impact of factors like air quality on disease. In the longer term, this will allow us to better predict who might be struck by what and when, so we can screen and diagnose early.
But we must not get ahead of ourselves; there’s still a lot to learn. Within today’s science, some of the information these genome and biological sampling testing kits provide — if we do them outside of the healthcare system — may offer little benefit, and a lot of confusion or even concern.
At the same time, we have to ask ourselves whether we really want to live longer, or do we want to live in better health for longer — given that the average American spends 15 years of their life in poor health.
Last year I visited Loma Linda, the Californian Blue Zone where residents are living longer than average; women were benefiting from an extra four to five years of life, men — an additional seven.
It was clear that for the Seventh Day Adventist community there, looking after their bodies was a duty of religiosity. A vegetarian diet of unprocessed food, no alcohol, prioritizing exercise and a strong sense of community were central to their existence. This isn’t magic, it’s common sense. And what we already know.
While I was waiting for 99-year-old Ester to finish at the gym, I spotted a sign in the lift that said “only three walkers at a time.” This really struck me. Yes, this community may be aging really well, but they are not superhuman.
We will all face decline — this community are just managing to slow it down through leading extremely healthy lives.
That same day I also met 103-year-old Mildred. She had no disease, and was of sharp mind, but she told me she didn’t recommend her age to anyone.
She’d lost her daughter 30 years before and was nervous she’d fall every time she stood up. After a successful life, she appeared to have lost her sense of purpose.
We all need purpose, fulfilment, companionship. These aren’t longevity fads, they are human nature.
I told Mildred about Bryan. She was unimpressed, and turned to me and quipped, “Yes, lifestyle is important… but you’ve also got to live.”
Lara’s book, “Hacking Humanity: How Technology Can Save Your Health and Your Life” is published by Penguin Random House and is available here.
