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Bryan Johnson's 11 Everyday Health Tools, and Why Measurement Ties Them Together

Bryan Johnson · ▶ 9:24 · 9 min read
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Overview

Bryan Johnson says he has tried nearly everything available for health and longevity. Some things became permanent habits, and others were dropped within weeks. In this video he walks through the items that stayed in his daily life: kitchen containers, air monitors, wearables, and hair-care devices. He says the links he provides are not affiliate links and that he doesn't earn money from them. The one exception is extra virgin olive oil, which is his own product. Across the list, one idea keeps coming back: track what you do so you can tell whether it is working.

9 min read

Stainless Steel Meal Prep Tins

Johnson starts with food-grade stainless steel containers. He jokes that he likes eating from them "because I am a robot" and "an AI." He gives two practical reasons for using them. First, they aren't plastic, which lets him plan his food "without worrying about toxins." Second, they are how he organizes his meals. A chef comes and cooks three to four days of food at a time, puts it into these containers, and he stores them in the fridge. This lets him plan meals week by week. He also likes the containers because they are sturdy, keep food fresh with an airtight seal, are easy to clean, and don't corrode.

Monitoring Indoor Air Quality

Johnson says he didn't realize how important air quality was until later. He uses an IQAir monitor, which he calls "quantified and certified." The display cycles through several screens. It shows the air quality in his kitchen, which he says was perfect at the time of filming, and in nearby Marina del Rey. It also shows levels of different pollutants. At the end of each month he gets a report comparing his indoor and outdoor air.

He says you don't need this particular brand, but you should choose a device that is certified. Living in Los Angeles, which he says doesn't have great air, he has learned that keeping indoor air clean depends on closing doors and windows. When they are open, his indoor air ends up the same as the outdoor air, and he knows this because his monitors show it.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Johnson calls olive oil the item with "a very special place in my heart." He explains that when his team reviewed the scientific evidence on the best foods for health and longevity, extra virgin olive oil came out on top. He calls it "a superfood among superfoods." He says he eats more of it than any other food in his diet. He adds a caveat: it needs to be a specific kind of extra virgin olive oil that has been characterized and lab tested. He takes one tablespoon (15 ml) with every meal, together with food, and cites its many health benefits.

Calming the Nervous System

Next, Johnson describes two states the nervous system can be in: "fight or flight," where you are amped up, and a calm state. His goal is to spend more time in the calm state. He shows two devices he uses for this.

The first is Neurosim. It clips onto the tragus of the left ear and sends a very light electrical pulse, which he says stimulates the vagus nerve. He describes the vagus nerve as running from the left side of the head down through the neck and chest. He says one session lasts 60 minutes.

The second is Sensate, which he often uses when he wakes up at night and can't fall back asleep. He places a small teardrop-shaped device in the middle of his chest, where he says the vagus nerve also runs. He wraps a pillow around it to hold it close. The device vibrates in a sequence synced to music, and he says it calms him down. He notes that many similar products exist. His general advice is to experiment using heart rate variability (HRV) and find out what works for you.

Wearables: Pick One You Like and Track

Johnson calls measurement the thing Blueprint has become "best in world" at: "measure, measure, measure." He says people often do things without tracking whether they work, so he recommends starting with a wearable. He holds up a Whoop, an Oura ring, and an Apple Watch and says they are all fine. He often gets asked which wearable he uses, and his answer is that the choice isn't a big deal. He uses Whoop because he likes the form factor, and he suggests choosing whichever one you like.

What he values most is that a wearable helped him build intuitions about cause and effect. As an example, he says he achieved "the best sleep score in human history," with eight months of perfect sleep, and that the wearable helped him work out how to get there.

Daily Body Temperature

Johnson says Blueprint taught him that body temperature matters, and he measures it every day with an in-ear thermometer, positioning it carefully before each reading. He reports that over the past couple of years his temperature has dropped from 98.7 to 93.9. He attributes this to his metabolic systems becoming much more efficient. He says it has been "really cool" to watch his body gradually get cooler through daily measurement, and he values temperature as a signal of how he is doing.

Body Composition with a Withings Scale

Several times a week, Johnson uses a Withings scale to measure his weight, muscle, body fat, bone density, and other metrics. He says any brand will do. He uses it to follow his body composition over the long term and to see how his weight and muscle respond to changes in diet and exercise.

He then states the broader point of this section. Basic measurements, whether from a wearable or a scale, give a good picture of how your body changes over time. You may not notice those changes as they happen, but looking back at the data gives you a record of where you've been. From that record you can work out how to keep an unwanted change from happening again.

Adjustable Dumbbells for Small Spaces

Johnson says adjustable dumbbells matter to him mostly for what they represent: finding smart solutions for doing healthy things. If you don't have easy access to a gym and live in a small apartment, exercise can be hard, and you might be limited to walking. A compact set of adjustable dumbbells lets you do a lot of exercise daily in a small space. He uses his for about 10 different exercises. He says they are probably the most-used item in his home gym, even though that gym is fully equipped.

Red Light Cap and Scalp Serum Routine

Johnson started losing his hair in his late 20s and says he spent years trying to figure out what works. His routine now is to apply the Blueprint serum, massage it into his scalp with a scalp scrubber, and then wear a red light therapy cap for six minutes. He says this has "good evidence" behind it as part of a daily protocol.

He doesn't mind doing it every day because he has built his life around habits. When he wakes up, he starts a set sequence and bundles five to ten things together. As a result, it doesn't feel like he is doing separate therapies. It's simply part of his morning routine.

Scalp Massager

The scalp massager is a newer addition to his protocol, also for hair health. He uses it three times a day. Whenever he applies something like a growth serum to his hair, he uses the massager to work it into his scalp, which he says stimulates blood flow. He says he previously did nothing to increase blood flow to his scalp. He now finds the practice enjoyable and calls it "a good practice with good evidence."

Eight Sleep Temperature-Controlled Bed

Johnson has used Eight Sleep for several years and shows the smart hub that sits next to his bed. He says he didn't expect a bed that changes temperature to help him sleep better. He calls sleep "the number one performance-enhancing drug of your entire life" and says Eight Sleep meaningfully improves his sleep on a regular basis. His evidence is his own travel: in hotels without a temperature-controlled mattress, he says, he inevitably sleeps worse.

Bonus: Stainless Steel Pill Tins

Johnson ends with some bad news. He loves the food-grade stainless steel pill tins he bought several years ago, but the company has discontinued them, and his team hasn't yet found another supplier. He uses them to hold his pills and says they are good for travel and for rotating through his regimen. He mentions that he is now down to around 35 pills, from about 100 at his peak. He likes that the tins keep things organized, travel well, and are made of a material he doesn't worry about.

An Open Question to Viewers

Johnson says it was hard to narrow the list down because he uses so many things. He closes with questions for the audience: What does he not use that viewers have found effective? For the things he does use, have viewers found better options? And which things have worked best for them? He says he shared these items to start the conversation, and that his team is always looking for the best options.

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