Bryan Johnson wants to live forever. I went to his 'Don't Die' summit — here's what it taught me about longevity.
How far would you go to live a longer, healthier life? For tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, the answer is “as far as possible.”
After spending the day living like Johnson, I have my limits.
On Saturday, Jan. 18, I attended Johnson’s Don’t Die summit in Los Angeles to live and breathe like the man who has coined himself the Olympian of longevity. I became one of the thousands who paid between $249 and $1,499 to eat Johnson-approved foods like “Nutty Pudding,” explore wellness products and tech featuring brands like Next Health and Everyday Dose and hear more about the Blueprint system from the man who created it — one who believes his protocol for living longer puts him on the cusp of the next great frontier of humanity.
“Right now, we primarily understand the world through capitalism. You make money, you acquire assets, you have status and power,” Johnson tells me at the summit, right before we launch into the event’s “morning rave” that includes a DJ pumping Vegas-style EDM and a dancing Grim Reaper. “But going forward, I think people will aspire to health, which will be the status marker. It’s going to become the trend: Your youth and vitality will be more significant for you than money.”
Johnson, however, already conquered capitalism. In 2013, the former Mormon tech entrepreneur-turned-wellness guru walked away from the sale of Braintree Venmo with $300 million. In 2021, he started the longevity project known as Blueprint — with himself as the sole guinea pig of the operation. He became tabloid fodder for engaging in expensive experimental treatments, from swapping plasma with his then 17-year-old son to injecting another person’s fat into his face to achieve a more youthful appearance. His goal? Look younger, feel younger and defy death. Since it was founded, Johnson’s pet project has evolved into a business, promoting methods for fellow mortals to attempt to buy their immortality.
The Don’t Die summit is Johnson’s latest endeavor to bring his Blueprint protocol to the masses. It’s a wellness and longevity-focused conference that began in 2024. Attendees try the Blueprint diet, test-drive and/or purchase products that tech Johnson himself uses and listen to Johnson speak about his life-extending philosophy. Thus far, there have been summits in San Francisco, Singapore and now Los Angeles, with events planned for Miami and New York next. More than 1,500 people have attended these summits, according to the Don’t Die website, and a total of 10 cities are planned on the tour.
As a health and wellness writer, I came to the Don’t Die summit with a healthy dose of skepticism. Johnson himself is not a medical professional nor a research scientist. His critics call him a grifter — someone selling an impossible promise of a long life to a world struggling with food insecurity, environmental crises and the rising cost of health care. With the longevity industry booming, Johnson stands to make a lot of money.
But I was also curious about Johnson’s work. While I’m not exactly a “biohacker,” I regularly track my sleep and activity levels with an Oura Ring and Apple Watch and make adjustments to my life as makes sense because of that data. (A huge chunk of the attendees at the summit sported wearables, too.) Each week for work, I write about studies that suggest we should eat more pistachios, or less red meat or workout in a certain time window for optimal results. I sometimes practice what I preach, but Johnson routinely uses this kind of data as a guide for lifestyle changes.
The level of idolization of Johnson was mixed at the gathering: Some attendees I spoke to were like me, curious about Johnson’s agenda because they were interested in health and wellness as a whole, not necessarily because they subscribed to Johnson’s vision. Some wanted to see what innovations the so-called Longevity Park had to offer. One said he bought a general admission ticket on a curiosity whim after realizing it was a short drive from his house. Another went to a similar health conference and had a good time, so figured why not?
Yet some people do follow Johnson’s protocol and are grateful he created a wellness road map. One person I spoke with said that Johnson’s methods helped reduce symptoms of a chronic illness they’ve struggled with for more than five years. And others were just plain superfans: One woman used the Q&A portion of Johnson’s keynote speech to encourage Johnson to start a dating app … and then asked him out.
All in all, my day at the Don’t Die summit was a positive experience — even as friends reminded me, via text, that I shouldn’t run off and “join a cult.”
Johnson is firm in his belief that rumors of his brand’s cultishness have been vastly exaggerated.
“[Don’t Die] really does attract amazing people who are thoughtful and well-intentioned,” Johnson says. “We're not dogmatic. It's a considerate community. We're not trying to say no to anybody. We're just saying yes and don't die.”
After digesting the Don’t Die summit (as well as Johnson’s surprisingly good Nutty Pudding), here’s what I took away from the event — and which elements of Johnson’s ideas about longevity I’m fine ignoring.
What I'm listening to
Get good sleep
Johnson makes money by selling products — tickets to summits, supplements, blood tests and more. But the Blueprint protocol, which Johnson follows to a T, is at the center of it all — and technically, it is free. It’s a series of “life systems” and habits that form the foundation for all Johnson does, and it’s what he spoke about during the keynote speech at the summit, in which he was joined by Dr. Mike Mallin, an emergency room physician and the co-founder of personalized, genetics-based care company Wild Health.
People may be surprised to find that the Blueprint protocol isn’t all that complicated at its core. The very first thing that Johnson spoke about, what he considers to be the basis of all wellness, is the importance of getting good, quality sleep.
There’s really no getting around it: Good sleep is vital for our health, as so many studies over the years have confirmed. Johnson goes to sleep at 8:30 every night, and starts his wind-down routine at least an hour before that, typically waking up around 5 a.m. naturally. He also avoids eating two hours before bed, limits stimulants like caffeine and avoids any “blue light” screens — so, no doomscrolling in bed for Johnson.
Eat macadamia nuts
I’ll be honest: The last time I had a macadamia nut was probably in a Subway cookie. Although Johnson certainly does not give those a seal of approval, he does love macadamia nuts, which are rich in healthy fats as well as antioxidants and may even lower your risk of developing metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors that include high blood sugar and cholesterol levels.
Johnson’s “Nutty Pudding” recipe, which was available at the summit and is a daily part of Johnson’s strict diet, is customizable and can include both macadamia nut and macadamia milk, as well as flaxseeds. I’d happily make this for breakfast or an on-the-go snack.
Get your veggies in
If there’s one thing that I need to do, it’s eat more veggies. Johnson’s Super Veggie Bowl, another staple of his diet available at the summit, was shockingly delicious and a simple mix of cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms and lentils, seasoned with cumin, lime, apple cider vinegar, garlic and ginger.
Fiber is very important for digestive health and maintaining stable blood sugar levels and many Americans are not getting enough of it in their diets. Adding a veggie bowl to your day, as Johnson does, is a simple way to get more of it, as well as micronutrients like vitamins C and K and potassium. Plus, legumes like lentils are high in plant-based protein, iron and folate, making them a nutrient-dense addition to any meal.
It’s worth noting that postsummit, I headed straight for the grocery store to purchase ingredients for a mushroom medley and lentil soup.
Spend time on recovery and mobility
Johnson says that he exercises for one hour per day, and on Blueprint’s website, he recommends splitting your routine into three days of strength training and three days of cardio. Johnson says that you should aim for 150 minutes of moderate activity as well as 75 minutes of vigorous activity, unlike the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations, which suggest an either/or approach to this activity, as well as two days of muscle training.
But Johnson also stresses the importance of including mobility, balance and flexibility exercises into your routine — something that, after attending the summit, I was reminded I really need to work on.
For years, I skipped the stretching portion of my weekly HIIT class — so it’s no surprise that, while generally fit, I’m also a little bit stiff and not nearly as flexible as I was as a teenager. The summit proved as much, thanks to a biological age test, conducted by trainers at Crunch Fitness. One test, called the “sit and reach,” has you sit on the floor with your legs extended, before reaching forward toward your toes. The test — which, some may recall, was featured in the Presidential Fitness Test — tests the flexibility of your lower back and hamstrings, and your “score” comes from the number of inches you can reach past your toes.
My “sit and reach” score was just 4 inches — which Johnson’s Don’t Die app (which uses the data from the fitness test to provide you a biological age) told me was the equivalent of someone in their 60s. (I’m 32, just FYI.)
Sure, my pushup ability was the equivalent of people in their teens, but flexibility is also hugely important, especially for longevity. It’s crucial for staying mobile and therefore independent, as well as avoiding our risk of injury and maintaining good joint health. Personally, I want to be able to haul my own suitcase into the overhead compartment on an airplane for as long as possible.
I’ll be practicing my sit-and-reach for now, as well as ramping up yoga classes — because, if I’m being honest, my “standing on one leg” marker, which was also assessed at the summit, could use some work as well.
Build community
Johnson’s experimental lifestyle may seem isolating, but as he said at the summit, he just has a different approach to his social life. While he may not be drinking at a bar with friends at midnight (he’s already been asleep for more than three hours by then), he stresses that community is crucial for wellness. It’s one of the reasons why he started Blueprint-branded group hikes, in order to bring the Don’t Die enthusiasts together.
As Johnson noted in his speech, building strong ties with others helps ward off mental illness like depression and anxiety, and may even increase your lifespan. Whether that’s a hike with friends, a board game night or a long call with your loved one, the data is clear: Having people you care about, who care about you, is good for your health.
What I'm ignoring
The microplastic tests
Researchers are looking into the health implications of microplastics, which are tiny particles of plastic (less than 0.20 inches) that can get into our bodies. While more studies must be done, microplastics have thus far been linked to increased cancer risk, as well as reproductive and gut issues.
We can avoid microplastic exposure by using less plastic overall — but at the end of the day, experts say that it is sweeping systemic changes beyond our individual control that will staunchly reduce how many microplastics make their way into our environment.
That’s why I can’t get behind Johnson’s recommendation to take a microplastics test. Blueprint’s at-home blood test retails for $135 and tells you the “number, size, and concentration of microplastic particles in your blood,” as well as compare your information with others who’ve taken the test.
But as the Blueprint website says, there currently is no approved therapy for removing microplastics from one’s body — meaning that whether you have a high or low number of microplastics in your body, you won’t be able to do much about it.
If you want to avoid microplastics, reducing your plastic use, as the Blueprint website suggests, is your best option, though it’s worth noting that it is impossible to get your microplastic intake down to zero.
The all-in approach
Johnson does not advise people to spend the time and money he does on his personal longevity research, which reportedly costs him up to $2 million a year. If he was, this list would be far, far longer.
In general, I found myself nodding along with Johnson’s protocol — honestly, in terms of his fitness routine, diet and sleep schedule, there’s not all that much to complain about. There’s just one big issue here: Johnson does this routine every. Single. Day. No exceptions.
Johnson does not believe in “cheat days” — for food, as well as sleep. As he said in his speech at the summit, it’s “never, ever worth” knocking yourself off track, as doing so is “expensive” for your overall longevity. His son Talmage — a student at the University of Chicago — is also on team no cheat days, and says while he’s gotten some initial skepticism from his classmates, now they will happily remind him to “go to sleep” when it comes time for bed. (Alcohol, according to Johnson’s presentation at the summit, is also a no-go on the Blueprint protocol, though Johnson previously said in 2023 that he doesn’t forbid it — only that it’s “too expensive” from a “calorie” perspective and disrupts his sleep.)
If it works for Johnson and his son, that’s amazing — but it’s just not for me.
I don’t have nearly as much data as Johnson does on his life and health, but I do know that the hours I spent chatting with friends into the wee hours of the morning helped me create all-important bonds I wouldn’t trade for a day of feeling physically off. Trying new foods in countries I’ve traveled to is one of my favorite parts of living. (Johnson famously brought his own food on a two-week trip to India.) And biting into a perfect chocolate chip cookie, or cracking open a crispy can of Diet Coke, is something I simply cannot give up — but hey, that’s just me.
