May 9, 2023

In a somewhat popular article I wrote last year titled “12 Perfect Health Fundamentals: My Primary “Principles” For Optimizing Your Lifespan & Healthspan. and also in the article How to “Hack” Biohacking: 9 Essential Health Fundamentals That Any Biohacker Can Master., I described basic, affordable fundamentals and “low hanging fruit” that most anyone can access to optimize healthspan and lifespan.

Such optimization is not for the purpose of not just getting bragging rights about biological longevity markers like telomere length or methylation efficiency, but rather, for the purpose of being able to live a long and healthy life that allows one to maximize the impact they make on this planet during their life, however long that life might be – and to feel really, really good doing it.

After all, it doesn’t make much sense – to me at least – to simply extend your lifespan for the somewhat selfish transhumanistic-esque goal of cellular immortality or looking as good in a swimsuit at 60 as you did at 18 years old. Nor does it seem like a good use of precious time to engage in a host of life extension strategies if all those extra years you gain are spent lonely and huddled up inside cryotherapy boxes and hyperbaric chambers in an ultimately futile and frantic attempt to squeeze as many seconds out of your life as possible.

As I wrote in more detail here:

“…otherwise, we’re at the risk of spending an entire life experience in one long attempt to look good and to elongate life, and how silly it seems to prepare, prepare, and prepare to live a long time, then spend all that time we’ve created figuring out how to do other things to help us live a long time.

After all, we are going to die someday. We are going to die an old, ugly, fleshy, and wrinkled death. So we need to think about how we’ll be remembered because I can nearly guarantee that it won’t be for our chiseled abs, number of Crossfit sessions on the whiteboard, or fancy smart drug protocol. No: we’ll be remembered for how we loved and how we were loved.

For our adventures.

For our experiences.

For our relationships.

For how we made people feel.

Eventually, at some point, your life will be over and you may realize, “Oh my gosh! I haven’t gone on any adventures. I haven’t breathed fresh air at the top of a mountain, I haven’t eaten vegetable oil on a random beach in Thailand, I haven’t stayed out past my bedtime to go hunting or stargazing, and I’ve basically lived in a safe and protected, controlled bubble my whole life.”

Trust me: you don’t want to be on your deathbed and realize that you just spent a lifetime pushing this deathbed moment a little farther forward in time and missing life in the process. Instead, you want to be on your deathbed relishing the adventures, the experiences, the love, the people, the relationships, and the God and sacred spiritual souls you connected with and will hopefully rejoin at the pearly gates of heaven to live with forevermore.

How much healthy food you ate, how much you exercised, how many workouts you crushed, how impressive your supplements stack was, how many life-improvement books you consumed, how short your telomeres were, how many red light sessions, how cold of a cold bath – how much of this and how much of that can you do before it kind of becomes your whole life, in a controlled box.”

Now, that all being said, with a focus on healthy work-life-health optimization balance, I personally do go beyond the basics of things like sunlight, nature, physical movement, good relationships, and nutrition, and engage in some of the more fringe, so-called “life extension strategies” popular amongst the biohacking crowd. As a result, I find that I have more energy (often on less sleep), more strength, lower stress, better quality of my joints, skin, hair, and muscles, and a general resilient ability to be able to show up to achieve my life’s purpose with far less of the brain fog, gut issues, fragility, excess fat, cardiovascular or dementia disease markers and other issues that so many folks sadly struggle with. I attribute how good I consistently feel not only to the implementation of basic, traditional health strategies, but also to some of the more advanced, lesser-known modalities I implement on a regular.

So I figured I’d share with you in this article a few of the more nitty-gritty anti-aging, longevity, and age reversal biohacks I implement, and the demonstrable results I’ve found by weaving a few choice supplements, tools, and technologies into my life. Enjoy!

What Is A “Rate Of Aging” Clock?

Before I get into the specific age reversal strategies that are a part of my routine, I’ll address the question I’m often asked, namely…

…how do I know the anti-aging, longevity, or age-reversal tactics I use are actually *working*?

Enter the current, state-of-the-art epigenetic age clock test – the DunedinPACE test, which is the gold-standard measurement for a human being’s actual pace of aging. It is a blood test that measures the pace of biological aging, and I have had my test done by Tru Diagnostics, which is operated by a former podcast guest of mine named Ryan Smith.

The DunedinPACE protocol is based on an analysis of chemical tags on the DNA contained in white blood cells. These tags are called DNA methylation marks, and the way you measure them is with a test based on the DunedinPACE data. The test computes aging based on your epigenome, which consists of chemical compounds that modify your genome in a way that tells it what to do, where to do it, and when to do it.

Aging clocks that the DunedinPACE test measures are simply specific biomarkers based on DNA methylation that track aging. To measure biological age, aging clocks predict age-related health issues. What makes DunedinPACE unique is that, whereas other tests aim to measure how old or young a person is, DunedinPACE measures whether you are aging quickly or slowly.

Tests like this are correlated with studies based on measures of biological age derived from blood chemistry and DNA methylation data – typically gathered from a simple blood spot test kit – combined with research participants’ subjective perceptions of their own health.

So, for example, in my own blood test results below based on my TruAge Diagnostics measurement, which uses the data from the DunedinPACE study, you can see that my rate of aging is .73. This means that for every 365 days, I only age 266 days (incidentally, this is one of the lowest aging rates on record for humans who have been tested, including several notable longevity-focused biohackers and anti-aging enthusiasts).

So long story short is: the stuff I’m about to explain to you actually works for age reversal, which translates to you feeling like a younger human for your performance, recovery, sleep, gut health, hormone balance, and plenty of other important variables that translate directly to you looking good, feeling good and performing better.

My Current Age-Reversal Strategies

Movement:

Daily exercise, including 3x/week weight training and 2x/week high-intensity cardio. When at home, for the weight training, I primarily use single-set-to-failure exercise with an ARX machine, X3 Band setup , or Tonal, and incorporate six major moves: chest press, pulldown or pull-up, squat or leg press, overhead press, and seated row. If I’m traveling and at a gym, I simply use exercise machines, or blood flow restriction/Kaatsu bands combined with body weight training, and complete a similar full-body protocol, or use a Katalyst Electrical Muscle Stimulation suit. For the high-intensity cardio, when at home, I typically do a 21 minute VASPER routine combined with LiveO2 intermittent hypoxic training, and when traveling, an exercise bike, elliptical trainer or rowing machine.

For all my warm-ups/cool-downs, I include plenty of injury prevention moves and protocols, primarily Foundation Training, ELDOA, ATG For Life moves, and Power Plate vibration training. Depending on my recovery status and how my body is feeling, I will sometimes substitute one day of super-slow training for more explosive kettlebell and plyometric/calisthenic work. The total time commitment for the weight training sessions is 30-40 minutes, for the cardio 15-25 minutes, and for the injury prevention protocols, 10-15 minutes. One day per week is a recovery day that primarily involves sports such as tennis or pickleball, hiking, easy cycling, or breathwork/sauna/cold.

Temperature:

For the longevity benefits of temperature stress, 3-5x/week I spend 20-30 minutes in the infrared sauna doing stretching and breathwork, and always finish with a 3-5 minute cold plunge. Most of my showers are as icy cold as possible.

Sleep:

I sleep 6-7 hours per night on a BioBalance PEMF mat and SleepMe cold system set at 55°F, and use a Hapbee magnet and Apollo device to increase relaxation and decrease sleep latency. While sleeping, I play ambient noise from the SleepSpace app to drown out noises and lull me into sleep more quickly. Before bed, I take a dose of Kion Sleep, Element Health CBD, and Magnesium Breakthrough, and when traveling, include higher dose melatonin from Mitozen. If I’ve had a hard workout or am sore, I also take 3 capsules of Kion Flex before bed.

In addition, nearly every day, to get an extra “sleep cycle” because I don’t sleep a full 7-9 hours most nights, I take a 20-40 minute daily nap in the hyperbaric chamber from HBOTUSA (use code BEN to save big on your hyperbaric chamber) or on a PulseCenter PEMF mat, typically using the NuCalm or BrainTap light sound stimulation to improve relaxation, and also incorporate Hyperice recovery boots.

Work:

During my workday, I walk often on a manual treadmill in front of a standing desk or stand on an earthing/grounding mat made by Ultimate Longevity. I also, while working, use a NanoVi Exo breath device, Vielight red light stimulation device for the head, JOOVV full body red light therapy, and a Biomat Belt, and typically take work breaks every 45-60 minutes for foam rolling and deep tissue work, including a specific therapeutic focus on the spine, the hips, the neck, the psoas, and the feet. Next to my office, I also have a mini-trampoline and Biocharger that I regularly use during work breaks.

Detoxification:

I’m often given a bit of a hard time for this protocol as it seems a bit weird or unorthodox, but once per week, I take a binder such as activated charcoal, then do a steaming session or coffee enema, followed by a deep sweat in the infrared sauna with dry skin brushing.

Anti-Aging Supplements:

My diet is largely low-carbohydrate, Mediterranean, with a focus on organic vegetables, fermented dairy and plants, organ meats, clean fish, bone broth, extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, and very dark chocolate. I do an overnight intermittent fast of 12-16 hours and rarely do additional fasting besides a quarterly 3-5 day stint of lower calorie intake or water fasting. In the morning, typically within an hour of waking, I drink 32 ounces of water with Jigsaw Health Adrenal Cocktail, hydrogen tablets, and Quinton or Protekt electrolytes. Along with this water, my morning supplement stack is Biostack Labs NAD/spermidine, SEED Probiotic, and typically some kind of nootropic/brain support supplement such as Qualia Mind or Nootopia. Later, usually a couple of hours after waking, I have a cup of Kion coffee, MiCacao cacao drink, or Four Sigmatic mushrooms with a packet of Manna Shilajit. Pre-workout, I will usually have a shot of Feel Free, an Update energy drink, and/or Lucy Nicotine gum as I feel that these give me high amounts of “clean energy” for a morning fasted workout.

Later, post-workout, I have a breakfast smoothie that usually includes liver, bone broth, and Kion protein, and along with breakfast, I take Wizard Sciences C60, Kion fish oil, Kion colostrum, and Kion creatine. With lunch or in the afternoon, I typically have one dose of KetoneAid or H.V.M.N. ketones and if I am napping after lunch, an adaptogen such as Four Sigmatic Reishi extract. During the day, I “pulse” anabolism with 10-20g of Kion essential amino acids. Before each meal, I take digestive enzymes (currently Bioptimizers) and LVLUP’s Gut Repair Formula, and prior to dinner, which usually contains a higher amount of carbohydrates, I take Kion Lean.

Once per month, I take a two-day protocol of the senolytic compound from Qualia called Senolytic, and twice per year, I do a 10-day protocol of the bioregulatory peptides discussed in my podcast with Phil Micans. Because I have a high genetic risk for heart disease and a beat-up heart from years of hard-core endurance training, along with an elevated plaque score, I have recently begun to supplement with red yeast rice extract, niacin, and coenzyme Q10 from Thorne and annatto-GG extract from Designs For Health.

Stem Cells/Ozone/IVs:

Several times per month, depending on my recovery and travel status, I use a vitamin IV from Dr. Craig Koniver’s FastVitamin IV company. Two to three times a year, I get a stem cell, VSEL and exosome infusion, usually with Dr. Matt Cook at Bioreset Medical. One to two times a year, as a sort-of “oil change” for the body, I do a 10-pass ozone, Extracorporeal Blood Oxygenation and Ozonation (EBOO) or ozone plasmapheresis, and the practitioners I visit for this vary depending on where I happen to be in the world.

I have also done in the past decade two full-body stem cell makeovers with Dr. Harry Adelson at Docere Clinics, and plan to continue doing that protocol every five years. Finally, I get a NAD IV once every one to two months and wear an Ion Layer Transdermal Patch NAD when traveling on airplanes or when sleep deprived.

Oral/Facial Health:

My dentist is Dr. Eniko Loud, who has done complete scans of my teeth, jaw, and cervical spine and supplied me with a mouthpiece that I wear at night to support jaw biomechanics and health. In the morning, I have an oral care protocol or peppermint essential oil and ozone or oil pulling with tongue scraping, and I brush my teeth once in the evenings for about 5 minutes, along with flossing or water picking regularly. I also get a massage one to two times per month, and include a focus on the jaw and cranio-sacral areas.

In addition, for face and hair health, once per week, I do facial and scalp derma rolling with a clay mask from Alitura, and typically wear a red light mask from HigherDose during this protocol, then finish with the application of skin products and serum from either Alitura, Greenfield Botanics, or some other kind of random skin care product from my bathroom.

Finally, remember the basics. As I alluded to in the intro to this article, I have written plenty elsewhere about sunlight exposure, nature immersion, morning and evening prayer, Bible reading, meditation and spiritual disciplines, prioritization of family and relationships, a low EMF environment, clean water, and other key variables that – in my opinion – far surpass in value and meaning any of the “icing on the cake” strategies I’ve listed above!

Questions & Answers

After originally posting these results and this protocol on Instagram, I received plenty of questions about the protocol above, and answered many of them, including:

  1. Shouldn’t you wait to eat breakfast? The body is inflamed from the workout, eating right away should be adding stress to stress.
    That would only be true if you were eating inflammatory foods. I have a smoothie post-workout, which is quite easy/low-stress to digest. Also, listen to podcast Q&A 451 in which I describe how anti-oxidants post-workout actually *won’t* blunt workout results.
  2. What’s for breakfast and when do you eat next?
    Smoothie most mornings. Lunch is usually 2pm.
    • Podcasts and articles with smoothie recipes:
      • The Smoothie Super-Special: How To Make The Ultimate Fitness Drink That Doesn’t Taste Like The Foul Dung Of Godzilla. 
      • My Exact Morning Routine Unveiled Step-By-Step (feel free to copy, modify or comment)
      • Biohacked Superfood Smoothies, Healing Wounds Faster, Advanced Hypoxic Training Tactics, Hormesis & More With Kyle Kingsbury.
      • The Nitty-Gritty Details Of Ben Greenfield’s Daily Routine, How To Optimize Your Workspace, The Latest Biohacking Secrets, Superfood Smoothies & Much More: Part 1 of Ben’s Talk at the Health Optimisation Summit.
      • The Ultimate Guide to Protein & Protein Powders, The Truth About Whey Protein Isolate, Protein Dosing/Timing Guide (& My Brand New Rich, Creamy, Delicious Clean Protein Smoothie Recipe).
    • Smoothie videos:
  3. What does the face/skin/teeth/hair routine look like?
    Coconut oil pulling, tongue scraping, wash face, shave if necessary, toner, lotion. Weekly clay mask (good stuff from Alitura, use code BG20 to save 20%).
  4. Is there any hard evidence that oil pulling works? I tried it for a while but couldn’t tell.
    Yes, go listen to my podcast on Ayurvedic routines here.
  5. No morning sun viewing?
    100 jumping jacks while I watch the sunrise most mornings and then extensive JOOVV red light therapy in my office and also typically sun during my workout or infrared light in sauna. Biocharger use also most mornings, and experimenting with a new red light wrap-around device by Kineon. 
  6. Would you recommend using red light therapy and grounding to help start the day?
    Yes, I typically am working out outside barefoot so not getting so much grounding until my workout but I use red light during that hour in my office and then do 100 jumping jacks as I watch the sunrise. I also have grounding mats on the floor of my office.
  7. When do you use your red light therapy device?
    During the first 20 minutes of my morning office hour.
  8. What time do you go to bed? 9:45pm-ish
  9. When’s your last meal of the day? Are you still keeping about a 16-hour fasting window?
    I usually finish eating at 8 pm-ish. So, it’s about a 13-14 hour daily fast from dinner to brekky.
  10. In Boundless, you mentioned that you started and ended your days with cold showers. Is that something you no longer do?
    I do a cold plunge or cold shower after my morning workout for 2-3 minutes. Then I’ll typically do another one before dinner, in the early evening, since I’m often out on walks, playing pickleball or tennis, etc. prior to dinner so it’s nice to freshen up and revisit the cold.
  11. In the past, you’d save your strength workout for the afternoon, and your morning workout was light cardio. Is that still pretty consistent?
    This fluctuates now based on the day’s needs. Now that I’ve devoted much of the later day to family time, I have found it necessary to do my hard workouts in the morning more often. Sometimes the “ideal” workout timing for the body isn’t the “ideal” workout timing for life.
  12. Can I put my 3-foot-high Joovv inside my Saunaspace Luminati sauna? Would this be effective and practical?
    To be sure of my answer on this one, I reached out to the folks at JOOVV for additional clarification, and they said: For electrical safety reasons, none of the JOOVV devices should be used in a sauna. JOOVV devices should not operate in or be stored in temperatures that exceed 104°F. This includes saunas. Also, due to the mechanism of action being very different we recommend not mixing the two therapies as there is no clinical data to support multi-use at this time.
  13. Do you recommend any supplement stacks to gain a competitive edge in pickleball? Sanctioned and non-sanctioned. I suspect foul play in my league.
    Listen to my recent podcast with Tyson McGuffin. The top would be nootropics like Qualia Mind, Alpha Brain, Nootopia products, etc.; caffeine with theanine; nicotine; essential amino acids.
  14. Off-topic, but are you taking NMN?
    I prefer NR – NR and NMN are precursors to NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide). This means both NR and NMN are converted into NAD+. Compared to NR, NMN is already one step further down the pathway to produce NAD+. The molecular structures of NMN and NR are roughly the same, except NMN has an added phosphate group. This added phosphate group makes NMN a larger molecule than NR. Some scientists believe NMN is too large to cross cellular membranes and must convert to NR before entering cells, where NAD+ biosynthesis occurs. So I go with NR. Thorne has a good brand. I’ve also been experimenting lately with NAD patches or the Mitozen NAD suppositories.
  15. Can you define “work sprint”?
    A work sprint is 1.5 hours (see my post, Dull Boy, where I describe Dr. Andrew Huberman’s research on this idea of 90-minute work cycles).
  16. I’m interested in more about the “reactive vs. proactive.” I’ve recently also heard “morning hunt, afternoon gather.”
    Yep, proactive is “maker/creator” mode, whereas reactive is “manager/consumer” mode. I do more of my proactive work in the mornings and reactive work in the afternoons/evenings.
  17. What about the lights? Do you dim them?
    I use halogen and incandescent bulbs only. No dimmers. Dimmers are high EMF.
  18.  What resources did you use to learn guitar at a skill level enough to be able to play and sing evening devotionals?
    Currently, I’m using @GuitarTricks and guitar Tabs app, along with some random videos from JustinGuitar.com.

Summary

Should you want to take a deeper dive into life extension strategies and age reversal protocols (including the interview with Dr. Karen Becker in which Karen describes how strategies like this can even be used for your furry pet friends), you can check out other resources from Ben Greenfield Life below:

Finally, should you want to see a list of some of the more successful age reversal human guinea pigs and how their results stack up or join in with an age reversal competition, you may be interested in the Rejuvenation Olympics website, which lists the top 25 largest age reversals out of 1750 people validated by phenotypically trained epigenetic methylation algorithms like TruAge.

I’ll do a more detailed podcast soon about this kind of stuff in which I address your questions, and include even more tips from the experts! In the meantime, what questions do you have about my anti-aging “protocol”? Leave them below and I’ll do my best to reply or address them in a future Q&A podcast.

Resources Mentioned in this article:

– Podcasts And Articles:

– Products:

  • Exercise and Movement:
  • Detoxification, Healing, and Recovery:
  • Sleep:
  •  Food and Supplements:
  • Brain:
  • Oral and Facial Health:
  • Work and Home:
  • Stem Cells:

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One Reply to “Ben Greenfield’s Latest “Age Reversal” Lab Testing Results”

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