Bryan Johnson Profile picture
Aug 15, 2024 15 tweets 7 min read Read on X
I achieved the best recorded sleep score in history.

Eight months of perfect, 100% sleep.

Spent a year learning how to do it.

Here are 10 habits that fixed my terrible sleep... 🧵 Image
1/ If you sleep less than 7 hours a night, read this…

+ One 4-hour night reduces cancer-fighting immune cells by 70%
+ Chronic 6-hour nights make you 4.2x more likely to catch colds
+ 18-24 hours awake = 0.05-0.1% blood alcohol level equivalent (0.08% is legally drunk)

Sleep loss also impairs cognition, slows reflexes, and leads to poor decisions.

It's tied to heart disease, diabetes, obesity, anxiety, depression and a weak immune system.

Here're 10 habits that improved my sleep...

P.S. I've made a free sleep checklist too, so read till the end.Image
1/ Reframe Your Identity: You are a professional sleeper

Make sleep your #1 appointment in your calendar.

Nothing influences your conscious or subconscious existence more.

+ Plan your day around sleep.
+ Ignore those who say sleep is for the weak. They’re drunk.
+ Get support from others by explaining your priorities.

Most people are drunk from sleep deprivation. Sleep will make you a top performer.
2/ Have a Consistent Bedtime

Choose a non-negotiable bedtime for 7-9 hours in bed each night.

+ Be consistent, even on weekends.
+ Use a wearable or journal to track

You’re on time for work meetings. Be on time for your bedtime and respect yourself.
3/ Create a 60-Minute Wind-Down Routine

✅ screens off 60 min before bed
✅ calm: read, music, walk, bathe, breathe, meditate
✅ softly bring your focus back to sleep prep
✅ minimize light, red light ideal
✅ in bed within 30 min of bedtime

Sleep is your #1 priority. Everything else can wait.
4/ Eat Your Last Meal Early

For years I tested my eating times on sleep quality and landed at 11 am being the best for high quality sleep.

Not everyone can do this, but here are the general guidelines:

+ Avoid eating within 3-4 hours of bedtime
+ Have your largest meal in the middle of the day
+ When socializing late, choose light options like veggies
+ You can experiment extending to eating your final meal 4 and 6 hours before bed to assess how it effects your sleep quality.
+ By the time I go to bed at 8:30 pm, primary digestion is done and my resting heart rate is around 47-49 bpm.

Here’s why:

Eating close to bed creates large metabolic demands on your body, causes blood glucose fluctuations, reduces melatonin production, and disrupts your body’s natural process of lowering core body temperature.
5/ Discontinue Stimulants After Noon

Try to avoid caffeine and other stimulants well before sleep.

+ Skip alcohol near bedtime - it disrupts sleep
+ Each person has a unique tolerance to stimulants so find your right cut-off time
+ Avoid high arousal settings close to bedtime
6/ I don’t consume caffeine or alcohol.

They each disrupt my mood and negatively affect my sleep. But that’s me.

You can find what’s right for you. Image
7/ After Sun Down, Minimize Evening Light

Blue light suppresses melatonin secretion and can disrupt your circadian rhythm. Other types of light can also impact melatonin to varying degrees.

+ Install dimmer switches and use low, warm lighting
+ Wear blue light-blocking glasses 2-3 hours before bed
+ Enable night mode on all devices or install blue light filters
+ Red light is best (red bulb + lamp ftw)

And remember to limit screen time *at least* an hour before bed and blackout your bedroom.

Use this time for your 30-60 min wind down routine.
7/ Regulate Your Bedroom Temperature:

+ Explore your ideal bedroom temperature 60-77°F (15-25°C).
+ Consider a temperature controlled mattress to regulate bed surface temp
+ Use breathable cotton or linen sheets and lightweight sleepwear
+ Consider taking a warm bath before bed.

Experiment and track your sleep patterns with a journal or sleep tracker.
8/ Curate a Peaceful Sleep Environment

+ Keep your room cool, dark, and quiet
+ Avoid working from your bed
+ The bed is for sleep and sex

Consider a noise machine or earplugs to offset environmental sounds.
9/ Get Sunlight Within 15 Min of Waking

Get outside within the first 15-30 minutes of waking to set your circadian rhythm and boost mood.

If you’re up before the sunrise, use a 10,000 lux light
10/ Track Your Sleep Metrics

Metrics to follow: HRV, body temp, respiration rate, REM & deep sleep.

I use Whoop and EightSleep. Other sleep trackers are fine too.

+ Experiment with bedtimes, routines, room temps & find what works
+ Track data across seasons and when traveling to troubleshoot
+ Use a sleep journal, tracker, or checklist.

You’ll improve what you measure.
11/ Improving sleep is a journey. Take it one step at a time and start by focusing on reshaping your relationship with sleep.

You've got this.

Sleep well.

If you want my free sleep checklist to track your progress: Image
12/ Many of our social activities currently take place late at night, usually after most people's bedtimes.

It's within our power to reset norms so that we can do fun things together, like music festivals, dinners and dance parties, and still get great sleep.

I stayed out late one night for a music festival and paid the price...

Image

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More from @bryan_johnson

Jul 2
PFAS are forever chemicals.
In cookware, floss, and fast food wrappers.
They hurt fertility, the brain, and immune system.

They accumulate and the body can't eliminate them.
I got my levels tested.

Here’s what you can do to avoid your exposure. 🧵 Image
0/ PFAS are a class of 12,000+ man-made chemicals used to make things water-, stain-, and heat-resistant.

They’re found in:
+ nonstick pans
+ waterproof clothing
+ fast food wrappers
+ microwave popcorn bags
+ dental floss
1/ PFAS are linked to:

+ lower sperm count
+ disrupted thyroid hormones
+ immune suppression
+ elevated cholesterol
+ liver damage
+ increased cancer risk (kidney, testicular)
+ neurodevelopmental issues
+ lower fertility in women

This isn’t hyperbole, it’s supported by strong epidemiological data. Dozens of studies backed by the CDC, EPA, and NIH, support these findings.
Read 6 tweets
Jun 24
Glass had 5 – 50× higher plastic than plastic or cans

The French tested water, soda, beer, iced tea, lemonade, and wine sold nationwide and found that glass-bottled beverages carried far more plastic shrapnel than plastic bottles or cans.
🧵Image
0/ What the study found

“Around a hundred microplastic particles per litre” in cola, lemonade, iced tea and beer packed in glass — 5 – 50 × higher than their plastic-bottled or canned twins.

For still or sparkling water the counts were lower but still lopsided: 4.5 µplastics /L in glass vs. 1.6 µplastics /L in plastic.

Wine (with a cork, not a crown cap) stayed almost micro-plastic-free.
1/ Why is glass worse?

Paint flakes from the metal crown caps are almost identical in colour and polymer chemistry to the particles in the drink, pinning them as the culprit — not the glass itself.

Corked wine being microplastic free gives another strong clue

Cleaning matters: bottles capped with untreated crowns shed 287 particles /L, but a simple air-blast plus alcohol rinse cut that to 87 particles /L.
Read 8 tweets
Jun 18
15 sessions of sauna dramatically reduced toxins in my body.

+ 65% drop in 2,4-D
+ 100% drop in MEP
+ 15% drop in MBP
+ 100% drop in MEHP (undetectable post sauna)
+ 56% drop in NAPR
+ 56% drop in HEMA
+ 100% drop in Perchlorate (undetectable post sauna)

After completing fifteen sauna sessions, each lasting 20 minutes at 200°F, led to a significant reduction in my environmental toxins, three went from being abnormally high to undetectable post sauna.
0/ Baseline: toxin levels showed one high exposure and six moderate exposures. Approximately one month prior to starting the sauna regimen, urine tests indicated one high exposure (levels exceeding the 95th percentile), and six moderate exposures ( levels between the 75th and 95th percentiles).

Post-sauna: high exposures completely eliminated, only one medium exposure remained, and three previous moderate exposures became undetectable.
Here are toxins that sauna helped me eliminate from my body, and why it matters

1/ 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid (2,4-D)

High exposure → lower medium exposure

2,4-D is a herbicide, so it is probably leaking into my food via some fresh produce, which is very hard to monitor due to batch variation. I have been testing periodically and will continue to do so.
Read 7 tweets
May 22
Allulose is perhaps the most longevity-friendly sweetener. 🧵

Here's why:
+ it's safe
+ multiple health benefits
+ reduced blood glucose
+ metabolic benefits including fat loss, increased GLP1 secretion, liver health, teeth protection. Image
0/ What is Allulose?
Allulose is a rare sugar found naturally in fruits like figs and raisins. It is nearly calorie-free (0.2-0.4 kcal/g) because it is absorbed and excreted through urine without being metabolized by the human body. The minimal calorie contribution is attributed to limited metabolism by gut bacteria.
1/ Safety of allulose

Concerns regarding allulose mainly revolve around potential gastrointestinal issues, including severe diarrhea. However, a clinical study involving 30 adults (15 women and 15 men aged 21-30) determined that allulose was well-tolerated without digestive problems at single doses up to 0.4 g/kg and daily intakes of 0.9 g/kg of body weight. For a 70 kg adult, this equates to a single dose of 28 grams and a daily intake of 63 grams. Ref

The FDA also recognizes allulose as a low-calorie sweetener and excludes it from the definition of added sugars due to its non-metabolizable nature in the human body. RefImage
Read 7 tweets
May 20
First, I shocked my Johnson and performance improved.
Then I shocked my sprained ankle and recovered faster.
Now, I’m shocking my entire body…
🧵
0/ This technology (@SoftwaveTRT) delivers unfocused electro-hydraulic shock waves dispersed over a broad tissue volume. The acoustic pulse passes non-invasively through skin, generating shear forces and micro-cavitation that set off mechanotransduction. Cells release ATP, open stretch-activated ion channels and trigger ERK/Akt signaling.

Within 30 minutes to 24 hours, endothelial-NO synthase and VEGF rise, micro-perfusion improves, and mesenchymal stem cells migrate to the site over subsequent days. End result: increased blood flow, pro-healing growth-factor signaling and activated resident stem-cell repair machinery.

Clinical trials show strong pain relief and faster healing for plantar-fasciitis heels, calcified shoulder tendons and improved blood flow for erectile dysfunction; decent evidence for tennis elbow,Achilles issues and chronic wounds; early data for nerve pain and chronic wounds.
1/ My team and I found this technology when we were working on Rejuvenating Johnson’s Johnson. We all want youthful brains and hearts and sexual function.

There are multiple randomized controlled trials showing shockwave therapy improves erectile dysfunction. Given that my sexual function was normal, we wanted to test whether it could further enhance it as measured by total time nighttime erections, subjective sexual performance, sexual satisfaction, and medical imaging-based penile markers.

x.com/bryan_johnson/…
Read 5 tweets
May 7
Is sauna worth the hype?

There's evidence that sauna is a potential detox and longevity intervention with benefits to heart, metabolism, brain health, and skin. We’re going to put it to the test.

Here’s what you need to know…🧵 Image
0/ How it works…

Heat exposure in a sauna puts your body under mild stress, triggering natural repair processes that improve overall health. Finnish dry saunas specifically use controlled heat to stimulate these beneficial responses, including:

+ Repairing and maintaining proteins (heat shock proteins)
+ Improving blood flow and relaxing blood vessels
+ Boosting antioxidant activity
+ Optimizing metabolism
+ Enhancing fitness
+ Reducing inflammation
+ Strengthening immunity
+ Recycling and repairing cells (autophagy)

All these processes combine to give whole-body health benefits.Image
1/ It protects your heart…

Regular sauna use (4–7 times a week, sessions lasting at least 19 minutes) can significantly improve heart health and lower blood pressure. Research shows the more often you sauna, the greater your protection from heart disease:

Heart disease risk:
2–3 times/week → 23% lower risk
4–7 times/week → 48% lower risk

High blood pressure risk (in healthy men aged 42–60):
2–3 times/week → 17% lower risk
4–7 times/week → 47% lower risk

In patients with existing heart failure, using a sauna 5 times a week for 3 weeks improved heart function by nearly 7%, lowered stress hormones by 25%, and reduced heart failure markers by over 20%. Longer and more frequent sauna sessions offer the strongest protection.Image
Read 11 tweets

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