Bryan Johnson, the well-known biohacker, posted on social media recently that he hopes his latest international journey will be his last for a very long time. The statement came as he traveled to meet his girlfriend’s parents, and it sparked a conversation about what he sees as the hidden cost of long-distance air travel. The post wasn’t just a casual grumble about jet lag. Johnson backed it up with data. According to Johnson, “modern life has tricked us into thinking travel is good” when in reality, it’s “kind of barbaric for the body.” He pointed to his own measurements from his last trip to Asia, where his biomarkers all moved in the wrong direction. It took him nine days for his blood glucose to stabilize, nine days to reset his circadian rhythm, and eighteen days for his sleep to return to normal.
The recovery math
Johnson argued that if you absolutely must travel by air, you should only do it once every three months, calculating that it takes roughly a day per timezone crossed to actually recover from the journey. A five-hour flight across three time zones? You’re basically paying with a week of biological disruption for a few days somewhere else he says.
Social media reaction
“I bet love decreases aging so I bet it equals out in the end,” writes one user. “you’re right, strong relationships raise survival odds by 50% which is on par with not smoking,” Johnson replies. “Hey @bryan_johnson, genuine question, are there any things you do that may not be “optimal” according to data and protocols, but they are so special to you that you continue to do them anyways? I thought travel might be one for many people,” writes another user. Agreeing to Johnson another user wrote: Honestly, I rarely leave my home state of Florida but I have always wondered this. It does seem “barbaric” especially done often. Well put.The debate his post sparked isn’t really about whether international travel is bad. Most people aren’t going to stop traveling entirely because it messes with their glucose levels. It’s more about whether we’ve been honest with ourselves about the cost. We talk about jet lag like it’s just an inconvenience, something you shake off with coffee. Johnson’s saying it’s actually a significant biological disruption that takes weeks to recover from.