A ‘biohacker’ who has reversed his age by 13 years claims he’s proof that you don’t need to spend a fortune to wind back the clock.
A number of tech gurus have made headlines in recent years for their efforts to ‘turn back time’, including tech tycoon Bryan Johnson who spends $2million a year on pelvic floor blasts, laser therapy and fat injections into his face.
But New Yorker Chris Mirabile says he managed to de-age himself to the body of a 23-year-old by the time he turned 37 just by making simple tweaks to his sleep, exercise regime and diet.
Chris Mirabile, from New York City, was biologically aged at just 23 years old when he turned 37. He has revealed his hacks to DailyMail.com. Pictured above in his late 20s, left, when he was listing his start-up on NASDAQ, and in his late 30s, right, after launching NOVOS
Mr Mirabile has achieved the young body through a combination of eight hours of sleep a night, exercise six times a week and popping supplements. But he also leaves space for the occasional chocolate lava cake and pizza
To roll back our age by 13 years, many of us think we would probably need to get a time machine or invest millions in some specialist surgery in Colombia.
But New Yorker Chris Mirabile has managed the feat — with a body aged 23 years when he turned 37 — without using any expensive hacks.
As well as getting eight hours of sleep a night as well as exercising up to six times per week, Mr Mirabile has also become a fan of supplements — popping up to ten pills per day.
But he has also achieved the feat without cutting out his favorites, always leaving space for a piece of chocolate lava cake once a week and the odd Manhattan straight-up cocktail.
Mr Mirabile is pictured above taking a VO2 Max test, to check his lung capacity
He is also shown above with longevity doctor David Sinclair, based at Harvard, who encouraged him to pursue founding an anti-aging start-up
But in his late 20s, the interest was re-focused on how to slow, or even reverse, aging and extend the healthspan — the period in which you can do everything you want to unhindered by your body.
SUM UP BEFORE WE GET THERE.
Below he revealed his five surprisingly simple hacks to combat aging, and how he has managed to keep himself so young:
One of Mr Mirabile’s hacks was sleeping eight hours a night
Sleep eight hours a night
Mr Mirabile said one of the first tweaks he made was to his sleep — and now manages to get eight hours every night.
‘I had always wanted to stay up late, especially in New York where there is so much going on,’ he said, ‘but [then] I became much more disciplined with it’.
‘I did everything from wearing earplugs when I go to sleep, so I wouldn’t hear the noise of garbage trucks or drunk people, to getting black-out shades so no street lights would make it into my apartment.
‘At the weekends, sometimes I’d stray a bit,’ he admitted.
‘But for the most part, it was 10 and 11 every night, waking up in the morning and going outside and getting sunlight in my eyes and moving to help train my circadian rhythm.’
He said his sleep pattern fell into place just three weeks after he made the tweaks and that he will now fall asleep within five minutes of hitting the pillow — rather than lying tossing and turning for hours.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says everyone needs about seven to nine hours of sleep a night, but a third of Americans don’t get this.
Research shows that too little sleep can boost stress levels and inflammation in the body, as well as promoting a poor diet, which will all cause more rapid aging.
He also said he does three strength training and three cardio sessions per week, with each lasting for about 45 minutes to an hour
Exercise six times a week
He has also honed how often he works out to the best point to help boost his longevity.
Unlike most, Mr Mirabile struggled with ‘over-exercising’ — sometimes hitting the gym at least twice a day.
But under his new strategy, he now does six sessions a week, with three sessions of weight lifting and three of intense cardio.
‘By intense I don’t mean anything crazy,’ he said, ‘so, like a six to eight-mile run, basically anything I can fit into my schedule — 45 minutes to an hour — and I have to make a point not to push myself too hard’.
Cardio is often neglected by guys looking to build muscle but is an important stepping-stone to boosting longevity.
This is because it improves heart health and enhances lung function, slashing the risk of diseases and allowing the body to function optimally for prolonged periods.
Building muscle can also help with longevity. As someone ages muscle mass gradually declines, by about three to eight percent per decade, but weight lifting can counteract this.
This leaves someone still strong enough to maintain their independence and perform daily activities in old age and with stronger bone health, avoiding the risks of falls.
He follows a strict diet 90 percent of the time but does stray for the occasional treat
Healthy diet 90% of the time
Mr Mirabile has also tweaked his diet to focus on vegetables, proteins and non-processed foods.
He says he eats well 90 percent of the time — having things like broccoli, Brussel sprouts, berries and any other plant that is low in sugar and starch.
Asked about how he sticks to this rigorous plan, he says: ‘What I find is that work days are much easier to be disciplined it’s all about routine.
‘So you don’t have to think because you already have a healthy lunch, you have already figured out what you are going to have and you stick to that diet.’
But he did admit that, on weekends and for special events, he does tend to stray.
This will involve him having something like a chocolate cake or a pizza, although he said he is careful not to have both on the same night.
He told DailyMail.com: ‘So, I might have a pizza on a Friday night and then a dessert on a Saturday, but I try not to have the pizza and the dessert at the same time because that is a lot all at once.’
Mr Mirabile also backs intermittent fasting, taking in all of his foods within an eight-hour window every day.
Research shows that eating a bad diet high in processed foods can trigger faster aging by causing obesity and inflammation in cells.
But eating just a good diet will only get someone so far, experts say, with other hacks like exercise and sleep much more important for longevity.
There is also a school of research suggesting that intermittent fasting can extend someone’s life expectancy.
But in recent years doubts have been raised over this result as well as concerns over the negative effects of fasting, which may include fertility problems, a weaker immune system and a higher risk of early death.
Top of his list of treats was chocolate lava cake
Don’t forget the treats
We all enjoy an occasional treat to pick us up and, like us, ‘fitness guru’ Mr Mirabile is no exception.
Asked how he cheats on his diet, he said: ‘I love Italian food, I love Japanese food, and I do have something of a sweet tooth.
‘So, when I am going to cheat it is typically something like pizza, sushi rolls, chocolate lava cake, tiramisu, stuff like that.
‘Roughly speaking, I have about two cheat meals once a week.’
He added: ’90 percent of the time I am eating a healthy diet, and then living a little ten percent of the time — I think all of that combined is what we have to get the biological age results that I have.’
Asked about alcohol consumption, he says he now only drinks very occasionally for special events.
‘Yes, I do drink,’ he told DailyMail.com, ‘but I have really cut back.
‘I used to drink a lot more in my 20s… but now I try to minimize it.
‘fis hHe said his favorite drink was a Manhattan straight-up.
Asked about coffee consumption, he said he has up to four cups a day but never any after 12pm — in case it interferes with his sleep.
He also uses supplements to help boost his longevity
Supplements
One area to improve his life expectancy that costs but Mr Mirabile does swear by, is supplements.
He takes up to ten pills daily to boost his health and longevity.
These are fish oil pills, a multi-vitamin and supplements of vitamin D and K, alongside his own Novos Core and Novos Boost supplements.
Novos Core ($109 for a month’s supply) contains substances including magnesium, vitamin C and Ginger, and is thought to help reduce inflammation and manage senescent cells, or cells that stop dividing and start spewing toxic chemicals that can damage their neighbors.
Novos Boost ($44 for a month’s supply) contains contains nicotinamide mononuicleotide, or NMN, which can help to boost DNA repair and mitochondrial function — improving someone’s longevity.
Novos Core is taken as a mixture with drinks, while the rest are taken as pills with Novos Boost being just two small pills.
Mr Mirabile argued to DailyMail.com that everyone needed to take supplements because they were likely deficient in at least one vitamin. Studies have found that about 92 percent of Americans are deficient in at least one vitamin.
Asked about how long someone should take these to start de-aging, he said: ‘So the way I would look at these is like anything else in life, the longer you diet, the longer you exercise, the better it is going to be for you.
‘That is not to say that if you exercise and you stop, well having exercised is still good for you… but the longer the better.’
Asked about how long it may take to get benefits from his NOVOS products, which were launched in the US this week, he said these may come through in as little as six to eight weeks.
As well as helping with anxiety, he said that users were also reporting better skin within two months and a reduction in fine lines.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk