Could humanmaxxing be the secret to living longer? Experts weigh in

We are officially living in the “maxxing” era.From “looksmaxxing” to improve appearance to “sleepmaxxing” for better rest, these viral terms all point to the same goal: squeezing every ounce of potential out of a specific trait or habit.With a growing focus on optimizing wellness and maximizing longevity, the trend has evolved into what’s known as “humanmaxxing,” sparking a bigger question: How far can people go to optimize the human body?While there is no single definition of humanmaxxing, the trend generally refers to efforts to optimize health, performance and longevity through a combination of lifestyle habits, health tracking, supplements and, in some cases, more experimental interventions.For some, the movement begins with biohacking.According to Dave Asprey, a Texas-based wellness expert who refers to himself as the “father of biohacking,” optimizing your body starts with changing your environment.Asprey has defined biohacking as “the art and science of changing the environment around you or inside you so that you have full control of your own biology.”His public advice focuses on boosting cellular energy through everyday choices like intermittent fasting, high-fat diets, red-light therapy and supplement routines.“My goal right now is 180 years, because I’m doing something about it now instead of waiting,” he once said.Others have embraced a more data-driven approach.

Tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, creator of the multimillion-dollar longevity project Blueprint in Los Angeles, argues that optimizing the body means removing human error from health decisions and instead relying on medical data.“Methodically, we sought to build an algorithm with science and data that could better care for me than I can myself,” Johnson wrote on his website.“My mind did not have the authority to override the algorithm.”Johnson’s routine involves tracking hundreds of health metrics, eating a precisely measured diet, taking dozens ...