5HT: 5 Healthyish Things, including Bryan Johnson’s #1 health tip and the biggest wellness conference

Did someone forward this to you? Join 95,000 readers finding their next health hack. Come hang→

I just got back from Eudēmonia, and it was awesome. I’m incredibly impressed with Founder & CEO Sean Hoess, Tyler Wakstein, and the whole team—this thing has blown up. I think the conference had ~5K attendees?! (And they only started last year!) 🤯

Most of my time was spent with the Health Innovation Lab crew (Eudēmonia’s partnership with Fitt Insider), essentially a conference within a conference with 100ish founders and execs all hanging out, eating dinner, and—because this is wellness in 2025—cold plunging and sauna-ing together. Shoutout to Anthony & Joe Vennare for curating this crew!

Being in an industry-focused group instead of the average wellness girlie crowd (just to be clear, go wellness girlies!) made me more grateful than I anticipated. I got to reconnect with a bunch of people I knew, meet some incredible new folks, annnd quietly fangirl a few too (I’ll keep those to myself). 🤭

Longevity was definitely the “it” word (shocker), but what really surprised—and tbh excited—me was how smart, thoughtful, and genuinely curious the people leading this space are. We’ve moved away from the era of celeb doctors and health “entertainers” to mostly legit people who are trying to engage with you rather than sell you a miracle cure. 

Take Huberman. In a keynote conversation with Maya Shankar (future star, btw), he reminded us how "neuroplasticity is triggered by error," and how we only learn by getting things wrong and reflecting on why. He also talked about the importance of ceding control to allow opportunities to present themselves. (I think he's super right there.) It’s engagement > infotainment. Though, to be fair, watching Dr. Mei Rui—a concert pianist and neurosurgery professor—play piano while wearing a helmet that visualized her brain activity in real time was… objectively entertaining. 😆

If the future of health looks like it did in these rooms, it’ll be way less about glossy gimmicks and splashy diets, and way more about protocols and personalization. In fact, I don’t think the word “diet” came up once. A pretty good sign we’re finally moving beyond diet culture and toward something more holistic and realistic—where every body is different and the goal is sustainable, personalized wellness instead of shortcuts. 

Obviously, I’m into it. And I’ll definitely be back next year.

While at Eudēmonia, I got to try a buuunch of products. 

Some were cool, some were meh. Let’s break it downnn.

🚀 Oxyhealth hyperbaric chamber. Hyperbaric chambers have been trending lately, but this felt pretty meh. You basically zip yourself into a tube for 60 minutes and just lie there. (If you're claustrophobic, I’d probablyyy skip this.) They’re designed to increase oxygen levels throughout the body and have plenty of FDA-approved uses—wound healing, carbon monoxide poisoning, radiation damage, etc. The science is solid if a lot of things are done right, buuut the experience wasn’t for me—and takes more than one session to really make any impact.

🧘 Neuronova dopamine seat. Basically a leather stool that emits targeted vibration patterns to activate sensory pathways and nudge your brain into releasing dopamine. (ICYDK, dopamine helps with motivation, focus, and overall get-stuff-done energy.) The idea is to get your dopamine from the seat and not from constant Insta scrolling/elsewhere. I found it super fascinating and want three (unfortunately, they’re pretty expensive). Plus, yes, “the dopamine seat” is an elite name.

😌 Shiftwave. More vibration therapy! For this one, you lie down on a chair and experience whole-body vibration along with breathwork and meditation. It turns on and off in shifts. Pretty epic and definitely felt more relaxed after my 10-minute session. However, I do gotta call out that the chair itself isn’t very sleek-looking (more like a futuristic lawn chair, LOL). Annnd at $9,950, it puts a high price on calm.

🫒 Kosterina's EVOO Shot. I take a tbsp of EVOO every morning as a part of my daily supplement stack, so I’m sold on this dose of wellness. I like that Kosterina puts it in a super convenient shot format (though IDK how great that is for the environment 🤔), and I actually think their EVOO is among the best tasting! (Disclaimer: Very minor investor.)

🐟 Seatopia. I first heard about this brand back in April when I wrote about producer-direct foods, and now I finally got to try ‘em! Pretty obsessed. Basically, Seatopia delivers microplastic-free, lab-tested, and mercury-safe seafood from regenerative aquaculture farms straight to your doorstep. I tried their scallop & caviar in a clamshell snack, and it was a real wow.

Oh—and lotsss of other fun products that’re already a part of my regular routine were there, including Timeline, Fatty15, Four Sigmatic, Function (more on them below), Prenuvo, Pendulum, Big Bold Health, Parsley Health, and Tiny Health. I'm also excited to learn more about PNOĒ's brain analysis device and Ohm's Resonance Lamp (more on both coming).

Could facial massage be good for your brain? Er, possibly! 

A new study published in Nature found a connection between the facial lymphatic system and the brain’s waste-clearance pathway (otherwise known as the glymphatic system). Translation: Facial massage might actually help your brain clean house. 🧠

Researchers in South Korea (the MVPs 🏆 of facial care… annnd also maybe Demon Hunters) discovered that stimulating vessels in the maxilla (cheekbones), nasal sidewalls (around the nose), and periorbital regions (under and around the eyes) can help move fluid through your facial lymphatic system—which may support how your brain flushes out waste.

Although it’s still in the early stages of research, the idea is promising. The mechanism could help clear out toxins like amyloid-beta and tau proteins—two signature culprits behind Alzheimer’s. So while more data is needed to confirm long-term brain health benefits (a topic you’ll see me covering more, btw), it’s an exciting glimpse into how something as simple as facial massage could have brain-boosting potential.

Grab your gua sha’s and get going, people! 💆🏻‍♂️💆🏻‍♀️

Out of the dozens of things he does every day for his health, Bryan Johnson says there’s one thing he thinks people should focus on the most: Lower your heart rate before sleep. He calls it “the most consequential health lesson to learn,” given sleep 😴 is so crucial to longevity. Unexpected, right??

One of my goals lately has been to double my restorative sleep (I am doing okay at this), so naturally, I was into it. The key metric here is your HRBS (heart rate before sleep). According to Johnson, if you lower your HRBS, you’re more likely to fall asleep faster and experience deeper, higher-quality sleep because it activates your parasympathetic nervous system.

To measure your HRBS, he suggests lying flat on your back and relaxing for 60 seconds (with a few deep breaths if needed). Then count your pulse for 15 seconds and multiply by 4. Or, if you have a wearable, just check your heart rate ❤️ in the app.

What’s a good score? Johnson says 50 bpm is fantastic (though his usually ranges between 39-44 bpm… classic overachieving 😆). I’ve been tracking a bit these last few nights and, er, I do not have 50 bpm and more like 65 before bed…

He has a whole list of suggestions to improve your HRBS, plus a few semi-extreme extras. Here’s a look at which ones I’m personally abiding by in my evening routine:

If you try any of these, let me know how they affect your HRBS!

Brb, catch me doing this with my kiddos all holiday season long. 😂

Okay, you now know what I’m curious about—but here’s what everyone else is Googling, according to a few trusty platforms.

👋 Who are you again? I’m Derek Flanzraich—founder of two venture-backed startups in Greatist (👍) and Ness (👎). I’ve worked with brands like GoodRx, Parsley, Midi, Ro, NOCD, and Peloton. I now run Healthyish Content, a premium health content & SEO agency (among other things).

Every Thursday, I share 5 health things I feel strongly about so you can live healthyish. (Disclaimer: I’m more your friend with health benefits. None of this is medical advice.) 

And oh, you also feel strongly about some health things? Hit reply—I’d love to hear it.