Bryan Johnson, an American entrepreneur focused on anti-aging, recently embarked on a self-experiment with ketamine, a horse tranquilizer. He monitored his brain activity for 15 days post-injection, revealing that his patterns became “completely scrambled.” Johnson used Kernel Flow technology to analyze his brain before and after the ketamine treatment, noting a shift from rigid to adaptable activity patterns, which may foster new connections in thinking. He reported his brain returned to baseline by day three. Known for his extravagant spending on experimental treatments, Johnson aims to reverse his biological clock and spends $2 million annually on health and wellness initiatives.
Bryan Johnson, an American entrepreneur famous for his anti-aging pursuits, has shared the insights from his latest self-experiment. Following his experimentation with plasma exchanges and stem cell injections, Mr. Johnson took a surprising route by injecting himself with ketamine, a tranquilizer used for horses, while monitoring his brain activity over a span of 15 days to explore its effects. The entrepreneur recounted how the anaesthetic influenced his brain activity, indicating that the patterns became “completely scrambled” after the injection.
“I injected the horse tranquilizer Ketamine and tracked my brain data for 15 days. It completely scrambled my brain. In a groundbreaking first, we addressed the question ‘What happens to the brain before, during, and after ketamine treatment?’ We also discovered the timeline for my brain to revert to ‘normal’. The findings were astonishing,” he tweeted.
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I injected the horse tranquilizer Ketamine and tracked my brain data for 15 days. It completely scrambled my brain.
In a world-first we answered the question ‘what happens to the brain before, during, and after ketamine treatment?’ We also discovered how long it took for my… pic.twitter.com/UFcS0Bumhn
— Bryan Johnson /dd (@bryan_johnson) February 18, 2025
Mr. Johnson assessed and compared his brain activity before and after the administration of ketamine using Kernel Flow, a brain-computer interface technology created by his company. Prior to the ketamine injection, his brain activity displayed rigid and predictable patterns. However, after the ketamine was taken, his brain activity transformed into a highly adaptable and unpredictable state. By the third day post-experiment, his brain activity slowly began to revert to its baseline, marking the end of the “therapeutic window.”
Reflecting on the effects, he remarked, “After ketamine, my brain’s activity patterns were completely scrambled. Instead of predictable routes between major hubs, traffic was rerouted to smaller, less-traveled airports across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. This shift indicates that brain activity once characterized by rigidity became more flexible and varied, potentially opening up new connections and ways of thinking.”
Interestingly, Mr. Johnson has attracted attention for his extravagant investments in experimental “de-aging” treatments, seeking to turn back his biological clock. The 45-year-old has captured public interest with his extreme experiments, including blood transfusions from his teenage son. He allocates $2 million annually to medical diagnostics and treatments, alongside a carefully devised regimen of diet, sleep, and exercise to test if he can decelerate and potentially reverse the aging process.