The daughter of a NASA astronaut proves that optimal ageing doesn’t require millions – just smart science and sustainable habits.
Biohacking sounds like science fiction, but it’s simply the art of treating your body like a fascinating experiment. Instead of passively accepting whatever ageing throws at you, biohackers actively tweak their lifestyle – tracking sleep, optimising nutrition, experimenting with cold showers, measuring everything from heart rate variability to biological age.
In truth, “biohacking” is a rather grandiose, tech-bro term for what is essentially a proactive stance towards health: using available information to take better preventive care of ourselves as we age. Put positively, it’s extending the healthy period of life as far as practicable without boring everyone to death about our health concerns. Put negatively, it’s reducing the period of old age during which we become reliant on others.
Before exploring one woman’s extraordinary success, two crucial warnings.
First: The Social Hazard
There’s a common-sense warning against beating your chest and announcing your health regime to anyone who’ll listen. Rather than depleting your bank account, you’ll rapidly diminish your pool of friends. Psychologically, it’s like being the class swot-pushing people to reflect on their less energetic responses or lack of engagement. In a society where everyone’s looking for excuses to criticise others, you may quickly earn lectures about overpopulation and scarce resources.
The lesson? Work on yourself quietly. Let others notice the changes rather than announcing them. Ironically, many aspects of better health involve simply returning to what our grandparents did naturally-walking everywhere, eating at regular times, going to bed when it got dark, and consuming food that hadn’t been processed into oblivion. They didn’t need to “biohack” because they lived according to natural rhythms that modern life has systematically dismantled.
Second: The Safety Warning
You can ignore what others think, but you must think carefully about what you ingest. Exercise remains your best low-cost investment, along with healthy food. Supplements are not only controversial but potentially dangerous in the wrong hands. Recently, The Resident reported on a billionaire boasting about having the biological age of a 50-year-old at 70-who ended up in hospital because his longevity regime caused cross-contamination. His mix-and-match supplement approach damaged his heart and kidneys. The message: tread carefully.
The Success Story
Julie Gibson-Clark has married the common-sense wisdom of our grandparents’ lifestyle with information most people never access-namely, space research. That’s because she grew up in the household of a NASA astronaut.
To the astonishment of the billionaire set and those promoting luxury longevity cures, she slipped into second place on the global Rejuvenation Olympics leaderboard, creating a stir and more than a few red faces. A single mother from Phoenix, operating solo with a £21-a-month gym membership, outperformed tech moguls backed by armies of doctors.
Consider the contrast: Bryan Johnson, known for employing around 80 medical professionals, consuming over 100 pills daily and spending £1.6 million annually, found himself trailing behind someone whose biggest monthly health expense was a NOVOS supplement subscription. It was rather like watching a home cook with a few good recipes beat a Michelin-starred restaurant with a team of 30 chefs.
At 56, Gibson-Clark held the #2 spot on the Rejuvenation Olympics leaderboard for over a year, ageing at just 0.665 biological years for every chronological year.
Plot Twist: When the Game Changes Mid-Play
In July 2024, just as Gibson-Clark was gaining media attention for her budget-friendly success, the Rejuvenation Olympics mysteriously changed its rules. Instead of using each person’s best annual score, they began averaging the three best scores over 24 months. Suddenly, Bryan Johnson jumped to 3rd place while Gibson-Clark plummeted to 93rd.
The timing raised eyebrows. As one participant observed, this change “benefits those who can afford to retake the test as often as they like.” Gibson-Clark, as a working single mother, can’t exactly afford to spend £400+ on multiple tests hoping for better numbers. It’s like changing the scoring rules at Wimbledon mid-tournament because the underdog keeps winning.
Yet what the rule changes cannot diminish are the core principles that made her so successful-principles as valid as ever.
Space-Age Wisdom Meets Everyday Reality
NASA has spent decades perfecting how to keep astronauts healthy during extended missions, focusing on exercise, nutrition timing, stress management and structured routines. When your subjects are floating 250 miles above Earth, without the option to pop to the local gym or grab a quick snack, you get very precise about what actually works.
Growing up with a NASA astronaut father gives you a unique perspective on human performance. Edward Gibson, science pilot on the legendary Skylab 4 mission, spent 84 days in space in 1973-74-a record-breaking stint that required maintaining peak physical and mental condition while floating in a metal capsule.
It’s no wonder Julie believes food and exercise are the keys to success. She grew up knowing that peak performance can be engineered through proper training and nutrition. In her household, “eat your vegetables” carried the weight of “optimise your micronutrient intake for sustained energy output.” While other children had bedtime stories, Julie absorbed lessons about astronauts exercising religiously in zero gravity to prevent their bones from dissolving.
Her approach is, in effect, a grounded interpretation of rigorously tested space protocols-adapted for everyday life, without needing a mission control team or a multi-million-pound budget.
The Superwoman Schedule
Julie rises at 5am. But before you close this article in despair, let’s be honest: not everyone is wired to bounce out of bed before dawn like some health-optimised cockerel determined to wake the neighbourhood.
She insists her early rising isn’t about superhuman discipline-it’s about managing her time so she can exercise without other commitments interfering. Sometimes she has to bargain with herself.
“I just tell myself-go for the sauna. That’s all you have to do today,” she admits. The takeaway? Lower the bar, at least early in the day. Do something rather than nothing. Your version might be “just put on workout clothes” or “just walk round the block.”
Her exercise routine includes high-intensity intervals on Mondays-specifically the Norwegian 4×4 protocol: 4 minutes of intense effort, 3 minutes of recovery, repeated four times. Unsurprisingly, this “torture method” hails from Norway, a country where people ski uphill for fun and hike in sub-zero conditions as a weekend pastime.
Nutrition: A Daily Mission
Julie aims for a pound of vegetables a day, starting with a “Mean Green Drink” containing moringa, fermented dried greens, chlorella, maca, lemon juice and 20g of collagen protein. This is followed by a “Greens Latte” made with bone broth and cooked baby greens.
Thanks to today’s bone broth craze, replicating her approach is far easier than in years past. Blessed with the optimism and discipline to consume more vegetables than most small supermarkets carry, she tackles nutrition with determination.
For anyone who thinks lettuce on a burger counts as “eating vegetables,” the lesson isn’t to down green sludge immediately-it’s to gradually increase your plant intake. With smoothie machines now commonplace, blending diverse vegetables into something palatable has never been easier.
Vegetable intake is just one pillar of her longevity strategy. She’s also an advocate of intermittent fasting-specifically the 16:8 approach. For her, that means starting her eating window at 10am.
After six months, her biological age testing showed an 8% improvement, dropping from 0.76 to 0.65.
The Philosophy That Works
Most importantly, Gibson-Clark rejects the “biohacker” label. She believes in building routines gradually until they become as automatic as brushing your teeth. Her interest began after a bout of depression following divorce, when stress and exhaustion were affecting her digestion and causing acid reflux.
There are few women in the longevity movement, which remains largely male-dominated-often by individuals convinced they will “beat death.” That kind of obsession detracts from the more grounded aim of simply staying well for as long as possible.
Julie’s approach matters because it demonstrates that healthspan isn’t the preserve of the wealthy-it’s accessible to anyone willing to adjust their routines and diet. Her DNA methylation test revealed an ageing pace of just 65 days for every 100 days-proof that you don’t need millions or a hermit-like lifestyle to make real gains.
As she puts it:
“Good health is a fundamental human right, and you deserve to feel your best all the days of your life. No matter where you are in your health journey—just start.”
Appendix: Practical Applications
Dealing with Menopause
Gibson-Clark allocates £40 monthly for prescription compounded hormone replacement therapy (HRT), addressing hormonal challenges that affect women in their 50s. Research shows HRT can improve biological ageing in postmenopausal women, easing symptoms, improving sleep, and maintaining bone density. For many women, tackling hormonal imbalances is key to sustaining energy and sticking to healthy routines.
Exercise Modifications for Joint Issues
Julie notes that “coffee is hard on my joints,” showing awareness of inflammatory triggers. Her joint-friendly strategy includes:
Alternating free weights and machines to avoid repetitive stress
Sauna sessions for recovery and mobility
Combining cardio, strength and stretching over high-impact activities
Practical swaps:
Brisk walking instead of running
Resistance bands in place of heavy weights
Water exercises or gentle yoga on flare-up days
Exercising during personal energy peaks
Extra warm-up time on stiff mornings
Key Supplements
Core Stack (~£120/month)
NOVOS Core & Boost: £63
HRT: £40
Vitamin D + Magnesium: £12
Additional targeted supplements: £16–24
Budget Starter Stack (~£40/month)
Quality multivitamin: £20
Magnesium: £8
Vitamin D: £6
Omega-3: £10
Always discuss supplementation-especially HRT-with a healthcare provider. Julie’s 8% improvement in ageing pace after six months on NOVOS was measured via TruDiagnostic testing.
