Brian and Kristi Culhane have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on health and wellness amenities for their Scottsdale, Arizona, home.
The couple and their three kids now enjoy a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, UV air scrubbers, a steam room with aromatherapy and light therapy, a cold plunge, an indoor basketball court, and more.
They consider themselves biohackers, part of a group focused on a regimen of diet, exercise, and supplements that they believe will help them live longer.
“When I got into biohacking, I thought, ‘Instead of going to the health club every day, why not bring everything to my house?’” Brian Culhane, the 50-year-old cofounder and former president of the real-estate brokerage eXp Realty, told Business Insider. “This wasn’t just a novelty anymore; it was a lifestyle. If you’re serious about it, you need all your tools at home.”
The biohacking movement, most recently popularized by Bryan Johnson — a venture capitalist turned longevity guru who has invested millions in health technologies that he hopes will reverse his “biological age” — is now influencing luxury real estate. Some affluent homeowners are moving beyond traditional features like gyms and adding cutting-edge amenities from infrared saunas to ozone generators to take their wellness to the next level.
More people are integrating wellness-focused amenities into their homes, from wet rooms and private gyms to meditation rooms and gardens, according to Zillow. The real-estate giant found that as of December, the share of for-sale listings mentioning wellness-oriented amenities had risen by 16% from the year before. Homeowners today want more than just attractive spaces — they want places that actively support their physical and mental health.
The Culhanes’ house is a case study of the lengths to which some people go to bring healthy habits home. Let’s take a look.
Only the best amenities will do
Brian Culhane’s desire to be present for his children and outlive his own father, who died at 63, led him to biohacking.
Brian recalled a 2015 conversation with a life coach who pressed him about his dreams: “He asked, ‘What’s your most probable future?’ I answered, ‘End up like my dad.’ He asked again, ‘What’s your goal?’ I replied, ‘To not die young.’ That conversation began my commitment to living a healthy life.”
That commitment is reflected in the home that the Culhanes have built and refined since 2019 when they paid $546,000 for 1.1 acres in Scottsdale’s exclusive Troon at Glenn Moor neighborhood. The couple hired an architect to design a 10,000-square-foot home with five bedrooms and 6½ bathrooms.
Nearly every inch of the home is customized with features they believe are essential for their health, including a built-in smart sound system from Crestron Home, which can cost between $300,000 to $400,000 to install. Brian, who has dubbed himself “The DJ Dad,” cues up various “mood music,” from techno to reggae to classical. The system also plays megahertz music, which fills the house with vibrations similar to white noise.
“We designed the house with wellness in mind,” Brian said.
It has 16-foot sliding doors and 15- to 20-foot floor-to-ceiling windows, which Brian said were designed to let in natural light that aligns with the family’s “circadian rhythms.”
Don’t forget the three $5,000 Toto toilets and the heated floors. The HVAC system is equipped with UV-light air scrubbers, which, Brian said, clean pet dander, mold, airborne pollen, and carcinogens. For relaxation, there’s a rooftop deck for stargazing, a 7-foot-deep heated pool, and a six-person spa.
“My friend asked, ‘Why do you ever have to leave the house?’ I replied, ‘I don’t need to,’” Brian said.
Big budget, big benefits
Among all their health amenities, California Pool and Spa’s customized six-person cold plunge, worth about $60,000, might be the most covetable.
Cold plunges involve soaking in very cold water, sometimes as low as 30 degrees Fahrenheit. While some people believe cold plunges improve mood and reduce inflammation, there’s not enough evidence to suggest they significantly affect human longevity.
Positioned just steps from their master bedroom and next to the outdoor shower and private patio, the Culhanes’ cold plunge is left uncovered and remains frigid 24/7.
“I’d wake up at six, go to the gym, work out for an hour, then spend 20 minutes in the sauna, five minutes in the cold plunge, five minutes in the steam room, five minutes in the hot tub, and another five minutes in the cold plunge,” Brian said. “That routine took me two hours every morning. With kids to get ready for school, I realized, ‘I need to be able to do this as soon as I wake up.’”
An entire room is dedicated to the sauna, built for about $100,000 by Spa Steam and Sauna, the same company that supplies saunas to the Ritz-Carlton and other luxury hotels.
Finnish saunas are the most widely used saunas worldwide, so more scientific studies on their benefits exist. Research suggests they could help flush toxins from the body, improve heart health, and boost the immune system.
The family said they practice yoga, breathwork, and aromatherapy in the sauna, which features a wall of Himalayan salt they believe is beneficial for the respiratory system. Healthline found that studies on non-dietary uses of Himalayan salt are “relatively weak” and require further investigation.
Another notable feature of the house is the basketball court, which features NBA-grade flooring, a rim, protective pads, a scoreboard, lights, a 100-inch TV, and various gym equipment. The court cost about $250,000, and lighting and additional features were an additional $80,000.
Brian said he grew up playing basketball in a modest Chicago neighborhood, but his family couldn’t afford the private courts some of his peers had access to.
“Several of my friends had indoor courts. It was a treat to play there, though they rarely let me,” he said. “I thought it was the pinnacle of success and always thought, ‘I want that.’”
The Culhanes own multiple infrared light systems, including an advanced LightStim device typically found in luxury spas that they paid $4,411 for. This device uses specialized LED, or light-emitting diode, therapy to stimulate collagen production and reduce the appearance of fine lines, acne, and wrinkles.
Kristi uses the machine daily.
“I get up and turn it on first thing in the morning, and it lights up the whole room. I sit under it for about 15 minutes,” she said. “It actually improves my mood.”
The Culhanes also said their home’s extras have not only boosted their quality of life but also increased its value. A 2022 appraisal report valued their home at $6.1 million.
Some people love the house, while others are a bit skeptical
The Culhanes’ biohacking journey has gradually won over their friends and family.
“If they’re not already converted, they’re well on their way,” Brian said.
Gaining approval from the neighbors in their community, however, has taken time.
“We’re an active family, and it’s just not the neighbors’ lifestyle,” he explained. “It’s a quiet community, a golf club with mostly retirees. They all have dated, quiet homes, while we’ve got this big, bright glass house with a lot of kids and plenty of outdoor activities.”
Brian said it was sometimes challenging to follow all of their homeowners association’s rules for construction and architecture.
“We probably had 10 complaints against our build and property, ranging from leaving the porta potty open to materials blowing around, dust, and soil erosion,” Brian said.
Another wellness-focused construction project lies ahead
The Culhanes also take various supplements every day to enhance their health, including an array of Purium Superfoods for nutrition, Ultimate Human Molecular hydrogen tablets with methylene blue added for its reported antioxidant properties, and activated charcoal for detoxification.
They underwent Viome gut biome mapping, which analyzes blood, stool, and saliva to identify foods to avoid and detect any deficiencies.
“We each got our genetic test once, get our blood work done every six months, and have gut biome testing yearly,” Kristi said. “The goal is to get off supplements.”
For readers who are interested in trying this kind of supplement regimen, longevity-medicine doctors recommend first getting bloodwork through your primary care physician to check your vitals. Then, start slow — take one supplement for a few months, rather than starting a lot at once.
The Culhanes have joined several Facebook groups for people focused on health and fitness to stay ahead of the latest biohacking trends. Before permanently adding any new element to their regimen, they personally test it and only incorporate it if it fits into their “daily protocol,” as Brian put it.
They’re already planning their next project. In 2021, the Culhanes purchased a 15-acre ranchette along Oak Creek in Sedona, about a two-hour drive north of Scottsdale, for $900,000.
They took out a $2 million construction loan to build a 4,000-square-foot cabin on the land, which features ATV trails, hiking and biking paths, and areas for kayaking and fishing. In addition, they put in roads and brought in 36 dump trucks of sand to create a man-made beach the size of a football field. They also plan to build a treehouse, plant an orchard, and grow grapevines.
So far, they’ve spent $250,000 on the Sedona project, Brian said.
Their ultimate goal is to turn the property into an off-grid, self-sustaining health retreat for themselves, friends, and family, with the potential to rent it out.
“I want the best of both worlds,” Brian said. “I want to recreate the healing elements we brought into our Troon home and turn our Sedona property into a master retreat. I envision something like being on top of Sedona, tapping into the powerful vortex energy of the earth.”
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