Davinia Taylor credits 'biohacking' routine for reversing her 'biological age' after years of heavy drinking

Davinia Taylor, a 47-year-old former actress and member of the 1990s Primrose Hill social scene, said she has adopted an intensive daily wellness regimen that she believes has reduced her "biological age" to 20. Taylor, now based in Lancashire and founder of natural supplements brand WillPowders, credited a combination of exercise, diet, light therapy and technology-assisted monitoring for what she described as a dramatic health turnaround.

Taylor described a routine that begins in the early morning without an alarm, followed by exposure to a spectrum light panel and a keto-style coffee made with collagen and medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil. She said she completes a school run, then goes on a seven-kilometre hill run while listening to house music, with strength training three to four times a week and late-morning snacks of eggs or broth-based soup. Evenings, she said, typically feature meat, fish, vegetables and a bone-broth protein powder she called "the one thing I couldn't live without," alongside breathwork meditation and limited phone use.

Taylor also listed recovery activities including infrared sauna sessions, ice baths or cold showers, and the use of wearable monitors such as the Oura ring and Whoop to track sleep and other metrics. She said staff at her company are provided with those devices and that the WillPowders office contains a range of health-focused equipment, including a gym, a photobiomodulation (PBM) bed, hydrogen therapy, an infrared sauna, an ice bath and walking desks.

The former actress, who has been sober for 17 years after a history of heavy drinking, said she spent time in a 12-week rehabilitation programme in South Africa during the late 2000s after what she described as a period when drinking had "flatlined" for her. Taylor told media outlets that doctors warned her she might have died if she had had "one more drink." She has spoken publicly about postnatal depression following the birth of her first child in 2007 and about taking prescribed medication for what she was told was bipolar disorder for five years.

Taylor said she now uses artificial intelligence to research recipes and other aspects of her business and personal life, but that she keeps strict boundaries around phone use and discourages excessive screen time for her children. She described a high "dopamine drive" and said symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can present differently in women; she has linked impulsive behaviour in her past to that trait.

Taylor's account traces a trajectory from the social prominence of the Primrose Hill crowd, where she mixed with celebrities in the 1990s, to a period of personal crisis and then to business ownership and advocacy for lifestyle changes she calls "biohacking." In interviews she defined biohacking as making small, strategic, science-backed changes to habits and behaviours to improve cognitive function, weight management and other health outcomes.

She has four children. She shares son Grey, 17, with her ex-husband Dave Gardener; she has a daughter, Luxx, 13, whose father she has not publicly identified; and two younger children, Asa, six, and Jude, seven, with her partner Matthew Leyden. Taylor has also spoken about a custody battle and suicidal thoughts in the past, and she has said she hopes her experience encourages other women to seek help for hormonal and mental-health issues.

Taylor's description of a markedly lower "biological age" is presented as her personal assessment and is part of a wider trend among wellness entrepreneurs who use proprietary tests and wearable devices to quantify health metrics. Medical and scientific communities use a variety of measures to assess biological ageing, and experts caution that individual biomarkers and consumer devices do not always capture the complexity of ageing. Taylor's routine emphasises sleep, physical activity, nutritional supplements, cold and heat exposure, and regular monitoring, practices that align with commonly recommended lifestyle measures associated with improved markers of metabolic and cardiovascular health.

In discussing her recovery from alcohol dependence, Taylor said she initially replaced alcohol with food and other behaviours before refining her approach to nutrition and exercise. She has cited magnesium supplements, sourdough bread, blue-light–blocking glasses and breathwork meditation as part of her sleep and stress-management strategies, and she said alcohol is a strict no‑no because it impairs her sleep quality.

Taylor's public statements on health and recovery reflect personal experience and the practices she promotes through her business. She has framed her transformation as a combination of sobriety, what she calls "simplicity and science," and ongoing self-monitoring. Health specialists generally advise that individuals consult qualified clinicians when interpreting wearable data or considering major changes to diet, exercise or medical treatment.