Conversations Unplugged
with Nick Zaldastani
After years working in technology and nearly a decade in the biohacking world, Nick Zaldastani is turning his attention to a group that historically has not spent much time thinking about longevity: college students. Nick, who was named an “Ambassador of Biohacking” by Dave Asprey, founded the Lifelong Wellbeing Foundation to connect young adults who are already exploring better sleep, nutrition, fitness, recovery, and proactive health. In this conversation with STEMREGEN Founder and Chief Science Officer Christian Drapeau, Nick explains why the years between 18 and 22 may be one of the most important opportunities to build habits that last a lifetime.
Nick Zaldastani
Nick has spent years involved in education, including a decade on the board of Duke University and working with a high school in Tbilisi, Georgia. What he sees now is a generation approaching college life differently than his own. He points to declining interest in alcohol among students and growing enthusiasm around wellness, meditation, nutrition, exercise, and recovery. Across campuses, he says students are already organizing clubs and communities around these interests, while athletic programs are introducing tools such as red light, cold plunges, and saunas. His goal is not to create that movement, but to connect the people who are already driving it.
Christian sees something equally significant in that shift. For previous generations, health at 20 or 25 often felt almost irrelevant because youth made resilience seem automatic. Only decades later do many people wish they had paid closer attention. Nick believes today’s students are beginning to break that cycle, driven not necessarily by fear of aging but by a desire for better performance now: better sleep, better nutrition, greater energy, and the ability to get more from their lives. Through Lifelong Wellbeing, he wants students, clubs, teachers, alumni, and athletic departments across different schools to learn from one another rather than remaining isolated within individual campuses. STEMREGEN joined that mission as the foundation’s title sponsor during its first year.
For both Nick and Christian, the timing matters because college is about much more than education. It is often the first period when young adults leave home, become truly independent, and decide which ideas and passions will shape the next chapter of their lives. Nick has watched students become deeply committed to everything from academics and sports to fitness and proactive health, and he believes those interests can influence habits for decades. Lifelong Wellbeing is his effort to give that emerging community a place to connect, share what is working, and learn from one another while those lifelong patterns are still being formed.
