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What is longevity?
What is your goal for the years as you age? Do you imagine being able to travel, stay active, spend time with your grandchildren – and actually have the energy and clarity to enjoy it?
That takes more than just adding years to your life. It requires staying mentally sharp and physically capable for as long as possible. And that’s what longevity is really about: taking care of your health in a way that keeps you free to engage in life – not just stay alive.
Longevity isn’t only about how long you live. It’s about how well you live as you age. To understand this better, let’s take a closer look at two key concepts:
Definition of health- and life span
Life span: The total number of years you live. It’s your biological end point, no matter your condition during those years.
Health span: The years when your mind is sharp, your body is strong, and you’re free from chronic disease. It’s not just about being alive – it’s about living well.
Said in other words; Lifespan is how long you live. Healthspan is how well you live during those years. The goal is for them to overlap as much as possible. To stay independent, active, and mentally sharp – and to minimise the time spent in poor health.
That’s what longevity is really about: living well, for as long as possible.
Is longevity mostly genes?
A 2022 study suggests that genetic factors account for approximately 25% of the variation in human lifespan. The same study also points out that the influence of genetics may increase with age. Among centenarians—people who reach 100 years or more—genetics is estimated to explain up to 33% of lifespan in women and as much as 48% in men. While before the age of 80, environment, lifestyle, and social conditions have a much greater influence[1].
Another large-scale study from 2025, based on data from nearly half a million individuals in the UK Biobank, examined 164 life circumstances – including sleep, income, social conditions, and habits – and used a blood-based proteomic aging clock to assess biological age. According to the findings, genetic factors explained here less than 2% of the variation in mortality, while environmental factors accounted for up to 17%. The most influential factors included:
- smoking
- low income
- poor sleep
- unemployment
- loneliness
The results also showed a strong association between environmental exposures, biological aging, and a wide range of age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease, COPD, diabetes, and stroke. Genetics played a more prominent role only in a few diseases, including Alzheimer’s and certain types of cancer.[2].
Life expectancy vs longevity
Before discussing what it means to stay healthy in older age—and how this might be achieved—it can be useful to clarify the term life expectancy and how it differs from longevity. Although these terms are often used interchangeably, they refer to different concepts.
lets break it down
Life expectancy refers to the average number of years a person is expected to live, based on statistical averages. This figure can be influenced by factors like geographic location, lifestyle, and medical advancements.
Longevity is about more than just years lived; it encompasses the quality of those years. It’s about living a longer life while maintaining good health, vitality, and happiness. Longevity is not just surviving, but thriving in one’s later years.
Life expectancy and lifespan calculators – can you trust them?
Life expectancy calculators can be fun and insightful to try. They offer a quick look at how your lifestyle and habits may affect how long you’re likely to live. But it’s important to treat them as estimates, not as accurate predictions.
Most tools ask about your age, gender, physical activity, sleep, diet, alcohol, smoking, and family history. Based on your answers, they give a statistical projection of your life expectancy.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Gives an overview of how your habits might influence your health and longevity | Rarely includes genetic data, biomarkers, or detailed health history |
| Raises awareness of risk factors (e.g. smoking, inactivity, poor sleep) | Can’t predict diseases, accidents, or future medical advancements |
| Suggests lifestyle changes that could improve your estimated lifespan | Results are based on averages – not personalized or precise |
| Motivates small steps toward better long-term health | Not a substitute for medical advice or clinical assessments |
Examples of available lifespan calculators:
1. Living to 100
Developed by Dr. Thomas Perls, this calculator is based on research into centenarians. It asks detailed questions about your lifestyle, health, and family background and provides personalized suggestions.
2. Project big life
Used in Canadian and European public health research, it estimates not just life expectancy but also how many of those years are likely to be healthy.
3. Blue zones vitality calculator
Inspired by regions where people live exceptionally long lives, this tool focuses on factors like purpose, diet, movement, and social habits.
Is longevity expensive?
Whether longevity is expensive depends on how it’s approached. Some strategies come with little to no cost, while others involve a significant financial investment. For example, some people do simple strength exercises at home using bodyweight or basic equipment, while others choose exclusive gyms with advanced machines, personal trainers, and tailored programs.
This broad spectrum of approaches reflects how differently people engage with a lifestyle focused on health and longevity. At one end are low-cost, accessible habits; at the other is someone like Bryan Johnson, who has invested millions of dollars—and his entire way of living—into a highly structured longevity protocol. His program includes continuous health monitoring, a strict diet, daily supplements, and input from a team of medical experts. He shares all his results publicly—from how specific supplements affect his body to recipes intended to support health and extend lifespan.
While Johnson’s approach represents the high-investment end of the spectrum, most people opt for more practical and sustainable routines that fit into everyday life—especially since a lifestyle like his would be completely out of reach for the vast majority of people, both in terms of cost and time commitment.
Read more and get inspired by Bryan Johnson’s fascinating lifestyle in this blog: Bryan Johnson Blueprint protocol.
To give a clearer picture of the range, here’s an overview of different longevity strategies and how they can vary in cost:
| Cost level | Examples |
|---|---|
| Low or no cost | Regular physical activity (e.g. walking, bodyweight exercises at home) |
| Quality sleep | |
| Maintaining social connections | |
| Spending time in nature | |
| Cooking simple, whole foods at home | |
| Avoiding smoking and excessive alcohol consumption | |
| Moderate cost | Buying fresh, nutrient-dense foods |
| Preventive healthcare checkups | |
| Supplements | |
| Access to fitness facilities or group classes | |
| Higher cost | Advanced diagnostic testing (e.g. epigenetic or biological age markers) |
| Specialized longevity clinics | |
| Certain treatments or therapies (e.g. hormone protocols, IV nutrient drips) |
Modern science behind longevity
As research into aging and chronic disease continues to advance rapidly, new methods, tools, and strategies are constantly being discovered to help prevent illness and extend healthy lifespan. The focus is gradually shifting from treating disease after it appears to trying to prevent it before it develops. More and more scientists and doctors are now exploring how aging processes can be slowed down—or at least how the damage they cause can be reduced.
Today, we know far more about aging than we did just 50 years ago, and research continues to uncover new possibilities and approaches for supporting long-term health.
Longevity escape velocity
One concept often mentioned in this context is longevity escape velocity. It refers to the idea that we may reach a point where aging can be delayed faster than we biologically age.
In other words…
If science can add more than one year of healthy life for every year that passes, it may become possible—at least in theory—to postpone aging and death indefinitely, as long as technological progress continues.
Some researchers and futurists suggest that this tipping point could be reached as early as 2030. They point to a range of advanced interventions—such as telomere extension, gene therapy, stem cell treatments, and AI-driven health monitoring—as potential contributors to reaching this goal.
As already mentioned earlier in this blog, Bryan Johnson is a notable example of how far some individuals are pushing the boundaries using current technologies and protocols. According to his own data, he has achieved the world’s lowest measured pace of aging: 0.48.
As he writes in his Blueprint blog, this means he now, in theory, only needs to celebrate his birthday every other year.
Peter Attia’s perspective on prevention and modern medicine
When looking at longevity, it’s also important to consider how our healthcare systems approach disease. In many cases, they are primarily designed to react once illness occurs—rather than to prevent it in the first place.
This is one of the core messages from physician and longevity expert Peter Attia, who argues in his book Outlive that we need a new approach—especially if the goal is to live longer and stay healthy for longer.
He places particular focus on two models of healthcare: Medicine 2.0 and Medicine 3.0.
Medicine 2.0
A reactive healthcare model that treats disease after it appears. It follows standard guidelines and is effective in acute care, but focuses less on prevention.
Medicine 3.0
A proactive and personalized model focused on early detection and prevention. It aims to reduce risk before disease develops and supports long-term health and longevity.
In interviews, Peter Attia emphasizes that the Medicine 2.0 approach is still highly valuable—especially in acute situations such as trauma, surgery, or life-threatening conditions.
However, when it comes to longevity and the prevention of chronic disease, he argues for a different model: Medicine 3.0. This version is more proactive, personalized, and focused on risk reduction and early intervention—long before symptoms develop.
Peter Attia writes in Outlive:
“Health insurance companies won’t pay a doctor much to tell a patient to change their diet or monitor their blood glucose to prevent type 2 diabetes. Yet, they will pay for that same patient’s expensive insulin once the disease has developed.”
David Sinclair and aging as a biological target
While experts like Peter Attia focus on preventing disease through measurement, early intervention, and lifestyle strategies, others are working more directly with the biological mechanisms that drive aging itself.
One of the most prominent voices in that field is David Sinclair, who sees aging as a process that can not only be understood—but actively influenced.
Professor David Sinclair from Harvard is one of the leading researchers in the field of aging. His work is based on the idea that aging is not just a natural process, but a biological condition that can be slowed—and potentially partially reversed.
He studies how cellular aging can be influenced through mechanisms such as epigenetic reprogramming, activation of sirtuins, and the use of compounds like NMN and resveratrol.
Sinclair’s research has helped shift the understanding of aging—seeing it not as something inevitable, but as something that, to some extent, can be measured, influenced, and possibly treated.
Related: What are Sirtuins? and 5 reasons why everyone who wants to age healthier is switching to NMN supplements
Longevity tips
As we age, it’s essential to prioritize our health and well-being to ensure a fulfilling and enjoyable life. Staying healthy in old age requires a multifaceted approach that includes physical, mental, and social aspects. Below we will explore six key tips for maintaining good health and enhancing longevity as you grow older. These tips will help you develop a holistic approach to staying healthy in old age, providing a foundation for a vibrant and fulfilling life well into your golden years.
Exercise
Unless your doctor has strictly advised you not to, there is no excuse to sit ideally by. As per research, regular moderate exercise can help reduce the aging process. Exercises help improve the body’s core strength and help reduce issues such as back pain or muscle ache. It also helps improve your body balance and prevents accidents. Our bones lose their density with age and might break even from a light fall. So, having a good balance is essential.
Moreover, there is much more to the benefits that come from regular exercising as you age. It can delay or even prevent diseases like diabetes, osteoporosis, or heart diseases. Light and regular exercise can also boost your adrenalin. This, in turn, helps improve your general mood & alleviates any symptoms of depression.
Old age is also known to induce cognitive diseases, which can be prevented with an active lifestyle.
Diet
Staying healthy and enjoying a long life doesn’t mean you have to starve. Frankly speaking, it is more about establishing a balance on your plate. From carbohydrates to fats and omega fatty acids, each meal you have should be rich in basic nutrients. Moreover, studies also suggest that eating a good amount of vegetables helps keep you young and healthy for an optimized longevity.
Related: Glucose Goddess hacks: Master blood sugar for health and longevity
Sleep
We all know how important sleep is. Don’t sleep for more than 48 hours, and your body starts showing signs of distress. On average, 7 to 8 hours of sleep is recommended for an average human. However, as we age, we might get tired pretty fast. This could cause you to feel sleepy too often.
This doesn’t mean you should chug mugs of coffee to avoid sleeping. Besides your 8 hours of sleep, you can take a few power naps when your body really needs it. For example, 20 to 30 minutes of power nap once or twice in the day can help you stay active.
Read our full sleep blog here: Sleep for longevity
Social life
As we age, our social connections depreciate with time. You might not party all night long like you used to, but having a social life is important. You can hang out with your friends, talk over the phone, or even cook together. Being with people you love can boost your oxytocin and help you feel happy. This feel-good hormone also helps induce relaxation and calmness. Plus, it also reduces inflammation in the body.
You can also cultivate meaningful relationships with friends by sharing hobbies and passion for something.
No smoking and drinking
You’ve probably heard that drinking alcohol in moderation is healthy. This idea often comes from studies on resveratrol, an antioxidant found in red wine. But any potential benefits come from the compound itself—not the alcohol. And the amount of resveratrol in a glass of wine is far too low to justify drinking for health reasons.
In fact, alcohol is not healthy, even in small amounts. It affects nearly every organ in the body—especially the brain, where it can impair memory, mood, and cognitive function over time. Regular alcohol use is also linked to increased inflammation and can accelerate biological aging.
Smoking, of course, has no health benefits—and like heavy drinking, it speeds up both internal and external aging.
The visible signs of premature aging aren’t just cosmetic—they often reflect what’s going on inside the body. The healthier your cells and organs are, the better your body functions, the younger you look, and the longer you’re likely to live.
If the goal is long-term health and healthy aging, the best choice is to limit—or completely avoid—both alcohol and tobacco.
Regular medical check-ups
Even if you are leading a healthy lifestyle, you cannot be 100% sure. So, it is important to get regular body check-ups from your doctor. Instead of visiting several doctors, try to stick to one. This will help your doctor establish medical history and help treat you better.
There is no harm in getting another medical advice if you aren’t satisfied. But, the key is to follow the advice of one to avoid confusion.
It’s never too late to get started
Now that you have your checklist for staying healthy in old age, the time is now to get started. Don’t rush into things. It’s okay to make mistakes and lose control at times. However, the key is to bring in discipline and bounce back once you fall off track. Remember, longevity isn’t simply living for long; it is more about your happiness, health, and being content for as long as you live. Embracing these tips for staying healthy in old age will help you make the most of your later years, fostering a sense of fulfillment and well-being.
References:
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The art of living well a life that’s not measured by years alone, but by experiences, health, and joy!
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