Tonton
Even though our death is inescapable, more and more experts are of the opinion that how we feel in our later years may not be.
They refer to “healthspans” — the total number of years that we spend in good health.
Despite the fact that life expectancy has doubled over the previous 150 years, many of us have witnessed the shameful and sad decline of our loved ones as they grew older.
An industry promising a longevity revolution with methods they claim lead to healthier, longer lives is sprouting in an effort to avert that fate.
With supplements marketed as being able to slow down our cellular ageing and a variety of heat and cold therapies attempting to assist us lower inflammation and disease risk in our bodies, business is growing for individuals in this field.
I therefore embarked on a journey to the epicentre of it all, California, unsure of whether I would find a money-making cult there or the cutting edge of medicine.
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Bryan Johnson, a tech entrepreneur, spends millions of dollars year attempting to delay the appearance of his biological age, which is different from his real chronological age of 45.
Any of us who do this have a good reason to do so. If ageing as a whole could be postponed, then the danger of developing these disorders could as well. Age is the largest risk factor for disease, whether it be cancer, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, or dementia. But for him, it’s a game.
A bedroom in Mr. Johnson’s opulent Venice Beach home has been transformed into a clinic, where he spends a lot of time.
He claimed that the all-over skin laser treatment he has been receiving had caused his skin to age 22 years less than any other area of his body.
Even so, he points out that “our skin is our biggest organ” and that aesthetics are only a small component of the whole.
Mr. Johnson was friendly, sensible, and endearing. I left his home wishing I could (kind of) be like him. I try to avoid sugar, run 5 km every day, and occasionally test out extreme tracking technology, so maybe I already am.
Mr. Johnson’s existence, in the opinion of my coworkers, was devoid of joy, therefore his life is obviously not for everyone.
Even though his routine seemed extreme, lifestyle always came up in our conversations.
Lifestyle is responsible for about 93% of your longevity – only about 7% is genetics,” says Eric Verdin, chief executive of The Buck Institute for Ageing Research.
“Based on the data [if we live healthily], I would predict that most people could live to 95 in good health. So there’s 15 to 17 [extra] years of healthy life that is up for grabs for all of us,” he told me
