Longevity is a real trend topic - not only in America, but also increasingly in Europe. However, while trends usually die down after a short time, longevity is here to stay. And that's because it affects all of us - more than you would expect.
The term longevity originally comes from America and at the time was equated with a long life. Over the last few decades, the topic has also found its way into science and research - at a rapid pace. Studies on supplements and dietary habits that have a positive effect on health and longevity have sprung up all over the place. The knowledge surrounding the topic of longevity is growing rapidly. This development is so positive because trends are not normally evidence-based. Longevity is.
The big challenge in the molecular longevity jungle is to ensure that the ground-breaking results also find their way to the general public. Not least because of bestselling books such as Lifespan by Dr. David Sinclair, or Outlive from Dr. Peter Attia this is already the case. While science often fails to bridge the gap between experts and ordinary people, Longevity is already in the midst of life.
The term from ancient Rome
The term longevity, like so many important words, is derived from Latin. In ancient Rome, clever minds combined the words longus, from the adjective long, and vita, from the noun life, to form the new term longaevitās. This was understood to mean an individual who lives for a long time. Longevity is defined accordingly as "long life" or "a long lifespan". What about our current lifespan?
Life expectancy on the test bench
Life expectancy has increased considerably over the last century. While a boy or girl born in Germany shortly before 1900 had an average life expectancy of just 40.6 or 44 years, a baby today can expect to live almost twice as long.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, the current life expectancy of a newborn is 78.5 (men) and 83.4 years (women). In countries such as Japan, this figure is even higher. Nevertheless, these figures place Germany among the international leaders. Compared to Greenland, which can have over 200 years on its flippers, this seems low - but the rapid increase in life expectancy in humans is outstanding.
It is above all indicative of the rapid progress in the fields of medicine and technology. In addition, changes in everyday life and the world of work have contributed to our life expectancy being turned upside down.
What initially appears to be a quantum leap nevertheless has a catch. Dthe tunnel vision of curative medicine has led to people constantly thinking about new ways to heal, but neglecting prevention and health maintenance. Illness, disability and frailty now partly dominate the newly gained time of life and influence the quality of life immensely.
Healthspan versus Lifespan
While the lifespan self-explanatorily represents the total number of years we live, the healthspanis how many years of our lives we remain healthy, free and free from disease. Although the global increase in life expectancy in the past was followed by a parallel increase in healthspan, it was not quite able to keep pace.
The gap between lifespan and healthspan is even scientifically recognized and, according to research, is estimated at around 9 years. But that's not all. The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that a child born in Germany today will spend only 71 (70.89) of the 82 (81.72) years of life in good health. The sober realization: 11 years of loss of quality of life. Longevity declares war on this discrepancy.
Longevity - the health revolution
In the past, immortality visionaries in research have consistently strived to extend life to 150 years or more. But what good are extra years of life if they are characterized by illness? "Longevity is only desirable if it prolongs youth, but does not prolong old age." - Alexis Carrel The advocates of health promotion and maintenance adopted Alexis Carrel's principle and gradually supplanted the immortalists. The new resolution is to reach the same age, but fitter, more vital, healthier and more self-determined . If this also leads to a longer life, that's a nice side effect. These considerations coined the terms healthspan and lifespan In this context, it is also important to know that the influence of our genetic make-up on life expectancy is relatively small. According to scientific studies this accounts for a maximum of 20-30 percent . All the rest is determined by our behavior, attitude and environment. These have an effect on our epigenetics. Put simply, you can think of epigenetics as a volume control. This means that epigenetics can turn genes up (the gene is read more strongly) or down (the gene is read less). In order to better understand all the molecular processes behind ageing, scientists have defined the Hallmarks of Aging. These deal with the hallmarks of ageing at the molecular and intercellular level. There are now 12 of these hallmarks. Let's take a look at where the modern longevity concept originated.
Blue Zones - where Longevity is at home
Before Dan Buettner published the article "The Secrets of Long Life" in the journal National Geographic in 2005, the blue zones of our planet mostly referred to the oceans. Today, the Blue Zones are five Longevity strongholds.
Buettner and his team set out to find places where there were not only an above-average number of centenarians , but also groups of people who had grown old without health problems such as heart disease, obesity, cancer or diabetes. The American researcher found what he was looking for in the following five places:
- Ikaria in Greece
- Okinawa in Japan
- Ogliastra in Sardinia
- Loma Linda in California
- Nicoya in Costa Rica
What do these places actually have in common? This question naturally also occupied Dan Buettner. First of all, his team noticed that the people in the Blue Zones live quite isolated in a certain way -be it on islands, peninsulas, in mountainous regions or small towns. Despite all the local separation, they have access to modern medical care .
The Blue Zones are also located in sunny subtropical to tropical areas, making vitamin D deficiency a rarity. This is an advantage, as researchers suspect that a vitamin Ddeficiency can shorten lifespan.
In addition, the inhabitants consistently maintain a lifestyle that is characterized by tradition and responsibility towards the community . They mainly live on their own farms and work as shepherds and fishermen. This means a lot of movement and time spent outdoors . Their diet consists mainly of local, unprocessed foods, while processed foods are rarely or never on their menu .
Although our modern living conditions don't really allow for a similar lifestyle, we can still learn a lot from them.
Mark Hyman writes about this in his book Young Forever:
"Live close to nature. Love deeply. Eat simple food raised sustainably. Move naturally. Laugh and rest. Actually live (And live longer, as it turns out)."
Longevity Escape Velocity - The hypothesis of eternal life
An exciting concept in the longevity scene is "longevity escape velocity". The term was initially coined by the British biogerontologist Aubrey de Gray, who became widely known with his book " Never old! ". This refers to the following:
We all benefit from advances in medical treatments and technologies . This is also one reason why, on average, we are all living longer than the statistical life expectancy at the time of our birth would suggest. Nevertheless, we are still ageing faster than science is making progress, for example to slow down our ageing process.
Longevity escape velocity ( Longevity escape velocity ) is reached when life expectancy increases by more than one year per year of research. In very clear terms, this means that research is producing useful new findings so quickly that it could always provide all the answers to the questions of ageing. The result would indeed be eternal life. Some experts believe that humanity is either on the brink or that we have already reached that point. Let's wait and see what the future holds.
Medicine 3.0 - the other way to heal
There are many different approaches to achieving and maintaining health and longevity outside of curative medicine. Be it the functional medicine of Dr. Wachner, the preventive approach of Dr. Stoffel or the Biohacking Lab by Andreas Breitfeld.
The preventive and functional medicine , for example, sees the mismatch between body and environment as the cause of disease and ageing processes.
In very clear terms, this means:
We humans are not made to be inflamed, stressed, unrested, infected, undersupplied with important vital substances and surrounded by toxins.
What makes the functional approach different from curative medicine?
The functional perspective focuses on viewing the body as an integrated system rather than a collection of individual organs that are assigned to different medical specialties. It addresses the entire system and not just the symptoms .
Known Longevity personalities
Perhaps you have already read Lifespan by David Sinclair or listened to the podcast "The Drive" by Peter Attia . Maybe you've also read Mark Hyman's book "Young forever or heard of Valter Longo and his fake fasting diet. People like these are partly responsible for ensuring that longevity knowledge reaches people far away from research. In books, podcasts and series, they try to put complicated scientific findings into simple words - with great success.
Dr. David Sinclair
When the book ' Lifespan - Why we age and why we don't have to' was published in September 2019,David A. Sinclair, PhD was well-known, but not yet the shooting star of the longevity scene that he is today. The thrilling and exciting story of the molecular longevity pathways , which appeared in German under the title ' The End of Ageing - the revolutionary medicine of tomorrown', catapulted the Australian biologist and professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School to the top of bestseller lists in dozens of countries.
Dr. Mark Hyman
Mark Hyman is an American family physician, bestselling author and functional medicine practitioner. In his recently published bestselling book 'Young Forever' he describes food as medicine to support longevity, energy, mental clarity, happiness and much more. The doctor is an internationally recognized figure in the field of functional medicine and discusses many different topics relating to health and longevity in his podcast 'The Doctor's Farmacy'
Dr. Peter Attia
Peter Attia is one of the most renowned people in the longevity scene. The American doctor and health researcher is known for his podcast "The Drive" in which he discusses a variety of topics for a healthy and long life together with guests. With his new bestselling book 'Outlive - The Science and Art of Longevity' at the latest, Peter Attia also became known outside the scientific community.
Dave Asprey
On a trip to Tibet, the American computer scientist Dave Asprey enjoyed a cup of tea with typical yak butter and noticed that he felt much better physically and mentally. For the current entrepreneur and bestselling author of 'Superhuman', this experience was the starting signal for a new life, so to speak. He summarized his findings as the Bulletproof Diet and has set himself the goal of living to be 180 years old.
Bryan Johnson
The successful American entrepreneur invests several million dollars a year in his own rejuvenation program 'Blueprint'. You can read about the specific steps he takes and which supplements complement his strict dietary routine in our article about Bryan Johnson's Project Blueprint. He describes himself as the "most studied" person on earth.
The path to longevity
The strategies for extending healthspan are varied and include diet, exercise, supplements as well as various high-tech methods. To improve life, we need to understand ageing and the process behind it and focus on slowing it down.
It is hugely important to continue to devote time and resources to research to open up possibilities, underpinning the quest for healing and long health with knowledge. Whether the driver is a single disease or ageing in general.
While some well-known personalities take a very extreme path towards longevity, MoleQlar is about showing interested people all the possibilities. We want to help you improve your life. Whether this happens with supplements, changes in dietary habits or other methods is entirely up to you.
After all, good and long-lasting health doesn't start with a single test and doesn't end with a few powders taken sporadically. Staying healthy starts with you - with your willingness to learn more about your body and strengthen it.
An epigenetic age test can be a good start to find out where you stand. From there, certain nutritional hacks, the right exercise and selected supplements can support your journey towards a healthy future. A fairly new approach in longevity research is the proteome. The proteomics is concerned with analyzing all the proteins in your cells. This allows scientists to use a new approach to obtain information about your health. In collaboration with the renowned LMU, MoleQlar was able to launch one of the first proteomics tests. If you want to learn more about your molecular profile this is a great way to get started with longevity.
After all, Longevity is many things. For us, it can be a kind of blueprint for golden times and, in a way, a tool for self-healing . Research gives us tools - we just have to use them.
Discover your proteome with the Molecular Profile test from MoleQlar. Learn more now.
