The results and studies discussed in the post further validate a feeling I have had about longevity for some time: that there is not much a person living a “normal” life with decent eating, exercise, social, and sleeping habits can do to significantly extend their lifespan. There is no silver bullet that, from a reasonably “normal” health baseline, can routinely give you 5 or 10 extra years, let alone 1 or 2 years.
In this regard, current science has failed, and I think the whole longevity research community needs to reassess the way forward. No matter how much pill-swallowing, cold-bath-taking, HIIT-training, and sleep-optimizing they (we) do, it does not really work.
I didn’t discuss this in my review because I didn’t really have anything to say about it, but Outlive talks about some “technologically advanced” longevity interventions (IIRC rapamycin got the most attention), and it concluded that none of them were that well-supported, and the best longevity interventions are still the obvious things (exercise; avoiding harmful activities like smoking; healthy diet; maybe sleep*).
But I will say that I’d guess that a lifetime of exercise does buy you >1 year of life expectancy, see footnote 59 in OP. Almost nobody meets the recommended dose of exercise (>150 minutes/week cardio + twice a week resistance training) so this intervention is still accessible to most people.
*As I discussed in my review, I think Outlive overstates the importance of sleep, but I still find it plausible that bad sleep is a big contributor to poor health. (I haven’t looked into it enough to have a strong opinion.)
Thank you for an excellent post.
The results and studies discussed in the post further validate a feeling I have had about longevity for some time: that there is not much a person living a “normal” life with decent eating, exercise, social, and sleeping habits can do to significantly extend their lifespan. There is no silver bullet that, from a reasonably “normal” health baseline, can routinely give you 5 or 10 extra years, let alone 1 or 2 years.
In this regard, current science has failed, and I think the whole longevity research community needs to reassess the way forward. No matter how much pill-swallowing, cold-bath-taking, HIIT-training, and sleep-optimizing they (we) do, it does not really work.
Thanks for the kind words!
I didn’t discuss this in my review because I didn’t really have anything to say about it, but Outlive talks about some “technologically advanced” longevity interventions (IIRC rapamycin got the most attention), and it concluded that none of them were that well-supported, and the best longevity interventions are still the obvious things (exercise; avoiding harmful activities like smoking; healthy diet; maybe sleep*).
But I will say that I’d guess that a lifetime of exercise does buy you >1 year of life expectancy, see footnote 59 in OP. Almost nobody meets the recommended dose of exercise (>150 minutes/week cardio + twice a week resistance training) so this intervention is still accessible to most people.
*As I discussed in my review, I think Outlive overstates the importance of sleep, but I still find it plausible that bad sleep is a big contributor to poor health. (I haven’t looked into it enough to have a strong opinion.)