Prevention and Longevity - Optimize Your Health
Prevention and longevity medicine contribute to improving life quality parallel to increasing health-spans and optimizing performance.
Preventive Medicine and Healthy Longevity
I am delighted to have a small part in the shaping of health systems and embracing “healthcare” rather than purely focusing on reactive “sick care”. Clearly, prevention and longevity medicine contribute to improving life quality parallel to increasing health-span and optimizing performance. Hence, the World Health Organization has declared “prevention to be better than cure.” Furthermore, while many of us suffer from chronic illnesses, much can be done to improve outcomes and prevent unnecessary complications in chronic disease.
“Often we can avoid being slaves to our genes”
Researchers from Harvard University have been able to identify five low-risk lifestyle factors that can significantly prolong lifespan and add many years of quality time. Based on the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study, the leading five lifestyle components identified were:
- healthy diet,
- regular exercise (at least 30 minutes daily of moderate to vigorous activity),
- healthy weight (as defined by a body mass index of 18.5-24.9),
- no smoking, and
- moderate alcohol intake [1]
Indeed, the World Health Organization estimates that 30-50 % of cancers can be prevented through healthy lifestyle. Yet, multiple other studies have also demonstrated the importance of social connections, sleep, brain stimulation and purposeful living among others. In fact, a people that sleep less than 6 hours per night in average have a 50 % increased risk of heart attack.
But prolonging disease-free life and healthy aging is not only dependent on lifestyle. Biomarkers of and factors affecting biological age such as mitochondrial health, telomere length, reactive oxygen species (ROS), chronic pro-inflammatory markers, stem cells and DNA protection and repair mechanisms can be improved through targeted treatments as well. In some cases, we call it biohacking. In order to allow safe, effective and evidence-based solutions, I therefore work closely with scientists from the Longevity Center and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging among others.