The Livelong Newsletter

Happy New Year’s Eve everyone,

✌️ This is Part 2 of our 2024 Best of Longevity series.

We’re excited to recap what we think is the most impactful science, interviews, tips, and advice we learned about extending lifespan in 2024.

In Part 1, we explored double-duty lifespan drugs, AI and next-gen health technology, wearables, and memory.

Since New Years is the ideal time to build healthy habits and set new goals, Part 2 will recap the best insights we learned about lifestyle.

• Lifestyle encompasses the things you do on a daily basis.

• It probably has the MOST direct impact on your long-term health.

• Up to 80% of aging may be attributed to lifestyle.

Let’s dive right in!

📅 Make 2025 your year for longevity

When you attend The Livelong Experience, you won’t just learn about longevity—you will live it.

Join world-renowned longevity experts, including Dr. Zahi Fayed and Dr. Mark Hyman, on March 28-29, 2025 at the beautiful Palm House Hotel for an exclusive, hands-on event that celebrates how good it feels to live long.

 
✅Attend breakthrough sessions to discuss cutting-edge science
✅ Participate in immersive wellness activities
✅ Network with top minds in health and longevity

Space is limited to 200 people.

🌴See event details or register here.

The best lifestyle science from 2024

From the famous TWiNs study to the billion dollar wellness travel boom, adopting a healthy lifestyle is the foundation to a longer, disease-free life.

Eating for your best self

Mediterranean wins (again)

🥇Although no one diet fits all, the Mediterranean diet is still considered the healthiest diet of 2024.

The diet is traditionally plant-forward—emphasizing whole grains, nuts and seeds, legumes, olive oil, lean protein, and fruits and vegetables—and is rich in antioxidants, healthy fats, and fiber to reduce your risk of age-related disease.

Fiber first

This year, we learned that fiber (found in legumes, fruit, and vegetables) lengthens telomeres and slows the aging process, according to renowned gastroenterologist Dr. Will Bulsiewicz in an interview with Livelong.

He specifically encourages us to eat more prebiotic fiber (found in food or taken as a supplement), which he says are more beneficial than taking probiotics.

Why? Prebiotics feed our good gut bacteria and lay the foundation for slower aging.

But don’t be dismayed. Probiotics are still beneficial to the gut, and new strains are capable of managing diabetes.

We also learned that high-fiber foods act like a broom that sweeps away carcinogens. Specific high-fiber foods you should include into your diet are:

• 🥦 Cruciferous vegetables. Broccoli, cabbage, and brussel sprouts are rich in a cancer-fighting sulforaphanes.

• 🌱 Flaxseeds. Contain lignans that can prevent tumor growth.

Diet says…

A vegan diet reduces biological age more than an omnivorous diet, according to a study (TwiNS study) which compared the two diets in genetically-identical twins.

Intermittent fasting also shows promise as a tool to manage weight, diabetes, and turn on cellular repair processes (here’s a new ‘cheat sheet’ of fasting terminology), although distressing headlines from March suggests the practice significantly increases risk of death.

• This emphasizes that we need more research on fasting in 2025.

This year, we also discovered the longevity diet, the Human Being diet, and the Osteoporosis diet, which take different health goals into account.

THE year of protein

While still up for debate, you should eat about 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight until around age 50. Then you should try to eat more protein, as muscle loss happens more quickly.

Healthy additions:

• 👑 Include watercress in your diet: It is named healthiest vegetable in the world.

• This new Instant golden milk—a healthy beverage made with anti-inflammatory turmeric—is even more healthy than the beloved original.

• Drink two to three cups of coffee every day: it can significantly lower your risk of dementia (but don’t drink more!)

• Eat breakfast! 2024 research suggests that you are more likely to burn fat in the morning.

Stay fit

Start strong

💪 Longevity and fitness communities emphasized strength and resistance training this year, as muscle mass is one of the best marker of longevity.

• This is important as we age because we lose muscle faster and experience greater risk of bone loss, which reduces health span and increases mortality risk.

Harvard Health says it only takes two strength-boosting sessions per week (15 to 20 minutes per session) to get results.

What exercises can you start with?

• Chest presses

• Shoulder raises

• Squats

• Lunges

• Calf raises

• Planks

• Back extensions

Add resistance bands to increase the effort.

Get in the Zone

Cardio is equally important, and zone two training may be the ideal type.

Zone two is a lower-intensity style of cardio that builds mitochondria (the powerhouse of the cell) and reduces risk of chronic disease.

Brisk walking is an easy and effective form of zone two training. Rucking — a style of walking with weights — may be even better because it helps with muscle preservation.

You can also include swimming, cycling, running, or hiking, which can all be done socially, boosting the mental health benefits of working out.

Other notable fitness finds:

• Pickleball is the sport of longevity. Pick up your paddle!

• Yoga increases telomere length and reduces inflammatory oxidative stress.

• ‘Weekend warriors’ get the same physical health benefits as people who work out during the week.

• 30-40 minutes of moderate or vigorous intensity physical activity can offset up to 10 hours of sitting.

• Sit on the floor more, because getting up works most muscle groups and increases anti-aging mobility.

🏋️ To wrap it up, the viral 3-2-8 routine might be the most achievable fitness plan, as it combines mobility, cardio, and resistance.

Stress, Wellness, and Travel

You cannot say 2024 without conjuring up images of sauna or icebath.

• Frequent heat therapy with sauna is proven to reduce risk of heart disease, and ice baths effectively reduce inflammation.

Both clinically improve mental health too, which can ultimately has the most influence on longevity—

Being healthy starts with wanting to be healthy, after all.

Yet, given the role of mental health on lifespan, the rate of mental health diagnoses is higher today than…ever.

This trend has many seeking alternate means of developing a more positive mindset, reducing burnout, and finding purpose (often credited as the key to longevity by centenarians living in the Blue Zones).

Mental health breakthroughs:

• Bright light therapy may be one of the most effective natural methods for alleviating depression.

• Micro-dosing with psychedelics shows significant potential in treating trauma, depression, and anxiety.

• Expressive writing is the clinically-proven way to journal for self-care.

• Mastering stress doesn’t mean getting rid of it. It means becoming resilient to it.

• Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) targets the hallmarks of aging, reducing stress and inflammation.

   

In Women’s health and wellness, we were excited to have the top female biohacker, Kayla Barnes, on the podcast to give us a blueprint for female health optimization, along with Vonda Wright, who discussed optimal female fitness.

Both conversations offer practical tools for making 2025 your healthiest year yet.

Don’t sleep on this

Sleep is one of the pillars of a longevity-forward lifestyle because it contributes to healing and rejuvenation. These simple things can optimize your sleep.

• Take a nap. And for maximum benefits, only sleep 20 minutes and try to sleep between 1-4 p.m.

• Do non-sleep deep rest or Yoga Nidra when you can’t sleep. They can actually reverse the unhealthy neurological effects of not sleeping.

• Optimize your sleep with the Whoop 4.0 Band and Oura Ring, some of the best sleep wearables of 2024.

Luxury longevity trends

Those who can are experimenting with novel treatments that would almost never be at a primary care doctor.

• Stem cell injections

• Electrolyte-infused IV injections

• Full-body MRI scans

• Longevity concierge services

• Blood cleansing treatments (and it’s not just Bryan Johnson anymore)

Wellness Travel

Wellness travel will be the hottest trend of 2025, as vacationers want travel to be an extension of a healthy lifestyle and help them build better habits when they return home.

• Longevity resorts, spas, and retreats enhance daily well-being with deep rejuvenation treatments, clinical therapies, and personalized counseling to optimize nutrition, fitness, and reverse biological aging.

With the new year comes a new set of health goals, innovations, and life-altering research. We can’t wait to share the proven ways to extend your life.

Longevity Media LLC

Look good, feel better, live longer.