Is optimising my lifestyle actually going to make me live much longer, or is that beside the point?

Aubrey de GreyBiogerontologist · President and Chief Science Officer, LEV Foundation · PhD self-stated

Once you are living sensibly, there is little more to gain; the gains that matter will come from medicine that does not exist yet.

What it rests onHealthy habits prevent premature death but do not move a genetic ceiling of roughly 122 years. His organisation classes lifestyle and supplementation as 'soft' targets rejuvenation medicine must move beyond.

Source: blog.insidetracker.com ↗

Dan BuettnerBA · journalist, explorer and author; National Geographic Fellow

Lifestyle and environment are most of the answer, and the longest-lived populations on earth demonstrate it.

What it rests onBlue Zones' published account states 'only about 20% of how long the average person lives is determined by genes', citing the Danish Twin Study, and derives nine everyday habits from five long-lived populations, including natural movement, purpose ('worth up to seven years of extra life expectancy'), stress routines, stopping eating at 80 percent full, and a bean-centred diet with meat about five times a month.

Source: bluezones.com ↗

Overview

De Grey is talking about the ceiling on maximum lifespan for a person already living sensibly. Buettner is talking about the average distance between a typical Western life and a long-lived one, which is where nearly every reader actually sits. They are answering different questions with the same words, and neither is wrong about their own.

Where they agree

Both agree that ordinary healthy behaviour prevents premature death and is worth doing. De Grey concedes it explicitly; the Blue Zones case is built on it. Neither recommends a supplement.

What would settle it

For de Grey: a demonstration that any behavioural intervention moves maximum rather than mean lifespan in a long-lived mammal. For the Blue Zones position: replication failures or re-examination of the demographic records underlying the long-lived populations.

Is optimising my lifestyle actually going to make me live much longer, or is that beside the point?

What the experts say

Overview

Where they agree

What would settle it

Practice does not pick a winner here