Longevity Generation

You may have heard that the first person to live to 150 years old has already been born. That’s right, we are living in the era of extended lifespan.  Most of us just don’t know it yet, because we’re right at the beginning of this era.  We’ll all see it in hindsight.  Maybe you’ve noticed that GenX seems to be aging differently than their Boomer parents.  You hear that 60 is the new 40.  And I hear 60 year olds brag about their biological age being 30, quite frequently.  The phenomenon of middle-aged fitness influencers demonstrating to us all that we can, and should, be active and robust way beyond our 30’s and 40’s is huge.  People are discovering “old man strength”, the type of muscle density that comes only with decades of strength training.

I’m GenX and aging like a fine wine.  My bio age (according to TruDiagnostic, the most accurate bio age estimator OmicmAge) I’m 15 years younger internally than chronologically.  And this is critical, because nobody want to live longer if they’re not healthy.  Nobody wants to lie in a bed in some care home, a demented skeleton who can’t hear and eats applesauce.  We want to be vigorous, robust, active, healthy (free of disease), and happy.  We want to play with our kids, and grandkids, and eventually great grandkids.  We want to go hiking, travel, and kick butt in the gym or spin class.  So how do we do that?  Luck?  Good genes?  A boring and restrictive “healthy lifestyle”?  Well, a little bit of yes to each of the above.  Let me explain.

We used to think our lives were determined by our genes.  We thought it was fate, inevitable.  And if that’s true, then why do anything to try and be healthy, it didn’t make sense.  Until we realized that it’s not all Nature, that Nurture has a profound impact on how our genes are expressed.  So yes, good genes helps if you have certain genes associated with longevity, like my TOMM40.  But whether certain genes are turned on or not are directly under the control of your environment.  For example, I also have certain genes that place me at higher risk for high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, and one of these genes is sex-linked, meaning it only affects women.  This gene is turned off, or in the quiet state, when estrogen is present.  This is a very common gene, and it explains why so many women have normal blood pressure before menopause, but then once their natural estrogen levels drop with menopause, they also develop high blood pressure and go on to develop cardiovascular disease.  I’m in menopause and have been for several years (thanks to stress-induced early menopause), and I’ve been on estrogen replacement the entire time.  The result?  My blood pressure remains perfect.  The estrogen supplementation is effectively keeping that dangerous gene turned off, or quiet. 

My environment (my choices) directly have an effect on my genome, and can prevent disease.  So is there luck?  Yes, I’m lucky to have my genetic profile and the tools to interpret it and make meaningful interventions.  Do I have good genes, you bet.  I also have some bad ones.  Do I live a boring and restrictive healthy lifestyle- absolutely.  It was boring when I first started.  I didn’t really know how to manage the changes other than to cut out the bad stuff and replace it with obviously healthy swaps.  And it was limited.  I lacked creativity at first, just making the change from normal foods and work habits to ones that better fit my body’s needs was a huge undertaking.  It took dedication, motivation, and an unwillingness to quit. 

Then I gamified it.  Once I turned it into a game, my creativity sparked.  I started using biomarkers more intensely to track my progress and make adjustments along the way.  I found new ways to do my same work, but in a way that gave me the flexibility I needed.  I hired a trainer at the gym to give me accountability and teach me new exercises.  I never would have guessed I’d be doing barbell workouts on the rack, but now that’s my comfort zone.  I made friends with new people who also practiced healthy living, and learned all kinds of hacks and tips and tricks.  And now I have the knowledge and experience to be able to navigate any situation easily.  Restaurant? No problem.  Travel, got that.  Holidays, easy peasy.  But it was a process.  It took about 3 years of continual tinkering to find all the ways that I could meet my body’s needs in a healthful way.  And I continue to learn.

My most recent project has been to run a health-focused gene panel from 3X4 Genetics, and use the data outputs to do deep dives on each of my unique gene SNPs (mutations), and then using AI to correlate all the findings into one big comprehensive picture.  This is a project in process, not yet complete.  My AI usage budget is small, so I can only have the AI run a literature search and find my genes and put together correlations one gene at a time.  This is a longitudinal project, and it’s so crazy to see how it all plays together.  So far I’ve found several enzyme pathways that are under performing and that can be easily supplemented.  If one of my genes codes for a protein that only works 50% of the normal capacity, and there’s a supplement of that particular protein’s output, I can simply take a therapeutic dose of that supplement and I’m basically replacing what my genes could not do alone. 

This is the power of genetically mapped, physician-designed-with-AI protocol that is now possible.  And like I said, genes are not the whole picture.  So I also use my epigenome results (TruDiagnostic) and regular biomarkers like blood tests, serum and urine tests, to add context.  So I have 3 levels:  genetic information, epigenetic expression, and phenotype expression.  And that’s how I designed my supplement stack you see above.  It’s a rainbow of antioxidants, probiotics, adaptogens, methyl-donor B vitamins, etc.  Each supplement has been traced back to my genes, compared to my epigenome expression, and correlated with my actual phenotype expression in my lab biomarkers.  It’s beautiful, isn't it?  A rainbow of precision support.

It’s been said that the first person to live to 150 has already been born.  I’d like it to be me.  Care to join me?  Let’s live well!