From supplement and peptide stacks to hourslong morning routines, it can be tricky to decipher which longevity trends actually work. (Spoiler: these probably don’t).
To help separate fact from fiction, we asked Business Insider’s Rising Stars of Longevity — doctors, scientists, and investors dedicated to understanding aging — what they wish people would stop doing in the hope of optimizing their health.
Their answers reiterate that tried-and-true health habits are most important for boosting our healthspan. Think: daily movement, a good night’s sleep, and eating whole foods.
When it came to things to avoid, three themes kept coming up.
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Don’t be extreme
You could spend the day tracking your biometrics, squeezing in Zone 2 runs, weighing your food, and skipping family dinners because you fast after 5 p.m., all in the name of longevity.
But zeroing in on your physical health at the expense of your mental health can backfire, Peter Fedichev, the CEO of Gero, a biotech company developing anti-aging drugs, said.
“Don’t overdo it. Your anti-aging intervention should not spoil your life,” he said, adding that depression and poor relationships are linked to a shorter lifespan.
Dylan Livingston, the founder of the Alliance for Longevity Initiatives (A4LI), a nonprofit dedicated to advancing policies to fight age-related illness, said the science doesn’t support so-called longevity hacks like extensive supplement stacks.
“Quite frankly, I would rather go out and have drinks and stay up late and live to 75 than I would eating kale and not going in the sun and live to 95,” he said.
Don’t be a guinea pig
With all the slick marketing and influencer testimonies online, it can be tempting to try wellness treatments like buzzy scans, pills, or shots. But the Rising Stars strongly advised against using anything not rigorously supported by scientific evidence.
“There’s just a lot of snake oil out there, and I wish that people would stop offering themselves up as guinea pigs for poorly evidenced interventions marketed under implausible claims,” Daniel Belsky, associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia University, Columbia Aging Center, said.
Alex Zhavoronkov, the founder and CEO of the biotech company Insilico Medicine, which uses AI to identify potential anti-aging drugs, said that no high-quality clinical trials have found any longevity treatment to be beneficial for people who are generally fit and healthy.
Peptides are particularly hyped at the moment, but many have not been proven safe and effective in humans, and doctors worry about contamination and possible unknown long-term consequences.
“I wish people would stop injecting themselves with unstudied substances,” Dr. Nicole Sirotin, a physician and the CEO of Institute for Healthier Living, Abu Dhabi, said.
It’s also important to note there’s no single treatment that will work for everyone, said Jamie Justice, the executive director of XPRIZE Healthspan, which supports research into innovative longevity therapies.
“The same boiling water that hardens the egg softens the potato,” she said. “What works for a 20-something influencer on TikTok might not be the thing your 70-year-old mother or friend should try.”
Don’t wait
We know that eating a balanced diet, exercising regularly, sleeping enough, and managing stress are proven to lower the risk of chronic diseases and early death, but it can be hard to prioritize these things in a busy schedule.
But no one should be skimping on healthy habits in the hopes that an imminent scientific breakthrough will save them, Morgan Levine, vice president of computation at Altos Labs, a biotech focused on aging, said.
“Anything you can do to keep yourself healthy for longer you should be doing, rather than just waiting and hoping,” she said.
Dr. Evelyne Bischof, a concierge doctor in internal medicine and healthy longevity, and medical director at the Sheba Longevity Center, Tel Aviv, said that now is the time to adopt healthy habits. “What I wish people would stop doing is finding excuses why they cannot optimize their lifestyle,” she said.
Andrea Maier, a professor of medicine at the National University of Singapore and an expert on the Rising Stars judging panel, added that she wishes people would follow official health recommendations and to help take ownership of their health.
“Be aware how you, as your sort of own practitioner, could help to improve your health,” she said.
