How much are you doing to slow down your aging and maximize your lifespan and health span? Lots of things contribute to the aging process, many of which will surprise you!
We’ve put together this list of more 60 tips to slow your aging and live longer, all backed by research.
Skim through it to see what you’re already doing, and what will be easy for you to integrate into your daily routine.
DIET
- Reduce your intake of animal protein, especially processed red meat such as sausages, salami, bacon, ham, hot dogs, pâtés, etc.
- Replace red meat (e.g., beef, pork, mutton, veal) with white meat (poultry), fatty fish (e.g., salmon, herring, mackerel), and meat substitutes (based on tofu, pea, or mushroom protein).
- Consume lots of vegetables, legumes, mushrooms, fruits, nuts, and seeds. Vegetables should be the basis of your diet (not potatoes, pasta, rice and bread).
- Reduce your intake of starchy, empty-calorie foods like bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes. Replace them with more vegetables, legumes, mushrooms or quinoa.
- Avoid sugary foods and drinks as much as possible, like sodas, fruit juices, candy, cookies, sweets, cake, pastries, doughnuts, candy bars, chocolates and so on.
- Avoid trans fats, which can be found in fried foods, fast-food, bakery products (e.g., crackers, cookies, and cakes), and vegetable shortenings.
- Significantly reduce your intake of omega-6-fat-rich foods, like corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, margarine, sesame oil, mayonnaise, and most salad dressings.
- Consume more healthy fats, especially omega-3 fats, by consuming more olives, olive oil, walnuts, avocados, flax seed, chia seed, fatty fish, and so on.
- Consume foods that have come straight from nature and are processed as little as possible, like foods your great-grandmother would recognize.
- Consume a daily, freshly made smoothie with vegetables and low-glycemic-index fruits, like blueberries.
- Eat specific foods that can slow down aging, including green leafy vegetables (broccoli, spinach, kale), blueberries, dark chocolate (containing at least 70% cacao), salmon, walnuts, pomegranate, etc.
- Don’t drink milk – milk accelerates aging.
- Don’t drink too much alcohol: that means a maximum of one glass per day, ideally with alcohol-free days.
- Hardly drink any sugary drinks (such as soda, commercial fruit juices, etc).
- Hydrate a lot. Drink at least 1.5 liters per day; that’s eigth glasses per day.
- Drink lots of water. Drink green tea, white tea, ginger tea or coffee (yes, coffee can reduce the risk of various aging-related diseases). Add spices (e.g., mint), citron or NOVOS Core to add taste to your water.
- Don’t take whey protein, testosterone or growth hormone. They all accelerate aging in the long term.
- Don’t follow unhealthy diets – most diets are unhealthy, unfortunately.
- Don’t follow a paleo diet or a high-protein diet: these diets accelerate aging in the long term, despite having beneficial effects in the short term (like weight loss).
- Don’t follow a keto diet (ketogenic diet) or a high-fat diet: these diets accelerate aging in the long term, despite having beneficial effects in the short term (like weight loss).
- Follow the NOVOS Longevity Diet.
- Eat fewer calories, and less often. Try to eat two meals a day, with breakfast being the most important meal of the day.
- Fast regularly. Eat within a 12-hour period, so your body can fast for 12 hours. Fast for ideally three days a few times per year, like at the start of every new season.
SUPPLEMENTS
- Take health supplements, like vitamin D3, vitamin K2, iodine, selenium, magnesium, B vitamins, and minimally oxidized (low TOTOX) omega-3 fatty acids. You can find the most important health supplements here.
- Take longevity supplements like NOVOS Core that contain substances that scientifically have been shown to slow down aging or increase lifespan, like alpha-ketoglutarate, fisetin, pterostilbene, microdosed lithium, etc.
- Don’t take antioxidants beyond what you find in a healthy diet. Most antioxidants don’t extend lifespan and some can even shorten lifespan and increase the risk of cancer (learn more here).
- Consider taking drugs that could slow down aging, like metformin, low-dose rapamycin, low-dose (baby) aspirin, or selegiline. Always discuss with a physician experienced in this matter.
EXERCISE
- Engage in anaerobic exercise (like weightlifting).
- Do aerobic exercise (like running or swimming).
- Do high-intensity interval training (HIIT).
- Commit to stretching and posture exercises, like pilates.
SLEEP
- Take care of your sleep. Make sure you sleep enough and go to bed around the same time every night. You can find more than 50 tips to improve your sleep here.
- Buy sleep aids, like an Oura ring or the Dreem headband.
- Download sleep and relaxation apps, like Calm, Buddhify, Headspace or Insight Timer (the latter being free).
- If you are older than 50 years, use 500 ug (0.5 mg) to max 1000 ug (1 mg) of extended-release melatonin before going to sleep. Melatonin can also extend lifespan and slow down aging (R).
TRACKING
- Reduce your blood sugar levels. Buy a continuous glucose sensor to track how your body processes sugars based on foods, sleep, etc. If that’s out of your budget, consider a regular blood glucose monitor, available at your local drugstore.
- Measure your heart rate variability (HRV), which can be predictive of health and mortality. Improve your HRV via HRV biofeedback devices, like HeartMath and Sweetwater HRV.
- Get regular health checkups. Prevention is key!
- Track your facial age.
- Track your overall health.
LIFESTYLE
- Protect your skin very well against the sun: always wear strong sunscreen and a hat when going outside in the sun.
- Use high-concentration retinol creams (over-the-counter) or Retin-A (aka “tretinoin,” a prescription) for your face.
- Take supplements that slow skin aging and reduce wrinkles.
- Brush and floss your teeth at least twice per day.
- Always wear your seatbelt.
- Don’t smoke.
- Do yoga.
- Don’t be overweight, and make sure you don’t have too much abdominal fat (a beer belly). Measure your waist circumference here and calculate your BMI (body mass index) here.
- Schedule everything.
MINDSET
- Try to be positive and always see the silver lining in things. Most centenarians have a very optimistic disposition.
- Learn how to be happy.
- Reduce stress.
- Practice meditation. Download meditation apps such as Calm or Headspace.
- Have a purpose and goals in life (that is, feeling useful).
- Be social.
- Challenge your mind every day.
- Use medication sparingly: most drugs have significant side effects.
- Use blue-light blocking glasses 30 minutes before going to sleep.
- Keep a gratitude journal.
- Be an empowered health advocate for your own body: don’t just rely on the health care system to keep you healthy.
We go more into detail on how to slow down aging and live longer here.
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