Is Longevity a Hoax?
Alternate Title: BYO Blue Zone Framework
When people find out you’re ‘into wellness’ (again, I resent this), the commentary that follows is hilarious, for lack of a better word. They also serve as a sort of Rorschach test, revealing a subset of the population’s perception of ‘wellness’ in that given moment in culture. The conversations usually go something like this:
“This is Katie, she’s a wellness girlie.” First of all, please don’t do that.
2019: “Oh, so you’re vegan, right?” No, I’m not.
2021: “Cool, I actually just got a Peloton during the pandemic.” I love this for them.
2024: “I listen to Huberman Lab too!” This invariably made me chuckle because I struggled to hit the 20 minute mark, except for one time I rage listened to an episode about female hormones.
2025: “I’m super into all of that longevity stuff.” I’m literally not at all.
What is This ‘Longevity’ You Speak Of
I should walk that last point back a hair. What I’m not interested in is living a longer life, at face value. That sounds rather morbid, but I don’t mean it as such. I simply mean that I don’t need to extend my life beyond whatever the Universe’s plan for it already is, especially if it requires manipulating my biology by making myself a) uncomfortable or b) go into debt.
That said, I am interested in the subconcepts under this slightly dystopian and poorly named category known as “Longevity”. And as someone who works in and writes about the wellness industry, I’m of course interested in the general population’s growing interest in said category. You could say my main issue with Longevity is one only a writer could have: the word “Longevity” does not represent the full breadth of the concept.
Longevity, according to Ms. Merriam Webster herself, is “a long duration of individual life.” Simple enough.
Capital-L Longevity, however, is a lot less clear. The National Academy of Medicine says that health longevity is “the state in which years in good health approach the biological life span, with physical, cognitive and social functioning, enabling well-being across populations.” This is an overly-complicated way of saying, living healthier for longer.
Playing a little word association here, when I hear “Longevity,” some of the top outputs my brain produces are biometric data, contrast therapy, wearable health devices, NAD+, hyperbaric chambers, peptides — you get it. It’s adjacent to biohacking, a broad strokes term that typically encompasses health-related technological innovation with the goal of slowing down one’s aging process.
There’s also a subsection of Longevity that serves as a blanket term for any health-supporting, youth-enhancing behaviors. Because the term got some steam around the same time as our collective woken-ing, the term “anti-aging” has been replaced by “skin longevity.” If you think about it, these two phrases mean different things, but that’s neither here nor there. Longevity is such a neutrally vague term which gives it license to envelope any health-adjacent behavior, thus losing its original meaning.
I’m sure you can hear the cynicism in my voice, so let me just get it out of my system. Longevity — the over $25 billion industry — sits weird with me because it’s a gender-neutral, more palatable version of biohacking co-opted by wellness billionaire bros. Now it’s being force-fed to us by allegedly “woke” corporate overlords who won’t touch the term “anti-aging” with a ten-foot pole. It’s, as with most wellness-oriented things, another veiled attempt to sell us more things in the name of looking prettier and feeling healthier.
Believe it or not, I don’t necessarily hate it and everything it stands for. We’re allowed to be vain, and I understand that the economy has to function somehow. Plus, sci-fi health tech aside, the conversation around Longevity brings up an even more relevant concept — healthspan, which I think could use a hand with its PR.
What in the Healthspan
Now this is the good stuff. Healthspan, or the amount of healthy years we live on this planet, is what’s actually valuable here. I’ve given Longevity a hard time for being a misnomer, but the truth is, if we get to the root of it, I think we’re all pretty much in agreement that increasing the proportion of healthy years to total years lived is a good thing.
All of the fancy stuff — the wearable tech with personalized biometrics, the cryotherapy chambers, the weekly IV drips — are fine and dandy. Hell, I love an infrared sauna as much as the next coastal elite self-care junkie. There are even incredible, life-changing stories of what can happen when we’re equipped with individual health data.
But there’s a fine line between data that empowers and data that overwhelms. When does it all become too much? The answer is simple: when the onslaught of high tech options actually eliminates the need to be an active participant in your own well-being. Said another way, when you rely on external experiences and technology more than you rely on your own intuition.
DIY Your Wellness Ideology
Now I am not a billionaire man with ties to Silicon Valley, but from what I’ve read about them, they seem to be eating this all up. Between jet-setting to Mars and lengthening their telomeres, they can’t possibly have any time to consider the present moment. In fact, when you think about it, it really seems like they’re running from something here on Earth… Buddha is rolling over in his grave.
The only glimmer of real rationality in this whole Longevity conversation was the brief, albeit blissful, ignorance of the Blue Zone phenomenon’s brilliance. (TLDR if you have no idea what I’m talking about: Blue Zones are the name given to the ‘healthiest communities in the world,’ researched initially by Michel Poulain and Gianni Pes but overtaken by Dan Buettner who turned it into a Nat Geo piece and subsequently a business propped up by a mix of confirmation and selection biases.)
From his time spent with centenarians, Buettner developed the “Power Nine,” a list of nine habits that all of the world’s healthiest people all have in common. These ranged from Wine @ 5 (moderate alcohol consumption) to Purpose (I don’t need to specify).
It’s unfortunate, although unsurprising, that Blue Zones took a sour turn, because although the data was likely unsubstantiated, it was still a good reminder that the most important behaviors for optimal Longevity, or whatever, are free, or close to it.
This got me thinking (dangerous) that if this man essentially crafted his own list of Blue Zone-approved behaviors based on semi-legitimate research, who’s to say I can’t do the same? Or you? All of us can, actually. This brings me to my main point here, which is that the key to living the healthiest, longest life is to get to know yourself the best you can, and treat your body and mind in accordance with its needs. I’m in a bit of a transcendental flow state after taking The Class, so bear with me, but I believe the thing we’re all here on this earth to do is to be the most you version of yourself — the most potent, unadulterated versions of your unique essence. A huge part of that requires self-parenting, attuning to our own biologies, and understanding how to properly take care.
So while the vast majority of us have not traveled around the globe in search of the secret to life, we all have the opportunity to, ahem, look inward and be the boss of our own well-being. In that spirit, here is my list of healthspan increasing behaviors, temporarily known as “My Personal Wellness Formula” because I’m desperate to find a better title but I can’t think of one.
POWER 7
Food from the Earth - Starting off simple. I feel my best when I eat a variety of fruit and vegetables. Some recent menu highlights include a killer swiss chard and white bean soup from Natalie Marquis’s Extra Napkins meal service, Opal apples, Tom’s Juice, a homemade kale salad that I’m pretty proud of, and my favorite Earthbar smoothie.
Meaningful Connection - Not to sound like a drunk girl at a house party, but having at least one conversation a week where I can ‘go deep’ with someone is really important. I don’t need to talk about the meaning of life (I think I already covered that sufficiently here), but being intellectually stimulated is gratifying to me. That is, if I’m in the right headspace for it.
Laughter - Have you ever laughed at something and realized, wow, I haven’t had a good laugh like that in a while? It’s healing. Here are some things that made me laugh recently:
Julio Torres’s HBO Special: My Favorite Shapes
This White Lotus meme (slide 4) (SORRY)
Subway Takes Uncut with Cate Blanchett
Movement - This isn’t anything revolutionary. I like to exercise and I feel my best, both mentally and physically, when I do a variety of different types of movement. Incorporating that into my day is a non-negotiable. Movement is also the perfect arena for trying something new without completely terrifying yourself, or what I like to call a controlled adventure. These days, I’m swimming (!).
Self-Reflection - Journaling, therapy, a mix of both. I’m not my best self without some form of dedicated time to consider the thoughts in my brain so I can separate them from reality.
Empty Time - This is the hardest one for me to achieve. I’m reaaaaally good at jam-packing my calendar — there’s so much to do that I don’t want to say no to! But I consistently re-remember when Grace Clarke told me an incredibly wise wellness practice of hers: creating space and time. For all of my Artist’s Way heads out there, I believe the Artist’s Date is a similar concept, with the premise being that we all need to make a concerted effort to spend time alone and see the world with our own eyes without the looming pressure of productivity. To just be. It’s almost too simple.
Sleep - Sleep is sort of trendy these days, which initially perplexed me because I was privileged enough to grow up in a household where quality sleep was a huge priority. Thank you Mom. I now know myself well enough to know that I don’t function well on multiple nights of bad sleep. Relatedly, I wrote about nightstands as a method of artistic expression and proper sleep hygiene here. I feel the need to add an addendum: I have acquired the Hatch after a couple years of the Amazon knockoff. It’s so, so worth it. Mood light + noise machine + alarm clock + meditations all in one. Oh yeah.
I hope you feel empowered to create your own personal framework that you can come back to as a means of checking in with your well-being. Just don’t start a cult or anything.
for me its the fact that the bar for living a "healthy" life seems to be getting tighter and higher; and more and more expensive :/