Longevity Is Not Long Life
You don’t need big data and AI to live well. You need friends.
Photo by Centre for Ageing Better
This week I was inspired to write about longevity after I hosted Ronnie Angel from Centarix on my latest podcast episode of "Life Sciences Today." (Stay tuned — we’ll be releasing it to your favorite podcast channel soon.).
Intro
Longevity is much more than chronological age and biological age. Genetics, epigenetics, metabolism, cellular senescence, and the environment all influence how long and how well we live.
Longevity is not how long we last—it’s how long our love, laughter, and lessons echo in others.
Most of us already know that.
Many of us over 50 have lost people we love, faced health scares, or found ourselves suddenly irrelevant in industries we helped build.
We don’t need more data.
We need clarity. Fewer distractions. More days that feel alive.
This morning, I did my daily Qigong practice at the park across from the lake.
It’s 7:00 AM — today was the Modiin Run, an annual popular event with 5k, 10k and half-marathon. Thousands of people will participate.
I can hear the high-intensity music coming from the starting gate in the distance.
I’m thinking about my essay for today.
I work through the movements of Yi Jin Jing. Yi Jin Jing is a form of Qigong exercise that focuses on transforming and strengthening muscles and tendons. The movements integrate Yi (intention) and Li (strength): Yi Jin Jing combines consciousness with muscular force, aiming to unify the mind and body.
That’s the idea anyhow.
I’m three years in and still perfecting my form. But I’ve already gained something more valuable: a sense of control over how I age.
One of my favorites is “Waiter drops plates.” It’s a three-part squat with emphasis on proper breathing as you drop to your glutes and visualize picking up plates from the floor and coming up from the bottom of the squat position and dropping the plates at the top.
We live in a time of AI and digital health.
We’ve mapped genomes and use AI to discover precision treatments, but most of us don’t need that.
What we need is simpler: eat better and move more.
Yet, we chase complexity, perhaps to avoid the uncomfortable truth that health requires uncomfortable sacrifices.
And the uncomfortable simplicity of years of repeats
In this short essay, I will zero in on three factors that are in our control: diet, movement, and community.
Diet
Two recent articles shed light on the power of food in promoting healthy aging.
The 2023 article from the Journal of Internal Medicine, "Diet strategies for promoting healthy aging and longevity: An epidemiological perspective," highlights three key findings:
Plant-based diets are consistently linked to reduced mortality and age-related disease risk. A Mediterranean or DASH-style diet is associated with better cardiovascular and cognitive outcomes in aging populations.
Eating less may activate cellular stress response pathways, reducing inflammation and oxidative stress, which are key contributors to aging.
Diet quality matters more than specific nutrients. Focusing on whole, minimally processed foods has a stronger impact on health than isolated supplements.
The second article, "Food, gut barrier dysfunction, and related diseases," emphasizes the growing role of gut health in longevity:
Leaky gut is linked to chronic inflammation, metabolic disorders, and autoimmunity. Maintaining intestinal barrier integrity is essential for long-term health.
Diets rich in prebiotics and probiotics (e.g., fiber from fruits, vegetables, and fermented foods) help support gut microbiota balance and gut wall integrity.
Ultra-processed foods and certain medications (e.g., NSAIDs and antibiotics) can disrupt gut function, contributing to disease risk. Personalized dietary strategies are likely to become key tools for disease prevention.
These findings reinforce core dietary principles: eat whole foods, prioritize fiber, minimize sugar and processed ingredients, and pay attention to how your body responds.
Simplicity wins.
Movement
After 45, your movement is essential to your resilience, flexibility and balance.
Strength training, mobility, and consistent daily movement build a buffer against age-related decline.
Regular physical activity lowers the risk of heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, and even depression. For people over 50, movement is preventive medicine.
Qigong offers sustainable, lifelong movement.
Unlike high-impact exercise, Qigong is low-impact, meditative, and accessible to nearly everyone. The flowing motions improve joint mobility, balance, and circulation while reducing stress. Practicing forms like Yi Jin Jing engages the mind and body, building coordination and inner strength.
Movement is a signal to your body that life is continuing.
Our ancestors walked, lifted, squatted, carried, and climbed as part of their daily living. Reintroducing intentional movement into our modern routines signals vitality.
Whether it’s gardening, dancing, or walking to the store, every bit counts.
Community
Physical benefits: People in close communities live longer.
Research from the Blue Zones — regions with high concentrations of centenarians like Okinawa, Sardinia, and Ikaria — shows that strong community ties are associated with lower stress, better immune function, and longer lifespans. In Israel, older adults in kibbutzim often live well into their 90s, supported by daily social interactions.
Social benefits: Isolation is toxic, community is key
Social disconnection has been shown to be as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
In Jewish life, shared meals, prayer, festivals, and mourning rituals like Shiva create dense layers of social fabric. These rituals bind people across generations and reduce loneliness.
In Israel, Shabbat evening meal is part of the the Israeli culture whether you’re religious or not. It’s a small country and from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv to Haifa, children can come to parents in an hour’s drive.
Mental benefits: Purpose is found in belonging to a community
Knowing you’re needed by others, having people who rely on you, and feeling part of something larger than yourself provide mental resilience. Studies show that purpose-driven individuals have lower rates of cognitive decline.
In Israel, multigenerational living and community centers help older adults stay connected, active, and purposeful.
Summary
Longevity isn’t about long life — it’s about infusing the years you have with health, movement, and connection:
What’s one ritual that nourishes your body, and one that feeds your soul? Keep those. Build around them.
This week, share a walk. Cook a meal with someone you love. Pick up the phone. These small things? They’re your real longevity plan.
References
This 2023 article Diet strategies for promoting healthy aging and longevity: An epidemiological perspective - Hu - 2024 - Journal of Internal Medicine
This 2023 article Food, gut barrier dysfunction, and related diseases: A new target for future individualized disease prevention and management
The article discusses food and dietary supplements.
While Liang's work is relatively recent, it aligns with and supports many aspects of current dietary guidelines, such as those published by the American Heart Association (AHA) and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. These guidelines emphasize:
Consuming a variety of fruits and vegetables.
Choosing whole grains over refined grains.
Selecting healthy protein sources, including plant-based proteins.
Minimizing intake of ultra-processed foods and added sugars.
Liang's research provides additional scientific backing for these recommendations by explaining their impact on gut health and overall disease risk. Her work suggests that future dietary guidelines may place even greater emphasis on gut health and personalized nutrition strategies for disease prevention and management.
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