Nobody Ever Got Younger, but It May Be Worth a Try

 

“The market for longer life is booming -- just ask those who sell antiaging "recovery pods" and supplements that slow "cellular time." Serious scientists aren't as sold as the longevity movement's most ardent advocates.

 

As a physician-scientist, I could dismiss the antiaging trend as absurd. But I'm drawn to something more hopeful: More people are taking responsibility for their health. They increasingly believe the deterioration that comes with aging can be resisted. They refuse to accept the infirmities of previous generations without a struggle.

 

A century ago, life expectancy barely exceeded 50 in the U.S. Today, it is nearly 80, largely thanks to sanitation, antibiotics and vaccines. How could Americans not feel hopeful about fighting aging itself?

 

Real scientific progress has reinforced that optimism. Once viewed as an intellectual backwater, geroscience -- the study of aging -- is now at the frontier of biology, attracting funding and talent, inspiring new journals, and generating a flood of peer-reviewed research. New technology is accelerating discoveries. Well-funded startups are developing therapies for approval by the Food and Drug Administration.

 

Aging research has shown that lifestyle components -- exercise, diet, sleep, and especially social connection -- are central to longevity. The market reflects this reality. Platforms like Peloton, Tonal, Oura and WHOOP that began by simply tracking health and promoting exercise are now emphasizing longevity. Because aging is a natural process, some critics resist framing it as a disease. But advocates counter that until recently, the same was said of obesity. Drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound have empowered millions who struggled for years with weight control finally to find success.

 

The greatest reason for optimism comes not from scientists or startups, but from the increased popularity of healthier aging. Sometimes this means embracing evidence-based health choices that previous generations too often resisted. Hearing aids, for instance, once carried a social stigma.

 

But scientists now know uncorrected hearing loss increases the risk of cognitive decline and dementia.

 

The same goes for diet and exercise. Many in older generations disparaged them as vanities, rather than embracing them as medicine. Choosing to adopt interventions like these is an expression of agency, a refusal to accept preventable decline.

 

Even the embrace of shakier solutions reflects this deeper impulse. Most supplements promising health benefits lack convincing data to support their claims. But according to a large review, supplement users report healthier behaviors. In one published analysis, even after adjusting for factors such as age, education and income, long-term supplement users were less likely to have high blood pressure or diabetes. Supplements are less about biology and more about identity: a daily exercise of personal agency over one's body.

 

The same dynamic may be at work with tests of "biological age," which claim to estimate how fast or slow someone is aging. These measures, which may incorporate a variety of data, are notoriously variable and not approved by the FDA for clinical use. Yet despite their limitations, they disrupt the idea that age is only a measure of time. By reframing age as something malleable, these tests motivate healthier choices. The test result may not be precise, but the encouragement to resist decline is powerful.

 

Agency has limits. When it comes to health, much is beyond our control. Illness doesn't reflect a lack of effort, and bad things happen to the most proactive among us.

 

There are other risks too. Many longevity offerings are expensive. Annual memberships at high-end "longevity clinics" can run $250,000. Worse, if they aren't dangerous themselves -- high-protein supplements, now all the rage, may stress vulnerable kidneys and elevate cardiovascular risk -- these practices may distract from interventions that actually work. If a cheap placebo inspires you to exercise, fine. But an elaborate supplement stack becoming a substitute for exercise -- or for a doctor's visit -- is dangerous.

 

The longevity movement is thriving, and its enthusiasm sometimes outpaces the evidence. Yet in the long run, people are better off leaning into their agency than retreating into complacency. Hopeful striving is healthy in its own right.” [1]

 

1. Nobody Ever Got Younger, but It May Be Worth a Try. Shaywitz, David A.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 28 Oct 2025: A15.