This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Tina Woods, a 60-year-old healthcare entrepreneur and the CEO of Business for Health in London. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I recently turned 60, and I’ve never felt better.
I have the strength of an ox, dance moves to rave all night, and I radiate renewed joy for my marriage and my job.
A few years back, I made a conscious decision to change the way I live. I was leaving the corporate world, watching my kids enter adulthood, and starting hormone replacement therapy. I decided it was a good time to embark on a simple yet remarkably effective longevity quest.
Tina in 2018, before her longevity quest began. Tina Woods It all started when I was researching my 2020 book, “Live Longer with AI,” and sought the advice of longevity experts worldwide. At that point, longevity science was still pretty fringe, so I spoke with some fairly out-there characters who aimed to live forever and believed radical life extension was within reach.
But even among the most die-hard immortalists, I noticed a trend. Most of what they did daily to stay young was simple and cheap: caloric restriction, a healthy diet with lots of plants, decent exercise, and good sleep. In short, the basics—stuff your grandmother could have recommended.
I reduced my ‘biological age’ by 10 years — here’s what that means Woods and her husband hiking in Patagonia. Tina Woods Tests I took on my 60th birthday this spring suggest my brain is aging like that of a 35-year-old, my heart health is mid-40s, and so is my metabolism.
It’s amazing to realize that in just four years, I’ve reduced one key measure of biological aging by a decade — my GlycanAge has dropped from 46 to 35, while I’ve aged from 56 to 60. The GlycanAge test, a finger prick test that tracks chronic inflammation, directly predicts a lot of age-associated decline.
It drives me crazy when people wear these one-off “biological age” stats like a badge of honor. None of the new tests being used for aging are definitive or validated.
What they can do is provide an overall snapshot of our health. Along with daily data from my smartwatch and various health apps, my GlycanAge provides a single data point that aligns with how I feel, which is fantastic.
Tina enjoys Zumba twice a week. Tina Woods If I hadn’t been doing research for my book and meeting with experts offering to let me try out longevity medicine tech for free, I probably wouldn’t have ever paid for a biological age test. It costs hundreds of dollars for one. Regular checkups, blood tests, and scans at the doctor are one thing, but I wouldn’t pay £300 just to brag about a biological age result (though it is cool to see).
4 simple changes I made to stave off aging A screenshot from Woods’s Humanity app, which tracks movement, nutrition and other health metrics to provide an estimated rate of aging. Tina Woods Supplements: I do take some supplements, but I don’t expect them to perform miracles. Like many longevity-seekers, I take vitamin D daily, along with B12, omega-3s, and collagen for my joints. A bone scan from my recent longevity workup in Poland convinced me to start supplementing calcium as well. I enjoy eating Swiss cheese on non-fasting days and prioritize proteins like chicken and fish, along with lots of plants. I make a mean lentil soup and snack on seeds and nuts, generally avoiding ultra-processed foods.
Caloric restriction: Four days a week, I stick to one meal a day. Though somewhat controversial, I’m convinced this is key to healthy aging. A conversation with geneticist and longevity doctor Nir Barzilai in New York solidified this idea, as he explained how caloric restriction and fasting might benefit human longevity.
VO2 max: I have a religious devotion to exercise — I enjoy Zumba twice a week, strength training at home in my cellar “gym,” and YouTube videos for conditioning. My VO2 max, a key measure of heart health and fitness, is off the charts!
Woods has a “high” VO2 max, according to Apple. Tina Woods All this regular training keeps me fit and ready to rave all night with my husband at some of London’s grooviest clubs. Being on the dance floor electrifies me and has rekindled aspects of my relationship with my husband, bringing us closer together. Music is my lifeblood, and I even DJ now — I recently turned tables at the world’s first longevity rave, held at a vegan cafe, of course.
HRT: One of the most pharmacological ways I’ve changed my biological age is hormone replacement therapy for menopause. I’d always been fit and healthy, but during menopause, I gained weight and felt low-energy. My doctor suggested HRT — I started with a patch, but it didn’t work well. My current regimen includes estradiol gel, progesterone capsules, and a tiny bit of testosterone gel off-label. It took a while to find the right dose, but now I love it. I’m convinced it has played a big part in my biological age reduction, along with eating healthier, losing about 20 pounds, and finding my joy! Initially, I worried that testosterone might hurt my heart health or mess with my cholesterol levels, but everything is going well.
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