“We’re in the middle of a healthspan revolution,” says Peter Diamandis, longevity expert, entrepreneur, and executive founder of Singularity University. “You don’t want to be the last person to miss it.” Diamandis recently launched a new XPRIZE valued at $101 million with over 200 signups to find novel therapeutics to reverse aging by a decade.
Diamandis, cofounder and executive chairman of Fountain Life, a proactive health clinic that tests a range of biomarkers and gives precise recommendations, says people can play a pivotal role in their aging process. It’s not a novel concept, as more research suggests lifestyle factors play a vital role in how we age. But beyond the broken-record advice of eating healthier, working out, and managing stress, Diamandis says it’s also about how you think about aging and being motivated to find out how your body works.
“First and foremost, one of the most important things that a person needs to do is to build what I call a longevity mindset,” he says. Research corroborates this and suggests negative views on aging can shorten our lifespan. Self-directed ageism stemming from society’s views on getting older can cause undue stress, which puts people at risk for cardiovascular problems and chronic conditions that lead to earlier mortality. Negative views on getting older can also prohibit people from engaging with their community or trying new things, which is an integral part of combatting the harmful physical and mental health effects of loneliness.
What is a longevity mindset?
A longevity mindset can help people prioritize healthy aging, do more to understand risk factors, and act early. The body is impressively good at hiding disease, Diamandis says.
“Chances are you really have no idea what’s going on inside you. Most of us know in much better detail and perspective what’s going on inside our car or our refrigerator than we do inside our body,” Diamandis tells Fortune. “Do you want to find out now, or do you want to find out when it’s too late to do anything about it?”
From the therapies that will come out of the XPRIZE to the growing interest in preventative medicine alongside novel digital health technologies incorporating AI into health care, Diamandis says someone with a longevity mindset is ready to invest in the upcoming and already does the basics.
“Someone who’s got a longevity mindset believes that there are breakthroughs coming that will enable them to extend their healthspan and is willing to put in the work now to intercept those series of breakthroughs,” says Diamandis. “You can choose to accept 75, 80, or 85, but if you’re looking to extend your healthspan then you’ll need to actually go beyond the average American.”
While subscriptions to longevity clinics and ongoing testing is currently inaccessible for most people, Diamandis says over time, these breakthroughs “to a large degree will be mass public available breakthroughs.”
“There are eight billion customers for aging,” he says.
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