#404 5 Evidence-Based Methods to Slow Down Aging - Siim Land Biohacker Summit London 2023

Siim Land (0:04)

You know, one of the most common comments I get when I cover topics like longevity and anti-aging is that, Siim, you're only 28 years old. How can you talk about longevity and anti-aging? Well, to that I commonly say that if you're going to ask the 100 year olds, what's the secret to their long life, then they're going to say some stuff like smoking a pack of cigarettes for 70 years every day, or eating ice cream or chocolate every night. So you can't really rely on the information that the centenarians give you because they're not really scientists. And of course, there's a lot of genetic factors that contribute to their great longevity. So my speech today is going to give you scientifically proven five ways to slow down the speed of aging.

And when I am talking about anti-aging or slowing down speed of aging, then I'm referring mostly to increasing healthspan, which essentially means adding healthy years to your life and being more functionally independent. So if you look at this graph, then the average person already starts to experience age rate decline already in their 30s and 40s. They start to experience back pain, different kinds of issues related to metabolism, different diseases, etc. And this is obviously not the most optimal way to age. On the opposite, if you are the kind of a person who maintains a healthy lifestyle, takes care of themselves, and also puts in effort with different kinds of techniques, then you can pretty much slow down this decline to a great degree and also add healthy years to your life, which is kind of the goal. And I'm going to share with you five key principles or activities that help you to achieve that. How do you are decades younger than your peers when you're 80 years old? And that's what I'm going to talk about. Principle number one is to have a higher VO2 max. VO2 max refers to cardio respiratory fitness and maximal oxygen consumption.

VO2 max is one of the biggest predictors of reduction in mortality risk.

And based on studies, the individuals with the most extreme or the highest amount of VO2 max have up to four times lower risk of oral cause mortality than the lowest quartile of people in terms of VO2 max.

And this is obviously a very huge difference. Smoking generally increases your mortality risk by two to three times or 200%. If you are obese and you smoke, then that number is five times. But a low VO2 max being unfit essentially increases your mortality by four times. And if you really think about it for a moment, then being unfit, not having adequate... And I'm not even talking about the most extreme level of VO2 max. You don't need to be an elite athlete. But being at the lowest bottom, the lowest quartile of VO2 max, increases your mortality risk by four times compared to the highest.

And VO2 max is actually also a bigger predictor of mortality than strength. So in the bio-academy community, it's pretty common knowledge that having some muscle and strength is important for longevity and slowing down aging. But VO2 max is actually a bigger predictor than muscle strength and muscle mass. So in this study, they looked at the differences between having either good strength or good VO2 max or combined both having both the high VO2 max and high muscle strength as well. And in the middle, you have the reference group, which is having low grip strength, which is a measurement of overall muscle strength and low VO2 max as well. And compared to that group, the individuals who have the highest VO2 max and the highest grip strength combined have up to 47% reduction in their mortality. Whereas having even the highest grip strength, but the lowest VO2 max, so being very strong, but having poor cardio, only reduces your mortality by 29%. So, of course, it's better than nothing. And, you know, if you can choose one or the other, then you should, you know, if you can't choose both, then head to head, having a higher VO2 max is better for reducing mortality risk than grip strength. But ideally, you want to combine both. You want to have good muscle strength and a high VO2 max. That's going to give you the biggest reduction in your mortality risk.

Unfortunately, with age, you see a natural decline in your VO2 max. And this can happen at a degree of about 10% per decade, starting around in your 30s. But of course, the speed of your decline depends on how much effort are you putting in in maintaining your VO2 max and how fit and healthy you are overall. So in this study, they looked at the VO2 max of octogenarian athletes, so athletes who are in their 80s, so elderly athletes. And obviously, they had a significantly higher VO2 max compared to the bottom quartile, the fifth percentile, who have the lowest VO2 max. And the difference is quite high.