What is Longevity Medicine?

Longevity Medicine is a newly-emerging and rapidly growing area of medicine which takes a completely different approach to the process of ageing. Rather than treating individual organ systems, longevity physicians are looking for ways to reduce the gap between your current biological age (based on specific biomarkers) and your ideal biological age. Longevity medicine uses principles from fields as diverse as lifestyle medicine and precision medicine to customise a plan which optimises your current health and plans for healthy ageing.

Can I keep taking my usual medications while I’m making these lifestyle changes?

Yes, we strongly encourage you to keep taking your regular medication. The changes we recommend are an addition to your wellness journey, and we work with your existing medical team, including your GP and any other specialists you may have, whenever possible, to ensure the best outcome. In some cases adoption of a new healthier lifestyle may mean some disease processes are significantly modified if not reversed, in which case your regular medications may be reduced or even become unnecessary, however this will be in strict consultation with your regular treating doctor(s).

How does it work?

The LM approach is based on a detailed assessment of your current health status including any pre-existing medical conditions, nutritional status, exercise and sleep patterns, family history and even your childhood. Your initial assessment will consist of an initial interview to discover your health goals/concerns, followed by a deep dive into everything “you”.

Based on this assessment, a range of investigations is performed from simple routine lab testing through to more sophisticated and detailed investigations, including genetic testing. Testing will be based on your unique health profile and the outcomes you wish to achieve and remains flexible and ongoing.

Following your assessment, and formulation of your unique health management program, you are then assessed by further members of our team. This will include exercise and nutritional planning, life coaching, lifestyle support and further assessment by interdisciplinary medical specialists as required.

Depending on a number of factors including your health and wellness goals, the package you have chosen and the progress you make, you will continue to be monitored with regular reassessment and fine-tuning along your pathway to health optimisation.

Can lifestyle changes prevent dementia?

Dementia still remains only partially understood, and some factors such as age, genetics and family history are not able to be changed. There are however many modifiable risk factors including poorly controlled diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol/atherosclerosis, obesity, smoking and other substance abuse including alcohol, physical inactivity, and depression, particularly if any of these occur in midlife. Although we can’t prevent dementia, Longevity Medicine is ideally placed to identify which risk factors you may currently have and provide you with appropriate lifestyle modification to reduce your chances of developing this condition in the future.

When should I start?

We increasingly understand that it’s a case of “the earlier the better” in terms of preventing the damage to our bodies which accelerates the ageing process. Many disease processes begin earlier than we think, and after a certain point the changes to our gene expression and the resulting disease may not be readily reversible. Adopting a healthy lifestyle from the earliest stages of life onwards is essential for ageing well, so it’s never too soon to start this most important of journeys..