- A scientist tested out 15 buzzy longevity hacks to see if they made him feel healthier.
- John Tregoning tried things including calorie restriction, microbiome testing, and exercising more.
- He kept up with exercising more, drinking less, and eating more vegetarian meals instead of red meat.
As he neared his 47th birthday, John Tregoning could no longer ignore the signs that he wasn't a spring chicken anymore.
He had to hold his phone further and further away from his face to read it, and the pile of hair he left behind at the hairdresser was markedly more gray than blond.
"The period of denial was finally over," Tregoning, a professor of vaccine immunology at Imperial College London who has been a clinical researcher for 25 years, told Business Insider.
Entering middle age, he began to wrestle with the idea of his own mortality, and whether there was anything he could do to delay it, or at least make his journey more pleasant.
So he did what comes naturally to him when faced with a problem — a series of experiments.
Tregoning researched the latest buzzy longevity hacks. Although it would be almost impossible to pinpoint whether they were extending his life, he wanted to see which were the most sustainable and made him feel healthier.
He ruled out anything that didn't have at least a large clinical trial supporting its efficacy, and focused on interventions that would prevent diseases such as cancer, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. These conditions are responsible for 74% of all deaths worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.
He landed on a list of around 15 lifestyle changes, medical tests, and treatments that are said to boost longevity.
They were: gene sequencing, whole-body blood analysis, an ECG, more exercise, cold water swimming, eating beetroot, eating less salt, dry January and alcohol replacement, eating less red meat and more vegetables, brain training apps, sleeping more, a calorie restriction diet, eating more fiber, microbiome sequencing, and drinking more water.
He documented his experience in his book "Live Forever? A Curious Scientist's Guide to Wellness, Ageing and Death."
He said his approach of experimenting on himself "is definitely more illustrative than scientific" because his findings are anecdotal. But he deemed anything that he continued to do after the experiment was over long-term a success.
Tregoning shared the three longevity treatments he stuck with.
Exercising more
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As the heart is a muscle, working it through exercise makes it stronger and better able to pump blood around the body more efficiently, Tregoning wrote. So he decided to be more active in the name of heart health.
Tregoning said that a year after setting himself the goal of exercising more, he still's at it. He likes to fit exercise into his commute, so he'll often get off the train a stop or two early and run the rest of the way. He also goes on runs with his daughter.
Exercise also provides many health benefits that indirectly help the heart, he wrote, such as lowering body weight, reducing cortisol levels, and burning glucose. It also reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes, stroke, and cancer.
Drinking less alcohol
Alcohol can damage the body in many ways, including causing certain types of cancer, contributing to heart failure and strokes by increasing blood pressure, and liver disease, Tregoning wrote.
Tregoning attempted Dry January but didn't make it to the end. He has, however, continued to be more conscious of how much he drinks and records "no drink days" on an app, which he finds motivating.
Eating more vegetarian meals (and less red meat)
Eating a diet high in red and processed meat has been linked to a higher risk of colon cancer while piling your plate up with high-fiber foods such as leafy greens and seeds appears to lower the risk.
Eating meat can, in part, be counterbalanced with fiber, Tregoning wrote, by promoting smooth digestion and regular poops, which means the meat is in contact with the colon for less time.
Instead of cutting red meat out altogether, which didn't feel realistic, Tregoning decided to add more vegetarian meals to his weekly repertoire. His favorites are three-bean chili, vegetable curry, and tomato pasta.
He said that he still eats two vegetarian meals a week a year after ending the experiment.
