\n<\/p>\n
For my part I’ve found health tracking illuminating. I am not diabetic, but have been fascinated by the findings of a continuous glucose monitor I wore for a while. <\/p>\n
The assumption is progress on longevity will come, albeit in a less sensational form than some may be hoping for.<\/p>\n
Experts suggest that a drug might emerge that will initially make a year or two’s difference, then a few years more with the next generation, and so on.<\/p>\n
But along with such progress will come practical and ethical dilemmas.<\/p>\n
One fundamental question is whether ageing can be defined as a disease. This might simplify the approval of drugs by regulators, but risks labelling people over a certain age “diseased”.<\/p>\n
The cost of such treatments may or may not (for developed medical systems anyway) be an issue, depending on what it turns out to be.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a healthier life is likely to lead to a few extra years of existence, so we may need to work longer.<\/p>\n
On my longevity learning mission, my expectations were upturned.<\/p>\n
I’d seen the sensationalist headlines, suggesting tech billionaires lounging on their yachts, deliberating over whether they fancied saving the world, going to space, or “curing” ageing.<\/p>\n
This wasn’t the reality I saw. The wealthy have been giving money to medical research for years. This is just a new generation of wealth, and a potential new specialism of medicine. <\/p>\n
Plus it’s really interesting, and affects us all.<\/p>\n
But right now, extending your healthspan involves hard work. As Silicon Valley-based journalist Danny Fortson put it: “Exercise is hard, magic pills are easy, so that’s why everyone is so excited about the pill.”<\/p>\n
So I returned home feeling more determined than ever to live my healthiest life – sleep better, exercise without excuse, eat well, cherish social connections (yes, this was on the longevity prescription).<\/p>\n
With a bit of luck that might buy me enough time to benefit from any scientific breakthroughs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n