What we cover
Longevity
What this beat covers
The measures with genuine outcome data behind them, separated from the ones with a good story and a pretty dashboard. Cardiorespiratory fitness and simple functional measures have some of the strongest associations with mortality in the literature, and both are cheap. Neither is on a routine physical.
We also cover the commercial layer honestly. Biological age tests, panels sold direct to consumers, and subscription programmes all make claims of varying quality, and a reader deserves to know which is which before spending.
Where we are sceptical
A measurement is only useful if it changes a decision. A great many longevity metrics are interesting without being actionable, and interesting is not worth paying for on a recurring basis.
We apply the same test to everything in this beat: what would you do differently if this number came back badly, and is that thing something you could have done anyway?
The measures
What we write about in this area
- VO2 max
- Among the strongest associations with all-cause mortality in the literature, and rarely measured outside sports settings.
- Grip strength and gait speed
- Unglamorous, nearly free, and surprisingly predictive.
- Sleep, measured rather than reported
- A home study sees things a questionnaire about how rested you feel does not.
- Biological age panels
- We cover what they actually measure and how much weight the underlying evidence supports.
Questions we keep coming back to
- Which longevity measures change a decision, and which are only interesting?
- How much of the benefit attributed to programmes is the measurement, and how much is the attention?
- What should a reader make of a biological age result that disagrees with everything else?
We work through these continuously. The Coastline Brief is where the answers land first.