Strip it all back and we're animals. For almost all of human history, our bodies expected to walk, lift, carry and spend the day outdoors just to eat. Take the Hadza of Tanzania, one of the last hunter-gatherer groups still living that way. They average around two hours of moderate to vigorous activity a day, and the men cover roughly eleven kilometres on foot. That's more than ten times what most of us manage now.
Here's the part I love, though, because it lets you off the hook a little. We're also built to rest. Our ancestors moved because they had to, then sat down the moment they could. Conserving energy was survival too. So if part of you would rather stay on the couch, that's not a character flaw. It's an old, sensible instinct running into a world of cars, chairs and food within arm's reach, a world it was never designed for. Understanding that makes it easier to work with yourself, not against.
So when someone asks me, and someone does most weeks, "Doc, should I be doing the cold plunges?", I get it. There's a lot out there. And I'll be upfront, I'm right into this space. I use the sauna. I find the new protocols and the wearables fascinating. But I'm always evidence-led, and the honest truth is the things that make the biggest difference are mostly the unglamorous ones. So my approach is simple. Get the big levers right first, then have fun optimising the rest. Here's how I sort them.
The pattern's hard to miss - the biggest wins are mostly free and already proven. The trendy extras are worth a look once the basics are humming.
How to read the evidence badges in this article
Not all health claims are equally proven. I've tagged the main ideas so you can see how solid the evidence behind each one really is, and decide for yourself.
- Strong Backed by randomised trials or large, consistent reviews.
- Moderate Good evidence overall, with some questions still open.
- Emerging Biologically promising and exciting, with long-term outcome data still developing.
- Popular · weak evidence Widely believed, but not well supported when you look closely.
One thing before we start. Almost all of this comes from studying populations, not you. When I say something is "linked with" a longer life, that's a pattern across thousands of people, a shift in the odds, never a promise for any one person. Anyone promising you guaranteed years is selling something.
Start here: the biggest levers
Move, and keep moving. Strong This is the most proven thing on the page. Hitting the standard target of about 150 minutes of moderate activity a week is linked with roughly a third lower risk of dying early, compared with doing nothing. And the single biggest jump is going from nothing to something. So wherever you're starting, the next bit of movement is the one that counts most. This really is for everyone. If all you can manage right now is a short walk, some seated exercises, or just moving more around the house, that's not a lesser version. That's exactly where the evidence is strongest. From there, more is better. We were built to move, so move as much as you comfortably can. Just build up gradually.
On steps, around 10,000 a day is a great thing to aim for, and you can always push higher if you enjoy it. Honestly though, the number matters less than the direction. Wherever you're at right now, nudging it up is the win. Any increase counts.
Build and keep your strength. Strong I've written more about why muscle is the engine of staying independent. Strength work is linked with lower mortality, and it's the most reliable way we know to protect the strength and balance that keep you doing your own thing into your eighties and beyond. And that part shows up in trials, not just observation. A couple of sessions a week is the proven foundation. Personally, I'd nudge most people toward three or four if they enjoy it. It's never too late to start, truly. (Your grip strength, which I can check in seconds, is one of the better simple markers of how you're tracking overall.)
Eat well, not less. Strong I want to be careful here, because longevity content loves to tell people to eat less, and that's not the point. It can do real harm. The point is quality, and getting enough of the good stuff for your body. A balanced diet, protein from both plants and animals, plenty of veg, wholegrains, legumes and good fats, that gives your body the stuff it actually runs on. And when people skimp, I see the fallout in clinic: low iron, low B12, low vitamin D, not enough omega-3. So the real question is "am I giving my body what it needs?", not "how little can I get away with?".
Fibre's worth singling out, because it quietly does a lot. It steadies your blood sugar, helps lower your cholesterol, feeds the gut bugs that keep you well, and keeps you fuller for longer. Most of us don't get enough, and it's an easy win: more veg, legumes, wholegrains and fruit.
Sleep at least seven hours. Strong The sweet spot in the research sits around seven hours, and the guidelines say seven to nine. The bigger problem I see is people running for years on far too little. And here's something I find fascinating - while you sleep, your brain seems to run a kind of overnight rinse cycle, clearing out the gunk that builds up across the day, and that mostly happens in your deep sleep. Skimp on the hours and you cut it short. Protecting your sleep is about the best return you'll get anywhere for almost no cost.
Don't smoke, and if you do, quitting works at any age. Strong This is the single biggest lever of all. By a fair way. On average, smoking costs more than ten years, and quitting before 40 avoids around 90% of that added risk, so people who quit by then live almost as long as those who never smoked. And it's never too late. Quitting at any age moves you back toward a non-smoker's odds, much of it inside the first few years. If you've tried before and it didn't stick, that's completely normal, not a verdict on you. It's worth booking in for, because the supported approaches work far better than going it alone.
On vaping. It's not harmless, and the honest headline is that we don't yet know the long-term effects. The products are simply too new, and cancers take decades to show. The aerosol isn't water vapour either. Depending on the device it can carry nicotine, fine particles, flavour chemicals like diacetyl (linked to lung inflammation), formaldehyde and other carbonyls when the liquid is heated, and metals like lead, nickel and chromium off the coil. And here's the kicker in Australia. Most disposables sold are illegal imports with no quality control, and they're routinely mislabelled. Testing has found products sold as "nicotine-free" that were full of nicotine, and nicotine is only the part we can easily test for. Who knows what other rubbish is in there, some of it possibly just as bad or worse. You really can't be sure what's in them, or what factory who knows where they came from.
Drink less, the "glass of red is good for you" idea has aged badly. Strong This one has shifted, and it's worth knowing. The old studies suggesting a daily drink protected the heart had a flaw, they lumped people who'd stopped drinking because they were already unwell in with lifelong non-drinkers, which made the drinkers look healthier than they really were. When a big 2023 review tightened that up (only 21 of 107 studies were free of the bias), the apparent benefit of light drinking largely vanished. No clear benefit, no clear harm, at low levels. Risk climbs more clearly the more you drink, and alcohol is a confirmed carcinogen, the same top category as tobacco, so cancer risk is its own separate conversation. For perspective, Australia's guideline is up to 10 standard drinks a week. Some countries go further. Canada suggests as little as two, and the WHO's position is that there's no completely safe level. None of this is about guilt, it's just an honest picture so you can make your own call. Cutting back helps at any level, and it starts straight away. If it's hard, raise it with me. No lecture.
Know your numbers. Strong Blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar are silent, which is exactly what makes them dangerous, and this is where the evidence is strongest of all (real trials, not just observation). In one major trial of older adults at higher risk, tighter control of blood pressure was linked with about a quarter fewer deaths. It had trade-offs too, which is why the right target is set with your doctor, not from a number online. Catching prediabetes early and acting on it roughly halves the chance of it turning into diabetes. You can't manage what you haven't measured, and a simple set of blood tests in your 30s and 40s is where this starts.
Stay connected. Moderate This is the one people underrate. Strong social connection is consistently linked with living longer, through lower stress, better habits day to day, and simply having people around who notice when something's off. Loneliness, the unwanted kind that won't shift, is a real health risk, not a soft one. (Chosen solitude is a different thing, that's not what we're talking about.) Make time for the people who matter. It's as much a longevity habit as anything you'll do in the gym.
And your mental health is part of this. Mind and body aren't separate. Looking after your mental health protects your physical health too, and it's treatable. Help really does work.
Then optimise: the promising, fun stuff
Once the big levers are humming, this is the bit I have a soft spot for, and where a lot of the exciting new science is happening.
Want the whole series on one page? I've put every longevity habit, graded by the evidence, into a free one-page shortlist that comes with the newsletter.
Push the intensity a bit. Moderate You don't need a gym. Short bursts of huffing and puffing woven into your day, the stairs, a brisk hill, carrying the shopping, look really good in the research. Those studies are on people who already move harder and tend to be fitter, and that's the point of these habits, to build toward that. Work up to more over time. If you've got a heart condition, or you're very out of practice, build up gradually and have a chat with me first.
Keep your sleep regular. Emerging A striking recent study, led out of Australia, found that regularity, going to bed and waking at consistent times, predicted how long people lived even better than the number of hours they got. It costs nothing. Steady your sleep and wake times, even on weekends, and you've pulled a real lever.
Sauna. Emerging This is a good example of me sitting on the trendier end while staying honest. The headline link between frequent sauna and better heart health comes mainly from one Finnish study that's been running for decades, so I'd call it promising rather than proven. The firmer finding is that regular heat lowers your blood pressure. I think it's an exciting space, and with all the new interest and protocols, the evidence will only get richer. I enjoy it, and I'm happy to layer it on top of the basics.
Cold exposure, glucose monitors, and the rest. Emerging Cold plunges are fascinating. There's some cool early evidence, mostly early effects on stress and sleep, and it's a fun area to watch, just take care if you've got a heart condition. Continuous glucose monitors are another one. More and more people wear them, and they can give you a real feel for how your body responds to food and exercise. I love that people are curious about this stuff. But they're optimisations, the icing, not the cake.
A couple of food tweaks. Moderate Eating oily fish is a solid habit (omega-3 from food beats a capsule for most people). Intermittent fasting suits some people as a way to put some structure around eating, but it's not magic, and it's not about simply eating less. What matters far more is the overall quality and adequacy of what you eat. It's not for everyone either, and people with diabetes, or anyone with a history of eating difficulties, are better off giving it a miss.
A note on supplements, scans and the cutting edge
I'm not here to talk you out of any of these, just to help you spend your energy well.
Supplements Moderate have a real place, for the right person. The key idea is this - topping up a level that's already normal isn't automatically good, and in some cases you can overshoot into too much. But correcting a real deficiency, or supporting someone whose needs are higher, absolutely helps. The B vitamins are a good example. They're essential, and topping them up makes a real difference to someone who's running low, yet with some of them (B6 is the classic) too much over a long stretch can actually do harm. So it's individual, worth a conversation rather than a blanket yes or no.
Whole-body scans Emerging are everywhere now, and people do seek them out. They can pick up important things early, and for some people that's genuinely valuable. There's a flip side too, they can also find harmless things that snowball into more tests, more worry, and procedures you never needed. So they're neither all good nor all bad, just an option some people choose, with real upsides and real downsides to weigh.
Biological-age tests Emerging are interesting, and you're absolutely free to try one. I just wouldn't bother until the mainstays above are locked in, because that's where the real return is.
There are also prescription medicines being studied for ageing. Emerging The trials are either unfinished or still very small, so it's early science, not something to act on yet. A fascinating space to keep an eye on, though.
So how do I actually use all this?
Simple - big levers first, then optimise. Move most days. Lift something a few times a week. Eat well, and enough. Protect your sleep. Don't smoke, keep the alcohol low, know your numbers, stay close to people. Then, once that's humming, have fun with the sauna, the cold, the wearables, the tweaks.
And I know life makes some of this hard, whatever your age. Shift work wrecks sleep. Time and money are real. So this isn't a checklist to ace all at once. Pick the one thing that fits your life right now, and start there.
Big levers first, then optimise. The wide base, the part with the strongest evidence, is where most of the healthy years are won. The trendy extras at the top are worth a look, but they sit on top of the foundations, not in place of them.
Common questions about living longer, well
Evidence in this article draws on cohort and meta-analytic data linking physical activity, muscle-strengthening activity and all-cause mortality, Australia's 2026 physical activity and sedentary behaviour guidelines (including the daily step target), hunter-gatherer energy-expenditure research (the Hadza), pooled smoking-cessation data on years of life gained and the benefit of quitting before 40, a large 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis of alcohol and mortality that adjusted for abstainer bias, the IARC classification of alcohol as a Group 1 carcinogen, the SPRINT trial of intensive blood-pressure control, Diabetes Prevention Program data on prediabetes, prospective cohort evidence on sleep regularity, observational sauna-cohort data on cardiovascular outcomes, and meta-analyses of social connection and longevity. Evidence ratings reflect my reading of the current literature and are a guide, not a substitute for advice tailored to you. This is general information only. Your GP can advise on what is relevant to your individual situation.
