Longevity is the next disruptor says Michael Roizen
The Cleveland Clinic’s chief wellness officer Michael Roizen predicts longevity will become the next major disruptor, according to his recent interview with Spa Business.
“There will very likely be a major change in longevity in the coming decade,” he says.
“Medicine and public health have expanded the average lifespan – through sanitisation and immunisation initially, then by management of chronic diseases – by about 2.5 years every ten years since 1890.
“We think, based on the research out there, that there’s an 80 per cent chance that by 2035, there’ll be a great age reboot.
“I’ve told people in the past that 60 can be the new 40, but in the near future, you could be 90 and have a physiological age of 40.”
Roizen is busy working on an app to help people understand this, and show them how the choices they make now can impact their future.
“The most important thing to learn is how to manage stress,” he urges, “stress ages you in every system, from the cardiovascular system to the brain.
“Clearly the spa and wellness industry has a major role to play in teaching people how to manage stress, and it’s doing a wonderful job of that in some aspects.
“A lot of things that start in the wellness space take a while to make their way into mainstream western medicine – mindfulness and using nutrition to change cardiovascular health, for instance.
“Getting well-done studies to back these things up is necessary, but requires pioneers in wellness to drive progress.”
Roizen is also passionate that spa and wellness need to be made more accessible and affordable to ensure as wide an audience as possible can make the most of their front-line preventative healthcare techniques.
“There’s a major role for the spa and wellness industry in continuing to lead,” he adds.
“It was the spa and wellness industry that got us to change our emphasis on stress management, for example, and that brought mindfulness and healthy eating to the forefront.
“The spa and wellness industry has had a huge benefit on people’s wellbeing and can continue to do so in the future.”
For more insights, head to Spa Business’ full interview with Roizen.
More about Michael Roizen
Michael Roizen is the chief wellness officer at the Cleveland Clinic. An anesthesiologist by training, he became famous for developing the RealAge concept and has authored or co-authored five number-one New York Times best-sellers.
He is credited with 165 peer-reviewed publications and 100 medical chapters and also owns 14 US patents.
He’s founded six companies, served on the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committees and co-invented a drug – Relistor.
He’s been praised for encouraging Americans to exercise and live healthier lives and also criticised for his statements on the payoffs of exercise and healthy eating.
I fear that Michael Roizen’s prediction that longevity will become the next major disruptor may be premature.
There is no answer to the question “What is normal life expectancy?” but it is certain that our population is nowhere near reaching it. Dr Roizen points out that lifespan has increased steadily over the past few decades. In the years between 1991 and 2014 average life expectancy for men rose from 73.6 years in 1991 to 79.4 in 2014. For women the figures were 79.0 to 83.1. This unexpected good news has recently hit the buffers with figures produced by Public Health England suggesting that the trend has now flatlined. Indeed the Faculty of Actuaries has calculated that at the age of…