5 Essential habits to add years to your life, according to longevity experts
Specialists reveal their personal routines that promote living longer and feeling better
Living well into your golden years isn’t just about good genes—it’s about daily choices that promote cellular health and disease prevention.
From the foods on your plate to the way you move your body, certain habits can dramatically influence how you age. While countless wellness trends promise miraculous results, separating fact from fiction remains challenging for most people navigating health advice.
To cut through the noise, we consulted four renowned longevity specialists who shared the exact routines they follow in their own lives to extend health span and life span. These experts don’t just study aging—they actively implement research-backed strategies in their daily lives.
Daily movement transforms your health trajectory
At Rutgers University, aging research professor Dr. Monica Driscoll doesn’t just study longevity—she lives it through consistent physical activity. Her weekly routine includes four 45-minute jogging sessions, two strength training workouts with a personal trainer, walking two miles, swimming once, and dedicating 40 minutes to stretching exercises.
Regular movement maintains metabolic function, ensures restorative sleep patterns, and extends the years spent in good health. Driscoll’s research demonstrates how cellular cleaning mechanisms activate during exercise.
- The scientific evidence supporting regular movement continues mounting, with studies showing people who engage in moderate to vigorous physical activity reduce their mortality risk from all causes.
- Even modest activity—just 15 minutes daily—delivers measurable longevity benefits, representing the highest return on investment for any health intervention.
- Research from the National Institute on Aging reveals that consistent exercise improves mitochondrial function, reducing cellular deterioration associated with aging.
- The American Heart Association notes that regular physical activity helps prevent the seven most common chronic diseases linked to premature death.
- Exercise also stimulates brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) production, protecting against cognitive decline.
Social connections influence cellular health
While nutrition and fitness dominate longevity conversations, geriatrician Dr. Scott Kaiser emphasizes an often-overlooked factor: social relationships. In an era when isolation rates continue climbing, maintaining meaningful connections deserves priority status in any longevity protocol.
Kaiser prioritizes relationship nurturing alongside his medical practice, making time for both established friendships and creating opportunities to form new connections.
Scientific literature validates this approach—research demonstrates people with robust social networks boost their survival odds by up to 50 percent compared to isolated individuals. This survival advantage rivals the benefits of quitting smoking and exceeds the mortality risk associated with obesity, physical inactivity, and air pollution exposure.
Practical strategies Kaiser recommends include engaging with community members during routine activities like grocery shopping rather than using self-checkout, joining volunteer initiatives that serve others, and participating in intergenerational programs where various age groups interact.
The biological mechanisms connecting social interaction to longevity include reduced inflammation, improved immune function, and lower stress hormone levels, according to Kaiser’s clinical observations.
Exercise diversity prevents adaptation plateaus
At UCLA’s Longevity Center, interim director Dr. Linda Ercoli advocates for exercise variation rather than monotonous routines. Her approach involves alternating between different movement modalities throughout the week to challenge various physiological systems.
When the body adapts to a single exercise type, the cellular regeneration process becomes less responsive over time. Ercoli emphasizes that varying activities creates continuous adaptation demands that maintain tissue responsiveness.
The World Health Organization supports this diverse training philosophy, noting that introducing multiple movement patterns reduces fall rates among aging adults—a leading mortality cause after age 65. Their guidelines recommend combining cardiovascular training with resistance exercises, flexibility work, and balance activities.
This multidimensional approach addresses different aspects of physical decline:
Strength training maintains muscle mass that naturally diminishes with age
Aerobic exercise supports cardiovascular and respiratory efficiency
Balance work preserves proprioception and spatial awareness
Flexibility training maintains joint mobility and functional movement patterns
Strategic eating windows enhance metabolic health
USC professor Dr. Valter Longo has developed what he calls the fasting-mimicking diet after decades researching cellular renewal mechanisms. This approach, which he follows himself, involves time-restricted eating patterns and periodic fasting cycles designed to trigger cellular cleanup processes while still providing essential nutrients.
The eating patterns of our ancestors included natural periods without food, which activated important longevity pathways that have been lost in our constant-consumption environment. Longo’s research focuses on recapturing these benefits through strategic eating patterns.
Clinical studies testing this approach show participants experience reduced biological age markers including inflammation levels, insulin sensitivity, and visceral fat—all strong predictors of disease risk and longevity.
Unlike extreme regimens, Longo’s approach focuses on sustainable patterns that approximate fasting’s benefits while maintaining adequate nutrition. The protocol typically involves confining daily eating to a 10-12 hour window, practicing periodic 5-day modified fasting cycles several times yearly, emphasizing plant foods that support cellular protection mechanisms and moderating protein intake to levels that don’t overstimulate growth pathways
However, timing-based eating approaches require medical supervision for those with certain conditions including diabetes, pregnancy, or history of eating disorders.
Stress management protects telomere integrity
Completing her multifaceted approach to longevity, Dr. Ercoli emphasizes stress reduction techniques that protect chromosomal structures called telomeres—the protective caps on DNA strands that shorten with age and stress exposure.
Chronic psychological stress accelerates cellular aging through multiple pathways, including oxidative damage and telomere erosion, according to Ercoli’s clinical research. Learning to regulate stress response represents one of the most direct ways to influence aging speed.
Her personal routine includes daily meditation sessions, regular nature immersion, and tracking heart rate variability—a biomarker reflecting autonomic nervous system balance.
Research from the University of California San Francisco demonstrates how chronic stress correlates with shorter telomeres and accelerated biological aging. Conversely, stress management practices including meditation, cognitive behavioral techniques, and time in natural settings show protective effects on these same markers.
For those experiencing persistent stress, Ercoli recommends consulting mental health professionals who can provide personalized coping strategies rather than attempting to manage overwhelming stress independently.
Integrating multiple longevity pathways
While each strategy offers benefits independently, these experts emphasize that maximum life extension comes from addressing multiple biological pathways simultaneously. Driscoll explains that longevity represents the culmination of thousands of small decisions that collectively determine how your body ages.
The magic happens at the intersection of these practices. Exercise stimulates autophagy—cellular cleanup—which fasting then amplifies. Social connection regulates stress hormones, which preserves telomere length. These systems work synergistically for maximum benefit.
For those feeling overwhelmed by implementing multiple changes simultaneously, Kaiser recommends starting with small adjustments rather than complete lifestyle overhauls. Beginning with just five minutes of movement daily, extending your overnight fast by one hour, or scheduling one social interaction weekly creates momentum that supports more ambitious changes later.
The key insight these specialists share: longevity primarily stems from daily patterns rather than occasional interventions. While advanced treatments including peptides and senolytic compounds may complement these foundations, they cannot replace the fundamental behaviors that determine how we age.
By incorporating even modest versions of these evidence-based practices, you can influence your biological trajectory regardless of genetic predispositions or previous health history.
