What is the meaning of longevity?

Ask five different experts what longevity means and you’ll get five different answers.

To a fitness fanatic, it might mean hacking your biology to reach 120. To your GP, it might mean avoiding a heart attack in your 60s. To the average person? Probably just being well enough to enjoy old age or to live long and well.

But we at Numan see longevity differently.  It’s not just about adding more years to your life; it’s about making those years count. For us, longevity means extending your healthspan: the time you spend living well, free from disease, decline, and discomfort. Because what’s the point in living longer if you’re not living better?

However, there are multiple factors that can affect longevity, as it is a moving target shaped by genetics, lifestyle, environment, and the ever-evolving science of ageing

The many factors of longevity

For decades, we thought ageing was an inevitable process. Cells wore down. Organs slowed. Joints stiffened. And we accepted it. But researchers now know ageing isn’t entirely fixed to the number on your birth certificate.¹

Ageing can speed up or slow down based on biological, environmental, and behavioural factors. In other words, how fast we age isn’t just about the calendar, but it’s about our choices, our environment, and even the tiny cellular processes happening beneath our skin.

So what actually drives ageing?

We can break down ageing into three components:^2,3

1. Longevity determinants: These are the big-picture influences such as your genetics, lifestyle (think smoking, diet, exercise), and the environment you live in. They don’t cause ageing directly, but they nudge your biology in one direction or another.

2. Ageing drivers: This is the internal machinery of ageing. It includes things like proteins and signalling pathways that govern how your cells grow, repair, and regenerate. Over time, these drivers can either support healthy ageing or accelerate decline.

3. Ageing diseases: Eventually, wear and tear or faulty cell processes give rise to chronic conditions like heart disease, Alzheimer’s, type 2 diabetes, or osteoporosis. These diseases aren’t just byproducts of ageing. In many cases, they are the ageing process made visible.

How science is targeting longevity

Most of today’s “longevity interventions” fall into one of four categories:³

• Prevention: Think diet, exercise, sleep, stress reduction. The basics still matter. Preventing cellular damage early slows down ageing drivers later.

• Diagnostics: From genetic testing to epigenetic clocks to microbiome analysis, these tools give us a clearer picture of where we’re ageing fastest, and why.

• Treatment: This means managing or reversing ageing-related diseases using conventional therapies or newer biotech approaches.

• Renewal: This is where things get futuristic. Cellular reprogramming, stem cell therapies, and even “young blood” transfusions aim to undo damage and reset the ageing clock.

Longevity isn’t just for the rich

Social media and pop culture would have you believe longevity is only for the ultra-rich, like people chasing cryogenic preservation and £1,000-a-month supplement stacks. But the most effective longevity strategies are often the most accessible: move more, eat better, sleep well, and manage stress.³

There’s no magic pill, but there are hundreds of small switches you can flip every day. What’s changing is the science behind those switches. We’re beginning to understand not just what works, but why, and how to personalise prevention and treatment to maximise every healthy year.

The numan take

It’s not just a potential candidate for 2025’s word of the year. Longevity is the evergrowing science of extending the number of healthy, productive years we live, and slowing down the biological processes that cut them short. It’s a field where biology meets behavioural science, and medicine merges with prevention. In simple terms, longevity means more good years. And increasingly, it’s something we can shape.

References

1. ^{DeVito LM, Barzilai N, Cuervo AM, Niedernhofer LJ, Milman S, Levine M, et al. Extending human healthspan and longevity: a symposium report. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 2022;1507(1): 70–83.}

2. ^{Campbell D. Longevity: the definitive definition. Longevity.Technology - Latest News, Opinions, Analysis and Research. https://longevity.technology/news/longevity-the-definitive-definition/ [Accessed 17th July 2025].}

3. ^{Martinović A, Mantovani M, Trpchevska N, Novak E, Milev NB, Bode L, et al. Climbing the longevity pyramid: overview of evidence-driven healthcare prevention strategies for human longevity. Frontiers in aging. 2024;5: 1495029.}