The More I Learned About Longevity, The More Familiar It Became
You’ve probably figured out by now that I truly am a curious explorer when it comes to good health and I’m not afraid to test and experiment perhaps a little more than some may be comfortable with. Lanny, who is always a willing participant often tells me, “Jamie, you are not a doctor.” He’s right. I’m not a doctor, and I don’t pretend to be. But that doesn’t mean I can’t learn, ask questions, experiment thoughtfully, and make informed decisions about my own health.
Once I decided to go deeper into the topic of longevity, I was certain that I would be in over my head. I expected to go down a rabbit hole filled with scientific breakthroughs, hidden compounds and advanced technologies. And honestly, I did and yes, a good part of it was beyond my scope of understanding. But something unexpected happened along the way. The deeper I went, the more familiar everything became.
I’ve spent months reading about:
Peptides
Hormones
Inflammation
Blood testing
Stem Cells
Red Light Therapy
And there are a multitude of other topics, all of which I’ll be sharing with you.
At first, they all seemed unrelated. Peptides had nothing to do with red light therapy. Hormones seemed separate from inflammation. Blood testing felt like its own world. But over time I realized they weren’t competing ideas at all. They were different branches growing from the same tree.
Each article I read or video that I watched felt like another piece of an ever-growing puzzle. At times I felt lost and confused but eventually I stepped back and realized something:
Nearly every path led me back to the same place. Not another breakthrough or hidden shortcut, but the same fundamentals we’ve heard about for most of our lives.
Eating well
Getting enough exercise
Sound sleep
Strength training
Going outside and breathing fresh air and feeling sunshine with feet on the earth
Challenging the body
Spending time with the people you love and that enrich your life
Finally – finding purpose.
That realization alone allowed me to continue forward and to lower my own level of anxiety, knowing that I wasn’t:
Behind on learning
Afraid of missing out on something
Taking the wrong supplements or missing out on the ones I should be taking
Overlooking the next breakthrough or newest device
I didn’t need to learn everything in this space before beginning to live well.
I definitely have a lot more to learn, and that will probably never change. The science of longevity is evolving quickly, and I’m genuinely excited to keep learning. I’ll keep reading the research, asking questions, and yes—to Lanny’s chagrin—I’ll probably keep experimenting with new technologies and therapies when they make sense.
But I’ve stopped believing that healthy aging is hidden behind some secret I’ve yet to discover.
The deeper I go into this subject, the more I appreciate the things that have always mattered.
Modern science has given us a better understanding of why these things matter. It hasn’t replaced them.
In many ways, the more I learned about longevity, the more familiar it became.
— Jamie Harrington
Freedom to Thrive
Curious explorer of living well in the second half of life.
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