If fasting is not exactly your speed, diet is still tremendously important. As for what you should eat, the gold standard remains the Mediterranean dietone that is high in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, and olive oil, and low on red meatthe only diet, says Barzilai, proven by clinical research to decrease cardiovascular mortality. A recent study in the medical journal Gut found that following it for just one year slowed the development of age-related inflammatory processes.

David Sinclair, Ph.D., Harvard geneticist and author of the bestseller Lifespan: Why We Ageand Why We Dont Have To, says the Mediterranean diet essentially tricks the body into thinking weve been doing exercise and fasting. Of course, this is not a permission slip for bottomless bowls of rigatoni; too much of a good thing is too much. Dan Buettner, the National Geographic Fellow who helped popularize the idea of the blue zonesthe five areas worldwide with the longest-lived denizenssays he follows a rule practiced by the residents of Okinawa, Japan, and stops eating when his stomach is 80 percent full. And perhaps consider occasionally skipping dessert: Research shows that sugar intake accelerates age-related inflammation. The more sugar you eat, the faster you age, says Robert Lustig, professor of pediatric endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco. (The American Heart Association recommends that women keep it under six teaspoons per day.)

Other crucial life practices: adequate sleep and stress management. In blue zones, says Buettner, people downshift all day long, through prayer, meditation, or just taking naps. And scientists are also coming to more fully understand the role that other people play in prolonging life. A 2019 study in the journal SSM-Population Health found that social relationships significantly increase life span in older adults. Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin, author of this years Successful Aging, has found that friendships at age 80 are a bigger predictor of health than cholesterol level. Friends and even neighbors, he writes, protect your brain, while loneliness has been implicated in just about every medical problem you can think of.

But what about the factors you cant control? Most of us dont know whats lurking in our genome and are not often aware we might inherit some disease until we see the symptoms. That is changing, with tests that are leagues beyond 23andMe. The new Preventive Genomics Clinic at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston is the first academic clinic in the country to offer comprehensive DNA sequencing and interpretation of nearly 6,000 disease-associated genes, ranging from common cancers to the rare Fabry disease, which impairs fat breakdown in cells and affects the heart. Roughly 20 percent of people will be carrying a variant for a rare disease, such as hereditary heart problems, says director Robert Green, M.D., medical geneticist at Brigham and Womens. Where a full panel of tests used to cost many hundreds of thousands of dollars, the clinic charges $250 for a smaller panel and $1,900 for full sequencing and interpretation. (These costs are not yet covered by most insurance.)

In the near future, says Barzilai as we finish our walk, we can be healthy and vital in our 90s and beyond. He laughs. It may sound like science fiction, but I promise you, its science. While I can comprehend the misgivings about prolonging life, Ill admit that Im still programmed to crave those extra years, and will adopt what changes I can to make them more vibrant. My role model here is Gloria Steinem, now 86. I plan to live to be 100, she once remarked. Which I would have to do anyway, just to meet my deadlines.

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How to Live Longer: A Look at the Science Behind the Longevity Movement - Vogue