Frequently Asked Questions
Why Longevity Medicine? Don't we already have an ageing population?
Our concept of Longevity is about living healthier for longer and making the most of our years. It is very much not about staying alive longer just to suffer in ill health and low mood.
Our vision is of as many people as possible living to age 100 and beyond still able to do all that they want in life, whether that is actively managing complex business accounts, being able to hike up mountains or just to be able to care for and support their loved ones.
Although we do have an ageing population, recent advances in medicine have led to us living longer but with more ill health.
Alongside medical advances that have led to us surviving with our illnesses for longer, the world we live in has changed over recent decades. We now live in environments that encourage us to eat quick, easy, but unhealthy food and make it harder and harder to keep active and moving as we go about our lives. This has made us more likely to suffer with chronic diseases and to spend our final decades frail, ill and dependent upon the help of others.
Isn't this just going to worsen inequalities? Benefitting those that can afford it and leaving the rest of us behind?
This is something that I think about a lot and in all honesty I have no easy answers for it.
I believe that the services we are offering should be available for free to all that wish for them and while the NHS does offer some health checks that don't go far enough and are often offered to people that already have chronic illness, rather than catching people early to stop illness before it happens.
I hope our clinic will help to demonstrate the benefits of Proactive Health and we will be able to lobby the government to make it the norm for all.
Until then I hope that our Proactive Health pioneers will stay fit and well, protecting the NHS' stretched resources for the rest of the population.
Alongside this, I promise to commit 2%% of all of our profits into a fund to make our services available to as many people as possible for free and I will use NHS tests whenever I can to help send more money back into the healthcare system.
What age should I start to follow the Proactive Health approach?
Isn't this just for old people that want to live longer?
Isn't this just for young people? Have I missed the boat?
The best time to start following the Proactive Health approach is right now!
Even young children have been found to have the start of cholesterol related disease narrowing their arteries so we know that the sooner you start to proactively manage your health, the bigger the impact on your overall health is likely to be.
But on the other hand, it is never too late. Even after people have full blown heart attacks and strokes these approaches have been shown to reduce the chances of recurrent events and to help people to live fitter, healthier and fuiller lives.