• Dr. Darshan Shah, who owns longevity clinics, follows a 40-minute morning routine.
• It includes meditation, coffee, and a workout.
• He said following routines closely is key to improving our health.

A doctor who owns a longevity clinic shared his morning routine with Business Insider.

"I'm a big believer in routines. Having a good health routine that you follow on a day-to-day basis — with very few skips — is what's going to lead to optimal health," Dr. Darshan Shah, the CEO and director of Next Health, a group of longevity clinics in the US and in Dubai, said.

A decade ago, Shah would often work 12-hour days as a surgeon, starting at 6 a.m., and didn't prioritize his health. He made healthy lifestyle changes in the hope of extending how long he can watch his son grow up, and lost 50 pounds.

He has found that spending 40 to 45 minutes a day on self-care was a "complete game changer."

"I am no longer tired. I want to wake up every morning, jump out of bed, and attack the day," he said.

Here's his morning routine.

1) Make a mushroom coffee

Shah blends his coffee with lion's mane and chaga mushrooms.

These are among the supplements he takes daily.

Mushroom coffee, which usually contains reishi, chaga, lion's mane, and cordyceps mushrooms, is said to reduce stress and inflammation, increase energy levels, and support the immune system, but according to the Cleveland Clinic, there isn't much research to support these claims.

2) Journal

Shah journals briefly while waiting for his coffee.

There's some evidence that journaling can improve mental health because it helps people process their thoughts and gain a sense of self-assurance, particularly those with anxiety or PTSD, according to a 2022 meta-review published in the journal Family Medicine and Community Health.

BI's Katie Notopoulos recently reported on an uptick in male fitness and "hustle" influencers taking up journaling as a self-improvement technique.

3) Mediate

Next, Shah meditates for 20 minutes.

According to the American Psychological Association, meditation has been associated with reduced stress, anxiety, and depression, as well as potentially boosting the immune system.

There are different types of meditation, including body scan, loving kindness, and walking meditation.

4) Strength train

Shah does a 10-minute strength training workout with dumbbells every morning.

Three times a week, he also does a 40-minute workout at the gym after he's completed his morning routine. There, he does a 12-minute run and 30 minutes of training with free weights.

A 2022 review of 16 studies, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that participants who did 30 to 60 minutes of muscle-strengthening activities, including weight training and calisthenics, were 10 to 20% less like to die of conditions including cancer and cardiovascular disease. The studies were on peopled between 18 and 97.

5) Read for 30 minutes

"At this point, my coffee is ready to go. While I'm drinking my coffee, I read for 30 minutes," Shah said.

He always has two books on the go: one about health and wellness, and one he finds more fun. Currently, he's reading "Forever Strong" by Gabrielle Lyon to keep up with developments in his industry, and "Love, Life, and Elephants, an African Love Story" by Daphne Sheldrick.

A 2020 study, published in the journal International Psychogeriatrics, that followed 1,962 Taiwanese people between 1989 and 2011 found that participants who read at least once a week at age 60+ were less likely to have cognitive decline 14 years later.

Shah skips breakfast and scrolling

Two glaring omissions from Shah's routine are breakfast and his phone.

"When I wake up, the first thing I don't do is pick up my phone. It charges by my coffee machine, so I put on a cup of coffee, and I don't pick up my phone until that coffee is ready to drink," he said.

He does intermittent fasting by skipping breakfast every morning. The approach, which typically involves only eating within an eight-hour window, is popular among biohackers and those in the longevity space, BI previously reported. It is linked to benefits including improved sleep and cellular health, the maintenance of a healthy weight, and reduced cancer risk.

But the evidence is very mixed, and experts say that it doesn't work for everyone. For example, people wanting to build muscle, those with a history of eating disorders, or pregnant women are among those who should avoid it.

• The sports scientist Lorcan Daly studies champion rowers over the age of 50 — including one who is 92.
• He found that rowers who took up the sport later in life could still reach elite performance levels.
• His tips for getting fit at any age include making exercise part of your routine.

A sports scientist who researches athletes who are 50 and over shared his tips for getting fit at any age.

Lorcan Daly, a lecturer in sports science at the Technological University of the Shannon, Ireland, studies how aging affects the athletic performance, physical strength, and endurance of older indoor rowers. He has found that rowers appear able to become champions in their age category no matter when they take up the sport, as long as they build up enough muscle mass and endurance.

For example, Daly's grandad, Richard Morgan, took up rowing at 73, and won four rowing world championships by the age of 92.

"In ideal circumstances, you'd be rowing all your life and just see a little decline in performance with age. But you can still massively increase your performance even at very advanced ages," Daly said.

"The clear message is that it's never too late to start exercising," he added.

Daly shared four tips on how to get fit at any age, inspired by the later-life rowers he has studied.

Do strength and endurance training

"The key thing is to have an endurance component and a strength component to your training," he said. "That's the perfect recipe for what you should be doing to be fit and healthy."

This is widely seen in research. For example, a 2022 study by researchers from the National Cancer Institute examined the exercise habits of almost 100,000 adults aged between 66 and 76. It found that participants who did 150-300 minutes of aerobic exercise as well as resistance training once or twice a week had a 41% lower chance of dying from any cause than participants who did neither.

If you're sedentary, Daly recommended alternating between going for a walk one day and doing as many sit-to-stands (where you sit down on a chair, stand up, and repeat) as you can the next. You can work up from there, making walks longer and brisker and graduating to simple bodyweight exercises at home, he said.

Every little helps

Even adding the smallest amount of movement into your routine will have an "enormous impact on your life quality," Daly said.

"People see professional athletes and think, 'I'm nowhere near that level, so what's the point?'" he said. "But even if you do a tiny bit more, you get a huge benefit to your health."

A 2023 study of almost 12,000 participants, all aged over 50, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found that doing just 10 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (such as brisk walking, cycling, or housework) each day appeared to reduce the risks of dying of any cause by 28—55% — even if they were sedentary for 10.5 hours a day.

Build exercise into your routine

"People say they don't have time to exercise, but that's like saying, 'I don't have time to brush my teeth.' If someone said that, you'd look at them like they're crazy — and you could argue that exercise is more important than brushing your teeth." Daly said.

"You just have to build it into your routine so that you just do it without even thinking, without relying on your motivation, just like brushing your teeth," he added.

Supatra Tovar, a pilates instructor, psychologist, and dietitian, previously told BI that she "anchors" habits she wants to solidify to existing ones so that they become routine, such as associating her morning coffee with 20 minutes of exercise.

You can also use tech to help build habits, by gamifying new routines and creating rewards.

Make it social

The best way to motivate yourself to exercise is to do it with loved ones, a Harvard paleoanthropologist previously told BI, because they will hold you accountable and can make it more enjoyable.

The rowers that Daly studied are all part of a rowing club. But you don't have to belong to a club to get the same benefits, he said — exercising with friends can work, too.

In October 2020, Amelia Samson's partner ended their tumultuous eight-year relationship. She was heartbroken, but COVID restrictions in her hometown of Seattle meant she couldn't turn to her previous breakup coping mechanisms: going to bars and kissing strangers.

She turned to TikTok, hoping to find reassuring videos about other people getting over heartbreak, but she couldn't find the step-by-step healing journeys she wanted to see, she told Business Insider.

So, the night after the split, Samson made a minute-long video in which she tearfully spoke about the breakup and how she wanted to help other people by documenting what she hoped would be her healing journey.

She shared it on TikTok at 2 a.m. and went to bed. When she woke up the next day, the video had 40,000 views.

Samson was shocked by the number of views and the support from commenters. Feeling validated, she posted more videos, in which she described crying a lot and struggling to eat. Two days later, she had 10,000 followers.

Samson said that she worried that the videos might upset her ex, but making them gave her sadness purpose and helped her process the breakup.

"There was never a part of me that thought it could turn into something bigger," she said. "I just thought I'd find a few new internet friends."

Five years later, Samson, 31, has almost 580,000 TikTok followers. Her account is a thriving side hustle to her career as a media manager, bringing in anywhere from $100 to $3,000 a month thanks to brand deals and TikTok's creator rewards program.

Samson's success was unexpected, but it's now common knowledge among influencers and their reps that there's money to be made from breakups — if they have the stomach to leverage their heartbreak while navigating the emotional consequences.

At first, sharing her lowest moments with strangers online was "kind of mortifying," Samson said, but she now thinks it was the secret to her unexpected success.

"That's been an interesting trend I've noticed — authenticity is what people are really looking for on TikTok," she added.

It's part of a digital shift that's been happening over the past decade, from heavily edited YouTube videos and filtered Instagram posts to off-the-cuff TikToks and casual photo "dumps." While "boyfriend tag" videos and soft launches were previously mainstays of relationship content, people now want to see romance's raw, messy sides, too.

Cameron Ajdari, a cofounder of the LA-based talent management firm Currents Management, said viewers want to find community and real people they can relate to online.

And what could be more authentic and relatable than heartbreak?

Breakups can be a gold mine for content and brand deals

For established influencers in public relationships, there can be downsides to not sharing details of a breakup online. Because audiences expect authenticity, fans may lose trust in a creator they feel is suddenly hiding things from them, said Presley Chambers, the director of talent at the San Diego-based influencer brand management firm Neon Rose.

In turn, transparency can be rewarding. Chambers said popular influencers tend to see spikes in engagement after splits, as viewers often check creators' profiles for updates, or algorithms promote their older posts in response to the interest.

So, a breakup is the perfect time to post about brand deals and turn inevitable lifestyle changes into "storytelling moments," she said.

Maybe a heartbroken creator joins the gym, downloads a dating app, or moves post-breakup — these could all be pitched to brands for sponsorship deals, Chambers said.

And those deals can be very lucrative. On FYPM, a database of user-submitted brand deals from verified (but anonymous) influencers, the dating app Hinge is listed as paying influencers anywhere from $400 for single branded posts to $12,000 for multiple-post campaigns, while the fitnesswear brand Gymshark is said to have paid about $33,000 for a series of sponsored posts by an influencer with 10 million followers in January 2021. Hinge declined to comment for this story, and Gymshark did not respond to requests for comment.

Like Samson, Bridgette Vong, 26, wasn't an established influencer before she turned a spurt of online interest in her breakup into profit. She had been making gym-focused content to motivate herself, which would get only a few hundred views, but when she shared a TikTok of her final goodbye with her partner of five years in 2022, it went viral.

She kept posting videos documenting her move to a new apartment and discussing the breakdown of the relationship — and the views kept coming. When she started to get over the breakup after a few months, she pivoted to making dating vlogs and "get ready with me" TikToks, as well as videos about credit card debt and her life in Toronto.

Now, she's a full-time influencer, having left her previous job in marketing, and has paid off $15,000 in credit card debt thanks, in part, to her five-figure brand deals.

"Posting about the breakup was possibly the best thing that ever happened to me," she said. "I think there is a lot of power in being authentic. That's what resonates with people."

Erin-Jane Roodt, a 24-year-old in London who's the CEO and cofounder of Epowar, a personal safety app, profited from her breakup differently. She made a TikTok in 2023 about being so sad the night after her partner of three years broke up with her that she ate the biggest chocolate from her Advent calendar weeks before Christmas.

The video resonated far beyond the friends who followed her, so she kept posting daily updates as she processed the breakup.

Roodt, who has more than 42,000 followers, has made only about $720 from TikTok, but her breakup content caught the eye of an investor, who saw it and learned she was also looking to raise funds for her business after clicking through to the startup's TikTok profile.

"It was a positive surprise that being authentic hadn't ruined my professional reputation. It taught me the importance of being real," she said, adding that she's now exploring monetizing her platform through brand deals.

Not all breakups are good for business

Sharing their most vulnerable, authentic life moments can also backfire for influencers.

In July 2023, Nick Champa and his husband announced on TikTok that they were divorcing after seven years together. He described them as the "biggest gay couple" on the platform at the time, and their split went viral.

Likes on his TikTok videos increased to 4.4 million in the week after he posted his breakup announcement video, according to data from Social Blade that Champa confirmed. The week before, his videos had received a total of 300,000 likes.

The ex-couple's combined 26 million follower count on their respective TikToks, once a source of income and pride, quickly became a source of pain.

"You can't ever escape the breakup because 26 million people are asking questions," the 29-year-old content creator and actor in Los Angeles said.

Sadi Fox, a therapist in New York with a doctorate in psychology who specializes in psychotherapy for influencers, said it's "so much harder" for influencers to go through breakups because their audience is watching them grieve.

Followers can sometimes expect drama where there may be none, or a level of intimacy that the influencer doesn't actually owe them, she added.

And as freelancers, influencers may feel they have to continue creating content during a breakup so that their income doesn't dry up, Fox said. There's economic pressure to perform, either the role of their usual online persona or the role of earnest, heartbroken creator.

"Not many influencers get to break up cleanly," Fox said.

Breakup content needs to fit into a creator's brand to be profitable

After a breakup, content creators can struggle if they no longer fit into the niche they've carved out for themselves.

Ajdari, the talent manager, said that some fans are interested in creators themselves, while others are interested in the type of content creators make. For the latter, breakups can necessitate a big change.

"If you found an audience focused on relationship content, but all of a sudden you're not in a relationship anymore, it's very hard for you to continue to engage with that same community. You have to think about creating new content, and that's not an easy thing to do," Adjari said.

The toll can be mental as well as financial. "The worst thing to happen to an influencer is to have to reinvent their brand completely," Fox, the therapist, said. "They might perceive a decrease in followers as a rejection of them and their personal identity."

This was the case for Champa. "It was just a massive loss in every capacity. I lost a partner as well as an identity and a sense of security," he said.

He said his viewers were invested in his relationship, or at least the "curated version" they saw online. Some viewers seemed to resent him for posting videos about his life post-breakup that were so different from his previous content, and he lost followers. Champa also felt brands started to pull away as he was no longer in a marketable couple.

Champa said the hate began to affect his mental health. Instead of pivoting, he ultimately decided to stop making content to focus on his acting career.

"I would post periodically, and it would look like I was having a good time, but in reality, I was crying myself to sleep every night," he said. "I got so much hate. The comments, and the follower loss, and the negative public persona were traumatizing."

Samson, on the other hand, had followers who were invested in her and, like Vong, managed to transition out of breakup content. She switched to dating app critiques and then to comedy in January 2021. Her viewers mostly seem to enjoy her new content, she said, enough to give her the engagement to attract $10,000 brand deals.

She doesn't think that the breakup itself was lucrative, though.

"The lucrative aspect is connecting with people. And there's nothing more connectable than going through something painful," she said.

"It didn't feel like I was exploiting my own pain for profit," she said. "But I don't think that I would have gotten to where I am now if it weren't for the people rooting for me since the breakup."

Without prior established influencing careers, Samson, Roodt, and Vong didn't have as much to lose as Champa — no followers, brand deals, nor senses of identity wrapped up in others' short attention spans.

Instead, they had everything to gain: a business, a supportive community, thousands of sympathetic eyes, and a sense of purpose to their grief.

• Kayla Barnes-Lentz, 33, says her biological age is 22.
• Barnes-Lentz uses experimental longevity treatments available at her clinic.
• But some of her favorite longevity hacks are free.

Kayla Barnes-Lentz is a 33-year-old longevity clinic owner who uses experimental treatments to try to live to 150. But some of her favorite biohacks are free.

Barnes-Lentz, who is based in Los Angeles, says she has reversed her biological age to 22. Biological age measures how healthy a person's cells, tissues, and organs appear to be, but there isn't a set definition because it's unclear how bodies "should" look at any given age.

Barnes-Lentz's daily biohacking routine, which she previously shared with BI, involves a home sauna, mats that send electromagnetic waves through the body, and clinical-grade air purifying machines — all of which cost thousands of dollars.

However, she told Business Insider: "The basics are what moves the needle the most. Although I have a ton of tech, it is essential to remember that we can also make massive improvements through lower-cost habits. It's what we do daily that will make the most significant impact on healthspan and longevity."

She shared her favorite free things she does to improve her health.

Spending time with loved ones

Barnes-Lentz previously told BI that one of the best biohacks was getting married, because her husband is a source of "security and peace" and helps her relax.

Barnes-Lentz said her husband shares a similar attitude toward health and longevity, and they biohack together, including using saunas and doing cold plunges together and holding fortnightly marriage optimization meetings.

Barnes-Lentz said that while some biohackers seem to be "siloed," she has an active social life.

"Some of the longest-lived people have this really great sense of community," she said. The longevity expert Rose Anne Kenny, a professor of medical gerontology at Trinity College Dublin and the lead researcher for The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, said that having strong social connections is just as important for longevity as a healthy diet and exercising.

Barnes-Lentz goes to events in LA at least once a week. The day before speaking to BI, she had friends over, as she does every Thursday. She and her husband also host friends for dinner once a week.

"We always invite everyone over to our house because then I get to really control the environment, and I know what's in the food, how it's made and what oils are used. But everybody typically loves it because we have all these fun health optimization devices that they get to use," she said. "Yesterday, I was having everyone test their grip strength, for example."

Getting enough sleep

Barnes-Lentz goes to bed at 8:30 p.m. most nights and wakes up naturally at around 5:30 a.m.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends adults get between seven and eight hours of sleep every night.

Even if you can't commit to eight hours during the week, research presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2024 suggested that people who "caught up" on sleep during the weekend were 20% less likely to develop heart disease than people who remained sleep deprived.

Exercising daily

"There's never a workout that I regretted," Barnes-Lentz said.

She does zone 2 cardio, which means moving at an intensity where she can just about hold a conversation, every day. She and her husband take a daily 45-minute walk around their neighborhood in the LA hills.

She also does strength training three times a week, lifting weights.

Nathan K. LeBrasseur, a physiologist who researches healthy aging as the director of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging at Mayo Clinic, previously told BI the best type of exercise for longevity is a mixture of strength training and cardio, for at least thirty minutes a day.

• A doctor who owns a longevity clinic does experimental treatments to try to stay healthy for longer.
• Dr. Darshan Shah takes supplements as part of this mission.
• He shared six that he takes every day, including functional mushrooms and vitamin D.

A doctor who owns a longevity clinic and does experimental treatments to try to live longer shared six of the supplements he takes every day.

In 2016, Dr. Darshan Shah, 52, founded Next Health, which now has locations in the US and Dubai. Shah told Business Insider he improved his own lifestyle 10 years ago when he had his first child and feared he wouldn't live to see him grow up.

As well as focusing on eating healthily, exercising, and sleeping more, he takes multiple daily supplements.

"I'm a believer in supplementation, but you have to be very careful," Shah said. "There are so many supplements out there that people take that don't have a lot of good research behind them."

Dietitians recommend getting nutrients from food rather than supplements. But supplements can be useful for those with specific deficiencies or health goals — including those who use them as an experimental longevity treatment.

Shah gets a blood test every four months to check his vitamin levels and whether he needs to take the same supplements, because "deficiencies come and go," he said.

He recommends others get tested before taking supplements, too. "And make sure that you are buying good quality supplements and that you're working with a practitioner who is very familiar with supplements — they can help you sort through what's going to work for you," he said.

Here are six of the daily supplements Shah takes and why.

Vitamin D3

Shah's vitamin D levels are naturally low, he said, so he takes vitamin D3.

D3 is a form of vitamin D that is easy for the body to absorb. It supports the immune system and helps the body absorb calcium, which is important for bone health among other things.

Many doctors, longevity investors, and biohackers take vitamin D because research suggests it can help reduce inflammation and the risk of broken bones and cancer, BI's health correspondent, Hilary Brueck, previously reported.

Vitamin D is also widely recommended for those who live in the Northern hemisphere, who won't always get enough from the sun.

Methylated B vitamins

Shah has a gene called MTHFR, which means his body doesn't easily process B vitamins. So, he takes methylated B vitamins, which are more easily absorbed by the body than other forms.

There are eight B vitamins, most of which help the body turn food into energy. Vitamin B12, for example, helps form red blood cells and supports healthy hair, skin, and nails.

Research has also linked it to better mood and the prevention of dementia, although this isn't confirmed.

Nicotinamide riboside

Nicotinamide riboside is a type of vitamin B3. It helps the body produce an enzyme called NAD, which is necessary for cells to generate energy. It also helps repair DNA, maintain tissue health, and improve immune function.

As we age, our bodies become less efficient at producing NAD. Supplementing with nicotinamide riboside to aid this process has become a buzzy longevity treatment, Brueck previously reported.

It's important to note that the research is still in its early stages and has mostly been done on rodents rather than humans. But it's generally regarded as safe, and one 2022 review of research, published in the journal Nutrients, suggested it had promise for extending health and life span.

Omega-3 supplements

Omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish such as salmon, walnuts, and chia seeds, have been linked to better heart and joint health, lower inflammation, and lower blood pressure.

Omega-3 supplements are usually made from fish or algae oil — but it's unclear whether they carry the same benefits as eating foods that are naturally high in the acids.

A study on 777 participants, published in the journal Nature Aging earlier this year, found that adults with an average age of 75 who consumed a gram of omega-3s every day had lower "biological ages" than those who didn't.

Biological age refers to the health of cells, organs, and tissues as opposed to chronological age. Participants were on average three to four months younger than their actual age by the end of the three-year study.

Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha is a herbal supplement used in Ayurvedic medicine. It's an adaptogen, which is a plant substance believed to help reduce stress and improve overall wellbeing, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Multiple studies evaluated by the US Office of Dietary Supplements suggest that ashwagandha could help reduce stress and anxiety levels, sleeplessness, and fatigue.

However, the effects of different types and doses of ashwagandha supplements are unclear. Existing studies have used different parts of the plant (for example, extracts from roots vs leaves), and most looked at its effects when used in traditional medicine, not as a dietary supplement.

Mushroom blend

Every morning, Shah drinks coffee that is blended with "functional" mushroom extracts, specifically lion's mane and chaga mushrooms.

Lion's mane and chaga are adaptogens, like ashwagandha. A 2024 review of research, published in the journal Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, suggested that lion's mane could help reduce anxiety and sleep disturbance. It's important to note that most of these findings come from studies on older people who took the mushroom for a long time at high doses, the researchers wrote, so the results might not apply to the wider population.

Meanwhile, a 2023 review published in the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology found the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of chaga mushrooms could protect against cell damage. But the researchers said more research is needed to confirm the potential effects of chaga and its usefulness as a dietary supplement.

• A top nutritionist thinks we should focus on where we get our protein, not how much we eat.
• Dr. Federica Amati focuses on eating plant proteins more than animal proteins.
• She shared some of the plant protein sources that she regularly eats, including oats and chia seeds.

You don't need to be scoffing steaks or gorging on protein shakes to get enough of the macronutrient — a top nutritionist says plant-based protein is the best kind, and better for your gut health than meat, too.

Federica Amati, Ph.D., is the lead nutritionist at ZOE, a science and nutrition company, and a postdoctoral medical scientist at Imperial College London.

Hitting protein targets is currently a huge health trend. But Amati told Business Insider that most people get enough, and don't need to worry about eating more protein unless they're an athlete or actively trying to change their body composition.

But where people get their protein from matters, she said.

Amati referred to a 2024 study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition involving 50,000 healthy nurses aged 30-55 at the start of the study, between 1984 and 2016. The nurses who ate more protein, and specifically plant protein, had a higher chance of being free from 11 major chronic diseases, having good mental health, and not having cognitive or physical impairments as they aged. Meanwhile, participants who ate more animal protein had an increased risk of chronic disease.

This finding is echoed in a 2021 study by researchers at the University of Oxford, published in the journal BMC Medicine. The 474,985 middle-aged British participants who ate more red and processed meat were more likely to develop heart disease, pneumonia, diabetes, and growths in the colon. Participants who ate more poultry were at higher risk of gastrointestinal diseases and diabetes, the study found.

Amati said the results of the 2024 study suggested that the health benefits came from eating more fruit, vegetable, and whole foods, not protein. The researchers argued this could be because the dietary fiber, micronutrients, and polyphenols in plant foods are associated with positive health effects, including reduced low-density lipoprotein, or "bad," cholesterol, lower blood pressure, and decreased inflammation.

Amati still has animal-based proteins: She eats oily fish twice a week, and eggs and fermented dairy — kefir and Greek yogurt specifically — regularly. But most of her protein comes from plants, she said.

Even if you don't go fully plant-based, research suggests it's possible to make a "huge" reduction in your chronic disease risk by replacing some animal protein with plants, Amati said.

She shared some of the best sources of high-fiber plant protein that she eats regularly.

Nutritional yeast

Nutritional yeast, or "nooch," is deactivated yeast that has a cheesy flavor and contains B vitamins.

"It's a nice example of a food that has both protein and fiber," Amati said. In terms of nutritional value, 100 grams of nooch contains about 50 grams of protein and about 20 grams of fiber.

A dietitian who follows the Mediterranean diet previously told BI she incorporates nooch into her diet by sprinkling it on savory dishes as a cheese replacement. Amati's colleague at ZOE, the gut health expert Tim Spector, uses it instead of bouillon cubes to add flavor to his cooking.

Soy products

Soy products are good sources of protein and fiber. For example, there are about 10 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber in 100 grams of edamame beans, and around 20 grams of protein and 7 grams of fiber in 100 grams of tempeh. And 100 grams of tofu contains about 8 grams of protein but less than 1 gram of fiber.

A 2020 study looking at 210,000 people, published in Circulation, an American Heart Association journal, found that participants who ate at least one serving of tofu a week had a lower risk of heart disease than those who ate it less than once a month. The researchers suggested that this may have been because the estrogen-like compounds in tofu could have led to effects that mirror the beneficial effects of estrogen in women who weren't taking supplemental hormones — or because the fiber and minerals found in tofu help to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.

Oats

Amati often eats oatmeal or overnight oats in the morning, adding kefir, chia seeds, and fruit.

When it comes to nutrition, 100 grams of steel-cut oats contain about 10 grams of fiber and 12 to 13 grams of protein. Oats also contain a type of soluble fiber called beta-glucan, which has been associated with reductions in LDL, or "bad" cholesterol.

Legumes

Amati eats legumes every day as part of her personalized "five a day" target for gut health. She often eats lentils or canned beans with whole grains and leafy greens at lunch.

Different types of beans have different nutrient contents, but 100 grams of canned chickpeas contains around 7 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber.

Nuts and seeds

Nuts and seeds are also part of Amati's five a day.

She said chia seeds are high in macronutrients: they have around 17 grams of protein and 30 grams of fiber per 100 grams of dry seeds.

To incorporate nuts and seeds into her day, Amati keeps a bag of mixed nuts in her bag at all times to eat as a snack, and she sprinkles nuts on her morning oatmeal.

• Steve Reeves takes photographs of older people in his community.
• He's learned lessons from them, particularly his 100-year-old friend Michael Hopkins.
• Reeves shared these bits of wisdom with BI, including appreciating the small things in life.

In January 2022, the street photographer and director Steve Reeves was out in his London neighborhood when he met a 97-year-old at a bus stop.

Michael Hopkins, who had overgrown white eyebrows, was wearing a "nice" overcoat and "really shiny shoes," Reeves, 58, told Business Insider.

Reeves said he mostly likes to photograph older people, particularly those who dress smartly because they seem to be hanging on to conventions, despite seeing the world change greatly. They also tend to be open to chatting and usually have "interesting" faces.

The pair spoke and Reeves took a few photos before Hopkins' bus arrived.

When he visited Hopkins' apartment to share the photos, he was shocked.

"He was living in a terrible state, in this room with the carpet covered in stains and the curtains hanging off. I then discovered that he had no relatives. He was an orphan because his mum died when he was six, and he had this heartbreaking story," Reeves said.

Hopkins, who was born in 1924, grew up in Dublin, Ireland. When his mother died, his father "didn't want to know," Reeves said. Hopkins and his older brother, Paddy, were put into a school where he said they were physically abused.

Hopkins later moved to London, where he shared an apartment with his brother and worked in tailoring. Neither of them married and Paddy died about 15 years ago, and Hopkins had been living alone since.

Reeves lived close to Hopkins, so he started checking on him every few days. As they got closer, he began buying Hopkins' groceries each week, before hiring some carers for him and battling with his landlord to improve his living conditions. Now friends, Reeves visits Hopkins every other day.

Hopkins turned 100 on February 11.

"He's got this great constitution. I wish I knew what his secret was. His diet is abysmal, all sausages and custard creams," he added, referring to British cookies. "He does do little exercises every day. But I never thought we'd make it to 100."

Reeves added: "I've gotten so much more out of it than I've given. It's opened up my life."

Reeves shared the nuggets of wisdom he has learned from Hopkins and the other older Londoners he has photographed.

Stay active

Hopkins walked to the shops to buy a newspaper every day until he was 98. He walks most days to a nearby pond or to get a bacon sandwich, in the company of his carers.

Reeves said Hopkins is active compared to other 100-year-olds that he had photographed, who were bed-bound. Hopkins still does workouts appropriate to his abilities.

"He does these little half squats, holding onto the table, and then he lifts one leg and the other leg up," Reeves said.

BI has previously reported on how centenarians stay fit without going to the gym.

Take your time

One of the biggest things Reeves has learned from Hopkins is to slow down and relax.

"Leaving the house with Hopkins, he loses his teeth, his walking stick, his keys. You have to just really take your time and you have to allow a lot more time for things," he said. Reeves said that this applies to his career, too.

He used to work in the fast-paced advertising industry but now is in no rush to achieve career milestones. Hopkins has shown him that he has years ahead of him yet.

Appreciate the small things

Reeves also takes "day-to-day stuff a lot less seriously" after meeting many older people.

"They just put life into perspective because they're all so close to death," he said. Worrying about buying a better car or getting rich is futile because everyone dies, he said.

Instead, Reeves has learned to appreciate the small things in life. For example, a 94-year-old man named Henry, whom Reeves spoke to last year, said that every sunrise was precious to him.

Ask people questions — including your parents

All the older people Reeves speaks to are so keen to tell him their stories.

"They've all got so much to say," he said. But he often finds that their children and grandchildren find out details of their lives when Reeves does, either because the older people don't talk about their pasts, or because their relatives don't ask questions.

"I love asking those questions because when they tell you, there's always something quite amusing, and they're all quite unusual," Reeves said.

"I think there's no such thing as an ordinary person," he added. "Everyone's got something interesting and cool about their personal lives.

"I've talked to people from so many different backgrounds, people I never would've spoken to had I not had my camera. It's opened up my life and given me so much back."

• Anissa Armet is a dietitian who helped to develop the plant-based, high-fiber NiMe diet.
• She ate in a similar way for years to manage her ulcerative colitis.
• Armet shared three of her favorite NiMe diet recipes that she eats to manage her gut health.

A dietitian who helped develop a gut-healthy diet shared her three favorite recipes.

Anissa Armet, a registered dietitian and researcher at the University of Alberta, Canada, and her colleague Jens Walter, studied whether eating a pre-industrial, or "ancestral," diet could improve the gut microbiome.

The gut microbiome is the trillions of microorganisms that live in the digestive system. Research has linked a diverse range of microorganisms in the gut to many health benefits, including better digestion, immune response, and mental health.

The resulting NiMe diet (non-industrialized microbiome restore) is plant-based, high in fiber, and low in ultra-processed foods, dairy, and wheat products.

It was based on the eating habits of rural Papua New Guineans who do subsistence farming and lead non-industrialized lives. Walter previously compared their gut microbiomes with those of people from the US, and found the Papua New Guineans' were more diverse.

For the NiMe study, 30 healthy participants followed the diet, which featured foods readily available in the West, for three weeks. By the end of the study, their gut microbiomes weren't more diverse. But they did have fewer signs of chronic disease in their guts, including a lower pH, fewer microbes that cause inflammation, and a healthier mucus lining.

The benefits of the NiMe diet were similar to those of the hugely popular Mediterranean diet, the authors said, in that both appeared to prevent damage to the heart and reduce inflammation. However, they said the participants may have benefited from eating a more nutritious, controlled diet than they usually would.

Armet has followed a diet similar to NiMe — one very high in fiber, minimally processed, and plant-based — for 10 years to manage her ulcerative colitis symptoms.

Prior to making dietary changes, Armet said she experienced bloating, abdominal cramps, and stomach pain, and was making endless trips to the bathroom, where she was passing a lot of blood. But once she overhauled her diet, her symptoms eased. The cause of ulcerative colitis is unknown, but research suggests it's an autoimmune condition.

It's usually treated with medication or surgery, and dietary changes aren't typically prescribed as a treatment. But research suggests that a high-fiber diet could help reduce inflammation in the gut and improve quality of life for ulcerative colitis patients.

We can't be sure that Armet's diet improved her ulcerative colitis symptoms, but she said: "I've personally felt the benefits of following a very high fiber, plant-based, minimally processed diet, which does fit in with the principles of the NiMe diet."

Armet shared three recipes from the NiMe meal plan and her own diet that are nutritious, versatile, and easy to make.

Sautéd vegetables and grains

One of Armet's go-to easy dinners is sautéed vegetables with some grains, which she said comes together in 15 minutes.

She chops up onions, bell peppers, garlic, and frozen leafy greens such as kale, and sautés them with olive oil, along with any other vegetables she has on hand. She adds a drained can of beans, and adds flavor with white wine and vegetable broth.

She said it's a great meal to prep ahead of time or keep in the freezer, and recommended serving it with a whole grain, such as brown rice or quinoa.

Overnight oats

"I'm a creature of habit, so I have the same thing every single morning, which is overnight oats," Armet said. She makes five portions on Sunday, which she keeps in the fridge for a quick, easy breakfast on weekdays.

"I just mix rolled oats with things like hemp hearts, chia seeds, or flax seeds. I mix that with milk and then keep that in the fridge," she said.

She loves how customizable the oats are. "You can add protein powder or yogurt for an extra boost of protein, or whatever additions you like — peanut butter, frozen berries, shredded coconut, nuts, a tablespoon of coffee if you need a little stimulant in the morning," she said.

Business Insider's health correspondent Rachel Hosie has previously shared her favorite high-protein oat-based breakfasts.

Sweet potato black bean hash

This sweet potato black bean hash recipe was labeled a breakfast in the NiMe study, but Armet said that it is "versatile and customizable enough to meal prep and pull out whenever you need."

To make it, chop a sweet potato, bell peppers, and an onion, and season with olive oil, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. Roast the vegetables until they are soft but not fully cooked. Then add black beans and cooked millet, and put the mixture back in the oven until the vegetables are soft.

"You can also use quinoa, or have the vegetables on a bed of brown rice and leafy greens — whatever you like," Armet said.

She likes this recipe because it combines some of the main foods of the rural Papua New Guinean diet, including sweet potatoes, vegetables, and black beans, which provide plant-based, fiber-rich protein.

• Caring for your gut microbiome is one of the buzziest health topics right now.
• The evidence that a happy gut improves our overall health is piling up.
• The message is spreading online, and businesses are cashing in.

Is half of your social circle suddenly obsessed with their gut health? You're probably not alone.

From 2015's "The Good Gut" by Erica and Justin Sonnenburg to Netflix's 2024 documentary "Hack Your Health," numerous documentaries, books, and articles in the last decade — including by Business Insider — have explored the potential benefits of caring for the gut. Between December 2021 and April 2022, Google searches for "gut health" doubled, the search engine's data shows, and have kept rising since.

In turn, the global digestive health market — which encompasses functional foods and dietary supplements, from probiotic yogurts to juice "cleanses" — is projected to be worth $71.95 billion in 2027, up from $37.93 billion in 2019, according to market research by Fortune Business Reports.

But the increase in interest doesn't seem to be because significantly more people have gut problems than in previous decades, Dr. Kyle Staller, a gastroenterologist and director of the Gastrointestinal Motility Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital, told BI.

← removed sentence in brackets and added line break And our diets haven't changed enough in recent years to have worsened gut health on a population-wide scale, he said.

Instead, health experts told BI the buzz comes down to a combination of growing research suggesting gut health plays a larger role in our overall health than previously thought, the rise of wellness influencers, and a post-pandemic obsession with preventative health.

The link between the gut microbiome and our general health is clearer than ever

The trillions of microorganisms in our digestive system, known as the gut microbiome, are at the center of this health craze. Early research suggests that a healthy gut microbiome is one that contains a diverse range of microbes, nurtured by things such as high-fiber and fermented foods, and is linked to many physical and mental health benefits.

This research was advanced with the launch of the Human Microbiome Project at the National Institutes of Health in 2007, and influential gut-health labs have since been established at institutions including Stanford University and King's College London.

And there's been a 4,300% increase in the number of academic papers mentioning the terms "gut health" or the "gut microbiome" in the last decade — from three papers in 2014 to 132 papers in 2024 — according to data from Elsevier's Scopus research database.

This explosion of research coincided with the rise of social media and the erosion of certain taboos, including talking about gastrointestinal issues, Staller said, especially for women.

With greater social awareness, comes greater misunderstanding

People being candid about their digestive problems on social media has made us more aware of the gut's role in our health and wellbeing, Stephanie Alice Baker, a sociologist at City St George's, University of London, who researches online health misinformation and wellness culture, told BI.

And as fad diets fall out of fashion, gut health has become a socially acceptable replacement, she said.

The idea of wanting to lose weight is more taboo now than it was 15 years ago, Baker said. "Now, people still want to be slim, but they'll often frame that goal through the lens of health or self-optimization," she said, because it's more socially acceptable.

And when a health trend gains awareness online, an influx of companies, products, and services will always appear in response, she added.

But Staller said that the research is still new, and we understand much less than people might think. He cautions against jumping to conclusions based on one or two scientific studies or anecdotal evidence being shared online. Don't believe that products marketed as "natural" are automatically beneficial, he added.

"People seem to think that somehow we might be able to hack our guts and cultivate the ideal microbiome," Staller said, with probiotics or fermented foods. But we don't know how to create the "ideal microbiome" because we don't know what one looks like yet, he said.

While there's no "magic trick" or miracle product for good gut health, Staller recommended focusing on generally healthy habits: getting enough sleep, eating a nutritious diet including enough fiber, and being active.

• Federica Amati is a nutritionist who has her own version of the '5 a day' rule for good gut health.
• She eats five key food types every day, including whole grains and omega-3s.
• She shared how she gets the five foods into her diet every day.

We've all heard that it's important to get your "five a day," meaning five servings of fruits and vegetables.

But Federica Amati, the lead nutritionist at ZOE, a science and nutrition company, told Business Insider she has her own take on the rule that she follows for a healthy gut.

Amati, who is also a postdoctoral medical scientist at Imperial College London, incorporates five types of food into her diet every day to maintain diversity in her gut microbiome: nuts and seeds, legumes, omega-3 fatty acids, fresh fruit, and whole grains.

The gut microbiome is the collective name for the trillions of microorganisms in the digestive tract that help digest food. It's important for overall health because it impacts other systems, such as the metabolism and immune response. A diverse, nutritious diet helps the microbiome to thrive, because different microorganisms use different types of food as fuel.

Amati based her five a day on the findings of a 2019 study published in the journal The Lancet. The study looked at the effects of diet on the participants' risk of dying. It used data from thousands of sources in 195 countries, including censuses, hospital data, and existing studies.

It found that an unhealthy diet — meaning one that is high in sodium, low in whole grains, low in fruit, low in nuts and seeds, low in vegetables, and low in omega-3 fatty acids — contributed to more deaths than any other risk factor, including smoking.

Amati shared how she incorporates each of her "five a day" foods into her diet.

Nuts and seeds

Amati said she snacks on mixed nuts — her favorites are walnuts and almonds — two or three times a day. She keeps a pack of nuts in her bag so she can eat them while she's out. She also sprinkles a mixture of seeds on her meals, including chia seeds, flaxseed, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds.

Nuts and seeds contain lots of fiber and are also a great source of plant-based protein.

Legumes

"I eat legumes every day," Amati said. "Beans all day — often for lunch, but also at dinner, and sometimes breakfast. I don't discriminate."

She keeps jars of uncooked lentils and beans in her kitchen, as well as ready-to-eat beans, which she can warm up for a quick lunch.

For example, a recent lunch consisted of cheese, spring onions, beans, and microwaved eggs topped with seeds, alongside some bread and extra virgin olive oil for dipping.

For breakfast, she has butter beans or chickpeas on toast, sometimes with tomatoes or mushrooms.

"Beans and pasta are also a match made in heaven," she added.

Like nuts and seeds, legumes contain lots of fiber and are also an environmentally friendly source of protein.

Omega-3s

Amati gets omega-3 fatty acids from chia seeds, walnuts, and oily fish, which she eats two times a week. She often adds a tin of sardines to her salads.

She also includes prawns and shellfish in the category of "oily fish" because they are good sources of omega-3s.

Omega-3s can help reduce chronic inflammation, lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of heart disease, and improve eye health.

Fresh fruit

Amati said she always has some fruit with her to snack on, like an apple or banana. And when she's not eating beans for breakfast, she often yogurt or porridge topped with frozen fruit.

Berries are especially high in fiber, with raspberries containing 8g per cup, compared to 3g for one cup of chopped apple.

Blueberries are high in antioxidants, which help protect against cell damage, while kiwis are high in vitamin C, which supports the immune system.

Whole grains

Most mornings, Amati eats oats in some form — either cooked as oatmeal or as overnight oats with kefir and chia seeds.

When making a stew or soup, she often adds whole grains like spelt into the dish. Or, when she's short on time and wants a quick lunch fix, she'll have microwaveable whole grains, such as quinoa, with vegetables or oily fish.

Whole grains are a great source of fiber, and they contain nutrients such as B vitamins, iron, folate, selenium, potassium, and magnesium.

• When Dr. Darshan Shah was expecting his first child, he was stressed and overweight.
• He feared he wouldn't see his son grow up if he didn't make lifestyle changes.
• He lost 50 pounds and came off medications after making lifestyle changes including improving his diet.

At 42, Dr. Darshan Shah was used to being stressed. As a successful surgeon based in Los Angeles, he had spent 20 years regularly working 12-hour days, starting at 6 a.m.

But when his wife got pregnant with their first child in 2016, he realized he needed to make a change to be healthier.

"I found myself in a state of poor health. I had developed an autoimmune disease, I was 50 pounds overweight, I had high blood pressure that could not be controlled with medication, I had high cholesterol, and lots of risk factors for an early death," Shah, 52, told Business Insider. "But my son had a long life ahead of him, and I wanted to be around for it."

Shah took a year off from being a surgeon and began researching the science behind long-term health.

"I was able to completely turn my health around and completely come off 10 different prescription medications within a year. I lost 50 pounds, and my autoimmune disease completely disappeared," he said.

His focus improved at work, too, and he found that he was no longer tired. Instead, he "wanted to wake up every morning and jump out of bed to attack the day."

Shah's transformation made him realize this was the type of medicine he wanted to practice — helping people get and stay healthy rather than just addressing medical issues as they arise. In 2016, he founded Next Health, a health optimization and longevity clinic with locations across the US and in Dubai.

Now, Shah does experimental longevity treatments at his clinics, but he still thinks that getting the basics right, as he did, is key for a long, healthy life. He told BI the lifestyle changes he made.

Cutting out ultra-processed foods

"My nutrition was horrible. I was eating a lot of ultra-processed food, especially highly processed carbohydrates," Shah said, so he eliminated them from his diet.

Evidence suggests that UPFs are associated with a range of health problems. In a 2024 metareview of 45 studies involving over 9.8 million people published in the journal The BMJ, UPFs were linked to cardiovascular disease, depression, and type 2 diabetes.

Researchers don't agree on whether all UPFs are equally harmful, so nutritionists advise eating fewer without stressing about quitting them.

Getting 7 hours of sleep a night

Before his son was born, Shah said he "barely slept four hours a night."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that adults between the ages of 18 and 60 get seven or more hours of sleep a night.

Not getting enough sleep can be harmful. A 2022 study conducted on over 10,000 British civil service workers found that participants who reported getting less than five hours of sleep a night at the age of 50 had a higher risk of developing chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, and dying from long-term health conditions.

Getting enough sleep is also associated with eating fewer calories.

Now, Shah sleeps for seven hours a night and says he feels amazing.

Moving more

Shah sees exercise as an essential part of a "good health routine," and doing a mixture of strength training and cardio has been linked to living longer. He goes to the gym every other day to do a routine that is 70% strength training using free weights, and 30% cardio, for which he runs on a treadmill — plus some stretching to warm up.

Shah also tries to get up and move every 45 minutes when he's at work to break up periods of sitting.

"They say that sitting is the new smoking, and I think that's true," Shah said. "As a surgeon, you spend a lot of time either standing or sitting in one position, and that sedentary non-movement leads to a high risk of disease."

While research shows that sitting for longer than 10 hours a day is associated with a higher risk of dying early, a 2023 study of about 12,000 people over the age of 50, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, suggests a solution. It found that 22 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise a day — such as doing housework, brisk walking, or cycling — appeared to offset the negative effects of being sedentary all day.

Bringing his testosterone levels to a normal range

"I had no idea that my hormones were in the toilet. But when I measured my testosterone level, it was very low for a 42-year-old male," Shah said.

Low testosterone can cause symptoms such as a reduced sex drive, erectile dysfunction, low moods, and increased body fat, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Shah used hormone replacement therapy and increased his testosterone levels to a range considered normal.

The lifestyle changes he made may also have helped. According to Cleveland Clinic, eating a healthy diet, exercising, maintaining a healthy weight, and avoiding excessive alcohol and drug use can help to keep testosterone levels normal.

As BI previously reported, once considered taboo, growing numbers of men are doing testosterone replacement therapy without an official diagnosis of "low testosterone," to help them build muscle, get erections, and have more energy. However, it's unclear whether it is beneficial for young, healthy men, and side effects can include acne, hair loss, and infertility.

• Sam White, a CEO, said hangovers from her weekends made her "tired and groggy" on Mondays.
• White decided to get sober in 2022.
• She said she now has more energy, is more resilient, and performs better at the gym.

Since Sam White, a CEO, went sober in 2022, life is "immeasurably" better.

White, who founded Stella Insurance in Australia and Freedom Services Group in the UK, told Business Insider that the insurance industry "has a love affair with alcohol," with huge amounts of booze served at events.

White, 49, has been an entrepreneur since she was 24 and used to drink at these events when she was younger. But she eventually stopped going to most of them to avoid the pressure to drink.

"I knew that alcohol would be part of the events, and I just knew I couldn't function the next day if I drank," she said.

But weekends were a different story.

"Alcohol was a very quick and easy way of switching my brain off," White said, adding she would go out for drinks on Friday nights to alleviate the stress of the week.

"If I went on a night out, I was never somebody who wanted to have a couple of glasses of wine at the bar and then go home. I was like, 'Where's the party?'" she said.

White would drink "considerably more" than she felt she should, and would have to drag herself through Mondays, feeling "groggy and tired."

In October 2022, White decided to stop drinking and hasn't done since.

She joined an increasing number of people choosing to go sober. A survey of about 1,000 people in the US conducted by Gallup each year from 2001 to 2023 found that between 2001 and 2003, 72% of adults aged 18 to 34 had ever drank alcohol. This dropped to 62% between 2021 and 2023.

Meanwhile, the volume of non-alcoholic beer and cider sold in the US grew by 30% between 2022 and 2023, according to data from IWSR, a market analysis firm specializing in drinks data.

White stopped drinking without a 'rock bottom' moment

White said she didn't have a "rock bottom moment" that was the catalyst for her quitting drinking.

"Why do you need to have a rock bottom moment to make a choice for yourself that is very empowering and makes you feel so much better?" she said.

Instead, there are a few reasons White stopped drinking.

She feared she was at a higher risk of having a problem with alcohol because her mother had abused it for years. Research shows that people whose family members have alcohol use disorder are more likely to experience it themselves — whether that's because of a genetic predisposition, environmental influences, or exposure.

When her dad received a terminal diagnosis, White said she was mindful of the emotional impact the inevitable grief would have on her drinking, because she'd seen her mom go from a heavy drinker to an alcoholic when experiencing grief.

"I didn't want to have something in my life that would enable me to emotionally switch off," she said. "I've got two kids. I want to be the best version of myself for them, so I just decided that it was the right time to just call it a day."

She was also approaching menopause, and wanted to figure out what she could change to give her as much vitality and energy as possible as her hormones changed.

"There's quite a bit of research coming out now on the impact of alcohol on women and cancers, too," she said. In 2019, 16.4% of approximately 270,000 breast cancer cases in women were linked to alcohol consumption, according to a report released earlier this year by the US Surgeon General.

Quitting drinking made dealing with stress easier

"My tolerance for handling stress is substantially better now than it was," White said of life after alcohol. "Everything felt so much more overwhelming on a day with a hangover."

At work, she is more productive and excited about new projects. Her performance is better, too, she said.

When networking, she is more selective about the events she attends. "It has to be interesting and fun in its own right. If it needs booze to make it tolerable, I wouldn't go," she said.

White also feels like she has her weekends back. Instead of waking up late after nights spent drinking, she has time for self-care, hikes, massages, and ice baths.

"I'm now the fittest I've ever been in my life and I'm coming up to 50," she said. "I did a personal best of a 120 kg squat the other day, which I wouldn't have been able to do when I was 26."

The hardest thing is socializing around people who drink heavily, as it can feel as though there's a "disconnect," she said.

"Finding friendships and dynamics where you can socialize and enjoy people's company without alcohol was the biggest struggle for me," she said.

"But I feel better every day now than I ever felt when I drank alcohol. No question, everything is better," she said.

• The CEO of a fintech company used to wine and dine his clients to build relationships with them.
• Yann Magnan now does about 30% of his networking while working out.
• Magnan said it makes meetings more fun but he would never force anyone to work out with him.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Yann Magnan, the 53-year-old CEO of 73 Strings, a fintech company, who is based between New York City and London. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I founded my company, 73 String, during the COVID-19 pandemic, so it wasn't until 2022 that I started meeting potential clients and partners in person for the first time. At that time, I was based in France, so I traveled to London, New York, and San Francisco to meet them.

They were always short trips, so I started to think about what I could do with my clients to spend as much time with them as possible.

Every morning, I like to do something physical, whether that's a fitness class, gym workout, or run. I realized the people I was meeting were the same. So, on one trip in 2022 to meet a client, I thought, "Rather than going for a drink, why don't I invite him to come run with me?"

We went for a run in Central Park, and it was really nice. We weren't exercising as intensely as I would if I were alone, but we had a great chat and made a connection. He's actually become a good friend since then.

From then, I started taking clients for a run or inviting them to an OrangeTheory or Barry's Bootcamp fitness class every time I traveled. And when I went to a conference, I would invite clients to come with me to Barry's for a class before the events began. I do classes or runs with my team members now, too.

It has gotten a really good reception and it's a great business tactic, because it's fun, people enjoy it, and you can have good chats at the same time.

More businesspeople are up for a workout in the US than in France

I'm French, and the typical French way to maintain relationships with clients was "wining and dining." I'm still doing that, but we also have fantastic feedback on the early morning gym meetings, too.

Doing both is great because after a night of wining and dining, you appreciate being able to get into the gym the next morning.

I won't try to sell a contract during these meetings — it's about connecting with a person and getting to know them better, whether that's by sweating together or having a nice glass of wine. Hopefully we like each other, and the business conversation can come later.

I'm probably "wining and dining" clients 70% of the time and doing fitness the other 30% — I exercise with a client about once a week on average. The trend toward fitness is evolving pretty fast, so I wouldn't be surprised if it were 50/50 in a couple of years, especially in the US.

The US is a totally different beast when it comes to fitness. The average business guy in France is not into fitness as much as in London or the US. The culture of a person's country is very important, but there's definitely an uptick in interest in fitness in the business world — maybe because there's a competitive element to both.

I find that I'm so much more efficient when I'm exercising regularly, so it helps me perform better.

I wouldn't force anyone to work out with me — but lots of people are up for it

So far, it's mostly been driven by me, but some of my clients and team members have started asking me to join them in whatever fitness activities they're doing that day.

I understand that not everyone is into fitness, and I don't want to force exercise on anyone or make anyone feel bad if they are not joining in. In my team, it's just like, "If you like it, you join. If you want to do something else, absolutely zero problems."

I ask my clients subtle questions to figure out if they're into fitness and see if they would like to join me for a workout.

You get some nice surprises — I found out that a guy who I assumed was in a similar physical condition to me was actually much fitter, and ran three or four marathons a year, while another client had run a 180-kilometer race (about 112 miles) the weekend before.

I've even hired people I met in fitness classes. Our chief of staff was my workout partner at a gym in Paris. It took about two months before we started talking about what we did for work, but I liked his attitude and his competitiveness. He also had the expertise and qualifications required, but that's how I hired him.

I got into working out to network by chance, but it works really well for me. It's basically killing two birds with one stone.

• Dr. Doris Day, a board-certified dermatologist, has barely any wrinkles at 62.
• She has had cosmetic treatments, but said that anyone can have youthful-looking skin.
• Day's tips include using an SPF cream every day and not smoking.

The board-certified dermatologist Dr. Doris Day has 242,000 followers on Instagram — and many of them are desperate to know how the 62-year-old has so few wrinkles and plump, smooth skin.

Day, who is based in New York City and a professor of dermatology at NYU Langone Medical Center, told Business Insider that she can partly thank her genetics and access to a "variety of advanced treatments" for her youthful skin. For example, twice a year she gets neuromodulation injections (such as Botox) and Sofwave ultrasound treatments to tighten and lessen fine lines, various fillers once a year, and has had an upper eyelid lift.

But healthy lifestyle choices and a consistent skincare routine can also play a big role, she said.

"Anyone can achieve and preserve beautiful, healthy skin throughout their life" with a "blend of consistent care, the right products and treatments, and a commitment to overall wellness," she said.

The key is to be consistent with healthy habits — although "the skin is forgiving and recovers well if you're good most of the time," she said.

Day shared the habits that she thinks people in their 20s and 30s should start following now to protect their skin as they age.

Use an SPF every day

"Sun protection every day, all year round, is key," Day said. "I always say nothing looks more beautiful in your 50s than sun protection in your 20s."

She recommends people use sunscreen every morning, with an SPF of at least 30, to protect against UV damage. This should be reapplied every two hours when in the sun, including your neck, she said.

BI previously reported on how to reapply SPF when wearing makeup.

To shield her skin from UV rays, Day also tries to stay in the shade and wears a hat and clothing made of UV-resistant materials.

This is because sunscreens available in the US can protect against the more dangerous UVB rays, but aren't as effective against UVA rays that are linked to skin aging, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.

Clothing with UV protection can help to block both UVA and UVB rays, Dr. Heather Kornmehl, a board-certified dermatologist and skin cancer surgery fellow, previously told BI.

Follow a simple skincare routine

It's a good idea to establish good habits in your 20s and 30s, such as taking makeup off at the end of the day and following a simple skincare routine, with hydration and sun protection as foundational elements, Day said.

She recommended using a hydrating moisturizer and sunscreen, and antiaging products such as retinol and peptides can be included later down the line.

Day also recommended visiting a dermatologist for a general skin check-up and to review your skincare routine.

Retinol is widely acknowledged to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and hyperpigmentation. Meanwhile, peptides, considered an alternative to retinol for more sensitive skin, have anti-inflammatory properties, can help skin maintain plumpness, and reduce sun spots, BI previously reported.

Dr. Abby Waldman, a certified dermatologist and assistant professor of dermatology at Harvard University, previously shared a simple skincare routine for people in their 20s that incorporates these principles.

Don't smoke and eat healthily

"Overall wellness" helps with skin health, in addition to specific products and skincare habits, Day said. She tries her best to sleep eight hours each night, do a mixture of cardio and strength training at least three times a week, and minimize the amount of processed food she eats.

Specifically, she recommends not smoking and limiting alcohol consumption — both of which, research shows, contribute to premature facial aging.

Day co-authored a 2019 study involving over 3,200 women aged between 18 to 75 who hadn't used a retinol cream or had any anti-aging treatments, such as plastic surgery, Botox, or chemical peels.

Those who smoked or had more than eight alcoholic drinks a week were found to have more noticeable wrinkles, puffier under-eyes, and deeper lines around the corners of their mouth than those who didn't smoke and drank less.

Day said that drinking enough water, eating a balanced diet, and regular exercise can also slow skin aging.

• Bill and Jackie Friedewald met while working at the National Institutes of Health in 1965.
• They've been married for 57 years and have stayed happy and healthy into their 80s.
• They shared their healthy aging tips with Business Insider, including eating the Mediterranean diet.

When two employees of the National Institutes of Health met at a work party in 1965, it was love at first sight.

"We talked about cars. I told him I drove a Mustang and I didn't care what kind of car he had, I just hoped it wasn't a Corvette," Jackie Friedewald, 83, who was a lab technician at the NIH at the time, told Business Insider.

Bill Friedewald, 86, was a doctor and researcher in epidemiology and designed clinical trials at NIH — and did, in fact, drive a Corvette. But this didn't stop the two from marrying in 1967, one and a half years after they started dating.

Three kids, eight grandkids, a move to New York City, and 57 years later, the couple is still having fun together. They moved to Sunrise at East 56th, a senior living community in Manhattan, NYC, in September 2024.

Bill Friedewald said their marriage has lasted so long because of their common interests. Spending time with each other is always "fun" and "easy," his wife said. They go to Rome every summer and Paris every fall.

"We don't really do anything special, but every day is a special day," he said.

The couple shared their tips for living long, healthy lives.

Eat a Mediterranean diet

Bill Friedewald said the couple "learned the value of a Mediterranean diet" at the NIH — although they enjoyed "cheat meals" such as fried chicken every now and then.

The diet has been named the best for the eighth year in a row by the US News and World Report. Based on the traditional ways people eat on the Mediterranean coast, the diet prioritizes whole foods, fruits and vegetables, and legumes, while limiting processed foods, added sugars, and red meat.

The wider Mediterranean lifestyle is also associated with longevity. A 2023 study published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings found that UK adults who lived a Mediterranean lifestyle — which involves getting enough rest, having strong social connections, exercising regularly, and eating with friends and family — had a 29% lower risk of dying from any cause than those whose lifestyles aligned less with this approach.

Stay active

Bill Friedwald ran the NYC marathon twice and has biked all his life, while his wife kept fit by walking and stretching throughout the day.

The couple's drive to keep moving hasn't faded now that they are in their eighties.

They do Pilates with an instructor three times a week at their senior living community because they enjoy the simple movements. Jackie Friedewald also tries to incorporate as much movement into her day as she can, starting with stretches at the side of her bed the moment she wakes up.

Exercise is great for longevity and health in older age. Regular strength training can help preserve muscle mass, allowing older people to carry out everyday movements that might seem like second nature when we're younger, such as getting in and out of chairs or bending to pick things up from the floor, Lauren Hurst, a personal trainer who works with older people, previously told BI.

Pilates is good for older adults because it is low-impact and adaptable for different ages and fitness levels, according to UCLA Health.

Friends and family are important

Bill and Jackie Friedewald think relationships with friends and family are important for living a long, happy life.

Jackie Friedewald was a stay-at-home mom throughout her children's childhood, which she "absolutely adored."

The couple have regular phone and FaceTime calls with their family, and love getting together in person during the holidays — especially as their family grows.

They are also still very close with lots of friends. On the third Wednesday of each month, Jackie Friedewald has dinner with one group of her friends.

They don't think their relationships with friends have changed much over the years, because they've been "diligent" about keeping in touch with them via consistent meetups and phone calls.

Research suggests having strong social bonds can help you live longer. A 2021 meta-review of research published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology found that the link between social support and longevity is equivalent to the strength of the link between not smoking and longevity.

The researchers suggested that this could be because social support acts as a "stress buffer," reducing cortisol production and inflammation in the nervous system, the neuroendocrine system, and the immune system — which increase the risk of disease and death in the long term.

• Rachel, 25, is a TikToker and strategy analyst in New York City.
• She takes six to seven fitness classes a week, plus ice baths three to four times a week.
• She shares how much she spends on her health in this installment of BI's Fitness Money Diaries.

Fill out this form if you would you like to share how much money you spend on health, fitness, and wellness with Business Insider's Fitness Money Diaries.

Rachel, a 25-year-old strategy analyst and TikToker in New York City, works out six to seven times a week. That's on top of her 9-to-5 job at a tech company, her TikTok side hustle, and socializing.

In total, she spends about 15% of her monthly take-home income on health and fitness.

"It is the largest sector I spend money on each month that is not a necessity," she told Business Insider.

Rachel, who didn't want to share her last name for privacy reasons, said she first got into fitness while working in finance. She has 74,700 followers on TikTok, where she posts under the username @RachelInARealWay.

"I really started to get into working out when I was in finance so that I could point to something I did that was for myself every single day," she said. In a job that took up most of her day, looking after her health was something her seniors had to respect, she said.

She started working out in her office's gym four times a week, running on the treadmill or doing Peloton workouts on an exercise bike.

She made six figures in that role, but left in February 2024 to take a lower-paying job that she enjoys more. The new job is "actually 9-to-5," she said. She uses some of her newfound free time to exercise.

She ran a half-marathon in the spring of 2024 and has since moved on to fitness classes, which she does six or seven times a week.

"I don't really have a fitness goal. I just think that when I work out, I'm a much happier person. It makes me feel like I've already done something for myself that day," she said.

Rachel also films content, like during fitness classes or while holding a plank.

"A workout used to just be a workout, but it's now a workout plus a way to create content for TikTok, which then gets me opportunities to go and do cool things," she said. "It's truly crazy."

She shared what she spends on staying fit each month with Business Insider for this installment of Fitness Money Diaries.

Fitness classes

From the summer of 2023 to January 2025, Rachel used ClassPass, a subscription service that where users buy credits to pay for sessions in a variety of gyms and fitness studios. She spent between $27 and $90 a month on the subscription, depending on how many classes she took.

Now, she has chosen to commit to one Pilates studio and pays $250 a month for unlimited classes there. The studio offers Pilates, yoga, and "sculpt" classes, all in heated rooms.

"There were many many days this week alone where the $20 cancellation fee on the Pilates class was quite literally the only thing that got me out of bed in the morning," she said.

She runs, too, which is free. "I really don't believe in paying for a workout that you could do on your own," she said.

She also does the odd fitness class with her friends as a social event at places other than her Pilates studio, which tends to cost between $30 and $40.

Monthly total: $250 or more

Ice bath membership

Rachel also has a monthly membership to a sauna studio, where she takes ice baths three or four times a week. It costs $190 for unlimited monthly visits.

Ice baths can help ease muscle soreness and help recovery after exercise.

Monthly total: $190

Clothes

"A large part of why I started posting on TikTok was because I would just see people getting free workout clothes, deodorant, crazy things for free on TikTok," she said.

Rachel said brands now send her gym wear and sneakers for free, so she no longer has to buy them for herself.

Monthly total: $0

Smoothies

Rachel doesn't see the $13 smoothies she drinks as integral to her health, but she buys them four times a week because she loves them.

Monthly total: $208

Average monthly spend on health and fitness: $648

• Emma Roma Jayne struggled with her weight until she got bariatric surgery in 2022.
• She lost 130 pounds in two years, and found some unexpected changes other than the weight loss.
• These changes include her feet shrinking, starting to like avocados, and losing friends.

On a family trip in 2022, Emma Roma Jayne stayed in the car as everyone else went to the beach. The thought of being in shorts in public, and having the body she was so insecure about on display, made her feel viscerally uncomfortable.

Roma Jayne, a TikTok creator and influencer partnership manager based in Australia, had always struggled with her weight. She tried to eat healthily, trying different diets and exercising "all the time," but she wasn't losing weight.

After the beach trip, her mom told her enough was enough.

"She was like, 'This isn't right. You're 22. You should be enjoying your life and be able to go to the beach whenever you want and feel comfortable.' She suggested that I should get weight loss surgery like she had," Roma Jayne told Business Insider.

So, in 2023, Roma Jayne had bariatric surgery, and her relationship with food and her body has been totally different since.

"At first, I was very much like, 'That's cheating. You need to put in the hard work to lose weight.' But I looked at weight loss surgery as a way that I could stop the food noise and then change my lifestyle, because I didn't want to spend the next 10 years still struggling with the same issues," she said.

She lost around 110 pounds in the year after the surgery. Now 24, she's lost a further 22 pounds in the year since — and kept the weight off — having made huge lifestyle changes; she now works out six times a week and eats a high-protein, low-carb, balanced diet.

While bariatric surgery is becoming less common, per one recent study, weight loss is booming as more people are prescribed drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro to lose weight.

Weight loss surgery "is the best decision I have ever made in my entire life," Roma Jayne said. "It has transformed my life completely."

Aside from the obvious, Roma Jayne has noticed seven unexpected changes after her weight loss.

People are more friendly

"There's no beating around the bush, I was definitely treated differently when I was bigger," Roma Jayne said. "People were just not as friendly, but they are so nice to me now."

She said that people hold doors for her, greet her in the street, and strike up conversations with her now, whereas before she lost weight she felt "invisible."

Her feet have gotten smaller

"One of the more random changes that I didn't even know that was a thing is that my feet shrunk," Roma Jayne said.

She has four pairs of shoes, all in different sizes, which she bought as her feet got smaller as she lost weight.

Her feet are slimmer now, and she went from a US size 9 shoe to a 7.5.

A 2014 study published in the Turkish Journal of Surgery found that 80% of the 212 participants, who all underwent bariatric surgery, bought shoes at least one size smaller a year after the surgery. The researchers suggested this could be because of fat loss on the foot, as well as the arches getting higher once there is less weight pushing them down.

Her voice has changed

Roma Jayne also said that her voice has gotten higher and sounds more clear since her surgery.

There's not much research on the impacts of weight loss on voice. A few small, limited studies have suggested that there could be minor changes to people's voices after bariatric surgery, but the differences aren't noticeable enough to hear.

Her skin is clearer

Roma Jayne has previously struggled with acne, but found that her skin cleared up when she lost weight.

She said that she eats a low-carb diet and has cut out sugar. According to the American Academy of Dermatology Association, eating high-glycemic foods that raise your blood sugar quickly — such as white bread, potato chips, pastries, and white rice — is associated with acne.

Roma Jayne also has PCOS, of which acne is a symptom. The UK's National Health Service said that weight loss can improve symptoms of PCOS.

Her tastes have changed

Roma Jayne used to hate avocados, and now loves them. She also used to eat a lot of fruit, but now eats far less fruit and far more vegetables.

A systematic review of research, published in the Nutrition Journal in 2023, found that across 26 studies, it seemed that weight gain and obesity could change people's perception of tastes, and increase their preferences for sweetness. However, the authors said that these results weren't conclusive and that more research needs to be done.

She lost some friendships

When Roma Jayne lost weight, she said that she dealt with "a lot of jealousy and resentment from friends."

"I realized that they were my friends when I was bigger because I made them feel better about themselves," she said. "But now that I'm on my own journey and bettering myself and making these healthy changes, suddenly they had a problem with that."

She's more confident

"When I was bigger, I definitely used my size as a shield to protect myself from other people knowing the real me. Now that I feel so much more confident in myself and I have so much appreciation and love for myself," Roma Jayne said.

"I'm the most confident version of myself that I've ever been, and I continue to get more and more confident every day."

She said that surrounding herself with the right people has also improved her confidence.

• Lorcan Daly published a study on his grandfather, a world-champion rower in his 90s.
• He realized rowing is a great full-body exercise and took up the sport himself.
• Here's why Daly thinks rowing is the "perfect" exercise for longevity.

Lorcan Daly's grandfather took up rowing at 73 after a lifetime of not exercising. By 92, he was a four-time world champion indoor rower.

Daly, a lecturer in sports science at the Technological University of the Shannon, Ireland, analyzed his grandfather, Richard Morgan, for a study he published in the Journal of Applied Physiology in 2024, and found that his heart health, muscle mass, and overall fitness were comparable to that of healthy young adults around the age of 25.

Morgan died at age 94 in September 2024, but Daly continued to study the characteristics of other top athletes in their 50s, 60s, and 70s. He published his findings in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise earlier this year.

He suggests that elite-level rowers can maintain exceptionally high levels of physical performance into older age by consistently training as they age, eating enough to maintain their weight, and consuming sufficient protein.

Daly, a 30-year-old former competitive weightlifter, knows the benefits of rowing himself.

In his research, he saw that a mixture of rowing and strength training is the "perfect recipe" for staying fit and healthy, so he took up indoor rowing as his main sport in 2022. Like the men in his 2025 study, he supplements it with weightlifting to improve his rowing performance.

"I actually compete now with the guys. The Irish Indoor Rowing Championships are on every year, and I do that," he said. "My dad has started doing it, too, my aunt does it, and another cousin. So it's like a big family event now — we all compete in different age categories and have a bit of a day out."

He shared the reasons rowing can be part of a fit, healthy, happy life.

Rowing is a full body workout

"Rowing taxes the whole body, and you're using all your muscle mass. Your heart has to work really hard. So for me, it's the perfect thing to take up as you age," Daly said.

Sarah Fuhrmann, a certified rowing instructor and CEO of UCanRow2, previously told BI that rowing uses all the major muscle groups with each stroke while being low-impact.

"Your strength, power, and endurance deteriorate as you age. It can become difficult to climb stairs or even get up from a seat," Daly said. "But if you want to become a world champion rower, it's the same principles you'd apply to aging healthy — the dual approach of endurance and strength training."

Daly said there's a low risk of injury compared to team sports which involve more contact — especially if you can nail the technique.

Rowing can provide purpose

The older rowers that Daly has studied didn't get into rowing for the longevity benefits — those are just positive side effects.

"Their No. 1 thing is how competitive they are. They want to win world championships," Daly said.

He said that having competitions to aim for and goals to achieve can give rowers a sense of purpose.

"My grandad would go to the world championships, usually in America. And then probably three days after he came home, he'd be training again for the next one," he said.

A 2019 study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, examined the impact of life purpose, defined as having goals that promote healthy behaviors and give meaning to one's life, on nearly 7,000 participants ages 51 to 61. The researchers found that people with a stronger purpose in life were less likely to die in the 16-to-18-year follow-up period.

There's a strong rowing community

Another handy side-effect of a lifelong commitment to rowing is the community at rowing clubs and competitions, Daly said.

One of the rowers Daly profiled in his research rows casually with his friends in addition to competing.

"There's eight of them go out every Sunday for a leisurely row around. They have been doing that since they were in school, since 1967 — the same eight or nine every Sunday — and then go in for a coffee after," Daly said.

Rose Anne Kenny, a professor of gerontology at University College, Dublin, said group exercise is a great way to combine the longevity benefits of physical activity with socializing, which may be as important for longevity as a healthy diet and exercise.

• Professor James White researches whether restricting our calories could help us live longer.
• He practices caloric restriction in his own life — in a safe and sustainable way.
• White shared how he does this, plus his other habits for a long, healthy life.

A scientist who studies whether restricting calories in a safe way could help us live longer shared how he eats, exercises, and de-stresses for longevity.

Restricting the number of calories we eat causes low-level stress in the body, which triggers certain processes that remove markers of aging from our DNA, James White, an assistant professor in medicine at Duke University, told Business Insider. This is thought to help our cells function efficiently as we age.

In one study, he and his team found that mice who ate 30 to 40% fewer calories than others lived 40% longer. That's the equivalent of a human living another 30 years, he said. But humans aren't mice, so such studies can provide a proof of concept for further research, rather results that can be applied to us.

A separate two-year study that White also worked on saw 220 healthy participants who didn't have obesity eat around 100 to 200 fewer calories per day than they typically would. Their cardiometabolic health improved, as did their pace of biological aging. This was measured using markers in the blood, such as the proportion of white blood cells and changes to genes.

However, there isn't sufficient evidence to prove that calorie restriction can help us live longer.

While the jury is out, instead of obsessing over how many calories he eats, White applies his research to his life by eating nutritious foods, which tend to be lower in calories. He also tries to focus on maintaining his exercise routine, because he tends to eat healthier when he feels like he's "eating for a purpose."

White shared the other lifestyle choices he's made in the hope of living longer.

Eating enough calories to maintain a 'healthy' weight

White doesn't think people need to reduce their calories by much to get the potential life-lengthening benefits, particularly older people who should prioritize maintaining muscle mass. Instead, he tries to keep what he considers a "healthy" weight, where he has optimal body composition, by not overeating.

"You have to find a baseline safe calorie consumption for your body, where you're not gaining weight. Then every once in a while, if you want to cut a couple hundred calories, that's fine," he said, citing a 2019 study published in the journal Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. It found that healthy, non-obese participants aged 21 to 50 who restricted their caloric intake by an average of 11.9% for two years were less likely to develop cardiometabolic conditions and had better blood pressure levels and insulin sensitivity.

"But you don't have to calorically restrict all the time for years," he said. "Even if you restrict by a small percent for just a few days a week, we still see health benefits in our research."

It's important to note that calorie-restricted diets are not safe for anyone who is under 18, pregnant, breastfeeding, or has a history of disordered eating, Katherine Gomez, a registered dietitian, previously told BI.

Cardio and strength training

Similarly, slightly increasing the amount of physical activity you do can have "huge benefits on health and longevity," White said.

He exercises five or six days a week, doing both cardiovascular and resistance exercises to maintain lean muscle, muscle function, and endurance. He lifts weights and goes on walks, jogs, or cycles for 45 minutes to an hour each session.

But "there's a lot of literature that says that exercising three times a week is very effective," he said. A 2023 meta-analysis of over 30 million people without pre-existing health conditions published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that just 11 minutes of exercise a day appeared to reduce participants' risks of dying from chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease.

Eating lean protein and lots of vegetables

White generally focuses on the number of calories he eats, using calorie tracking apps on his phone, rather than what he's eating, but he prioritizes lean proteins, vegetables, and healthy fats.

He also tries to limit carbohydrates, especially processed ones, because they're easier to overeat.

The Mediterranean diet, which follows similar principles, was voted the healthiest way to eat for the eighth year in a row by the US News & World Report. It's high in vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and legumes, and low in processed foods and added sugars.

Reducing stress by sleeping more

"It's very easy to get roped into a schedule of working all the time, getting little sleep, and just feeling overall stressed," White said.

So he tries to prioritize getting eight hours of sleep, which helps him destress, he said.

"Stress is inevitable, but sleep is a great way to reset," he said. "Sleep and stress are a constant work in progress that you just have to be mindful about and listen to your body."

BI previously reported on how a doctor who specializes in anti-aging reduces his stress levels every morning.

• Young-ja Joo, 85, went viral on TikTok for her wrinkle-free "glass skin."
• Her granddaughter, a skincare influencer, believes lifestyle choices helped her grandma have youthful skin.
• These include eating fish regularly and staying out of the sun.

When Ava Lee uploaded a video of her grandma's skincare routine to TikTok, viewers were shocked by 85-year-old Young-ja Joo's clear complexion.

Lee, who is a content creator and CEO of byAVA, a skin supplement company, describes her grandma's "glass" skin in the video, which is smooth and glowy skin with minimal wrinkles.

Genes play a big role in how someone's skin ages, but Lee thinks that lifestyle factors explain her grandma's "glass" skin. She shared some of these with Business Insider.

Eat lots of protein

"She always emphasizes to me that you always have to have a balance of greens, carbs, and protein," Lee said.

One of her grandma's favorite protein sources is fish, which she eats at least four or five times a week.

Dr. Derek V. Chan, a board-certified medical and cosmetic dermatologist in Manhattan, told BI that eating enough protein as part of a balanced diet provides "sufficient building blocks to make new proteins such as collagen, which are needed for healthy skin."

Protect skin from the sun

Joo has used an SPF cream on her face since her 30s.

SPF is an important part of an antiaging skincare regimen, Chan previously told BI. He recommended wearing sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30 every day.

"Whenever she's out in the sun, ever since she was a teenager, she's always worn a hat, sunglasses, and something to protect her skin. Even in the summer, she likes wearing a light long sleeve to protect her arms," Lee said of Joo.

Along with her genetics, which Chan surmised likely contributed to her lack of wrinkles, using an SPF product and covering up "are perhaps the most important factors in the appearance of her skin," Chan said.

Dr. Heather Kornmehl previously told BI that sunscreen isn't enough to protect the skin in harsh sunlight. She recommended wearing light layers of UV-protective fabric to cover any skin that might be exposed to sun, like Joo does, as well as a wide-brimmed hat to protect the face.

Keep skincare simple

Joo doesn't use many other skincare products. Lee said her grandmother likes to try out some of the products she gets sent as a skincare influencer, but mostly just sticks to hydrating moisturizers made by affordable Korean brands.

Moisturizing can help maintain the skin barrier, Chan said, which can help prevent prominent lines and wrinkles. He recommends using a hydrating moisturizer with an SPF of 30+.