How long you live, and how well you live, especially in your later years, is the result of a complex array of factors. While genetics can play a role, it’s usually more likely that where you live and how you’ve lived your previous years are much more influential in how long you remain healthy and functional as an older adult. For example, a recent study in JAMA Network Open highlighted the significant discrepancy in longevity and life expectancy between different regions of the US. While residents in the Northeast and West have experienced significant improvements in health and life expectancy over the last century, residents in many Southern states have barely shown improvement since 1900. Why is that? Everything from state policies that shape health outcomes to environmental factors, to early life conditions, all shape the way you age and how long you live. For more on these troubling statistics, pull out your map and look here.

But a new book by the eminent physician researcher Eric Topol should give you cause for optimism about how you can shape your health and well-being as you move on in life, and how the tools to extend your health span into your later years are actually available to most of us right now.  Dr. Topol, currently the Director (and Founder) of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, has been one of the leading researchers to investigate the role of genetics in life expectancy, longevity, and lifelong health. What he found, however, was that genetics accounts for only 20% of your longevity, while lifestyle, life circumstances, and environmental factors instead play a predominant role. Furthermore, rather than pin your hopes to high-tech hacks or cutting-edge supplements or nutrients currently being marketed (that sound promising but lack evidence in humans to support their benefit), Dr. Topol has instead put out a vision of grabbing hold of the current technology we know can be helpful for predictive assessments, and combining that data with tried and true lifestyle and behavioral changes to push your health span well into your final decades. In his new book, Super Agers: An Evidence-Based Approach to Longevity, he lays out his science-backed healthy longevity strategy, which he himself follows. What’s fascinating is how much is within your control, and how valuable his approach is, even if you’ve already entered your senior years in less than perfect health.

So, what is the approach Dr. Topol recommends? First, Dr. Topol suggests that with relatively available and inexpensive tests, most of us can get a head start on knowing our risk for some of the major diseases associated with aging, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative diseases, such as dementia. With blood tests detecting biomarkers well before serious symptoms arise, along with the burgeoning field of assessing the biological age of various organs, you can get a picture of your personal and specific profile and tailor your lifestyle responses and therapeutic strategies to lower risk and possibly even prevent disease. As Dr. Topol maintains, “When you particularize risk to a person, the chance of them taking actions to mitigate it is much, much higher.”

Other steps he recommends are likely familiar to anyone reading agebuzz or to anyone who tries to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Among his suggestions are a Mediterranean-influenced diet, with a strong recommendation to cut out sugars and ultra-processed foods (he also cuts out all snacks), increasing your level of protein, getting deep and restful sleep (7 hours a night is ideal), and exercise (the single most important “biohack” known to humankind), including the all-important strength training. Dr. Topol is also a huge proponent of paying attention to your mental health, including spending significant portions of time outside, exposed to nature. He is also concerned about exposures to toxic chemicals and plastics, which he calls “toxic offenders.” In that regard, he suggests that even small substitutions and changes can make a big difference, such as swapping out glass for plastic storage containers and utilizing air purifiers and water filters.

While he is no “Pollyanna,” concerning the challenge of achieving better health spans for older adults, he is optimistic that with the science-backed therapeutic and testing advances we already have, and the lifestyle changes we already know can work, we already have the tools in place to suppress many of the age-related diseases that currently afflict our population. While we may need to wait many more years to actually learn how to slow down aging itself, we can currently make our “second half” much healthier than our forebears could ever have imagined. For more words of wisdom from Dr. Topol, you can read about or listen to Dr. Topol describe his work and his new book here and here.