⏳ Longevity & healthspan
6 mechanistic pathways · 67 options
Nothing here is proven to extend human lifespan, because that trial takes a lifetime and nobody has run it. What exists is a set of well-characterised ageing mechanisms and compounds that move them in animals. That is a real basis for reasoning and a bad basis for certainty — and the honest version of this page says both. One thing worth noting: the interventions with actual human mortality data are the boring ones — blood pressure, ApoB, glucose control, muscle mass. They are on this page too.
The pathways
Nutrient sensing — mTOR, AMPK & caloric restriction mimetics
The most conserved longevity mechanism across every species tested. Persistent nutrient abundance signals growth; scarcity signals repair and maintenance. Everything in this pathway is a way of telling the cell that food is scarce when it isn't.
NAD+ & sirtuin signalling
NAD+ falls by roughly half between young adulthood and old age. It is the obligate cofactor for the sirtuins that regulate DNA repair, mitochondrial biogenesis and inflammation. The precursors reliably raise the pool — the honest gap is what that buys you clinically.
Cellular senescence & senolytics
Senescent cells stop dividing but refuse to die, and they secrete an inflammatory cocktail — the SASP — that drives ageing in neighbouring tissue. Transplanting senescent cells into young mice causes age-related dysfunction; clearing them reverses it. The mechanism is unusually well demonstrated. The human dosing is guesswork.
Autophagy & mitochondrial quality control
Damaged proteins and mitochondria accumulate because clearance slows with age. Autophagy is the recycling programme; mitophagy is the mitochondria-specific arm. This is arguably the most tractable longevity mechanism because fasting alone moves it.
Glycation, oxidation & protein damage
Sugars cross-link proteins into advanced glycation end-products that stiffen arteries, cloud lenses and toughen collagen. It is one of the few ageing mechanisms you can see and touch, and glucose control is the upstream lever.
The unglamorous evidence — what actually has mortality data
Worth being blunt. Nothing above has human lifespan data. These do — ApoB, blood pressure, glucose and muscle mass are the four variables with the strongest causal evidence for how long you live, and they are less interesting than senolytics precisely because they're settled.
Test before you choose a pathway
Every route below can be argued for on mechanism. Only bloodwork tells you which one is actually your problem — and picking the wrong pathway is the most common reason someone concludes "none of this works". Across all 6 pathways, these are the 18 markers worth having in front of you first.
Ordered together:
⏳ Longevity Baseline🔥 Inflammation Deep Dive🏆 Total Health Panel — ComprehensiveYou have the pathways. Here is the stack.
The Longevity Blueprint names the one compound I would start with in each of these 6 pathways, what it was chosen over, and why — plus 21 options to swap in or stack on top, every one of them priced and linked.
Open The Longevity Blueprint →The protocols behind these
Dosing, stacking and cycle timing live inside the Academy, alongside the full interactive Vault and the Bloodwork Protocols.
Join the Academy — $10/mo →← Open Longevity & healthspan in the interactive Vault · All 21 goals
Frequently asked questions
This goal is broken into 6 distinct mechanistic pathways — Nutrient sensing — mTOR, AMPK & caloric restriction mimetics; NAD+ & sirtuin signalling; Cellular senescence & senolytics; Autophagy & mitochondrial quality control and others — across 67 compounds and supplements. Each pathway is a different argument about how the body gets there, so the useful question is which one matches where you are actually stuck.
The one that matches your actual limitation, which bloodwork usually settles faster than guessing. An appetite drug does nothing for someone who already undereats, and a thyroid intervention does nothing if your thyroid is fine. Each pathway page lists the markers that tell you whether it is your problem.
No. The 6 pathways are listed in mechanistic order, not by strength of evidence, and neither are the 67 options inside them. A lot of what works in this space has never had the trial run, and sorting by trial count would bury exactly the compounds you came looking for.