Plain-English guidance for unfamiliar decisions.
Longevity care is sold in language most people have never had to evaluate. These guides explain what a test is meant to do, what a clinic format actually commits to, and which questions separate a serious program from an expensive one. They are independent editorial, written to orient rather than to diagnose.
Where to start
Whether any of this is for you, what the field is, and what living well for longer means.
What is longevity medicine?
The question it asks that a routine visit does not, what an assessment adds, and the three quite different products sold under one label.
ExplainerHealthspan vs lifespan
Living longer and living well are different goals, 9.6 years apart worldwide and 12.4 in the United States. What healthspan is made of, what tends to end it, and what actually moves it.
Starting guideI feel healthy. Why test anything?
The case for looking early, the real downsides of testing while healthy, and how to work out which question you are actually asking.
Choosing care
Comparing clinics, formats and competing purchases, and what each one actually covers.
How to choose a longevity clinic
The three formats, prices computed from what clinics publish, who each format suits, and six questions to send before you book.
ExplainerBiomarker testing vs an annual physical
One is ongoing medical care, the other is a measurement product. What each covers, what each misses, and how to use both without gaps.
ExplainerFull-body MRI vs blood biomarkers
Structure versus chemistry. What each can show, what each misses, and what the radiology societies say about screening scans.
Fitness and body composition
What a clinic measures when it measures your body, and what each number is good for.
What is a VO2 max test, and is it worth doing?
The single number that tracks how well your heart, lungs and muscles work together, why clinics keep calling it a vital sign, and how a real test differs from your watch.
ExplainerDEXA scans: are you getting the bone test or the body-composition test?
One machine, two different scans, and only one of them diagnoses anything. What the bone scan and the body-composition scan each measure, why the numbers move when you drink a glass of water, and what a normal result does not rule out.
ExplainerGrip strength and walking speed: why does a longevity clinic measure them?
Two measurements that take about a minute each, and two that have been studied heavily. What a hand dynamometer and a four-meter walk are linked to, why your grip number changes when the device does, and why a strong result is a marker rather than a target.
ExplainerWhat is Zone 2 training, and what does a lactate threshold test measure?
One intensity, at least five ways of finding it, and they do not land in the same place. What a lactate threshold test measures, why your Zone 2 depends on which model and which marker a clinic uses, and what the training studies did and did not show.
Making sense of results
Who ran the test, what the lines on the report are, and what happens once they arrive.
What happens after the results?
Measure, review, plan, track. What a real results review includes, and the questions that reveal whether follow-through is part of the price.
ExplainerBaseline testing vs retesting
The first panel asks where you stand; follow-ups ask what changed. What retesting is worth, and what to ask before a plan renews.
ExplainerBiological age vs organ age
The scores are model outputs, not a second birth certificate. How the clocks work, why they disagree, and what they cannot prove.
ExplainerHow third-party lab testing works
Your clinic may order the panel while Quest or Labcorp runs it. Who does what, what CLIA covers, and ten questions before ordering.
ExplainerMeasured vs derived biomarkers
Some report lines were measured in the lab; others were calculated. Why three lipid values become seven lines, and when that matters.
Ready to look at actual clinics?
Browse the cities we have researched, or answer two questions and tell us where you are, and we will point you at a starting place.