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News and ideas worth your attention.
Four decades of writing on living long and living well, with 1,000+ posts on functional and longevity medicine.
438 written by Dr. Frank Lipman
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Aug 25, 2025 · Healthy AgingMore than Just Fun and Games: 5 Ways Social Connection Supports Longevity
When we think about living a long and healthy life, we tend to focus on the usual suspects: eating well, exercising, sleeping enough, managing stress. All, very important stuff. But one powerful pillar often gets overlooked—human connection. It turns out that meaningful relationships are just as essential as veggies and regular movement. That’s why I encourage my patients to rekindle connections, nurture the good ones they already have, and stay open to new ones. Sure, it’s easier to hibernate—but, if you want to live longer and healthier, it’s time to shake things up socially.
Aug 18, 2025 · Healthy AgingGlutathione and Longevity: The Antioxidant That Supports Strength and Health
Often called the body’s “master antioxidant,” glutathione takes care of a lot of body business: protecting your cells, supporting detoxification, keeping your immune system humming, and just possibly helping to slow the hands of time (yes, please!). What’s more, your body makes it all by itself. But — and it’s a big but — under certain fairly common circumstances, production can start to sputter. Classic health-eroders like aging, stress, poor diet, and toxic exposure, either on their own or in combo, can all chip away at your natural supply, setting the stage for fatigue and disease far too early in life. Your mission? To keep your tank topped up.
Aug 11, 2025 · Healthy Aging6 Ways Metabolism Can Keep You Younger Longer – or If Done Wrong, Can Age You Faster
We are all aging, but we all seem to do it at different rates. For instance, one friend might pass for a decade younger and another, well, let’s just say, may present somewhat older than their chronological age. So, what’s going on? Sure, genetics plays a role but to a large degree, as the research of the past decade has made plain, the aging process is driven by metabolism. When our metabolism is working the way nature intended it to, we’re on track to live hale and hearty lives into our 80s and maybe beyond. When it’s not, metabolism becomes the driver –often the main one – behind the classic “diseases of aging” – that can rob you of countless good years as you age.
Aug 4, 2025 · Healthy Aging5 Ways the Peptide BPC 157 Can Help Repair, Restore and Rejuvenate
While it is hard to pick a favorite peptide – there are that many to choose from – one that’s especially close to my heart (and knees) is Body Protection Compound 157, better known as BPC 157—or simply BPC. I use it regularly, both in my practice and in my own life. Peptides like BPC 157, are short chains of amino acids — essentially mini-proteins — that signal specific biological actions. Studies show that certain peptides can support tissue repair, immune regulation, metabolism, and even brain health. Unlike general supplements or standard issue pharmaceuticals, peptides tend to behave more like precisely targeted messengers, mimicking natural hormones or enzymes in the body.
Jul 28, 2025 · Healthy Aging8 Things to Know About How Ketones Can Help Nourish, Protect and Save Your Brain from Decline
Long associated with ketogenic diets and ‘fat-burning,’ ketones are actually one of the most underappreciated (power) tools we have, not just for sustained physical energy, but for enhancing brain function and protecting long-term cognitive health. In fact, ketones might just be your brain's favorite fuel (who knew?). They’re the total energy package: a clean, efficient, and highly neuroprotective energy source which your body can make on its own — or you can get more in supplement form for that extra mental and physical edge.
Jul 21, 2025 · Health & Wellness14 Ways Embracing Optimism Enhances Health and Longevity
Embracing optimism helps you to become more resilient, engaged, connected, and just plain happier. What all that adds up to is being able to stay buoyant, even in tumultuous times. Sure, it also helps you better deal with the ‘now,’ but it more importantly also supports your health and longevity over the long haul. Whatever your reasons for embracing it, keep in mind, optimism is not about ignoring life’s difficulties. It’s about training your mind to see opportunities, cultivate joy, and light your way towards a brighter future.
Jul 14, 2025 · Healthy AgingBetter Brain Function for Life? Parsing the Promise of Plasmalogens
Recently, excitement about plasmalogens has been growing thanks to emerging evidence suggesting that they may be able to protect against cognitive decline and reduce the risk of devastating neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. Given that the side-effects appear to be virtually non-existent, plasmalogen supplements might be something to consider exploring, particularly if you have reason to believe you may be at higher than average risk for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.
Jul 7, 2025 · Nutrition6 Ways to Avoid Emulsifiers – and the Gut Troubles They Bring
What you put in your gut microbiome – the community of bacteria that live mostly in your large intestine – has an enormous impact on countless aspects of your overall resilience, immune defenses and even brain function. Ignore your gut at your peril. When it comes to foods that support the health of your microbiome, a big part of the equation involves subtracting the sweet stuff and indeed all processed foods. There are countless reasons to ditch them, but here’s another: virtually all processed foods bring with them an extra special health scourge, namely, emulsifiers. Look at just about any food label in your pantry and they’ll be there – and I urge you to ditch them out for good.
Jun 30, 2025 · Nutrition9 Ways Intermittent Fasting Can Keep Brains Young and Healthy – and How to Do It
While you might think of intermittent fasting as a trendy TikTok weight-loss hack, think again. IF’s benefits go far beyond the scale – helping to improve heart health, blood sugar control; reduce inflammation, blood pressure and even cancer risk – while also doing some impressive things for your brain, too. Though the idea’s been around for thousands of years – even Hippocrates was a fan – more recently, scientists and neurologists have started to pay more attention to how taking regular breaks from eating can protect your mind and possibly even sharpen it. So, how does IF help upgrade your brain’s health and ultimately its longevity? Let us count the ways.
Jun 23, 2025 · Healthy AgingApproaching the Fountain of Youth: The Link Between Longevity and Diabetes Medications
Now that we know so much about the biology of aging, and the 12 major markers of aging, can we actually treat it? Can we slow aging down, or even reverse some of it’s effects? The answer is getting closer every day. In fact, we may already have some powerful tools at hand. But only now are we beginning to understand how best to use them. So, which ones may be the game changers when it comes to living better for longer? The most promising ‘big three’ tools currently in our longevity toolbox may just be the game-changers we’ve all been waiting for – thanks to, of all things, diabetes.
Jun 16, 2025 · Healthy AgingMeet Methylation – The Fast Pass to The Feeling Great Train at Every Age
When we talk about methylation, we’re talking organic chemistry. It’s a natural chemical process whereby a tiny group of atoms (one carbon and three hydrogen atoms—aka, a “methyl group”) is passed from one molecule to another. This tiny hand-off is actually a big deal. It helps regulate gene expression, that is, it helps determines which genes get turned on or off. That, in turn, determines which proteins your body makes and when – and proteins, remember, are the workhorses of the body, responsible for practically everything that happens inside us. Think of it like oiling the gears of a machine—without methylation, the body’s gears start to jam up.
Jun 9, 2025 · Health & Wellness8 Ways Morning Sunlight Effortlessly Boosts Health Head to Toe
More than simply a pleasant visual reminder that a new day has begun, morning light delivers a host of benefits that help enhance both your physical and mental health, with minimal effort on your part. (Think no pain, much gain.) In effect, morning sunlight is nature’s alarm clock that acts as a daily, full-body reset. Recent studies continue to shed light on how early-day sun exposure positively influences multiple bodily systems and functions, from hormone regulation and circadian rhythm to digestion and immunity, so I urge you to make a little space to let the sun shine in every day.
Jun 2, 2025 · Healthy AgingHow Calorie Restriction Mimetics May Slow the Hands of Time
What if you could harness the longevity-supportive benefits of calorie restriction (CR) without actually having to eat less? That’s where ‘calorie restriction mimetics’ (CRMs) come in, compounds that mimic the beneficial effects of CR. Here’s an introduction to this fascinating, and fast-evolving, anti-aging science, and a look at how CRMs may help you keep a spring in your step for as long as possible.
May 26, 2025 · Healthy Aging8 Circadian Rhythm Tune-Up Tips to Help Slow Aging
The clock is ticking, time is passing, and few of us are getting any younger – well, make that none of us. But there are a number of ways to slow the hands of time. One of the easiest, and most direct, ways is to take advantage of the clock that’s built into every one of us -- the internal master clock, aka your circadian rhythm, which runs on a 24-hour cycle. That inner clock is what helps regulate when you feel sleepy or alert, when you’re hungry, and even how your body fights off illness.
May 19, 2025 · Healthy Aging1-MNA: The Anti-Aging, Heart-Helping Wellness Wonder
1-MNA, is a naturally occurring compound produced when the body breaks down niacin/vitamin B3 in the diet or supplements. And everything just goes better with MNA, especially the conversion of food into energy which is the main business of B3. What makes 1-MNA especially easy to love? Its solid safety stats; its ability to help naturally restore levels of NAD (aka nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, the “coenzyme” that helps turn that food into energy); and to optimize the complex network of cellular pathways involved in energy generation. It’s a boon to your cardiovascular system and so much more that I encourage everyone to consider this smart addition to your wellness repertoire.
May 12, 2025 · Healthy AgingSleep: The Ultimate Anti-Aging Tool for Keeping Brains Young and Healthy
When we think about the common signs of aging, we often we think about the obvious everyday externals, like wrinkles and thinning hair, or the need for increasingly more powerful reading glasses. But when it comes to longevity, it’s pretty clear that what's going on in your head is ultimately far more important than what it looks like on the outside. While fillers and Botox can shore up an aging face, what are the most important ‘tweakments’ to help keep your brain young? There are a number of must-dos, but the real chart-trooper is sleep. Without enough of it – we’re talking the restorative, high-quality kind – you're all but daring your brain to age rapidly.
May 5, 2025 · Healthy AgingTime for Taurine: 6 Big Health and Longevity Benefits
Chances are you’ve probably come across taurine, mostly as a key ingredient found in countless ‘energy drinks’. Assuming you’re wise enough to steer clear of those artificially sweetened, often overly caffeinated beverages (and I hope you are) well, good for you, and keep up the good work. However, you might want to take a second look at taurine on its own (minus the liquid chemical bath) because, among its many benefits, taurine is a key component in boosting heart and brain health, making it a potential major player in supporting longevity and the type of vibrant healthspans all of us want to enjoy.
Apr 28, 2025 · Healthy AgingAre You ‘Inflamm-aging’? 8 Tips for Aging Well – With Loads Less Inflammation
It’s chronic inflammation that’s implicated in just about all of our common “diseases of aging”: cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, even some forms of cancers. But what more recent research is telling us is that chronic inflammation isn’t just driving individual diseases, it’s driving aging itself – it’s one of the key “hallmarks of aging” and it’s linked to most of the other hallmarks as well. In fact, chronic inflammation is so important, scientists often use the term “inflammaging” as a way to grapple with aging in its entirety. To live as long and well, learning how to “inflame-age” as slowly as possible is an essential first step.
Apr 21, 2025 · Healthy Aging10 Smart Supplements to Preserve Your Mitochondria – and Your Energy Supply
Research indicates that mitochondrial dysfunction and ultimately decay is a key contributor to the aging process and to any number of age-related diseases, including ones that impact the brain and the cardiovascular system. The good news is that we have a good bit of say over how slow or fast we age, and a lot of that leverage has to do with how well we care for our mitochondria. For them to thrive, healthy habits are non-negotiable, but you can also give your ‘mitos’ an added boost with some carefully chosen supplements. The right combo of habits and supplements translates to more energy, mental sharpness, and an added layer of protection against the most common diseases of aging. There’s no better therapy than that!
Apr 14, 2025 · Healthy AgingYes, Your Cocktail is a Cancer Risk: 7 Thoughts on Why Alcohol Is Such Bad News
Here’s a hard truth: alcohol contributes to cancer. The statistics are sobering. Globally, an estimated 4% of all cancers are linked with alcohol consumption. Best estimates suggest that alcohol contributes to, every year, 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 cancer deaths in the U.S. Think that’s way, way too many? So do I. Here’s the topline of what you need to know about the carcinogenic substance that most Americans are imbibing on a regular basis, usually with no clue of how they’re putting their health at risk.
Apr 7, 2025 · Healthy Aging10 Do-Right-Now Tips to Slow Brain Aging and Keep It Vital for Decades
While there’s no side-stepping the aging process – if you’re lucky enough to wake up every day, aging is coming for you – there are a lot of moves we can make today to start slowing it down. One of the most essential areas to focus on? Let’s begin with your grey matter. Start treating it right now, and your brain (as well as the rest of you) will reap a lifetime of benefits. The more brain health-supportive behaviors you can pile on now, the slower it will age, and the longer and better it will function.
Mar 31, 2025 · Healthy AgingMicroplastics Are Everywhere — Here are 18 Ways to Keep Them Out of Your Body
When it comes to living healthy for as long as possible, purging plastic from your life will get your longevity wagon rolling in the right direction. What a few decades ago was seen as the ultimate modern living must-have – Tupperware Party anyone? – we now know that plastic is an incredibly problematic, disease-triggering product that hovers near the top of the must-to-avoid list. A big part of the problem is the matter of ‘microplastics,’ and ‘nanoplastics’ – those bazillions of plastic particles, some smaller than a grain of rice and some not visible without a microscope. They’ve infiltrated just about every aspect of our environment. Consequently, most of us are consuming countless microplastic particles annually, putting us in the path of multiple damaging health effects.
Mar 24, 2025 · Healthy AgingUrolithin A: The Anti-Aging, Possibly Life-saving Supplement You’ve Never Heard of
One of my favorite complimentary supplement/longevity compounds is probably one you’ve never heard of – and it’s called urolithin. What makes this one so noteworthy? Well, it comes with a wide array of health benefits, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and neuroprotective effects. It also supports muscle and mitochondrial health, contributes to slowing the aging process, and helps protect against kidney damage – good news for now and even better news down the road.
Mar 17, 2025 · RelaxationTo Maintain a Youthful Brain, Meditation is the Perfect Prescription
The idea that meditation, is great for you may not be breaking news, but we both know you should be working on developing your stress-relieving meditation practice. Question is, are you actually doing it? If the answer is no, then here’s a bit more motivation: a regular meditation practice can help rescue your brain health and enhance your sense of well-being for years to come. How and why it does so much good for your brain and body? Let us count the ways – and give you a few tips on how to get into – and stay in – a consistent, brain-saving, meditation groove.