Longevity & Medicine
The word "longevity" is increasingly on everyone's lips. In various media, we frequently see this theme portrayed, whether by individuals without health training trying to disseminate some concepts and strategies with varying degrees of validity, or by professionals dedicated to it, approaching it from different angles.
The reality is that the concern for longevity now occupies a more central place in everyone's life than it did before. In parallel, the amount of information available on the subject, through numerous easily accessible podcasts and videos on free online channels, is almost infinite.
With the natural growth of the general population's interest in this matter, it is important for the medical profession to be a solid support amid all the noise. Indeed, with so many people expressing opinions on health, it is essential that those who truly have training in this area take on a central role.
However, the medical profession has lagged behind. It looks with some suspicion at this world of longevity, simply stating that many of the things presented lack robust scientific evidence; it encourages patients not to be critical of their own health; it seeks to compartmentalize health problems; it is not open to new approaches to certain pathologies, among other things. Unfortunately, this is also a reflection of continuous years of pressure from healthcare systems (public and private) to conduct increasingly quick consultations without the minimum conditions to address a patient as a whole.
With the increase in technology available to everyone, it is not only access to information that becomes more democratized and allows people to equip themselves with more knowledge to discuss their health with their doctor. It is also access to all kinds of wearables that allow, in real time, the monitoring of vital parameters more effectively.
Thus, the question arises: is it necessary for doctors to have a greater specialization in longevity? I answer this question with another question: should not the goal of any doctor be to increase the longevity of each of their patients?
As a General Practitioner, I know that primary prevention is essential to increase not only people's life expectancy but above all, the quality of life in those years. Any colleague in this specialty will agree with this. However, it becomes essential for each of us to invest in our education so that we can apply the science that falls under the broad umbrella of longevity (and which is truly robust) in our daily practice; simultaneously seeking, as much as possible, to create conditions for its application.
It is important to have time and know how to apply lifestyle change strategies with our patients; interpret variations in laboratory parameters beyond the normal "within or outside the range"; evaluate data provided by wearables, knowing which ones are more and less reliable and the real applicability of each provided data; understand that continuous monitoring is already here and that, not only with the most well-known wearables, but also, for example, with continuous glucose monitors we can have valuable information not strictly related to the metabolism of this compound but also with phenomena more or less directly related, such as inflammation. All this without forgetting, of course, that the exchange of arguments with our patients should always be encouraged and not the other way around.
Above all, we must always bear in mind that each person is unique and that, no matter how hard we try, the vast majority of current medicine seeks to apply generalized models in the individual treatment of people, which, no matter how much we want, will not be sufficient for each of us, with our own characteristics, to live longer and better.
