Newsletter
The 3 Types of Longevity2026-06-22
“If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didn't ask me, I'd still have to say it.”
—George Burns
Longevity and aging are flip sides of a coin. Most people think one coin. In fact, there are 3 coins.
The first one is passive longevity, where you avoid damage. The opposite of that, passive aging, is wear and tear. This is what most people think of.
The second one is what my teams have pioneered and call active longevity, where you rebuild and rejuvenate your body, because life is good and you have reasons to live. That is tied to high mood, and the placebo response. We have developed biomarkers for that. The opposite of that, active aging, is shutting down, all the way to suicide, because of the perception that life is bad and you have no reasons to live. It is tied to low mood, and the nocebo response.
The third one is remembrance longevity, where your achievements and what you built outlast you. Your ideas, discoveries, books, buildings, companies. Nowadays AI avatars. The opposite of that, forgotten aging, is where you have built nothing anti-entropic, no legacy of phenes and memes to outlast you.
In these days of a World Cup, and in the parlance of soccer, the universal game: do not score self-goals, score goals to stay alive, and win to be remembered. That is the trinity of longevity.
Live. Happier. Longer.
Alexander B. Niculescu, MD, PhD
Founder +CEO| MindX Sciences