Optimizing Health and Longevity: A Comprehensive Guide

If so, you don’t have to look very far to find claims about how to improve—no, “optimize”—your health.

Want to reverse chronic disease? Extend that youthful glow? Live to 115… or forever? Lots of fitness influencers, authors, and podcasters will tell you how to do it.

In this infographic, we’ll explore.

By the end of it, you’ll have clarity about how to get the health and longevity you want, while living a life you enjoy.

References:

Dalton, Amy N., and Stephen A. Spiller. 2012. “Too Much of a Good Thing: The Benefits of Implementation Intentions Depend on the Number of Goals.” The Journal of Consumer Research 39 (3): 600–614.

Diener, Ed, and Micaela Y. Chan. 2011. “Happy People Live Longer: Subjective Well-Being Contributes to Health and Longevity.” Applied Psychology. Health and Well-Being 3 (1): 1–43.

Suarez-Lledo, Victor, and Javier Alvarez-Galvez. 2021. “Prevalence of Health Misinformation on Social Media: Systematic Review.” Journal of Medical Internet Research 23 (1): e17187.

Crawford, Cindy, Bharathi Avula, Andrea T. Lindsey, Abraham Walter, Kumar Katragunta, Ikhlas A. Khan, and Patricia A. Deuster. 2022. “Analysis of Select Dietary Supplement Products Marketed to Support or Boost the Immune System.” JAMA Network Open 5 (8): e2226040.

Crawford, Cindy, Courtney Boyd, Bharathi Avula, Yan-Hong Wang, Ikhlas A. Khan, and Patricia A. Deuster. 2020. “A Public Health Issue: Dietary Supplements Promoted for Brain Health and Cognitive Performance.” Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (New York, N.Y.) 26 (4): 265–72.

White, C. Michael. 2022. “Continued Risk of Dietary Supplements Adulterated with Approved and Unapproved Drugs: Assessment of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Tainted Supplements Database 2007 through 2021.” Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 62 (8): 928–34.

Paffenbarger, R. S., Jr, R. T. Hyde, A. L. Wing, and C. C. Hsieh. 1986. “Physical Activity, All-Cause Mortality, and Longevity of College Alumni.” The New England Journal of Medicine 314 (10): 605–13.

Watts, Eleanor L., Charles E. Matthews, Joshua R. Freeman, Jessica S. Gorzelitz, Hyokyoung G. Hong, Linda M. Liao, Kathleen M. McClain, Pedro F. Saint-Maurice, Eric J. Shiroma, and Steven C. Moore. 2022. “Association of Leisure Time Physical Activity Types and Risks of All-Cause, Cardiovascular, and Cancer Mortality among Older Adults.” JAMA Network Open 5 (8): e2228510.

Jayedi, Ahmad, Ali Gohari, and Sakineh Shab-Bidar. 2022. “Daily Step Count and All-Cause Mortality: A Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies.” Sports Medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) 52 (1): 89–99.

Del Pozo Cruz, Borja, Matthew Ahmadi, Sharon L. Naismith, and Emmanuel Stamatakis. 2022. “Association of Daily Step Count and Intensity with Incident Dementia in 78,430 Adults Living in the UK.” JAMA Neurology 79 (10): 1059–63.

Abou Sawan, Sidney; Nunes, Everson A.; Lim, Changhyun; McKendry, James; Phillips, Stuart M.. “The Health Benefits of Resistance Exercise: Beyond Hypertrophy and Big Weights.” Exercise, Sport, and Movement 1(1):e00001, Winter 2023.

“Falls.” n.d. Accessed May 6, 2025. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/falls.

Sadaqa, Munseef, Zsanett Németh, Alexandra Makai, Viktória Prémusz, and Márta Hock. 2023. “Effectiveness of Exercise Interventions on Fall Prevention in Ambulatory Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Systematic Review with Narrative Synthesis.” Frontiers in Public Health 11 (August): 1209319.

Massini, Danilo A., Flávio H. Nedog, Thiago P. de Oliveira, Tiago A. F. Almeida, Caroline A. A. Santana, Cassiano M. Neiva, Anderson G. Macedo, et al. 2022. “The Effect of Resistance Training on Bone Mineral Density in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) 10 (6): 1129.

Park, Jung Ha, Ji Hyun Moon, Hyeon Ju Kim, Mi Hee Kong, and Yun Hwan Oh. 2020. “Sedentary Lifestyle: Overview of Updated Evidence of Potential Health Risks.” Korean Journal of Family Medicine 41 (6): 365–73.

Zisko, Nina, Kjerstin Næss Skjerve, Atefe R. Tari, Silvana Bucher Sandbakk, Ulrik Wisløff, Bjarne M. Nes, and Javaid Nauman. 2017. “Personal Activity Intelligence (PAI), Sedentary Behavior and Cardiovascular Risk Factor Clustering – the HUNT Study.” Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases 60 (1): 89–95.

“Exercise or Physical Activity.” 2024. September 25, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/exercise.htm.

Carrard, Justin, Anne-Catherine Rigort, Christian Appenzeller-Herzog, Flora Colledge, Karsten Königstein, Timo Hinrichs, and Arno Schmidt-Trucksäss. 2022. “Diagnosing Overtraining Syndrome: A Scoping Review.” Sports Health 14 (5): 665–73.

Weakley, Jonathon, Shona L. Halson, and Iñigo Mujika. 2022. “Overtraining Syndrome Symptoms and Diagnosis in Athletes: Where Is the Research? A Systematic Review.” International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance 17 (5): 675–81.

Breuckmann, Frank, Stefan Möhlenkamp, Kai Nassenstein, Nils Lehmann, Susanne Ladd, Axel Schmermund, Burkhard Sievers, et al. 2009. “Myocardial Late Gadolinium Enhancement: Prevalence, Pattern, and Prognostic Relevance in Marathon Runners.” Radiology 251 (1): 50–57.

Wilson, M., R. O’Hanlon, S. Prasad, A. Deighan, P. Macmillan, D. Oxborough, R. Godfrey, et al. 2011. “Diverse Patterns of Myocardial Fibrosis in Lifelong, Veteran Endurance Athletes.” Journal of Applied Physiology (Bethesda, Md.: 1985) 110 (6): 1622–26.

Möhlenkamp, Stefan, Nils Lehmann, Frank Breuckmann, Martina Bröcker-Preuss, Kai Nassenstein, Martin Halle, Thomas Budde, et al. 2008. “Running: The Risk of Coronary Events : Prevalence and Prognostic Relevance of Coronary Atherosclerosis in Marathon Runners.” European Heart Journal 29 (15): 1903–10.

Müssigbrodt, A., A. Weber, J. Mandrola, Y. van Belle, S. Richter, M. Döring, A. Arya, P. Sommer, A. Bollmann, and G. Hindricks. 2017. “Excess of Exercise Increases the Risk of Atrial Fibrillation.” Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports 27 (9): 910–17.

Eijsvogels, Thijs M. H., Paul D. Thompson, and Barry A. Franklin. 2018. “The ‘Extreme Exercise Hypothesis’: Recent Findings and Cardiovascular Health Implications.” Current Treatment Options in Cardiovascular Medicine 20 (10): 84.

Franklin, Barry A., and Scott Billecke. 2012. “Putting the Benefits and Risks of Aerobic Exercise in Perspective.” Current Sports Medicine Reports 11 (4): 201–8.

Oteng, Antwi-Boasiako, and Sander Kersten. 2020. “Mechanisms of Action of Trans Fatty Acids.” Advances in Nutrition 11 (3): 697–708.

Souza, Russell J. de, Andrew Mente, Adriana Maroleanu, Adrian I. Cozma, Vanessa Ha, Teruko Kishibe, Elizabeth Uleryk, et al. 2015. “Intake of Saturated and Trans Unsaturated Fatty Acids and Risk of All Cause Mortality, Cardiovascular Disease, and Type 2 Diabetes: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies.” BMJ 351 (August): h3978.

Dhaka, Vandana, Neelam Gulia, Kulveer Singh Ahlawat, and Bhupender Singh Khatkar. 2011. “Trans Fats-Sources, Health Risks and Alternative Approach – A Review.” Journal of Food Science and Technology 48 (5): 534–41.

Ortega, Miguel A., Óscar Fraile-Martínez, Cielo García-Montero, Miguel Angel Alvarez-Mon, Guillermo Lahera, Jorge Monserrat, Maria Llavero-Valero, et al. 2022. “Biological Role of Nutrients, Food and Dietary Patterns in the Prevention and Clinical Management of Major Depressive Disorder.” Nutrients 14 (15): 3099.

Piao, Jingjing, Yingwei Wang, Tianqi Zhang, Jiayu Zhao, Qianyu Lv, Mengyu Ruan, Qin Yu, and Bingjin Li. 2023. “Antidepressant-like Effects of Representative Types of Food and Their Possible Mechanisms.” Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) 28 (19): 6992.

Saghafian, Faezeh, Hanieh Malmir, Parvane Saneei, Alireza Milajerdi, Bagher Larijani, and Ahmad Esmaillzadeh. 2018. “Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and Risk of Depression: Accumulative Evidence from an Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Epidemiological Studies.” The British Journal of Nutrition 119 (10): 1087–1101.

Juul, Filippa, Georgeta Vaidean, and Niyati Parekh. 2021. “Ultra-Processed Foods and Cardiovascular Diseases: Potential Mechanisms of Action.” Advances in Nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) 12 (5): 1673–80.

Du, Shutong, Valerie K.