In this episode of Next Act Ninjas, host Rachael Van Pelt explores the concept of the Longevity Dividend, which suggests that extending healthy, productive years of life can yield significant economic, social, and personal benefits. The conversation challenges the traditional narrative surrounding aging, advocating for a shift in healthcare focus from treating diseases to preventing them by targeting the biological processes of aging. The episode also addresses the societal implications of a healthier aging population, including the potential for increased productivity and intergenerational collaboration, while debunking myths about an aging population. Rachael emphasizes the need for coordinated efforts across various sectors to achieve the Longevity Dividend and encourages listeners to rethink their perspectives on aging.
Chapters
00:00 Aging Reimagined: The Longevity Dividend
03:04 Economic of the Longevity Dividend
06:38 Shifting from Treating Disease to Slowing Aging
08:47 Societal Implications of Longer, Healthier Lives
10:45 Achieving the Longevity Dividend
14:04 Overcoming Challenges and Misconceptions about Health Longevity
16:38 Longevity Dividend Call to Action
Welcome back to Next Act Ninjas, the #1 podcast for mastering your health and wealth longevity. I'm your host, Rachael Van Pelt. Today, we're taking the time to completely reimagine aging. I've heard people call our aging population a "silver tsunami", as if this demographic shift is a natural disaster waiting to crush us. But is it really? What if that's more myth than reality - simply a disempowering belief or a cultural narrative that does not serve us anymore? Let's stop for a moment to look through a different lens.
Imagine, if you will, waking up on your 70th birthday and feeling as energetic, sharp, and motivated as you did when you were 40. Imagine having decades ahead of you, not just to enjoy life, but to continue contributing, whether that's through your career, hobbies, or supporting your family and community. This isn't just a dream, but a real possibility right now, thanks to advances in things like science and medicine and how we understand aging.
What I'm describing is part of a much bigger vision, something that we call the Longevity Dividend. This concept, which has been promoted by Dr. Jay Olshansky at the American Federation of Aging Research, has the potential to radically transform not just our individual lives, but our entire society and global economy.
So what is the Longevity Dividend? Well, it refers to the substantial benefits that we could realize economically, socially, individually, simply by extending our healthy, productive years of life. And we're not talking about extending lifespan here. We're talking about extending years of youthful vigor. Sure, life expectancy has steadily improved over the past century. That's thanks to things like better sanitation, public health, medical care. In fact, we've added about 30 more years to life expectancy in that time in the US. But what have we gained from those extra years? Are those years filled with mobility and independence and vitality? Or are they years burdened by chronic disease, frailty, dependency? It's been a lot of the latter, hasn't it?
So the Longevity Dividend is the idea that if we can simply delay the onset of age-related disease by just a few years, say 5 or 10 years, society will greatly benefit. Society will reap a huge dividend just from having a larger, more productive workforce, less strain on our healthcare system, and quite frankly, a better quality of life for millions of people.
One of the most compelling benefits of health longevity is economic. We live in a world where populations are aging. The US by 2034 is going to have more people over the age of 65 than under 18. By 2050, there will be nearly two billion people
over the age of 60 worldwide. Just think about that for a minute. Nearly one fourth of the global population is going to be over 60. Traditionally, this demographic shift has been seen as an economic crisis, a looming crisis. That's because there's going to be so many retirees that are drawing on pensions and social security and Medicare. And these safety nets are already strained, aren't they? They're on the verge of collapse because there's too few working-age adults to support them. But what if we could flip the script? What if older adults could stay healthy and productive for longer? The economic benefits would be staggering, wouldn't they?
The most immediate and direct economic impact would be on lowering healthcare costs. Right now, a huge portion of healthcare spending happens in the last few years of life, where people are managing multiple chronic diseases. If we can compress morbidity, meaning we can reduce the time spent in poor health, we would not only reduce the financial burden on individuals and their families, but also significantly decrease health care costs at a national level. A healthier aging population would translate to fewer hospital visits, less reliance on expensive treatments and medications, and a more sustainable health care system.
Another direct economic benefit of improved health span is maintaining a larger, healthier workforce, improving economic productivity. Research suggests that increasing the number of years people stay healthy could lead to economic gains in the trillions globally. Why? Because healthier individuals are more likely to remain active. That could be through formal employment, entrepreneurship, volunteer work. They simply contribute to economic growth rather than becoming a financial burden. So there's a huge potential for increasing GDP through a more productive, healthier, older population. Some studies estimate as much as, you know, $7 Trillion over the next few decades in economic gains from that. It would make up for declining birth rates and shrinking younger workforce.
In countries like Japan, where aging demographic has already been at the forefront for some time, companies are already starting to recognize the value of retaining their older workers. They're adapting roles and policies to keep their experienced employees engaged for longer. And extending work span isn't just about filling labor needs, it's about leveraging the skills and knowledge that older workers have acquired over the years. Experience doesn't become obsolete with age, does it? Quite the contrary, in many industries, it becomes more valuable. So you can just imagine how beneficial it would be to keep all of that expertise in the workforce for just a few more years.
how do we improve the number of healthy years that we have so we can collect on that Longevity Dividend? Well, unfortunately, so far, our healthcare system has focused primarily on treating diseases as they arise. You get heart disease, we treat it. You get cancer, we treat that. And while those medical advances are saving lives, they're mostly treating downstream symptoms rather than upstream causes. The Longevity Dividend would require that we shift our entire approach to healthcare.
Rather than treating each individual disease like some never-ending game of whack-a-mole, we need to target aging itself. That's because aging is the single greatest risk factor for most chronic diseases. Heart disease, cancer, stroke, Alzheimer's, they're all more common as we age because our biological systems break down over time. So we need to slow that breakdown. We need scientists to unlock therapies that target the underlying biology of aging to slow down the process that leads to things like insulin resistance and oxidative stress and inflammation and other cellular decline. The goal is to treat cellular aging as the root cause and thereby delay the onset of all those other age-related chronic diseases simultaneously.
If we can do that, it would mean living into our 90s and beyond without the usual degenerative diseases that our parents suffered from. Now luckily, leading research centers around the world are already testing novel therapies that are aimed at slowing down this biological aging process. They're working hard to improve cellular mechanisms like insulin sensitivity and mitochondrial function and cellular repair. The early results look promising, which means it's not going to be long before we're finally able to move from reactive medicine to more proactive, preventive aging.
But let's think about the broader societal implications. What does it mean for society when people live longer, healthier lives? Well, it changes everything, doesn't it? For decades, we've thought about retirement as a time of winding down. The traditional models, you work hard till you're 65, and then you stop working. Maybe you travel a little, you play golf, you spend time with your family, and fairly quickly, your health declines. But if we embrace the Longevity Dividend concept, this model becomes outdated.
If people are healthy and active well into their 80s and 90s, why should they stop contributing at 65 or 70? Instead of winding down, older adults could be stepping into new roles, whether that be an encore career or helping their community, whatever, just think about that for a minute. What would that do for intergenerational collaboration? Older adults could mentor younger generations. They could volunteer their time for social causes. They could start new businesses.
We recognize now that older adults are an untapped resource for society. Right now, we often see a disconnect between generations, particularly when older adults are sidelined due to their health issues. But if we extend health span, older adults will be more engaged, won't they? They'll spend more time with their grandchildren. They'll teach younger workers. They'll even be able to participate in more social activities. The result will be a much more cohesive, engaged society where people of all ages contribute. Many older adults are already essentially contributing through volunteering and caregiving. We know that's doing wonderful things. Imagine what happens when they can continue doing that for even a few more years with much more energy and vitality.
So how do we actually achieve the Longevity Dividend? It's certainly not something that's going to happen overnight, is it? But the pathway is clear. It's going to require a coordinated effort across multiple sectors, from science and medicine to policy to cultural norms.
First and foremost, we need to continue investing in biological research, not just the disease-centric kind of research. Understanding the biology of aging is crucial to developing therapies that can delay or even reverse some aspects of the aging process. Unfortunately, right now, most funding by the NIH is going to heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer's research. Very little is going to biological aging. That's the old reactive model of treating disease after the fact, rather than preventing it in the first place. Right now, the biggest investment in biological aging is coming from entrepreneurs with an interest in longevity. But we need government and private companies alike to prioritize this area of research because the potential benefits are just too great to ignore.
And we need policy changes, ones that reflect our new reality, that encourage continued productivity, enable people to work longer should they choose to do so. For example, we might introduce more flexible working arrangements for older adults, many of whom are caring for even older parents or helping with younger grandchildren. Some countries like Finland have already implemented policies like this that allow older workers to reduce their hours without losing their pensions or other benefits. That not only keeps those older adults engaged, but also reduces strain on social security systems. Regardless, we need to get creative. We need to think outside the box, rethink traditional retirement.
And we also need to combat ageism. Deep-seated cultural beliefs about aging often limit what older adults can achieve. We need to shift the way we think about age. We need to move away from those outdated notions of retirement decline and embrace the idea that older adults can remain vibrant, productive members of society for many decades longer than we previously thought. We also have to combat the idea that older adults delaying retirement or taking jobs away from the younger generation or blocking their advancement. We need to come up with novel strategies to leverage the lifetime of experience and corporate memory to create powerful mentoring or succession plans.
On the other hand, we also need to help people not be afraid to stop working if they're ready to retire and explore other ways to contribute to society. I think many people keep working out of the fear that their retirement savings won't last, especially if they live longer than expected. This is where better financial literacy and planning would be hugely beneficial.
Now, of course, there's other challenges, aren't there? Not everyone is convinced that extending health longevity is a good thing. Some fear that if we delay aging, we'll also delay death, and that's going to lead to overpopulation or a society that's overwhelmed by frail, elderly individuals. But this is a myth. This is something we need to debunk quickly. Delaying aging doesn't mean we're creating more frail, elderly people. Quite the opposite. It means we're creating more healthy, active older adults who are leading fulfilling lives and contributing to society in a meaningful way. The goal is to shrink the period of frailty and disability and dementia, not prolong it.
In fact, it's the current approach that's prolonging degeneration in the first place, right? The medicalized approach to aging where we treat diseases only after they manifest. That's exactly what increases the number of sick, frail, elderly in our population. That's why it's imperative we shift our focus to slowing down biological aging or the root cause of disease rather than just throwing all of our resources at finding more new drugs, more invasive therapies.
But of course, shifting the medical model is a massive challenge. Moving from the big pharma, major medical model of today is not going to be easy. Our medical system will need incentive to keep people off medications and out of the hospital rather than keeping them as repeat lifelong customers. Insurance companies, they're going to need to prioritize paying for early detection and preventive strategies over more drugs and invasive procedures. We already have wonderful functional medicine doctors that have been leading the way in preventive medicine for some time now, but they need additional training and tools to address biological aging. And we need more geriatricians and healthspan coaches, people that understand the biology of aging and can teach patients and clients how to maintain their youthful vigor.
And it can't just be the wealthy that have access to these advances. If we're not careful, the Longevity Dividend could exacerbate existing inequalities. That's why we need to ensure that scientific and technological breakthroughs are accessible to everyone, not just the billionaire class. This means advocating for policies that make health interventions available to all socioeconomic groups. And it means improving health literacy nationwide.
Bottom line, the Longevity Dividend is a new way of thinking about healthy aging. By extending the number of healthy, productive years of life that we have, we can unlock tremendous economic, social, and personal benefits. But achieving this future is going to require action, both in terms of scientific investment and societal change. It's going to require a shift in the narrative we tell ourselves and that we perpetuate culturally.
So I leave you with this challenge: What are you going to do today to rethink healthy aging? Let's support the Longevity Dividend movement. Let's advocate for policies that support continued productivity and combat ageism. Let's support research that will lead to new breakthroughs in the biology of aging. Let's demand that the current medical system makes a massive paradigm shift from treating diseases to preventing decline. And most importantly, let's be sure we shift our own mindset to focus on healthspan and wealthspan.
Thanks for joining me for another episode of Next Act Ninjas. Please be sure to subscribe, like, and share this podcast with other longevity-minded folks. It really helps us make a difference. Until next time, live well, love more, age less, my friends.