Healthy longevity
More good years, not just more years
One blood test a year gives you a snapshot. Ageing well needs a direction: measure, change something, measure again.
The gap
Singaporeans live long. Not all of those years are healthy.
Medicine only
A pill for each condition as it turns up. No training, no coaching.
Good health ends around 73.7. Years in poor health: 10.2.
Both scenarios live to 83.9. The second bar is an illustration of what a longer healthspan looks like, not a predicted result for any person. Since 2000, Singapore gained 5.3 years of life but 4.2 years of health, so the gap grew from 9.1 to 10.2 years. Source: WHO Global Health Observatory, 2021; Global Burden of Disease 2023.
Why once a year misses it
Ageing comes in waves, not a straight line
Large studies of blood proteins and molecules show the body changes faster around the mid 30s, mid 40s, around 60 and around 80. In between, much less moves.
A single reading gives a value.
Repeated readings give a direction.
A direction can be changed. Every wave is a window, at 35 or at 80.
Simplified illustration. Dots show one test a year: the flat stretches get tested, the fast changes can be missed. Based on Lehallier et al, Nature Medicine 2019; Shen et al, Nature Aging 2024.
Reading your report
"Normal" means common. It does not always mean good.
A laboratory normal range describes the middle 95% of a population. It tells you what is usual. A healthy longevity review asks what the number should be for you.
| MARKER | USUAL REPORT SAYS | WHAT WE AIM FOR |
|---|---|---|
| hs-CRPLow-grade inflammation | Normal under 3.0 mg/L | Under 1.0 mg/LLower cardiovascular risk group (AHA/CDC) |
| HbA1cAverage blood sugar, 3 months | Normal up to about 6.0% | Around 5.0 to 5.6%Lowest risk band in long-term studies |
| Grip strengthA simple measure of muscle and reserve | Not usually measured | 28 kg or more in men, 18 kg or more in womenAsian Working Group for Sarcopenia, 2019 |
LDL on its own is not the whole story
Two people can have the same LDL cholesterol but a different number of particles carrying it. ApoB counts the particles, and more particles means more chances to lodge in artery walls.
Nine routine numbers, one biological age
Nine results already on a standard blood panel, combined with your age, give an estimate of biological age that tracks health risk better than age alone.
Method based on PhenoAge, Levine et al, Aging 2018.
The science underneath
Ageing starts long before an illness has a name
Researchers describe 14 hallmarks of ageing: measurable processes that drive ageing in every organ. Social isolation is on the list too.
A yearly screen mostly looks at the last step. Healthy longevity care starts earlier. López-Otín et al, Cell 2023; Kroemer et al, Cell 2025.
What works
Move, eat, sleep. In that order.
Exercise acts on more hallmarks of ageing than any other single habit or supplement we have reviewed, and it has the strongest human evidence.
Move
- 150 to 300 min
- of brisk movement a week, about 30 minutes on most days
- 2 sessions
- of strength work a week, with weights or bands
- 11 of 14
- hallmarks of ageing that exercise acts on
Walking counts. Start where you are.
Eat
- 8 to 10 hours
- a shorter eating window across the day
- Measured, then dosed
- omega-3 and vitamin D, guided by your levels
- Less visceral fat
- the fat around the organs matters most
Vegetables first. Fibre with the carbohydrate. A short walk after the meal.
Sleep
- About 7 hours
- sits at the low point of the health-risk curve
- One short night
- of four hours measurably lowers insulin sensitivity the next day
- Dim, warm light
- at night helps your body make melatonin
A regular bedtime matters more than the exact hour.
Activity targets: WHO Guidelines on Physical Activity, 2020. Hallmark count: 1doc review of intervention evidence, graded on Oxford CEBM levels. Sleep: Cappuccio et al, Sleep 2010; Donga et al, JCEM 2010; Windred et al, Sleep 2024.
Want to see where you stand? The BYH panel measures these markers and tracks them over time.
See the BYH panelsOne hallmark up close
Inflammageing: the slow fire
A low, constant level of immune activity that rises with age. Too small to feel. Over decades, it is linked with heart disease, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver, kidney disease, frailty, depression and dementia.
Six everyday ways to lower it
An hs-CRP of 1.6 mg/L is reported as normal by most laboratories. On a healthy longevity review it is flagged for attention, because the aim is under 1.0.
How 1doc gives the results back
A report that shows direction, not just a value
Which markers move biological age
Each bar shows how many years a marker adds compared with an optimal profile. Read it as a ranking, not a sum.
Illustrative figures for explanation only.
Measure
A blood panel, grip strength and body measures, read against optimal targets rather than only the laboratory range.
Change something
Your care team agrees a plan with you on movement, food and sleep, focused on the few markers that matter most for you.
Measure again
The same core numbers each round, so you and your doctor can see the direction.
Honest about the evidence
Each recommendation is labelled: shown to change outcomes, linked with outcomes, or a measurement only. Approaches that have not worked in human studies are marked that way too.
"Living longer is no longer enough. We need to live well too, to keep doing the things we enjoy and the things that matter to us."DR EUGENE LOKE, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, 1DOC
Move most days
Walking counts. Add two strength sessions a week.
Measure more than once
A direction, not a yearly snapshot.
Ask what the number should be
Not only whether it is inside the normal range.