This month Agetech World is running a special ‘Live Forever’ series focusing on the future. What does healthy lifespan look like, and how long can it last? In part two we hear from Dr Halland Chen, a double board-certified Physician specialising in longevity medicine, cellular health, and biotech innovation.
In an interview with Agetech World on the subject of extending lifespans into a second century he said: “I’m more of a healthspan guy. I think we do have a genetic possibility to live, you know, let’s say 120.
“But, I just don’t think we were designed that way. The mortality rate way back in the middle-ages was very bad. You were lucky if you made it to 30. You would just die from a battle wound or an infection, such as a simple toenail cut.
“Now with modern medicine, we can treat these, what I call incidental things; things which are not life-threatening, but could have been life-threatening.
“So I think healthspan is really important. I think it’s one of the principles I try to live by. I want to live a very full life. If I have to live to 120 and I can’t take care of myself or I’m bed-bound, that might not be really living. It’s survival, it’s functioning.
“I think healthspan really is about quality of life and, you know, maybe if you have a good quality of life and you’re not able to walk around as much, but, you can get around in a wheelchair, and you have a loving family, or you have a sense of purpose, then that’s fine.
“But I think, I think the idea of trying to make us live longer is over-engineering, I don’t think there’s a necessary need to over-engineer to live to 200 years old.
“If your life’s so amazing and you want to launch more businesses and have more family, you know, maybe that could be a reason why you want to do it.
“But I don’t… I’m more of a healthspan guy. I think that’s a framework that fits with a lot of people who don’t necessarily want to live to 180. It makes sense to me, and I’d say it, it’s more achievable, too.
We then went on to discuss what Dr Halland termed the genetic ceiling, bringing the body into what he termed the healing state, and the benefits of stem cell therapy.
He said “I think there’s gonna be this, what we call a genetic ceiling…(and) this theoretically might be 120 to 130 years old. And ,then what happens? You can’t undo all the damage that’s been done to your organs, etc, over the preceding years.
“That’s why I focus so much on stem cells, because the answer is stem cells It’s stem cells, it’s your hormones, it’s all the things that optimize the body into a healing state. So very much from my perspective of this, I think it’s about getting the body into a healing state.”
Dr Halland is the Founder of Cell Theory, a science-driven supplement brand focused on optimising cellular health and longevity. https://www.celltheorylabs.com/
Read part one of our special ‘Live Forever’ series below
