Longevity is the new Luxury (part-2)

In the previous blog (Part 1), we explored how longevity is becoming the new status symbol of the modern era. In this part, we’ll dive deeper into the why and how behind premature aging and early death — uncovering the hidden biological and lifestyle factors that silently shorten our lifespan.

Life expectancy in USA

The average life expectancy in the U.S. is 78.4 years as of 2023, with females living longer than males (81.1 years vs. 75.8 years). Life expectancy varies by race and ethnicity, with Asian Americans having the longest life expectancy and Black Americans having the shortest. Life expectancy also varies by state, with Hawaii having the highest life expectancy and Mississippi having the lowest.

What Is Premature Death?

Premature death is a death that occurs before the average life expectancy for a population, commonly defined as before age 75. It is a public health concern because many of these deaths are preventable and are often caused by factors like lifestyle choices (e.g., smoking, poor diet), environmental hazards, and underlying chronic diseases. Measuring premature death helps to focus attention on extending lives that could have been longer.

Premature aging is closely linked to the shortening of telomeres known as telomere attrition— the tiny, thread-like caps at the ends of our DNA strands that hold all our genetic information. Telomeres function like plastic tips on shoelaces, protecting our chromosomes from fraying during cell division. However, with each division, these telomeres gradually shorten until they can no longer safeguard the chromosomes, leading to cellular damage, aging, and eventually disease.

Longer telomeres allow cells to divide more times before they become inactive (senescent) or die, suggesting a direct link between telomere length and lifespan. Biomarker of biological age: Telomere length is often considered a biomarker of biological age, which can differ significantly from chronological age. Factors like genetics, lifestyle, and stress influence the rate of telomere shortening throughout a person's life, affecting their health and longevity. Unlike chronological age, which is based on the number of years lived, biological age reflects the body's physiological condition and risk for age-related diseases.

Spread of premature aging  

When premature cell death occurs in a specific organ, that organ begins to deteriorate — for example, in the pancreas, it manifests as type 2 diabetes; in the brain, as dementia; and in the immune system, as autoimmune diseases or cancer. Once this process begins, it rarely stays confined — like a single rotten grape infecting the whole bunch, one diseased organ can accelerate degeneration throughout the body. Left unchecked, this cascade of cellular decline ultimately leads to premature death — the body’s systems wearing out long before their natural time.

My personal story of premature death

I don’t have to look far for an example — my own parents went through premature cellular decline. My father passed away at 67, but his body began breaking down decades earlier. I still remember being in fourth grade when the doctor told my mother, “He must control his stress, or he won’t live long.” From the age of 35, his blood pressure remained dangerously high — around 200 systolic — and over the next two decades, one condition led to another: obesity, heart attack, kidney failure, anemia, dialysis, depression, and eventually, death. It wasn’t sudden — it was a slow, painful process of deterioration that stole his vitality year by year and watching him suffer was heart wrenching.

My mother’s decline was equally heartbreaking. She was first diagnosed with an autoimmune illness when she was 33, followed by depression and chronic pain. By 57, she developed brain cancer and over a matter of few months, it worsened her depression to catatonic state and her once vibrant life faded into immobility and she died at age 64. For the last several years of her life, she was bedridden—unable to speak, walk, or even eat on her own. Watching her transformation from an independent, active woman to someone completely dependent for basic care like brushing her teeth was devastating.

Once this kind of rapid degeneration begins, it can accelerate quickly. Within months or a few short years, a person who once traveled alone and lived confidently can become frail—requiring round-the-clock care, much like an infant. What was most painful wasn’t just their passing—it was witnessing their rapid decline, day after day, feeling helpless as I watched the light in them fade. Despite being able to provide everything they needed including the best modern treatments, I couldn’t give them the one thing they longed for most: true wellness. I’m sure many of you who have watched your parents struggle in their later years can understand that deep ache—the sorrow of wanting to heal them yet being powerless to do so.

I bet many of you are thinking—  

1-Doesn’t the body have repair mechanisms to prevent this?

Yes, it does. Each organ contains a reserve of stem cells — primitive “mother cells” that stay dormant until the body sends a distress signal. When muscle or tissue cells die due to injury or disease, these stem cells activate, divide, and replace the damaged cells. Nature designed this system wisely, so the stem cell pool never fully depletes — one daughter cell becomes a new tissue cell while the other replenishes the stem cell bank.

However, in premature aging, this natural repair system begins to fail. The cells die faster than the stem cells can regenerate. Over time, healing slows down, recovery weakens, and degeneration accelerates. For example, when knee cartilage deteriorates beyond repair, the only remaining option is knee replacement surgery — but even artificial joints have limited lifespans, lasting around 10 years at best. Unlike your original tissue, they cannot regenerate. That’s why protecting your body from premature aging isn’t just about longevity — it’s about preserving your ability to heal, move, and live fully.

This is why stem cell transplantation is often used as a treatment for cancers — stem cells are rich in progenitor cells that can divide, regenerate, and rebuild damaged tissues when placed in the right conditions. They hold the blueprint for renewal.

2-What if your parents have short telomeres? Can they pass them on to you?

The short answer is yes. If a father ‘genetic blueprint or a mothers genes carries shortened telomeres, the resulting embryo will inherit them. However, here’s the good news — telomere length is not fixed. It can be extended, and that’s exactly what this blog aims to help you understand and achieve.

At birth, a person’s telomeres may contain around 10,000 pairs of nucleotides. By age 30, that number drops to about 5,000 pairs, and by age 60, it can shrink to roughly 2,000 pairs — like shoelaces fraying at the ends, leaving the chromosomes less protected. Yet, studies on centenarians—people who live past 100—show that they often maintain telomere lengths of 7,000 pairs or more even at age 90.

So, when people say, “I have bad genes, there’s nothing I can do,” remember — that’s not entirely true. Modern research shows that lifestyle changes can influence telomere length, and longer telomeres are strongly linked to better health, fewer illnesses, and a longer, more vibrant life.

“Now we have found ways to lengthen human telomeres by as much as 1,000 nucleotides, turning back the internal clock in these cells by the equivalent of many years of human life. This greatly increases the number of cells available for studies such as drug testing or disease modeling.

In my upcoming book Longevity Is the New Luxury, I’ll dive deep into the 10 proven steps to lengthen your telomeres and explore other key factors that can slow down your biological aging.

Index of Longevity book-

1-Longevity is new luxury

2-What is premature death?

3-Biological age vs Chronological age

4-Epigenetic calculator

5-10 proven ways to Lengthen Telomeres

6-How to reverse age?

7-Ikigai-The Japanese secret to long healthy life.

8-What makes blue zones Unique

9-Yoga & Ayurveda- Ancient science of Longevity