Dr Alex George said the ‘idea of declining function and capacity’ scares the life out of him
Dr Alex George has opened up about his thoughts on getting older in a heartfelt social media post. The 34-year-old doctor, who shot to fame on Love Island, admitted he’s somewhat ‘afraid of ageing’ and has been thinking about it a lot over the past year.
“At the end of my life, I want the decline to be as short as possible,” he told his 2.1 million followers on Instagram this week. “Or in other words I want my health-span to be long and then to die quickly.
“I know that might sound strange on the face of it but I do not want that slow gradual decline, with preventable illness and frailty stopping me from truly living.” Although Dr Alex acknowledged that many things are ‘out of our hands’ and life can be unpredictable, he believes everyone can make small choices to extend their lifespan.
In light of this, he’s started making changes in his own life to help enhance his longevity and prevent future health problems. Dr Alex continued: “I have been thinking about ageing a lot over the last year, I think it’s a common experience for many people entering their 30s.
“The idea of declining function and capacity for life scares the life out of me (couldn’t help it). I am in no way saying that we shouldn’t embrace ageing as part of the human experience; because it is inevitable and can absolutely be beautiful. But why does that mean we can’t age as healthily as possible?”
Crucially, Dr Alex stressed that he isn’t interested in ‘excessively increasing’ his lifespan, but rather living the ‘same number of years’ in a healthy and fitter way. “For the last year I have started to make changes to my life in an attempt to improve my longevity,” he added.
“I am still learning and adding (as well as taking away) different things. It’s kind of funny that I have done the classic – enter your 30s and start running marathons and sinking vitamins, I really have become so conscious of this. If it is interesting to you, I would like to share what I am doing as well as the science and evidence behind these practices.”
Dr Alex’s thoughts come amidst a wealth of emerging research on ‘biohacking’ and lifestyle practices that have the potential to bolster long-term health. While there’s certainly no guaranteed or foolproof method to living longer, scientists often assert that exercise, a nutritious diet, enough sleep and even socialisation may help.
Dr Gareth Nye, a Biomedical Science lecturer at the University of Salford, previously told the Mirror: “In essence, a long life is down to luck, but you can improve your luck. Genetics seems to play a role and influences between 20-30% of your total lifespan through a range of factors, like disease risk, hormone balance and cell replacement rates.
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“But, it’s thought that about 40% of life expectancy is inherited among generations, meaning you are more likely to live longer if your parents and grandparents did.”
Regarding his own content, Dr Alex also added on Instagram: “I will be clear where the evidence is less conclusive and let you know stuff the scientific community thinks is nonsense (there is a lot of nonsense out there).
“Ultimately, I think my content should reflect my interests in the now. And my new interest is improving my health-span as much as possible, while having a b***** good time along the way (what’s the point otherwise).”
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