How sports medicine can maximize the longevity runway

Longevity Center Zurich Medical Director Anna Erat on translating sports science into longevity and healthspan.

With a suite of state-of-the-art clinics, Longevity Center is opening the door on ‘living better for longer’ for its clients. Offering a wide range of longevity assessments and preventative check-ups, Longevity Center is grounded in geroscience research, as well as embracing a holistic mindset that acknowledges the importance of mental health and feeling well.

My take on this: Longevity Center Switzerland is the company’s third clinic, opened in Zurich earlier this year. Its team is headed by Medical Director Anna Erat MD PhD, whose clinical specialization spans preventive, sports and internal medicine, and whose clients include ice hockey team players, Formula 1 drivers and world-class Ironman triathletes. Erat also brings expertise in biomedicine, genetics, epidemiology and health systems management to her leadership of Longevity Center Switzerland, and we sat down with her to find out why optimizing for sports excellence is helping Longevity Center optimize healthspan for its clients.

Dr Anna Erat on integrating sports medicine into longevity

It’s actually quite a natural transition – being in prevention and sports medicine, working with athletes, you ask yourself: ‘How can they optimize their performance and optimize their health?’. It’s not only about avoiding disease and avoiding injury, it’s about really pushing it to the next level, because that’s how you win a world championship. In some disciplines, like Ironman triathlons, you are pushing yourself consistently for a long time, or marathon runners who perform well into their senior years, and these are similar to the longevity journey – you have to be able to finish the race.

Traditionally, preventive medicine was divided into primary prevention – avoiding disease – and secondary prevention, which is taking care of chronic conditions to optimize health and prevent complications. Whereas longevity is about optimizing health, pushing the limits and increasing healthspan – living healthily in an optimal state for as long as possible.

Lifestyle is such a huge part of longevity – sleep, nutrition, diet, of course, and sports play a huge role, too. We can learn an immense amount from athletes, including keeping fit and avoiding over-use injuries, and this all helps with longevity.

Learn about the integration of sports science into longevity and healthspan, as well as its potential benefits for diverse individuals and more, straight from Dr Erat's interview HERE.

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