Strength training after sixty
Two sessions a week, progressive load. Nothing else does what this does.
11 Sept 2026
Latest
Grip strength and mortality: 38 cohorts, 1.9 million people, one number to carry
A hand that squeezes a dynamometer hard is one of the few measures that predicts mortality as well as blood pressure does. Nobody has run the trial that would explain it.
30 Oct 2026
Telomeres and longevity: the numbers from 121,749 people, and what they do not measure
A 2018 meta-analysis of 25 studies, 121,749 individuals and 21,763 deaths: one standard-deviation shorter leukocyte telomere length carried a hazard ratio of 1.09 for all-cause mortality, and the shortest quarter 26 per cent higher than the longest. A 2017 individual-participant analysis of 12,199 adults found 1.23 for the shortest quintile. The association weakens above 80 years.
28 Oct 2026
Telomere length and mortality: what the cohorts show
Short telomeres track higher mortality in almost every cohort that has measured them, and the effect shrinks in the oldest old. Nobody has shown that changing them changes anything.
27 Oct 2026
Most read
Cognitive decline and the modifiable risks
Around 45% of dementia risk is attributable to fourteen factors, most of them ordinary.
19 Jun 2026
Daily step count and mortality
More steps track with lower mortality. The round-number target is arbitrary; the gains start far below it.
02 Oct 2026
The ten-second balance test
Ten seconds on one leg, no equipment — and a surprisingly strong signal about survival.
02 Oct 2026
By field
Muscle, bone, heart and the tissues that set the pace of decline.
Growth hormone after fifty: what two randomised trials actually measured
Two six-month trials, eighty men and twenty-one men, and a result that splits cleanly along the lines of what was combined with what.
02 Nov 2026
Telomeres and longevity: the numbers from 121,749 people, and what they do not measure
A 2018 meta-analysis of 25 studies, 121,749 individuals and 21,763 deaths: one standard-deviation shorter leukocyte telomere length carried a hazard ratio of 1.09 for all-cause mortality, and the shortest quarter 26 per cent higher than the longest. A 2017 individual-participant analysis of 12,199 adults found 1.23 for the shortest quintile. The association weakens above 80 years.
28 Oct 2026
Alcohol and longevity: what the cohorts say and what the genetics say
Two literatures, two shapes. The one that measures what people say they drink is J-shaped. The one that measures what their genes predispose them to is a straight line upwards. The gap between them is not a rounding error, it is the whole argument.
25 Oct 2026
Cognition, the senses, and the risks that turn out to be modifiable.
Hearing loss and cognitive decline: what 50 cohorts and one randomised trial show
The association is among the largest in the sensory determinants of brain ageing. The intervention trial is the more important paper, and it is the one that came out flat.
24 Oct 2026
Circadian disruption and ageing: what the human studies support
The mechanism is settled and the exposure definitions are not. A 2017 review of 26 studies says so in its own limitations section.
22 Oct 2026
Creatine and the aging brain
A real but small memory effect, concentrated in the group that has been studied least.
03 Oct 2026
What is actually done — movement, sleep, food, company, substances.
Purpose in life and mortality: what the cohorts actually show
Purpose tracks mortality in every cohort that has measured it. Nobody has assigned it, so nobody knows whether it does anything.
31 Oct 2026
Social connection and mortality: what 90 cohorts and 2.2 million people show
The association is the largest in the social determinants literature. The causal claim has never been tested in an experiment, and the weakest component — living alone — is the one everybody quotes.
23 Oct 2026
Meal timing and circadian rhythm: what the trials measured on a clock
The early eating window moves glucose and the clock. It does not move the microbiome, and the effect sizes are small.
17 Oct 2026
The numbers used to describe ageing, and how much each one is worth.
Grip strength and mortality: 38 cohorts, 1.9 million people, one number to carry
A hand that squeezes a dynamometer hard is one of the few measures that predicts mortality as well as blood pressure does. Nobody has run the trial that would explain it.
30 Oct 2026
Telomere length and mortality: what the cohorts show
Short telomeres track higher mortality in almost every cohort that has measured them, and the effect shrinks in the oldest old. Nobody has shown that changing them changes anything.
27 Oct 2026
Training load and fatigue: what the studies could and could not measure
There is no blood test for overtraining. The best-reviewed candidate is a battery of measurements, and the review that mapped it found 39 studies out of 5,561.
19 Oct 2026
Everything else
Alcohol and longevity: what the cohorts say and what the genetics say
Two literatures, two shapes. The one that measures what people say they drink is J-shaped. The one that measures what their genes predispose them to is a straight line upwards. The gap between them is not a rounding error, it is the whole argument.
25 Oct 2026
Hearing loss and cognitive decline: what 50 cohorts and one randomised trial show
The association is among the largest in the sensory determinants of brain ageing. The intervention trial is the more important paper, and it is the one that came out flat.
24 Oct 2026
Social connection and mortality: what 90 cohorts and 2.2 million people show
The association is the largest in the social determinants literature. The causal claim has never been tested in an experiment, and the weakest component — living alone — is the one everybody quotes.
23 Oct 2026
Circadian disruption and ageing: what the human studies support
The mechanism is settled and the exposure definitions are not. A 2017 review of 26 studies says so in its own limitations section.
22 Oct 2026
Afternoon naps and sleep debt: what the experiments timed
Ten minutes of sleep in the nap, thirty minutes of sleep in the nap. The difference is a measured period of worse performance, and self-ratings do not notice it.
21 Oct 2026
Short sleep and mortality: what the cohorts actually associate
Below seven hours, 1.14. Above nine hours, 1.34. The per-hour figure is 1.06. None of it is a randomised trial, and the authors of both analyses say so.
20 Oct 2026
Training load and fatigue: what the studies could and could not measure
There is no blood test for overtraining. The best-reviewed candidate is a battery of measurements, and the review that mapped it found 39 studies out of 5,561.
19 Oct 2026
Sleep and immunity: what the inoculation experiments measured
The cold studies are experiments with an infection delivered on purpose. The inflammatory studies are experiments with sleep cut on purpose. Both point the same way and neither measures disease.
18 Oct 2026
Meal timing and circadian rhythm: what the trials measured on a clock
The early eating window moves glucose and the clock. It does not move the microbiome, and the effect sizes are small.
17 Oct 2026
Sleep and glucose metabolism: what the trials actually measured
Insulin sensitivity falls when sleep is cut in controlled trials. The number is 11 to 20 percent over a week, or an HOMA-IR rise of 0.30 over six weeks.
16 Oct 2026
Omega-3 and ageing: what the trials measured when they measured telomeres
Cardiovascular outcomes move a little. Telomere outcomes do not move in the biggest trial, and the field's supporting meta-analyses cover 337 people.
15 Oct 2026
Oral health and longevity: what four million people in a meta-analysis do and do not show
The association is the largest pooled one in preventive medicine. The causal claim, tested with instruments that do not lie about confounding, is the weaker half.
14 Oct 2026
Calorie restriction and ageing: what the human trials measured, and what they were built to avoid
The best human trial of calorie restriction exists, ran for two years, and did not measure lifespan. It measured the predictors — and the costs are in the same table.
13 Oct 2026
Menopause and longevity: what the cohorts actually show
Early menopause tracks with cardiovascular events. Whether it tracks with dying earlier is the part the cohorts disagree on.
05 Oct 2026
Sleep fragmentation vs sleep duration: which one correlates with what
Fragmentation tracks with frailty, death and midlife cognition where duration does not. Nobody has run the experiment that would settle it.
04 Oct 2026
Creatine and the aging brain
A real but small memory effect, concentrated in the group that has been studied least.
03 Oct 2026
Falls and bone density
Fracture risk is bone strength times falling. Most attention goes to the first half.
02 Oct 2026
Gait speed
The cheapest survival predictor in geriatrics. Walk more, but do not train the test.
02 Oct 2026
Lifespan vs. healthspan
Years alive versus years in good health. The gap between them is the thing worth shrinking.
02 Oct 2026
Ultra-processed food and mortality: what the pooled evidence actually grades
The largest pooled look at industrialised food and death, printed with its own certainty ratings.
02 Oct 2026
Nuts and mortality
A handful of nuts a day tracks with living longer. The nut probably gets too much credit.
30 Sept 2026
Resistance training and muscle aging: what the trials show
Strength responds at any age. Mass and daily function respond less, and the safety reporting is thin.
28 Sept 2026
Sauna bathing and the Finnish cohorts: what two decades of follow-up show
Frequent sauna use tracks with lower mortality in Finnish cohorts. Observational only; no trial has tested prescribing it.
28 Sept 2026
Inflammaging
Chronic low-grade inflammation with age. Well observed; poorly actionable so far.
18 Sept 2026
The boring basics
The short list that accounts for most of the modifiable risk. Nothing on it is interesting.
16 Sept 2026
Smoking and alcohol
Stopping smoking is the single largest return available. Alcohol's safe level keeps shrinking.
04 Sept 2026
Protein in later life
EFSA's 0.83 g/kg is a floor for adults generally; older adults are usually advised higher.
28 Aug 2026
Sedentary time
An exposure distinct from inactivity. Real, and less catastrophic than the headlines.
14 Aug 2026
Social connection and isolation
A well-replicated association with an unusually stubborn reverse-causation problem.
07 Aug 2026
Sleep and aging
Seven to nine hours. Sleep changes shape with age; the requirement does not fall much.
01 Aug 2026
Hearing loss
A midlife risk factor with a device-shaped solution that most people delay for years.
31 Jul 2026
Exercise and aging
The intervention with the widest evidence base in this reference, by a distance.
24 Jul 2026
Blue Zones
Regions reported to have exceptional longevity, and the data-quality problem underneath them.
20 Jul 2026
VO2 max and cardiorespiratory fitness
Aerobic capacity. Strongly predictive, genuinely trainable, rarely measured.
17 Jul 2026
Vitamin D in older adults
15 µg a day; the case is bone and deficiency correction, not the longer list.
10 Jul 2026
Sarcopenia (muscle loss with age)
The default loss of muscle and strength with age. The most reversible thing on this list.
12 Jun 2026
Blood pressure
The most consequential modifiable number in ageing. Usually silent until it isn't.
05 Jun 2026