Christoph Handschin<p>4.) Is there currently any evidence of efficacy of any of the proposed "<a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/anti" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>anti</span></a>-aging drugs" and interventions in human aging? E.g. <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/rapamycin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>rapamycin</span></a>, <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/metformin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>metformin</span></a> <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/resveratrol" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>resveratrol</span></a> but also <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/reprogramming" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>reprogramming</span></a>, <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/rejuvenation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>rejuvenation</span></a>, <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/caloric" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>caloric</span></a> restriction and others? In other words, is there a shortcut to health and eternal life? Spoiler: you might not like the answer... Moreover, some of these might even have negative effects on other health-beneficial interventions, e.g. the potential dampening of exercise training adaptation by metformin, resveratrol or rapamycin.</p><p>5.) We discuss all of the known factors for which solid data and proof for an impact on human health, the aging process, <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/morbidity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>morbidity</span></a> (risk for a disease), <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/mortality" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>mortality</span></a> (risk of premature death) and life expectancy exist. The good news: only around 20% (or even as low as 10%) of our aging trajectory is determined by our genes – this means that to a large majority, we can influence this ourselves! Some can be done on the individual level, first and foremost by physical activity, but also <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/sleep" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sleep</span></a>, <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/nutrition" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>nutrition</span></a>, <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/stress" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>stress</span></a>, social interactions and more. Others will have to be addressed on the societal/political level, e.g. <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/socioeconomic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>socioeconomic</span></a> disparities or access to quality (and affordable) health care. Lastly, there are factors such as anthropogenic <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/climatechange" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>climatechange</span></a> or <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/pollution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>pollution</span></a> (e.g. air pollution or <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/microplastics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>microplastics</span></a>) that we have to solve on a global scale.</p><p>2/4</p>