I ran into an investor friend who was summering in California. He ordered a glass of Santa Barbara pinot and told me: โI didnโt drink for a year. Then on New Yearโs I woke up and realized how boring my life had become. So I had a few drinks that day, and suddenly life had color again.โ
When I asked why he quit in the first place, the answer was simple: better sleep, fewer distractions, full immersion in work.
Heโs the type who goes all in, which is part of what makes him world-class. So when he discovered longevity, he didnโt dabble. He installed a hyperbaric chamber, bought an infrared sauna, and swapped happy hours for tennis matches.
A year later, heโd landed on a middle ground. Still disciplined, but now sipping a couple of glasses of wine. Nothing extreme. And he seemed lighter, even happier.
Listening to him explain his new regimen, I realized how far weโd drifted from our twenties. Back then it was shots of top-shelf tequila. Now itโs top-shelf supplements and IV shots of NAD+.
In Los Angeles, status used to mean a G-Wagon in the driveway, a Nobu reservation, a Riviera golf membership, or a Bird Streets house โnext to Leo.โ
That game isnโt gone, but the subtler flex now looks less like Rodeo Drive and more like a medical lab.
The question isnโt โWhat car are you driving?โ Itโs โWhatโs your protocol?โ
Designer closets have given way to microdosing GLP-1. Hollywood Bowl tickets have been swapped for Hyrox race entries that sell out faster than Coachella.
Bryan Johnson, Andrew Huberman, and Peter Attia are the new A-listers. Nobodyโs quoting movies anymore, but everyoneโs comparing T levels.
In tech WhatsApp groups, biomarker screenshots now circulate with the same energy Porsche waitlist confirmations once did.
Even the biggest celebrities have joined in, turning their โhealth journeysโ into content. In August, the Kardashians flew to Mexico for stem-cell therapy banned in the U.S., a ban that only made it more exclusive. Naturally, it became both an Instagram flex with a million likes and a tabloid headline.
Part of it is just age. My friends are getting older, and the ones with early-adopter instinctsโand moneyโhave found a new playground in personalized medicine.
The same people who once hunted obscure apps or underground music are now swapping supplement stacks and sleep hacks.
COVID accelerated it. Locked indoors, people built home gyms, experimented with diets, and turned longevity from a fringe hobby into a mainstream obsession.
The old signals also got boring. A Ferrari says money. A cold plunge says enlightenment.
And itโs not only millennials and middle age.
For younger New Yorkers, longevity isnโt about hacking DNA. Itโs about escaping the chaos of city life and maybe finding a date.
On Saturdays, Bathhouse in Tribeca is the new brunch table. Forget bottomless mimosas. The real weekend move is sweating with strangers and hoping your soulmate shows up somewhere between the sauna and your third cold plunge. Contrast therapy is the new Tinder.
Sure, the longevity craze might look ridiculous from the outside at times. But itโs ridiculous with benefits. A Patek Philippe watch tells you the time, but an Apple Watch tells you your heart rate, sleep score, and how much stress youโre under.
At some point in my thirties, I realized health is the best ROI. Lose it and youโre only half-present at home, at work, and everywhere in between. Iโd take a Prenuvo scan over another luxury purchase any day. Health compounds; things depreciate.
But like my friend who found a middle ground, Iโve come to see that joy matters too. Sometimes longevity means the glass of wine, the night out, the moment that keeps you human.
The old adage was that money canโt buy time. These days, that may no longer be entirely true.
Now excuse me, my biomarkers are waiting.
These are the opening times of a bank in Southern Europe
So 8:30 opens
Then 12:30 everyone goes for lunch for an hour (at least!)
Comes back 13:30 to work another 1.5 hour and then at 15:00 everyone goes home
Saturday or Sunday? Hell no we ain't working
Tuesday? Well it's a holiday so hell no we ain't working then either
That adds up to a total of 22 hours worked this week (!!!)
Or 27.5 hours if no holidays, but there are a lot of holidays ๐
And then people complain about cost of living, well what do you expect if the rest of the world works 2x more?
@yosoytupadelofi@Dsanchezxx Realmente cuando van a jugar un Madrid-Barsa a Arabia Saudi que es? Un capricho de unos ricos tambiรฉn, al final piensa que apenas ni existe una federaciรณn bien formada. Es un peaje que paga el deporte para ganar fama, si fuese de forma orgรกnica tardarรญa mucho tiempo.
@elpadelesasi A nivel econรณmico, va a ser el mejor pagado porque los patrocinadores aquรญ pagan x2 o x3 muy fรกcil, y despuรฉs estoy seguro de que se va a involucrar en proyectos muy gordos que estรกn por venir en USA. A nivel deportivo, ya casi son tenistas, y se pasan 80% de la temporada fuera.
@jjvelazs La cultura del fake it till you make it, al principio todo lo que saca estรก cogido con pinzas pero acaba yendo bien con tiempo y desarrollo! En Europa serรญa apedreado por sacar productos no terminados y pulidos.