A doctor who says he’s reversed his age by 20 years shares the 6 bare minimum things you can do to live longer

• Dr. Michael Roizen is a longevity expert who claims to have reversed his age by 20 years.
• There are a few bare minimum things you can do to live longer, he said.
• These include getting vaccinated, playing brain-training games, and eating salmon.

It can be tough to find the time to take care of our health. But a doctor who claims to have reversed his age by 20 years said that focusing on six basics could help us stay healthy for longer.

Dr. Michael Roizen, 78, the chief wellness officer at Cleveland Clinic, told Business Insider his “biological age” is 57.6, based on the health of his organs and his risk of chronic disease. (There’s no agreed definition of biological age or how it can be measured).

Roizen is all about finding lifestyle changes that can help people live healthily for as long as possible. But he said “there are small things and easy things to do that make a big difference” to longevity, even if people can’t overhaul their lifestyles.

Below are the six things he thinks everyone should do to live longer.

Walk more

Roizen tries to do 10,000 steps a day as part of his weekly workout routine, and thinks that everyone should “try to walk a little more.”

To add movement to his commute, for instance, he parks his car as far away from his work as possible and walks the rest of the way.

Walking fewer than 10,000 steps — a somewhat arbitrary number with its origins in marketing — still has benefits. One 2023 study by researchers at the University of Cambridge, UK, found that people who walked 75 minutes or less a week had a lower risk of dying from any cause or developing cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

Eat avocado, salmon, and olive oil

BI previously reported on the seven foods Roizen eats for longevity. But just eating three of these — avocado, salmon, and olive oil — will still merit health benefits, he said. Studies have linked all three to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease.

Have strong relationships

Nurturing friendships is a “fun” way to boost your health and longevity, Roizen said. Plus, “it’s always better to do things with other people,” he said.

Rose Anne Kenny, professor of aging and lead researcher on The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing at Trinity College Dublin, said that having strong social connections is just as important for longevity as a healthy diet and getting enough exercise, BI previously reported.

Play speed of processing games

Roizen recommended playing speed of processing games, which are brain-training games that research suggests might help improve how quickly your brain works. Roizen recommended two: Double Decision and Freeze Frame.

Referencing a 2017 study published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, Roizen said that practicing these games could reduce the risk of dementia. The study found that older adults who played 10 sessions of these games over an initial six-week period, and then did top-up sessions 11 and 35 months later, had a 29% lower risk of dementia after 10 years.

Roizen recommended playing these games for two hours a week for five weeks to try to replicate the study results.

Take a multivitamin

Research is mixed on whether taking multivitamins is beneficial for longevity.

Roizen cited studies that found that the risks of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and dementia were reduced in people who took multivitamins for years.

But, recent research has suggested that these findings aren’t necessarily indicative that multivitamins are as effective outside study conditions. For example, a large study on over 390,000 people published in JAMA Network Open earlier this year concluded that taking a multivitamin wasn’t linked to longevity. And the US Preventive Services Task Force doesn’t recommend the general public take multivitamins because there’s not enough evidence to show that it has any benefit.

Roizen said that he takes a multivitamin anyway to keep the overall levels of vitamins in his body stable.

Get your flu shot

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone aged six months and above should get a flu vaccine every season.

But Roizen also takes it for the potential healthy aging benefits. A 2022 review of studies published in Ageing Research Reviews suggested that vaccinating older people against the flu could also help prevent dementia, possibly because it decreases inflammation in the brain.