Longevity Journey: Beginnings

1/21/26, Author: Jeremy Smith

Although I have been pursuing advanced education in genetics and molecular biology for many years now, I have only recently begun putting much of my knowledge into action. The journey of motivational transformation often transpires over long and winding decades, often punctuated by ebbs and flows. Although many elements come together to enact change in one's life, I've found that motivation is also often the most difficult piece to the puzzle.

Until the age of 40, I would say that I've eaten much higher levels of sugar than optimal. It's likely I was often stimulating some varying degree of inflammation and insulin insensitivity for decades. In fact, my genome cross referenced with a Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) has showed that I am in the 100th percentile for higher carbohydrate consumption, due to some of my specific variants in genes like FTO, MC4R, and Glutamate Receptor Signaling. I always knew I had a sweet tooth, but didn't expect to find it written all over my genes. My brain's reward circuitry via a higher dopamine response from carbs is significantly more pronounced than the average populace.

I have also found countless gene variants that predispose me toward hypertension. My health wake-up call finally came in the form of persistently high blood pressure readings. This was the first sign, in over 40 years, that my body wasn’t bullet-proof, the first indication that my body couldn’t take absolutely anything I could throw at it. For me, it was the first realization that lifestyle really mattered AT ALL. From this impetus, as well as my tightly-fitting clothes, at almost 41 years old I committed myself to losing weight and keeping my BMI within a healthy range. Through mostly meticulous calorie counting, running, and intermittent fasting, within 3-4 months I had lost about 60 pounds. I felt better, looked better, and I’m sure my aging cells were thankful as well.

There were some ups and down but I mostly maintained my BMI within healthy range for the next three years or so. Every year, as a memorial to my life change, and as a commitment device, I do the 5 mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day. I now see this as an important yearly event, not only as an anniversary of getting straight, in a sense, but also of a bare minimum threshold of what I need to be able to do physically. If I can’t run AT LEAST five miles, I would view this as "falling off the wagon," a form of defeat or surrender. Being able to run it every year is both a symbol and an annual backstop fitness check-in.

That was the end of my health improvement, however, for almost three years. I was happy with “good enough.” Then in the fall of 2025 at 43 years old I began to embark upon a new higher level of obsession with longevity and health optimization. The first factor was the beginning of study at John Hopkins, pursuing a masters in Biotechnology with a specialization in Stem Cell and Rejuvenation Technology. The second factor that year was a somewhat random stumble into watching Bryan Johnson videos on Youtube. I binged most of his content, and then chased it down with countless videos from other longevity pioneers. The repetition of this longevity knowledge assaulting me on a more regular basis began to gradually change my thoughts and more deeply penetrate my psyche. I became more acutely aware of what I needed to do: A) I needed to have eyes on all my metrics and KNOW, not guess, what my body was doing. B) I also realized that simple lifestyle changes, alone, could achieve some level of significant age-reversal.

I also began to realize how serious I was going to have to get to achieve my new longevity goals. Minor improvements in diet and occasional exercise was not going to be enough. I observed the level of discipline and commitment that Bryan Johnson was applying, and in a scientific way, and realized that that was the standard I was going to need to adopt if I wanted to be healthy at 100. I began to BELIEVE that that would be possible… even realistic!

This new trajectory change lead into obsession. I don’t know what other people experience, but for my own psychology, obsession is about the ONLY state in which real change and deep learning actually transpire. Obsession then drove me into more books and resources that helped me more fully internalize my burden of responsibility… which then provided me even more positive feedback as I applied this knowledge and observed the results.

Peter Atilla also impressed upon me the necessity of a MUCH higher level of physical fitness, since VO2Max decreases ALL CAUSE mortality by about 400%! It didn’t matter what other lofty or expensive rejuvenative therapies I planned to pursue, what was becoming clear was that exercise alone was probably the most powerful panacea known. It literally fixes EVERYTHING to a degree which nothing else can. Closely behind that was also the realization that militant discipline toward sleep and nutrition were just about as powerful. I began to get serious about optimizing my sleep, began taking dozens of targeted, research based supplements and foods that would fight Peter Atilla’s “Four Horseman” of aging in a more intentional way.

So with the perfection of exercise, diet, and sleep, one of the next most critical components of a scientifically optimized lifestyle is the need for baseline measurements. I needed a way to quantify gains or assess needed improvements. Besides the pursuit of more biomarker panels ordered from my doctors, I also did a TruDiagnostics test at the beginning of my new lifestyle trajectory.

The test's revelations were not all pleasant, however. After getting my below results back, I posted this:

“My own irresponsibility has cost me ten years of life. I got this test back that shows because of a better lifestyle I'm now aging at 78% the speed of the normal person. I'm not even doing that much, and want to push that number lower... But let's say I'd lived my whole life this way instead of having an overweight BMI, insufficient exercise, insufficient sleep, etc... If I had walked the "straight and narrow," my biological age would theoretically be 34 years old (~44 x .78) now. Sometimes we know we're doing wrong, but putting an actual number on the years lost is much heavier.”

The coming months will hopefully show further trajectory gains, but I feel confident that some of the most critical mental rewiring has successfully happened. A transformed mind is half the battle, and now the work begins.

The test's revelations were not all pleasant, however. After getting my below results back, I posted this:

“My own irresponsibility has cost me ten years of life. I got this test back that shows because of a better lifestyle I'm now aging at 78% the speed of the normal person. I'm not even doing that much, and want to push that number lower... But let's say I'd lived my whole life this way instead of having an overweight BMI, insufficient exercise, insufficient sleep, etc... If I had walked the "straight and narrow," my biological age would theoretically be 34 years old (~44 x .78) now. Sometimes we know we're doing wrong, but putting an actual number on the years lost is much heavier.”

The coming months will hopefully show further trajectory gains, but I feel confident that some of the most critical mental rewiring has successfully happened. A transformed mind is half the battle, and now the work begins.