10 Longevity Experts on the Daily Habits That Protect Memory, Sleep and the Long Haul

Where part one covered daily routines, part two turns to the long haul. Jim Kwik opens by arguing that memory is a trainable muscle and that outsourcing it to devices creates what he calls digital dementia; his single suggestion is to design a morning that starts with something other than the phone. Dr. Taz points to a narrow overnight sleep window and to protein and blood-sugar stability as underrated levers for women's hormone balance.

Arianna Huffington describes behaviour change through micro steps too small to fail, the clearest being declaring an end to the working day and charging the phone outside the bedroom. Dr. Gundry recalls sleep-lab work on leptin and ghrelin showing that short sleep drives cravings for simple carbohydrates — and that even expecting short sleep can do it. A conversation on brain imaging makes the case that the brain is malleable at any age, that genes are a wake-up call rather than a sentence, and that staying mentally engaged matters more than retiring comfortably.

Valter Longo explains the reasoning behind the fasting-mimicking diet and its different versions, while a separate discussion introduces the fasted snack and the use of prebiotic fibre to blunt hunger during longer fasts. Later segments cover phone habits and EMF exposure, more careful use of antibiotics in children, blood-based brain biomarkers with a seven-part daily foundation, and finally a wide-angle presence practice that turns meditation into something you can do while talking, walking or working.

• 1

  Replace the phone as your first act of the day 6:10

  Choose one brain-friendly opener instead — a good breakfast, slow diaphragmatic breaths, or brushing your teeth with the opposite hand, which forces focus because you can't do it distracted.

• 2

  Declare an end to the working day 17:20

  Pick an arbitrary time, turn the phone off and charge it outside the bedroom. The point is a clear line between the day's demands and the night's recovery.

• 3

  Choose sleep over the early workout 24:00

  If the alarm goes off before you've had enough sleep, the advice here is to turn it off and sleep. Fitness gains built on sleep debt tend not to hold.

• 4

  Ask one three-second question before decisions 39:30

  "Is this good for my brain or bad for it?" Repeated across a day, it steers dozens of small choices without requiring a plan.

• 5

  Feed your microbes during longer fasts 53:00

  Prebiotic fibre or a prebiotic powder stirred into water was reported to make long fasts noticeably easier by supporting gut bacteria rather than by adding meaningful calories.

• 6

  Ask whether the antibiotic is really necessary 1:00:30

  A simple question at the appointment — and asking whether a culture can confirm a bacterial cause first — is presented as the single highest-value step for parents and adults alike.

• 7

  Practise wide-angle presence anywhere 1:04:30

  While talking or walking, widen your vision to take in the whole room, listen to every sound at once, and feel your hands and feet. Attention placed in the senses is anchored in the present.