Ageing is a fact of life, but how we age is in our hands.
Welcome to part 2 of our #LongevityUnlocked series, where we speak to leading experts about the science of staying healthier for longer.
This time, we’re joined by Dr. Manuel Puntschuh, longevity expert and member of AVEA’s Scientific Advisory Board.
From how our cells repair themselves to the impact of lifestyle and cutting-edge innovations, he shares what truly makes a difference when it comes to ageing well.
Dive into the science of longevity today with Dr. Manuel Puntschuh.
1. Tell us about yourself—what’s your background, and how did you end up in the world of longevity science?
I am a medical doctor with a background in digital health, focused on innovating and deploying new concepts for delivering healthcare. After spending many years in traditional healthcare—working in the ER and as a GP—I always felt that something wasn’t quite right.
One day, longevity medicine caught my attention, and it all made sense: in healthcare, we are always late. As GPs, we literally tell healthy people, “We’re busy treating patients—come back when you have symptoms.”
That realisation sparked my passion for discovering what we can actually do to stay healthy instead of constantly trying to become healthy. While prevention isn’t a miracle cure—just as traditional medicine has its limits—there is so much we can influence.
In my practice, I blend traditional healthcare with new concepts, biohacking strategies, the latest science on longevity, and functional medicine to create a more proactive approach to health.
2. What’s the biggest lie we’ve been told about ageing? (And why is it completely wrong?)
The idea that you’re either “too young” or “too old” to care about longevity is completely false. The truth is, your health is (at least for a great part) in your hands at any age.
If you’re young, what you do today shapes your future health. If you’ve had an unhealthy lifestyle for years, it’s never too late to improve.
Now you are reading this, you are thinking about your life and your health. Take this chance to become aware and active about your health. There is a lot more “choice” than there is “fate”, no matter at what point or time you are now.
3. What’s one thing about longevity science that you wish more people understood?
Healthspan v.s. lifespan.
Longevity for me is not about prolonging dying, it’s about keeping your best health as long as possible It’s very individual for every person, and it doesn’t require a billionaire’s budget to take choices and steps actively. It’s about the science of what keeps you healthy, not just alive longer when you are sick. Who wants that anyway?
4. If you had to explain longevity to an 8-year-old, how would you do it?
I tell my kids sometimes: remember when you missed your friend’s birthday party because you were sick at home? Now imagine you could have done something before to not become sick that day, would you want to know what that is, and would you have tried? Can’t promise, but you would’ve taken any chance, right?
5. Be honest—what’s your favourite AVEA supplement and why?
NMN + Booster. The AVEA Vitality Bundle work very well synergistically to boost NAD+ levels and fuel your energy with supplementary ingredients like CoQ10 and Betaine.
Boost your energy levels
- Boosts energy and vitality
- Enhances performance and recovery
- Sharpens focus, reduces fatigue
- Supports deep, restful sleep
6. Is there a particular nutrient or compound in longevity research that excites you? (Something people should be talking about more!)
I am continually amazed by the power of nature. Many breakthroughs in longevity science aren’t about discovering entirely new molecules, but rather re-discovering essential nutrients and uncovering deeper insights into their benefits.
Take fatty acids, for example—Omega-3s and C15 (Pentadecanoic Acid) have existed long before humans, yet we are still learning just how crucial they are for longevity. Research now provides a clearer understanding of why they matter and how much we truly need them to function properly.
Personally, I believe in the principle of measure – adapt – measure.
When looking at Omega-3 levels in my clients, I consistently find them suboptimal at first. While it’s fascinating to explore niche longevity compounds, we must not overlook foundational essentials like Vitamin D and Omega-3s, where widespread deficiencies exist across the population. Getting these basics right is often the most impactful first step in optimising longevity.
7. What’s a misconception about supplements that you wish people would finally stop believing?
If you just eat healthy, you don’t need supplements. I wished it was true! The reality is that our environment, food quality, and daily exposures have changed significantly. Our food does not contain the same density of nutrients like 50 or 100s years ago.
Adding to that, our body has to deal with lots of toxins – heavy metals, microplastics, additives in food and cosmetics. Plus, everybody is different: genes, lifestyle, microbiome – the individual current demand and ability of the body to make use of each micronutrient are highly variable.
So supplements alone and just eat junk food? Of course not! Supplements complete a healthy diet.
8. What’s one thing most people do daily that secretly speeds up ageing?
Chronic stress and poor recovery. People often think of ageing as just a result of diet and exercise, but stress plays a massive role in accelerating cellular ageing. Elevated cortisol levels, lack of deep sleep, and chronic inflammation all add up over time.
I’m not saying this from a place of perfection—I struggle with it myself. But I’ve found that small, consistent steps—like breath work, strategic breaks, and evening wind-down routines—help mitigate stress and protect against its long-term effects.
Boost your energy levels
- Boosts energy and vitality
- Enhances performance and recovery
- Sharpens focus, reduces fatigue
- Supports deep, restful sleep
9. If you had to rank sleep, exercise, and diet for longevity—knowing all three are essential—what would be your 1, 2, and 3?
Sleep comes first for me because it’s still the most overlooked factor in longevity. I would not rate it as factually more important, but I am choosing sleep simply because I sense people are getting more and more aware of the importance of a healthy diet and exercise.
Sleep is a priority topic, because my impression is that we have the feeling that we can not really do much about our sleep. Regarding food and exercise, it seems obvious that we have a choice.
When talking about sleep, most people see it as a given fact of how they sleep. That’s not quite true: it’s not just the exact time we lie down and set our alarms that influence sleep, there is way more than that.
Habits, temperature, light, timing in regard to exercise and diet, supplements – just to name a few – are impacting our sleep quality. And what’s even making this more approachable is the fact that we don’t need to rely on cost- and time-intensive sleep monitoring in a hospital-setting, we can track our sleep very easily and pretty accurately using smart rings or watches, helping us gain insights and find the right variables to optimise our sleep.
So, not really saying sleep is more important in the end, but trying to make my point that sleep is not a passive topic anymore, but can be optimised actively just like diet and exercise.
Learn how to build the best sleep routine.
10. What’s the strangest or most unconventional thing you do to boost your longevity?
Nothing really strange I guess, I very much enjoy trying out things myself – tests, devices, supplements, habits. As a medical doctor I have access to quite some more restricted longevity strategies (e.g. prescription drugs) so I guess I have a broader choice than most consumers, but I still tend to be very thoughtful of my choices and self-experiments.
11. What’s your guilty pleasure that technically isn’t longevity-friendly, but you still won’t give it up?
Well, I am not Bryan Johnson, and I certainly won’t score a 10/10 in a lot of areas. I approach longevity not religiously but rather pragmatically – usually in an 80/20 approach.
There is not “the lifestyle of longevity”, it is always “each person’s individual lifestyle of longevity”. There are many adaptions to our lifestyles that will optimise our longevity, but in the end these adaptions also have to fit to my lifestyle.
I have kids, so my sleep gets interrupted quite often, which is out of my control – so I have to adapt some tweaks to fit to the unperfect situation.
Speaking of things that are in my control, I still sometimes tend to grab some snacks when working late or attending meetings or webinars in the late evenings or night hours (for events happening in other timezones).
But most days I manage to stick to not eating 3 hours before bedtime. And if I don’t? Well, I remind myself that longevity is a marathon, not a sprint.
12. If you had 30 seconds to convince someone to take their longevity seriously, what would you say?
Do you brush your teeth? (Yes) Oh but why, you can live without them, and replace them! – Well, thank god, dentists taught us to be proactive and preventative about our dental health – it’s not crazy science, it’s common sense nowadays. So take care: You have one heart, one brain, two kidneys, one liver etc. – make sure to keep them all healthy even when your teeth are replaced already.
