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There appear to be many wealthy folks trying to live longer. Billionaires, including Jeff Bezos, are making large investments in the research of the aging process. I read about one tech entrepreneur who spends $2 million a year in an attempt to turn back the clock.
Equinox, an upscale gym, offers a $40,000 a year membership that helps you live “100 healthy years.” It includes biomarkers and fitness tests to measure your health. Then they use the data to create your own personalized health and fitness plan that includes coaches and trainers.
I don’t put a lot of stock in much of what I read about what the anti-aging movement is doing. I’m not convinced that those types of endeavors will amount to meaningful results. But I do believe advances in medication and other medical innovations can.
Leana Wen writes in The Washington Post about five medical innovations that can improve your health and well-being. Here are two of the medical breakthroughs I’d be willing to try, and they won’t cost a lot of money:
A blood test that can detect colon cancer.
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Unfortunately, 1 in 3 people who should get screened for colorectal cancer have never been tested. One reason is they probably, like me, hate the idea of prepping for a colonoscopy.
There is a new blood test that can “detect more than 87% of early-stage cancers.” It has been approved by the FDA and it’s a test that can be done with your other routine blood tests that are prescribed by your doctor.
I had my last colonoscopy when I was 72, and was told to come back in 10 years. The American Cancer Society doesn’t recommend a colonoscopy after age 85, for people who have an average risk for colon cancer. I’d be willing to take this blood test in lieu of another colonoscopy at age 82. However, a colonoscopy is still the gold standard. It is 93% successful at early detection and removes non cancerous polyps that can one day turn into cancer.
AirPods that can operate as hearing aids.
A study from Keck Medicine of USC reported that hearing aids reduce the risk of death by 24%. Hearing aids can lower the risk of falls, depression and cognitive decline, such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. But less than 30% of folks 70 and older have used hearing aids.
The FDA recently approved to allow Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 to also function as a hearing aid. After downloading a software update, you can use your AirPods to take a hearing test. If you have a mild to moderate hearing loss, the AirPods would function like a hearing aid and reduce background and noise and boost conversational sounds.
Hopefully, people who don’t want others to know that they have a hearing problem would be more willing to wear AirPods.
Would you be willing to try either of these two medical innovations?
I’m on my third pair of hearing aids, and the AirPods would not be sufficient for my hearing loss. My new ones have several great features: Phone calls go directly to my hearing aids (but I can switch it to the phones speakers if I am on hold — you don’t want hold music or ads cranking through your hearing aids). Also, I can play music from my phone to the hearing aids. The bass is not as strong as on a real stereo, but the sound is adjusted for my primarily high frequency hearing loss. One of the coolest features is a box that connects my TV to my hearing aids, allowing me to listen to ball games after my wife goes to bed or when she is trying to read and I am working out and watching one of the Star Treks. It is no good for enhancing the sound when the TVs volume is up, though.
The blood test for colon cancer sounds like a win, perhaps as an adjunct to colonoscopy.
I read the Washington Post every day but I must have missed that article. Thank you.
I delayed hearing aids as long as possible, mainly because of the cost. My Medicare Advantage plan finally added them as something I could buy at a greatly reduced rate, so I jumped. I truly appreciate them, but they aren’t always essential for me, and so there are stretches when I just don’t wear them. (Four obvious examples: when I mow my lawn and do yard work, when I am by myself for any extended time, when I exercise and when they are likely to get wet.) I chose batteries over rechargeables because I don’t ever want to be caught in a situation where the aids die and I can’t do anything about it for a long while. Plus batteries last 4-6 days for me. When I compare what aids do for hearing with what artificial lenses do for sight, the latter wins, hands down. That eye surgery is a miracle. But aids have their place. I have never been embarrassed about having hearing aids – I am open about them, talk freely about them, and often take them out to show people how they work. No big deal.
Separately, while I have learned to hate the taste of Jello (a dessert I used to really love), I will never forego (or even delay) my next colonoscopy. I’ll grit my teeth and live with it. A substitute will have to prove itself very clearly before I’ll change my view about that. The risks are too real.