Scientists have discovered pathways in our cells that help to suppress that inflammation and can slow the ageing process. The key players — or the ones we know about so far — associated with those pathways are the enzymes AMPK (adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase) and mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin), and sirtuins; proteins that play vital roles in cell repair and cell metabolism. “They’re like the house- keepers who help the epigenome maintain its function — cleaning the cells of waste products, and making sure there’s no damage,” Jones says.

Julia has been studying health and wellness for 30 years. As an academic her PhD, MSc, MBA, PG Cert and BA (Hons.) studies and research all examined various aspects of neuroscience and psychology. She began her professional career as a Sport & Exercise Psychologist and Physiologist in the early 1990s, working with Olympic squads and still works with professional sports performers today. Incidentally, pets are very good for the gut microbiome too, because you’re exposed to extra bacteria.” Oxytocin is now thought to be one of the most powerful longevity chemicals and you get that from being among friends, being in a loving relationship and spending time with your pets,” she says. “When dogs and their humans gaze into each other’s eyes the oxytocin levels in both parties can rise significantly. Oxytocin has a calming effect and can reduce feelings of fear, loneliness and anxiety and the underlying chronic release of harmful stress chemicals.”

First night reviews

We believe this is the only way to successfully improve future health outcomes and extend healthy lifespan. Our ‘smart wellness’ research projects ran over 5-years and repeatedly demonstrated that asking humans to embrace new habits that require effort and/or cost is highly unlikely to be sustained for a lifetime. Julia has been studying the effects of music and sound on behaviour and wellness for 30 years. The first book helped in boosting a surge of interest in this area and became a unique music-based wellness programme run at offices of some of the largest companies in the world.

This is to preserve and improve the quality of sleep, a key to longevity. “If you have any kind of sleep monitoring device you can see that when you drink at night you tend to go into a deep sleep, but it’s not natural sleep,” she says. “You’re increasing the levels of the brain chemical GABA — essentially putting the brain to sleep. That fake sleep isn’t healthy and it disrupts the quality.” Jones says she doesn’t tend to drink during the week and no longer drinks to unwind late in the evening. Persevere with kombucha and kimchi At her centre in Folkestone she uses an AI bike that will produce this effect in two 20-second bursts of cycling. “If you’re plodding away on a gym treadmill for 30 to 40 minutes, you’re not producing this effect. If you enjoy it, that’s great, but know that it’s not necessarily going to have any impact on when you’re going to be diagnosed with your first chronic disease.” Do the daily gratitude thing — but don’t stress about it Why would someone who’s physically fit come out with such poor readings? “We’ve put so much emphasis on cardiovascular fitness in the past few decades,” Jones says. She was a sports and exercise scientist in the Nineties and helped to launch a chain of gyms, so advocated exactly that. “But fitness and wellness are not the same thing. You can be fit but not well, as measured by what state your cells are in.” Gratitude is an easy way to boost positive brain chemicals and produce a calming effect, activating the parasympathetic nervous system — the rest and repair branch of our autonomic nervous system that stems the release of stress chemicals,” Jones says. “I sit with my dog Charlie for my first coffee of the day and list the good things in my life. Some people worry they have to come up with a different list every day but it doesn’t really matter what you’re being grateful for. As long as you’re doing it intentionally and not running through in your head all the things you need to do when you get to the office, it still has that benefit.”Listening to loud music stimulates the nervous system when it produces “the chills”, and when experienced with others you get the added longevity benefit from social interaction. Listening to music before bed can slow down breathing and improve sleep quality. “Our brainwaves synchronise to musical rhythms, which makes music a great metronome, enabling us to influence the release of brain chemicals and the activation of brain networks,” Jones says. “And of course, learning a musical instrument is proven to be one of the best ways of slowing cognitive decline and building new brain connections. Music really is a super-tool.” Eat 30 different plants each week It doesn’t have to be the stairs; the idea is to exercise to the point where you can’t carry on a second longer. These really short bursts of intensive activity can activate the anti-inflammatory pathways that are the key to longevity. For some people that might be 20 seconds, for others longer. “It doesn’t really matter as long as you get to fatigue,” Jones says. Jones is an exceptionally good advert for everything she preaches. She weighs the same as she did in her twenties, having dropped a stone as a by-product of changing her habits, and hopes that next time she tries the longevity calculator (at apps.bluezones.com) she’ll get to 100.