you can live Longer Better
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The Oxford Personalised Plan to Live Longer Better was launched at the Smart Ageing Summit 2025, representing a groundbreaking approach to healthy ageing that puts you firmly in the driver's seat of your own wellbeing journey.
This comprehensive programme empowers every individual to understand and strategically plan the actions they can take to regain lost fitness, reduce the risk of disease—including dementia—and fight back when illness does occur. More importantly, it provides the tools to minimise and actively change the harmful effects of our modern environment on our health and longevity.
The Power of Community Contribution
One of the key themes to emerge from this innovative approach is the recognition that older people themselves possess tremendous power to contribute meaningfully to their communities, including supporting younger members. In doing so, they not only enrich the lives of others but also derive profound personal benefits that enhance their own quality of life and sense of purpose.
The Oxford Elixir of Life
We believe that the Oxford Elixir of Life is knowledge—consumed through continuous learning and transformed into meaningful personal and community action. This planning tool encourages you to actively engage with the strategies and insights presented, taking notes on the specific actions you plan to implement.
As you explore the resources and guidance from our experts–among them Alan Nyman (invented) and OLP Co-founder Dr Paul Ch’en– you'll develop your own personal blueprint for living longer better—a practical, evidence-based roadmap tailored to your unique circumstances and aspirations.
Your journey towards a longer, healthier, and more fulfilling life begins here. Let's start planning your path to live longer better.
alan nyman and dr paul ch’en’s live longer better plans
recent blog
A letter of evidence-based enthusiasm from Sir Muir Gray
THE SCIENTIFIC AND EVIDENCE BASE OF LIVING LONGER BETTER by Sir Muir Gray
Living longer is a complex process for both individuals and populations facing significant increases in people in their 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. Our interpretation of the science is that the biological process of aging is not a cause of major problems until the late 90s, although you need some luck to avoid the diseases we cannot prevent or delay: Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
The normal biological aging process affects everyone from about age forty but by itself does not cause major problems until the late nineties. However, we now know that there are three interrelated causes of the problems that occur more frequently as people live longer:
Loss of fitness, physical and mental
Disease, much of which is preventable, and the resulting disability that is usually complicated by accelerated loss of fitness
Social factors, notably deprivation and negative beliefs and attitudes—ageism
These two processes are caused by social factors. Here is a picture that summarizes the knowledge about what is happening to us as we live longer.
Millions of dollars are being invested to find a drug that can slow the aging process—an elixir of life—but so far without success. It remains a moot question just how much demand there would be for a drug that would help you live until 118 or 142, just two of the current ambitions.
What most people want, however, is not an increase in life expectancy but an increase in healthy life expectancy and a reduction in the period of time at the end of life when one is dependent on others for the most basic tasks, such as getting to the toilet on time.
Fortunately, there is evidence from research evaluating methods designed to influence the other three factors, which proves that life expectancy and healthy life expectancy can be increased even though the aging process cannot be influenced. The key is to maintain and increase physical, cognitive and emotional activity. Here is how we can influence what is happening to us as we live longer, summarized in another picture.
Tied into this is the need to be clear about the language being used and to work toward consistent use of language. This in itself is very important in bringing about culture change—namely, a change in culture from assuming that older people simply need more things done for them, instead of being enabled to do even more for themselves and other people.