What Lifestyle Changes Actually Increase Lifespan?
At Nova Wellness, we don’t believe in quick fixes. We believe in longevity. Not just living longer, but living better, with more vitality, more connection, and more ease in your body. If you’re wondering what actually moves the needle when it comes to living a longer, healthier life, you’re not alone. It’s one of the most common questions we hear in our San Francisco clinic.
As a leading provider of Functional Medicine in San Francisco, Nova Wellness takes a root-cause, personalized approach to health and healing. Instead of focusing only on symptoms, we work with you to understand your body as a complex, interconnected system. We look at your physical health, genetics, environment, emotional health, spiritual practices to co-create a roadmap to a longer, healthier life.
So, what lifestyle changes actually increase lifespan? Here’s what science says, and how functional medicine can help you apply it in a way that feels grounded, accessible, and aligned with who you are.
1. Prioritize Metabolic Health
One of the strongest predictors of lifespan is metabolic health. This includes stable blood sugar, balanced insulin response, healthy cholesterol levels, and a well-functioning liver. Unfortunately, many people are metabolically unhealthy without even realizing it.
Functional medicine uses tools like advanced bloodwork, nutrient testing, and continuous glucose monitoring to get a full picture of how your body processes energy. We then use targeted dietary changes, herbal supplements, and movement practices to help regulate blood sugar, improve insulin sensitivity, and reduce chronic inflammation.
In practice, this might look like:
Swapping processed carbs for nutrient-dense whole foods
Eating meals with protein, fiber, and healthy fats to stabilize blood sugar
Timing meals to allow periods of fasting
Managing stress levels, which can spike glucose even without food
Optimizing your microbiome to support metabolism
2. Regulate Your Nervous System
You can’t be in healing mode if your body thinks it’s in survival. Chronic stress activates the sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight), which over time wears down your adrenals, impairs digestion, and accelerates aging.
We help clients move into parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) mode through:
Nervous system retraining
Breathwork and vagus nerve stimulation
Adaptogenic herbs like ashwagandha or rhodiola
Emotional support techniques
Longevity isn’t just about what you eat. It’s about how safe and supported your body feels on a daily basis.
3. Focus on Anti-Inflammatory Nutrition
A long life starts with low inflammation. Chronic inflammation is at the root of many age-related diseases, from heart disease and cancer to dementia and autoimmune conditions.
Our health coaches at Nova Wellness San Francisco help you build a sustainable anti-inflammatory diet that nourishes your unique constitution. We don’t believe in rigid, joyless eating. We believe in food that heals and tastes amazing.
Core principles we recommend:
Eat colorful, plant-rich meals high in phytonutrients
Prioritize omega-3s from wild fish, flax, and chia
Avoid seed oils and processed sugar
Choose organic when possible to reduce toxic load
Avoiding food intolerances
4. Detox Your Environment and Your Body
Environmental toxins are invisible saboteurs when it comes to health and longevity. They accumulate slowly, disrupting hormones, impairing liver function, and increasing the risk of disease.
Functional medicine helps you identify and reduce your toxic load by:
Testing for heavy metals, mold exposure, and chemical toxins
Supporting detox pathways with herbs, supplements, and saunas
Swapping common household and personal care products for cleaner alternatives
We work with you to make sustainable changes that feel doable and even satisfying, not overwhelming.
5. Prioritize Restorative Sleep
Sleep is one of the most underrated longevity tools. Without enough deep, restorative sleep, your body can’t repair tissues, balance hormones, or clear cellular waste.
As a functional medicine practice in San Francisco, we see a lot of people who constantly push themselves to the limit - staying up late for deadlines, getting up early for tough workouts and pushing through the day with many cups of coffee. All of this affects one's sleep and we treat poor sleep as a critical health issue, not a side note. We investigate all factors that impact sleep, including blood sugar dysregulation, cortisol imbalances, EMF exposure, and nighttime habits.
Some sleep hygiene strategies we love:
Consistent sleep and wake times
No screens or bright light 1-2 hours before bed
Magnesium or herbal support
Blue light-blocking glasses in the evening
6. Move Daily (But Not Excessively)
Movement is medicine, but more is not always better. We work with clients to find the right type and intensity of exercise that supports longevity without creating more stress on the body.
Longevity-boosting movement includes:
Daily walking (even short bursts add up)
Resistance training to build muscle mass
Yoga or tai chi to improve balance and nervous system health
Joyful movement like dance or hiking
We emphasize consistency over intensity. The goal is to move in a way that feels nourishing, enjoyable and not punishing.
7. Build Meaningful Connection
Research shows that strong social ties are one of the most important predictors of long life. Loneliness, on the other hand, is linked to higher mortality risk than obesity or smoking.
At Nova Wellness, we see health as deeply relational. We help clients understand relational wounds, set healthy boundaries, and reconnect with their community. Whether through group wellness programs, therapy referrals, or simple encouragement to reach out, we prioritize connection as a pillar of long-term health.
8. Align with Purpose
What gets you out of bed in the morning matters. People with a strong sense of purpose tend to live longer, with lower rates of disease and depression.
Through our integrative approach, we support clients in rediscovering their sense of meaning. This may include:
Mindfulness practices to reconnect with values
Visioning exercises
Somatic therapies to release emotional blocks
Coaching to take aligned action in your life
9. Leverage Cutting-Edge Therapies to Support Cellular Vitality
Functional medicine is not only about returning to ancient wisdom, it’s also about embracing science at the frontier of human health. At Nova Wellness, we thoughtfully integrate advanced therapies that support longevity on a cellular level.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is a treatment that involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized chamber, which allows your body to absorb significantly more oxygen than normal. This increased oxygen supports tissue repair, reduces inflammation, and stimulates brain function making it a powerful tool for healing after injury, improving cognitive clarity, and slowing age-related decline.
Peptide therapy is another exciting tool in the longevity toolkit. Peptides are short chains of amino acids that act as signaling molecules, influencing everything from immune modulation to muscle repair, fat metabolism, sleep, and libido. There are many different peptide therapies out there, such as BPC-157 for gut healing and injury recovery, Hormone optimization is a cornerstone of aging well. Many people experience a slow, steady decline in hormones like estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone that affects everything from mood and sleep to metabolism and muscle mass. Rather than jumping straight into hormone replacement, we start by supporting the endocrine system holistically looking at liver function, detox pathways, adrenal status, and gut health. When needed, we offer guidance on bioidentical hormone therapy that’s carefully dosed, monitored, and integrated into your broader wellness plan.
Mitochondrial health is another area we emphasize. Your mitochondria are the energy powerhouses of your cells, and when they’re sluggish, you feel it—fatigue, brain fog, poor recovery, and accelerated aging. We use specialized testing to assess mitochondrial function and replenish with targeted nutrients like CoQ10, PQQ, magnesium, L-carnitine, and NAD+ precursors. These can dramatically improve energy production, especially when paired with lifestyle support like cold exposure and proper circadian rhythm alignment.
Finally, red light therapy is gaining traction for its ability to reduce inflammation, accelerate tissue repair, and improve sleep quality. By delivering specific wavelengths of light to the body, red and near-infrared light therapy stimulates mitochondrial function and collagen production. We recommend it for clients dealing with joint pain, skin concerns, or disrupted sleep patterns and can integrate it into evening routines to help reset the nervous system before bed. This is also used for health optimization of skin, energy and longevity.
These therapies aren’t for everyone, but when used strategically, they can be powerful additions to your longevity plan. At Nova Wellness, we don’t chase trends, we help you harness the best of modern science in a way that’s aligned with your body’s needs and your long-term goals.
Functional Medicine: The Bridge Between Science and Spirit
Functional medicine is powerful because it meets you where you are. It is grounded in biology but open to the complexity of the human experience. At Nova Wellness, we blend cutting-edge science with deep listening, intuition, and heart.
Our clinic in San Francisco is more than a doctor’s office, it’s a support partner for transformation. We offer personalized care that evolves with you, helping you make small, consistent lifestyle changes that add up to a longer, more fulfilling life.
We have clients visit us who are struggling with chronic symptoms as well as those who simply want to feel more alive. We’re here to help you live not just longer, but better.
Looking for Functional Medicine in San Francisco?
Nova Wellness offers personalized, root-cause care to help you increase your lifespan through sustainable lifestyle changes. Book a complimentary discovery call today and take the first step toward vibrant, long-term health.
You deserve to thrive.
