Beyond Lifespan: How We’re Extending Your Healthspan at Village Medicine

We often talk about longevity—how long we’re going to live. But what if we shifted the focus? What if I told you your calendar age is just a number? What truly matters is your biological age—a measure of your health at a cellular level. The ultimate goal isn’t just to add years to your life, but to add life to your years by making our health span match our lifespan.

This is the central question in the exciting and rapidly advancing field of longevity medicine. This past September, I had the privilege of joining The Vibrant Longevity Summit  in Austin, Texas, with brilliant doctors from around the world to discuss and exchange ideas. And now, armed with fresh inspiration and cutting-edge research, we’re ready to help you level up.

Lecture after lecture, I had a recurring, thrilling thought: the foundational principles being celebrated as the future of medicine are the very things we are already doing here at Village Medicine. Our approach—treating the whole person, fostering health from the cells up, and personalizing every plan—is at the forefront of this movement.

The Cellular Cleanup Crew: Defeating “Zombie” Cells

So many of our patients come to us feeling… off. They’re battling brain fog, fatigue, or inflammation that quietly steals their enthusiasm for life. Often, this is a sign that things are getting cluttered on a microscopic level.

One of the key culprits are senescent cells, sometimes called “zombie cells.” These are older cells that have stopped dividing but refuse to die. Instead, they linger in our tissues, releasing a cocktail of inflammatory signals that can accelerate the aging process and damage healthy neighboring cells.

Our bodies have a natural, built-in recycling program to deal with this called autophagy (literally “self-eating”). This process cleans out old, damaged cellular parts and even whole zombie cells, making way for new, more powerful, and effective cells. Activating autophagy is a cornerstone of longevity, and there are simple ways to amplify it:

• Intermittent Fasting: Restricting your eating window is one of the most effective ways to trigger autophagy.
• Therapeutic Nutrients: Specific compounds, taken in pulses, can act as senolytics—agents that help clear out senescent cells. Two powerful examples are Quercetin and Fisetin.

The Invisible Weight: Understanding Toxic Burden

Beyond zombie cells, our bodies face a constant barrage of external toxins. From car exhaust and off-gassing furniture to chemicals in personal care products, our systems are working overtime. When the influx of toxins outpaces our body’s ability to filter them, this toxic burden builds up over decades, contributing to
that feeling of being “stuck.”

A Game-Changer: Total Plasma Exchange (TPE)

While lifestyle changes are crucial, what about the decades of accumulated damage? At the conference, one therapy was mentioned repeatedly as a cornerstone of modern longevity work: Total Plasma Exchange (TPE), a technology we are proud to offer at Village Medicine.

Think of your body as a fishbowl. Over time, the water becomes murky with toxins (zombie cell debris, inflammatory proteins, chemicals). Your fish—representing your healthy cells—is struggling. TPE is like giving the fish a completely new bowl of clean, fresh water. It works by separating your blood cells from the “dirty” plasma, discarding the plasma and its toxic load, and returning your cells in a clean, sterile replacement fluid. The result is a profound “reset, ” clearing out inflammatory sludge and giving your body a clean slate to heal from.

The Power of Muscle: Your Metabolic Engine for Longevity

Once we’ve cleaned up the internal environment, we need to build a strong, resilient foundation. A critical, and often overlooked, component of this is muscle.

Lean muscle is far more than just for aesthetics; it is your metabolic engine. It helps regulate blood sugar, burns fat, and
even acts as a pump for your lymphatic system, which is essential for moving waste out of the body. As world-renowned
muscle expert Dr. Gabrielle Lyon emphasizes, building and maintaining muscle requires two key things:

• Adequate Protein: To trigger muscle protein synthesis.
• Resistance Training: We need to challenge our muscles. This is especially vital for women, who often avoid strength training for fear of getting “bulky, ” when in reality it is essential for bone density, metabolic health, and long-term strength.

At Village Medicine, we’re using science to help you build that foundation:

Emsculpt NEO: This medical gym device uses advanced technology to stimulate deep muscle contractions, strengthening

core muscle groups to improve functional strength, reduce pain, and boost your metabolism. It’s a powerful tool for supercharging your muscles so you have more power to live your life fully.

Creatine: This well-studied supplement is a powerhouse for muscle recovery and development. But its benefits go further. While a standard 5-gram dose
primarily supports muscles, new research on Creatine supplementation and brain health suggests that increasing the dose to 10 grams daily allows for a “spillover” effect, increasing creatine stores in the
brain. This has been shown to improve cognitive function, especially during periods of stress like sleep deprivation, intense work projects, or jet lag.

Urolithin A: This exciting nutrient, a postbiotic produced from certain polyphenols (like those in pomegranates), has been shown to improve mitochondrial health and muscle function. In one fascinating study targeting aging with urolithin A in humans, participants taking Urolithin A showed improved lean muscle density without any changes to their exercise routine.

Powering It All: Mitochondria, NAD+, and Antioxidants

Strong muscles and a clean system need energy. That energy comes from the mitochondria, the tiny powerhouses inside every one of our cells. Supporting them is non-negotiable for longevity.

• • NAD+: This vital coenzyme is crucial for mitochondrial function and energy (ATP) production. We offer IV NAD+ therapy at our clinic to directly replenish this critical resource.
  • Antioxidants: These molecules protect mitochondria from damage. We use targeted IVs with Glutathione and Vitamin C, and recommend key supplements like Alpha-Lipoic Acid (ALA) for blood sugar and brain support, and CoQ10 for heart health. Crucially, if you are on a statin medication, it is depleting your body’s CoQ10 levels, making supplementation essential.

Lifestyle as Medicine: Lessons from the Field

The conference wasn’t just about data; it was about living this philosophy. One morning, about 100 of us gathered at 6 a.m. in the dark for an outdoor HIIT workout. Afterward, we recovered using a sauna and ice-cold tubs from Mod Tubs. This practice of contrast therapy—moving from hot to cold—is an ancient tradition that powerfully reduces inflammation, improves circulation, and boosts mental resilience. You can incorporate these principles daily:

Eat for Longevity: A diet rich in polyphenols has been shown to help reverse biological aging. One simple protocol is the “Younger You” diet by Dr. Kara

Fitzgerald, which includes daily intake of: 1/2 cup of berries, 1/2 teaspoon each of rosemary and turmeric, 2 cloves of garlic, and 2 cups of green tea or 3 cups of oolong tea.
Embrace Contrast: Seek out facilities with saunas and cold plunges. Even ending your daily shower with a 30-second blast of cold water can have profound benefits.

Your Personalized Path to a Longer Healthspan

All these tools—from TPE and Emsculpt NEO to targeted nutrients and lifestyle shifts—are part of a bigger picture. This is the essence of personalized, precision medicine, a philosophy we live by at Village Medicine.

We take the time to understand your unique health history and goals to build a plan that is tailored specifically for you. It was invigorating to see the concepts we champion validated on a global stage. We are more passionate than ever about helping you not just live longer, but thrive. If you’re ready to invest in your health span, contact us at Village Medicine to schedule a consultation and let’s explore what the future of your health can look like.

* This post was originally printed in the Village Medicine Seattle’s Wellness Quarterly Magazine, 4Q25 Edition. Read and download the full publication

About The Author

Dr. Paul is a dedicated practitioner specializing in injury restoration and athletic optimization through regenerative medicine approaches. Driven by the understanding that our physical health reverberates into every part of our lives—work, relationships, physicality, and attitude—he focuses on thorough health assessments, in-depth testing, and advanced injection therapies like prolotherapy. Certified by The American Osteopathic Association of Prolotherapy and Regenerative Medicine, Paul believes that consistent attention and care are foundational to well-being and that investing in our long-term health is paramount. Through his work, he empowers patients with the tools to replace unhealthy habits and achieve lasting physical vitality.  Learn more about Dr. Paul