Visiting the doctor

2010.10.19 - Wired - How Beer, Oprah and Sergey Brin Can Help Cure Aging

Wired.com: How often do you get your blood work done?

de Grey: Every three or four years.

Wired.com: What do you look for?

de Grey: The only thing I look for is things that appear to be out of whack, that seem to be, according to regular interpretations, worrying. But then I don’t necessarily worry. I look at what that’s supposed to mean. I look in the detail of what it comes down to.

For example, one thing that was worryingly high for me last time and the time before was homocysteine which is something people are supposed to care about because they have lots of supposed implications. But all my other indicators in terms of oxidative stress in the blood were really good. So somehow or other the generalization doesn’t work for me.

This is one thing I always say to people when they ask me, “What should I do?” I always say, “Don’t generalize. Don’t just read a book and think, ‘Okay I’ll do that.’ The number one thing is to listen to your body and do what your body is telling you to do.”