How old would you like to become? In a well-known 2016 survey, participants were asked to choose their preferred lifespan: 85, 120, 150 years, or “forever.” Surprisingly, the majority selected 85. From years of working with clients, we find a similar pattern: younger professionals often tell us they wouldn’t want to live beyond 70. Why? It is not age itself that worries people. It is the prospect of physical decline, cognitive deterioration, and years defined more by suffering than by living.
However, the 2016 survey asked a second question: “How long would you like to live if you could remain physically and mentally healthy?” The most common answer? Forever. People don’t fear longevity—they fear decline. They don’t long for more years—they long for healthy years. This shift—from lifespan to health span—is at the heart of modern longevity research. The objective is not simply to prolong life, but to extend the period in which we can perform, contribute, innovate, and lead at a high level.
Sustaining high levels of energy, creativity, resilience, and emotional balance over a long and evolving professional life is challenging for anyone, but especially for leaders. Research shows that executives are more prone to accelerated aging due to heavy responsibility, chronic stress, and constant cognitive demand. These pressures can suppress parasympathetic activity, hinder recovery, and increase the risk of pain, and cardiovascular disease. Not even regular exercise offsets the long hours of sitting inherent in modern leadership roles.
Yet leaders’ vitality has consequences far beyond themselves. Their well-being influences organizational culture, team resilience, performance, and long-term strategic capability. On a personal level, professional longevity becomes an important question at a certain point in one’s career.
Picture this: You are in your mid-fifties, sitting in a meeting surrounded by younger colleagues. Their stamina seems endless. Your own recovery takes longer, concentration dips, and small aches become familiar companions. A subtle worry arises: “Is this the beginning of my decline? Am I still as sharp, as relevant, as before?” Moments like these are not signs of failure. They are invitations to engage with a new question: How can I cultivate physical, mental, and emotional resources that sustain high performance now, and for decades to come? Healthy longevity is not merely a personal aspiration. It is a strategic capability; one that enables leaders to maintain clarity under pressure, show up with presence, and make decisions from a place of resilience rather than depletion.
“Another widespread misconception: our longevity is fixed by our genes.”
Aging is often seen as synonymous with pain, reduced mobility, cognitive decline, and illness. Many consider these changes inevitable. They are not. Evidence across multiple scientific fields shows that much of what we call “age-related decline” is driven less by biology and more by lifestyle choices. When we activate the body’s innate repair mechanisms, through movement, nutrition, and mindful breathing, we can dramatically influence how we age.
Another widespread misconception: our longevity is fixed by our genes. Epigenetics tells a different story. Our genetic sequence is stable, but up to 70% of our gene activity can be modulated by lifestyle, environment, stress, and behavior. Some researchers estimate that as much as 91% of healthy aging is within our control. In other words: How we age is shaped far more by daily habits than by inherited biology. This means leaders can actively design the way they grow older.
In a world captivated by biohacking and scientific breakthroughs, the reality is reassuring: the most effective levers for healthy aging are neither expensive nor complex.
In a world captivated by biohacking and scientific breakthroughs, the reality is reassuring: the most effective levers for healthy aging are neither expensive nor complex. They are simple, accessible, and biologically powerful when applied in the right combination. The “3-Formula for Healthy Longevity”, outlined in our German language book Lange Gut Leben (Live long and healthy), distills the science of aging into three pillars that leaders can implement immediately. From our experience, each pillar is effective on its own. Together, our experience shows that the pillars create a synergistic impact that can enhance both physical and mental functioning.
Roland Liebscher-Bracht’s work on pain-free movement addresses the muscular and fascial tensions that develop over years of sitting, stress, and repetitive strain. His stretching and pressure techniques reduce fascial tension, restore joint mobility, and recalibrate the nervous system’s pain response. For leaders, this results in a body that feels light and at ease, with improved circulation and metabolism, greater mobility and upright posture, and reduced pain and tension.
Nutrition is not merely about calories; it conveys vital information. Each meal affects inflammatory pathways, mitochondrial efficiency, metabolic flexibility, blood glucose stability, and even gene expression. Petra Bracht’s longevity nutrition focuses on plant-based, nutrient-dense foods, intermittent fasting for metabolic clarity, anti-inflammatory eating, and stable glucose response. For leaders, this translates into sustained energy, clearer thinking, greater emotional stability, and reduced long-term disease risk.
Through breath-based mindfulness, we can influence our mental presence, resilience, and emotional intelligence. At the core of Christoph Glaser’s approach are breathing techniques that help balance the autonomic nervous system, enabling leaders to reduce stress, activate regeneration, improve focus and decision-making, and enhance cognitive performance.
Each pillar amplifies the other two. For example, movement increases circulation which improves nutrient delivery. Vital nutrition stabilizes blood glucose which prevents stress reactivity making breathwork more effective. Breathwork reduces inflammation which accelerates recovery and makes movement easier and pain-free.
The key Liebscher & Bracht exercise focuses on stretching and strengthening the front body line, counteracting the most detrimental effects of prolonged sitting.
Here is an example of how the 3-Formula can improve a leader’s state in just seven minutes. A CEO preparing for a critical afternoon negotiation has slept poorly, eaten a heavy lunch, and endured five hours of back-to-back meetings. His body is stiff, glucose levels are elevated, cortisol is high, and mental clarity is impaired. While most leaders would push through, this CEO applies the 3-Formula.
The key Liebscher & Bracht exercise focuses on stretching and strengthening the front body line, counteracting the most detrimental effects of prolonged sitting. The result is the alleviation of common causes of back pain, improved posture and physical clarity, and enhanced circulation and oxygenation. After completing this step, the CEO should experience improvement in physical and mental clarity.
The CEO drinks a large glass of water with a spoonful of apple cider vinegar and takes a brisk two-minute walk. As a result, blood glucose levels decrease, insulin response stabilizes, and mental fog dissipates, supporting an improvement in cognitive processing speed.
The CEO sits and practices the wave breathe for one minute to reduce heart rate and activate the parasympathetic system, followed by three minutes of bellows breath to enhance focus. This should support prefrontal cortex activity, reduced emotional reactivity, sharper decision-making, and increased confidence.
The CEO can now enter the negotiation more physically aligned, metabolically stable, mentally sharper, and emotionally grounded. When practiced regularly, our experience shows this formula can produce lasting benefits.
We often have one psychological foot on the accelerator and the other on
the brake.
If healthy longevity were simply a matter of knowing what to do, we would all master it easily. But research shows that even heart patients struggling for survival often fail to adopt healthier lifestyles. Leaders often blame a lack of discipline, but this is rarely the root cause. High performers already have discipline; it is how they reached their level of success. The real obstacles are usually hidden emotional resistances. One executive told us: “I know breathwork can save me from burnout. But I can’t get myself to do it.” The reason, uncovered through coaching, was unexpected: He feared being a “bad father” by taking 12 minutes for himself instead of dedicating every moment at home to his children. Only when he reframed breathwork as something that he did for his children—not away from them—did the habit take hold. We often have one psychological foot on the accelerator and the other on the brake. Understanding these inner contradictions is essential for sustainable change.
When a healthy habit doesn’t stick, ask yourself: What inner fear, discomfort, or conflict might be resisting this change? Visualize yourself practicing the new behavior successfully. If resistance arises, follow its trail. Awareness dissolves barriers.
Stand about half a step in front of a wall and place your hands on it at shoulder height. Gently press your hips toward the wall and lean your upper body back until you feel a light, pleasant stretch in your hips, abdomen, or lower back. Gradually deepen the hip press and backbend until the stretch is clearly noticeable but still comfortable. As the intensity fades, gently increase the stretch again. Hold for two minutes then come out of the position slowly, circle your hips, and bend forward to release. Do this exercise once a day and notice how your body responds.
This tip takes no time: Before your lunch, drink a glass of water with a spoonful of apple cider vinegar. This simple habit helps stabilize your blood glucose levels, reducing the afternoon energy crash that often follows a lunchtime glucose spike, keeping your focus and performance steady for the rest of the day.
The bellows breath is a dynamic technique that energizes both body and mind. Its powerful inhale-exhale sequence activates the sympathetic nervous system, boosting alertness and focus. Sit on the front edge of a chair with a straight back and feet on the floor. Raise your hands to shoulder height, palms forward, loose fists, shoulders relaxed. Inhale through the nose, swinging arms up and opening hands; exhale through the nose, returning arms to your sides. Repeat 15 times, then rest hands in your lap, palms up, eyes closed for 10–15 seconds. Repeat two more sets.
This is a selection of exercises and tips from our book Lange Gut Leben.
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