Dr Mohammed Enayat was working as a GP when he started looking into longevity.
Day in, day out, for 15 years he saw patients struggling with chronic issues, spending their 50s, 60s on a cocktail of medication for issues that, with the right treatment or lifestyle changes, may have been preventable.
He tells Metro: ‘Our environment – be it through what we eat, what we see, what we hear, and what we breathe – all has effect in our biology. And we’re now at a point where we’re starting to see deleterious effects, with diseases on the rise and life expectancy decreasing, because we’re not biologically adapted fast enough to the rate of change of our environment.’
So after further study in regenerative and functional medicine, Dr Enayat founded HUM2N, a pioneering longevity clinic based in London.
You’ve probably heard of this concept because of entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, who recently hit headlines for trying to biohack his system with a militant ‘Don’t Die’ regimen of raw food, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and blood transfusions from his teenage son.
However, Dr Enayat’s outlook isn’t as extreme; he focuses less on defying nature and more on helping people ‘have the best quality of life for as long as possible.’
‘Good longevity medicine is really for everyone,’ he tells Metro. ‘How we live now will dictate how we will live in the future. And what that basically means is the cumulative effect of the lifestyle choices that we’re making on a day to day basis have an effect on our system.’
The fact is, none of us can cheat death, but if you follow Dr Enayat’s simple daily tips, you can potentially add years to your life — or at the very least, improve the way you look and feel in the meantime.
1. Start your day barefoot in nature
According to Dr Enayat, being in daylight right after waking up and standing barefoot on natural surfaces like grass (ideally while doing breathwork or mindfulness exercises) helps regulate the body’s circadian rhythm — aka ‘the natural body clock’ -which has a range of wider benefits.
‘We’re generally too much in the fight or flight response or the sympathetic nervous system, so everything that we can do to help improve our parasympathetic nervous system, which is our healing response, is going to help us for the long term,’ he explains.
‘Too much of the stress response causes that causes metabolic issues, diabetes, obesity, inflammation, cardiovascular disease and can even increase cancer risk as well.’
Studies have also shown that the practice of ‘grounding’ can improve mood, with Dr Enayat adding: ‘This is more about state management, learning how to empty the mind when the mind is so cluttered and stimulated by external stimuli.’
2. Skip breakfast — but do it strategically
You’ve probably been told breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but Dr Enayat recommends intermittent fasting of around 12 to 14 hours, which may mean skipping that early morning cereal or slice of toast.
Ideally, he says you should have your last meal of the day two to three hours before bed, as this gives your body time to digest the food while you’re awake and focus on sleep later on.
Then, try to hold off on breakfast until at least 12 hours after dinner the previous evening, allowing your system to go into the fasting state which promote cellular repair, improve metabolic flexibility, and support better energy regulation throughout the day.
‘If you can even go further to 16 hours or so, breaking your fast at around lunchtime, that can be really good,’ Dr Enayat adds. ‘However, if you find that you’re fatiguing then you might be deficient in nutrients and it might not be the right time for you to do intuitive fasting.’
3. Try cold water exposure
There’s another way to work on metabolic flexibility, which is ‘your ability to create energy from your energy sources more easily’ that you’ve probably seen touted by longevity influencers. But cold water exposure is more than a fad.
Dr Enayat explains: ‘Metabolic flexibility prevents diabetes, and some of those kind of sedentary lifestyle problems and diseases that we have. This is why ice baths can be quite good.’
Effectively, cold water drops the temperature of the skin, forcing the body to work harder to create heat by using up stored energy — pretty much biohacking the system.
Don’t worry if you’re not quite ready for ice baths either, as cold showers have a similar effect.
4. Take these essential supplements
While Dr Enayat is a big believer in tailored supplements (which we’ll get into shortly), there are three that form what he calls a ‘base stack’ for those focused on longevity and performance.
- B-complex with methylated folate – to reduce inflammation
- Magnesium bisglycinate – for muscle recovery, calmness, and sleep
- Omega-3 fatty acids – for heart, brain, and joint health
Magnesium is one you’ll notice the effects of straight away, with Dr Enayat advising that it’s best taken in the evenings.
Others may take longer to have a noticeable effect, but give it at least a month and assess the changes — even if they aren’t super obvious, your body will likely show subtle signs of improvement.
5. Get regular checkups
Topping up your vitamins and minerals with over the counter supplements is unlikely to do you any harm, but if you’ve been feeling run down and don’t know why, testing – preferably annual blood panels (up to 120 biomarkers) – is best to find the root cause of your issues.
Then, once you’ve covered the basics, these results will allow you to step up your efforts, potentially including advanced techniques like peptides to target specific needs.
‘Working with good data and an expert that is looking at the data in a good, holistic way, alongside good nutrition and lifestyle choices, that is what it will extend lives,’ says Dr Enayat.
But he also highlights the importance of ‘engaging with the traditional medical system’ through the likes of routine NHS blood tests, faecal and urine screenings, cervical smear tests, breast screening and the 40-year-old checkup.
6. Train in different heart rate zones
When it comes to exercise, Dr Enayat says ‘variety is the spice of life.’
He recommends structuring workouts by heart-rate zones to maintain lean muscle and metabolic resilience as we age:
- Zone 4 (high-intensity) for mitochondrial health once or twice weekly
- Zone 1–2 (light to moderate) activities like brisk walking most days
- Strength training two or three times per week focusing on compound lifts
Dr Enayat explains: ‘You need to be training your muscles, the core muscles in particular with exercises like squats and deadlifts, to prevent joint and spinal issues.
‘And two, you want to be training the bones, jumping off a certain height or skipping; things that will load the long bones of the joint to improve bone density and prevent bone bone loss.
‘But then also, you need to be looking at the engine – your heart, your lungs and your breathing apparatus… because if you don’t use it, you lose it.’
The final part of this three-pronged approach doesn’t need to take ages or be done in a gym. Just make sure you’re breaking a sweat a couple of times a week, and consider getting a fitness tracker to measure your heart rate variability.
‘The aim is to increase your heart rate variability through these types of exercises,’ Dr Enayat adds. ‘That’s a marker that you’re you’re adding years to your life.’
7. Lower cortisol before bed and optimise sleep
In Dr Enayat’s opinion, managing cortisol levels is one of the most overlooked keys to long-term health and brain function. And it all starts with sleep.
Get into an evening routine where you’re meditating or doing breathing exercises, avoiding screens at least an hour before bed, and keeping your room cool and dark.
But the surprising thing that could protect your rest is kegel exercises.
‘The pelvic floor muscles are really important for holding your urine in,’ Dr Enayat explains. ‘As we get older, as the pelvic floor muscle weakens, the bladder doesn’t have as much support, and you need to wake up to pass urine at night. So by maintaining the strength of the pelvic floor muscles, you will prevent the need to wake up and disrupt your sleep to pass urine.’
Highlighting the importance of a proper night’s kip, he adds: ‘Deep sleep is very important because that’s when a lot of the regeneration healing takes place. Your immune system resets. You fight cancer, cell changes, you produce stem cells. All good stuff happens in the deep phase of sleep, and the REM phase of sleep helps with memory and thought consolidation.’
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