Longevity Coaches: Who Are They and What Do They Do?

The concept of wellness is constantly shifting, and with it, the objectives evolve as well. That’s where longevity coaches come into play.

In the past, when you’d think of health, immediately you’d think of physical fitness and nutrition. These days, we know health encompasses so much more. Additionally, as medicine progresses from the 2.0 version to the more preventative 3.0 version, as Peter Attia talks about at length in his book Outlive, our approach to improving our health has changed. 

With these changes, there has been a greater focus on the concept of longevity and increasing one’s lifespan. This focus has introduced longevity coaches to the area of health, wellness, and preventative care.

What is a longevity coach and what does a longevity coach do?

It’s important to define what longevity is first to understand what a longevity coach does. The concept of longevity is to live a longer and healthier life. Therefore, a longevity coach can help you create and achieve your goals of doing just that. 

That said, longevity is such a broad topic. There’s so much that goes into what extends someone’s life, let alone improves the quality of someone’s life. Technically, a coach with a focus on fitness could be considered a longevity coach, as we all know that physical fitness is a core part of longevity (although not the only factor). 

A longevity coach is a health or wellness professional that focuses on lifestyle choices that can promote a longer and healthier life.

Here are some of the services a longevity coach provides to help you increase your longevity:

• Goal setting
• Assessments to gauge your current health markers (e.g. epigenetic tests)
• Expert plan to achieve your goals
• Support
• Accountability

The “coach” piece of a “longevity coach” is what can separate a longevity coach from a normal health and wellness professional. A health and wellness professional can help diagnose health issues and tell you what to do, but there’s no guarantee that you will successfully implement these actions. A coach can be incredibly helpful in getting you to the “finish line” in achieving your goals.

What certifications do longevity coaches have?

How can we verify a longevity coach is legitimate? Is there a way to standardize what counts as a longevity coach and what doesn’t? 

Well, as in any fragmented or nascent industry, we can’t. There is nothing as of the writing of this article that officially certifies someone as a longevity coach, let alone requires it. There isn’t a longevity association that regulates the field of longevity coaching. That being said, this doesn’t mean longevity coaches don’t have credentials – if they do have credentials related to longevity, they may fall under a different name or degree.

There are some companies that will provide you with training specific to longevity coaching and can be part of the continuing education a longevity coach has:

• Coralage Longevity Coach Certification 
• Precision Longevity Coach Certification
• Spencer Institute Longevity Coach Certification
• Longevity Training Academy

Outside of longevity-specific certifications, you may find that a longevity coach you come across has certifications from related health and wellness institutes, such as:

• Primal Health Coach
• Health Coach Institute
• Institute for Integrative Nutrition
• Functional Medicine Coaching Academy

What would encourage you to hire a longevity coach?

If someone decides to hire a longevity coach, it’s because they either want to determine how to live healthier for longer, or they have specific health worries or goals in mind as they get older. Some longevity coaches may specialize in a certain demographic or a given set of health challenges. 

Here are some examples of issues that might drive someone to seek a longevity coach:

• Loss of libido or overall energy
• Weight creep you can’t seem to get rid of
• General aches and pains
• Constant visits to the doctor for various ailments
• Decreasing sleep quality

Because it can be difficult for individuals to diagnose and resolve more mysterious health issues, such as low energy, we aren’t even sure which specialist can help us with those symptoms.

People may reach out to a longevity coach when they feel stuck with some part of their health, even if they are doing the main things they know they should already be doing (e.g. exercising, eating clean, etc.). A longevity coach can help clients target where the issues are stemming from and help fix them accordingly. 

Lastly, you might consider yourself already healthy and vibrant, but you’re searching for other ways to optimize your health that you haven’t considered (or even know about), yet. A longevity coach can help by knowing more about the spectrum of health and wellness strategies available to you to increase your longevity. 

What is it like working with a longevity coach?

The experience you’ll have in working with a longevity coach is going to vary based on what that individual longevity coach is offering, but generally you’ll go through the following:

• Intake & Assessment: A longevity coach will need to gauge where your health currently sits, based on certain metrics that they choose to evaluate that they’ve deemed vital to your longevity. They may also get feedback from you regarding your goals and what issues you struggle with. 
• Creating a Plan: A longevity coach will work with you to create a sustainable plan that will help improve the health markers shown in the initial assessment portion that will improve your health and tackle your current health issues. 
• Tracking Progress: A longevity coach will track the markers they initially tested over the period of time in working with you, and along the way they will provide you with the support, feedback, and accountability you need to improve your health (and longevity) accordingly. 

What are the costs and the different types of offerings?

Costs for working with a longevity coach are going to vary widely, depending on the package that’s provided. Prices can vary from hundreds to thousands of dollars. 

Generally speaking, the more personalized the offering is, the more expensive the coaching will be. 

There are two general options for you to choose from in finding a longevity coach:

• Individual Longevity Coach: An individual longevity coach who will work with you 1:1 throughout the entire process. Dr. Nicole Marcione or Elaine Pauly are two examples of longevity coaches that will work with you one on one.

• Personalized Medicine: A more DIY approach where you can purchase a test to gauge your biological age, which will provide you with a report and potentially coaching that will explain what actions you can take to increase your longevity (and lower your biological age). Wild Health or Parsley Health are two examples of companies that provide general longevity coaching.

If you’re interested in finding better ways to navigate getting older, working with a longevity coach or getting an epigenetic test can be a great way to help you on that path. Take some time to determine what approach – 1:1 or DIY – works best for you as you research a longevity coach to work with. 

You should also read: Longevity Doctors: Who They Are, How They’re Certified, & How to Assess Them