The Intervention
Atlas
A filterable, sortable scorecard of the interventions people actually try — each one graded by the quality of evidence behind it, not the size of the marketing budget. Companion to the free guide The Intervention Hierarchy.
Same method as the guide
Human evidence beats animal evidence. Replicated results beat single studies. Real outcomes beat surrogate ones. Each intervention below is graded by that rule — the same rule we apply to our own research.
| Intervention | Evidence | Category | What the evidence actually says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Physical activity↗ | TIER 1 | Lifestyle | 150 minutes of moderate exercise weekly is associated with reduced all-cause mortality across decades of cohort data; strength training preserves muscle and function into old age. |
| Sleep↗ | TIER 1 | Lifestyle | Consistent, sufficient sleep is tied to metabolic, cardiovascular, cognitive, and immune outcomes across the literature — one of the few inputs with near-universal effect. |
| Diet quality↗ | TIER 1 | Nutrition | Whole-food patterns with adequate protein and limited ultra-processed food are consistently associated with better healthspan. The "best diet" debate matters less than the direction. |
| Not smoking, moderating alcohol↗ | TIER 1 | Lifestyle | The baseline every other intervention builds on. |
| Time-restricted eating↗ | TIER 2 | Nutrition | Human trials show modest metabolic benefits — real, but smaller than popular claims, and partly because it reduces total intake. Skipping it costs you little if it does not suit you. |
| Vitamin D↗ | TIER 2 | Nutrition | Correcting a genuine deficiency is clearly beneficial; raising already-normal levels is not. Test first, supplement if low, re-test. |
| Protein intake↗ | TIER 2 | Nutrition | Older adults and athletes often under-eat protein relative to muscle needs; meeting roughly 1.2–1.6 g/kg supports muscle maintenance. |
| Omega-3s↗ | TIER 2 | Nutrition | Solid evidence for cardiovascular risk reduction in people with elevated triglycerides; the "everyone should take them" case is weaker than the marketing. |
| Metformin↗ | TIER 3 | Compound | Compelling biology and animal evidence, now in human trials. Not approved for longevity, and should not be taken for it outside a clinical trial. |
| Rapamycin↗ | TIER 3 | Compound | Extends lifespan in animal models and is being studied in humans. The safety profile for off-label longevity use is far from established. |
| NAD+ precursors (NMN, NR)↗ | TIER 3 | Compound | Levels decline with age and supplementation restores them — but restoring a molecule is not the same as restoring health. Human outcome data remains thin. |
| Senolytics↗ | TIER 3 | Compound | Clearing senescent cells works in animal models; human trials are early, and which cells to clear (and when) is far from answered. |
| "Anti-aging" supplement stacks↗ | TIER 4 | Compound | If the label lists a dozen compounds with vague "pathway" claims, you are paying for a story, not data. |
| "Biological age" consumer tests↗ | TIER 4 | Test | Research tools, not personal health verdicts. The consumer versions are not validated for the claims made about them. |
| Red-light panels↗ | TIER 4 | Device | The object feels scientific; the evidence for general longevity benefit does not match the price tag. |
| PEMF and similar devices↗ | TIER 4 | Device | No general longevity evidence that matches the marketing. Treat any claim to the contrary as a hypothesis without support. |
No interventions match those filters. Try widening the tier or category.
Evidence grades reflect the field consensus as of mid-2026 and will be updated as the science moves. This explorer describes science — it is not a recommendation to take, stop, or change any treatment.
The interventions with the most evidence are the least glamorous. That is not a marketing failure — it is a signal about where the science actually stands.