Forever young?

As celebrities, influencers and holidaymakers flocked to the New South Wales haven in Byron Bay to ride out the pandemic late last year, functional health coach Jason Gilbert found himself completely booked out. The 50-year-old, who has been described as a “human performance optimiser”, was inundated with wellness seekers wanting to press pause on ageing.

Turning to science to look younger is nothing new. But the latest wave of anti-ageing therapies at the forefront of this movement go way past skin deep. Gilbert runs an exclusive clinic in Lennox Head, and also holds retreats in the hinterlands of Byron Bay that are designed to help people live younger for longer. Instead of massages and facials, these retreats can include infrared saunas, ice baths, fasting, oxygen therapy and breathwork. Back home, he and his clients also take resveratrol supplements and have IV infusions of futuristic molecules like NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide), and he is exploring stem cell therapies. “I’m 50 now, but I feel better than I did at 40 or at 30,” Gilbert explains. “People want to look after themselves before they get sick. No one is waiting for old age anymore.”

“Every single client who’s over 40 is serious about biohacking – they’re doing everything to extend their lifespan”

It sounds intense, if not a little painful. There are plenty of reasons to be wary of such therapies, but the reality is that these are just a handful of treatments you can now book at most medispas. And the appeal is clear.

Scientists are no longer just trying to make people look younger, but are actually trying to stop ageing