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Hillary Lin, MD

💪 Stanford MD, Internal Medicine Board Certified Physician 💪 Longevity, Healthspan, Proactive Health 💪 Serial founder, Newsletter, Podcast https://hillarylinmd.com

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The longevity drug we've had all along? Plus Rapamycin, Dog Longevity, and More

Hi Reader, Welcome to the refreshed format of The Longevity Letter. My goal for 2026 is simple: High signal, low noise. You are busy, and the longevity space is getting louder, not clearer. I’ve redesigned this newsletter to be your weekly "Insider’s Rounds"—a briefing on what matters, what works, and what I’m personally testing. We are moving from general advice to specific, actionable intelligence. The TL;DR if you only have 30 seconds: 👻 The Deep Dive: Why I’m treating the Shingles vaccine...

Hi Reader, This week I'm publishing something I've been asked about for months but most physicians won't touch. Grey market peptides. The "research chemicals" currently flooding Silicon Valley. Tech workers mixing powders in their kitchens. Injecting themselves with insulin syringes ordered from Amazon. Attending "peptide raves" with mix-your-own workshops. I'm not here to tell you not to do it. I'm here because people are doing it anyway—and information asymmetry gets people hurt. This is a...

Hi Reader, Most New Year's resolutions fail for a simple reason: people try to install high-performance software (new habits, intense focus) on degrading hardware (your biology). You can have the best discipline in the world, but if your cellular engine is sputtering, you aren't going to get very far. Last issue, we covered "The Plumbing" (vascular health), along with pearls about hair longevity and oral health. Today, we’re covering Part 2—The Engine (Mitochondria) and The Processor (Brain),...

Longevity conference swag

Hi Reader, Usually, conference swag is junk. T-shirts, stress balls, and socks that end up in the hotel trash. But after spending the last week conference-hopping from the ivory towers of the Buck Institute (deep longevity science) to the neon chaos of A4M Vegas (commercial reality), I realized something while unpacking. The swag isn't random. It’s a roadmap. These samples represent where the biggest longevity companies are spending their marketing dollars right now. They are the bridge...

Hi Reader, Are you at Longevity Global Summit or A4M next week? Let me know! I've been tracking my food this month — something I do quarterly to recalibrate after things get a bit wild with travel and the holidays. At Thanksgiving, Gemini AI nailed it. Protein, carbs, fat — broken down by each item on the plate, with reasonable estimates for portion sizes. No manual logging. No scanning barcodes. And as you'll see in this issue, that same leap in innovation is happening in longevity science,...

Hi Reader, Happy almost-Thanksgiving 🦃! Before you sit down to feast, I want to talk about something usually reserved for “trips” rather than treatment plans: Magic Mushrooms. For years, we’ve looked at psilocybin as a tool for the mind. But news dropping this week suggests it might be a tool for the body—specifically, for slowing down biological aging. Plus: The FDA just approved a massive breakthrough in genetic medicine for heart health, and a new study from the Salk Institute just flipped...

Hi Reader, Where is longevity headed? We've been hearing about 100+ biomarkers, peptides, and hormones—but is that what's really around the corner? I just got back from three days at Eudemonia in Palm Beach, and I have thoughts. Today I'll share the topic I'm most excited about in longevity right now, plus the one I'd tell you not to spend money on yet. Hang on - this is a big newsletter issue (and totally worth it!). At Eudemonia, I had the chance to catch up with dozens of friends - movers...

Is Melatonin Increasing Heart Failure Risk?

Hi Reader, Your inbox is probably full of alarming headlines about melatonin this week. Let's cut through the noise. If you've seen the news about melatonin potentially increasing heart failure risk by 90%, you're likely wondering: Should I toss that bottle in my medicine cabinet? Was my doctor wrong to suggest it? And why does everyone online seem to have a different opinion? Let's dig into what we actually know—and what you can do with that information. There was quite a lot of drama in the...

Hi Reader, The bowhead whale lives over 200 years, weighs 200,000 pounds, and almost never gets cancer. These whales don't kill damaged cells (what we previously thought was the "right" thing for longevity)—they repair them with extraordinary precision. This week I'm covering three studies key for any longevity enthusiast: Why your fitness tracker might be misleading you (and what actually matters) How bowhead whales repair DNA damage that would kill us Why menopause represents the biggest...

Hi Reader, At the Ageless Evolution Summit, I asked the packed room full of health optimizers: "How many of you are wearing a smart watch or ring?" Dozens of hands went up. But far fewer could say that they're sleeping, eating, or moving healthily, consistently. This is the problem. We're obsessed with biohacking while ignoring the foundational actions that actually move the needle. Here's the framework I shared during my keynote (and it is not everything I would recommend for longevity—but...