On October 21 I was at Calabra Lounge in the Santa Monica Proper Hotel for the first evening of the Proper Hundred Speaker Series. Curtis Estes and Hundred Health hosted. Small room, capped at 60 guests, which is the right size for this kind of conversation.
The fireside panel was Dr. Daniel T. Johnston, a physician, retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel, and President of BrainSpan; Tyler Smith, Founder and CEO of Hundred Health; and Curtis Estes, Cofounder of Beusail Longevity Forums. The topic was healthspan, brain health, and how to turn your health data into a plan you'll actually follow.
I went for the business side of longevity. The part I keep coming back to is sleep.
The panel opened with an idea I liked: aging is a form of chronic stress. Look at it that way and a "normal" lab result doesn't tell you much. Normal just means you look like everyone else who took the test. What the speakers cared about was functional resilience. How well your body handles stress, how well it recovers, and which direction that's trending.
That's how I run a business. Nobody checks whether revenue is in a normal range and calls it a day. You watch the trend.
Then the brain numbers. According to the panel, brain mass starts shrinking around 40, and cognitive changes often show up around 50. Earlier than most people I know would guess. The better news is that the rate varies a lot from person to person, and they said much of it is in our control.
The adult brain can still grow, too. The speakers said neuroplasticity and neurogenesis are possible in adults when the brain gets the right nutrients, good sleep, learning that's genuinely hard, varied exercise, and time with other people. Every one of those is something I drop first when work gets heavy.
Sleep is the brain's gym
Sleep came up more than anything else. They called it foundational, the brain's "gym."
Irregular sleep timing, they said, wrecks sleep architecture. So the hours matter, and so does going to bed at roughly the same time every night.
One bad night also has a cost. The speakers explained that a single poor night raises amyloid in the brain, and glial cells clear it only with good sleep afterward. You can recover. You just have to actually get the good nights.
Their fixes were simple. Set a bedtime alarm, not only a wake-up alarm. Keep the room around 65°F. I travel a lot, so the bedtime alarm is where I'm starting.
Omega-3s, and read the label
The second big theme was omega-3s, especially DHA. For brain health, the speakers said omega-3 status matters more than conventional cholesterol, which is the number most of us fixate on after a checkup.
Then they gave a rule you can use in the store. A capsule should be at least 60% EPA plus DHA by weight of the oil. Do the math per capsule. A 1,000 mg capsule needs at least 600 mg of EPA and DHA combined. Flip the bottle over and check.
Better yet, measure. The omega-3 index shows where you actually are, so you're not guessing.
A few other things, quickly. Vitamin D deficiency is common, according to the speakers. Blueberries, wild salmon and avocados came up as foods that support the brain. On alcohol, they said the data favor minimal intake. There were mocktails at the bar, for what it's worth.
Measure before you have to fix
Tyler Smith walked through how Hundred Health approaches this. As it was described on the panel, the platform pulls medical records from more than 600 health systems, wearable data, 100+ systems-based biomarkers, and genetics into one "digital twin." Members then get a 100-day protocol. They positioned it as affordable annual access, around $200.
The bigger message was that early testing beats later correction. The speakers shared success stories of people who turned their metabolic health around, and others who relied less on stimulants, after making changes based on their own data.
They also talked about having a big enough "why," and the idea of a "centenarian decathlon." Picture the specific physical and mental things you want to be able to do at 100, then work backward. I like it for the same reason I give the body a named job in Aura. A vague goal like "live longer" doesn't get you out of bed. A specific one might.
What I'd do this week
- Set a bedtime alarm and keep bedtime consistent.
- Keep the bedroom around 65°F.
- Check your omega-3 label: at least 60% EPA plus DHA by weight of the oil.
- Ask your doctor about testing your omega-3 index and vitamin D.
- Learn something hard, mix up how you move, and see your people.
- Measure early. Watch the trend, not just "normal."
Why I care, as a builder and investor
I build and invest in wellness and longevity. Aura, Maliguna, and the companies I back. So I was also listening for where this market goes next.
My view is that the data platforms that win will be the ones that make it simple. People already have more health data than they can use. Records in one portal, a wearable on their wrist, labs from two years ago. What they want is for someone to connect it and tell them what to do on Monday. That's what the Hundred Health model is going for, and I think it's the right instinct.
Brands are going to get checked, too. Once a customer knows the 60% rule for fish oil, a vague label looks bad. I'd rather back brands that show their formulation and can point to results.
And honestly, this is a lot of why I'm building Maliguna. Almost everything the panel described, steady sleep, real food, movement, learning, people, is what a good retreat can give you. I'm not interested in promising anyone a new life in a week. I want a place where good habits are the default, and you go home with a few you'll keep. Ideally with data that shows something changed.
The point about measuring early applies to companies as well. Helping people in their 40s, before something goes wrong, is a much bigger market than waiting to fix it later.
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Thank you to Curtis Estes and Hundred Health for hosting, and to Curtis for his work through Beusail Longevity Forums bringing candid, unscripted conversations about longevity into a small room.
This is the first in a series of notes from the longevity and wellness events I go to. If you're building or investing here, I'd love to compare notes. Find me on Instagram at @lynnfernandoofficial.
This article reflects what the panelists shared and my own reflections. It is not medical advice. Please talk with your doctor before making changes to your health routine.