'Nobody wants to go see a doctor': Dubai's push for longevity and what residents think

Dubai has spent the past week talking about longevity.

On Sunday, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, approved the Dubai Longevity Authority's strategy. The plan aims to contribute more than Dh35 billion to the emirate's economy over the next decade, with annual growth of around 31 per cent.

Days later, on International Longevity Day, October 1, Aster DM Healthcare held a panel event at Alserkal Avenue in Al Quoz. It asked what longevity means for ordinary people, not just the wealthy, and launched Thrive by myAster, a home test that analyses more than 100 biomarkers.

The gap between lifespan and healthspan

For Alisha Moopen, Managing Director and Group CEO of Aster DM Healthcare, longevity is about how many years are spent in good health.

"Longevity is not simply about adding more years to life; it is about making those years healthier, more active and more meaningful," she said.

Speaking on a panel moderated by presenter Shereen Mitwalli, Moopen said average life expectancy in the UAE is around 78 years, while healthy life expectancy is around 67. That leaves 10 to 11 years spent living with illness or frailty.

"Our first 30 years of our life, we are protected," she said. "And then, somewhere in here, 25 to 40, things slowly start breaking down, and you start thinking, 'Why don't I feel great?'"

'Nobody wants to go see a doctor'

Moopen said attitudes are slowly shifting, with more pharmacy customers asking how to feel better before something goes wrong.

"The reality is nobody wants to go see a doctor," she said. "And you can't blame them, because you start thinking, 'I don't want to see something I don't like.'"

She was wary of expensive biohacking. "People talk about $1 million, $2 million protocols for health and wellness. And that's just not feasible," she said. Those figures are about Dh3.7 million and Dh7.3 million.

Instead, she pointed to the basics described in The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: a fit body, a calm mind and a house full of love. "These things cannot be bought. You have to earn it," she said.

What Thrive involves

A technician visits in the morning to collect fasting blood and urine samples, and results arrive on the myAster app within about two days. The report groups more than 100 biomarkers by body system, including the heart, liver, kidneys, metabolism and hormones, and flags areas needing attention. A video consultation with a doctor is included.

Moopen said the consultation is meant to stop people from guessing which supplements to take.

"Maybe you don't need to take omega-3. Maybe you do need to take the vitamin D. Or maybe you don't need to take anything," she said.

She said she used to wear three fitness trackers and would wake up stressed by her scores. Thrive is designed to be taken around twice a year instead.

Tests like this are growing in popularity worldwide. Reviewing a similar US panel, business publication Worth noted strong evidence for controlling blood pressure, losing weight and lowering ApoB, a cholesterol-related marker. It found the benefit of small supplement tweaks for people at moderate risk much less clear.

What residents think

UAE resident Sophie Shey compared the test with a hospital cancer screening she had recently done.

"Definitely, I would do this. I think it's a very affordable price (one test is for Dh599). I actually recently did a cancer screening at the hospital, which was much more expensive, but it was more like ultrasounds, that kind of stuff. And this is much more accessible, everyday sort of health markers," she said.

"The more news that we see about people having health issues younger and younger, I think everybody's gonna be interested in this."

She believes younger people already care about their health, even if they don't call it longevity. "More people are going to the gym, more people are drinking less. They're going out less," she said.

Age, she added, still makes a difference. "Once you hit 30, you'll be interested. Once you have children, you're more interested, because you think I need to be around as long as possible for my children."

Maryam Kazmi, who runs an at-home longevity and recovery business, thinks people shouldn't wait.

"I think the earlier, the better," she said. "If you start now at 23, you start doing things like sunlight, red light therapy, sauna, whatever these kind of trendy things are now. I think it all adds up cumulatively."

Kazmi also has a view on where the city is heading. "I think Dubai is going to become the next longevity hub."

A city-wide push

A second panel, with Dr Karima Arroud of Wellth, Dr Elie Abirached of Restore Fitness, Professor Roberto Grobman of Robgenes and Dr Lamees Hamdan of Cosmic Doctor, discussed why people struggle to act on their health data, along with nutrition, sleep, recovery and genetics.

With the Dubai Longevity Authority now moving into implementation, more tests and treatments are likely to follow. Residents will have to decide which of them are worth their time and money.