Longevity Diagnostics
Evaluation of tests and assessments supporting health and longevity
Introduction
In 2025, I completed over 50 different tests and diagnostic assessments focused on longevity, spending a ton of money and dedicating a lot of time.
One sentence introduction about me, for better context – my name is Michał Szymański. In January 2025 I turned 36 and I am the founder of two tech companies – MDB, which builds tools for the IT industry, and CogniVis AI, which enables the creation of specialized AI agents for business.
I’m also the creator of Longevity-Protocols.com.
Over the past 12 months, I underwent a major transformation – from declining health to peak condition.
I managed to achieve results that astonished even myself – including a record-low DunedinPACE aging rate of just 0.6, placing me at the very top of the global longevity leaderboard in the Rejuvenation Olympics ranking.
All my results and my detailed longevity protocol (training, diet, supplements, therapies, devices, and more) are available at the link below:
My longevity protocolAt this point, I’d like to ask: To what extent did all the tests and diagnostics I performed help me achieve these results?
After publishing my results, I’ve received many questions asking for recommendations. I also see many people just starting their health journey, eager to spend large amounts of money upfront on advanced diagnostics.
To address this, I decided to create a summary where I not only describe all the tests I’ve done, but also give them a subjective rating — that is: how useful they were to me and at what stage of advancement I’d recommend them.
Longevity Overkill
I won’t hide the fact that my main motivation for creating this overview was a phenomenon I’ve dubbed “Longevity Overkill,” which I want to warn all beginners about.
In our Longevity Protocols community, I’ve observed many situations that triggered my internal alarm.
What is Longevity Overkill?
Longevity overkill refers to the tendency to pursue overly advanced tests, supplements, or longevity interventions before mastering the basic pillars of health — such as sleep, nutrition, physical activity, circadian rhythm, and recovery. People affected by this “longevity overload” often invest in expensive diagnostics or therapies, believing it will shortcut their path to better biological fitness, while overlooking the core elements that have the greatest impact on lifespan and healthspan. As a result, they obtain unreliable results and limited benefits, because the lack of stable foundations prevents advanced methods from producing lasting effects.
In my approach to longevity, I follow the rule that if you can't do a few pull-ups, you probably shouldn’t worry yet about epigenetic tests, advanced supplements, or costly therapies — because there’s a far more urgent problem to address.
First, build strong fundamentals and avoid Longevity Overkill. The time for advanced methods will come later.
Longevity Vanity Metrics
Another phenomenon I want to warn you about is the so-called vanity metrics.
This term comes from the business world and refers to indicators that may look impressive (like page views) but don’t translate into real value (such as profit).
I believe this perfectly applies to longevity as well. For example, tests like the aforementioned DunedinPACE, while they greatly flatter my ego, provide far fewer actionable insights about what I can actually do for my health (such as adjusting my training, diet, or supplements) than traditional strength or endurance tests.
In summary: vanity metrics are not worthless (they can be a great motivational boost), but be careful not to get fixated on them. Focus on tests and metrics that offer practical guidance for improving your longevity protocol.
False Actions
The final phenomenon I want to warn against, and which I often notice among beginners, is a certain kind of procrastination through false actions.
We’ve reached a point in the development of health and longevity science where there’s no doubt about the essential foundations — we need to take care of our sleep, diet, physical activity, and emotional health. There are countless things we can do to improve each of these areas (even I, though I consider myself fairly advanced, still see many areas to improve in my own foundations).
Unfortunately, foundational work often seems less “sexy” compared to advanced diagnostics.
It’s also much harder to get off your butt and lift weights at the gym than it is to pop a supplement capsule or do a quick DNA swab for an epigenetic test.
So I caution you not to fall into this trap:
"Maybe I skipped training today and ate a ton of processed food, ending the day with a glass of whiskey — but I did take a pricey supplement recommended on Instagram and did a DNA test, so I took a step toward health and I’m on the right path!"
Don’t do that!
How I Assessed the Tests
As I mentioned earlier, this was my subjective assessment, and I used the following categories.
Level: Beginner Intermediate Advanced
Level
The level rating reflects the stage of health development at which a test makes the most sense — not in terms of technical difficulty, but in diagnostic value and biological context. Beginner-level tests help establish core habits (sleep, nutrition, physical activity), intermediate tests support precise personalization and detection of subtle imbalances, and advanced tests only make sense once lifestyle and foundational markers are stabilized — they allow high-precision tracking of aging, mitochondrial, and epigenetic processes. This grading system helps prevent “longevity overkill” — doing advanced tests too early before results can be truly meaningful.
Usefulness: Low Medium High
Usefulness
Usefulness reflects the real-world, actionable value of a test result in the context of health, longevity, and intervention planning. High-usefulness tests provide data that directly impact decisions around lifestyle, supplementation, or treatment (e.g., lipid panel, glucose monitoring, HRV), whereas medium- or low-usefulness tests are supportive, exploratory, or contextual — they help uncover trends but rarely lead to concrete actions. This classification helps prioritize the most impactful diagnostics.
A few important disclaimers
- This is my subjective rating — so consider the context (I’m a 36-year-old man, with no chronic diseases, and I approach health very rigorously). Some tests may not be relevant to your situation (e.g., if you’re a woman, semen tests and my ratings of them won’t apply to you).
- All cancer-related tests were by default marked as highly useful and recommended at any level — because I personally consider this category especially important (again, my personal opinion).
- Some tests are highly context-dependent. For example, I rated an MRI scan as highly useful because an ultrasound once revealed a liver lesion (suspected tumor), and MRI confirmed it was a harmless hemangioma — a huge relief for me. Your situation might differ entirely.
- If you are at the beginning of your journey and feel overwhelmed by the number of options, I have a simple recommendation for you - focus solely on tests at the "beginner" level and with high usefulness - this will bring you the greatest value at the start.
