Former actress turned wellbeing influencer, Davinia Taylor is making waves in the world of biohacking. Below, she shares her top ten tips for turning back the clock
PICS: willpowders.com
“I’m 48 years old and I’m far more interested in my biological age than the number on my birthday cake,” says actress-turned-wellbeing influencer Davinia Taylor explained. “I don’t think aging well is about desperately trying to look 25. It’s about protecting your energy, brain, muscle, bones and metabolism so you still feel brilliant as the decades clock up.”
1. Get outside as soon as you wake up
Before supplements, before complicated biohacks, there’s light. I get natural daylight into my eyes as early as possible because morning light helps set the body clock that governs everything from alertness during the day to sleep at night. I’m slightly obsessed with circadian health because sleep starts in the morning, not when you climb into bed.
2. Stop eating a beige breakfast
Cereal, toast, pastries and juice can leave me on a blood-sugar rollercoaster before the day has even started. I prioritise protein and healthy fats instead: eggs, Greek yoghurt or a WillPowders protein shake when I need something quick. I want breakfast to keep me going, not have me rummaging through a drawer for biscuits at 11am.
3. Protect your muscle like it’s your pension
We talk endlessly about wrinkles and nowhere near enough about muscle. Maintaining muscle and strength becomes increasingly important as we get older, so I prioritise resistance training and enough protein. I also use WillPowders Clear Creatine. Creatine has escaped the bodybuilding cupboard and there’s fascinating research happening around its role in muscle, energy metabolism and the brain.
4. Become metabolically flexible
I don’t believe we need to eat every two hours. I like giving my digestive system a break and allowing my body to become comfortable using stored fuel rather than constantly demanding another carbohydrate hit. That can mean leaving longer gaps between meals or occasionally fasting when it suits me. I’m not interested in starving myself – this is about flexibility, not punishment.
5. Guard your sleep ferociously
Sleep is probably the cheapest anti-ageing tool available and we treat it like an inconvenience. I’ll turn down late nights if I know they’re going to destroy my sleep. I dim the lights, reduce blue light in the evening and give my nervous system a chance to understand that the day is over. I use magnesium as part of my evening routine too. You cannot out-supplement terrible sleep.
6. Use temperature as a tool
I love cold exposure, but I also love heat. Cold showers, ice baths, infrared sauna and hot baths are all ways I deliberately give my body a small, controlled stress and then allow it to recover. You don’t need a laboratory in your house either – a cold shower is free.
7. Stop being frightened of good fat
Fat was demonised for years and I think women in particular suffered from it. I use foods such as eggs, olive oil and other naturally occurring fats, and MCT is something I’ve used for years. It’s also why MCT became such a big part of WillPowders. I’m interested in giving my body access to different fuel sources rather than living permanently on glucose.
8. Look after inflammation rather than obsessing over wrinkles
I’m much more interested in what is happening underneath my skin than trying to freeze the expression on top of it. Food quality, sleep, stress, movement and recovery all matter. My approach is very much inside out: give the body the raw materials it needs and stop constantly throwing things at it that make its job harder.
9. Make your health routine ridiculously easy
The perfect wellness routine that you abandon after four days is useless. I built WillPowders around this problem. Protein, collagen, creatine, electrolytes and other nutritional tools need to fit into an actual woman’s life – work, children, travel, hormones and all. My rule is to remove friction. If something takes 45 minutes every morning, I’m probably not going to sustain it.
10. Never surrender to the idea that decline is inevitable
This is probably the biggest lesson of Futureproof. Your chronological age goes in one direction; how you function is far more interesting.
I want strong bones. I want muscle. I want energy. I want a brain that works. I want to be dancing when I’m 80.
I’m not trying to stop aging.
I’m trying to get bloody good at it.
Ageing is inevitable. Decay isn’t.
For more details visit www.willpowders.com
