THE PROMISES WE MAKE TO OURSELVES

January arrives quietly, carrying both ambition and vulnerability. We make resolutions to sleep better, move more, eat differently, and slow down, while already knowing how fragile these promises can be. The real question is no longer what we want to change, but whether we are willing and able to sustain it.

That is why longevity feels like such a natural theme for this first issue of the year.

Longevity is often framed as futuristic or exclusive. In reality, it is deeply ordinary. It lives in daily habits, in consistency rather than intensity, in choices that rarely make headlines. Longevity is not about adding years at any cost; it is about creating conditions that allow us to live better within the years we already have.

What interests me most is the gap between intention and reality. We all know what should be good for us. The harder question is how we integrate these ideas into lives that are busy, social, demanding and meant to be enjoyed.

In this issue, we explore longevity from different angles, beginning with a profile conversation with Marc P. Bernegger, one of Switzerland’s most influential voices in the field. His perspective is refreshingly pragmatic: longevity is not a race for miracle solutions, but a long-term, evidence-based shift toward prevention, discipline and patience.

At the other end sits lived experience. I decided to step out of theory and into practice by trying red-light therapy, a technology frequently discussed in longevity circles. Ten minutes in front of a softly glowing panel will not transform a life, nor should it. Longevity is rarely about single interventions; it is about repetition, accumulation and realistic expectations.

Longevity also has a spatial dimension. Where and how we live matters. In her contribution, Camilla van den Tempel looks at Gstaad not as a wellness destination chasing trends, but as an environment that has long embodied longevity principles: rhythm, space, nature and restraint. Longevity, seen this way, is not something you book; it is something a place either allows or prevents.

Taken together, these perspectives form a picture well suited to the start of a new year. Longevity is not a resolution to abandon by February. It is a mindset that replaces short bursts of self-improvement with sustainable care.

Perhaps the most honest promise we can make is not to change everything at once, but to stay curious, consistent and attentive. Longevity does not demand perfection. It asks for presence.

Jeanette Wichmann
Editor in Chief