“We’re in the middle of a second renaissance driven by a growing focus on health policy and more educated consumers”
The Renaissance began in Florence in the 15th century and quickly spread across Europe, marking the transition between the middle-ages and modernity.
It was a period of great social change driven by power – best exemplified by the House of Medici –and also by increased awareness of nature and humanistic learning. Painting, sculpture, architecture, music, literature and individualism all blossomed.
The 21st century Renaissance will be driven by Gen Alpha, the first generation to be born entirely in the new century.
During their lifetime, they’ll see parallel worlds collide synergistically, with health, nutrition and tech flourishing and change driven by those who see no boundaries.
All this comes against a backdrop of concern about nature and climate. Gen Zers have put both of these high on the geopolitical agenda, pointing out the need to avoid environmental tipping points and this baton will be taken up by Gen Alpha.
Members of this 21st century generation realise they can’t take generational progress for granted and their mission will be to achieve good personal health and build stronger communities, so improving the health of nations and the planet.
The power of community is increasingly being recognised – in the US, a century-long study tells us the best predictor of longevity and happiness is the quality of people’s social capital.
Blue Zones acknowledge this impact and UNESCO has extended the definition of the Mediterranean diet to categorise it as a holistic entity – fifty per cent healthy diet and fifty per cent the social capital elements of shopping, preparing, cooking and eating together.
The longevity universe
For the last two years I’ve toured the Health Optimisation Summit with Neil King from Longevity Network to experience a weekend of biohacking, nutrition, longevity, functional and preventative medicines and health technologies that are shifting the optimal health paradigm.
King deems this to be a parallel universe and the health and fitness industry isn’t changing fast enough to keep up with this pace of innovation. This Summit was just the jolt we needed to drive new thinking.
Nutrition is another parallel world the health and fitness sector needs to embrace.
Katie Lewis from Brand Chatter also sent me Dr Robert Lustig’s book Fat Chance and I introduced Katie to my book of the year, Dark Matter by Dr James Kinross. These are two seminal works on – respectively – hidden sugar and the microbiome. Both essential for a greater understanding of how what you consume affects your body, mind and longevity.
Health is everything
King Charles mentioned community and health more than once in his last Christmas message and both he and Catherine, Princess of Wales, are certain to be paying more attention to their own self-care than before their cancer treatments. Charles also talked about the power of ‘repairing’ and ‘listening’.
From Royalty to the wider population, no matter how much wealth you have, without your health, it’s worthless. Or, as my mother was fond of saying, “if you don’t have your health, you have nothing”.